I had a *complete* pet peeve with one set of grills on my front windows. I paid extra to have beautiful black aluminum clad windows with 1/3rd-2/3rds grills and when they arrived I discovered the kitchen one was 1/2-1/2! I was DEVASTATED! It's the first thing you see and made the house look completely mismatched! You could just see the flaw. And it looked dumb in the kitchen too, as the grills came down into your viewing space. I was so sad. And because it was in the order sheet this way (I triple checked sizes but didn't notice the grills stupid me), there was no warranty :( I called the window company but the cost to change them was supposed to be really high because it's labor intensive. I'm a young, single woman building her first house with NO sub contractors (just ma dear ol'dad), so it just wasn't in the budget. ...until the window company came out last week to fix some mis-sized screens and a broken pane. It actually bugged the repair guy enough that he fixed them!! At no cost! I was stunned and happy and thrilled and could've hugged him. It was such an ease on my mind to have those grills match the rest. How's that for piddly things you hate?!

Thank you all for your many suggestions of type of info available and where to look. Would any of you be willing to speculate what might be going on in the following situation: A major developer bought a parcel of land for a major development (several hundred single family homes, some multi family units and rec facilities.) A gravel road to the parcel had a couple homes on it The developer is currently putting in the roads for the development and has paved the gravel road. This road will be the entrance to the development. The developer has recently bought (for about 150,000) and torn down one of the existing houses. The other existing house has been on the market for over a year (listed for 160,000 for a year reduced to 130,000 a few months ago). In speaking to the listing agent he said the developer had made a verbal offer in the past but never followed through on a written offer. I do not understand given they bought and tore down the house across the street for close to the original listing price of this house why they aren't buying this house. Any ideas why the developer is not buying this house or of a way to find out?

Your kitchen is beautiful and absolutely does not need another focal point! I know a lot of ppl liked the (for lack of better description) "flower" tile you have in above post but i think pattern AND two different colors? just too much. i definitely think you should have some color variation but something tone on tone... or just less of a jump. i like the diamond crushed glass ones a lot but maybe if we take out the reddish brown and replace it with a grayish color to tie in the marble... i think u really have to be careful with that marble- it is soo pretty but it has lots of movement... i love the color variation in the tiles that a2gemini posted- i dont know if that color would work with the marble... but i think u should stay within that realm of variation... i dont no if this is ur taste or if the colors would match up well but i looove pipdogs backsplash and im thinking of it because for some reason even tho its gray it seems warm to me. heres a link Here is a link that might be useful: pips kitchen

Gardenspice, sorry this is so late, but I never saw your post! We had a "friend" who was going through a rough patch with his wife and he had just lost his job. They only had one vehicle and I offered to loan him my green '97 Sebring Convertible to use whenever he wanted,we have three cars for the two of us, so it wouldn't be a hardship to us. After about a year I offered to sell it to him for $2500, we drew up a promissory note and we both signed it in April of '09. I gave him two years to pay it off, $100/month for 25 months. In October of that year he hadn't paid a dime and I filed an addendum to the original Promissory note because he hadn't paid per the contract. He skipped town and moved to Indiana with my car without making a single payment. I found out where he worked and had him served at his work with legal papers for the money. While the filing was happening, I called several shows, Judge Alex was the first to call on a Tuesday, the show was taping on Thursday! But when they got us there within days (which is why a lot of people aren't prepared when they come to court). I totally thought it was a joke until I went to the courthouse and they confirmed that a guy had been in a few days earlier to look for my file. I was called on a Tuesday and flew out Thursday morning. They flew me to the FOX studios and had a meet and greet with my handler and given $35 cash for spending money for the night. They also provided a hotel room. They flew me in but not Jim, who really wanted to be there, drove the 6 hours or so to meet me there. The next day they were taping and did my hair and makeup and fed me about 6 Red Bulls to get my emotions rolling, but I don't get upset easily, so the script they wanted me to say I flubbed up so bad it was left on the cutting room floor. How these court shows work is that the people really ARE real, and Judge Alex dismissed my case without predjudice, which means I can resue him when the two year Promissory note was cleared. We were each given $150 for our appearances and up to your state law for the car (mine happened to be $2500. Now, at least on JA's show, the money comes from the the network and goes to the winner and the defendant would have to pay nothing to me. But could he keep his big, fat mouth shut he would have gotten off scott-free and would no longer be required to pay me anything. But the dumbass waved the Addendum to the judge and screwed himself out of $2500. The two years went by and voila! There was a cashiers check from the weasel. I am glad it is all over, but I miss my Green Machine, I hated to see it go.