Yes, that is what she is saying. Your grubs are Fig Beetle babies. Japanese Beetles are Popillia japonica, and they have brown backs. Fig Beetles are Cotinis mutabilis, and they are larger and have bright metallic green backs. Japanese beetles eat foliage and roses, Fig beetles eat fruit. They prefer rotting fruit. You do not have to do anything about them, but if you have stone fruit trees, you may lose some fruit next year to them. They don't make a dent in mine. The little bugs jumping as fast as fleas on your eggplant leaves are an entirely different creature. It could be caterpillars, earwigs, slugs, snails, or some other bug eating your eggplant leaves. I spray with BT when I see leaf damage because mostly it is caterpillars here, and BT kills them and nothing else. Renee

That house was built before housewrap was developed; the builder should have used an asphalt-impregnated paper on the sheathing behind the brick. Short of tearing down the walls, there's no way you can repair or replace it. Just make sure the occasional water that comes in does not get trapped behind a poly barrier in the basement or saturates fibrous insulation. Belt and suspenders approach to drainage plane. The bricklayers here hadn't used wrap before, so insisted on using asphalt-paper as well. The black paper laps over black poly on the brick ledge, which acts as a flashing.

From a pure functionality perspective, I don't really much care for that piece. I'd be worried that the baby might get his head bumped against the raised ledge on the right--either by someone changing baby or later by the baby himself if he tried to sit up or was squirming. In addition to the issues that you brought up regarding the stain, it just does not look like a well designed piece of baby furniture. It looks like a piece where they are trying to make it still be useful after the baby stage. Chances are, however, you will invest in a new set of children's furniture in 2-3 years and may want a different coordinated look so just get a simple changing table that works for the next 1-2 years and assume you will either use it for another baby or get rid of it. BTW, for my 3rd child I did not even use a changing table as I had disposed of the one I had after baby #2 and was not about to spend a few hundred on such a temporary piece of furniture. I just used a good quality pad which I slid under her older sister's bed and more often than not I changed her on the bed with a plastic pad below. Diapers I stored in a cloth diaper stacker.

Dear Polar Princess, I am happy to read of your recent survivorship and a getting new lease on life. I think your oak cabinets look very well made and can be a star with some new accessories. Oak is a timeless, beautiful wood. Here are the changes I would try for minimal cost: 1) As has been mentioned numerous times: remove the stenciling & ivy to freshen the look. 2) If you can easily remove the light bridge over the sink and add molding to the top of the 2 cabinets where it connected, that will also modernize the look, as previous poster suggested, for not much money. 3) Backsplash: Provide Maximum sizzle and splash, which will transform the kitchen with a shimmering glass tile mosaic. See link below as example. Your area is not big, so you could pull this off for only $200 to $250 in materials. 4) Definitely bring in the brown leather bar stools you like or even something very modern in style as a contrast. 5) Counter tops: white laminate is not necessarily bad. In fact, if you add a shimmering glass backsplash that is a nice counterpoint to the white counters, you may find they are now more pleasing to you, without going to the expense of adding granite. You already know how easy to maintain your laminate counters are. You might jazz them up with some interesting place mats or update your centerpiece to be more in keeping with the brown leather & mosaics. 6) Window valence: maybe replace the lace look with something more tailored to complement the new backsplash and stools. 7) Wall paint: See how the backsplash changes the look and decide if you want to add wall color or not. 8) If you still yearn for SS appliances, check into changing out the front panels of the frig and dishwasher with SS. Don't think that is possible with the stove. I would really keep the bisque because they will look nice with the new backsplash as well. The link is from a larger website with many different choices of mosaic color combinations. The featured one is Anima because I think it would complement your while/bisque and oak and brown leather. Also check out several of the Spectralight (with and without El Dorado), Shimmerfly (one is Honey Pearl)and others which might complement your adjacent room colors. Good luck with all your decisions. We celebrate that you are here to make them! Anna Lee F Here is a link that might be useful: Glass tile backsplash