Michelle

Realizing we won't be purchasing anything for a while, I'd like input from people with pets. We currently have a hand-me-down sectional with a rough grain fabric on it. We have 3 large dogs and a cat. All are welcome on the furniture, and we often play inside. So the couch has become quickly worn. I think the rougher grain of the fabric has made it wear more quickly- for instance, when the dogs walk or run across it to welcome daddy home from work...I'm not going to teach my pets to stay off the furniture, nor will we stop playing indoor fetch. It's fun! But I'm curious about which fabric may take the wear and tear better. I don't really care about the hair, because with this many animals, it's unavoidable. I think the microfiber/suede type material may be the best answer, but I'd like to hear other people's opinions. Leather isn't my first choice decorating wise, but I'd consider it. A smoother cloth might be an option, if it would hold up. Any ideas/suggestions?

I'm going to my favorite local nursery later with a leaf to see what they think, but maybe someone here will have ideas, too. There are holes in the leaves of my pole beans and red bell peppers. So far, nowhere else. I've seen slugs around the yard, but no trails or slugs in the vegetable garden. There aren't holes in the lettuce, collards, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, or any herbs. I doubt it's anything to do with squirrels, rabbits, etc, as my dogs are let out at varied times and do a great job of keeping things like that out of the yard. The gardens are all raised beds. I think it's some type of insect pest, but I haven't seen any yet. And I was just pulling weeds yesterday! I would prefer organic solutions, but I'm trying to figure out what the problem is first! The holes are relatively large and jagged. And isolated to the beans and peppers, which are in separate beds (only one pepper plant has holes, though). Any ideas?

I'd like to mulch my garden, but I'd like to know if the plants listed (narcissus, summer snowdrop, daylily, and white flag) are able to grow through if they're covered in mulch. I'm doubtful that I'll actually remember to uncover them at the right times. I'd rather use a groundcover than forget to move mulch and lose my plants! Thanks!

My house doesn't have gutters. We're going to install some soon, and I've got the details worked out as far as slope, downspout, rain barrel, etc. But I was wondering if anyone knew a way I could make my gutters water my 2 window boxes when it's raining without making it ugly. Like if I drill a small hole and use correct adhesive for vinyl gutter to ? tube material, would it get at least some dripping as water flows over it? I'm thinking something like aquarium tubing, as it's flexible and not noticeable. Does it sound like it would be worth the trouble? The window boxes aren't big, but I have trouble getting to watering them when I'm not watering the rest of the garden- like when it rains and nothing goes to the boxes because of the eaves. What do you think? Opinions, improvements, material suggestions, just brainstorming at this point!

I have 2 flower boxes that get a lot of sun, but not huge amounts of water. Rigth now, they have lantana in them. I need to cut back my lantana, as other projects have left me a little slack on watering the boxes. Will the lantana do ok if I cut it back, despite colder weather? What could I plant in the box with it? I was thinking maybe pansies, just to give color over winter.

Also, beds below boxes, which also get a lot of sun, but get more water (boxes are under the eave and have to be watered) currently have 1 hibiscus, 1 confederate jasmine with lattice, and 1 baby azalea ea. What would make a good filler with that? I don't like things like boxwood. I don't mind keeping up with the azaleas when they start to grow up, but that's about as much structure as I can tolerate. I like perennials and pretty things- obviously, hibiscus, jasmine, azalea, also daisies esp, other wildflower types but need height and texture variations. Help me brainstorm! Beds are roughly 15' long ea and maybe 4' deep. Azalea on ea side by the porch, jasmine in the middle so it can fill up the lattice and be a nice background, hibiscus at the outer end of ea side. Oh, and must be dog friendly- too bad, because I love daylilies!

We have a very old house. It will be very very hard to run a 4th wire, especially at a large gauge, to the stove. Question is this- the constant/white and the ground both hook up the same on our panel (yes, old panel). So basically, were they color coded, we would have black, red, and a white or green to the outlet. The plug provided for the stove requires black, red, white, and green. As the white and ground are connected in the same way at the box, and the old stove was wired with only the 3 total wires (should have taken pictures before unhooking the old outlet!!) could the ground be left off? Would the new 4 wire stove still function? Could the white/ground be split since it's got either 6 or 4 ga strand wire and then be the white and the ground?

Here is a link to the stove, if it's relevant: http://www.frigidaire.com/products/cooking/ranges/...

Thank you!

I usually just have coffee in the mornings, a sandwich for lunch, and a halfway decent dinner. I don't generally eat fast food, but I also probably don't get great nutrition. I would like to start having some type of breakfast, but I'm not a morning person. Here's what I'm looking for:

1. Something cheap

2. Something reasonably nutritious, but non dairy (milk in the morning makes my stomach ill, and I don't like yogurt unless it's in a smoothie).

3. Things you can make ahead. I don't mind cooking, but I'm not getting up 10 minutes earlier to do it. Ideally, if I could make something Sunday evening and maybe one more time during the week and have it cold in the morning, I'd be happy.

4. Something easy to store and portable. If you haven't gotten the idea, let me reiterate that I hate mornings! So if I can grab something out of the 'fridge and eat on the way to work, that'd be cool.

I know I can have, for instance, a banana in the morning pretty easily. But that gets old...ideas?

Is there just a setting I have to change somewhere? I can download other files. But every time I try to download my bank info to update microsoft money, I get a weird error page with a bunch of text scripting that makes no sense to me. I then logout of my account, open IE, login there, and have no problems with my update. Any ideas? Is microsoft angry because I like another browser better?

I'm no wuss, I can take a hangover. But recently, I'd say within the past month or so, I've started having some unusual symptoms. And it's not from drinking a lot- this happened over the weekend from about 6-7 beers. I blamed that on not eating enough. Then yesterday, I only had about 3-4 and did eat dinner. What's worst is that I'll get nauseous and end up violently sick in the afternoon. So I was wondering if I could be having a reaction to something in the beer. Any thoughts? I can stop drinking or drink another type of alcohol, but I like beer and I don't like vomiting.

I'm asking for input from people who already have tattoos, just for curiosity. I have one that was a little annoying, and one that I've only gotten the outline so far. Eh, time, money. I'll get it finished sometime. But I find it interesting to see how different people's experiences vary. So which was better/worse for you? My artist said the shading will be less painful than the outline was. I'm not really worried about it anyway, but it made me wonder. Logically, it seems like shading would take longer and be worse, but I'm curious what your opinions are.

Thanks!