Well we got invaded by SVB's unfortunately. I've definitely lost 1 Jack-O-Lantern vine and 1 Acorn squash vine, and probably 1 more Acorn, 2 more Jack's and possibly 2 Caspers to these things. Next year I'm definitely covering these plants, as we checked them nearly every day and somehow missed enough eggs to hatch 30+ SVBs, and these things take 7-15 days to hatch! What I tried to do was slicing the vines open just enough to stick some tweezers in there to remove the SVB grubs. I then smashed them and fed them to the fire ants in the yard. Made me feel better to watch them get carried down in to the mound, knowing they'll get eaten the way they've destroyed my plants. I took some pantyhose and cut them in small strips and tied them around the spots I cut open to try and "suture" the plant's wounds back together in a last-ditch effort to hope the plant survives.

I love the new layout and it makes the area look more spacious! Also love the primitive table and that's a good place for it. As to the matching leather recliners, just make sure that what he picks out is also comfortable for you. I made the mistake of getting the same recliner for me that DH selected and always regretted it because it just wasn't comfortable for my smaller frame. Wished I'd kept my previous one or gotten something smaller that coordinated. So if you go with matching recliners they need to be comfortable for each of you.

"Just wait until you have to pack up all that crap and move it." My SIL just bought a retirement home so they are decluttering their current house as a preparation for selling it--she keeps telling me she can't believe how much STUFF she's got to get rid of. When I go to their house I always admire how it looks nicely organized and without extraneous things all over. However, I also admire her tons of closets and storage space which she says leads to keeping, you guessed it, all that stuff LOL. I've decided I will play a mental game this summer and pretend we have to move; maybe that will be my motivation to get rid of much unnecessary and unused stuff in our house! I use the holidays and shopping for gifts to satisfy any yen I may have to be a retail hunter/gatherer. The past few years I increasingly feel as if I am gorging myself after staying on a careful and healthy diet; by the time January comes I feel so psychically bloated from all the shopping /buying that I need another year to rest up and recover! It's interesting to me to watch my young adult daughter who is setting up her first home. She loveslovesloves Home Goods, Marshalls, Pier 1 etc. And when I go with her I usually find stuff I could easily buy. I have a rule that I can't take anything from those places home the day I see it. That usually short circuits the purchase, I'm rarely motivated enough to fight the traffic and crowds to go back a second time!

I know most of us here are on the other side of 50, so wondeirng if you are done buying stuff for your home? Not talking about things that are needed when they wear out but stuff to decorate it? Yes. My brother recently reminded me that I've got more time behind me than in front of me and to buy what I want. Fortunately, I'm not a big shopper but if I see something I like, I'm trying to not overthink it and just buy it. Like others have said, many people in the family just starting out and are willing to take items from the spinster aunt who sits in one chair. I kinda want another car but since the 10+ year old car I now have has only 41K miles, it doesn't make much sense. But....