Carol Stocker was on Greater Boston TV show the other night talking about her new book and she talked briefly on all the outside pests being introduced and how they are wrecking havoc on our native shrubs and trees. She rattled off a bunch of pests I hadn't heard of yet. Yikes I hate to think something could be attacking azeleas and rhododendrens (I don't remember her saying these in particular). This year I lost 3 mugo pines which also seem hard to kill. Just brown needles. The shrubs were around 12 years old. One I was planning to remove due to its size but the other two were perfect where they were. BTW a big job to dig out the roots of the one I've dug out! Sue

Thank you all for the very nice hugs and thoughtful responses :) I was feeling a little sorry for myself yesterday, mainly because we found a place that might work, but we can't seem to get anyone to show it to us! The owner is out of the country and the other property we like has renters, who can't seem to move out. I'm sure we'll get to see them by the end of the month...but meanwhile, snow is coming and I have horses to move! So, this is the house I would love to get. It's in a small town and across from some property with barns...and a small house, we could use for our home office. It probably needs some work, but it's on city water and sewer (you appreciate the little things, after living in the country LOL) but also has a well for watering the garden. I'll let you know how things go...but I just REALLY want to know if this is going to work out. I am so tired of dealing with this entire thing and just want to fix up a house, move in and get on with our lives! But, then I remind myself how lucky I am to have a place to live, while we are waiting, a husband I love (and best friend) who is getting better every day...and still have my horses, kitties and garden. We should be able to keep it all, with some creative relocation and a bit of luck :) Oh, here's the house...I really want to see the inside, but peeking in the windows, it seems like a great fit for us! From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures Cawaps- Thank you for the link! This post was edited by lavender_lass on Mon, Oct 6, 14 at 14:16

ok so while I tried very hard to find a better pic that my photographer friend did..since I'm vain and shallow lol..I can't. I posted it here at some point-can't find it. can't find it in my files either. where are all the good photos when you need them? so I gonna expose myself(not the first time lol) and post my own sad pics of our master bath(see how the mirrors don't reach the celing? don't do that. that's me being super stupid. I thought that if the mirror doesn't reach the ceiling-I'll see less of the pendants' chain. LOL). it's right after we moved in..still some dust on the tile because our "finisher" guy was an amazing guy-but wherever he went he left either paint or scratch or dust or whatever so is it sorta gray? yes is the gray warm? oh yes. It changes with light, it can look cooler or warmer-but the overall feeling is of warm, rather then cool even that the stone that finally set the palette (I was set on it before I found the stone, because the stne, I found last-but the stone really helped to tie thigs together, and determined my paint color) has cool grays in it. But it also has warm grays, and these rusty, golden streaks and just to give you the idea how photos can change colors...that's how pendant shades look irl... our house is Spanish Ranch which I love about it and while remodeling I wanted of course to strengthen the idea without going overboard your house might be totally different. Like, completely. I'm not showing you pics because of my choices that had to do with our house, our needs and our likes. I'm trying to tell that "gray" is a big umbrella for many grays..and some you'll be able to distinguish only when comparing one to another. Same will be with "white" or "blue" or "brown' or "purple". One word gives a direction-but doesn't describe fully a color. And still you can think you know yours, bring it to your space-and it won't work. Or it'll work but you won't like it in the evening. Or at noon. You have succesfully chose your colors when you like them 90% of the time..:) Maybe make it 80% even. Light will change them. I like complex colors-these are hard to get right, and light changes them like crazy, and yes sometimes they'll play tricks on you-but I like that feeling of things being a bit not under my full control. I like taming things:) I like when things trick me a bit, and we have a dialogue. It's like they are alive. And have relationships. Which makes all this decor thing much more interesting, at least to me. I do have white in my house(I mean big expanse, like walls..obviously I have it in accents too, I love too many colors to skip on any lol)..but it's not pure white, it's greenish off white that reads warm..yet it's rather white than say, not white. what I knew when I started planning the bath? I knew I want to have floor tile that is very non-slippery yet fits a concept of Spanish Ranch. (that was harsh. hard to find. My first choice was 130$ pers sq f after contractor discount. Would look amazing, I tell you. lol. That's my second choice tile) I knew that I prefer stained vanity(kichen cabs are painted)-and that my favorites are either walnut or teak(went with teak) I knew I have to have shower with bench and tub with step-nothing to do with other people, that's what's safe for me. Other people have their own preferences/restrictions I knew we needed to increase amount of light. I knew we had to leave the space open to the master bedroom or else we'll end up with master bedroom that'd be too dark, rectangular, boring,and won't have feeling of depth. Thus I knew we had to have separate toilet with the door. The rest I didn't know-but it was a puzzle that came together I found amazing tile for the walls-by the time I found it I couldn't afford it (so the tile you see-not my first choice either)). yet I was stricken with green in my first choice tile..i guess hence the pendant I love purples and pinks-hence another pendant. there's also a bit of pink in the hardware. Determine your function. things should be functional, easy to use, safe, and if needed -to be tweaked for you. Determine your style-sometimes easy as in my case since my house informed me of direction. I loved the house, so even easier. As the house is a later attempt on the style-I felt fine with adding simpler elements, and not going full Spanish Revival on it. I just adjusted interior with exterior..so they won't be like from different planets as they were when we bought the house. and then decide on the feel. Feel will point out your colors for you, The direction, Then it'd be lots of going through samples.. You can look at inspirational pics of bathrooms. But you can look at anything, not just interiors. Books, art, movies, parks, landscape..it will all be beautiful but some will get stuck with you more. You'll see. There'll be something about them that will have a bigger power on you, You'll get back to them more. That's how you'll eventually know. What has a staying power for you. I wanted to add some other questionable words of wisdom but I forgot)) Maybe they were most important of all btw I don't know. If I remember and decide that they indeed are..

ILR you are so right about our timing of leaving - we feel lucky and have several friends who are either stuck or had to accept significantly less than they had counted on for their next phase. Values are tanking fast and high end new construction spec seems to be the worst - I expect a lot of long time builders will go under with the huge carrying costs. There is good reason to flee and honestly it breaks my heart. I will always be a Midwestern fish out of water to some extent here in NC. Taxes are one of the reasons we moved. When we hit 17k we said enough and we weren't at the top end of taxes by any means. That FLW house is in Cook County and New Trier school district so taxes are even higher. I grew up there and just looked at my childhood home online - taxes are 28k and that's not a grand house at all.