We too are in the middle of building and I think it is impossible NOT to feel anxious about borrowing and spending money when the economic news is so bad. It is downright terrifying to be building a home when almost no one else is. It always FEELS safer to be traveling with the herd. But I was taught - as I'm sure you were - that the only way to really make money on the stock market was to buy when everyone else was selling and sell when everyone else was buying. In other words, economically, it is BETTER not to follow the herd. I think the same thing holds true here. As all the economists and pundits keep telling us, part of the reason the economic news is so gloomy is that, after years of Americans having a "spend, spend, spend" mindset, so many people have gotten scared and have suddenly started to hold onto every penny they can. While the decision to start saving is great on an individual level, having the entire country start trying to do it all at once has helped to lock up dollars and contributed to the economic mess. DH and I saved frugally through all the years when "spend, spend, spend" was the order of the day. Now, even with the economic downturn and our investments taking a huge hit, we still have enough saved to purchase what we want. And, we getting better deals when we buy things for our house than we would have had we built a few years ago. So no, I don't feel guilty about spending the money we saved over all those years. Besides, as other posters have already pointed out, every penny we spend helps someone else keep a job! Besides, since the government has decided to print and pump more dollars into the economy in an attempt to get money circulating again, I figure double-digit inflation is bound to hit us very soon. Whatever dollars one manages to save right now are going to become worth a whole lot less in the very near future. Better to invest my dollars in durable goods that won't devalue when inflation hits. So rather than cutting back, DH and I have actually decided to borrow more than we otherwise would have...especially since we are able to qualify for very low interest rates on a thirty year mortgage. Rather than wait to do some upgrades later (as we had originally planned), we're doing them now because we're confident we'll be paying back the borrowed money with much cheaper dollars down the road. But, does all my logic insulate me from feeling anxious sometimes? Nope! I still have my anxious moments. Guess herd mentality is hard-wired in. LOL. Just my 2 cents.

Just checked in (don't spend much time even on conversations lately).... glad to hear that it's what they thought and not the other. re: caffeine... reducing your caffeine intake really helps! And helps the stress management too. Take it from an ex-caffeine junkie. At my worst, 2 cups of coffee and 6-10 diet cokes a day!! (I LOVE diet coke in a can!) I've been caffeine free for 3.5 years now! Well, mostly caffeine-free, it's hard to avoid it completely... I was never a chocoholic (I didn't even like chocolate until my mid-thirties!) so I don't eat much of it... but I haven't given it up. I also drink decaf coffee... which does have small amounts of caffeine. I may have a caffeinated root beer by mistake once in a while (some, like barq's, has caffeine, some, like A&W, doesn't). I don't drink real coffee. In fact in the past 3.5 years the only real coffee I had was that first summer while touring in Scotland and it became more of a problem to get decaf than just drink the stuff... and I wasn't fully weaned. now, I'd just skip it! I cut back in a couple of steps... went from 8-10 diet cokes a day to 2, keeping my cups of coffee at 1-2, or drinking decaf if it was just as available. I was very proud of myself. I remember the conversation with my doctor, though, when telling him I had "cut back" from nearly a case of diet coke a day. "That's really good!" he said. "Now Quit." I have noticed the differences of being caffeine free. The withdrawal week was tough, but not as tough as I expected. Now, I am less cystic (my are mostly POS-polycystic ovarian syndrome), have less headaches, and show better stress management. Not too long ago I was out to dinner. When dessert was served I dug in, took one bite, and could "feel" the espresso hit my blood stream. And it wasn't pleasant. I was eating Tiramisu, made the "right" way! I don't eat tiramisu anymore, either!! Good Luck!

It could be SW Ivoire. That is how it looks in my family room. You could have it colour matched if you are really stuck on BM.

Well, kitchen is now packed, not counting the stuff we will use the next few days but that is condensed to small groupings. I don't have a lot of cabinets and they are not big, but I must be a master magician to have fit so much in them. Each time I'd empty a cab, I am convinced that the contents expanded when exposed to light ;) I threw out a bunch of stuff and did my best to keep it moving. I am now soaking the hamstring I pulled and waiting for the Advil to kick in. I asked our 7.5 y.o. about the symbols on the wall and he admitted he did it. He did not know what they meant but knew they were "German". My mother is German and came to the US as an adult, so how do we explain how awful some of those people were yet not everyone? We told him that it was not a good symbol and was used by some very bad guys who just happened to be from Germany and to never do it again. We also said he'd be kicked out of school if he ever drew that again and the school found out. He looked shocked. He said he saw it on the back of a school bus seat, so I will be calling the school in the a.m.. I am quite proud that I only found 1 instance of "poo" written on the wall (although he did manage 4 swastikas when my back was turned). I think with how worn out I am looking today, the crew would not even want a show from me, lol. I wonder if they take bets on how long it takes for the wife on each project to go from cute to scary. I am moving along the scale rapidly. The first few days, I had makeup on before they came. By today, I let the hammering wake me up, lol. When we were at the bus stop this a.m., our other son asked me if I ever picked up our 2nd a/c from the store. Turns out, it slipped our minds and the store forgot to call and remind us. We took one home and the other was due in later that week (in Aug). I was happy to cross it off the to do list and just moved on. Funny that dh & I did not notice but our almost 9 y.o. did... Luckily, it was still in the warehouse so dh got it today. I keep hearing Billy Joel in my head.. "so much to do and only so many hours in the day"..... Thanks weed, I forgot we have tarps I could use instead. It would be better to use a larger sheet with fewer seams. To illustrate how tired I was earlier, I went to the garage to hit my emergency chocolate stash. I got to the doorway to go to the garage or bsmt and forgot why I was there. I can't believe I forgot chocolate in the 15 seconds it took me to walk towards it. I think I have hit my quota of reno stories and would like smooth sailing with boring updates from here on out. Our gc and his bro (co-gcs) have turned out to be quite nice to work with so I think we got lucky in that regard. Tomorrow's list includes finishing up the living room, dining room and emptying our coat closet. That will leave the weekend for setting up in the bsmt, packing the bathrooms and moving our bed down and furniture into the boys' room. One day at a time...