I had to laugh yesterday - I thought I'd planned my garden orders pretty well, so that the daylilies would arrive in early May, and I'd be able to plant them myself, right away. SO, guess what arrived yesterday? A box of daylilies. I forgot that I'd done a small order from GHWild quite a while ago, for a few things from one of their great sales. Here I am, unable to bend down to pick up things I've dropped, with a box of daylilies to plant. Phooey. Fortunately, my friend Becky was coming to visit that day, and she planted them for me. I pointed, she planted. Aren't friends great? My little box contained: 'Route Sixty Six,' 'Black Friar,' 'Moorish Beauty,' and a bonus of 'Alice in Wonderland.' They were decent divisions of 3-4 smaller fans each, a little dried out but healthy otherwise. I doubt they'll bloom this year, but I might get a pleasant surprise. Laurel

jay... Lucky you.. Have a great time, and hope you have good weather. I agree with both Luvs and Betty... look forward to hearing from you when you return...and make time to Shop!! jane

My intention was to recommend a starting point, not for someone to think it was a black or white thing. If you want to get the detergent dose just right, you need to know something about your water chemistry. I just didn't want lsandler to think we're a bunch of obsessed laundry freaks! OH wait a minute... we are! haha! Let's use my Asko manual's recommendation, and work from there. I have a W6761, which has a 5 kg (11 lb) capacity. I can't find any information on the drum volume, but for argument's sake let's assume the Miele W4842 has at least double the drum size. The Asko manual recommends the following detergent amounts: Soft water: 1 TBS Medium hard water: 1.5 TBS Hard water: 2.5 TBS Presuming that laundry volume, therefore detergent amount, scales linearly with drum volume we are looking at roughly 3 TBS for the Miele W4842. If you have soft water then 2 TBS, and 5 TBS if you have hard water. This is how I formulated my recommendation, and I still think it's a good starting point. Miele dishwashers digitally measure the hardness of the water they use, I wonder why they didn't include that technology in the W4842 washing machine. It would have been a great addition. I think it's silly to blindly follow the detergent manufacturer's recommendation. How can they know how big your machine is, or how much water your particular machine uses? If I followed the recommendation on the detergent box, I would have suds all over the floor. What size of washer did these manufacturers use when they formulated their recommendations? Don't you think it's peculiar that regular Tide, which is designed for top loaders that use 40 gallons or more of water per load, has the same size scoop and the same dosage instructions as Tide HE which is to be used in front load machines that use 80% less water? I'd love to hear your experience with the W4842. I'm toying with the idea of getting this same machine myself, I'm starting to outgrow my Asko.

LOL Joyful! Thank you everyone for all the good wishes. What a day ahead of us! Last night suddenly the kitchen sink plugged up. It was working just fine, even gurgled as it drained. We have a plumber coming this morning. Then DH has to work today, and our realtor called with a showing during dinner hour. That means I have to have the house ready for showing by myself. To top that off, I am feeling like a SLUG! The last time I had my blood thinning med was Sunday evening and my blood is now thicker then usual. I was slow before, but now I am a real slug! LOL By tomorrow evening I should be doing double-time! Do you think they will leave me alone to watch Survivor!?! Tom said he will post and let you know how it went. Hayjud