Good for both of you! A lot of women just can't give up their authority in the kitchen, just like a lot of men think of cooking as something they shouldn't be expected to do. imo, both groups are missing a lot of fun. DH took over the grocery shopping shortly after he retired. The first few months were both exasperating and hilarious, but he's gotten to be very good at it. Of course an incentive is that if he wants 'junk food' like ice cream or potato chips, he has to buy it himself. He doesn't do a lot of cooking but he did learn to read a recipe... as long as I annotate it as to pan size and list the exact order of steps. Some time ago Suzi mentioned writing everything down that she wanted to remember. I'm trying to do that with all the kitchen details and recipes. A lot of my cooking is seasoned with a 'dash' of this or a 'glug' of that, so I'm having to measure and experiment before the recipe can be used by anyone else.

I have seen lady slippers with roots that extended almost a foot on each side. They mainly grow in the duff here, not really down in the soil. So, I probably would not plant anything very near them. I just learned that their fine seeds germinate better on disturbed ground, so it is good to "stir up' the fallen leaves to give space for those seeds to settle in, according to my source. As for books, there are so many,and each one has different photos, which help with ID, as well as descriptions. I started with books focusing on NC, then the east in general, especially the northeast, so that I could cover the mountains of NC. Some are general, and some are more technical, with guides for keying out, such as Newcomb's book. You need to find a book for your zone. As for gardening, one of the easiest to understand but with decent photos and cultural hints, including wildlife benefits, I would recommend 100 EASY-TO-GROW NATIVE PLANTS FOR AMERICAN GARDENS IN TEMPERATE ZONES by Lorraine Johnson.

We too are in the middle of building and I think it is impossible NOT to feel anxious about borrowing and spending money when the economic news is so bad. It is downright terrifying to be building a home when almost no one else is. It always FEELS safer to be traveling with the herd. But I was taught - as I'm sure you were - that the only way to really make money on the stock market was to buy when everyone else was selling and sell when everyone else was buying. In other words, economically, it is BETTER not to follow the herd. I think the same thing holds true here. As all the economists and pundits keep telling us, part of the reason the economic news is so gloomy is that, after years of Americans having a "spend, spend, spend" mindset, so many people have gotten scared and have suddenly started to hold onto every penny they can. While the decision to start saving is great on an individual level, having the entire country start trying to do it all at once has helped to lock up dollars and contributed to the economic mess. DH and I saved frugally through all the years when "spend, spend, spend" was the order of the day. Now, even with the economic downturn and our investments taking a huge hit, we still have enough saved to purchase what we want. And, we getting better deals when we buy things for our house than we would have had we built a few years ago. So no, I don't feel guilty about spending the money we saved over all those years. Besides, as other posters have already pointed out, every penny we spend helps someone else keep a job! Besides, since the government has decided to print and pump more dollars into the economy in an attempt to get money circulating again, I figure double-digit inflation is bound to hit us very soon. Whatever dollars one manages to save right now are going to become worth a whole lot less in the very near future. Better to invest my dollars in durable goods that won't devalue when inflation hits. So rather than cutting back, DH and I have actually decided to borrow more than we otherwise would have...especially since we are able to qualify for very low interest rates on a thirty year mortgage. Rather than wait to do some upgrades later (as we had originally planned), we're doing them now because we're confident we'll be paying back the borrowed money with much cheaper dollars down the road. But, does all my logic insulate me from feeling anxious sometimes? Nope! I still have my anxious moments. Guess herd mentality is hard-wired in. LOL. Just my 2 cents.

Thought about this thread over the weekend .... not sure how I stand on it but here goes: This weekend took my son out driving around getting his license soon ... after we got done he was complaining about not being able to text message he is on SM's phone plan she doesn't want to pay for it ... then he says SM flipped out on her 18yoDS and threw him out told him to find a new place to live (LONG STORY drugs, stealing etc. sold his car for drugs that sm and ex are still paying on eeks but anyway) she disconnected the internet. So son puts ex on the phone for me to talk to him and we talked about the issue at hand(text messaging/internet/etc.) and DS driving comparing kids and remembering how different the kids are just reminiscing(sp?) we must have talked for almost an hour .... his wife was not around my hubby was not around first real talk we have had in the 10 years since the split. Was like talking with an old friend more than an ex just remembering the funny things the kids did and such ..... got off the phone with the ex and DS says wow you two talked for that long ever.... guess you really don't hate each other .... The double standard I guess ... I don't see hubby talking to his ex like that I mean if he did really not much I could do about it but my ex was not he11 bent on ruining me and badmouthing me to the kids we supported each other with the kids .... didn't try to sabotage everything with regards to the kids..... I think someone said it not sure guess it depends on what type of person they (the ex) are just because you couldn't be married doesn't make them nasty, just not a good couple but if you couldn't stay married because they are nasty well there it is.