Thanks for all the suggestions guys!! Keep 'em coming!! Winter interest is definitely important, but unfortunately, with the way the house and the sidewalk are, there isn't room for both shrubs and perennials in the foundation gardens. I did leave the cone shaped yews on the ends of each garden as well as some other evergreen shrubs that are next to the sidewalk leading to the breezeway. I've already pulled out the remaing boxy yews though. I considered planting a few evergreen shrubs like heather or holly or something else with the foundation plantings, but decided against it. The area is really too small for most shrubs and I felt I would prefer perennials there for spring, summer and fall. During the winter, we get so much snow that pretty much whatever is there is buried anyhow. I planted a few Rhododendrons in the bump outs. I do like the idea of adding a few more. Karinl brings up an excellent point that my house is so large as is my lot, that it dwarfs most of what I plant. I'm hesitant to put any large or even mid sized conifers only because I am concerned it will block out the light we get in the house. I had orignially planned to make the gardens in front larger with mass plantings to help but decided that might be a bit overwhelming to do all at once. I think what I plan to do now, instead, is in later years, add some more large island beds in the front. And yes, Karinl, perennials are a MUST! I love flowers!! As you can probably tell, I also love trees so we are adding lots and lots of those as well. Saypoint, thanks for your comment about the colors running together! I didn't think of that. I guess it may not be that important then that the shutters are a different color. And I am certainly doing large flower gardens in the back too! Thanks again for all your suggestions! I'd love to hear some more! Tara Here is a link that might be useful: Photo Album with additional updated photos of the current progress

I have a laundry tub full of LP's (with a few 45's and 78's thrown in for good measure), but our record player died long ago, so I haven't listened to them in years. There's a good assortment of rock, blues, jazz, soul, showtunes, and classical. I don't know whether to bring them to a record dealer or put them out as giveaways at a yard sale, but I can't use them now, and I can't vouch for their condition (some were stored in the attic or basement for years and may be warped; most of the album covers are not in great condition), so I have no idea of their worth. And I don't want to buy a new turntable, as the scratches would probably be too painful to listen to. But looking through them brings back such memories! I can even remember how the final chord at the end of one cut was followed by a particular note at the start of the next, or where I was when I first listened to some of the songs; I guess it's an auditory memory that never leaves us. Lowspark, my DS also discovered the Beatles and then moved on to Pink Floyd, Queen, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and many more. When he still lived at home and played his CDs, I had the pleasure of listening to them again. Good music lasts forever, even if the medium changes. Sue

I love it when I find a new way to make an old way better. Good for you! For photos, I find it amazing how the digital world has changed everything. My kid will never have this photo dilemma. Ha! I guess I'm not very emotionally attached to my photos (the paper aspect, anyway). Many years ago, I got tired of the bazillion mismatched photo albums. I took them all apart, rubber-banded the groups, and filed them all in 2 photo boxes. That was freedom right there...to rid of the album clutter & space. In recent years, I've been scanning the banded photos to my computer, and...*gasp*...I throw away the paper prints. I've whittled the 2 full photo boxes down to 1 box which is about 3/4 full. When I want to frame & display a photo, I go find it, and am able to print to whatever size I want. Crop, fix, and make a so-so print something worthy of framing. I've scanned obituaries, childhood report cards & certificates, and many other paper keepsakes. Paper is gone and I don't miss them at all. They are now preserved & won't yellow further on the computer. If I want to find something, I know exactly where to find the digital document. No digging, no distractions of other treasures in the middle of my search. No mess. I'm able to print or email & share the obits and documents with family who lost their copies. Liberating.

This has been my project for the past few weeks. I had six moving boxes of photos. I grabbed a box and headed to a friends ceramic shop. By using her shop, I had to sort in a couple of hours and then pack up and not leave it scattered all over the house. I took large manila envelopes with me and have sorted by each child, a basic family group of stuff, photos of me and dh in a previous life (I still am not ready to pitch the wedding photos of the ex). I've now done this with each box and reduced it to two boxes with the envelopes. Last week I took the envelopes with just one of the kids and really started purging those photos. This was dh's first child and he has significantly more shots than the other kids. Looking at these, I'm realizing we are lousy photographers and I don't want 20 pictures take of the same basic shot. One or two will do and then I'm putting some of the doubles in the family envelope. I don't know that I'll ever get them in any type of albums, but I'm finally not feeling like I'm climbing Mt. McKinley when I think of these pictures. I'm just about ready to make the switch to digital, now that we can easily make prints and don't have to buy the special ink jet paper and stuff. It would certainly help eliminate all of those lousy and duplicate shots that I ended up with. Gloria