On my bookshelves I have a small cropped photo of a kid's barefeet wriggling toes in sand...not my grandchild's toes but just something I clipped from somewhere. Also have a favorite of a toddler grandchild holding grandpa's hand walking thru garden... from rear view. So the photos don't have to be recognizable to share the joy of childhood. Just to encourage you all...grin...josh

Well, I found this post just as it's about to expired! (Aug. 13th) Life is NOT boring at our house!! Last Sunday. morning the dog got under the house and pestered a.... SKUNK for about 30 mins-untill it sprayed!...not the dog! She's quick enough to get out from under and clean around to the back before it sprayed! But the smell seeped throught the under bords into the house! Our termite people came out Mond. and set a trap that morning. At 5:PM all of a sudden we smelled her again, so thought she was caught. But the dog kept going crazy at the living room wall. So we figured she had had babies. Wed.- termite guys checked the trap and..no skunk yet. WHY did hubby let the dog out AGAIN with the board off the opening to under the house????? Now the terrier has eather injured the skunk or it's just too scared to come out and get caught! SssssO, NOW we eather have a DEAD skunk or a very hunger one that the termite guys are going to have to go in and get! More skunk stink will get spread throughout our cute, little house...clothes, drapes, carpet... Anyone want to liven up your lives and come over for some excitement? I'll let you know when the termite guys come back to re-check the trap and collect our intruder "one way or another!" Friday- The termite guys are avoiding us - didn't come to check the trap today,(Hope they work on Saturdays)! Otherwise it could get VERY interesting Mond. when hubby calls them and askes why they didn't come back out Friday! "I actually enjoy being at work!", untill things clear up at home! LOL P.S. Sunday,Hubby asked if I didn't want to go to the MALL... with HIM! Then out to eat, then book shopping! This is a guy who wants to know how to get and get out of stores as quickly as possible. He wants to know where the items are so he dosen't have to look around! I can't get this guy to go shopping for Christmas! So all is not lost! At least we don't just sit home anymore!

Woodsy- cute bunny. How do you get so much done? Bettyatp- I love the bumble bee! Lynette- Glad your eye is feeling better. Any one that knows about the eye patch is going to let you forget. Donna- Feel better soon. My husband does the same thing. Pulls me into one of his projects and then I can't get away. Kit- Hang in there on your trip. Did you take another project to work on? Marti8a- I go outside and goof off too. Mine is more of the feeding and watering animals and cleaning up after them. Biwako- Are the circles being done as snowball squares? Marty mo- How big is the quilt you put on the frame? Sometimes the big quilts can be a hassle. Cheryl- I've that about doing blocks of the months on my own but I would still be on Dec. 2006 Jennifer in VA- Looking forward to pictures. Dresden Plates is a beautiful pattern. Fran- Laying them out is half the battle for me sometimes. What pattern are the blocks? Sue- When do we see pictures? We are Girls with Goals! Suellen

We will see about lost revenue soon. I went back yesterday evening to get my sunglasses and noticed the opposite wall has separated an inch and the hardwood in one bedroom has buckled. This will be interesting. I suspect overloading - there were no defects noted in the attic or structure, ever. Not by any inspector or contractor. The only comment was that the roof was getting old and I might want to think about replacement at some point. I say boring a bit tongue in cheek in that I am known to talk about design and decorating incessantly. Not as bad as the rehab addict lady... Hopefully a more subtle Mike Holmes. An engineer came by yesterday afternoon. Not sure whose insurance called them (not mine). The first thing they did was get in a lift and take pictures of supplies and whatnot. Google says this may not be unheard of, BC has a handy guide for how to load up supplies in a roof that I guess they should have read first. I know a structural engineer and we are visiting today too. Losing the plaster and lathe on the wall facing the school bothers me some since it makes things quieter on the inside. Another thing concerns me a bit is flood insurance requirements. BFE here is 13 feet and the living space is at 12.6. It has never flooded. If you do more than 50% of the value of the place in repair in a year you have to bring it up (physically raise it). If this is defined as market value of the place I doubt we will hit that since values more than rebounded. However if it's defined as value of the improvements per the county's housing crash values this could be trouble. Likewise for bringing things to code. Insurance is supposed to put it back the way it was, but rules have changed over the last century and I am not sure I'd that comes out of my pocket. I take this the same way Peter did in Office Space when the building burned down. Just stand back and watch... For now I will finish our place. I assume they will fix by removing the roof completely, take out the ceiling, remove the entire second story wall facing the school, remove a section of the opposite wall and then deal with whatever broke and buckled the floor. If required to raise ithe house the entire drain system must be redone, the place leveled and the enclosed rear porch rebuilt. @doug the floor looks awesome! Is it walnut? @texas - that may be me... I will check it out once I am not browsing by phone. Marine spar varnish is great stuff, it's the right choice. Coffee time...