Ladyvixen, we were in our 30's in 1985 when we bought our 1898 house. Looking back, we were very young. Neither my husband nor I had any skills or knowledge at all about how to work on houses. All we knew was that our house was nearly intact, was very inexpensive, and that we loved it. I had always wanted an old house, and had been buying things such as light fixtures, hardware, etc., for years before we bought the house. We bought the house "as is". Fortunately we were both employed and had no children. We had to hire almost everything done, and it needed a lot of work. We did not take a vacation for years. Then came a time of around a year or two that my husband was either unemployed or underemployed. During that time, the house just didn't get worked on. We didn't care that we lived in an unfinished house; in fact, I thought it was beautiful from day one. We have a corner in the dining room where all the little balls the cats play with end up, but you don't notice the slope otherwise. It has taken us over 25 years, and we are almost finished, but still have some work to do. We should have it finished by now, but are in our 60's now and do like to take a vacation now and then. Also we sometimes didn't have work done even when we had the money, because we were tired of the mess of having things torn up. We lived with a practically non-existent kitchen until about 2004. I said all along that this house was my dream house. People would look at me funny, but it was and still is my dream house. Don't let others talk you out of your dream. Make the decision based on what you want and what you think you can handle. If you think you can live with an unfinished house for years, go for it. If you have to have everything finished and perfect, you shouldn't buy an old house. I have the ablility to not even see the unfinished stuff until we get ready to do something about it. I meant this to be an encouragement to you, but reading back on it, maybe this will scare you because it has taken us so long. Don't let that scare you--you can do it faster than we did! I will try to attach some pictures if I can.

Well, I went to talk with CPS yesterday morning. I still had DGS & the CPS worker told me that if DIL comes to get him, I should call her right away. My DD19 took the baby home while I was at work and DIL showed up at my work just before closing. I told her the baby is at home with DD and she said she is taking him. (DIL smelled of alcohol... like maybe hung over but hadn't bathed?) and when she came to the house, baby was asleep. She decided to leave the baby and said she'll pick him up when he wakes up. He was still there when I got home but then DIL came back and looked like she had showered. She said she would be back to get his playpen because she didn't have the screws to put his crib together yet. After she left, I talked to my son and he told me she took the baby to her mom's house for the night. (Just a week ago, she said her mom threw her out and wasn't talking to her.. so don't know if that's true) I have tried to talk to her mom & stepdad and they are not receptive to me. Her mom had one conversation while she was still pregnant where we agreed it would be a bad idea for her to move out of state, knowing my son is being deployed. Then, when it came time to move, they were supportive of her moving so I don't get where they are coming from. He also got paid today and it was direct deposited to DIL, not our joint account. (I guess he didn't do the change in time but his next check should go into out account) It makes me wonder if that is a reason her mom is talking to her again (for now) and helping with the baby? In the last week, DIL got her hair done (colored, cut & styled) the day after my son left. Then she got her lip pierced. She was seen driving with someone yesterday by my daughter... she thought it was a guy but DIL drove off too fast. She got her apartment on Saturday but didn't move her stuff in until Wednesday and here it is Friday and I don't know if she is staying there or what she is doing. CPS worker is going to her apartment this morning to talk to her. I guess it's all about waiting now... and worrying. My son is leaving over the weekend and I guess when she called him yesterday (Veterans Day) he was at Applebee's because service members got a free meal. She accused him of going there to flirt with the waitresses and forbid him from leaving a tip. He called me last night to ask me if he eats hard cooked eggs that have been out for two or three days will make him sick. I asked him why he'd want to and he's living in their house with everything moved out so he has no other food in the house. I told him to order a pizza and he didn't want to waste the money. I practically lost it and told him that he's about to leave to Afghanistan and he deserves to order and eat WHATEVER he wants for the next three days and not to worry about what SHE says about it... it's HIS money, HE is working for it and HE is putting his life in jeopardy for it. He ordered a pizza and used the joint account we set up... probably so DIL won't see it. She gave him hell once because he bought a coke out of the machine after he had been under the moving truck, hooking up the car trailer in the heat when he was moving her to Georgia. She is UNBELIEVABLE!!!

The dining room wall is busy enough as is. In fact, IMO, the mirrors would look better without whatever is between them. All of the walls in your panorama are covered with furniture or large doors. They don't need any focus placed on them. What is behind the couch in the left of your panorama? That may be a wall that could benefit from color.

You know this “change” we’re starting to go thru-and let me be clear-starting to go thru. We shouldn’t be looking to blame. To point fingers at an blame. This is about what we can do to survive it. Water, you know having Rain water storage spoiled me. Lost 250gal Rain water to a loose hose. Had to use city water for the first time in ten years. Better believe I figured out something better. That was one of those times they say makes you grow hair on your chest or pull it off your head. But hey that’s why we’re out here, well not yet it’s still too hot. Water, you know having Rain water storage spoiled me. Dropping that hose schooled me. If I didn’t have that water connection those trees would have dried up. All that fruit, hell even the plum tree is full of fruit. Yeah, the trees that are in my system would have been fine for months. But the one’s in media. As the vast number of them are. That would have been the suffering or loss of more that 65 different fruit trees. Right now things are going fine for me. But what if I really depended on that food this year. Didn’t have that expensive water connection. I can breathe a sigh tho because it rained today. All the trees are soaked and my tanks are refilling with another storm predicted Friday. All’s right with the world again. But that hiccup. Time to make the change over to the system complete. Time to see about another $500 to buy more trees. More water storage. With what I saw those four weeks there wasn’t any rain showed me the short coming of what I was actually doing, prepared for. Water that I took for granted, it was free from the sky, the life blood of everything I grow stopped. Four weeks it stopped. Of course I see a Youtube on the drying west. Their tearing out trees and putting plants that require less water. Tearing your trees out because they consume too much water. Is that the kind of decision I have to make and I mean in the next year or two. I don’t think I’ll have longer than that. I’m telling myself that I’ll have four trees where one is now. The more I think on it the more agreeable it becomes. Even if I do it with these half barrels which I think is better, could even make 5gal inserts with a 30gal container. This has all gotten very interesting in a short period of time and I should take MYSELF seriously. Plants in medium aren’t going to work because the moisture evaporation is against that. Hydroponics is even worse shape. Wanna bet in five, no three years hydroponics is outlawed. Those bulk chemicals mined from some where else-that’s going behind the counter at pharmacies and you won’t be able to get anything but an ounce. Change is already here the starting gun has been fired. Did you miss it?