Love the house! I'm probably new to you all here, I do post now and then but I was more active on the kitchen forum for a while, and sometimes the garden forum. My house, if any of you sort of know, is a 1915 Craftsman with some Victorian elements (I suspect the original owner had this built to their very specific specs). I had a historian take a look at photos and even they were a bit puzzled at all of the different types of Craftsman homes it draws on. Having said that, we're always in the middle of doing "something" here. Over the summer, I had my landscaping professional done, including a paver patio put in; some continuing electrical upgrades (like, we needed outdoor receptacles on the house and garage), emergency gutter repairs, etc. Right now I'm at kind of a standstill because I'm waiting on contractors to fit me into their schedules. I'm having my chimney/fireplace repaired to the tune of $6000 (it needs to be brought up to Code and the firebox has some damage needing repair). But scheduling them this time of year has been difficult to say the least. I had an attempted burglary and they compromised my sliding door in the kitchen so I'm waiting on the new one to come in which will mean taking down some masonry and the stairs to re-install. Also waiting on several new windows for the basement since one of the fell in on it's own accord (they were ancient). I had schedule the house and garage to be painted but this can't start yet - because of the masonry at the sliding door having to be repaired (I'm already 1 month behind on that and concerned now it might get too cold to do it). All of the gutters were about to be replaced BUT when they came, they discovered the fascia boards were rotted - so now I'm waiting on a price to add new boards also (I saw the condition of them - yikes, don't know how the gutters were even being held on!). I have regrading to be done on one side of the house, and installation of underground piping from the gutters to the street. That contractor left for Italy right as I made the decision to do the work. Expected back I think this week. And, I need 5 new doors. Front door, 2 sides (one is in my living room to the original car port which is now a covered patio), the garage door (not the pull-ups, we had those done already) and last is the door leading from a bedroom to the upstairs balcony. I have no idea what this is going to run me yet *terrified* I've picked what I want for the most part, but still have some questions for the contractor and am waiting on him to stop by to discuss. I really wanted all of this done by the first week of November. I have a TCO on the house and I've renewed it twice already. I think all of this work would have cleared it out but it's clear that I'm going to have to renew for another 6 months. Oh well. I'm sure the Town will be happy to have another $25. On a good note I finally bought a small flat screen TV for the kitchen. I got tired of running back and forth to the Living Room while cooking to see what was happening on my favorite shows :D

First, thanks so much to all of you who responded. It is immensely helpful to hear from other parents. From your feedback, we are now working up a new financial plan whereby our son will have to pay for all of his own living expenses and educational expenses. We will save money each month for his ongoing education, but we will not give it to him unless he passes his classes and makes satisfactory progress. I also bought a book about setting boundaries with adult children, and it is helping me discern the difference between helping and enabling. The enabling has to stop. Counseling is also a possibility, and it would be critical that the counselor understand the functional impairments such as lack of self regulation caused by ADHD. We reported the National Guard recruiter to a supervisor, and he was disciplined for encouraging our son to stop his medication (recruiter is not a doctor) and lie on the recruitment forms (felony). We were right that the ADHD medication would need to stop and that our son would have to prove successful functioning for at least a year before he could hope to get a medical waiver. He has decided against this route (cannot tolerate delayed gratification for enlistment bonus), and we are relieved about that. Unfortunately, the drama continues, as we just learned that he will not be passing his EMT class because he did not submit his immunization paperwork in time to complete the required clinical portion of the class. I cannot even tell you how upset I am with his disorganization and irresponsible actions. Plus, he blames everyone and everything else (the state, the college, his instructor, the "system", etc.) other than himself. We are not paying for him to retake this class, which is a pre-requisite for the fire medic program. I believe he was only achieving a "C", which is the bare minimum to pass, anyway. I have serious doubts that he can succeed as a student at this time. He has failed to modify his behavior whatsovever. I'm finding it hard to like him right now. Lots of parents brag about their children and are so proud of them, but I'm stuck feeling used and disappointed. His personality is so much different than ours, and it's hard for me to see his life such a mess (literally and figuratively). He cannot discipline himself to ever clean up anything, so when he comes home and I see his truck full of trash (inside and outside), including soda cans and food containers, grease, etc., it seems like a metaphor for his life. He is having so much trouble getting his act together. I pray that he will learn and mature with time. In the meantime, it's tough to only be called when we are needed for money or some other problem. My heart is broken.

Chisue, it would not shock me if that happened here, although my house dates back to the 30s and is all brick. It is only one lot, not two, a builder could not subdivide. Plus, for a builder this would not make sense, not enough profit. However for a young couple who want to do their own thing and want a big house with land left over, this house would be perfect. Sweeby The reason I cannot ask a local broker is because it is a very small town where everyone knows everything. I need to do some additional minor construction work that does not inpact on the kitchen redo. I cannot call a broker in until I do it because if I end up not hiring that broker, they will make snide comments about my house. It happened to me more than once while I was looking. Since there are often local exclusives people use more than one broker. When the broker wanted me to see a house I had seen with somene else, she then says, oh did they manage to fix that leaky toilet, roof, sink, you fill in the blanks. So I cannot risk a disgruntled realtor saying, oh yes they had that horrible ___________, do you know if they fixed it when someone mentions my house. I have verbally spoken to people but they all want to come and see The 600-650 houses are comparable, the lower priced houses do not have the same feel. Plus houses here are unique since they range in age from 1900-1960 so comparables are very difficult. People want different things I agree they may not like my redo. When I was looking in 1991 I saw lots of stuff that was Mauve and formica and new. It made me want to run. I used to find that worse than older and in need of updating. However, if I were to redo, in this area people just like new and neutral which I would do as my taste is very neutral to begin with. Even in that context I see what you are saying someone may just hate maple as I do light colored oak (ironically my cabinets are dark oak and that is fine with me) Something to think about

Where do you dispose of the residue that comes from cleaning an oil based paint brush? I will be using oil based primer for some of my cabinets... I use a metal can saved from canned beans, etc. to clean the brush in. Whatever the solvent, I save it into a clean empty Ragu pasta sauce jar. After a few days, the solids separate to the bottom and I use the clear solvent off the top for the first cleaning the next time I need to clean a brush. Finish cleaning up with fresh solvent; save that into a new jar, usually. I save because I'm often needing to clean a brush. Otherwise, I dump it into the (cold, no-fire, fire pit.) Any cleaning rags with oils/ solvents, get hung on the edge of the fire pit to dry and burned later. If you have no plans to need the solvent again, you can leave it in the can and set it outdoors, under cover (so it doesn't collect rain water) to evaporate. Once the solvent has evaporated & the solids are thoroughly dry, you can toss it into your regular garbage.