Swarming mosquitos might indicate you live near a big mosquito nursery that the County Mosquito Control would be eager to address. Our neighborhood association is working with (Pinellas) County to "spray" (I think it may be "fogging"). The county will come to our yards if invited, to check places that may be harboring mosquitos and advise... maybe you have some yards, bayous, ditches, near you, public or private, that they could get to to check and fog or spray. Perhaps you might check them out online & call. I live in a different part of St Pete from you and my yard does not have mosquitos to speak of, YET. I do have many bromiliads. I have crushed "Dunk" sprinkled in some, but have to go buy more to fill them all. I think it is hot enough with enough dry days, that the bromiliads are not holding enough water YET. Just my guess.

Me too! I'm about all painted out....... Just a couple of weeks ago, I painted about 500 ft of molding (not yet hung, thank goodness!). I first had to get the temp in the garage to 50 degrees and then figure out the logistics of it all--drying racks, etc. Now it's installed and I have nail holes to fill and patch and caulking to do, but that's on the back burner this week..... This past weekend I spent outside painting our patio arbor, trying to beat the blooming-out of the wisteria that covers about half of it. It was planned for painting last year, but spring sprung early, and the wisteria beat us. Anyway, hubby gave the wisteria a good "haircut" and painted the top for me since my 45-yr-old inner ears won't let me stand up on top of it without vertigo kicking in. I got the "wisteria area" painted plus a little more. I've been chased inside today by weather and the need to start on another time-sensitive project--TAXES! That's what I'm doing now, on the computer (well, okay, so I'm on this forum.....). I also have to get my front living room painted by Monday so I can take delivery of some furniture that will transform it into a "library". Me thinks I bit off more than I wanted to chew in such a short time. After this week, I hope to finish off the arbor painting, remove the old gold fish pond that resides underneath it (that thankfully chose this particular "painting year" to crack on us) and get a new one in place so our goldfish can get back to their summer home (they winter in the garage). Then I have a "side arbor" (off the side-entrance to garage) to paint before the clematis covers too much of it. Oh....and then there's the deck, but there's nothing there I have to "beat" before its blooming-out takes over the structure. Then I will make it back to the basement touchups......and whatever new project that decides to pop up. Oh, and I love audio books too while painting. Happy painting everyone! Tracey

He is just as frustrated as I am in a lot of ways. But I take the brunt of it because I am the one dealing with it on a daily basis. I am the one at home and I am the one that everyone looks at (including BM) to know what is going on with the boys school work. We cant really cut into her visitation time because it would open up a can of worms that we aren't able to financially back (court issues .. if she goes off the deep end) As of later today I ended up breaking down a bit with the boys tears and all... didnt really want to but it all just got to me. I feel so helpless and yet responsible at the same time. It's crazy. I told them they need to figure how to do the right thing regardless of where they are at. I don't really know how to teach that though. How do you combat a mom saying its okay if you didnt do your work and you play video games instead when you are dealing with teenage boys? Perhaps taking a stand with BM and keeping the boys when the they have homework is the only choice. However, it's a battle that scares me because it could have even more drastic reprocussions that would hurt the kids more than just attempting to teach them to do the right thing. ..... I dont know things are just so difficult right now. Like I told the boys today... " I am tired of having this conversation with you. I am frustrated that even though you know how important it was to take your work seriously this weekend you still did not. I am sick of you looking at me like you hate my guts because I am the one making you do your work. I am sick of staying up till late at night to help you with your stuff when you just do what you want to do when we are not there and ignore what we say." As of right now I told the boys that I am not going to bend over backwards to do things for them if they can not do what we ask. If they want to live their life doing whatever they please then so be it but dont expect me to go out of my way. For example this morning they had a band rehearsal for a concert (btw they have put NO effort into band at all) because of their actions DH said he was not going to go out of his way to take them to school early. The boys came home saying they had to be there tomorrow and the next day to make up for missing today in order to play in the concert...but I told them no. I was not going to do that. They can play in front of their class to get their grade. I am absolutely not going to go out of my way to accomodate them. Younger ss then came out and asked me if I would take him to school early tomorrow so he could make up a take home test he didnt do. I asked him if he studied for it. He said no. So I said then no, why would I waste my time if you didnt bother to study ... without studying you will still fail. You have to put in some effort before I will. I don't know if it is the right thing but it is all I have left... if someone has a better suggestion I am all ears

Aimless, I encountered a similar problem with the upper cabinets when I renovated my current kitchen. The old ones were built in place, and were a full 12" on the INSIDE. New standard factory built cabinets are 12" on the OUTSIDE. I have hand made plates that needed to be put above the fridge because they no longer fit in the plate cupboard. Out of sight, out of mind. So we never use them anymore. :( For weeks afterwards, I was measuring cabinets everywhere to see if my cabinet company had cheaped out on me. But no, I've never seen a proper sized cabinet anywhere. Stupid, stupid things that they seem to rely on the consumer not to know about. And I'm guessing you're on slab, and that's why you needed to know about your floor outlets early?