I might trade you my one geriatric bladder compromised cat for two of your cute little kittens. lol My old cat probably needs to be put down but I don't have the heart. I have to keep her shut up away from the carpet unless she's right with me. I put her out on the deck or patio occasionally but I can't leave her outside long because she's a bit crippled and couldn't get away from a dog. Ok - Here's my story about Jackson: My daughter who just turned 18 is the one who brought him home. She LOVES dogs and always has from the time she was big enough to point at pictures of dogs in books. Everything she wanted for Christmas for several years had a dog/puppy theme, clothes, books, toys etc. Anyway - A few weeks ago we were in the living room.... Daughter: "Mom I need to tell you something" Me: "okay" Daughter: "I've been wanting to tell you for awhile" Me: "okay what?" Daughter: "Promise not to ground me" Me: knowing not to argue "okay" Daughter: "Promise not to take my phone away" Me: now getting a bit concerned "okay" Daughter: "You know how I said Jackson was a stray?" Me: now getting more than a bit concerned "yeah" Daughter: "Well he wasn't" Me: "What?!" My daughter has never stolen anything that I know of but that was my first thought. She didn't (thank goodness). She told me that a friend of a friend was planning to move out of state and couldn't take her dog with her. She was looking for a home for it and my daughter wanted the dog. She'd never even seen it but it was a dog after all. So they cooked up a scheme. Her friend and the dog's owner met her across three fields on another road more than a half mile away with the dog. My daughter walked, and they drove to the spot at an agreed time. My daughter MADE mud and took it with her to rub on the dog so it would look more like a stray. They scratched out the writing on his rabies tag so it couldn't be traced and she carried him home. She had been told that it was a dachshund mix which he is, but STANDARD dachshund not the itty bitty kind so he's very heavy, between 30 and 40 pounds. She carried her new muddy dog about a quarter mile towards our house and then called me out of breath from her cell phone to tell me she had "caught" a stray dog at the back of our field and could she bring it home and feed it. So after I spent a few weeks looking through every lost-dog site on the internet, posting in the paper, making signs, taking him to the vet to have him scanned for a chip, etc, we gave in and decided to let her keep him. The kids had all voted on a name for him and decided to call him Jackson. Well his name was ALREADY Jackson. My daughter had told her two sisters where he really came from and they kept her secret for a few months until she finally told me. My hubby still doesn't know. I'm not sure he would see the humor in it. I'm having some trouble seeing the humor myself. lol So...That's Jackson's true story (to the best of my knowledge) lol Here's what I posted back in June and it has another photo and a video of him. Here is a link that might be useful: Me - in the dark - posting about the

Staging and adding color to curb appeal would go a long way. It looks like you got the decluttering thing down, but maybe a little too much--some rooms are a little too spartan and thus not very welcoming. My first impression after looking at the photos was: -The kitchen was updated, but the color and style clash with the table and there are no stools at the island. These things tell me that I will need to repaint either the kitchen or the rest of the house right off the bat to make them flow better. The table (while it would be going with you & not staying) gives the wrong feel to the otherwise modern kitchen & the green tablecloth has to go. The absence of stools at the island make me wonder if there is not enough room for the stools and the table in that space. The chandelier & light fixture don't look like they were updated (the pots hanging from the ceiling draw your eye upward so you definitely notice the lights)--check out the big box stores for some affordable, easy to install updates. Love the window treatments and that wonderfully large window! -Living & Dining rooms both feel very spartan and cold in the photos. Pulling the curtains back will help bring in more natural light and make it feel more welcoming & open. Is the dining room table centered in the room or pushed off center toward the window? It seems cramped at the window end which to me says the room is small and family dinners will be elbow to elbow. As mentioned above, too many different paint colors--the yellow doesn't do much for me & the white or pale blue in the living room is very cold. Framed prints on the walls and an area rug would go a long way to warming the rooms up. -Bedrooms need warming up too--more framed prints & an area rug needed. Slide the bed in the master over so its more centered in the room. The way it is now, it appears cramped. It looks like there is a tray ceiling in there too--an off center bed is negatively accentuated in this situation. The green curtains need to go and be replaced with neutral colored ones and again, pull them back to let in natural light to give an open welcoming feel. -Masterbath needs some warm welcoming touches too. Framed prints, some candles, strategically drape a folded towel along the edge of the tub, add a pretty container of bath salts to the tub corner, add a pretty window treatment to the window above the tub vs. the plastic mini-blinds. Warm, fuzzy, yet tasteful bath rugs will help too. The walls need some color. Make it feel like a spa environment-somewhere potential buyers would like to retreat to after a long day at work. Don't forget a handtowel on the towel ring! -Love the family room--maybe an area rug...that's it. -J&J bath--looks good. Add a framed print or two, a window treatment, fuzzy warm yet tasteful bath rug & hang the hand towel up. Choosing a nice neutral color of towel throughout all the baths would help too. Something in a fluffy white or beige to give that spa like feel would be good. -Laundry looks great--open the curtains. -Nursery looks great--maybe a framed print or two. -Exterior: Deck needs new coat of paint. The front looks a little tired. Adding some spots of color will help the curb appeal--a tall fat planter with colorful flowers on both corners of the porch, some colorful flowers planted in the beds, maybe a couple tall plants under the porch lights. another planter or two with plants and flowers on the back deck would help make it seem more welcoming too. It seems like you were working on updating the house and managed to get to the kitchen, family room, laundry, nursery & J&J bath. The rest appears to have not been updated since the house was built. While I love antiques, the furniture in the unupdated rooms with this scenario does not help. The obvious brass fixtures in the master bath scream 1980s and most if not all potential buyers are wondering how hard will it be to update them. You definitely have 3 vastly different styles going on in the house which can cause a major disconnect with potential buyers. If you were to repaint the kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, master bath & living room to more neutral colors (similar to family room & J&J bath) + update brass fixtures + add warming touches as outlined above to rooms for staging + exterior color and I think you could probably relist for the $290K in the spring and walk away with around $260-$250K. My BIL is a real estate agent and when we sold our house with him he even said not to tell him the absolute lowest price we were willing to take for the house. I can confidently say that repainted & staged well (including replacing a couple light fixtures, new comforter for DS's room, new bathroom stuff, quick exterior spruceup by adding color) when we sold our house. We listed the house $10K higher than the exact house down the street that sold a couple weeks earlier for a higher than average price for our neighborhood. We had an offer in 2 days and ended up with a bidding war between two potential buyers that ended on day 5 on the market. Trust me, potential buyers need to be able to see themselves living in your home and driving up to your home everyday--your staging makes all the difference. Good luck to you!

I had completely forgotten about this being a lake home so AnnKH had a great point about how a front garage would actually be a rear garage (or something like that). So I think the point about maximizing the views and accessibility on the lakeside is definitely more important that worrying about a 'snout' garage. But, here is our first floor floor-plan. We are on a 100' wide city lot (unfortunately no lake views) and this house is 71.5' wide. The deepest part of the house, not including porches is 41'8". It was deeper than I wanted, but the rooms in the middle of the house (closets, laundry, etc) don't need windows so I'm OK with it. Our second floor has three additional bedrooms plus a bonus/loft space. We've got 2 kids, ages 11 and 13. No basements here in Texas.

I will be taking out a small med cab on the side wall and making it into an exposed shelf. Then we are putting in two med cabs, 21 x 34" with electrical outlets inside for the toothbrush and anything else electrical that we acquire. I expect to hold all my hair stuff and other grooming supplies in there. Meds are in a drawer by my chair in the family room. OTC meds and first aid supplies are in the linen closet in the hall. I am putting a 30 x 42 x 12"cabinet into the wall behind the clothes closet in the next room. We are moving out the wall a foot into that bedroom to get a larger shower, so the closet next to the shower is moving out a foot, too. I am stealing that foot back by using the bottom 48" as a cabinet (and the base molding) and the top will be a recessed towel hanging area. TP, extra shampoo, hand towels and a few other things can reside there. Our vanity will have only a single row of shallow drawers, so the cabinet will be our major storage. If you look online, there are a lot of medicine cabinets still available, up to 8" deep, if you want to pay the price!