Yardvark 'Quote"\' Looking at the picture, you see that the three shuttered window sets are underscored by small hedges. Two individual shrubs would make one hedge so that's 6 plants total. It looks like the hedges should be about 3' ht. so one would want to select plants that max out at that height. (For myself, I'd rather wait for a slow growing plant than to choose one that grows too fast and won't stop where wanted. That's too much maintenance!) If a plant is easy to trim and not too fast growing, like Azaleas, I would consider it. The plant would need to tolerate a little shade (this presumes you limb up trees. Yardvark, I went to the nursery specifically to look for the hedges that will underscore the shuttered windows. I found several that i liked. I will list them and i want you to tell me if i should stay away from any of them and your opinion on what ones are best to worst to use: golden barberry, crimson pygmy barberry, wintergreen boxwood,winter gem boxwood, compact japanese holley, hellers japanese holley. If you say they are all ok to use under the windows i will make my choice and go with it but need your opinion on all of them first in case i should stay away from any of them. thanks chad

THAT is a really nice picture of your home. ...what telephone poles? I'm too busy looking at that great setting! And I'm somewhat reluctant to leave feedback sometimes. I try to offer advice gently, much more than I would on GW. Some agents/sellers just don't want to hear it. They'll call and go on and on cajoling you about how your buyer was "wrong" (about how they feel?) and/or justifying it and/or explaining why that incurable defect shouldn't bother your buyer, you get the idea. Example: when I was buying, an agent/seller (her own home) kept calling me every day to come back and see her home after I told her that we were no longer considering ANY homes on that particular canal because of its open exposure to the west, and she just kept calling and telling me about the other sailboat owners on that canal and they were fine with it and she's got their phone numbers if I want to talk to them about it, etc etc. Lady, I don't care what other people do, I AM NOT PUTTING MY BOAT IN THAT CANAL.. And this is when there were probably 30 homes in the similar inventory (now maybe 3, no selection at all for buyers) so I wasn't exactly desperate. Thank you for accepting feedback graciously. It's not as common as you would hope. And hat's off to you for homeschooling - not my cup of tea but I have many, many successful homeschooling friends, some religious, some not, many miliitary, some boat-schooled, all multiple children (can't think of any with less than 3 kids, up to 6) All 4-year college-bound or in studies now (except one that I know of). Here homeschoolers can even participate on HS sports teams in their zoned schools so they can earn those all-important varsity letters. I consider homeschooling pretty mainstream myself.

We moved to a condo five years ago (for half the year). It's 1900 sq feet, 3 br, 2 bath and we thought we'd live here for a lot more years. We got a dog who hates downtown because of the noise. Additionally because it's a high rise, we can't barbecue and I can't garden. Plus, we discovered that while we think things need to be redone (such as making our outdated windows energy efficient as well as impact resistant (we live in FL), the majority of the condo owners don't think it's important. And our condo fees keep rising. So we decided to look for a house. We found land walking distance to downtown in a quiet residential area. We will build a 2600 sq foot home on a 6100 sq foot lot. I will be able to barbecue, garden and we'll have our own pool, which means I don't have shlep everything downstairs just to go for a swim. I will also have an oversized art studio to work in. For us it is a lateral move in terms of what we sell this place for vs what we pay for our build, but we'll save a lot because we won't have the monthly condo fees which are high in our building. Interesting when my parents were in their mid 50's back in the early 80's they decided to sell their colonial home in a desirable neighborhood and they bought a larger home on 2 acres in a more desirable neighborhood. They bought a ranch home. I asked my Mom back then why a ranch since she loved colonials. She said, "we're not getting any younger and we have to think of the future." They then redid the home adding a master suite and were happy in that house for many years. For them, a bigger home that was on one level, looking out on their gardens was what made my parents happy. Decide what it is you want. Don't figure you'll be saving money so much as changing your lifestyle to suit the next phase of your life.

cpartist no, hubby doesn't do any cooking, as he leaves the kitchen a complete disaster, uses a hundred dishes, and always manages to use the wrong pots or pans, so has been permanently banned from using it. You would think he wouldn't care what I wanted done with the kitchen, but he is definitely opinionated. He is sweet, though, and did the pantry as a surprise for me, because he thought it'd make me happy. That's what makes my situation so difficult, because I feel bad and a bit selfish for wanting to tear it out. Again, the u-shape is out, because he has set his feet against changing the pass-through. I also don't want to hear another rant about how much he paid for the header beams (apparently they're very expensive) and how he's not moving them ever. Maybe I could convince him to turn it into a doorway and close up the other doorway, but even with the pantry removed, I think it would leave less room for cabinets than I have now. Do you think that would be a good option nonetheless?