Too funny and true! Don't know why this story reminded me of men and their out of town business trips but it did. For those married to men who travel, do they normally just say, "I'll be out of town from x to x"? Then they pack a simple bag and make their exit with zero fanfare. Now... have you, the wife/mother, ever had to go out of town when it is not normal for you to travel? Good Lord, the preparations required to make a short exit are crazy. LOL, I was always so exhausted from making sure the kids had what they needed to survive for a couple of days, babysitters scheduled, food available and/or prepared, lunch money ready, school projects handled, rules and regulations reviewed, etc. etc. ETC. Even had to make sure the pets were attended to. Then you leave and worry the entire trip because you know the house will absolutely fall apart without your presence and guidance. Awful! Women ARE the hardest workers of all and are the true backbone of any family.

Totally agree with sabbath7. This is exactly how we did it when we have sold/bought houses due to the lack of honesty and integrity with realtors . We don't have trust in realtors from personal experiences. You have learned the hard way, and for that I am sorry for you. It will help you in the future if you decide to sell or are relocated again. (I also was pregnant when we sold our house to move for a job relocation...in the dead of Winter, by myself. Husband had already moved to the new job. Our realtor and the seller's realtor thought they could take advantage of the situation. They were very, very wrong in their assumption. I held up the closing till terms were met). There isn't a lot that I think can be done at the present. Go to the owner/manager of the agency and file a complaint against your lousy agent. I doubt much will happen, but at least they will know you weren't represented well and you will not be recommending them to anyone else and will tell of your bad dealings with this agency to friends and family. Good luck with your new house and the new baby!

It depends :-)) And isn't that the answer to any gardening question? LOL! Some short-lived perennial will take well to division while others not so much. For example, the perennial wallfllowers like Bowle's Mauve, which literally blooms itself to an early demise, are more shrub-like and typically have a single growth point which limits the ability to divide. And dividing delphiniums is just a guarantee of killing them, IME. Never had any success dividing lupines either, but they will reseed easily and replace themselves. One of the best resources for care of a huge assortment of perennials as well as how, when and if to divide is The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, by Tracy diSabato-Aust. This is a great reference any perennial gardener should have in their library.

One waterproofs from the outside, not the inside on a new home. If there is a concern about a great amount of water, the builder can add further barriers to the outside and under the slab, as per the Delta illustration below. (The footing barrier, which stops rising damp, has been part of the Ontario Building Code for more than 10 years already.) As for finishing the basement walls, any space between insulation and the wall will short-circuit the effectiveness of the insulation. Unless there is an interior footing drain to collect any water behind the interior membrane, all the plastic will do is trap moisture for mould growth between the plastic and the foundation wall. It looks like the builder intends to pour over the plastic that extends onto the bottom of the excavation. I don't see the logic behind this arrangement.