You know, Lizalily... you could always put your older Dahlia corms up for auction at Ebay, make a little money, and spend it on new Dahlias! In spring, Ebay is loaded with corms and bulbs and roots for sale! And the only energy required would be a little typing, and then bagging up the corms for shipping! Plus, you'd be surprised at how many people would want the older varieties! When it comes to most of the garden chores and projects, I don't trust anyone to do it, but me! Not everyone is familiar with what weeds vs. perennial seedlings look like, or knows that the sod must be taken off first if you want a decent bed, etc... I'd just as soon do most of it myself so I know it's all done right! In response to your idea for adding moisture holding crystals to the raised shade bed, I wouldn't if it were my project... I'd use a bit heavier of a soil mix, and use a good layer of mulch to help hold in the moisture, instead. I despise the new-fangled moisture retaining chemicals and gels! They don't keep the moisture even within the soil mix, and are a waste of time, I feel. I think that a mix with a bit more compost and actual soil, or a mix with some clay type soil, in addition to using layers of old carpeting or newspaper between the plants, with wood mulch over that would be a better choice. That's what I'd go with, anyway. When choosing bagged soils, I always steer clear of the moisture control products, and go for the regular high quality soils, such as MiracleGro or Schultz's. If you plan to add some bagged soil to the bed, Hyponex brand is a heavier, wetter soil mix. By the same token, I wouldn't use Hyponex for any of my containers or anywhere I want to keep really good drainage, either! Hyponex tends to be a damp, muddier type of bagged soil, not good for bulbs! Another item that may help the raised bed with moisture content is an irrigation system... I saw some small, inexpensive systems at Miejer's yesterday that just lay on top of the bed and attach to the garden hose... they have tubing and sprinklers at intervals... the system actually looked kind of cool! The columbine is in full bloom right now, but as soon as it fades and the seed heads ripen, I'll ship you lots and lots of fresh full seed pods! I'm just about ready to give up entirely on keeping permanent markers with their respective plants in the gardens! Every single tag I placed with bulbs or plants last fall either faded to un-readable, or they were pushed out of the ground by weather, critters, and who knows what else! I don't have time now, but when I get some time this coming fall or winter, I want to begin making aluminum tags from cut soda cans... I can then scribe the names of the plants on them with an engraver or just press sort of hard with a pen to "engrave" the writing. I want to hang those from loops on thick wire pieces that can be stuck quite deeply into the soil! It's the only way I can think of to keep name tags with the plants, besides buying the really expensive tags, which is out of the question for so many plants! Dahlias are not my favorite plant, and even though I like a few of the newer ones, I'd have to dig them all up and store them every year... something I'm not willing to do as there is already too much prep work for winter! I have Cannas and Glads to dig, not to mention Oxalis and Hippeastrums! Those are enough! We got another inch or two of rain yesterday... not that we needed it, really... the ground is already saturated! What we really need are several days in a row of sunshine and warmer weather! On a positive note, we picked up a couple of foam garden kneeling pads yesterday, which will really help save my back from bending over so much, and my knees from all the kneeling to plant things! Another box of named Daylilies arrived yesterday, so you know what I'll be doing today!

Update! I'm very happy to say that we held a meeting with the owner yesterday morning regarding all of the problems listed in my initial post. I presented them with a list of all of the problems and the out of pocket costs for us to take care of them. We came to a written agreement: We will have our carpeting cleaned again, professionally which is going to cost us $125.00 We are going to purchase and re-paint the walls ourselves. They signed the agreement that they would refund us our out of pocket costs for this work, provided that we show them a copy of the receipt for our purchases. They did offer to have their maintainance man come and take care of these problems, but I would rather do this myself, so it will be done my way, and most likely end up nicer. I was also given an apology, and they actually admitted that their maintainance man for the complex did a shoddy job. I'm very very pleased at this outcome. They also put in a new motion sensor light for me in the late afternoon, since I felt our patio light wasn't bright enough. My groundfloor patio is in a darker area of the complex shaded by many trees. I feel relieved. Thank you all for your advice!

Happy B-day, Oak!! Yes, please share your interpretation. What came to my mind in this situation, the bulb is not permanently out, just needs fine tuning a bit -- you know how sometimes if you twist it in the socket it might reconnect and shine. I'm hopeful that's the case here, whether it's just a matter of maturing, having a medical issue factored in or both. I think it is hard for many young people who are exposed to so much dysfunction in the media. They may not clearly understand that what's portrayed as typical is really promoting dysfunctional behavior, and so emulate the cable tv types, spin out of control and suffer the consequences with unhappy and unfulfilled lives. I'm sending good thoughts to the daughter so she can want to find a better path. Z's already on it. ;-) Thnx, blf. You made me reread my double post. I always try to edit before submitting but nonetheless make mistakes, and of course now caught "this" when I meant "thus" far. Oh well, nothing like having one's errors highlighted glaringly twice. LOL Don't know if you're so inclined, but instead of just ignoring MIL, maybe you could send good thoughts/pray for her change of heart. She may be running out of time, but even among the very advanced ageds I've witnessed some amazing transformations. Positive energy/prayer for another's well being definitely won't hurt, and might help!

Gwanny - My SIL grew up in San Diego, Encinitas (sp?), her bro still lives there Flamingo - This was the first time I had met them over the new year holidays Joyfulguy - so true, wouldn't all that sun really age your skin? I wonder how the women deal with it.. Gramma - Bwahahahah is right - that is too funny Ronm - one of my best friends is from Alabama, and she says when she goes down south for a family reunion, you had better look good or "you will be discussed" lunchlady + shiela - I got a sewing machine when I graduated from college - My My how times have changed... Mariend - Wow, that's kinda twisted of them, don't you think? Was moving to the midwest a "culture shock"? Wildchild - At least insurance will pay for your teeth sometimes, wow, there is no excuse for that Jannie - If DH has that kind of money for that kind of thing, I'll tell him a nice set of pearls or diamond earings can magically make your chest look bigger - let him think about that one for awhile - bless his little heart..