Well, our spring thaw seems to be over up here in the northland...flurries and in the 20s today slowly sliding the rest of the week. I could go out to clip things left standing last fall but its so time consuming to dig down through 2-3 feet of snow to get to the base, LOL. I worked the weekend also so am off today and got good news. I had booked a cruise for DW and I the end of February paying via credit card the first week of November. Well, the big thing on local news 12/23 was that the travel agency had closed its doors. I was able to determine that the cruiseline had been paid but the airline and transfers had not, and the travel agency's website just directed customers to the cruise/air carriers they had (supposedly) made arrangements with. This is getting waay too long but bottom line is I filed a dispute with my credit card company for the air and transfers part and got word today they just credited my acct. Yeahhhh! I had already gone ahead and paid for the air tickets/transfers again but was a little nervouse I was going to get 'stiffed' for the original. Now it appears it'll at least be 'a wash' financially.....much relieved. Now its time to let my new fish out of their bags (been acclimating to the tank temp) and go curl up for the Sun afternoon nap I missed yesterday. Stay warm everyone, Will

Allison, I love the pictures I have seen of your house, care to share more? The stone is awesome, someday I hope to build our retirement home using stone out in the country, but alas, to me lving in the country means snakes... just hate the thought of being surprised by one. We lived in town and the neighbors snakes infested our yard, memories of enjoying a walk in my yard barefoot and then seeing them slither away (just icky!) It's been two years and its still too fresh to think about that again! Oops, forgive me for straying on that thought (and this thread), this board has been so slowy lately since, well you know....so I don't think I will get in trouble for straying. Seven pets, you are my kind of woman! My DH has limited us to four pets with fur, can't say I blame him. Can you place some kind of "memory garden" for your pets at your new house? Maybe that is something you can incorporate into your landscaping plans to honor their memory at your new home. I know how special pets becomes and how hard it is when they are gone...building something special in honor of them may make it a little easier.

If the wall was never primed before the wall paper went up you will need to prime it before trying to repair the damaged paper layer of the drywall. The water in joint compound will cause the edges of any tears to swell and make a lump that wil not go down. If you sand it flat and apply another coat, more water soaks into the sanded paper area and it will swell again. Setting compound can help sometimes, but if you are not experienced can be very hard to use. It sets in a specified time no matter how much water you add. Pre-mix drywall mud hardens by water evaporation, and can be dissolved again by adding water. A coat of latex primer will help even out the surface color and make the defects more visible. If the paper layer is torn or raised, cut it away with a razor knife. Spot prime the area again. Use a 5 inch or 6 inch drywall taping knife and joint compound to spread a smooth layer over the spot. Do not spend too much time trying to get it perfect. Dips are better than bumps. After 24 hours, take the knife and lightly 'scrape' over the repairs. The new compound is dry, but even dried compound is not very hard. With the knife almost parallel to the surface run it over the repairs. Any slightly raised areas of bumps will be cut away. If the compound area is large or very rough, it might take a few passes to smooth it down. When all the bumps and nibs are down flat again, apply another coat of compound, spreading it out at least 3 inches away from the edge of every spot. It takes practice to smooth the drywall mud out without a lot of bumps and gouges. Work a little harder on this second coat. When it dries you can run the knife over it again for any larger lumps, and then use a sanding screen to smooth out smaller bumps. If you want to try you can also Âwet sandÂ. This uses a sponge to apply water to soften the compound and than gently wipe it smooth. Grout sponges (round corners) work pretty well for this. Keep applying compound, and scrapping/sanding until the surface is as smooth as you want. Spot prime it again to protect the patches.

I kind of have a different take on this post. Alot of parents raise their kids to be their whole life. They throw themselves into their children so much that sometimes the children end up becoming the more dominate personality. These parents have no interests of their own and probably don't even know what to do with themselves when their children aren't there. This happens a lot with children of divorce because of a competition element that presents itself, or maybe even because one or both of the parents are emotionally messed up and the child(ren) feel they have to protect their parent(s). Here are two examples: #1 - A very dear friend of mine who's son and my son are very close friends. She still sleeps in the same bed with her 9-1/2 y/o and her 7 y/o. Almost every night they guilt her into sleeping with them. She hasn't slept in the same bed with her husband in almost 10 years! If DS wants to sleep over with her DS, they have to do it over there because my friend doesn't allow sleepovers away from their home. I had a party for DS and she insisted on sleeping over with him. That wasn't a problem. The problem was that because she always has her kids with her, I HAD to include her daughter in this all-boy birthday party and sleepover. It is my opinion that she uses her kids as a sheild so she doesn't have to deal with her very real marriage issues (alcoholism, infidelity, extreme debt, and more). #2 - My sister. My niece is accustumed to having access to everything and everybody. If there is a closed door in the house, like say I went to the restroom, she will bang on it until I come out or open the door. Not that she wants what is on the other side of the door. She just wants to have access whenever she wants. If she doesn't get her way, she will scream bloody murder until my sister thinks she's having an asthma attack (never even been diagnosed with asthma) and picks her up and cuddles her until it's over. It's very plain to see who has the more dominate personality. So when these children grow up, roles tend to be reversed. The children EXPECT the parents to answer to them and the parents feel obligated to inform the children of everything. I see this in real life with my brother-in-law. His mother informs him of EVERYTHING and he is in the Navy living 1,000 miles away with a family of his own. My BIL, on the other hand, gets mad if he finds out the tiniest little thing that happens and she didn't tell him. If this is the dynamic of a family, anyone who marries into it should work within the dynamic and then raise their own children differently, if they so choose. It's like playing two ballgames at once. It will be hard, but that's why the poster on the birthday thread is having such a hard time. In my own relationship with my parents, we are not like that. My mom had emergency surgery to remove her gall bladder and no one told me until my aunt called from Arizona to tell me. I was a little miffed, seeing as it was and emergency procedure with the risk pof infection, but still it is THEIR business and does not effect me in any way. I am the only relative living anywhere close to them and all I expect is to be informed if I need to help in any way (feed animals, pick up mail, watch house) or if it's life-threatening (my father's heartattack in May of last year when my mom was 2 hours away and I was 20 minutes away). To me, they are adults and they deserve to make their own decisions independent of me, just as I expect of them.