I am surprised to see this post still rocking along. I have been a MG for 10 years, and for the most part, it has been wonderful for me. I started in a neighboring county, as we didn't have a group in our county at the time, but did transfer when a group was organized and seemed to be thriving. We have a new class beginning January 20, 2009. We have a membership of 42 members at this time, so we are hoping that this new class will give us a dozen new and enthusiastic members. Our classes are $100.00, with 50 volunteer hours required in the year to be certified. Re-certification requirements are for 12 hours volunteer work, and 6 hours CEU training. I was co-ordinator for our last class, and a lot of problems can be laid at the feet of a co-ordinator who doesn't teach responsibilities of the MG. It becomes a social organization, and after they learn they don't have to do anything for Extension, it is difficult to persuade them that it is necessary that MG help out in the office, and that we follow the rules of our state organization. I have served as Secretary, Vice President, and this past year, President. I have represented us at the state level, have chaired just about everything there is to chair. It was a lot of time, and a lot of work, but worth every minute to me. And I hope that our MG would think I did a good job. The charter class of this organization is 5 years old this year. They have worked hard and they are just tired. Not short of enthusiasm, but they are ready for someone else to take the reins of leadership now. This new year gives us new leadership, and everyone is very excited for it. Our new president is beginning her second year as a certified MG, as is our new secretary. Our new vice president and treasurer are both brand new- just certified on December 15, 2008! We are sure they will do a wonderful job, and it is nice to see the 'young ones' being excited about being involved in running things. Not just these 4, but all the newer MGs are excited. And us 'old ones' are excited for our group too. We have problems to work out, but we have come a long way. We have for the past 3 years held a free for the public seminar once a month, January through October, on a variety of subjects. We have wonderful plant sales, and we are soon to begin a demonstration garden of our very own. We have several project we have taken on and completed over the past 3 years that we are very proud of. We could never take the place of our agents. These people work so hard, and we are there to help them. I don't know how 5 of us could do what one of our agents gets done in a week. We also have a website, and I am the Webmaster. This is one job I am really looking forward to this year. To anyone contemplating the MG course, I would encourage you to try it. Oh, yes, our classes are in the evening for the past 3 years. It makes a little difficult to organize projects, workdays, and outings sometimes, but it is o.k. Janie Here is a link that might be useful: Jackson County Master Gardener Association

Give it the Ramen test....will you have to eat noodles? But, seriously...I think that if you can swing it and feel relatively confident that you'll be able to use the wwhite panels in the new house (they sound versatile) then go for it. There is something to be said for the emotional benefit of having a room that feels done and makes you happy. It would be nice to put the struggle with the paint behind you. You're looking at a year or two of transition which is not an easy time. If those panels would bring you joy (and no guilt!) then do it. And post pics! :-)

Is the elastic covered by the waistband or sewn to the outside of it? If it's inside the waistband and you don't mind spending the time, you could take all the stitching out of the waistband(you may have to remove it from the shorts). Adjust the width of the waistband to match the new width of your shorts, sew it back on the shorts(if you removed it), fold it over and make a casing that you can pull your elastic through and adjust as needed. If the elastic is sewn to the outside of the waistband, you might get away with taking it in along with the side seams of the shorts. Just reinforce your stitching(stitch over it a couple of times) so it won't come apart and trim fairly close so it won't feel bulky. Good luck. I hope I'm not confusing you.

We did ours ourselves too. I'm so glad we did. We just went slowly. Most of our cabinets were impossible to take out in one piece, here's some of the stuff I remember. 1-We took the time to pound any nails sticking out over. I thought it was a waste of time, until later when we were dropping off at the city site. Worth the time to make safer. 2-We had a soffit I was planning on leaving so that we wouldn't have to make repairs to the ceiling. That didn't work out, it was attached to the cabinets. Don't go in expecting exact results. Things change around. 3-SLOW AND CAREFUL!! I had to repair two unnecessary holes in the wall because my fiance was having fun doing 'demo' like they do on TV. We were trying to salvage the walls (to save on costs and avoid turning it into a 'permit' job). 4-Plumbing and gas - I went shopping before hand to find a cap for the gas for the stove, it was a little confusing because I'm not well-versed in gas pipes. I managed to have the right thing on hand, though, thanks to the friendly neighborhood hardware store - it made me feel safer. The sink, though, I was unprepared for - apparently gases can come out of a uncapped waste pipe for the sink. We ended up just stuffing ours with a rag and duct taping it - worked out. 5-Like anything else, if you're doing with a significant other, schedule breaks and have snacks. This is the sort of project that is PRIME for starting a ridiculous tension filled fight (see #3, with unnecessary wall holes!) It just took us a few hours, we were pleasantly surprised. One more thing, if it's just two of you doing it and there are appliances involved, I HIGHLY recommend getting a set of those 'forearm forklifts' - it made moving appliances SO much easier, and I'm pretty wimpy Have fun! There was something really satisfying about doing the demo ourselves. And, if we HAD had our contractor do it, I'm sure I would have been kicking myself for 'wasting' the money. Unless, like folks said, you need abatement for asbestos. Some things are worth paying the professionals for! Here is a link that might be useful: Forearm Forklift