This is a fantastic thread and thank you to all of the contributors! I find mason bees fascinating. I would like to expand my mason bee housing, I only started last year. I have a couple of questions for DIY houses. I think I would like to go the paper tube route. It seems parchment paper seems to work perhaps better than brown paper bag? I have bags but easily can buy a roll of parchment if it fairs better with moisture (pacific north west). Drilling hole size if I used a solid wood block: If I use parchment, do I drill 5/16" still. With paper bag, do I drill 3/8" as the paper takes up space or still go 5/16". I am going to buy a long drill bit (about 16") and use my drill press to get deep holes. Don't really want to buy 2 bits :) . My other option is to rip 5/16" square grooves in 1" think boards and then line with tubes. The tubes will prevent the spread of mites etc between wood layers correct? This is far faster for me (rip the grooves vs. drilling a solid block) and I already have the dado blade and table saw, as well as the wood. Comments and suggestions greatly appreciated!

A return register in the bedroom is a very good idea, so is a new HVAC contractor. The absence of a return register in the bedroom can cause several problems if you close the door, especially if the bottom of the door grazes any carpet. When the air comes on, the room will be positively pressurized. That air has to go somewhere. It will either be forced out under the door through the carpet, or it will find it's way into your attic or out through the wall, thus reducing efficiency. Your carpet will have a dark streak of dirt directly under the door from its acting as an air filter. When the air comes on and when it shuts off, you may also find that the change in air pressure causes the bedroom door to bang if there is any play at all in the latch. One way around all this, besides installing a return in the bedroom, is a jumper duct or wall grille. Check the link below. Ask your contractor why he isn't familiar with all this. He should be. Here is a link that might be useful: Return Air Solutions

Daycamp a couple weeks this summer might be something she actually enjoys if she will give it a chance. You might also suggest to dad that you'd like say two morning (or afternoons) a week that allow you to be free of caretaking. Time to clean house, do your errands, book club at library or whatever. That would not be unreasonable. When dad goes off to work along the lines of 9 to 5 Monday through Friday and you're the 'stay at home' caregiver, your correct that the 'not my kid, not my problem' is something that's easier said than done. Dad is leaving you at home in charge of watching his daughter for 8 to 9 or more hours a day until he gets home. While I agree with others that you can't tell dad his daughter can't watch tv if dad thinks it's perfectly okay for his daughter to be a couch potato, that does not mean you have to be the one there taking that responsibilty all day, day after day. And if you plan an outing such as a walk or a trip to the library, she has to join in as she can't stay home alone. If you really have no hope of motivating activities other than tv/vids, you might also try setting her up in a place other than the living room. But not her bedroom. A playroom with the tv, books, crafts, toys ...and declare 'quiet time' for an hour (but not sshhh, no noise allowed)...just a simple 'we are going to clear the livingroom for an hour, it's time for our quiet time'. Maybe she'll go off to her playroom, maybe she'll go outside, it's her choice what and how she spends the time, it just can't be in the livingroom. Lure her outside, set yourself up a place for your 'my space', a cozy corner of your deck or under a shade tree where you can go out and read. Who knows, maybe with you outside daughter will venture out and ride that scooter. I think what most have been trying over your different posting threads in telling you in their opinions, is that you can't tell dad how to raise his daughter (example, too much tv, no veggies, inactive sedate days) but you do get some say in how *you* spend the day. It's unrealistic to think one will have lots of relaxation, quiet time, and self entertaining kids all day when there are children in the home...if you know how that can be done without affecting normal childhood, write a book, it'll be a best seller LOL... it is not unrealistic to think that you have to be the one doing all the caregiving in dad's absence. Shakti above had some good ideas with "May be you can do something with her (think as if she were your own d, what would you do with her? - talking, joking, walking in the park, cooking together ...)" If you do intend to remain the sole caregiver during dad being absent, you are going to have to come up with ways to make it workable for both daughter and you without complaining and fighting. If SD is not there one week, maybe that's when you need to focus on the main housework. Maybe folding towels and putting her own laundry away could be a regular assigned chore. Helping set the table. Little things that are actually helpful to you yet gives her a sense of not only responsibilty but also a sense of being a part of what's going on in the home...being included.

I think either one looks fine. If your water supply escutcheon for the toilet is half on/half off, I would just scribe around the escutcheon and cut a half circle in the base. It does seem more uniform to use the same base throughout, though I have stone baseboards in both my full and half baths that are different from each other and the painted baseboards everywhere else.