CEFREEMAN
Also try to find an Achaatz 4 berry pie to compare. Probably can only find in SE Michigan but might find up north!
Nothing to report other than in Chitown. Someday, I will stay grounded long enough to get something done.

I did pluck a German stripe tomato to bring along. It weighs 1.75 lbs! And I have bigger ones still ripening if Bambi doesn't attack first.

When do you drive home? Maybe we can still do a meetup if we are back in town.

I'll be coming down the E. Lansing to Toledo way on Tuesday. 96, I think.
LMK!
I emailed privately, but will put my phone in another one.

Anyone else around. :)

Who's at work today? *raises hand*
Who's also at work tomorrow? *raises hand*
Ok, who's at work Monday? *hand is still up*

The humidity has returned here and on my way home I'm picking up some thinset for glass tiles so I can start work on the backsplash this afternoon. By the time I finish measuring everything and planning it all it'll probably be late afternoon. With any luck I'll wrap that up today/tomorrow and then I can move on to floor prep for the entry hall flooring because that should get here on Tuesday. The end is near, I guess.

I'll squeeze in a little time to work on the car here and there.

It still feels a bit like things aren't moving along fast enough. Looking at a year ago vs. today helps. Here's where things were at the end of last August. The doorway shaped hole on the left is there because that's where the door to the dining room used to be until the late '70s (arched doorway on the right). I took both out and opened up the wall from this room to the dining room.

This post was edited by schicksal on Sat, Aug 30, 14 at 10:08

You're doing an amazing job schicksal, such a huge difference. I find all your choices to be so beautiful and in such good taste.

I'm off for the weekend but foolishly accepted a barbecue invite for tomorrow! Have to remember friends before paint. In any case paint is my plan for the weekend. I've got to paint the guest/sewing room before the furniture arrives on the 18th. It seems like a small thing but I'm not in the best of health so doing one wall leaves me wiped out. That's just what I got done this morning, one wall. I'm going to try and get a second one done before the end of the day. I'm kind of frustrated because I'm covering a very pale blue with a very pale peach and I think it's going to take two coats. Was hoping for just one. Lazy, I know.

In answer to the thread title, I'm a nester and a homebody. I love to cook. I used to cook professionally. I enjoy seeing my home come together into a warm and comfortable place for my family and friends to just relax and eat and enjoy ourselves. I love coming in the door from work into my pretty front hall. I love 'waking up' my kitchen first thing in the morning by turning on the lights and 'putting it to bed' last thing at night by turning off the cabinet lights.

That probably sounds silly but maybe not to this particular group!

Thanks, I doubt myself a lot and think too much about what finishes/colors/materials/how things should actually feel every step of the way. Even the weight of things. Whether that actually brings anything to the table is debatable. Still gotta work on the furniture in the family room at some point.

I didn't even notice the question...

Why do I remodel it is best answered by the before pics. Kitchen cabinets and an oven almost as old as I am that needed unobtainable parts and hasen't been cleaned in years. Inadequate lighting and a dark and unused half of the room. The only appliance that actually worked as it was supposed to was the microwave. Not to mention the problems with the actual building.

Why do I DIY? Quality and cost. I can beat farming it out on those two ends. The cost to have someone else design and rebuild this 40% of the house would have been enormous and I'm picky about workmanship and doing it right, so there would have been a mental price to pay too in terms of frustration. At least I can say that there will never be another DIY project this big or intrusive again once it's all finished :)

This post was edited by schicksal on Sat, Aug 30, 14 at 12:39

Plenty of people IRL ask why we did all we did in the kitchen. Why THAT range? Why THAT fridge? etc. We knew we only wanted to do it once. Now that we're still living it, we REALLY know we only want to do it once.

Some job#2 work today. Went shopping this morning and plan to bake bread sometime this weekend. Other things on the agenda are lots of school work, cleaning and organizing all over the house, and hopefully the touch up/finish up paint in the kitchen.

Tuesday evening the Innermost rep and KD from HD are coming over to see the questionable end panel and the kitchen in general, so I'd like my end of things to be as done as possible. We had some very interesting conversations with the store's Customer Order Specialist and the KD. Without them out and out confirming it, we're pretty sure the GC has been paid. I don't see a reason to respond to the HD GC's email about what it means that we made arrangements for someone else to prep the speed oven cabinet or talk to them at all until we hear from Innermost about the panel.

The local GC emailed the bid for the speed oven cabinet prep. Very reasonable. Could cost us more in the end if the floor of the cabinet (above the drawer) needs to be moved down, but I don't think it will. We gave him the green light but haven't heard when it'll be yet. It'll likely be a during the week thing with MIL supervising.

Raised hand here, too. I will be working part of the day Monday as well. I just stopped work for lunch and my daily GW fix. I got my plinth blocks for the doors made this morning before starting work and I will finish sanding all the door side casings sometime today and hopefully get a coat of finish on everything so it will be dry for Monday and can get the first coat of poly on then.

All my three-day weekends are like this. I stretch them out to four or five days by working half-days on the days before and after and then working lightly during the actual weekend.

I DIY because I learn something new every day about myself. It's a good mental and physical workout. Until last year, I would never have imagined I could wire an entire house by myself but with some coaching and mentoring from an electrician friend, I can now wire a house. How cool is that! The inspector even complimented me on the work I've done so far. What surprised me most is that wiring a house is surprisingly simple.

My next hurdle: Plumbing a house. I'm a little nervous. Plumbing and I have never gotten along very well.

I'm making bread!

I'm making (I think...without walking across the house to get the house) Overnight White Bread. I started it about 4pm today. I fold it again a couple times over the next hour and a half, then let it sit for 12-14 hours. Will bake in the morning. :D

And cooking a brisket! (in foil in the oven with onion soup mix and worcestershire sauce). I grew up eating brisket. A lot. I guess it used to be cheap. That's the only reason we would have eaten it. Around here, it seems all the cuts we use because they were cheap are now not. I struggle to find brisket. I have DH get it at a small, family market when he goes there and it's NOT cheap.

This one is HUGE! I was going to cut it in half and freeze half. Then I saw that the shape was weird and I'd left it in the fridge longer than I planned, so I'm cooking the whole thing.

I WILL freeze it in chunks like my mom used to. I will not let it go to waste (as I've been known to do). And I WILL make gravy and mashed potatoes, which is the best part of this brisket.

It's tough because DH doesn't care for it. But too bad for him. It makes no sense that he doesn't like it. He doesn't like anything that borders on roast that isn't done on the BBQ.

Got the first coat of paint on all four walls except a couple of spots up high. I'd have done those too but I lost the light and had to stop. All I've got is light from the windows in there. I'm happy to have so much done. Now I can relax a bit the rest of the weekend. Just need to finish the spots that are left and maybe do some priming in the laundry room.

Actual progress at home that's worth taking a picture of!
Schicksal's guide to backsplashes...

1. First you need to figure out your pattern. In this case it made the most sense to have the cooktop be the focal point, so the cut pieces on the left and right of that area will be the same. The line in the middle is the center of that area. Measure again 28 times to be sure because you never know...

2. Mark the middle of a tile that. This will be the first one you put in.

3. Obsess over which spacers to use. I went with green not only because it stands out, bit it's also the right size (1/16")

4. Now it's time to start building! I used pennies as a spacer for the bottom row because they are all made to the same size (1/16") and they're worth less than actual shims. #weimar_republic

Once you run out of thinset you're done for the day. Be sure to clean up.

Schicksal, it looks great! I love the light blue! Not gonna lie though, I was hoping to see the green oblong diamond shaped one, because green is my fave and I liked the shape. This is looking really good! It's so crisp and clean. What colour grout are you going to use?

I work today and tomorrow. Brutal! I'm off Monday but I have to run in and get a seniority list done for when choose our schedules in 10 days. Hopefully I can bang it out tomorrow if it's not crazy busy.

Why am I trying to DIY? Because I have a limited budget and I want to show my boys we are capable of anything if we try hard enough.

TexasGem, I just read the Week 15 thread. I also wanted to comment that your brother is not entitled to an inheritance. It is your parents money and it is theirs to do what they see fit. If they want to give it all to you, they can. If they want to spend it all before they die, they can. If they want to leave it all to Leona Helmsley's dog, they can. That money/stuff isn't his, and he has no claim to it. Based on what I've read from you I find it hard to believe you're related!

CEF is a genius! Enjoy Michigan and your trip, CEF!

So here I am loading up things from my mom. Bless her non-acquisitional soul. She downsized from a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, LR, DR, Den, Family room, dine-in kitchen, 2-car garage with living space above it and 20 years of stuff, finally to a sweet little free-standing condominium here in E. Lansing. It's adorable and so not cluttered!

We've drawn straws, we've made trades, and we've decided to leave stuff here until my sis decides to sell this little place. It's so refreshing not to worry about greed. One sister mentioned something was "worth money" and the other two of us shut that down. We're not going for equal value, just what one would like to have. Period. Very peaceful, lots of wine, laughing, reminiscing, and sadness at our mom's little treasures.

Ironically, over the last months I've felt like I wasn't getting anything done at home. Here I find I have this huge list of things I would have been doing. It's interesting that I actually do get a lot done, a little here, a little there at a time. So much to do in the gardens before fall! Luckily, it's a hundred million degrees until about October.

Nothing like going away and not being able to do anything to let you see how much you've actually done! :)

Happy Labor Day weekend, all.

DH and I worked outside much of yesterday (with a break to watch our alma mater's football game - Go Bison!)

We need to repaint the trim around our garage doors. We are replacing the brickmold, but the frames needed to be stripped. Citristrip to the rescue!

We only waited a few hours, but it was enough:

Love the way it comes off in sheets!

Unfortunately it rained last night, so I won't be painting for a while.

I looked at what I started to write, scrolled up and saw I was writing almost the same as MGMum. But schicksal, it does look great and clean and crisp. And Texas_Gem, I'm glad things turned around a bit. I hope the dialog stays open and everyone (except your brother) gets what they want.

Glad you can realize what you've accomplished CEF.

As mentioned on my KAW thread, my bread is awesome! I found a whole NEW way to avoid doing stuff I should do. ;)

schicksal - Nice tile. Question: What is your technique for applying these tiles with thinset? Your wall looks so clean at the edges. Do you just butter the tiles individually or...?.

Texas - I agree with others; it's your parent's money, but I think you handled the whole situation with grace and did the only thing you could do under the the circumstances. Sorry this happened to you.

CEF - Noticed your comment re oil finish and yellowing. Fortunately, linseed oil brings out the red in douglas fir, which is a natural yellow wood that turns reddish-brown with age. It's one of those perfect matches that should not work but does. People have had 20 years to play with the new synthetic finishes on the market and everyone is starting to realize that the old classic of linseed oil is still the best.

Thanks, all! I'm posting from my phone so I'll keep it brief.

Rmtdoug - The look may come from experience. I've set a decent amount of stone and tile already. Before buying anything I always lay out the entire plan on the computer or graph paper so get the pattern right and make sure I'm ordering enough. I apply thinset to the wall and back butter each tile and check twice for lippage at each corner, same as if I was setting stone on a floor. I use a good wet saw too - it's the DeWalt. Cuts are measured to the 32nd but the blade will vibrate about another 1/32 with glass, so I'm really shooting for a 1/16" gap between tile and cabinets.

Height of the outlets had to be adjusted minimally in order to make the bottom of the box align with the bottom of the tile. It made life a lot easier.

Wrapped up today - 8 hours between today and yesterday including setup and cleanup. Tomorrow I grout. Pics were taken before cleanup, apologies for the mess.

Schick- pretty
Cal - the newest bread maker!
CEF- not heading back to later Tuesday, so next round. Glad downsizing went fine with DM. We still have to clear out the storage unit and DM wants everything in her apartment. Love her but not all will fit.

Who's at work Saturday? *NOT ME*
Who's also at work Sunday? *NOT ME*

I got a serious case of Post-Project Collapse Disorder when the plastering guys packed up their stuff and gave me (mostly) back my house. Crashed and lolled in bed reading for a couple of days, surfed the net and did NOTHING.

Ok, who's at work Monday? *Yup* Now that the dust has settled, I have a chance of removing it.

Work Monday? Not me...that was a very long weekend! Today is a chill and slow down day. Back to work tomorrow. Kids enter the building Thursday.
Doing a community event that is Fri night-Sunday evening is a lot of work.
My legs are so sore from the constant walking back and forth of the "strip" checking on the vendors.

I do have to make english muffins and fill the cookie jar. I picked up a chuck roast for dinner today last night. I wanted to put it in the oven and smell that delish smell for a few hours.. Hubby said "I got propane" when I told him I picked up a roast. We'll see if I just let him slow grill it. Lol

My mom arrived yesterday evening.

I have a half flat of blueberries, may make something that has those in them before they go in the freezer for "later".

Work is very quiet today. On the bright side I think I have the pendant and formal living room lighting picked out. After my other half weighs in I'll put in a couple of orders.

Can't wait to get home so I can see what I need to pick up at the store, then get to work. The drive will not be fun; A/C was still a dealer only option if you could even get it at all way back when my truck was made. WU says the heat index is 110, but this is the only way I have to get a sheet of plywood home.

schicksal, thanks on the tile info. The reason I asked is because it looked like you did not have any thinset on the wall..or at least you knew exactly where to stop when you ran out of it. I would have it all over everything.

Got the first coat of poly on the door casings this morning. I'm at work right now waiting for it to dry. Will do a second coat later today.

Terri - What festival are you involved with? We used to go to Bumbershoot this weekend every year when we lived in Seattle. Haven't been since we moved across the water.

Why do I do what I do? Because I am a creative person in constant need of an outlet. I consider myself fortunate when I have the opportunity and means to express this in my home. Also fortunately, there are plenty of less-expensive ways to be creative, lol!

Quiet day here. I turned down OT because work was brutal the last two days. I finally cleaned out the furnace room (except that damned table saw!) and the pantry cupboard.

I saw Cal-Quail's bread thread and now I'm thinking about trying to bake some bread. I'll have to buy some yeast I guess.

Tomorrow is the first day of school and right after one has hockey and the other has karate. Yikes! Good thing we planned all our meals for the next month. And by planning I mean writing the dinner on the calendar. That's as organized as I get. LOL I do need to run to the store tomorrow, so I'll grab some yeast then and try the bread on Wednesday or Thursday.

Hope everyone who wasn't working enjoyed the long weekend!

@doug - oh, that... Yeah I made the mistake of leaving thin set on the wall at the end of the day *once*. The next day I had to scrape the dried stuff off before I could start putting in more tile. Lesson learned - leave no exposed thin set at the end of the day or tomorrow you will pay the price.

This afternoon I grouted. Tomorrow I clean up the details and seal it.

Today we took our sons to a minor league baseball game, and out to dinner. It was a gorgeous day, and our team won 7 - 0.

And we still managed to work on our garage door frame project. We painted the woodwork that's staying, and made all the miter cuts on the new brick mold. Tomorrow after work we'll drill pilot holes, caulk, and install. Yeah!

Gorgeous backsplash Schicksal!

annkh I am very interested in your garage door project. I don't know the term 'brick mold'.

Cal, it's just a trim piece covering the junction between the siding and the door frame. I'll take pictures when I get home.

Schicksal, that looks SO wonderful. What lovely work!

Thanks!

Today I sealed the grout, cleaned up and put in the second layer of plywood for the entry hall. Tomorrow I do the Ditra and the slate comes in, so I can finally get the layout down. After that I am on hold again for lighting and doors to arrive.

Looks good Shicksal!
Doug, big island, biggest town. ;)
Hubby has the slide out, out and is disconnecting wires.
Oh wait, he just called me over to "look" when he opened the junction box.
Look at this photo. OMG...

This post was edited by terri_pacnw on Tue, Sep 2, 14 at 23:07

So that was all melting and just waiting for the right time to start a fire.

The rusted, brown spring looking thing is the threads on the inside of a wire cap with what's left of the plastic housing on the tip. You can see where it was laying on the white wire and burning through it.

I don't know if the metal box all the wiring is in would have prevented it catching the wood sub floor it was sitting on, on fire.

Just the thought that that was festering away in there made my heart flip.
I am so glad we "rushed" converting the range.

BTW, HVAC guy is coming tomorrow to install the gas line for the CL gas range. Hip hip hoooooray!

Cabinet rep and KD were here today for a LONG time. Cabinet rep adjusted many drawers and doors. He judged that the end panel issue is due to the GC/cabinet installer. They figured out which of them were going to order which pieces (missing vs. damaged vs. add on).

They had lots of good things to say and spent a lot of effort avoiding pointing fingers at the GC for stuff.

When DH said good bye to the KD, as I was walking the rep out, she said that she didn't think we'd be seeing that GC again. We're guessing they'll send someone else to fix and finish.

Got a couple for you:
These were on a wall, where I stored cardboard boxes for about 5 years. These were not in use. There is no water near them. I couldn't even set a glass to spill on this, because the boxes were floor to ceiling.

How did they short out -- and did DH know we had an electrical fire?

Ok.
What I witnessed today.
I'm home, walking around looking at the heat damage 5 days in blistering heat did to my gardens. Ironically, one had too much water and the JMs are suffering.

So I heard this 'Whoosh! SLAM' noise, turning around in time to see this hit the ground:

You know how a tree will die, but other suckers will grow up around the dead tree, forming a circle? Well, I've been watching this dead sucker for a while, worrying that whatever direction it took when it fell, it'd kill trees and desirable plants.

This baby sheered off the side of my 'Red Dragon' Japanese Maple:

It went between two shrubs I'm going to dig out anyway, and took out 1/2 of my 'Squash Casserole' hosta. Hostas will complain, but they'll pretend it never happened.

All in all, in all the directions in which about 16' of dead cherry tree could have fallen, it missed a mature Birch, a 15' tulip poplar, most of the JM, all of the 1/2 built pergola, a 7 year old 'Inzuma' JM, and a bunch of other things.

Now I have only 4 other, mature suckers to worry about, because the base of the dead sucker was rotten, which leaves the other subject to quick deaths:

Yikes! I'm glad it didn't land on your head, Christine!

You have such a wonderful yard!

Shicksal-love your tiles; I am also doing similar colour but on subway arrangement. Not sure yet if 2x10 or 3x6. What colour is your tile and where did you buy it? Also, for the ones that the GC will need to cut in half, how would you polish the edge? I don't want to put a metal strip.

Thanks!

Schicksal, it looks fantastic!

Terri, I'm glad you guys found that before it caused any significant damage.

Cal, I hope the KD and cabinet rep can come up with a good solution for you.

CEF! Holy moly! I'm glad it didn't hit you and that it only caused minimal damage. Yikes!

Nothing going on here. Getting back to school/hockey routines. That's enough! LOL

Thanks for the compliments on the backsplash. It's nice to be able to use the cooktop without worrying about making a mess on the drywall.

@shosh65 - the tile is by Glazzio. Crystile series, color C01 (icy mist) in 4x12. I bought it from a local tile distributor as a contractor. Your end options are typically an edge by Schluter, turning one piece from a mosaic the same color, or your tile vertically, or if you can talk them into it the edge can be polished (very time consuming). Some just leave the edge since clear caulk helps even it all out.

CEF I guess you got lucky in a way with that tree since it could have flattened any number of other things in your yard!

Today I did not work on the house because I've gotten a bit tired of it after a year and three months straight. The one thing that's represented life put on hold is the car parked in the garage with a couple of issues. I see it as a reminder every time I walk in there. Today I finally got it back on the road.

Terri and Christine - Scary electrical stuff. And Christine - glad the tree damage wasn't worse.

Other GC came and finished electrical and cabinet prep for speedoven. I'm excited! I got home too late to call Miele to set it up.

(They'd install it, but Miele gave 5 year warranty if they install...so they'll install.)

Woohooo...Cal...almost there.
Christine...scary stuff indeed. Gas guy said he was pretty sure the electric range should not have been hard wired.
I warmed soup, browned butter and made chocolate chip cookies in/on my "new" range.
Hubby is in there shaving counter top off so we can slide it in the spot.

He'll have to wire a 110 box this weekend, for now it's on a power strip to the outlet next to the range. Lol

I'm sorry your little "green" friends got smooshed a bit too Christine.

Good job Shicksal in getting the car out of the garage and on the road.

That's odd, where'd the handle go?

And how did I miss all of the electrical stuff??? I'm guessing terri's wasn't tightened or joined correctly and the cause behind CEFreeman's is a bit confusing to me. I don't understand why the wire I can see back there was used.

Shicksal, please elaborate on "I don't understand why the wire I can see back there was used."

No one can figure out why happened, because it wasn't in use, nor was there any liquid involved. The one and only idea I have, which may be off base, was that I plugged something into a neighboring outlet (same run) and it blew. But to have scorching on the other one? ...???

Yesterday unloaded my little U-Haul. Really wasn't a lot of stuff, but awkward. Artwork, a couch, a couple of chairs and little things in suitcases. I haven't had an accessible couch in a year, so the first thing I did was sit on it. Love it.

I took my U-Haul back. Capital Heights, MD location. Can't say enough about nice the two young men there were. Checked me in, returned my unused boxes, didn't charge me for today, since I returned it last night, and had me on my way. Very pleasant guys!

It started "iffy" because the .. um .. young lady pointedly ignored me. Was talking to someone, looked at me & my smiling, happy-to-be-there face, turned away and kept talking to what turned out to be a storage employee.

But the nice fellows saved me $56, which is always good. Sadly, that can be a lunch shift.

So today my only mission is to buy wine.

Car looks great and fun schicksal! You must be stoked!

Good customer service and saving money is always a good thing. I got SO mad a local DJ (who I hate) who was saying there's no reason to have kids work at (insert average teenage job) here. It's to teach them how not to be an a$$. It's to instill some form of customer service from the other side of a counter/register/etc. if nothing else.

They didn't put the handle on the speedoven since they were only testing the cabinet for size and Miele will install it. It has nice handles on the side for them to put it into place with.

They had to move the floor of the cabinet down and the drawer below will have to be shaved down about 3/16" or so. The door next to it does too (the cabinet rep said that that WAS on the granite guy) so this GC's guy that does cabinet work for him will do both. The Innermost guy said he'll get their clearcoat for me.

I think it's time to start thinking about ordering backsplash tile. We still don't agree. Will put something together this weekend and try to get the photo shop savvy people to help out.

I see red, white, black and ground back there which is odd, because I'm not used seeing anything but 12 or 14/2 there. The only place I'm used to seeing 12 or 14/3 is on locations where multiple switches control something like a light or fan. So from the getgo this looks... strange. Seeing how it's wired would help a lot.

Without knowing if there are too many outlets on the circuit or how that one in particular is wired... my guess is that the screw connection on the upper left of the outlet was not tight enough. Even if the outlets were wired in series, with too much current flowing through that one spot I couldn't see burning that bad happening if the connection was tight. Downstream performance would also likely be affected too.

The rust is from the zinc coating on the outlet oxidizing and burning off, not chemicals or liquid. It looks like it got *very* hot before the connection was broken or the load through it was removed.

@cal quail, yep! It's a huge monkey off my back, though the car needs to go back in the garage so I can take care of a couple of things this weekend. Just the fact that it runs and drives fine, and is sitting in our parking lot here at work as I type makes it ok.

This post was edited by schicksal on Thu, Sep 4, 14 at 10:05

Terri - It looks like the wire coming in from the left is undersized compared to the wire coming on the right. That's a good recipe for overheating wiring.

CEF - You have 20 amp plugs but is the wiring 12/3? I'm not sure from the photo. Like Terri, your wiring may be deficient for the circuit.

I'm busy with life. Wife had cataract surgery yesterday. She's doing fine but can't see to do much of anything right now, so I'm "mom" this week. It all gets repeated on the other eye in a couple weeks.

I did get the bedroom door put on last night and all the plinth blocks and door side trim is ready to install. I just need 10 minutes free to do it :)

I'm basically done for the day. The Ditra is in and I'm ready for tomorrow when the stone gets here. Doors are ordered and I may paint some casing this evening if I get bored. I should be able to wrap up odds and ends by the time that the last thing to arrive shows up, the pantry doors. The end is becoming in sight.

First, I wanted to thank everyone for their support. Its been a rough week, not only emotionally but also physically because I caught a nasty virus.

While I am still (understandably) nervous and will remain that way until everything is in writing, my parents have said we are going with the original plan with only a small change.

The deed restrictions state that each property can only be a single family residence and if we build a separate building, aka the mother in laws quarters, we could potentially be violating these restrictions and anyone who lives in our area could potentially sue.

To avoid this, the plan has changed and the mother in laws quarters will actually be attached to the main house. I/we didn't actually want to be this close but if it allows us to accomplish our goals then it is a small price to pay.

My parents also spoke with my brother and told him that my husband and I were just going to buy a new house and, according to them, he teared up and said he didn't want that. I'm not sure if he didn't want it because it meant he might have to help take care of them when they are older (something he has flat out said he won't do) or because he actually realized he was being a selfish pr*ck and his actions were going to cause a lot of grief for everyone else. Regardless, he has told my parents that he also doesn't like their hair-brained idea of taking on a new mortgage in retirement.

So that's where I sit right now. Not much progress on the house but we did get the final coat of paint on the exterior and get tile laid in the breezeway.

To answer Christine's question of why we do what we do, my response would be because I inherently do not trust others.

I told my husband years ago, when we were poor college kids, that even if I won the lottery and could afford to pay someone else to do all the work, I would STILL want to do it myself.

This way, I know it is done right and if it isn't, I only have myself to blame.

I will also admit to being raised by my dad, the classic handyman, that if you don't know how to do something, you practice until you get it right. To pay others to do it is a "waste of money".

In hindsight, my parents lived practically paycheck to paycheck and doing everything yourself was a necessity but still, its my inherent nature. If I don't know how to fix my car, drain, electrical, etc. I don't hire a pro, I research and fix it (or build it) myself.

So that's why I do what I do. I'm a perfectionist control freak.

Texas_Gem, I have the same restrictions here, because I'm in Open Space (protected land). I can build another building, i.e. a barn, but cannot subdivide, nor create a separate home owned by another. i.e. Land Rent.

My neighbor faced the same issues when he build a 2nd home on his land. He had to permit it as an "outbuilding" into which he put plumbing and electricity. Later, he installed all the stuff he wanted and his daughter is living there. They get along much better now, BTW.

I'm glad this is coming through for you. It's almost insulting to ask family to sign contracts or put something in writing, but we see so often when it's not done, there is that onnnnnnneee family member...