stlgal...yes, they are slowly taking over (sort of)...the yard is a little over an acre and so far they're only in the front flower beds and around the perimeter of the back fence...so there's still room for expansion :) Thank you Kat...maybe I'll break down and place an Heirloom order in the spring :)

I am still deciding what I want to do. Mulling maybe is a better word. Sallymo, I had a painter out for my foyer yesterday. He is coming back with my estimate today and the foyer will be painted withing the next month regardless of who paints it. I may decide to go that way while I have a painter here. I am sort of focused on my finals until Friday and I may run after and see what I can find. I thought perhaps some pictures matted in cream (black and whites or sepia) of my children and family would bring a good feel to the room and the cream mattings would brighten things up a little if I went that route. I am also am looking at pillow covers on Etsy in patterns to cover my pillows. I thought I could still use the same forms and sizes and find a brown linen, a blue linen and then I really like the pottery barn ones. They should fit my current smaller pillows. I am sort of getting a vision. I want new lamps and I just need to find them!

Thanks all. Well, UE came through and the dog and I took a drive up the road about 3 miles (I drove) to get to the gas station with the better prices. This gas station was 6 cents cheaper a gallon than the closer station. Geez, I have not bought gas for quite a while. The prices are going back up. The price was like $2.73.9 a gallon for unleaded. Some days I have not even left the house except to water the plants, feed the birds and get the mail. What are you all paying in your part of the country? So if my body behaves tomorrow morning I will head on down the road. I am not sure if I should take the freeway since that might be jammed up. I will listen to the radio before I leave the house. They give the traffic report so you know what's stopped up. Oh, and the weather channel local on the 8's and its website show the road slowdowns too. Ok, if I make it there I will report to you all tomorrow and let you know how my 1st day went. Another thing to worry about - health insurance. I have to make sure I ask about that tomorrow. Oh, and I have to remember to stop at Ikea for an application.

@dadoes, one of the easier ways to obtain very similar, if not exact results... is still available. You can find Original Lime Green Cascade Gel at Wal-Mart, and SOME Target stores. This is the chlorinated version, which is also getting very hard to find. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Cascade-Gel-Dishwasher-Detergent-Lemon-Scent-120-fl-oz/15055991?athcpid=15055991 If you simply add, a One & A Half to Two teaspoons of STPP to the detergent cup, with the Original Cascade Gel... you'll get a fantastic clean. What I do.. is I pour in a little bit of gel, add the STPP, and than cover it to the top of the detergent cup with more Cascade. I've tried doing this with Complete Gel... and the results were good, but, nothing like the Chlorinated Version. I really think you should try this. At the very least, you might be able to stretch the amount of time, before you run out of the good stuff, you have now. I also have had fairly decent luck, with the Palmolive Eco Gel (which is Chlorinated)... and the Sun/Huish made Gels (which are now discontinued). The Finish Gel... is complete crapola, and is worthless even with STPP added in. Chlorine Dishwasher Gels tend to be very basic, and similar in formulation to the pre-ban formulas, so when STPP is added, they preform a LOT like the old stuff. The same cannot be said for the Enzyme Powders, which, I haven't had the best results adding STPP to. They preform better, but clean nothing like the Boosted Chlorine Gels.