Thanks for the nice comments all. carolynp, if it would help you, I can include how much of what I planted. Next year, I'm going to keep track of yields a little better. I didn't start tracking until after I came back from my trip. I have a really old scale that seems to weigh accurately enough (I checked it against my digital postal scale, and it was pretty close). I keep the scale in my kitchen window, and keep a calendar in the "bowl" so I can track it as I pick it. sinfonian, you were one of my inspirations for the potato bin. Next year, the potatoes won't be against the retaining wall. I don't know where they'll be yet, but away from the sprinkler for certain. Water does seem to go through the curtain ok, so I don't know how much that would help. I need to get some more fence boards, I want to build another one. My garden is on the south side of my house. It gets great sun over there, and the dogs can't get to it. It does get a little shaded during the summer, but mostly where the raspberries will be. I do hope to garden longer next year by starting some indoors and using plastic over the hoops. We do get a lot of sunshine here (they say 300 days a year), so I should be able to get a jump start in the spring. Because we're at 7000 feet, we do have cold nights, and quite a bit of wind. I'm hoping I do a better planning job, so it will be easier to cover next time. I had to let it go this year because I needed to add more to the beds b/c they were about 8" down. You may be right, I could be the poster child for a cheap garden. All the lumber out there is used and was free. The beds are filled with free manure, leaves, hay, straw, UCG, etc. I have scrounged gobs of leaves this fall. Even the kiddie pool and all that chicken wire keeping the leaves from blowing away, were free. I bought the fence and the posts used, and re-painted. That one was kind of a pain, but I'm not working right now, and I couldn't justify spending $100 for 12 feet of new fence. I did it for about $50 total I think. Even the trash cans out there were from freecycle. The plastic I'll use again come spring I bought from someone on Craigslist for about 1/2 price. A good portion of it was used to wrap items and cover the load of stuff I brought back on my trip this summer, and was still good enough to use again. I did buy the yellow garden cart out there, new. I love that thing, I use it a ton. I'm quite proud of how little I spent building my garden. Come to think of it, I think that's what I started posting in this forum about...

I agree that you should probably do your best to get out of this deal BEFORE they start actually building the house. If you've had this much grief already just over the lot itself, imagine how bad it is going to get when house building starts! Do you REALLY want to go forward with building a house that cannot be situated to take advantage of views and must sit 5' from a cul-de-sac (did you mean a gully or escarpment of some sort?), on a lot that is considerably smaller than you were originally led to believe it would be, while trying to work with a builder who wants to charge ridiculous premiums to upgrade fixtures and finishes to the kind and quality you want, who is already calling you "difficult" and who you already fear will cut corners on your build to make up for their "lost profits" in other areas.... all to wind up living in a neighborhood where all of the houses are duplicates of one of just four designs??? Sorry but I can't help but cringe just envisioning the resulting neighborhood. Even back in the 1960s when my folks bought their first 1600 sq ft tract house, the developer had 12 designs for them to choose. Still the song "little houses made of ticky-tacky" applied all too well to our neighborhood! Yes, go hire a good real estate litigation attorney. But before you go see him/her, spend some time getting the details of exactly what you've experienced down in writing in a more comprehensible way. I'm not trying to be harsh but your post here on GW rambles around so much that it is really difficult to understand what the important issue are. I can tell immediately that you are distressed but it is difficult to tell whether you have a cause of action or not. Based on what sense I can make of your story, I think you probably have a good basis for having the contract rescinded but it depends on exactly what you were told, when you were told it, and what opportunities you had to discover the truth for yourself prior to signing the contract deeds. But, as an attorney I can tell you that when someone comes into my office with such a jumbled explanation of their problem, if I take them as clients I find that I invariably wind up having to spend hours and hours simply untangling the whos, whats, whens, wheres, and whyfores of their story before I can even determine IF I might be able to help them... much less figure out how best to go about helping to resolve the situation. I absolutely HATE taking on a client, charging them for the time spent untangling their story only to have to tell them that I can't do anything for them. I usually wind up giving them their money back. Much as I sympathize with distressed people who have clearly been hurt, in order to survive financially myself, I simply can't spend those kinds of hours for free very often. So a lot of the time when someone comes in with a disjointed story, I wind up trying to shuffle them gently out of the door as quickly as possible without taking them on as clients. So, before you go see an attorney, sit down at your computer, open a word document and create a table with four columns. Label the first column "DATE", the second column "EVENT," third column "NOTES" and the fourth column "SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS". Now, using the table, organize everything that has happened in your relationship with this development company chronologically. The beauty of using a table format is that if you're halfway thru telling what happened in March and you suddenly remember something that happened in February, you can go back, insert a new row in the table, and add in the event. The date column should have exact dates when you know them...if any communications were by email or letter, dig those out and copy the dates down as well as the pertinent info. If you don't know an exact date, provide the month/year or the closest approximation of it that you can. The event column should list FACTS only without any commentary. (For example, "Sales agent told me the lot was X acres extending XXX feet from front to back and XXX feet from side to side at the widest point.) Use the "NOTES" column to add explanations/commentary such as "I later found out that the lot is considerably smaller - see date." So, if the builder told you something and you later found out that the thing he told you was not true, your table will have two entries related to that fact. The date he told you X and the date you found out that X was not true. Each of these two entries will reference the other with a "see date in the Notes column. Make sense? Finally, if you have any documents that support what you're saying, indicate what the document is in the supporting documents column. For example, if you have an email from the sales agent where she tells you that the lot is a particular size, in the Supporting Documents column you would write "email from sales agent (name) dated XX/XX/XXXX, subject line YYYYYYYYYY. Start at the very beginning which would be how and when you first heard about this particular development. Do your best to put down, in chronological order, all the things that happened, all the things you(or your relative) were told by the builder/developer/sales agent prior to entering into the agreement that made you want to purchase this particular lot, the dates when documents were signed, and all of the things that you have been told by the builder since entering the contract. In your Notes column, also identify each person that you mention. (You only have to do this the first time you mention a person but, as an attorney, I would want to know your relative's name and how to contact her for verification, the name of the sales agent, etc.) When you have all the details you can think of laid out in chronological order, go back thru and highlight those details that seem MOST important to your story. Then when you go see the attorney, use the highlighted portions of your document to tell him in a very cogent manner what has happened to you. He'll be much more likely to want to take you on as a client. And, when he agrees to take you on as a client, you can give him the entire history with all the rest of the little details. He may see something in that that seemed trivial to you but may help bolster your case. The other thing you need to do before seeing an attorney is to decide what solution you would be really happy with and then what LESSER solution or solutions you would be willing to live with even tho they wouldn't make you totally happy. For example, you might to have the contract voided, and get your money back with interest on it plus have the builder pay you attorney fees. Certainly if your builder has been defrauding you and lying to you, that would be fair. But Realistically tho, if it would save you from further aggravation, would you not be satisfied to have the contract voided and get, say, 90 percent of you money back even if you had to pay your own attorney fees as long as they were less than say $5000? I ask because you need to totally aware that in situations like this, it is HIGHLY unlikely that you will come out of it totally unscathed. That is a nice way of saying, do NOT bet on getting your money back with interest. If you hang on thru a full trial, and if you have all the facts and all the law on your side, you might win a judgment that says you get your money back with interest...but then you'd have to collect it and builders have a notorious habit of declaring bankruptcy. Unless your judgment says your builder defrauded you and that your damages are due to his fraud, your builder can totally wipe out your judgment by declaring bankruptcy. Happens all the time. And the homeowners are left paying hefty attorney fees and court costs on top of the damages they've already suffered. So while it might be galling to do, it would probably be better to accept early on a settlement offer that gets you out of the contract and actually gets you some portion of your money back. I do wish you the best of luck.

I didn't comment on the shower curtain, because I was a bit confused. By needing an extra long curtain, I didn't know if you meant height or width? I assumed you meant floor to ceiling, but if so, how would a standard liner work, but not a standard curtain? I assumed you were using an L bracket rod mounted at standard height (looks like a standard shower/tub enclosure)? But maybe not?! Are you planning to mount a ceiling rod? Sorry, I'm just not following ,,, Well regardless, here are a few comments: 1) My number one priority would be to properly manage moisture (keep as dry as possible). 2) If at possible, I would first look to using a standard (72x72) curtain (it will be cheaper, you will have more options, and you can more easily change up the look). 3) Start with a good liner mounted at the proper height (not too short and not too long) that doesn't fly around. 4) Whatever I hung in that area, I would want it to be moisture/mildew resistent, provide ventilation/wicking, have rust proof hardware, etc As such, I would first look to a quality shower curtain, which are available in taller lengths. If looking at drapes, I would probably start with indoor/outdoor drapes. Regarding your question on the door, I would probably paint it white/neutral (or faux pine) because I would not want the door to be a focal point, but rather have it blend in. As far as color scheme ,,, on my monitor the tile looks like it has blue undertones, so maybe blue rugs and towels (with a couple of red accent towels), a pattern shower curtain (e.g. a tartan plaid with blue, gray, red, and browns). A red waste basket. Art work that has red, blue, gray, brown, etc... You'll have lots of good options!! Here is a link that might be useful: Trax ceiling shower rods

Fund space. I agree with Juliekcmo that the room should be set up to be the most functional and enjoyable for you for the 50 weeks a year that you occupy the space. I would put the couch in the alcove, and put either a sofa table behind it or hang a shelf on the wall behind it with brackets. That is the place for a lamp, a clock/radio/mp3 player, a place for someone to put a glass of water and a book at night. That also means that the window isn’t blocked so the room gets the benefit of max light all the time. Fan should move out into the room - do a cute chandy in the alcove, something fun and whimsical. The small chest that you have ready to paint seems like it would be the perfect companion piece for you to use for spreading out your files as you work. I think it would fit with the bookcase on the end wall to the left of the entry door to the room, based on the measurements you gave. Bookcase in the corner so that you can have clearance for the chest drawers once the armoire is on the other wall nearby. Then the armoire would go on the long wall, toward the bookcase and chest, to create the feel of an office area. It should still allow the computer to be visible for someone on the couch. To the left of the armoire, I would place the cute wood table you love, with a lamp. The tall mirror might work above this, to bounce some light around and feel anchored. Then angled in front of the stationary part of the french doors, your desk chair can be placed when you are not working. To the left of that, the little set of drawers, which seems perfect for CD storage, so that you can get them off the top of the armoire. You will then have a seating area for someone visiting if they don’t want to sit on the sleeper couch,(especially if it is opened), or you can sit and talk to your son in there while he is visiting. I would put the ottoman on the short wall to the left of the french doors, to get it out of the way when the bed is unmade or it isn’t being used with the couch. I would frame a grouping of the Audubon pix and place them on the wall by the closet. You could do a few more stacked over the ottoman. As for color, I know you said white, but I would think about a color that makes you happy to use in the workspace. I love the purple accent wall in the alcove, and if you still like it, that could be your other color throughout the space. Your pieces to be painted could be done in another (or the same) shade of purple. I could easily see green walls in there, something restful but deep enough to work with the large black pieces. I would paint the bookcase the the chest the same color if they are going to be next to one another, for a more cohesive feel. Consider something textural for the drapery and french doors, perhaps a textured linen or hopsack.