jrldh - we wanted to just go with the extra tall basement (my husband is a high school bball coach and my boys play all the time...we thought it would be perfect to do a couple hoops in the basement). But, we weren't able to put the house down that low, with the water table so high and drainage issue, the engineers wouldn't go for anything lower than 4' below grade level (for bottom of foundation)and they wouldn't go for crushed conrete (which is much less expensive then the gravel we had to use). Our footprint is over 3200 sq ft....the french drain is about 3' below the bottom of the basement, and in many cases we have 8 ft deep of gravel. We also had additional expenses that were our choice. For example, we had increased concrete expenses bc we never intended to excavate the entire basement. But, because the house was going to sit up 5ft above grade level, and we were not budging on giving up the kitchen walkout (I do not like basement walkouts), we had to build everything up. So, that lead to grading plan changes also. And, the planned partial foundation walls turned to full height, the porches all needed foundation walls, and the garage is now a structural slab...in general, it was a painful ripple effect to get the house how we wanted it. But, this is our "forever" house, so we just swallowed the pill and decided it was worth it to us.

Okay, I'm fat now and I'm back, Linda, and figured it out I guess. If only subsequent attempts yielded the same results as the first one, this game wouldn't be so frustrating. The first time I clicked on the blue button, I got "cannot click on blue background." Subsequent times, allowed one click but not more. Anyway, it occurred to me to try the other buttons after it allows that first click on the blue button. So, the sequence is blue, then red, then green. The password is ninty-one. Wouldn't you know it's mispelled? I wanna kick this guy's butt. LOL

The Fountains of Rome - David Lown (thanks yoyo i must admit I have never read 'The Wizard . . .' and watched the film when I was about 5 years old and found it quite scary)

Amazingly I got notification in my email that she wrote back. Of course, I can't access it on houzz, but I CAN access it through my email. I am running out but she said she will post in a bit- she said she just landed back in Israel and once settled a bit will reply. She thanked everyone for asking about her. I don't have much more to add but I am so relieved to hear from her. I guess she'll be posting here one of these days soon. :)