Mine was great too, Elery and I and Ashley got up early and went to church, the first time Elery attended my church. He was impressed with how comfortable everyone was, all the hugging and personal interaction. One young lady got baptized and the Pastor waltzed her around the front of the church in celebration, LOL, and invited the congregation to "join the dance of spring, of joy, of renewal". Several did, including one elderly couple who happily waltzed in the center aisle. Dinner was good, even the dreaded lamb. Bud ate mostly chocolate bunnies and dinner rolls, but Makayla didn't even hesitate to try the lamb, although she liked the ham better. No augratin potatoes for her, but seconds on the green beans and Woodie's 7 layer salad. I took a picture of the infamous cake, a 3 layer fudge concoction with fudge ganache filling and a layer of light green fondant, that big pink panoramic sugar egg on top and cascades of royal icing roses, daisies and forget-me-nots. We had an Easter Egg hunt, then Ashley had to go to work and Elery had to leave for home, Amanda helped me with the dishes while the "kids" (including David, LOL) watched Dukes of Hazard, the traditional Easter movie. (snicker) I sent the leftovers home with Amanda, the lamb with Elery, and now I'm planning a Passover dinner in solidarity with my Jewish friends here. I've got this recipe for gefilte fish.... Annie

It is a really nice house cimmaryn. Before going any further I would get the loan appraiser over. You have in your mind what the home is worth, but with this economy banks have a completely different idea. Also, you have that retaining wall issue. If I were a bank, I would hesitate to finance a house that the hillside might swallow up. From Picture 8, my guess is if the bottom wall fails, the dirt behind it would slide and there goes the support of the top wall. You really have to take care of that. You are fixing up a house that you hope will be worth $185. Save your money and take care of that wall along with the grading. Without that a potential buyer would have a hard time getting a loan or insurance. Again, From your photos alone, a giant red flag to me. How does that air conditioner breath? To me it says if they didn't take care of this simple once a year maintenance item of hosing it off, in years judging buy the clogs, what else didn't they take care of? If you are not going to replace the A/C, it and probably the furnace need a major cleaning before anyone, including the banker, sees the house. Once those two are taken care of, spend the $300-$500 to hire a home inspector. Make sure he goes into the crawl space and checks for water damage along with everything else. It would cost you less to repair now, or at least know about potential repair costs, before the buyers inspector nit picks, and he will. For the inside. Paint the walls but not the cabinets. They are nice cabinets. I would rather have them than the nightmare of cleaning painted cabinets daily. Also the knobs on the kitchen cabinet are nice. They look like they match the sink so they work. If I am seeing them wrong, change them to silver. The only issue I see with the knobs/cabinets are the ones above the microwave are really crooked. lol Let the buyer deal with that. From the photos it is hard to tell the condition of the kitchen floor but it looks like a nice vinyl. If it isn't dirty beyond scrubbing and isn't damaged, leave it. The only thing I would do in there is replace the counter tops with a laminate in a neutral color. ONLY because in the photo with the stove I can see it is chipped and missing the edge on the right of the stove and part of the back splash is missing at the bar end. You keep saying re-laminate. It would be more cost effective to just replace it. Go with a mid grade laminant that looks good and be done with it. The only lights I would change are the ones in the bathrooms. The bathroom with the white sink, the dark light sticks out like a sore thumb. Change that and the gold cabinet knobs. An inexpensive silver/chrome for both would look great. Then clean really good, put new caulk around the sink, paint and call it done. The bathroom with the dark sink, the same thing only here remove the wallpaper and also change the cheap builder grade gold towel bars to the same cheap builder grade but in silver. Finishes go in and out of style but chrome has stayed in style since indoor plumbing was perfected. Ignore TV, Our home was built new and we moved in September 2003. Six months later I saw a show on HGTV and the decorator yanked down the same lights we have saying they are outdated. Six months old and outdated? LOL Notice the credits on every show, checks are being passed for those credits and pushing products happens.

For Prime Rib this is the most amazing recipe and may be the one mentioned, it will scare the heck out of you at first but follow the rules!!! On another forum I was on for years so many people used this recipe it became one of the ones that stayed up all the time. So it is very very tried and true!! Prime rib Cover prime rib with olive oil. Press on garlic pepper/kosher salt seasoning (the kind with big chunks of salt, very coarse pepper)� (Or use the McCormick Montr�al Pepper blend) Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Yes, that's right, 500 degrees. When it's HOT HOT HOT, put the uncovered roast inside. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN even once during the entire process. Leave the oven turned on for 8 minutes per pound of roast (minimum of 40 minutes). Then shut the oven off and leave it in there for a TOTAL of 2 hours (combined HOT time and REST time) Take it out and cover it with tin foil. Leave it rest on the counter for 15 minutes before cutting. It will be perfectly dark pink in the center, juicy and flavorful. During the time that the oven is turned on, you will hear sizzling and popping and smoke may even come out of the oven. Do not let this alarm you. Shut the kitchen door and keep the smoke alarm in the house from going insane. The smell will drive you crazy, but you must resist the temptation to open the oven and peek. The reason this method works is because the initial high heat seers in the juices. The outside of your roast will be crispy and delicious. The inside will be tender and just plain good This year I decided I am not cooking, I have been having problems with my back and just am not feeling up to it so we are looking for some place that will have a good Christmas dinner or buffet. If anyone knows of any restaurants that will be doing that please post it. We used to go to a wonderful place about a mile from here but they have since changed owners and the new owners are not doing that. Someone told me Cracker Barrel does it??

I wouldn't paint the trim right now. I love the look of the wood floor with the wood trim your eating area (6th pic). Warm and inviting. The white trim with the wood floor (7th pic) doesn't look as good. Generic looking. It is a 70s home and the dark wood is classic for a 70s home. The trim was never meant to be bulky and fancy, I was meant to be sleek and organic. I personalty would strip the white and stain. I then would run the wood flooring in the rest of the home.