Thank you all. :) I feel like she was sent to us for a reason and we love her so much. She hasn't snapped at me in almost a week. LOL She still doesn't care much for our pug kids but we're making tiny steps in the right direction. I took a chance on her level of trust in me and cut her hair earlier. She done very! well , much to my suprise. Healthwise, she's on a roll in the right direction. Finally putting on some weight (she was 9 whole lbs @ her vet checkup :( ) , her hair is growing back and her owies are healing. I hope on hope there's a special place in hell for the person that treated her so badly and the more I work with her and learn , the more I hope that person goes there. That isn't neccessarily the right way to think but from my experience and in working with her , I've figured out she was absolutly loved , pampered and trained by someone in her former life and then for whatever reason landed in the wrong hands. I took her to a public event and she socially gravitated toward older gentleman and not even knowing them , sat ever so gently next to them at their feet. I really think she was owned by such a gentleman and then he met an unfortunate fate of some type (i.e. nursing home, facility or worse) and whomever was supposed to care for her in a way he hoped, sure failed her miserably. She lets me work with her , love on her and care for her BUT she truly thinks the sun rises and sets on my husband so she certainly puts more trust in men than women. Lucky for her , he loves her as much as she does him or she'd be in trouble (or I would...LOL). Anyways, that's the Honey update. :) Have a safe and happy holiday weekend everyone!!

Sally, congratulations. I love porches you can actually sit on and the floors will be lovely when they are all polished up and done right. I actually kind of like the cabinets in the kitchen but the black appliances are kind of dark. Keeping the floor the shade it is, it will probably look a lot bigger with lighter cabinets, countertops, etc. Of course, I'd just paint everything white, LOL, except the floor! And I love that old tree, it would make a great "horse" for a little cowboy, also a fort to protect him from marauding Indians and a great outlook to spy outlaws ready to attack and maybe a ship discovering new worlds and very possibly a rocket..... Annie

CarolsSis, JMHO but I would do some very drastic things. I would also set up a camera, maybe a home recorder inside. I would also be VERY CAREFUL with your pooch. I knew someone once at work had 2 Rotts poisoned by meat throw over their fence laced with rat poison. Also, if my work schedule allowed it I would leave and come home at odd times during the work day maybe in an effort to "surprise" someone. Do you have ANY neighbor you're close with that might watch your place while your at work? Like the neighborhood watch but on a smaller scale. Since you have an insurance claim, plus a police report (?) is there anything the insurance company can do to put some heat on the local police department to investigate? I have a teenager and a young adult son. You have to be one step ahead of them. Prepare yourself for anything. Maybe you can outsmart them and catch them red handed. I'm with Kathy, it makes me angry. I wish you luck.

We made a lowball offer on this current house, but only after doing some careful research. The first, and most important to us, was that this house was one of 14 rentals that the owner had, and he HAD to dump this house because he was at the end of the period where he could deduct it on his taxes. Second, we looked at similar houses that were turn-key, and figured in how much the house would need to get it to that level, and deducted it from the asking price. Then, we looked at DOM-over 365 because of disrepair and a Harry Homeowner single car semi-detached garage that was falling down. The house itself was a diamond in the rough (ok, very rough!), with good copper piping, solid build, and what looked like an exceptional amount of thought put into the design by the original owner 37 years ago. So. The listing was 374,900. We made an offer of 300, which was rejected outright. We then let them sit for three more weeks, came back at 340, and got the house for 350. The guys next door with an indentical turn key house just sold for 500. We think it will take us about 5 years and 100k to get it turn key, which puts us at a total investment of 450. No big profit there, and when I mess up an improvement I sometimes wonder why I didn't choose the turnkey, but there are ways that lowballing can be effective. Let me emphasise that if this had been someone's home that they had loved and lived in, we would have passed on the house at the price they were offering because it's not an investment for them, it's part of their heart.