Auteck, I've been warned against afternoon "watering" as opposed to light "misting". Which one are you doing? I will try to get some updated pictures for you. heelsfan, I just came back from columbia, SC which is only 4 hours drive from here and what a difference in climate. It has rained here twice in the last 2 months yet yesterday in SC I got thunderstormed on 8 times in one day. It was like a rain forest. That is the kind of humid coastal plain weather that puts that tropical swamp grasses into high gear and we haven't had that here and we don't normally even get that kind of weather until August. If you're having or have had that kind of hot humid weather with temps in the mid 90's and above then that really isn't what I'm having to contend with. I did see some tall fescue that actually looked like it was in excellent shape though.

Hi Raeanne - Sorry, I am not doing laundry today. I am trying to recover from yesterday's garage sale. It was a major disappointment. We didn't get the crowds that we usually do and I blame the extreme heat. It was miserably hot and humid and I know that kept people away. We were actually giving stuff away at the end of the day, just so we didn't have to pack it back up. I only made $34.20! :~( I usually make around $75 when I just have junk and more when I have big ticket items like furniture. Oh well, there is always next year. Sorry to hear you still aren't feeling better. But I give you permission to drag out your "woe is me" plan of inaction as long as your DH will put up with it! LOL Tikanas - I could get into a whole lot of trouble if I had a week to myself. But it would be a costly week! LOL On the other hand, I can think of some great things that don't cost too much money. Breakfast with a friend, long walks first thing in the AM, hours browsing in my favorite stores, no cooking, watching chick flicks, hours talking on the phone, just to name a few. Have fun and give BJ a great big hug from all of us. Hope NHSuzanne is having a great time in Nantucket. MagicKitty - Glad to hear you had a nice vacation too. I bought a new desk chair today and it is SO comfortable. No wonder my b*tt fell asleep in that other thing! LOL I ordered a turntable for the TV and a chenille throw for the couch. I am still looking for an ottoman and an area rug but those will have to wait until I get back to work and start getting paychecks again! lol Once the desk and hutch get here, I can decide what I want to put on the walls. I will post a picture when it is all done. I like the feeling that this is my space. I guess some good came of DS moving out. Better go find something for dinner. Marci

I guess I never really told you all that my house did actually sell. My story: We put our house on the market in SoCal in August because we were moving to Oregon. 6 days later we had a good offer, we signed the papers and then found out my DH's mother was in emergency care in Maine and we had to jump on a plane and get there. Stayed there for a week (MIL was critical but improved greatly) and came home to find that the buyer had disappeared. He wasn't returning calls, his agent couldn't locate him. Finally the buyer said he'd changed his mind. We lost the earnest money ($3k) because of the 17 day no-strings contingency period in CA. Put the house back on the market. DH moved to Oregon in late September while I stayed to continue at my job and to sell the house. We reduced the price and the next offer, in mid-October, gave us $27k less than the first - ouch. We bartered on the closing date and a few other things, their inspector did a very CMA report and the buyer asked for ridiculous amounts of repairs & updates (this was a 1958 small tract home), we said no and did the few actual repairs needed. I faxed to our agent all the repair paperwork but the buyer's agent never said if this was satisfactory. Closing was supposed to be Nov 15 but the buyer's agent kept messing things up and delayed getting the loan papers in to the escrow company. Every day he told them he'd have the documents the next day. I finally moved out of state on the 18th not knowing if the sale was going to go through or not. It was almost as if the agent was working against the sale ... During the last week when it looked as if the other agent was messing up the deal, my agent put the house back on the market. That seemed to make the other guy straighten up a bit - he was about to lose a $19k commission. I spoke with the escrow company rep who said she'd never seen anything like this transaction before. She called in some favors and pushed the papers through the title company asap when they were finally all in because she also wanted to get it over with. It closed on Nov 21. Since the buyer failed to close on time we could have called off the transaction or continued with it and kept the items we'd offered as incentive for the Nov 15 close (w/d, refrigerator, patio furniture) - we didn't want to cancel the transaction and we didn't want to keep those items as we were moving so we went ahead and just left them. The sales contract stipulated that we had 3 days to occupy the house after closing. We moved out earlier because we'd already made the moving plans and were ready to go. Wednesday the 15th was chosen because that would give both families a chance to get to their new homes for Thanksgiving. Since the close actually happened on Tuesday, 2 days before Thanksgiving, I don't know if the buyer was in the house for the holiday or not. Too bad if they weren't - but it was their agent that was holding up the process, not us. It was a true Thanksgiving Day for my DH and me, even though we're living in a small rental apartment and ate turkey at a restaurant instead of cooking for ourselves. But we were so thankful to have the deal finally done. That 5 weeks of waiting for the escrow close were so stressful - if the deal had fallen apart, I think I would have too!

So far, I've read: "Bad Behavior" - Isabel Wolff About a young, single gal living in London, who's a veterinary psychologist. It follows her trials and tribulations 15 years after she was duped into putting a small bomb into a man's mailbox (she didn't know it was an explosive). Her guilt is enormous of course. The story picks up where she's getting settled into her new practice, and meets a brilliant war photojournalist. There are twists and turns in the plot, and -- believe it or not -- quite a bit of humour. The author was just short-listed last year for best writer in Women's Literature category (for "A Vintage Affair," which I loved!). " The Earth Hums in B Flat" - Mari Strachan About a 12-year-old girl living in Wales with her hugely dysfunctional family (the mother, mainly -- the girl's father is wonderful). She's going through growing pains (dealing with boys, disloyal female friends, a nasty mother, a self-centered, teasing sister), but is a strong, resourceful girl. ... Can usually think her way out of problems. There's a mysterious murder in the story, as well; although, it isn't a murder mystery book. There are well-drawn Welsh characters. The town is well-described -- you feel as if you can see it. The girl flies in her sleep over it, and hears the earth hum (thus, the title). In spite of this other-worldly feature, it isn't a sci-fi or ghost story kind of book. Only one thing bothered me -- the ending was a little abrupt, it seemed.