Have you considered using a power rake (with flails for blades rather than tines) to knock down the high spots? I don't know how high or large your high spots are, I only mention this because I renovated a very bumpy lawn last year. I killed off the existing grass and rented the power rake (again, with flails, not tines) just to break up the dead stuff, and I planned to fix the bumpiness later. But it turned out that the power rake did an outrageously good job of breaking up those high spots and redistributing the soil. Kind of like a mini rototiller. And after raking up the debris I found I had just about the perfect soil for seeding, so I just spread the seed and rolled with an empty metal roller afterwards to increase soil to seed contact. I was hugely impressed by that machine, for a few reasons, but mostly because of the way it knocked down those high spots. Just a thought, Paul

Pesky, I have been reading along and thinking about you and am truly sorry you have come to this place in your life. I have been blessed with good health for most of my life, with a few surgeries and recoveries that set me back but no long-term pain like you have had to endure. I'm so sorry you have had to deal with this. I know from just getting older I have to take better care of me and do more stretches. Some of them I can actually do at my desk. When I injured an ankle once, a doctor told me to try to trace the alphabet with my foot in mid-air several times a day if possible. It really helped because the muscles and ligaments were stretched in almost every possible direction. Maybe you can try this in small stages at your desk. If you can't get on the floor, there are some things you can do from a chair, just lifting your legs. The yoga in a chair someone suggested is a great idea, as was the elastic bands, and if you can do some things standing, even lifting some 1-lb weights, and bending and stretching at the waist would be good for circulation. My DH was also having some joint problems, and he cut out all artificial sweeteners and cured/processed meats. He now uses Stevia or agave to sweeten his coffee and most of his joint pain disappeared. I'd suggest your food plan change first of all, and that would include any diet sodas and other products containing aspartame. Any other further reduction in sugar, as many have suggested, would help. I know you already know this, but you need lean protein for energy, especially if your job is often physically demanding. So just a vegan diet may not be what you need right now. Salads are great, but you can add a little chicken, beef or fish to it for variety. I even buy a whole roasted chicken and freeze some of it for later. Easy leftover meals with a little rice or salad. Keep your favorite fruits close. Anything filling is best for a snack or to keep you from grabbing something you know you shouldn't eat. Even a spoon of peanut butter on a piece of apple is better than a handful of chips. There are even frozen fruit popsicles that are pretty good desserts. Portion control and healthy eating for energy are what you need to get control of your weight. Sneak in a small square of dark chocolate or whatever gives you a smile once a week! It will make you feel better. And yes, try to find that place for aquatic workouts that can help you work around your schedule. Maybe you can work something out with your employer to come in later a couple of times a week so you could do it early in the mornings? I do hope you can get the help you need in this regard. I think any exercise is a 'mental break' any of us need from the daily stress of life away from home or office. Let us hear from you again. This is such a supportive group.

Upstairs, I want to keep the master and have 3 other bedrooms. I want the two smaller rooms and the bonus room area to be kids rooms, just need the smaller ones a little bigger and the big one a little smaller. There is already a laundry room on the 2nd floor. The library downstairs will be a library/study. I want it a comfy reading area with wall to wall bookshelves for all of our books! It won't be an office. The movie room is just a want- we all love watching movies and it's a fun place for kids to hang out especially at sleep overs and such. It can certainly be cut out if needed. I guess I was thinking we could do it cheaper if we did things ourselves and weren't paying a huge builder's fee. We would basically be doing it for cost on his end. Thanks for the feedback!

"a real nice plan" is generally a highly personal plan that responds to the particular site and to the homeowner's (s') needs and wants. Online cookie cutter plans which are very, very general simply can't manage this. Additionally, the current fashion in online plans is for "fat houses", which means houses that are many rooms wide and deep, which means both a very complicated, expensive roof and also rooms that are quite dark. If you go through the archives in the Building a Home forum, or search the forum for phrases like "critique my plan", you will get an idea from the members here, who are professionals and amateurs with experience, of why online plans are rarely real nice plans. Architects can be expensive up front. But they will often save the future homeowner from an expensive build (a fat house which is both expensive to build and maintain, ie reshingling, and/or with lots of complicated jigs and jogs in the plan, and so on), and assist with proper siting of the house and window placement; for example, as dan mentions above, the front of the house is often best sited facing north, with the living areas (kitchen, living room, dining room) facing south. That way you can make the most of passive solar, which makes for a more comfortable house and also uses nature to help minimize heating and cooling bills. There are also architects in the BaH forum who work remotely, and charge quite reasonably from what I understand if you live somewhere where architects are difficult to find.