I've opted to keep my landline. I have a houseful of kids and do not want to worry about them using my cell phone to make calls. Plus, I don't want their friends calling on my cell phone when I'm out and about and don't necessarily have the kids with me. Perhaps I'm in the minority here with kids still at home but I can't imagine not having a landline in that case. There are times my kids are at home when I'm not there, so how would they make a phone call? Plus, sometimes my mom babysits and she does not have a cell phone so she would have no way to call me or 911 if there was an emergency. I also live in an area where power frequently goes out, so I have a regular plug in phone (not cordless) to use when power goes out. I might reconsider once all of my kids either have their own cell phones or are no longer living at home. I also reserve giving out my cell phone number to select good friends/family/school - I don't like people having constant access to me when I'm not at home. If I'm not at home, chances are I don't want to be bothered with a phone call so I prefer they leave a message at home and let me call back when convenient. I suppose I'm weird like that but I don't like people calling me while I'm driving, while I'm out grocery shopping, etc.

Do you still have any of these? (fairmane@bnpmedia.com) I have about 1,100sq ft 12x12, 6x12 & 6x6 in Cobblestone (in California) . Will need to count the boxes again, but want to sell all of it at the same time. Shipped many boxes a couple of years ago and many were delivered broken, so dont know how to get it shipped safely.

I think it's a good policy to always avoid clicking on email links and instead navigate to the site of the purported sender to try to find the info. Or even use their customer service number, if they have one. Even here I'm careful about clicking on links, and usually copy and paste the link into my browser so I can see the actual link and not just the associated text. Not because I don't trust many of you, but I don't have years of getting to know every Houzz poster, and sometimes even well-meaning people can inadvertently post a dangerous link.

"Do y'all have dealt with mosquitoes on lake front property?" Get a screen room -- my cottage has a 10' x 12' screened in room about 3 steps away from the door. That's where my hammock is. "In the age of VRBO I see no compelling reason to sink investment dollars into a second home." It depends a lot on how often you use it......I felt exactly like you did for 30 years, but when my sister moved 4 hours away, I bought a lake-front cottage closer to her. Before, I might have wanted to go to a lake front cottage once or twice a summer, but now I go year round every 2 or 3 weeks (since the lake is not the only reason to go).