That's great! Well done. Glad you got the Ditch Witch, sometimes it's better just to let a machine do at least some of the work. Happy gardening.

mc58 Looks like asolo has already got ya helped, but figured I'd chime in again since I already did some testing here at home for ya. I picked up some Tide HE liquid yesturday and have just done a wash in my Affinity using half the minimum dose suggested. (I figured my Affinity would be a decent machine to do a comparison as it has many similiar specs to yours even though it is made by Frigidaire and not Whirlpool.) I am now on my second wash/rinse trying to get the suds out and I have hard water with no softener. From the looks of what I am currently seeing, I will have to do another wash/rinse still. Now my suds aren't high and fluffy like the ones in your picture, mine are on the flat, runny side, but I am attributing that to the fact your water is soft and mine is not. Now my water is not the hardest water. Local water supply is 8 grains, so my water is just hard (between moderately hard and very hard) on the scale I looked at. I also know Tide recommends the use of their liquid detergents in hard water. Something tells me they have made it to be used in the hardest water found, which would explain the suds problem. Adding to the fact it is 2x concentrated now, makes it very difficult to cut the amount down enough to prevent oversudsing without diluting it into another bottle first. After my own test it looks like it is probably the detergent, but asolo already has ya covered in that regard as he has the same machine as you and soft water as well. Anyway, I hope this helps you for what it's worth and it looks like I may either be returning the Tide HE liquid, or diluting it in another bottle and using it for pre-treatments only. I never paid attention before, but I'm thinking maybe I should double check my Cheer HE liquid now too since they are both made by P&G.

What do you do around your house with the kids? DS is 3 and we're home most days. Most of the time when I ask if he wants to go somewhere he says he wants to stay home! LOL We go outside and play on his slide or swim in our small Easy Set pool. He likes to watch TV, play with his toys, paint and color or really anything. He's into helping around the house and being helpful, too. Try involving your son in stuff you're doing. Sometimes it may take longer or you may have a mess to clean up but the kids have so much fun and enjoy it. We try to get out at night or on the weekends. Even then, it's not a lot of time at the store. (He even likes going to the grocery store...he reminds me of things we need to get! LOL) We usually visit family or friends on the weekends one or twice. You could easily just take rides just to look for animals or whatever. Our son isn't around a ton of kids and yet when he is, he makes friends quickly and they get along so I"m not all concerned about him not being in daycare or preschool. Also, I've found that just sitting down and talking to your kids makes them happy and can be fun. Our son will ask a question...like today it was, "Can we take our dog to the fair this week?" and I explained dogs weren't allowed and reasons why. So now he can share that with Daddy when he comes home. I"ve also had to explain why it has to rain or why it thunders (so he's not scared anymore I said that two clouds are fighting over whether it should stay hot or cool off) or why the pool was getting slimy.. A lot of the time that we are talking, I'm also doing something else like preparing supper and he feels he's getting attention and I"m getting my work done, too. Or we can be driving in the car and he'll ask what a road sign means and I've taught him a few and he'll tell us now! Include your son in every day simple stuff and to him it can be fun and it may take care of his boredom. Good luck and no you're not alone. All parents, even parents with seemingly good kids have bad days. We all have days we would like to go on strike, too. You just have to figure out the best way to deal with those days and get through them.

Hey Struggling -- A lot of what you've written could have been written by my DH, since it's an issue we struggle with a bit too. In our case, my son is 15, and is by nature a moody, semi-sullen sort of kid. He was simply born that way. Our son together is like my husband, and was simply born happy and eager to please. Two totally different personalities that require two different parenting approaches. When older son gets mouthy with me, I simply say (for mild cases) "That didn't come out right -- please try it again." (then WAIT until he does it) or for more extreme cases "No sir! Please try saying that again with an appropriate tone." -- and he complies. He knows that his opinions are welcomed (or at least tolerated), but that his tone of voice must be civil. (He refused to restate politely once, and it cost him his computer monitor for two days. Didn't happen again.) DH, on the other hand, launches into a lecture. You may know that one?... You certainly know the response it gets, because you described it perfectly. My son Can't Stand the lectures and does do the full eye-roll thing. He's not ignoring it -- he's beyond that and is *actively* tuning it out. But DH, wonderful as he is, simply doesn't get it. So he lectures longer, louder, and with increasing hostility. That tactic doesn't work on that child. I'm guessing it doesn't work on your SD either. So try a different tactic. And for what it's worth, I think your wife has a point about treating the SKids with respect so you can demand the same in return. In fact, it might be worth phrasing it exactly that same way -- "I'll treat you with respect if you'll do the same for me." -- then do it.