Before you let Scotts come. True gardenrs feed the soil, not the plants. I pass on the chemicals. I use liquid fish emulshion..nothing else. After you expand your flower bed (skin and remove the "sod"), rake your lawn hard, plant some seed, rake it in, water every day.....you'll do better than Scotts....their chemicals will kill your garden....for fertilizer, buy one of those miracle grow sprinklers, toss out their powder, and fill with about 2 inches of the fish emulsion, and then spray on lawn and garden once a week, and watch those plants grow like crazy! RAke and shred your old mulch. Bring in some good rich organic soil. Now's the best time to change the shape...check out a few books (I peruse them at Lowe's all the time) and take a chalk spray out and apray a shape you like....run it along the driveway up to your walkway....nice curved shape....more bed=less lawn=more nature and beauty to your yard. Raise the bed, 6-12 inches, and till the first layer-some good black cow for Lowe's may help) before you build it up....Then, get new edging. Look at your site, sun-shade....morning-evening....abd try to select a mix of flowers and a couple of host plants/shrubs if you can....really brings the butterflies.....look back at those books and the garden center, pick some flowers you really like, draw a list and see if they like your area (sun-shade, water etc.) and then remember you have 3 blooming seasons...spring, summer, fall. Try for plants that hit all 3, a couple clusters of bulbs/iris rhyzomes for spring, coneflower/redebeckias for summer, sages for summer and fall. Perhaps a new mailbox, with a wooden post, and a nice climber can co up (Clematis), honeysucke, or better if you want the prettiest butterflies, try a Dutchman's pipevine there as you have some shade) and you'll get some nice pipevine swallowtail butterflies to lay their eggs on it (don't remove the caterpillars when they eat the leaves, those are your butterflies!) If it's really shady there, your tall plants could be foxgloves, which will reseed every year.....perhaps some hostas, or calla lillies...plant them in nice clusters so they're a real showstopper....Get some butterfly weed (Asclepias currasavica) or another kind, and you'll have visiting monarchs and some caterpillars you can watch as well. Sneak a small cluster of parsley plants under your tree, or against the house, and remember not to pick the green striped caterpillars that suddenly appear (you can use fennel or dill as well) and soon you'll be the envy of the block with dozens of black swallowtails around your yard... Use the color wheel....shades of the same color go well, as do opposites. Yellow and purple are stunning together, pink and purple go well together, yellow and pink do not. Tall in the middle, shore on the borders, where your bed comes up your driveway to yourr walk, maybe you loop it out to be able to fit a real showstopper, like Mexican bush sage for the fall etc..... When you build your beds up, 12-18" is best, with nice soft mixed soil, then get some old newspapers, remove the glossies, and spread on top of the whole thing, in layers 5-6 sheets think, water with a hose sprayer as you go, and they will stick.....HAve mulch handy, as soon as you've covered up your nice soft beds with newspapers (your neighbors will think you're crazy) cover with about 3" of mulch.....water the mulch again, and let the whole thing rest for about 3-5 days (this will be hard....but it's a good time to be picking plants and setting them out on the bed to get an idea what it will look like) your bed needs to settle during this period..now why the newspapers? It's called the lasagna method, and it's guaranteed to cut your weedpulling time by 99%, and it enriches your soul by attracting earthworms...you'll re-do every yr or every other yr....then from the ceter, dig your holes, plant, and watch your miracle grow! You'll be the envy of the neighborhood...

I am charging the batteries on the camera. I passed out last night when we got home and forgot to do it, lol. Wouldn't you know I woke up to some brugs blooming too. They better hurry up and charge so I can get some pics before I have to leave, lol. He has two broke rings and has to wait on the parts to come in before he can work on the boat motor. The cylinder heads have to be machined and new pistons put in. Its a big job and boat motors are nothing like car motors. You wanna come for the weekend and help him Jim, lol? He can spruce up your car or a/c and you can help him with the boat motor, lol. We did drink quite a bit of beer yesterday, lol. I was hurting and John was wanting to forget his not being able to fish, lol. I will post the pics tonight probably. Gonna take a while to download them since I did a few videos. I thought something was wierd that morning. He came in and woke me up and brought me a cup of coffee and once I got moving around and looking for him I saw him out there and grabbed the camera and he almost fell off that stool laughing when he say me sneaking a pic of him through the door. I posted it on the fishing forum too, lol. He does funny stuff like that all the time. There was no hook on there thank goodness, lol. Michelle (Wildflower sent me a pair of fish ear rings one time and I left the office for a minute and when I came back in he had one of them on and was batting his eyelashes and said "Don't I look purty?" Lol. He is crazy and what keeps me going when I am feeling bad.

We have done 2 DIY kitchen remodels. The first was on a lower scale, but it involved removing a wall, new floors, new cabinets, new counters, new drywall, new recessed lighting, etc...I think it cost us probably $35k. The only thing we hired someone for was to install Cambria Quartz counters. It took about 4-5 months to complete from start to finish. That was while DH and I both worked full-time and we had 2 dogs and 2 cats but NO KIDS. The 2nd remodel only involved recessing a fridge into an existing wall. But DH basically had to remove that wall and rebuild it. We added 2 new windows, new cabinets, new gas stove, new counters, new prep sink, new recessed lighting (old lighting was there but we moved cans and added some new ones). This remodel cost us more like $40k. We splurged on a nice Bluestar range and hood. We kept our old dishwasher and fridge. This remodel started April 2013 with a demo. We had a professional come in to sand and refinish the hardwood flooring. We didnt start installing new cabinets until late July 2013. So from May-June was just working in the kitchen that was down to the studs. We had 2 kids at this point too. I was cooking on a hot plate, microwave and toaster oven from mid April - late August. Awful! We didnt get counters installed until late September. So that makes it about 6 months and there are still tiny little details that need completing. I think your budget is tight for the big items (appliances, cabinets, counters) but you have to remember all of the little things that you will need to run out and buy at the local hardware store or home depot. Those will add hundreds or thousands to your bill. Plus items like faucets, drains, sinks, lighting. Those really add up. And there is no way you will get that all done in 1 week? That is just crazy. I would say you need more like 2 months and thats if you work like crazy. For this latest remodel we hired people to resand and refinish the floors, paid $700 for a guy to come do some drywalling for us, and then paid for the Quartz Countertop installation - Cambria that cost us close to $7k. My kitchen measures something like 16" x 11". Good luck though! I look forward to seeing your progress. I bought alot of things off of ebay (Blanco sinks, Grohe faucets) and that saved me at least $1000.

Who was it that they showed being handcuffed in the beginning? They never got back to that, nor was anyone arrested? I know they are hinting at arresting Porter. One thing that has bugged me is that Bree's husband, Orson, had to go to jail for running down Mike, but it never did come out that Bree's son, Andrew, ran over and killed Carlos' mother. How come Bree never made him turn himself in for that, but made her husband turn himself in? I know it is just a TV show! LOL Clare