Forget it. I found out how. I think.

Kate....I'm in NC but this is a very helpful website for info - www.turffiles.ncsu.edu. Also, check out the website www.lebsea.com. They are out of PA & I can personally attest to the quality of their products. Shoot them an e-mail explaining your dilema & I'm sure they will have recommedations. I certainly don't have any concrete answers to the ground ivy problem you've got. I'd apply a weed killer (I've seen several that claimed to kill ground ivy) several times until I saw the results I wanted. And if the product I was using wasn't giving me results I'd try something else. And depending on the ivy/grass ratio I might even spray roundup several times. And, you've got all summer to rake & pull out as much of the dead/dying ivy as possible. The key is to hit the yard hard in the fall with aeration & a heavy overseeding of TTTF using the practices gained from the NCSU site & in talking to others. Obviously the denser the stand of grass the less room there is for the ivy to grow. Then in the spring you can apply a combination fertilizer/pre-emergent product to help keep the ivy from coming back. Hey, I have absolutely no affiliation at all with Lebsea but I know those are the products the best golf courses & most expensive neighborhoods use in my area. That was what made me choose them for my yard & I couldn't be more happy. I have a very hard time believing there aren't control products out there that can't be effective against ground ivy, if applied when it's growing & at the proper rate for multiple applications. Anyway, hope this helps in some small way & best of luck in getting the lawn you want.

you're right... the newest leaves seem unaffected. The older leaves are all similarly mottled with black splodges. I'll wait and see what happens to them. I don't think we had a frost after leafing, but we did have some strong cold winds. My zone is 8a according to the map of the UK linked below. Thanks for your help. Here is a link that might be useful: hardiness map

I think even if you share a household, you need to learn some boundaries. To protect yourself, mostly. But also because it's right. True, your mom is too "lazy" to make those albums. But maybe that's just a pipe dream; maybe she thinks she "ought" to put photos in albums, and just can't admit that she doesn't really WANT to. That's often behind people's laziness--the fact that the benefits of that thing are just not apparent. If people don't do something, I believe it's because they don't genuinely WANT to. No matter what their mouth says. (and frankly, there is NO empirical benefit to putting photos in albums w/ fancy paper and stickers. The fancy paper and stickers are make-work, and should be done only by those people who get some sort of artistic satisfaction out of doing it. Your mom obviously doesn't get enough satisfaction to bother with it. She's ALLOWED not to want to actually follow through on her albums. Of course it would be nice if she could be honest with herself and say, "I'm content w/ these photos in boxes, and I'm going to stop kidding myself that I'll really make albums," and then toss the excess scrapbooking stuff. But having only recently been through that process, I can tell you that it's not an easy one. It involves creating an entirely new self-image.) I think you need to stop taking responsibility for "fixing" your mom--whether she's morally deficient ("irresponsible and immature") or ill ("psychological disorder"). You *can't* fix her. She's a grownup, and if she's going to change, it will be only because she wants to. You can't even make her go to a psychiatrist to see if medications would help her (say, if she has OCD), because she is NOT your legal dependent. I think you need to just NOT focus on her, and her stuff. No more going "room to room" and making lists of all the ways she is deficient. I know you live there, but it's not your space. Focus your energy on getting out, and on making your life be what you want. Try to maintain calm and order in the places where it affects you, and then, regarding all else, close your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears, and say "la, la, la!" Try to have your own life settled so that if you *need* to "be there" for your little sisters, you can, but don't take on that responsibility too rapidly. A 17-year-old can watch over a 12-year-old, and your dad is part of the family too. Few people have actually died because the corners of the living room are stacked full of out-of-date textbooks, etc. Also, you need to spend some energy, not on fixing things in your parents' marriage, but on getting OUT from "in between." Stop taking ANYBODY's side in any of their disputes or problem. LEAVE THE ROOM! I'm not trying to be snippy. I'm just trying to make you see that you are reaching beyond where you ought to. And your basic assumption--that *you* need to "fix" all these problems in your parents' lives--is wrong. You need to "declutter" that assumption--toss it in the garbage. That assumption is YOUR equivalent of old issues of magazines, etc. You can't fix those problems. So stop trying to. You'll find it amazingly freeing.