As others have pointed out, this is the sort of question that it really depends on who you ask. The answer has caused more than a little friction in my house, that's for sure. We're GCing ourselves, with my father-in-law acting as a co-GC, because he's been in construction since The Dawn Of Time (TM) and knows who to call for stuff. He also does outstanding concrete flatwork. *My* dad is the architect. My brother-in-law is the electrician. So far, so good. We broke ground August 19 of last year, as I recall. Our foundation was poured one year ago today (I remember because my son and I wrote the date in the wet concrete). We were dried in by the end of October. Then came a rather cold, rather snowy Nebraska winter, which has a way of slowing things down. As of today, we're still a couple weeks out - by the time it's all done, we'll be 13 months start to finish. What's slowed us down, besides weather (that cold winter was followed by a very wet spring) has been things like waiting 2.5 weeks for the framer that we (read: my FIL) wanted; having a stick-framed instead of trussed roof; and having to be at the bottom of most of our subs' list, as a lot of them work for builders who get first call on their to-do lists (trim carpentry was a big problem - it took about 2 months to get that done). The best part has been that people - chief among them my mother-in-law - have been riding our butts about how long it's taken, completely ignoring that: 1)We're doing a LOT of stuff ourselves; and 2)The schedule that she thinks homes should be completed is that of a production builder - 6-7 months. Oh, and we've been *living* with the in-laws since June 1 - I did a bit too good a job of marketing our old house and managed to sell it in nine days; even with a 45-day close, we still have spent the entire summer living w/ Grandma & Grandpa. I need a beer. Jason

Timely post as this is what I've been doing this afternoon. I do not "love" gardening although I mostly enjoy it. I do find it is a creative outlet. I love doing container gardens and that is one thing I did today - at least out front. Still have plenty more to do on the patio area out back. I absolutely love spending time outdoors and love flowers and plants. I cannot imagine NOT having flowers/landscaping, etc. and I must also have houseplants. Bought a new one today LOL. Also visited our most favorite local nursery over the weekend. My mom's dad raised iris for much of his adult life. People came every year to see his gardens and buy his iris. After his death, I found one of his little notebooks with notations about where iris were in the gardens, what new varieties he had "bred", etc. My mom inherited that love and had roses for years. I guess I come by it natural. Last year we broke down and had our front professionally landscaped. After much trial and error and $$$, we just couldn't get it right. We've done the rest ourselves and it's fairly low maintenance. We don't plant any annuals, have tons of periennels, and there are things blooming early spring through very late fall. I'm not one who wants to be in the gardens/flowers all day long. As for veggie gardens, with our lifestyle, we just don't have the time to devote to much of that. We always do cukes and tomatoes (got tomatoes this weekend too!) and a few peppers, etc. Our camping and traveling time makes veggie gardening hard too. tina

Ahhhh yes! Those were the days when kids *were* kids! I remember my kids doing some of the same things, like playing outside until 10 at night, and not worrying about them being kidnapped. Parma, rat fink~I forgot that one, but remember saying it. LOL And my best friend of 50 years who lives back in IL still says supper, as do most small town mid-westerners. And then there were the 'grillers'. Those were the tough guys(and a few girls)who wore the leather jackets, and we would cross the street if they were walking on our side. Moonshadow, yep, lighting bugs, and we would catch them and put them in a jar!! Now if I find a bug in the house, i'll pick it up and put it outside, even an ant. I remember when you couldn't buy pantyhose, and had to wear that god-awful garder belt(no lace, plain elastic)and hose w/no stretch in them....but maybe seams. I wouldn't trade those days for anything!(((()))))

I often think about squirrel and her photoshop generosity. I think she decided to turn her skill into a business. I hope it worked out. There was a poster that lived in AZ and had health issues. (Eileen?) Her posts were very polarizing but I occasionally wonder if she is well. It's interesting that some people seem to get obsessed with this site, post like crazy, bare their soul and then vanish.