Jayme Hobbs @bobbi...my adrenaline is still flowing from booting the 22 y/o out yesterday. Tough love has begun!
@kimdee...,maybe a cute, new tile guy will show up.

Jayme Hobbs @bobbi...he went to his father's I am sure..so he's not on the street.
He refuses to hold a job more than a few months and when he gets one he walks out on it. He also is disrespectful to me..so bye bye. It's been tough because there have been some other mental health issues..but he is too stubborn to follow medical advise either...so I am in a spot with him. But he does know the difference between right and wrong. Being lazy and blaming others for all his problems is not the answer. I guess u could say I am expecting more from him than he used to anyone expecting of him, and I plan to stand by it. Enough of my drama!! LOL It does help to vent a little.

olldroo Jayme, sorry to hear your angst with your son, it is so hard but you have to stay strong.

Strange you should mention this, DD and her partner are going through all the trials associated with 15 year old boys (each having one) and only this morning she was telling me about a friend who ran into huge problems with hers at this age who constantly complained he wanted to leave home. She packed a bag for him and told him to leave and then he announced he couldn't till he was 16, so while he was at school she packed all his clothes and belongings and took them to a friend's house to hide, stripped his bed and left his room totally bare. She then put an old mattress in the garage, threw an old pillow and a couple of old blankets on the mattress, put some bread and milk in the fridge there and went to the Op shop and bought him 2 outfits of clothes as old fashioned and mismatched as she could get. When he came home from school and saw his room, he was just speechless and was immediately directed to the garage and told that was his home. A couple of days and he was begging forgiveness and actually made huge changes to his life.

Linda I've never been through a hurricane, but I've been through an earthquake (Whittier Narrows, 1987) and plenty of nasty thunderstorms. I'll take a storm any day because at least you get warning. Also, I think getting help after a severe earthquake will be much worse since the effects are felt for many miles while tornados have a limited geographic area.

Having been through a few nasty storms, I would definitely build a storm shelter if I lived in a house without a basement. My current house has the original coal room underneath the driveway which is completely poured concrete with a door to the basement which would make a good storm shelter. My parent's house has a similar concrete storm shelter underneath their front porch with an access door in the basement. When I was a kid, we had an outside concrete storm cellar as a basement wasn't considered safe enough from flying debris. I can only remember a couple of occasions where we actually went down into the cellar...once I remember because I got hit with a couple big hailstones while I was running from the house to the cellar (about 25 feet or so).

My parent's house got hit Saturday night...not sure whether it was a microburst or small tornado...damage is similar in either case. They lost an old crab apple tree, and several branches from their larger trees, one of which hit the roof, knocked down an awning and broke a window.

Imran Khan w,,,,,,,,,

mousemaker Linda are your parents okay?

Linda astraea - supporting an irresponsible organization...there you go, describing our government again!

Linda Also - I can't stand organizations which waste my donated time. I've had some issues where the tasks assigned were more like make-work projects than tasks which were truly needed and necessary

astraea Linda - that's definitely a problem. Just because volunteers aren't paid, doesn't mean their time isn't valuable to them!

mousemaker sure, I agree Astraea. I was speaking generally...big picture. You can't blame an entire organization or culture for the flaws of a few/some (hey! new word! fewsome!! :)) not to bring up religion but it's a good example. Take the Catholic church. There were many priests and nuns who risked and gave their lives to save Jews in WWII, yet we have the Crusades, we have pedophiles. you can't judge the entire Church for the fewsome who were and are evil.
I'm not saying those organizations you mentioned are evil, i'm just trying to explain what I mean :)
the organization itself, the meaning of their existence is probably good, the people are misguided.
does that make sense?

Linda I don't like white on a house of that style - I would go with a light gray or possibly a yellow toned off white - depends on the color of your cement block foundation and porch posts.

I like a porch ceiling painted light blue or perhaps the very light yellowish cream with the trim painted in the dark tones

Rockin' Fine Finish Watch out too much of a gloss on those porches when wet very slippery

Scott Design, Inc. Suggest painting the porch trim white...columns, corner boards, trim board on perimeter of porch floor, head beams, crown molding, etc. Paint the porch floor light grey deck paint. If you have enough in your budget, replace the "stick" panels around the porch with framed square lattice panels (see below) and paint light grey. Part of the "rickety" may be the look of the "stick" panels. Framed lattice is more substantial looking than one long lattice panel and works better with the style of the house.

olldbobbi Laura, some Houzzers love bamboo flooring and some go the opposite way. If you can repost your question under the "Design Dilemma" section you will get many more responses. Right now you've posted under the "Other" section and it doesn't get much traffic.

Linda Bamboo flooring can not be refinished like a solid hardwood floor

Linda Bobbi - Habitat for Humanity has individual affiliates which all are run somewhat independently. Availability of land is always an issue but our local affiliate did one small "neighborhood" of 5 houses. In that case, all the houses were different and you wouldn't know they were built to be affordable housing from the exterior appearances. That particular project won a government award, which was probably from HUD if I remember correctly.

Our affiliate has also done a couple of duplexes but now is renovating foreclosure properties which is better for the neighborhoods than trying to find misc land for new building.

Several years ago, hubby and I were on a short trip and ended up staying in two different hotels and had three false alarms over the course of a week or so. The funny thing is I can't remember which trip, where we were or how old the children were at the time...but I remember those damned fire alarms!

astraea Is THAT what a "mousemaker" does?! I almost thought it was real, it's so cute!! It reminds me of Topo Gigio .. the Italian Mouse that was on the Ed Sullivan show years ago!

mousemaker i'm afraid that's part of it :) I haven't done needle felting though and this mouse felted by someone else..but yeah..that's pretty much it :) knitted, crocheted..you got it :)

bazelwagner I don't know .. But.. I can't wait to find out.. Do tell . :)

tcufrog I like how the last one looks like a modern treehouse.

Linda Bobbi - those Mexican celebrations are quite a big deal in our area. One of the houses I bought had some leftoer materials in the garage as the prior owner's ex-wife had a business planning hispanic parties. She left chair covers, invitations, decorations, even a couple dresses...

Linda Jayme - you could suggest that your husband tell the neighbors that he will help them frame up and install the new window after they have the hole cut for the window. Some line about "hey, be sure to give me a couple days notice about when you're having that hole cut and I'll plan to be here to help you with that framing you need..."

If your hubby knows someone who does the cutting, he can always just pass on the name and number "Joe has done several windows...why don't you call him and see what he says about your basement..."

Life as a small contractor is rough because you have to ask enough about the project to find out if you're interested in doing the work without sounding like you're making a commitment.

Linda Jayme - I understand how some jobs are best left to someone else...several times we have wondered whether to take on a job or not and regretted getting involved in a couple of projects. We usually slip out the side door by offering to assist someone when they review bids or want a second opinion on a proposed approach to some problem.

My partner's rule is never get involved with a homeowner who doesn't like their home. When you walk through a house with someone and compliment them on some aspect of their house and their response is only to go full speed into all the aspects of the home that they dislike, that's not a good project. Regardless of how high quality the work you do or how reasonable the price, the homeowner resents spending money on something they don't like.

Linda Today's project is gardening. I've pulled out some plants for transplanting to another house and I'm trying to decide where to put some bedding plants. The local boy scout troop sells plants and they're the only place I know that sells dahlias as bedding plants, not bulbs. I had wanted to do up a batch of containers, but running out of time to get everything done. Nothing new about that problem; I'm always trying to get things finished up after putting them off for way too long--it's my specialty!

Linda We have had such a late spring here this year that the mosquitos haven't really showed up yet. A friend said she had seen a couple, but they aren't into full strength yet. I am one of those people that mosquitos just don't really like...further proof I'm not very sweet, I guess! My hubby is the biggest magnet around so when we go for a walk, he'll end up with ten bites for every one I get.

A full day of gardening tired me out today. I feel like I worked hard, but the end results don't look like I did much. I did dig up lots of plants to transplant to the garden at the project house.

Robin W Ok... Maybe they were just too warm. Had another one and it was perfect.

olldroo Sometimes the heat of things does keep them cooking after you take them out. Some years back a bakery here started making huge spinach and feta scones. They were delicious but they were making them too big so they were still raw in the middle, but the feta had melted through all the dough so it was really yummy. They were so nice I was buying way too many of them until one day they suddenly stopped making them. Asked the baker why and he said he had had complaints that they weren't properly cooked. Knowing I had been regularly buying them, he asked if I had had a problem with them at all and roared laughing when I told him the raw dough in the middle was the best part of them.

Linda Consider your price point and target market. Are you below, at or above median price for your location? You can use this opportunity to interview real estate agents you are considering as the listing agent for your eventual sale. Ask them what feedback they are getting from buyers and what features are considered necessary versus nice to have versus over the top.

Above all, go neutral with the permanent items and add color with artwork and accessories.

Studio Homes by neutral...do you mean white?

Linda Reclaimed maple with a natural finish...all beautiful even grain without knots and finished with a clear waterbase finish so it doesn't end up looking like a gym floor Running a close second would be rift and quartersawn oak in a natural finish. In either case, I'm not a fan of super glossy finishes as theytend to look like the boards are covered with a thing sheet of clear plastic. I do like a glossy finish if its a shellac or oil as then you see the wood, not just the shine

Ed Hi Studio Homes, solid light maple hardwood, grade 1, super uniform, super regular grain patterns, clear matte (satin) finish, preserving the most natural beauty of the wood.

Linda I can think of several possible scenarios. Obviously since I don't know anything more about your situation than given above, everything is only speculation.

1 - wrong type of contractors...perhaps you've talked with contractors who either typically deal in whole house remodels and this project is too small to get them excited, or you've talked with guys who typically do a small, handyman type projects of a couple days or a week, and this is a larger project requiring numerous trades.

2 - undefined project - is your project clearly defined or are you at the stage of looking for options? Could I move this door? use a wood floor? Yeah, I'll want some windows... or "three 2'x4' double hung vinyl windows centered on the north side"

3 - local rules and regulations - does your local code enforcement have a reputation of being the most difficult to work with in your entire area? For some projects, policies and procedures take out all the fun of being involved

4 - is your budget realistic? Is your timeline realistic?

These are just some possible reasons. There is a contractor out there somewhere who will work with you, just keep looking...

Deborah Butler, Brickwood Builders We try to tell folks that it will be several weeks before we can get back to them, but sometimes forget to do so.

For those contractors, like us, that are in the remodeling business it is very different from new home builders. We are generally much smaller businesses and we are actually on the job site every day with tool belts on doing the work. Unlike a new home (particularly a spec home) we are in client's home and their belongings, children, animals and everything important to them is there. We can't just leave a bunch of people there - even though we trust our subs. Remodeling is also a solutions business - we spend a great deal of our day uncovering problems and working out solutions. We can't do that from the office. When we have someone's home torn apart, they are not very happy if we leave during the day to get estimates done.

We work seven days a week most of the time. We take a hand-full of weekends off in a year. Our only time to work on estimates is in the evenings or on weekends - and then only if we don't have a meeting scheduled with a client on a project already in process. It takes us time to get back to people, but we are small. I think most remodeling companies are more like us than they are like the "big" guys.

Having said that, Linda is correct on all the points she has made. If it is not a good fit for our company, if the project is still too vaguely defined, if the budget expectation is way too low for the scope of work or if we become aware that there are a bunch of bidders, then that project may go to the bottom of the stack. Maybe that is not right, but one has to allocate their time the best they can. Bobbi is right, it is worth a call to see where the 2 contractors stand on getting back to you. We just had a recent case where we could not get a window quote for weeks because the only person at the local supplier that did window quotes was selected for a jury and couldn't come in to work. Very frustrating for us and for the prospect - but it was a sunroom and the windows are one of the largest items so we had to wait.

You may want to locate some additional remodelers by going to NAHB.org and looking up someone in your area. Tell them about your project and your experience and ask them what to expect from their company and whether this project is a good fit for them.

Good luck.

Linda I have recently redone two different oak floors with a natural finish, one was a 1940s house, another was an installation of reclaimed 100 year old flooring. In each of them, I used "Streetshoe" which is a two part water based coating from Basic Coatings. Another comparable product is "Traffic" from Bona. Both of those products run $90-$100/gallon. Those coatings are much more durable than the single part oil or water base poly. The water base finishes are a true clear coat while the oil base gives an amber color.

In general, my advice is don't put anything on your floors that you can buy from a big box store; stick to products sold through flooring suppliers.

Ed Hi eJones, very pretty flooring. Your decision is excellent: instead of the medium brown stain, to go as close as possible to the wood's natural colors. So many good advice given above already. Please post photos of your new, finished floor ! :) Congrats.

Linda Angela - is this egg marked in any way? How would anyone know whether it is the same egg or not?

Linda I've got to get to bed now as I'm definitely up past my bedtime...heck, it is a good thing that we have 9:00 pm news here as half the time I can't stay awake for the 10:00 pm news.

DD is home from college and she and some friends are attending a comic convention this weekend. It's the major event of her year with several friends and they've arranged to have a limo pick them up at one girl's house and take them down to the hotel. (easier than last year when the parents drove them). This is in a convention center down by the airport so about 25 miles away and they all chipped in for a hotel room.

She's made quite an elaborate costume with armor made from cardboard and paper mache and now she and her friend are trying to get the holes cut to attach straps to hold the shoulder section of the armor. I gave her a cordless Dremel tool for xmas two years ago and she's finally getting the opportunity to use it. (she's not allowed to have it in her dorm room). My daughter was looking for help earlier today with getting the sewing machine threaded and I showed her again as this was a slightly different machine than the one she normally uses. I told her that she couldn't really screw up the machine by getting it threaded wrong and even if she was to do something crazy and destroy the machine, I could always replace it for less than $50. That machine is an old Singer from the 1950s and does only straight stitch, but the tension is always even and the machine is all metal, not like the newer ones with nylon or plastic pieces on the inside

Linda I have multiple sewing machines, all of which are singer except for the Brother serger my mother gave me when she bought a newer one and an about 10 year old Pfaff computerized machine. When the Pfaff machine is working, it is wonderful but I've had trouble with hitting a pin and then having to take it in to be retimed. It needs fixed again now and I haven't used it for over a year since I have been too busy to sew much anyway

The old Singer straight stitch sewing machines are very desirable for quilters. The favorite model for them is known as a featherweight and rebuilt ones are five hundred dollars or more, depending on whether they have a table also. They are really cute little machines that have a small carrying case and they are known for perfectly even tension.

kimdee24 I love to bake. Except there's nobody around to eat it all except me. So I don't often.

olldroo Ez, it is a bit hard to get money to her, but at 7 I think she is still into fun things. I would like to put money into an account for her towards her college education but I need DD's co-operation to do that and she just isn't organised. I don't even know if it is possible. My older grands here get something small and then cash or all cash which they love to put into their bank accounts. The 10 year old is saving for a motor bike already, but I hope he grows out of that idea.

Linda I've never heard anything about dual citizens not being allowed to vote. As a US citizen living abroad, you have the right to vote in federal elections by absentee ballot. Different countries have different rules, but if you are born an American citizen, you have to actively renounce your citizenship to a diplomat at a consulate or embassy abroad; you don't lose it by becoming a citizen of another country. One requirement of being an American citizen is that you must enter and leave the country on your US passport but if you are living abroad, you can visit other countries using whatever passport you choose.

My kids have attached to their US passports called a "certificate of entitlement" which indicates that they are eligible to hold a British passport and entitled to all rights of British citizens, even though they are travelling on a US passport.

mousemaker that's a good idea. last night other neighbors had a little fire and some friends over...i'm sure it was just a nice evening for them, they're young and they can stay up all night, which they did. they were talking a bit louder than I would have at 3AM!!!! but whaddaya gonna do? it wasn't bad enough to call about or I would have. they weren't being obnoxious or anything..i was awake because I am usually awake or restless...but geez. 3AM?

olldroo We are on the side of a hill with water at the bottom so at night every little noise seems to echo off the rocky hillside so everything sounds 10 times louder than it is. Neighbours can sit outside a whisper and I still hear every word. Wish I had the energy to stay up that late, big difference when you are having fun to when you are desperate for sleep. I have two remedies for sleepless nights, first camomile tea before going to bed and if that fails Bach Flowers Rescue Remedy sleep spray. Two or three sprays on the tongue, and I am gone.

olldbobbi Somewhere on the can, in the very, very fine print, should be the amount of square feet that gallon will cover.

Linda coverage depends on the surface...unsealed and textured surfaces will take more paint.. Sometimes paint needs thinned to go on smoothly

Read the can as some paints will say do not thin. Typically I figure around 300 sq ft per gallon, but depends on the paint and the surface type

Linda Check out farm/ranch supply stores to price shop for hardware...it may not be the prettiest stuff available but you won't have to spend a fortune either.

hanson1997 Thanks for your response. I have been to a couple farm supply stores and I think one does need to decide on how sturdy the doors need to be before deciding what hardware and lumber to buy.

Linda Adding blown in attic insulation is easy and cheap if you don't use your attic for storage. Sealing up leaks is another good moneysaver as well as making your house much more comfortable - if you have natural woodwork, use clear caulk around windows and baseboards and you will be much more comfortable if you can eliminate the worst of the drafts.

Replacing single pane windows with new double pane windows is rarely as good an investment as you might think, if you read all the window companies' promo materials. First of all, installation quality is a major factor in energy savings and the good windows are expensive --- if you spend $10,000 on new windows which have a 20 year life span, you would need to save $500 every year - $40/month - to break even and that just isn't realistic. Adding new triple track storm windows at perhaps $100/window will get you the same energy savings at a much lower price.

Linda My best advice for a new homeowner is "own your house, don't let it own you" It is easy to get too ambitious with projects and find that you've become a slave to your house and all the improvements you crave.

I really enjoy putzing around my garden in the evenings and on the weekends so it isn't work for me but if you don't enjoy the work, learn to live with the dandelions. Don't turn down opportunities to enjoy life because you feel the need to work on the house. Set yourself a limit for time as well as money and don't be afraid to live with something outdated/ugly/poorly designed etc because you just don't have enough time in your life to do everything

eventmistress @Linda thank you! The one thing I'm thrilled about is maintaining the flowers and herbs and planting veggies!

eventmistress @OnePlan I like your idea! The best part is that I'm sure there are apps that can help to make the drawings easy.

Linda We started painting the cottage yesterday. The color is from PIttsburg paints - Tempered Steel which is green toned gray. When the sun hits on it, it looks almost blue while in shadow it has more of a gray look. The bottom of the color card is a really deep green which would make a nice accent color, if we get that ambitious. For now, it is just getting body and trim. The trim is an off white, rather than a pale yellow like I had wanted to use, but it looks quite nice.

The paint is expensive, but so far we've been able to get one coat coverage so it saves money on labor costs. The back of the house is covered in a darker colored primer so I'm not sure I'll be able to cover that it in a single coat. I'm hoping to get quite a bit more done today since there's three guys working. This afternoon is supposed to be in the upper 80s, so fortunately, we have the north side to paint today.

Darzy Hi everyone! Angela your veggies look fab. Nice garden. Our plants are still "babies". I know what ya'll mean about posters with no pictures and want help. The funny ones too are the people who want to add color but is "not in their comfort zone" so end up with beige on brown. :)

Bobbi...I'm glad the IRS on the hot seat too! The rat B*turds. :)

Jayme Hobbs @Ironwood...If you come back to this thread...SO glad to hear u are on the mend!! We miss u!

Linda kimdee - I think of hob as a British term - is it the preferred term in Canada as well?

kimdee24 Linda -- I never heard the term 'hob' until I was researching gas vs. induction appliances and I'd asked the chef at the golf course what he thought about induction! I think it's a word the pros use here, vs the average Canadian consumer. Come to think of it -- he was trained overseas.

Daphne Teo Thanks! My thoughts are, I already have appliances in my indoor kitchen, just wondering in terms of practicality if I should install another hob. It's mostly to prepare food that requires only boiling, steaming (nothing oily) and besides, the counter top is caesar-stone which is still quite costly here and cutting an opening for a hob costs money. Will my indoor kitchen look cheap if I only use a portable hob? What's your take on this? Thanks again.

Linda Another interesting use of styrofoam is making lightweight concrete. When I was in college, one of the annual engineering contests was the concrete canoe races. One of the techniques used was to substitute styrofoam beads for gravel in the concrete

kimdee24 AVS, had I known, I would have happily sent you five garbage bags full of it!

astraea Antoinette - me too; here you have to recycle them, and because there are different types of peanuts now, the vendor who said they'd accept them, doesn't want to have to separate them!