Cute house. Is that a baby on the lawn next to the driveway? LOL. I'm not a professional landscaper, but here's my advice from a first time homebuyers perspective who learned the hard way: Lots of great advice here...I agree with starting with soil amendment, then trees, shrubs, perennials / garden in that order, and wait a year before delving into major changes unless you have a pro landscaper. Keep in mind seasonal interest, evergreens and deciduous. Do you want privacy? You can place trees to block views. Do you want a place to entertain and relax? If so, then you can consider a patio in your landscaping scheme. I also perused my neighborhood for similar homes to get a better idea of my likes vs. dislikes, and expanded on that, and I've spent winter months perusing the web, garden books and magazines for a wealth of information. Usually when I did something on a whim, I later regretted it. I have a neighbor who took a beautiful lilac shrub, hacked it down to the ground at 10:00 pm, the night before she threw a party, to "make more room for seating". We couldn't believe it (as this was the last shrub in their yard). I also have a lilac shrub that I later trimmed up into a tree form to make room for a rocking chair underneath, and it's adorable, very English-gardenish, my husband's favorite place to relax...so the moral of the story is my neighbor has regrets, I'm sure, as she later replanted another shrub in the same place. LOL. As far as your veggie gardens, some municipalities don't allow veggie gardens at the front of your home, so it's always best to check on municipal codes. Consider installing a rain barrel. Our community sells them dirt cheap as a recycling program (old pickle barrels), as opposed to the pricing you see on the internet. Your plants will love you for it, and you'll save on your water bill. Our local dump provides free compost and mulch if you pick it up and load yourself. I always check on gardenweb regarding plant selections, and I've always found this most reliable vs. zone hardiness or performance from garden magazines or nurseries. Gardenweb -trees, perennial forums, etc. are a plethora of valuable information, couldn't live without. Fence - get a property survey if no property markers on site. Check with city hall to see if they have any on record. Inform your adjoining neighbors before installing, as a courtesy, they'll appreciate it, and you can also make sure there are no property line disputes. Confirm municipal codes regarding height, permit requirements, material, etc. I wouldn't skimp on the quality as this will add value to your home, and appeal to future homebuyers with kids and pets. I noticed your access to the back yard is via the side door - think about whether you want your fenced area to encompass the back door as well, technically this area is considered the "side yard" and not the "back yard", in which there may be different height or permit requirements, so again, my best advice is to confirm municipal code (our municipality is very strict). As far as visual sensations, curb appeal increases the value of your home. Bricks - I would not get rid of them if they match the brick on your home. Depending on the year your home was built, you'd be hard pressed to ever find them again, and you never know when you might need them. You could use them as a pillar base for a pergola, for example, and it would look like it was original to the home. Just some things to think about. That's my 2 cents worth. Good luck, and most of all have fun. I knew absolutely nothing about gardening or landscaping, and now I'm hooked. I find gardening very therapeutic. Regards, Kim

What a sweet place you have Moni. I like it and I hope it makes you happy. You are so lucky to have your sister there to help you out. Nothing does a big job better than two friends doing it together.

Do you have electric heat and water heating? A gas connection for the dryer in your utility room? If any of those are gas, you can run gas to the cooktop, but it's a mater of how far and what you have to go through to get there. If you don't have any gas, it's not likely that it will be cost effective and I'd look to induction. I like gas and had reasons for sticking with it, but my kids are grown now. With little ones, induction might have some safety advantages.

Well, I'm having to do a rethink because even though it is very 60s to serve both crab and ham in the same meal, and if I'm flaunting dietary laws why not really "go for it" (she says jokingly) I think it is a little rich and unnecessary. Oldsters don't eat that much . . . I love the idea of using the salmon mold at a party like that, gonna save that idea, but maybe not this one, kinda using this one as an excuse to clear out some stuff in the freezer . . . I cannot wait to throw more porch parties though . . . sigh. Hubs and I are right in the middle of a major backyard deck/porch landscape redo. Gonna take us most of the summer before totally done . . . sigh . . . Of course now I want to have grilled bacon, asparagus and cheese sandwiches . . . but will save that for the family, I kind of want this luncheon to be all prepared ahead . . . but I have asparagus in the fridge NOW so it may soon go on the rotation. If I didn't also have kale languishing it would be tonight . . . ! Hubs wants pizza tomorrow night, wondering how that would all fly as a pizza topping--bacon, asparagus and cheese pizza . . . I might throw some spinach into the mix. Hubs will hate it because it is not traditional. Thankfully my pizza recipe makes two crusts so I make one fun one for me and one with cheese and sausage for him . . . Meanwhile, I think I may still keep the marinated asparagus for the luncheon, or any other marinated vegetable that is in season, and ditch the crab. MTN is right, crab needs to be the star and I'm not quite into that for this particular meal. I'm thinking just marinated chopped salad featuring asparagus, maybe cherry toms, scallions, or radishes, something springy. Maybe toss in a few white beans, keeping it Frenchy. I pulled out a hunk o' ham from the freezer to experiment on, see how it fares plain in a sandwich or make a ham salad . . . but while I was in the freezer I noticed I had puff pastry cups in there. Never did use them . . . thinking I could make shrimp Orleans served in the pastry cups for the main dish and forgo the rich potato salad. I have an old recipe of my Mom's for that too, she put it in a community cookbook back in 1961, two years after she was married and I was born. I have no idea if she ever made the dish, I certainly didn't remember her making it when I was growing up but my uber picky Dad soon took all the joy out of my mother's cooking attempts so I'm not surprised. Her only consolation prize was that she and I shared a love of all the foods my picky Dad and brother turned their noses up at.