and I still have about a hundred wsd containers to plant.I still have about 6 roses to get in the ground too.I started 3 new beds this yr.One is strictly red,one is yellow/orange with white dahlias,one is my holding bed,where I am putting most of my wsd plants until I decide where to put them.My purple bed and pink bed has some yellows in them-that I have to transplant.I moved all my perennials out of my 2 rose beds because they were getting so crowded.It never ends.Besided the 3 new beds,I am putting in a bower.I also bought 10 adirondak chairs that have to be painted-2 each of pink,purple,yellow,green and blue.I am making rooms in my gardens,which has been sort of fun.I don't work at a job but this yr.has been so hard for me due to some health problems..but I am determined to finish,if there is such a thing..lol I too bought way too many clematis,have 2 on every arbor and I have run out of places to put the ones I bought.I may just let them wander thru the beds.I also put up a section of split rail fence to grow red climbing roses on behind my red bed.I have some already covered in a pinkish/white climber that has 11 bushes on it.Absolutely beautiful right now.Next yr.I hope I will not over load like I have done this yr.I do not see me getting finished any time soon....:-( and it is getting so hot outside.I work early morning and late afternoon but today I forgot to come in until almost 5..I am tired moonphase

Fraid you've got me confused with someone else re building a barn on the property and living in that while building the house. DH and I bought our land by refinancing the house we then owned in order to pay cash for the land b/c mortgage interest rates on the refinance were MUCH lower than interest rates on a raw land mortgage. We then spent five years paying down the refinanced mortgage before felt financially ready to start building. We finished paying off our mortgage on the first house while we were in the process of building the second. So even tho we weren't able to sell our first house as quickly as we would have liked after moving into the new dream home, we never had to worry about making two mortgage payments at the same time. I was terribly impatient during that entire five years to just "get started" but in fact, the wait gave me plenty of time to educate myself and to design a home that FITS our property and our lifestyle. So, IMHO, you can't start too soon. Yes, prices will change but the relative cost to build various houses will stay about the same. (i.e., if the build price on plan A is twice the build price of plan B today, five years from now, plan A is still going to cost about twice as much to build as plan B.) Instead of obsessing about costs tho, use your time to learn all you can about the pros/cons of various building practices. For example, while it isn't exciting, spend some time learning about various types of foundations and how each type is PROPERLY INSTALLED as well as all the ways a particular type of foundation can be screwed up by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Then when you're choosing a house plan, you can make an informed decision about what type of foundation you want. Ditto with framing. Learn as much as you can about how a house is framed up and some of the options you have. Terms like "open web joists," "i-beam joists," "California corners," "sole plate," "king stud," "cripple/jack stud," "ridge pole," "purlin," and "load bearing" should become familiar to you as you learn how framing should be done right and all the ways that bad builders can screw it up. Likewise, get a thorough grasp of the concept of "drainage planes" and how flashing, house wraps, claddings, etc. SHOULD be installed in order to contribute to properly functioning drainage planes. Basically, work your way thru every "system" within a house. The more you understand about how a properly designed and built house WORKS, the better off you'll be when dealing with a builder. Or, for that matter, when trying to communicate with your architect. And, of course spend time doing the fun stuff like thinking about how you and your family actually live. What in your current home makes your life easier and what are the little things that just drive you bonkers. Like maybe, you actually love having the sun wake you up in the mornings thru your east facing windows but hate the way everything always seems to wind up stacked on the dining room table b/c there isn't really any other place to drop stuff off as you come in the door. Or you love your big kitchen island but hate the the way your top kitchen drawers are half-an-inch too shallow to hold rolls of waxed paper and tinfoil. Make notes about these things and, when you're designing your new home, incorporate the good things and find ways to fix the annoying things. And of course, spend time finding and saving "inspiration" pictures for the really fun part which is decorating that brand new space! Three years will fly by!

Many plants (especially grasses) were hit this year with a relatively mild winter then cold snap right before Spring. The best time to cut back these grasses back is in late March before new growth occurs. I too lost some beautiful grasses which were eleven years old that had to be replaced this year due to the same problem. It was just a bad winter.

When I lived in Baton Rouge, LA in a house with two bathrooms over a crawlspace, I learned - after living there for about 3 years - that the bathtub we never used except to bathe the dog had a broken drain pipe. It emptied into the crawl space. The only way I learned this was that I just happened to open the water heater closet while the tub was emptying. The closet had a screened opening in the floor in order to provide fresh air for the gas-fired appliance, and I could hear the water splashing onto the visqueen (plastic) on the floor of the crawlspace. When the plumber went down there to reconnect the pipes, the missing connector was not there, so he assumed that the guys who installed the visqueen before we closed on the sale of the house must have knocked it off and it got lost under the visqueen sheets. There was only a small lake from washing the dog, luckily! I think we just left vents open so it could dry. I was so lucky that I happened to go into that utility closet that day, or we would have used that shower daily a few months later, not knowing there was no plumbing connection. You could have a leak or a similar plumbing issue. You do say that the crawlspace was inspected, though. If the cabinet that smells was one that had the mold in it when you moved in, it may be that you will have to sand it and paint or seal it in order to get rid of the smell. Some of us can really smell certain molds that are not obvious to others. Be sure to wear a good mask or respirator when you sand.