Ok...I'm not sure what happened! I posted a reply yesterday..or the day before (?) and now I'm not seeing it! Ah! It was forever long too! Anyway, basically I said how helpful this is! Yardvaark...thank you for plugging in some ideas for us! It's amazing how different it looks...nestled as you said. The shrubs in the island are just boring boxwoods...as are the three by the garage. Oceandweller....love our plant suggestions. I hadn't thought of forsythia...love yellow....and pairing it with daffodils in the spring...magic! My parents have holly trees...dwarf variety. They look really pretty lining their front walkway...I'm going to look up a few of your other ideas. I hadn't thought of kale or ornamental cabbage...sounds unique and fun.... I'm still pretty stumped. My nature is to not be so great at decision making! I did plant the juni's around the maple. I took back everything but those and the hydrangeas. I came home with three each dwarf spruce and more junipers...a different shape a color bush than the low profile variety I chose for around the maple. My plan for those, however, is most likely going to be for the easier planing around the sides and back of the house ( which is a whole other story! Tons of room!). In keeping this simple for you...the juni's I bought today are more round and lush. Do you thinking planting two in between the pillars and then a small grouping over by the garage window is a good idea (I would pull out the too spaced boxwoods, of course). Or does that sound too chopped up? Lastly,my hubby and dad think the limelights look great under that laundry room window. Do u think that is a good choice? I like the thought of lots of evergreens for yr round color...but maybe those r ok there? Otherwise, one of the dwarf spruce there...or the idea of the forsythia? Ok...pardon my babble! Thanks for listening!

Thanks, Bob, My sister was phoned back by a Microsoft rep. She was told to do the following : " Go into your control panel, printers and faxes and add an HPDeskjet350 as a printer and check that as default printer, then you should find that you can open your documents and print them. " The Microsoft rep. said this was only a temporary fix and HP should be contacted for a printer driver update ( which doesn't seem available since my sister tried conversing with them and was disconnected) What is quite odd is everything worked fine for about 5-6 months

What drive me nuts is when reading real estate listings (I am an agent) someone will invariably write "parkay" floors. I always think of how awfully slippery they must be! They also misspell other commonly used words in our field and I am afraid that the new versions will somehow take hold. Think of good old duct tape. It is now duck tape and commonly labeled that way. I typo all the time and even had to go back to the word "typo" to correct it, lol. However, I do try to catch mine. I see people on FB all the time who seem to make no attempt at spelling or grammar. Frequently they are in college or recently graduated, so you would think they'd have learned by now (my peers' children). I think by the time I was 10 or so, I had a pretty decent grip on the English language. I hate to sound crotchety, but kids these days...... I do my best with our sons (7.5 & 9), but it is an uphill battle with all the errors I catch while watching tv, surfing the web, reading professionally made signs, etc... The younger generation is bombarded with poor examples everywhere they look!

"level site" language in your contract. Lots of "it depends" here. Who designed? Was it site specific? Was a topographic survey and specific civil grading plan provided that shows cut/fill yardage? That is pretty easy to get hard bids on. If the yardage calcs are off on plans you (or your vendor) provided, it is a cost billable to you. Fill (gravel or soil) also has to be handled onsite which is also usually charged by the yard or hour or both. Every homebuilder has different practices. Depends on the bidding process too. In my region (& everywhere else) there are many "bottom feeders" who quote bare bones price per foot. My preference is to get realistic expectations incorporated into the bidding process, but that also filters out many prospects. If you bought a pre-priced stock plan build, expect to be charged for everything beyond level and more than 20' off the street. If its a full set of architect provided plans including detailed civil grading plans, then more explanation is needed. Sometimes fill is only an allowance as it is very hard to get accurate due to different rates of compaction by soils type, etc. Usually a conversation during business hours will help.