Hi Stephanie! We had hours of thunder and lighning....but so little rain. I was hoping that if we were going to have all that "fuss", we'd have a good old-fashioned downpour to go along with it. We haven't had a REAL thunderstorm in such a very long time here. We had a thunderstorm last summer, probably in late July or early August. It had been SO VERY LONG since we'd had one that we went out to the covered porch that is attached to our barn and sat in the lawn chairs and watched it rain! Isn't that pitiful? We later found out that a lot of our neighbors did the same thing. LOL It was a lovely storm...lots of huge dark clouds and tons of lightning (one lightning strike ignited a fire in a hay barn north of us)...and we had a double rainbow. We got about 3/4s of an inch of rain in a fairly short time. I really miss the rain. (sigh) During the recent ice storms we had thundersleet and that was pretty cool. And, back in 2004 we had thundersnow. Oklahoma weather can be pretty interesting, and is rarely dull. Already this morning I have started seeds in little peat pots for 60 kinds of hot peppers, sweet peppers and herbs . Now that all the tomatoes are outside for good, the lighted shelves I use for seed starting were looking sort of empty. I don't get into much of a hurry with the peppers since they sulk if planted in cool soil. I'll be mowing three acres of rye grass today! Also planting nasturtiums "Caribbean Cocktail" as a companion plant in the vegetable garden, and, of course, today the tomatoes will actually go into the ground. About that laundry and housework....do you mean to tell me that we are actually expected to do those tasks when it is "gardening time"? I ALMOST have my husband and son convinced that you shouldn't cook or do laundry or do housework anytime the sun is shining and it is warm enough to be outside in the yard. Note that I said "almost". I'm home alone today, so once I step outside in a few minutes, I have no intention of coming inside to do anything! Have a wonderful and productive day. Hope the fence project goes well. Dawn

groomingal-glad your going to get your $500.00 back. Before you hire another agent (if you do), you might ask your attorney if he can recommend one he has worked with. If he has attended many closings, he will know the good ones from the bad. You will get good advice in this forum, but it really does pay to educate yourself. Also, don't tell your agent anything about your personal life. This will be passed along to the seller. You don't want them to know what will motivate you to pay a higher price. We are currently looking for a house. We use sites such as Realtor.com, RealtyOneLiving.com, ForSaleByOwner.com, Homes.com, www.traderonline.com and Craigslist.org just to name a few. We check the Sunday paper and read local newspapers to get a feel for what is popular in different areas. A visit to the local Sheriff plus a look at familywatchdog.us for a sex offender check tell us what the crime rate is and what types are more prevalent than others. The offender check is important for resale value. We almost made an offer on a house where the next door neighbor was on the offender list for both molestation and burglary. Not the kind of neighbor you want to keep an eye on your house when you go on vacation. We pick up the weekly home guides, attend open houses and drive around areas we are interested in. If we see a house we like, we try to chat up the neighbors as well as look up the property on the County auditor/recorder site to glean what information we can before approaching the SA/owner. If there are issues regarding a well, we check with the health/building department. We NEVER take a RE agents word for anything. We have found county departments to be both helpful, as well as a wealth of information. They will tell you what permits are on file for the house, what future development plans are in the works (new bridge?), any hazardous sites in your area or who ratted on who for a violation. You will also get a feel for how easy they will be to work with when you need a permit to put on an addition, etc. A few links that might be useful: Best real estate Web sites money.cnn.com/2006/05/12/real_estate/reguide_moneymag_addresses_0606/index.htm ask.metafilter.com/21871/House-buying-tips The neighbors you may not know about-Newsday.com www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lisex1023,0,232400.story One more suggestion: Since you need to move quickly and are having a hard time finding a pet friendly rental. You might think about placing an ad in Craigslist. Lots of sellers are renting until the market improves. Maybe you can find an FSBO who would be willing to do a land contract. Never hurts to ask.

Thanks so much! I am heading there tomorrow. Well I guess I will call first to see if they are open since its the 4th. The closest one is actually across the state line about 35 minutes away. I picked up some samples of the browns from Lowe's last night but had a sample of SW Jute Brown downstairs and am going to try it first on the master one but I want black in Brett's Bathroom. Yours is beautiful! Alicia

You should get more help if you post in the Home Decorating area. I am not very familiar with SW colors. For the ceiling you could compare their ceiling white with your trim color and choose between those. If you like Steely Gray but worried that it might be too dark, you could get it mixed at 50% or 75%. I would get samples and paint sample boards to try out the colors in the room. Also consider what color towels. You have a lot of dark but also a good amount of white in the room.