neverheidae's Profile

I always suspect that posters like the first commenter are a bit too tightly wound. Considering I've spent the last 6 months trying to figure out the magical "simple obvious google search" that would yield a comfortable, high quality non-ikea grade grey sofa with low arms and a back under 3,000 from a reputable seller. It's not that obvious of a search. And I can totally see why someone would throw up their hands in frustration. I personally really appreciate the "design noob friendly" good questions answers like this and the help from most AT commenters.

By the way, in my search I wound up opting for the Henry sectional from West Elm when I finally did throw my hands up. (http://www.westelm.com/m/products/henry-sectional-g238/?pkey=csectionals)

My husband and I almost burned down our kitchen twice in one week.

The first time was him, and he left a wood cutting board over the two left eyes of the stove...then turned on the right eye to heat up a skillet. I'm sure it was the right eye. No pro---oh my, 5 foot flames. Leaping. Dancing. We winged the aflame cutting board into the sink full of water and turned off the oven, at which point we had a mighty relieved laugh.

Then about 3 days later, we were home enjoying the fall weekend, and I put a dingy old teakettle onto the eye to make myself some tea. As I waited for it to boil I did some housework, and my husband asked if I wanted to help him schlep our garbage to the rural dump/compost pit/disposal area. I said sure! no problem! aaaaand left without any recollection of the gently steaming kettle. We came back about 25 minutes later to the rank, rank smell of molten plastic and sauter. The kettle was literally red hot, and the plastic handle had melted down to turn into a kettle stalactite.

Haven't done either since.

Hey guys, I fought a huge fungus gnat invasion a few years back and thought I'd share what I'd learned.

Fungus gnats don't eat roots, or the plant at all; they are just there to lay eggs in the wet soil. So they only really harm very young plants, or plants that have root damage already.

Fungus gnats can only live in your soil if you have super saturated soil. That can be a product of over-watering (let the top soil dry out between waterings, and then water deeply through a bottom saucer), or a product of compacted, poorly drained soil (you're watering right, but your pot has no drainage so the bottom soil is always wet. This also risks root-rot, and the root rot might be what was actually killing your plants rather than the gnats).

The best way to get rid of fungus gnats to use a decent insecticide (there are several organic ones targeting gnats directly) dry the soil out completely, and leave it dry for a day or two, so their life cycle gets broken. The problem there however, is if your plant isn't terribly resilient. I don't think I would use the moth ball approach...there's just too much weird stuff in those that the plant could soak up and store, even if it doesn't harm the plant outright.

Fungus Gnats suck, the annoying little boogers. I hope this helps you get rid of em, or prevent them next year. Good luck!

The problem I tend to run into around my house is when I answer "nope! toss it!" to all of the above...and then remember that this particularly hideous fill-in-the blank was given to me by one of my 9 aunts "for when I got a home of my own", and that they're coming over next christmas, sure to be looking for that set of ridiculous tea towels or whatever. This has lead me to the annoying position of schleping around a rubbermaid tub full of absolute crap I feel too guilty to get rid of. I'd love to hear a solution for that dilemma, cause I sure don't have one. ):

I had to chuckle at the moonshine comment; mason jars are indeed the storage vessel of choice for 'shine.

The lids make pretty awesome "tester" single-cookie cookie sheets, if you are making a new recipe or have a lying oven temperature meter like I do, and don't want to waste a whole batch of burned crispy cookies.

Since the glass is safer than any yucky plastic, I also infuse herbal vodkas and clove gin in mine. Throw a few garlic cloves, some lavender, or a sprig of rosemary in there for a little while, and you have a cocktail mixer that's pretty unique.