jeanninepc99, your dining room is really lovely. I hope you don't mind that I have saved your photo as an inspiration shot for "staging" our dining room when the house goes on the market. So pretty! I am really begining to like spare (have too much artwork to do bare). We have stored a ton of our stuff over the last two weeks and unexpectedly I absolutely love the sparseness. We have filled two storage units and I can't believe I had room for it all in the first place. In my new place I plan to be extremely selective about the "bringing in" part. I am an accumulator at heart, however. I love old oil portraits of women, and to me they are like potato chips and diamonds all at once. On the good side, I have solidly gotten over the Italian floral tole phase, due to upkeep issues. I am only keeping one chandelier and that's because it's got the beautiful pink porcelain flowers and doesn't show dust much anyway. Otherwise, dusting tole is the pits. (If anyone reading this likes floral tole, for gosh sake, let me know how you keep it clean! Q-tip?) I'll probably just have to have the mother of all garage sales, and then abide by the strict rule of something in, something out. I hope we'll have more threads like this...everyone's pictures were very inspiring. Joanna

I hear you WC, our city council spent $300,000 (unauthorized by voters)to study the "aquatic park" when $300,000 would have majorily improved one of our ageing summer only pools that had to be closed last year. The new proposal is that the ageing pool be rebuilt and covered for year-round use(with many up-grades), and up-dating the other outdoor summer only pool. I personally think that the residents will approve that plan as I do. And, added to our real estate taxes. It also occurs to me that there is a huge cultural and historic difference between those communities in the Eastern states and those here in the West. DH went to Syracuse University in the late 50's and we were so shocked at the school systems back then. We also lived in the greater DC area and North Carolina over the years and found them so 'different' from what we knew as Californians. We never paid for a book and other supplies, so were surprised that families in New York had to. Many things have changed here in the west especially since California's prop 13 (another story) so changed the more scocialist leanings. OUR expectation of having government supplied services is just different...I believe, so maybe that allows us to be more willing to pay the piper. Just thinking.

Oh my we had lots of nicknames for our teachers! Our history teacher was "Hop-sing" because he looked like that character from Bonanza. He got the nickname long before I went to highschool and it stuck all those years. I never even watched Bonanza, it came on when I was a little kid. I think Hop-sing was the cook and was probably Oriental? Not sure, but our history teacher wasn't Oriental. Then there was our French teacher, he was "Sock". Apparently he got that nickname when he was a kid and somehow we learned of it. But we never called him that to his face, he was one of the most feared teachers in our school. The physics teacher was "Gonzo" because he had a big nose like Gonzo's beak from The Muppet Show. Our phys. ed. teacher was Mrs. G. (for obvous reasons), we called her that rather than her full name, she was nice. One of our sciences teachers was "Rabbit" because he had sort of buck teeth. Our grade 8 home room teacher was "Sugar Tits"....writing that seems so awful! LOL I have no idea why they called her that but they did, she was an older lady. Our principal was "Chrome Dome" because he was bald. One of our regular substitute teachers was "Scruff". I am not sure why, probably because he had a scruffy beard. Story goes that one day he was substituting and a girl went up to him in the hallway, wanting something. She said "Excuse me Mr. Scruff"......she actually thought that was his name! LOL Mr. Cooke was sometimes called "Cookie". That's all I can think of but there are probably more.

I'm a teacher too! (I live in the Clear Lake area.) I would say sign with the PB in the winter time. A lot of PB offer "sale" prices at this time...or at least incentives to purchase during their slow season. (I waited a little late, but still caught the "sale".) Once you sign, it will take a couple weeks (1-4) to get homeowners ok and building permits. The PB will start doing this the day you sign, but can't begin the dig until everything is in order. The first thing you will see is spray paint on your grass to mark where the pool is going. You don't need to be home in order for this to happen. Just check to make sure it's right once you get home. Meanwhile, you will be getting your financing in order. If you are taking out a loan, it's not like you sign the papers and immediately have the $$$. There are a couple of days before they can give you the money (legally) and then there's a hold-up of paperwork. If you know how long this will take, you can sign with the PB early enough and then the financing come a week or two later....buying you just the right amount of time to be there at the right time. The day after I gave the $$$ over, the PB starting digging. For your size pool, this will be one day. I wasn't there, but got home at 3 to see them finishing up. Next step is rebar/plumbing (2 days). Again, I wasn't there until 3 when they were finishing up each day. The only thing that is important at this time is to talk with the PB each day if you see any concerns. (I had a cell phone number to call.) The MOST important day to be there is gunite. Making sure you are there watching. Not necessarily to check to make sure technique is correct, but that the steps/benches/water features are in the correct place, etc. It wasn't on our drawing to make a step inside the spa, but I just watched and when the gunite crew got to that point I told them what I wanted. I even had them make one side of the spa benches lower than the other side so that the jets would hit your back at different spots when you were sitting down. After that it's 2-3 weeks worth of waiting (to let gunite cure). While the gunite is curing, the PB is doing all the tile work, rocks (water features) and deck - including the drains. The only reason to be there is to make sure the correct pieces (color and quality) are used and that they are installing it correctly if you have special requests. For example, if you have a rock waterfall, there is a lot of artistic representation that goes into it. It might look "off balance" and you can have them fix that as they are going along. For the deck, I was there to make sure they placed umbrella sleeves into the deck at the correct places. If you are not there each day, it's OK. If you choose a reputable PB, then there are "walk-throughs" at certain points along the way to make sure everything is right before moving onto the next chunk of work. (Typically at these walk-throughs is when the next chunk of $$$ is due.) They should fix everything to your satisfaction. Everything can be fixed if you aren't there to check along the way....except for gunite. The only negative to having to go back and "fix" before moving on is the wait in time (and possible added expense if they are changes that were not originally in the contract). To get that particular sub-contractor back out you usually need to wait a couple of days (or weeks)....which seems like an eternity! One of the final steps is plastering. You don't need to be there that day, but it is important that you are there when they are finishing because the pool will need to be filled with water from your garden hose. This will take the rest of the day and through the night - even if you use two! After the pool is filled with water, the PB will add "start-up chemicals" to your water and teach you about the equipment. This is called pool-school. It goes fast! Take notes and pay attention! If you miss something, you can always call them, or ask questions here. Good Luck!