Well my DH wins the prize. He hasn't divorced me or threatened to take away my spade, yet. I don't know if all of you saw the photos that Jim (Idiothe) posted of Sheila and I with our kayaks and bikes and the car completely loaded with hostas? Well in order to do that we loaded all our gear in our boats. It is my hubby's car. (both our names are on it, but it is his vehicle 98% of the time.) I drive the used Mommy van that gets used as a truck for hauling mulch and whatever. But the kayak rack is mine, and I can't load boats on my van due to a bad shoulder. So..... he is very particular about his car. He hates me putting the rack on, he will not drive on gravel, etc. So with my bad shoulder, and the heavy boats, I couldn't lift my end of Sheil's up very well. So the J cradles kept twisting and falling down. I finally found a man to help us. We finally got it loaded, made it home... and there are dents all over the top of the car. Bad dents, like really big hail. :( Like will never come out. I feel awful, I do. Whats done is done, and he isn't holding it against me. But he is so sad. And I am too. But I did get all my hostas home! So he wins the hosta hubby of the year award. I need to get those trophies made, don't I? Anyone want to nominate their Wife for the Hosta Wife of the year award?

I designed our house 3 years ago, based on the 18-yr old Colonal we *had* been living in. It had a cathedral ceiling in FR, also a wood stove, but was horribly hard to heat/cool even with the ceiling fan. So no cathedral ceilings in new house (8ft ceilings, though I admit the FR ceiling seems low but I guess I got used to higher). We added ceiling fans in all the BRs since there was no AC (we put window units in MBR, kitchen, and loft over the garage open to FR trying to make it usable). So new house we put ceiling fans in all BRs, study, and FR (where we *were* going to put a woodstove but now seems too small and also chimney would be too close to master bath window). We had a large kitchen in the old house but the eat-in part was in front of large doorway to FR and other side of peninsula so we just couldn't seem to make a table work. Only 3ft of counterspace to left of stove, 2 ft to right of fridge (which is where we put the MW so I have no landing zone). I ended up putting a MW cart in the middle just to have landing zone/prep area. So new kitchen has large island for prep and eating (peninsula only sat 3). Garage had 8 ft doors and was shallow, with stairs into FR so we had no room for storage, could barely fit Explorer on non-stair side, and I often banged mirrors. So new garage is bigger with 9ft doors and a door into the backyard. We had a bath off the master that we had remodeled to put in 2 sinks and a whirlpool tub. I found I didn't use the jets that much, DH used the shower down the hall, so new house has a non-jetted tub and a 4ft shower. Can't wait to get tile and faucets in so we can use them! DH had used the loft as an office until DD was born, then it became guest room. So when I modfied the stock plan that had 4 BRs we made the closet i the smallest BR the attic stairs (old house had hatch in DD's closet, not even pulldown stairs so really no attic storage). DD used it as a BR (and we put the antique furniture in 2nd largest BR) until she moved out of a toddler bed and then she moved into the larger BR. DH is still trying to set up the office, but at least we have all (but one that's in Ds's room) the bookcases from the old house in there. Never could get into home theater since we're not big TV viewers and didn't want to dedicate sf to that, but after having TV in FR at first, then LR in old house, I decided new house was going to have FR totally open to kitchen so could watch little one (had big doorway in old house but still a blind spot) and that the LR was going to be capable of being closed off for TV viewing since old LR was near stairs and open to foyer, TV too loud for sleeping kids. We also plan on staying in this house forever, so with French doors the idea was that LR could become MBR when we get too decrepit to handle stairs. The old house had PR off foyer (near kitchen) with a laundry closet - I decided to have a mudroom/laundry and change builder's stock plan (that looked like my old house, but PR/laundry b/t garage and kitchen) to put the PR in the large open foyer with coat closet opposite. Since the PR is on the LR side we can expand the PR to make it a full bath, and if we close off the hall b/t the closet and PR we could have a good sized "stand in" closet (6x7), though you would then have to walk through the DR to get into the kitchen (or could make closet smaller and lose my pantry). We have vinyl siding (after living 15 yrs with cedar that had to be powerwashed and stained every 3 years or so). The porch (not screened) has a Trex deck instead of the pressure-treated that required yearly maintenance. I built 40ft of stone wall under the porch to hide the supports, and will add more around the flowerbeds and walkway. I'm also thinking of building retaining walls down the sloped from the front yard to the basement door, to make mowing unnecessary and control erosion. Luckily, we have plenty of stone. We're still trying to figure out what to do outside our back sliding glass door - whether it's an outdoor "LR" or not, we would like to make it more than just a deck and a gas grill, since we also have a lot of wood and enjoy sitting around the fire with family and friends. I'm also trying to furnish the front porch with comfortable pieces so we can sit out there and enjoy the view and the sunsets. Like the Tim McGraw song Where the Green Grass Grows we "point our rocking chairs towards the west." I know I'm not going in order but we also chose to make this house as energy-efficient as the upgraded modular specs would allow (so no SIPS but upgraded insulation and windows), and put in a geothermal heating system with a desuperheater for hot water so that we don't have to depend on (or pay for) fossil fuel. Landscaping - what's that LOL? So we didn't design our house based on what we thought the "hot new trends" would be 3-5 yrs later, we designed it with our family and lifestyle in mind, within our budget, and trying to incorporate "lessons learned" from all the other places we've lived. In the case of "landscaping" and "outdoor living" doing all the work (so far) ourselves and with materials we have on hand. Of course if we add a sunroom or deck we'll have to buy materials and will probably hire out at least part of the job.

Good comeback to the person who hates cats, I would have said the same thing. The older I get the more I don't care. I was an only child and had no pets. I was and am a huge animal lover and would bring puppies and kittens home and had to return them. I told my mother when I got married I'd have pets. My father hated cats , so when my first real pet..( I briefly had a rabbit) was a purebred Siamese who cost $15, my dad couldn't believe I paid for a cat. He was my first of 15 cats I've had and he lived till 21. Both my kids grew up with a dog and cat and two birds. They both have always had cats but so far no dogs. My cats are all rescues and my newest and just my third dog is a rescue from Petfinder. Most of the friends I really like are like minded pet owners. The ones who don't have pets lead very boring lives, I think. Who is there to greet them? I am the most a cat lover but have fallen in love in the six weeks I've had Ziggy , the wonder dog.

Jane: It really is such small world isn't it? No I'm not from here originally, but I'm here now!!! Moved here from Sunny SoCal in 2005 and with the exception of the economy, we love it. We're actually a little north of Bloomfield Hills in the suburbs by Clarkston, but a I do a lot of work in BH. In regards to the owners, nothing very romantic, as I understand it, it was the residence of a someone very well known in the plastics industry, some type of auto supply company and he passed away some time ago from cancer. I believe it's his family who is selling it. Glad you enjoyed it, I won't hesitate to share again the next time I find something that I think might interest you. :c)