I'm so glad some of you remember a lot of the things I do. Some of my most cherished memories are when my playmate two doors down (Ellen) and the girl our age (Mary) across the alley would play in a little lean-to playhouse built against the north side of Ellen's garage. They had a huge wooden sandbox. People don't like the tracking and what it takes to fill and maintain sandboxes, but I've got to tell you it was heaven on earth. The sandbox was under a slightly larger pergola. Over the pergola grew Concord grapes. How beautiful it was under the shade of the leaves and when the grapes hung down as we played in that sandbox. Sadly, Ellen whose parents had the sandbox died from cancer a few years back; we had been separated for years as she taught school and moved to Michigan. The other girl, we parted ways after kindergarten, and she went to the Catholic school. We made new friends and lost touch with one another. A few years ago I found her how? The internet but somebody must have given me some clue, didn't even know what her current married name was. I met her when I was 3. She lives in NC and is such a lovely person. I cannot remember the last time I saw her, before I was 10. We correspond regularly and share these precious memories. Right now I have heard that her husband is facing a terrible ordeal with cancer and his pacemaker; her health sounds good. Tears flowed from my eyes when I read that, and I need to answer soon. I didn't have a video camera, but one beautiful fall day, I walked the old neighborhood with my wide angle lens, walked up the middle of my street and back (there were low hills on both ends of that two-block long street), walked back down then around and up the alley we shared, then around and down her street, clicking all the way. I put the photos on a cd and sent them to her. She was so grateful for them. I'd never met her sister who was older and away by the time I met her, but she sent those photos to her sister, too. I'm so glad I did that. This is the same street from about the exact same spot and one of my photos from that day. The older one I took with my brownie Kodak when I was about 8. The second one was Oct 2005. My house was the one on the right that is yellow now (hard to tell the color) with a red roof and the white rails. Ellen's house was the first one on the right you can see, a grey house with red trim and grey roof. There was a small one in between that isn't visible. I presently live about 1/2 mile from there. The oddest thing is that apart from the cars, trees and a few cosmetic changes to the houses, it has changed very little. 55 years then and now.

I bought a pair of reading glasses on a JC Penney special for 99.00 and then found out when I received them that the glass was thicker than the frames. I also had to go back several times and the last time, the gal either super glued the screw in or put something in to hold it permanently. I suggested they make better frames that should hold the screws more that a week and next time I will make sure the frames will be ok. I told here they should have called me to pick up different frames, but this "gal" just rolled her eyes and that did not go over with me and I let her know it. No place here really good for glasses, that I have found.

My experience: The Builder Depot can work out great if you're willing to put in a lot of time and buy a lot of extra tile (knowing it's still a good price compared to other options). There WERE significant variations in size of the 3x6 venato tiles we got (1/8" difference), and there were a lot of tiles that were yellow/brownish or otherwise not great. However, I would do it again, with a plan to 1. measure every single tile, or at the very least measure several tiles from each box and stack them to make sure there are no big/small ones, and 2. lay out the tile from all of the boxes, pick out the ones you don't like, and MIX them so the installer isn't using tile from one box at a time. It will take many hours, but the end result is worth it.

Jhmarie, so funny/ironic you posted the pic with the dark gray walls, because I just remembered a friend who purchased a home with oak cabinets and painted her walls Benjamin moore Storm AF-700 and it actually looked amazing! She had light gray tile flooring and black appliances as well. And she brightened it up with lots of white and bright accent pieces. So the white beadboard wallpaper is a genius (and inexpensive) recommendation. I actually love it so much I'm going to save that idea for my house. Hillaryndillon, it's completely understandable to feel that way! You want to LOVE your house and when you see all these awesome ideas on HGTV it's easy to get discouraged. You have a very nice kitchen. My advice is to move in, clean, unpack. Live in it a couple months before making any decisions. See what works/doesn't work. For example gray walls might seem nice but depending on the direction the room faces and the lighting, a gray could be too dark/drab for the space. You won't know until you're there for a little while. It took about 6 months of living in our home to really decide which rooms we want to repaint. Seeing the rooms at different times of day/different lighting can make a huge difference. Also you may find some oil rubbed bronze light fixtures on sale or clearance.. and that could jumpstart an entirely new design direction (you may want to do ORB cabinet hardware if lighting is ORB)... so see what I mean? Don't rush it. :) I made that mistake before and it stinks when you just want to CHANGE a space so badly that you get excited and do it without really getting to know the space and also researching design ideas. One thing I wish I'd known about sooner is "whole house paint scheme"... google it or search on Pinterest. Really great ideas on how to use color (paint) in each room of your home so it coordinates and looks thoughtfully planned out. I had never heard of it until I used this forum. Lots of ideas on here. Good luck :)