Just a thought here ... Spraying with a chemical pesticide for aphids is something like using a sledge hammer to kill a fly in your living room. Far, far too much destruction for the simple thing you wanted to accomplish. Aphids are vulnerable, soft-bodied insects. You can brush them off the buds with your fingers, or hose them off with water from a gardenhose. Birds love to eat aphids. If you avoided the pesticide, and left the aphids where they were, birds and predatory insects would eliminate them with no action from you needed. Only, when you spray with something like the Bayer Pesticides, you kill the beneficial insects, and repel the birds. :-( so when you need them next, they won't be there. Jeri

now we are going down memory lane, on youtube!! LOL so we are the cool parents!!! we listen to heavy metal, LOL and rock, LOL tabor said, ahhh man your the bomb!!! of course now its twisted sister and ratt. i like them and quiet riot. then hubs goes do you remember dio?? i was like ohhh ya. dang that was years ago. we were pretty softer compared to you though!! LOL then i found out he liked metallica, i was like awesome!! dude way cool!! we did have something in common!! unlike everything else we have in common, right?? LOL tabor totally loves alice cooper!! LOL he's totally a freak!! LOL ok, tomarow i should be getting my seeds in the mail. i am so excited. i think i might grow them on my porch, LOL then it'll be pretty much protected AND it'll be full sun!! LOL and sfg!!! my hubs will think i'm nuts, but ummmm... what's new???? LOL i'm like always nuts anyhow!!! LOL then when my gh is done, i'll grow a bunch of stuff in there, and it's gonna definately be protected!! LOL LOL talla call's the males from the 80's she's, ROFL!!! its so funny!! so hubs had to tell her that they were he's!! LOL Hee Hee she thinks only girls have long hair!!! LOL **just chuckling** i am definately tired!! geeze!! to much capicino!! i knew they were bad for me!! hubs just got me started back on them again, Bad medo!! Bad Medo!!! No More!!! LOL granny!! them are some great pics!! i can't but can believe that you painted them pics!! i can because you have a tremendous eye for the garden and make it look just great so it doesn't surprise me that you can paint that great!! ~Medo

Haha! Yes, I should get a set for myself and just "keep it at my house" for when little ones come to visit. ;-D I keep going back and looking at it (first heard of Calico Critters on a morning news segment where they were featuring neat offerings from a local toy shop), and can so imagine spending hours playing with these when I was a child. I too had Liddle Kiddles, Flatsy Dolls (remember those?), and of course tons of Barbies and accessories. My niece, who is 9, might be a tad too old for the Calico Critters, although she does still play with her Littlest Pet Shop animals. I checked out the Lalaloopsy dolls and they too are very cute! The niece has asked for an American Girl doll for Christmas, and while they're adorable, they and their accessories are pretty high priced. I remember the commercials for Sylvanian Families! I was older by the time they came out, but remember that they were quite cute too. The Calico Critters have sort of a Richard Scarry look about them, and I always loved his books. Maybe that's why they especially appeal to me.

I have not been on this forum for a long time but I had to comment. I just finished taking down a powder room full of wallpaper. I wanted to comment on a product called Gardz, it is made by Zinsser (sp?) It is wonderful for helping fix dry wall. If you get the paper down and have places that need mud and sanding, put this product on the spots before mudding. It seals everything, then mud, sand, and cover the spots again with Gardz. I just totally rolled the whole room with it. It is oil based, so I just threw the roller away. It is thin and milky looking and a little goes a long way. It really helps prepare your walls for paint or wallpaper. When I took down a whole foyer of wallpaper, the walls were so damaged that I had a drywaller skim coat them again. The painter I hired asked what I put on the walls, I told him that I rolled them with Gardz to prepare the new drywall and he said he really likes the product. No I do not sell this product, it is actually hard to find, just trying to help a fellow person taking down that dreaded wallpaper!