Happy New Year Swappers! It's going to be a good one :) Drippy, that compost can be used to fill in any holes you make from the plants you can't part with! I would have to sell in the winter when my yard is covered with snow. I think most would be scared off when they realized I prefer to weed than mow lol! Plantaholics - those pics are beautiful! I initially wanted an all blue garden but ended up with purples. I had many, many disappointments in the beginning because as we know, so many things are labeled blue but bloom purple! I picked a poppy to share with everyone this year for the wish swaps just as a "thank you" to all. I know a lot of time and thought goes into these (and frustration when you can't find a match for someone!). I certainly appreciate everyone's efforts because it takes all of us to make this work for the whole group. Much thanks to Drippy for making it all happen! I'll link the poppy picture below. It's the Papaver paeoniflorum "White Cloud" peony poppy. It's white so should fit in most anywhere. I haven't seen it distributed in any of the group robins I've joined. With the way they seed, they should be in circulation next year and then on to the newbies! Some of you were in susie's swap so you've already gotten a little packet. Be on the lookout for Toad Flax, Linaria reticulata "flamenco". Write that down 'cause that's a lot to copy on all of the packets! It's more common but quite a eye catcher. It will certainly brighten up the garden! Here is a link that might be useful: white cloud

Our bank, which is a smaller, but stable bank has changed their rules 3 times in last 4-5 months. I have been waiting on quotes for over 6 weeks now that keep pushing us back. Even though we wouldn't fall into the subprime, buy it now above our means group, (we have scores over 750, decent income, have more than the 20% down,) they are now looking for proof of reserve for overage ~%10, as they are adamant there will be no money available to us, for refinance after completion. Keep in mind this is for a one close construction loan. My banker understood my being upset about having to have use my 401k as proof, we have been and are a long time client of the bank, and I feel as even though we did everything right by buying the land first and paying it off, we are getting the hard time becuase of others lack of responsibility and integrity. Two years ago when we bought the land, it was about as easy as can be, at least 25% down, did all the paperwrok and closed in 3 weeks. Times they are a changing. The banker agreed that in theory they are not looking for 20% in that case but really 30%, and if that was the case why wouldn't we just put the 30% down if we had it available. Also it is calculated by the lower amount of either what we are asking for or what it is appraised at, so even though I will be doing some of the work, and a family member and I framing, I still need to submit quotes to show all of that in order to get 75-80% financing. In the end if I defaulted the day I got my CO the bank would own the house at 65-70% of today's true appraised value right off the bat. Thus they are going back to extremely low risk lending. Most other banks in the area have cut their construction loan programs, and I know of 2 people more than 50% through a renovation through home equity, where their home equity got cut, and there is not money to finish. These are not deliquent payers, in fact one had been in their house for 8 years no credit issues, and were doing an addition. It may sound ludicrous, and we were told we were fine everytime even as they changed the rules, but I see that it will affect everyone. I also have seen contractor give higher prices in order to make up for possible slowdowns, while I have seen others give fair prices to keep themselves going.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, all are appreciated!!!! I guess I'll have to find some flooring I like and hopefully, be able to get some samples, take them to the house and put them down in different areas of the house and see how they look, esp. against the base of the fireplace. I don't mind the parquet and it may look better once it's cleaned or refinished, but do I think it really looks good, not really. While I think it's okay in the entry, I just don't like how it looks in the area surrounding the base of the bricks. Any suggestions on what may look good against the brick?? Or, should I possibly consider some of the resilient tiles that look like slate in a color that would go with the brick? Would something like that complement?? Maybe a light color tile just in the entry, wood elsewhere? Any other suggestions?

No, I haven't joined any forums yet. I just love the look of these older machines and think it's a lot of fun to get them working again and make them look as good as I can. It took forever to get the tension set right on the New Home and it was hard to get used to the knee pedal, but I did manage to make a basic curtain for the kitchen window - yay me :-) I've used sewingmachine221sale.bizland.com for a replacement pully, needles and bobbins on the upper rotary; and bought a manual from sewing-machine-manuals.com. I had great service from both places. I will definitely check the places you gave to find a power cord - thank you. I'm a basic sewer, can follow a pattern if it's not too complicated and have mixed patterns to get a look I want (bodice from one, sleeves from another, etc). I have made Halloween costumes for my kids and niece, do some mending and know enough to teach my daughter the basics. jen