Ladyvixen, we were in our 30's in 1985 when we bought our 1898 house. Looking back, we were very young. Neither my husband nor I had any skills or knowledge at all about how to work on houses. All we knew was that our house was nearly intact, was very inexpensive, and that we loved it. I had always wanted an old house, and had been buying things such as light fixtures, hardware, etc., for years before we bought the house. We bought the house "as is". Fortunately we were both employed and had no children. We had to hire almost everything done, and it needed a lot of work. We did not take a vacation for years. Then came a time of around a year or two that my husband was either unemployed or underemployed. During that time, the house just didn't get worked on. We didn't care that we lived in an unfinished house; in fact, I thought it was beautiful from day one. We have a corner in the dining room where all the little balls the cats play with end up, but you don't notice the slope otherwise. It has taken us over 25 years, and we are almost finished, but still have some work to do. We should have it finished by now, but are in our 60's now and do like to take a vacation now and then. Also we sometimes didn't have work done even when we had the money, because we were tired of the mess of having things torn up. We lived with a practically non-existent kitchen until about 2004. I said all along that this house was my dream house. People would look at me funny, but it was and still is my dream house. Don't let others talk you out of your dream. Make the decision based on what you want and what you think you can handle. If you think you can live with an unfinished house for years, go for it. If you have to have everything finished and perfect, you shouldn't buy an old house. I have the ablility to not even see the unfinished stuff until we get ready to do something about it. I meant this to be an encouragement to you, but reading back on it, maybe this will scare you because it has taken us so long. Don't let that scare you--you can do it faster than we did! I will try to attach some pictures if I can.

hey! thanks for all the answers ... certainly seems the winner is pear ... i like it; but it comes across sorta greyish to me ... hmmmm the very first answer was from parma (tecquila lime) & that is the choice i have been leaning toward over these many months! ... too gaudy?? ... i have never used a bright color for paint; so i can't envision what it would look like ... squirrel ... you said if i liked lime or moss that i should "knock the edge off" .... does that mean ask them to dilute the paint? .... the other colors you suggested aren't in my fan deck (color preview) ... i will definitely go to the paint store & check them out ... you are so good with colors ... thanks so much everyone; i am so pleased you all took the time to look at my samples ... it is a small room; but i really want to give it a *wow* factor ... phyl

My version is the same as the first, but FREEZE THE SNICKER BARS first, then instead of cutting them, use a rolling pen to smack the heck out of them (okay breaks them into little pieces)...leave them in their wrapper when you do this, it's a lot neater. This spreads the flavor better throughout the salad! You obviously don't need to use a rolling pin, I just found it works best for some odd reason. Good too to take frustrations out! Vickey-MN

I'm always learning new Sans stuff from Stush! I have also read that this variety is very difficult. It's probably because most of the leaf lacks chlorophyll, so it doesn't contribute to photosynthesis. That means the plant grows very slowly, and is therefore more susceptible to over-watering and rot. Reduced ability to photosynthesize means it needs more light, but lack of pigment means it's more susceptible to sunburn. Tricky. If it were mine, I'd follow Stush's advice, then I'd give it as much bright light as possible, but shelter it from too much direct sunlight. Id be very careful to let it dry out between waterings (not bone dry, but just so the soil feels cool rather than wet), and I'd never let it get soggy. I'd also warm it up. I experimented with a little heat on my own Sans recently, and Stush is so right! I'd read that Sans loved heat, but didn't realize how important it was until I put a couple of my Sans on little root-heaters this winter. They suddenly started growing like weeds. See my thread titled "what a difference a little heat makes" to see what an enormous impact heat has on Sans growth, and some cheap and easy ways to apply the concept. It's a really stunning difference. I'll update that post in an hour or so with more pictures.