I had an acre cleared for my veggie garden but made them keep a little island of natives about in the middle. They thought I was nuts- tree roots and all that interfering with veggie roots, sucking irrigation water, honeysuckle would take over, there might be more poison ivy lurking, etc. Well, that little island, with its two small maples and a tiny oak, some scrubby weedy things too, have, over 5 yrs., sprouted a lovely sassafras, a clump of maple leaf viburnum, and a hickory. The edges have been planted with hosta and ferns, those viburnums that prefer some shade, a place for a sweet autumn clematis to climb unabated, daylilies and glads that are protected from critters (because the veggie garden is fenced 8' high). I put my ancient metal A frame swing there and it is where I escape. In the winter, all bundled up with blankies, I watch the stars. In spring I watch the birds building nests above me and Blue Mason Bees running back and forth. In the summer I escape from the heat of the day, but not the humidity which is cured with a tall glass of sweet tea. In the fall I watch the leaves turn colors overhead and fall down on me willy-nilly. Now that I have inherited cat and resulting kittens, they join me there on the swing. My DH wanders out there too to rest, just to have some peace and utter quiet before he jumps back on the tractor to plow or disc. If I sit there too long I am looking for a piece of paper to write down what needs to be done in the garden. That's when I know I have tarried enough. Nancy the nancedar

Hi Terrance nice to meet ya and thanks for the reply! Yes I must get outside in scratch that dirt. Where I live now, in Aberdeen, we gravelled the whole backyard due to having multiple horses in the house. LOL..my great danes make a terrible miss on grass so it was the only way. And mud? As in garden? Would be destroyed unless I built a fence around it. We are planning to buy a house soon, so hope to change all that. I can not wait to get into roses outdoors and perenials, grow my own veggies. Lily's too! I hope he builds me a greenhouse, as I am a die hard fan of tropicals. Plumeria and hibiscus are my fave's. Been growing them indoors for a year under lights, and lots of blooms. I also enjoy propagating and starting from seed indoors. Fun stuff! I guess when you grow up as a small town girl, you stick to your roots..hahahaha..too funny! Krista - sorry I left Sharon's name in the original post, so she knew I ressurrected it.

lol..you sound like me, though I have to say I haven't traced something from a friends house yet but I've done the rest. My friend is redoing her kitchen and she saw some pictures she liked at a store, I think it was Ashley Furniture. She didn't want the pictures but she liked the animals painted on them. She told the man at the store that she did want them but has to approve everything through her husband and could she take a photo of the pictures. Then she calls me and asks me could I paint the animals on some things for her kitchen. I told her I would but she had to buy the pieces to paint on. I still can't believe she did that...lol I won't be making any money on it so I hope it's just balsy and not illegal! I believe if you purchase clipart from pccrafter, you're allowed to use it on handcrafted items to sell. I've bought a couple packages so far. Nightlilly

Are they rats, or mice? I guarantee you that they are in more than just your garage or your neighbor's. Both rodents can chew through many things, including walls, and they can squeeze in through the smallest of openings, even the corners of the garage door. If you see poop, you have rodents and your neighbors have rodents, too, if your houses are joined like that. You should put some traps out. Use the kind that clamp down and kill the rodent. Those sticky traps are much more cruel than just snapping its neck. And poison may kill more that just the rodents in your garage. Rodents dont just go away on their own. Rodents should be taken seriously. They get into things and leave pee and poop that can be ripe with disease. Get rid of all that stuff and welcome to the world of declutting! You will face many decisions as to your stuff and each makes a personal decision. Sometimes, things do survive to still make a statement decades later. My MIL had put into my husband's baby book a large picture that he drew of himself when he was five. Now that he is 70, that picture is priceless! I have saved a few things like that from my own kids. The objective is to only keep a small and organized number of things that will be accessible to be viewed and appreciated. That means shedding most of it. You need to cull and edit and organize. For paper things I highly recommend using 12'x12" binders that have the D rings that snap open so that the pages can be easily manipulated. Those small ones that use the screw posts are not really that easy to work with. Amylou,. that china has become an albatross around the necks of the younger generation, along with the china cabinets that it often gets stored in. So many inherit it and so many are trying to get rid of it. My sister was the lucky one who got the old "collectible" glassware and dinner ware. She is trying to find someone who wants it. She has a wide variety of different things from pre mid century. There is only so much of it that you can find a use for. Sure, you could use it as everyday, but why do that when the more modern stuff is so much easier to use? My daughter saved everything from the remains of an old airplane ticket to giggle notes written to her friends. It was all mixed up in a couple of big tubs in the attic where it sat for over a dozen years, forgotten. I did not even ask her about it because I know that she will still save everything just like that. I culled, edited and organized what seemed to be a generous sampling of things and trashed the rest. She has forgotten all about all of it so she will find this edited version of it when I am gone. We can't easily park our car in the garage, either. It is a single family house but the garage is the smallest it can possibly be. You can barely open the door to get into the car in the garage, I find better use for it as a utility place to do projects and to keep the garden equipment, bike, and an extra fridge for summer produce. It is much more useful to me as a utility room. that is just off the kitchen. I guarantee that it is NOT full of storage bins and I am working on paring down tools, unused garden things and the such. Welcome to the liberation that comes from ridding your life of excess baggage!!!! Anyone who has cleaned out the house of a parent will have some ideas about the pain and turmoil of doing that. I hope to NOT do that to my kids.