I am so glad that everyone has liked what they got so far! Now, I just have to find some more seeds for Gary! LOL! Thanks again to Gary for sending in so many beans! You really helped everyone to gets beans they really wanted! Gary, are there any other veggies or anything seed wise that you can think of that you really want? PLEASE let me know! I am going to be putting in a seed order soon somewhere and I would really like to get you something special. Please email me some ideas! Christy

I'm also very sorry to hear about your dog. It does sound exactly like what happened to my Siberian husky at only 7 years old. It turned out to be a huge, never operable brain tumor. It was very hard to lose her, but at least your vet was much quicker to come to a conclusion than ours. We went through 2 months of a scary mystery no vets could figure out, and then finally we lost her on Christmas day when we'd finally gotten a referral to the vet school. Be aware that they can be easily annoyed and can try to bite when they are in this condition. Our other dog being bitten was the first real warning we had that there was something wrong. The only other time she tried to bite was during vet exams, and she moved much too slow to actually bite me.

It occurs to me that I haven't been NEARLY effusive enough with my thanks and praise --- Squirrelheaven, thank you SOOOO much for all the time you've taken with this!!!! You have serious talent and I shudder to think what I would have come up with on my own if I hadn't gotten such great input here (I did come up with the idea of painting the brick and adding the portico but I don't think I would have executed nearly as well without the eyes and comments from GW). Leah (and Squirrel) -- wow! Love the front entrance. Right now I have to try to create as much impact as possible for as few dollars as possible -- but I am definitely saving that picture for when the finances permit. Anele -- I spent 13 years in Chicago (a variety of different northside neighborhoods) and you're right, I don't think anything like this exists there :) We moved about a year ago to the suburbs of a smaller city. Imagine what this house would be worth in Chicago (if such a thing even existed)!! As far as where I am right now, I still like the look of the 2/3 steps (Fri 21:08) and am also really liking the most recent pics with the brick (Sun 9:17) - I wasn't seriously considering the brick until I saw it photoshopped; I think I like it because it ties in to the chimney. I'm also still scouring the neighborhood and the web trying to find a way to do full-length steps without having to have an enormous landing (which just didn't look right to me). I'm definitely going to change the moldings to be more like Squirrel's and less like the architect's, and I'm going lantern shopping this week. I already have the paint for the front door but haven't wanted to take the door down while DH is out of town, so that will be happening soon too. And speaking of DH, I haven't showed him any of this, so I suppose I should give him a little input too. MM

I am, of all things, a construction defect atty, usually representing homeowners suing developers. (Before you ask, I don't often do remodel cases because homeowners are usually better off working things out unless they have a truly unscrupulous contractor -- but a lot of contractors just won't work with me for that reason alone.) I am thus a terrible snob about concrete and floors :) I recently settled a large case, realized that every single appliance in my kitchen was non-functional to a degree, and decided that I deserved a new kitchen. I fell in love with azul macaubas granite, obsessed about finding the right stone without blowing my budget, scoured the internet for pix of azul macaubas in kitchens, and thus found this site (thank you, theresab, cloudswift, and others). As my tastes evolved I realized that even though I've always lived in the suburbs, I'm a country chick inside. Thus, my dream kitchen has a farmhouse sink, beadboard touches, and schoolhouse lighting, along with that drop dead gorgeous azul macaubas. I want my kitchen to have a lot of blue without putting that color on every single cabinet, floor, ceiling, walls, etc. The first thing I did in starting the remodel project was to find a Thermador stove with blue knobs on ebay for half price. I'm making decisions, with the help of this site, on faucets, lighting, and floor tile while waiting for cabinets to arrive. In my spare time, I trail run and hike, quilt, and raise teenage boys.