Oh, I forgot to mention that I have a set of twin sisters. Their names are Carla Sue and Darla Lou. At one point the doctor thought that they might be a set of three (long before the days of ultra sound and other fancy tests) and my mother was all prepared to name them Carla Kay, Darla Day and Marla May. I have no idea why she thought the names had to rhyme. My sisters are identical thank goodness or it would have been ridiculous to have rhyming names. LOL! Coincidentally one of the twins married a twin. They have a boy and a girl (not twins) and I'm looking forward to seeing if their kids have multiples when they get to that point in their lives. Should be fun to wait and watch for! MeMo

Sadly, he can probably get off more easily than any of us would like to think. I don't know, but the realist in me says find a way to move. You can't depend on the neighbor's being incarcerated to go forward with a normal life. It sounds like your neighbor's "crew" still assembles despite his absence. If he and his friends disappear, is there potential for a replacement problem group taking up "residence" in your immediate vicinity. Could you have friends over for an impromptu summer bbq? It seems as though you can't plan anything outdoors so long as your neighbor's son & his friends are around. I can see this getting worse first before/rather than better. Things are definitely not in your favor with regard to the current real estate market, or for that matter, the economy in general. However, when it gets to the point that your kids can't safely go outside to play on a nice day, and you are living in daily fear, is it really worth your sanity and that of everyone in your family? I am a fighter as well as a total optimist. Before reading about your situation, I would have adamantly defended my right to live in my home. I would not allow the behavior of another make me move from a home I created. However, under your circumstance, I would definitely consider all options, moving being one of them. Is there a reasonable possibility that your neighborhood will get progressively worse, or is this an isolated thing within a 10 block radius of your home? If I were to take a walk in your neighborhood, would the gang presence be obvious to me? What is the the town like overall? It may be a strategic move to get out of this neighborhood now before it becomes reputed for its higher potential for crime? Also, I can't remember if you mentioned having any pets. If you do, they need protection from this situation as well. I wish I felt more optimistic about this getting better for your family. You and your DH are the only two people who can gauge what your home life will be going forward if you do stay in your current home. Also, I don't know the ages of your children and how "at risk" they are being next door to this kid and his friends.

I would not get a French window ever again (I think that's what it's called)---it's a casement window with 2 separate crank out windows with no divider between the 2 windows when they're open. The window was expensive and we've had a lot of problems with it (it has different working parts than a typical casement since there is no center for the windows to close against.) I rarely fully open both sides at once so it usually looks like 2 regular casements. The screen has to span the entire opening and is huge. I know people generally try to stay away from double hung windows in a kitchen since they are awkard to open while leaning over a counter but I'm really happy with ours since the screen is on the outside and is less noticeable to me than an inside screen. And I feel the same about undercabinet lighting as honeyb2. I rarely use it and it seems like wasted money that could have been used elsewhere. We have our mw on the bottom shelf of an open upper cabinet. We did think to put an electic outlet there but I wish I had thought to put the outlet above the mw instead of behind it. I think rhome410 mentioned doing this and it makes so much sense because it allows the mw to be pushed back closer to the wall. We had to change out the standard plug on our mw for a flat, wall hugging plug (I think it cost $40 for the part) so that our mw wouldn't stick out too much. We'll have to do this with all our mw's from here on where a higher plug would have solved the problem.

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.