I am a small scale version of what everyone has mentioned above. I live inner city and only on one acre and most of it is woods. Also I don't want my backyard to look like a production range for a nursery - so I only grow for market in two small areas (one in the sun, and one in the shade). I've sold for the last two years at a large flea market in the city, next year I will be at a farmer's market in another suburb. I can sell about a third of whatever I bring to market on most days and on a good day sell half. I sell bedding plants and small trees as well as tropicals and produce from my veggie/herb garden. I don't make enough to quit my day job but I more than make enough to support my hobby. The best part about gardening as a hobby is that I have a constant supply of fresh food (I garden all year; in two hoop houses during the winter), a fun part time job to make extra money and one that doesn't feel like "work"; and plenty of personal garden-related gifts for holidays and birthdays for friends and family - I always have something to share. Plenty of people try to make a living from growing things, succeeding at it is often difficult. It all depends on how much money you want to make and how hard you want to work. The biggest lesson I've learned is that there is a difference between growing plants and selling plants. Its easy to grow plants. Its harder to sell plants.

I had planned to do laundry, and other household chores to get ready for the work week, but Alex decided he wanted to go see a movie. We haven't seen a lot of him lately and so we picked him up. We were going to see Hurcules, his choice, but we were all too late, he was originally supposed to meet us there. Anyway, ended up seeing 47 Ronin. It was ok, almost fell asleep in the beginning. A little hokie but not horribly so. We ate a late lunch at Wendys in the car, because Alex was starving and we only had 30 minute till the movie. Lauren wanted to spend some time with her new boyfriend this evening so we were limited on time. After I dropped her off I went to Trader Joe's to get a few things. Now I'm home. Threw some towels in the washer, put a beef roast and veggies in the crockpot for work lunches and Lauren. Then made my dinner. I got some fun English cheese, whole grain crackers, Kalmata (sp?) olives and some clams in butter/garlic sauce. Teeny tiny clams-lol. Going to watch Revenge later and wait for Lauren to come home. She knows she's supposed to be home by 9:30 and so does her boyfriend!

Thanks all! lindavana - we got the light from Metro Lighting, its a Capital Lighting Chandelier, 4912BI, you can get in 8 or 12 lights. drbevdc - thanks!, my boyfriend is a big beer geek and this was his special request, we love how it turned out. Everyone raves about our open shelves, found them on Etsy and we love the navy cabinets. ILoveRed - curtains are our only window treatments on the main floor and since we are city living we were not sure how much everyone can see into our house, so they had to go up right away. I had purchased the curtains in advance so they were ready to go. We had the brackets hung by the construction team before we closed, so it was "easy" for me to jump up and hang them...i dont do heights very well and was a little scared since the ceilings are 11' tall, but I got them up! Rugs were all from our old house and the right size so easy to just lay down, whew.

You all are very kind as usual..you're not being blunt, and you're being very helpful (and I'm a psycho-more than usual. But it might be my new usual. Things are moving this way) running, I wonder whether it's one of the approaches I love the most..it was developed by Michael White if I'm not mistaken. It does sound like it. There, one does create a story ..and picks certain bricks to build that house so to say, a house of his story..out of thousand brincks that he has, he picks hundreds -and chooses not to pick others, as to confirm his own story. While other bricks continue to be at his disposal..they don't fit. They don't fit whatever he builds, and thus he never uses them. Maybe he doesn't even see them, at times. Sounds familiar? It might be called a narrative approach, I'm not very sure about English terminology. And I'm desperate to continue to write my story. And I want to have some control over it. Who doesn't. It's damn hard to do. Because my control is getting very small precisely when it had a chance to be bigger, and precisely when I sorely need it. It shrinks by the day. It shrinks and it doesn't depend on me that much already, and will depend less and less. So I have a very little time. I'm revisiting my past a lot, that's true, and I'm bargaining about some of "what ifs"-but I probably think too much about future right now because it comes faster than I thought it would. And future -whatever part of the story I have yet to write-it does include the current house. Say I don't want to sell it, or to rent it, or to get rid of it. I want to keep it in the family and all. I do love it. But it shapes to be my "forever" house too fast. Simply speaking-I don't want to die here. And it's very hard becoming a huge burden to your family. I'll be a very big burden. I already am-bui I didn't imagine the degree of how fast it goes downhill, and what will entail. It'll get worse, and it won't be pretty. It will be ugly, and very.. non-elegant. No white camelias.. And I want to die at home. Well preferably to live and die at home, but if living is impossible then to die. And my home is very very far away. And for millions of people that might be a brick that they wouldn't choose. Where they're'd want to die. It's a kind of a luxury too..I'm not even sure that brick is at my disposal)) I realize all that. Yet to me it's fundamental. It's like to write ..well I don't know.."Wuthering Heights" and leave out Heathcliff. My Heatchcliff is not a person, not a passion for something, not a..I don't know. Everybody and their Heathcliff. My Heathcliff is my land. I spent many years trying to write a different story. But that brick Is too heavy to move, I'm not taking it out.. My house of a story might be a pretty place without it. But it would be a lie. And I want authenticity. As with a house.. And to be a burden here...very practically speaking ..lots of money too. Pain to them and torture to me- and tons of money. I need to start leaving-well partially leaving, I'm not going to leave my family and this country once and for all, I'll have to divide my time between here and there, which will be very hard as well-I need to start leaving much faster than I thought. While l I have a capacity to do so at all. While I have my brain still computating things for me, you know? because it's not a given. I thought whatever happens-at least to the very end I have my dignity. I can be of some minor use to my loved ones. One can still think, talk, be a rock in a sense he's there for them.. That's not how things will work in my case, not neccessarily. One needs to be of a sound mind in order to have dignity..to be a rock..to be anything at all. And mind will most likely crumble as everything else does. I'm so so sorry to bring you into my vortex or how it's called. But there are very few people who know these details-and one of them is my husband, and the rest, I pay them money)) I don't want to make others too sad over things they cannot change-so add to it my huge effort to show everybody a different story that you write only for their sake. A story where everything looks better and holds a promise.. It's too many stories to juggle at once..))) And my fingers loose the capacity to hold a pen. I don't mourn my old place. I mourn my old me. After all I'm to separate from her soon. She's a very questionable person of course-but I didn't have anybody else)) I do want to live in the moment (to that end we yesterday went to the party and had fun)) we'd choose it anyway over open house lol, but you probably convinced me not to go at all. Maybe while I was writing here and reading your answers-I lost the incling to go to. Having this thread was enough ) And I do want to accept things .Desperately so. It's just hard because almost every day brings something else I have to adjust to and thus accept. Gardens and orchids do make me happy:) Believe me I'd rather stop writing where I was at orchids' part. Totally my fault to let it slide like that. I'm sorry about all this oversharing..I think it partially falls on you too because is easier to say certain things in English. It being not my native language. It's liberating, to a degree. Not fair to you of course, but you're too good for your own good ..)) I should probably have to just leave it all unanswered. Yet all of you wrote to me and shared with me your thoughts and stories from the bottom of your heart. I'm giving you back something you don't need. But it's also from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.. You are fascinating people, you opened so many new stories to me, and your existence in my life-virtual or not-is also a brick that I'd rather hold on to.