Is your spouse allergic? If not ask him to spray it for you maybe. but then don't touch his clothes. I feel for you so much. I am so allergic I can catch it just by looking at it LOL. I have known since I was a child that I was allergic. The worst two times were once right before my wedding, my ram gave it to me. He was penned over by it and must have rolled in it because that's how I got it when we sheared him. I was wearing shorts if that gives you a hint where it was, NOT FUN!!! The second worst was when I was pregnant with my first baby I had it for 6 months it would just not heal. If you have to be the one to do it I would suggest the same as Coralb and pick a cool day, wear long sleeves long pants, rubber boots you can disinfect or shoes you can put in the washer. When you put your gloves on use duck tape one your ankles and wrists.Throw your gloves away when you are done. Also I wouldn't mow it down as it could spread the oil and it is possible it could splash up even though you would never feel it. Like Ken said do NOT burn it EVER, it can send anyone near the smoke to the hospital. When you are done I would suggest putting EVERYTHING you wore directly into the washer with a strong detergent and then take a good shower. It looks like it is a very large area, you can do it two ways. Try to find all the ivy and cut it down to the ground(trying not to rip or shred the leaves) throw the plants in a plastic bag and spray the roots with round up, then spray the area with the round up again just so you can be sure you got every plant. Next spring do the same thing. By the third spring it should be clear for good, you might even be lucky enough to have gotten it all this summer but you have to stay on top of it. Or you could just spray the entire area with round up several times during the summer until it doesn't come up at all. You will probably have to do this all next summer too. You'll have to use your own judgment when you can start planting. http://landscaping.about.com/od/poisonivyplants/ht/removing_poison.htm Here is a link that might be useful: poison ivy site

Oh my.......just reading all these all these posts have me smiling, and tears rolling down my face, plus a few chuckles, and the biggest, warmest feeling ever!! You all are the BEST. So much caring, support, advice, and enough sweetness that I feel like I'm in a candy store. :o) I truly love you for all the joy you give, and the big hearts you have. I'd be truly lost without you in my life. Fun2B, "Decorating shouldn't be a chore, but a joy."...very wise words. I've been concentrating on the work and not the joy, I'll work on that and my decorating this weekend! Thank you! Janet, you made me laugh with your DH's 'one spoon, one plate, one glass' and a LOT of tools.....while your 'junk' clutters up the house he thinks. LOL. Men! I don't know how to you make all those wreaths with everything on your plate, and all the pain you deal with too. So very hard on you!! Sending you love and prayers, always. Nana and Jane, sweet friends who know just the right thing to say about my Dad. :o) I'm sure you are right that he's watching over me. I think of him with every bit I do as he always said he loved how it looked and showed me how much he enjoyed it. You've given me an idea on some decorating, will tell you when it's done!!! Marlene, dear friend, could I please borrow your DH !! :o) I love all you said, and you really nailed it too! I really want to thank you for the compliments on my decorating. Hope I can live up to them. Party, you have a Mr O. too, including the obsessed golf part ?! What did God do....CLONE these guys??? LOL. You are right, (tho I don't recall him being a Scout,) if I give him a task he's pretty good at saying ok. I do think he'd draw the line at actually going thru bins or decorating. But he'd bring them in, if I asked. He seems to think if I don't ask, then I must not need help. Jeeez. You on the other hand are a huge help, I loved what you advised....."my advice is to choose a subset of decorations that are your favorites or most important to you and begin decorating. I think you need the decor to feel like the holidays and I think you need to go through the process of decorating." I am going to do this!! Phoggie, so nice to meet you! And thank you. I'm so sorry for the loss of your husband, and I hope I didn't make you sad with my complaining about my Mr. O. I know you must miss him terribly. Several of our ladies here are dealing with the same huge loss in their lives and I need to apologize to all of you if I was insensitive. I also regret you are another of us who suffer Fibro, but you're in good company here for sure! That is wonderful you've been asked to decorate for a home tour! You must do beautiful things. I hope you can share pictures with us. Yes, holiday depression this time of year is pretty common unfortunately. Since my Dad died, I sure had a bad time the last two Christmas'es with it. And fighting it this year, but at least I'm beating it for the most part. I look forward to Christmas Eve with family, but Christmas day makes me sad. Here 'alone' and its just another day. (Mr O still goes to golf course, tho its closed, and just practices. Or watches football.) I hope you hang around with us and keep posting, we're glad to have more members in our little "gang". :o) Hugs back to you. There's a lot of WISE women on this Forum, I sure know how to pick my friends! Y'all are Keepers! hugs, Karen

I assume you've done the obvious google image search? I only post that because you didn't mention it. They've improved it to be able to refine search results. Here is a link that might be useful: google image search for reading nook

I think this is why some GCs prefer to work with the same subs over and over. They've gotten to know and trust each other and they don't pull that kind of thing. Our GC told us this up-front, that he'd get multiple bids whenever the "usual" guy's numbers looked high, and that he'd use who we wanted, but he likes to work with the usual gang. Our house isn't done yet, but I've seen numerous times where the fact that they know how the other guy does things has helped us out or prevented a mistake. I know many homeowners would be suspicious of such arrangements and quick to use the "kickback" word, but these kinds of errors cost someone, either the homeowner or the honest sub who takes pride in his work, fixes someone else's faux pas, and doesn't get paid for that time.