Thank You Weldon for being a good sport about it pulling the pictures off photobucket. They are award winning. I just thought It would be a great way to welcome you. They are all such nice people here on the rose forum and I enjoy reading the posts and looking at the pictures of gardens. Yes , I would love to someday go to a convention hall and meet all of my wonderful newly made rose buddies one day. It would be nice to put names to faces. Nice to meet you Weldon. Are you a rose forum newbie? Enjoy. Here is a pic of me sailing in Lake George NY. A long time ago I actually sailed in Lake Travis, In TX. It was beautiful. And There is All of my roses (some blooms , some not) Samuel

Mama, I've been going back an forth on the prep sink ... not really wanting to disrupt that stretch of work space. Do you think it's a must, in this plan? As for the fridge, it will be a SZ single door, fridge over freezer. I like the bookshelves, too, and am hoping to make it a pull out to expose a hidden broom closet. (Oh, and the aisle dimensions are counter to counter.) Benjesbride, the front room will become the DR, but could always revert back to a LR for future occupants. Because of all of the windows, I'm exposed to all of my neighbors who walk or drive by -- makes it impossible to hang out in my jammies on a lazy day! I also want to keep a formal DR, so this space suits my needs well. I'm eliminating a separate LR and making it part of the K. I have a rather large FR a few steps down for overflow.

Wow. You guys are great! Thank you all so much for the kind words and encouragement. It helps a lot. And I see I'm not the only one in this boat! I do know that things will get better, and I can always plant new roses, etc. But it's just the loss of the rare roses that pisses me off. Why couldn't it be the more common ones that are easily replaced? Of course that's not the way it goes, altho there were a few of those too! And it's my fault for planting the tiny own-root bands in this crappy soil of ours before they've grown to a decent size. And it's my fault for not keeping on top of the sprinklers to be sure they are covering the entire beds, and my fault for not getting the most invasive weeds and underplantings pulled out when they were smaller. But... that's because I've been so busy, and overly obsessed and buying waaaay too many roses. I'm not growing and cultivating them, I'm collecting them. That's what I do. I collect things. It's sad. It's a sickness I guess. I know that in the coming seasons I will get all the beds done. And Bluegirl, yes I am doing what you said. I plant a rose, or weed part of a bed. In this heat, that's all I can do. It's slow going, but it's nice when I do get something done. Right now tho, I also am now dealing with the death of my 98yr old mom. We've been expecting it for sometime, but it's kind of surreal now that it has finally happened. My brother just flew out from Upstate NY and my sister is coming up from SoCal, so we will be dealing with all the estate and stuff over the next two weeks. I'm not going to get much done in the yard for awhile, except watering. Which is ok, since it's been too darn hot to work out there. By then it will be cooler and easier to do stuff outside. The only drawback now is the days are getting shorter, so I won't have as much daylight to get things done. Oh well, it'll get done when it gets done. LOL My life will be so different now. I'll have more time and less stress. Not that Mom was stressful. It was my niece who is my partner in the shop, and who lived with her. She's got mental issues and was a nightmare to deal with regarding Mom. Our lives revolved around her needs and wants, and my younger son and I had to go stay with Mom whenever she wanted to have time off. Now I have freedom, and so does Mom! She was trapped in her bed in a body that didn't work and a mind that was basically gone. I will miss her, but I will not miss the ordeals we went thru with my niece. And I will think of Mom when I'm out there working in the garden. Being out there will help me get over her passing. Judith, your chickens sound wonderful. We only have room for a few. (In fact we're not supposed to have more than 2... which is totally ludicrous... why bother?) Anyway.... we built a decent little shack for the girls and have a run that's 8'x24', but we're going to add another 10-12' in length and use our old satellite dish to put over part of it. It's going to be a fun and funky set-up for them. And next yr... I want some of those Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and Brahmas. Can't wait! Oh and I also am using weed barrier under some of my potted roses. Saves on weeds that's for sure. Altho they still get in the pots. But now I am sort of cultivating some weeds. Those are the goodies for the chickens! They love it when I bring them their "greens!"

how do you do a wood accent wall AND a stone backsplash for tv??? where have you seen this? do not do the slate tile. as for the wall of wood, there are so many other better choices. For sure do not do a laminate,,,and number 2 is too phony looking. Why not use real wood? what is your inspiration? like this? use actual reclaimed wood, or barn wood, or real wood tongue and groove flooring, or even pallet wood (you have to get the good kind,,,it's cheap but a lot of work) that other stuff you;'re picking is a horrible choice.