We've considered using poly to section it off but we can't secure it well enough to keep the heat from escaping. If it was a glass house or even a rigid plexiglass we could but we can't attach anything to the plastic and there's too many gaps if we just attach it to the framing. I'd love a glass house but I couldn't begin to imagine what one the size of our GH would cost. I know someone who built a beautiful iron and glass house, maybe 20'L x 20'W x 15'H and that was over 40K and they did much of the construction themselves. Neither DH nor I are mechanically inclined and have to hire out pretty much everything. Karyn

Thanks for the kind offers, most everything looks pretty good so far. It's kind of hard to check on them now because the porch light is burned out. I can't get to the ladder to replace it because it is on the end of the porch with a bunch of brugs + all the junk that didn't get put away. The water wasn't frozen solid in them but it had about a half inch of ice. My Epi (which bloomed twice this year) is out there too & doesn't look happy. I'm glad I have the Sangs under lights or they would have been out there too. It looks like it will warm up the day after Christmas & stay that way for a couple days (yay!). It is supposed to be 4 with some wind chills tonight. Linda

Lizards don't bother me, and I think they are cute. I have a lizard carving (from Indonesia) in my kitchen, but no real lizards. I had chameleons in Austin that would sit on the ferns in my yard and lick water off the fronds after I had watered them. Occasionally, one would get into the house, but then the exhaust from my stove consisted of a hole in the wall which was in front of where my ferns were. At my parents house, I once opened the silverware drawer to find a HUGE cottonmouth snake that had crawled up along the kitchen sink pipes. I was about 12 at the time and had never been so scared in my life. I tried to scream, but no sound would come out. My father had to take it outside and kill it. He normally didn't kill snakes because he thought they ate mice and rats, but they also stole chicken eggs. Plus a cottonmouth is very poisonous. I'm fine with spiders, except for black widows. Tarantulas make me nervous also, especially when they migrate in huge hoards. When I was about 8, I was surrounded by a huge hoard of them on my grandfather's ranch. Unfortunately, I was barefoot at the time and was trying to pick my way through a sticker patch, and so running away from them was not an option. Also, they are very good jumpers. Lars

Good Morning! Can I just state again that you guys here are all the absolute, very, very best!! I appreciate all the advice and encouragement, it matters to me. Last night was a gut wrenching OMG moment and I automatically came here to sob out my misery to the board and you did not disappoint :) To put it in perspective, it basically looks like a cotton ball exploded in my kitchen. The ceiling is white and brand new since it was raised a foot. The DR walls were opened up so I have more light in the kitchen and they are a freshly primed white. My old medium oak cabinets were painted..... white! Our old floor has risen fron the dust and is finely covered in white from the spraying of the bottom cabinets. My old appliances are (you guessed it) white. My brand new recessed lighting gives off a heck of a lot of light as opposed to the lovely flourescent big box it replaced (the electrician is coming back to put in dimmers) and all that white is really startling to me. Granite goes in on Thursday then floors can be selected, which I know will help. I just had a real brain freezing moment last night and all that I have learned here just flew out of my head. As many have experienced and stated here as the planner, designer, whatever we call ourself, most times we are too, too close to the intimate details and we imagine all who see our choices must be thinking "whoa, what the heck was she THINKING??" DH came home and really thought it all looked great. He didn't want me to paint his solid wood cabinets and I was so certain he would regret letting me have my way. I think he likes it more than I do! We now have crown moulding from keeping old, shorter cabinets and that is an adjustment to see open space. Oh so many other things I can beat myself up about in the moment, so I better stop. I told DH at least I have digital pictures of what was.... so I can look back and remember why we wanted this change. Back to the boards, so many pesky details I haven't dealt with yet and I need inspiration that I find here so often. *Deep breath and pulling up my big girl pants* Time to get back to work! Thanks again, this has helped more than you can know :)