Back again, my previous post the URL doesn't work, from JD website, so here a copy and paste from that website concering JD service costs. SERVICE CONTRACTS - RESIDENTIAL OWNERS/USE Visit http://www.JohnDeere.com/ServicePlans for more information on John Deere Service Contracts. May not be Available in Parts of the U.S., Not Available in Canada. John Deere Break-in Maintenance Plan (Break-in Service Only) 1 break-in maintenance service; transportation for break-in service included. $169.99 John Deere Maintenance Plan (Standard) Without Break-in (1 Maintenance Service) 11 Month Term Maintenance Plan: 1 maintenance service; transportation for covered maintenance service included. $309.99 John Deere Maintenance Plan (Standard) With Break-in (1 Maintenance Service) 11 Month Term Maintenance Plan: 1 break-in service; 1 maintenance service; transportation for break-in & covered maintenance service included. $479.99 John Deere Maintenance Plan (Standard) Without Break-in (2 Maintenance Services) 36 Month Term Maintenance Plan: 2 maintenance services; transportation for covered maintenance service included. $609.99 John Deere Maintenance Plan (Standard) With Break-in (2 Maintenance Services) 36 Month Term Maintenance Plan: 1 break-in service; 2 maintenance services; transportation for break-in & covered maintenance service included. $779.99 John Deere Maintenance Plan (Standard) Without Break-in (4 Maintenance Services) 48 Month Term Maintenance Plan: 4 maintenance services; transportation for covered maintenance service included. $1,219.99 These above plans are for the X500 with the 48" deck. I just got the invoice for the annual service on my GT275 which is equivlant to the basic X500. It was to be $433.18 turned out as $375.81(163.39 parts, 175.81 lab, 26.62 misc, and 9.99 tax). Last yr. I believe I paid about $290. don't have the exact amount without digging in to last yrs. papers. The 2 largest part charges were ($42.75/blades and $78.00/muffler). The invoice is 2 pages so I will not list all items individually. I am sill waiting on the trade quote, but at these charges that Scag Tiger Cub is looking better all the time. Green is good but when it comes to these prices - well I begin to wonder. johndeere, yes I'm am seriously considering that green will be gone and not more green. If I sell it outright the invoice will be displayed with the tractor and if I trade it to the Scag dealer they will see the invoice also. If I do stay green JD dealer has a copy. Two last things to remember; I don't want to have it stolen - and there are plenty of JD nuts that will pay for it, and John Deere green ain't cheap to own. To the original poster, yes you are getting a very good deal on that Craftsman mower.

Well I've run into some major hurdles, the big problem is there obvious and the solutions are complex. 1 st we know what we want(just based on our experiences from a previous) which seems to make it that much harder. I have no problem admitting that I went into this blind and that at some point I would need e help especially with roofs and stairs ( Ive learned to hate stairs with a passion). An old fashioned t-shape Pennsylvania farmhouse is our dream. I many worried about getting proportions right to keep with the look we like, too wide of a gable end and your house easily becomes a church. So any time we saw a home we thought was bell balances we would simply stop and ask the owners to let us measure. Finally we feeling comfy with the dimensions,'I've done nothing but ram and smush everything into this mold, problem it just won't fit naturally, of course ive been able to keep adding square footage to house but I lose the simplicity, my motto is " it always comes down to adding just 2 more feet". So we began hunting for architect which feels like a step backward at this point because we have a logic behind our placement. ( ex: we have beautiful views to the right side of our house and garage on left so naturally the pantry/mud room/bath plus keeping the kitchen close by for groceries has been part of the problem all though I've made work before just never felt right. Factor in I need 4 bedrooms and love an open floor plan ( no cathederal ceiling, just raised living room) and the simplicity of simple old farmhouse gets complex. 2) I decided I would try to find an architect to basically "bless" a floor plan and then draft into prints for us , logically if he was happy with it and there were no major blunders I wouldnt expect to pay full rate. I think he quoted around 15k for a 2500sq ft houses with a significant amount of the concept done. I believe it was $75-$80 for 220 hours, after the sticker shock, we decided to stay the course. Even found multiple plans from timber/log home companies that would not sell just a floor plan to convert without purchasing the entire kit. I could produce over 50 cad drawings I've done and probably 3 graphing notebooks of half-a$$ sketches that all come out the same, close but never perfect. Even the drawing i submitted was basically to confirm that the issues were not in my head but legit concerns, which is why the criticism didnt bother me. ( I've been yelled by more important people than you mainly. renovater8 ) , since I've posted my print I've already been back at it but this time better equipped with your comments and this site in general. I like "how long have you been at it" comments. I'll probably keep at my drawings myself until I truly feel like I'm at a dead end, and with the help of a friend who is an engineer/draftsman I'll try to stick t through but not until I'm comfortable with a finished product, I love learning and still feel like I won something when someone points out a potential problem I would of never caught myself. If anybody has used an architect geared towards the rustic/country/t-shaped farmhome, I would gladly be interested.' always enjoy finding that diamond In the rough website that leaves the vinyl siding and cookie cutter plans to their 1000 page book and recreates the classics look. Would also love any pics or comments from anybody who's been on the same path. My apologies to renovator8 for coming across harsh, i use a lot of sarcasm and I dont specifically hate don Gardner , just sick of the seemingly identical planss we poured through over the years. Thankss again everybody.

I use Knorr cubes or Kitchen Basics. However, I was looking for Knorr chicken and my store was out, so I hesitantly tried Glory Foods. I say hesitantly because the jar said "Seasoned Cooking Base with Natural Smoke Flavor Added". Why would you add smoke flavor to chicken base?? But the ingredient list was the best of what was on the shelf, chicken being the first ingredient. (followed by hydrolyzed corn gluten and salt...heh.) Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised. It's a paste, and I used it to pep up some turkey stock I'd made. It was pretty darned good! There are some spices in there - just onion and garlic, but my turkey rice soup ended up having a slight kick to it, which was an interesting twist. I used to get Minor's from a place where I worked. It was good, although it has MSG, which a lot of people can't tolerate. I'll have to try Better Than Bouillon again - I don't know why, but I didn't like it so much when I tried it some years ago.

Hi Dotz. I don't know how to answer you. Relationships are complicated enough when I'm one of the two in the relationship (parent/child, spouse/spouse, child/parent, etc.) but being on the "outside" as a SM with biodad/child on one side, and Sdad/child on another side... I just can't hope to ever understand those relationships completely, let alone what may have happened between your dh's kid and him to make their relationship less than ideal. People take out their anger on those they think will still love them despite the issues. Hopefully your skid will realize that dad means more than money and they can have a relationship beyond that later. I think, in my situation, where bio-mom keeps sd from us (by not contacting, etc), we will probably have a tough row to hoe coming up here soon as she becomes a teenager with angst. But, if her parents didn't have issues, the issues with her would be lessened. It's due to the parents setting up expectations that makes the kids resentful. My SD expects to be driven around in posh cars and going to outrageously expensive schools and if her dad doesn't contribute to the lifestyle BM has set up she is resentful. We prefer to place value on good manners, wholesome activities, enjoying being a kid instead of designer outfits for 9 year olds...Oh well... we simply don't have the same values. Having to straddle both value systems is difficult for children. And, outsiders, without all the little cobwebs floating around of past conversations/hurts/angers, can see any situation a lot clearer than the participants. As Sm's, we will never fully understand the nuances. Sooooo... my response Dotz, is just be as supportive of your DH as you can while he goes through this stage with his son. In my experience, my Ex and I have issues my DH could never understand, and my DH loves me, so automatically my Ex is the bad guy... and he hates his Ex, but I do my damnedest not to internalize that. I channel Switzerland. I attempt neutrality. I try to look at all sides, and I try to do it with love. It's far too complicated to figure out their issues. So I'm a cheerleader. Go (broken and taped back together) family of mine!!! win win win!