Astraea, did you find your POW art? That spirit must be pretty strong if he's playing hide and seek with a concrete filled mortar casing..*L*
See, we have several businesses and all of those have to be finished and filed by March 15th. Hubby doesn't see the need to get our personal stuff together until after then, even though I've told him for 20 years, that if we give it to the accountant, they can have all of our stuff done and just plug in the numbers from the businesses in March. Never sinks in. To be honest, this year I forgot about it. Been hectic since the first of the year, but it doesn't really matter. Just saved me from nagging hubby for months to get HIS stuff in order to go with mine. *L*
Lowe's was a mad house. Traffic back up to where you could barely get in the parking lot. Spring fever has hit everyone it seems.

bobbi, found your quote: "Raising children is like being pecked to death by chickens." I should have that framed.. *L*

Creeser - No; cannot imagine where it was/is! It will probably turn up in a few months, where I least expect it.

Isn't that always the way, Astraea? And you will find you've used it to prop a door open that you use every day or sitting on a desk and you've looked all around it, but never at it. *L*

Hi Universal Design experts - can I send you over to a discussion https://www.houzz.com/discussions/need-ideas-for-ada-bathroom-with-some-style-approx-dimensions-8x8-not-including-vanity-area-dsvw-vd~437035
thanks

My father once said to my mother, when she turned 50, that if she didn't behave he was going to turn her in for 2 twenty-fives. Poor thing, she barely made it to 55.

We went to see this open house this morning after our walk. This mid-century style of house is not typical for our area. What possibilities. If I were 10 years younger….That's my friend's garage in the picture. Great views.

http://www.raveis.com/prop/21302941/230corlissway_eastham_ma

feeny, hope you see this listing.

if I could have the land and take my house there instead? sure. not to interrupt your conversation :)

No interup, you want the land and the view? What is your house like? My friend would love you for a neighbor. She is not familiar with mid-century and would love something else next door.

Morning all, and hi mousemaker, nice to hear from you again. This is an open conversation - if you can keep up with it.

Another glorious autumn day in paradise - I could get too used to this, could definitely handle this weather all year, low to mid 20s and NO HUMIDITY!!! Actually just checked it is supposed to be 69% humidity, but you wouldn't know.

Astraea, yes some retirees do pay tax, depends on how their super is set up, type of investments they have and the income. Way too complicated for my head. All I know is that mine is structured so I don't pay but I have no idea of cut-off figures or anything. Then there is also strategies with super to ensure you get maximum aged pension as well and also be on the aged pension (even just $1) to get health care benefits and the other perks like free driving licence, rego, discounts on property rates, etc.

Well, off to tackle this house again today, at the moment, the more I do, the more I am finding to do and the bigger the mess I seem to be getting into. Just hoping the tide will turn and everything will suddenly go poof!!.

Bobbi, that was an interesting point that poster made about Carpenter bees -v- bird poo. We can't fight nature I guess.

Just remembered too, Astraea your missing artwork made me laugh when Creesey suggested you may have used it for a door stop. When we were painting, BH set up a big work area in the garage and had all the paints and equipment neatly laid out. I was working on the dining room and went out to get the paint and couldn't find it . BH often has organisation ideas known only to him so I turned it over to him to find. Well 1/2 hour later, we are still searching - how hard can it be to find a 4 litre tin of paint?? Eventually I happened to spot it - it was a windy day and because we had the house so open, he had used it to prop the dining room door open. Couldn't believe the dining room paint tin was actually in the dining room and we still missed it!!!!

That house looks nice Judy, but wouldn't you just love to get your hands on to it and add some styling, it is so bland.

roo, the inside of the house was great, just a time warp. Floors were hardwood and pristine, yard was huge with the view,,,yes, give me 100,000 and it would become a mil plus.

I am restless and thinking of moving. I would like a perfect, if there is one, two bed. two and a half bath retirement home, small yard, privacy, and I will fix up the inside.

Anyone? Oh, a hot tub and a mooring for the boat. A gas fireplace, a three car garage, close to town, sprinkler system, a deck, a view….but only two bedrooms. Oh, no granite or marble, a wet bar, radiant heat, clean windows. Come on, OLLDS, you can do it for me.



Cape Cod, preferably outer Cape, facing Southeast….and a full time housekeeper.

Definitely, just a simple life for you Judy.

Why are so many houses timber? Here we use brick for our homes. I thought it was to do with earthquakes, but they seem to be everywhere. It almost seems laughable when people get so paranoid about putting granite and marble and whatever stones and rocks INSIDE their homes yet build them with timber. Unless there is a really good reason for it, it rather goes against logical thinking.

Linda?? You would probably have some ideas on this.

Is it me? The navigation on this site seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it? I don't know why there are always so many "What color is the wall" posts.... lol

So quiet here today. How was everyone's day?

kimdee, we have often wondered that, are people just basically lazy or do they just have absolutely no confidence in themselves when it comes to decorating. A lot say they are new to the site, but wouldn't that make you explore. Maybe some people have had the site recommended to them for solving dilemmas so they just haven't bothered to look further. When it comes to paint colours, it seems some don't even know to go to the hardware shop for chips.

My SIL sent me this website as a joke when we first started planning our renovations, but I was instantly hooked. I had been lugging home expensive magazines from the library and scouring them for ideas, but unless I photocopied them or made notes it didn't take me long to forget things. Once I found this site I spent absolute months wading through photos for ideas, products and colour schemes. Basically I pretty much knew what colours I wanted but it helped me a lot to pull things together and introduce ideas I hadn't thought of. Of course the BIG bonus was being able to put photos into an ideabook and quickly refer to it at any time. When I had builders here discussing bathrooms they all loved how I could show them photos of exactly what I wanted, it certainly prevented misunderstandings. The funny thing was, I was on this for at least 6 months before I realised you could comment on things, ask questions or post dilemmas. It wasn't until Bobbi invited me here that I even discovered the discussion part.

I would like to say I have done a zillion things today, this weather is sooooooo nice, it makes one very lazy, the sort of day I just want to sit out in the sun with the Sunday paper and an endless cup of coffee.

I wonder if it's a site issue though, because sometimes it's like they are trying to ask a question about an image they've seen (which is easy since the button is right there) but it somehow winds up on the DD board. It's weird though. Houzz is a great resource, I must say I've become quite addicted to it.

I did a zillion things today. I wish it were nice enough to sit out in the sun but sadly we had yet another late spring snow. So I got my taxes together for the accountant, tidied up the den and did some mirror hunting for my powder room. And all of a sudden it was 8pm and I realized I had forgotten to eat!

I've noticed sometimes questions come up like 'where can I buy that lamp' that are totally out of context and of course no one has a clue what they are talking about. I have never tried anything like that as I can't get the products anyway or paint colours are meaningless when we don't have the same brands, so I just don't know. Maybe it is a user thing, I think if it was a computer issue, surely a lot more would be coming through.

I bet you feel good and will sleep well tonight. I can so easily forget to eat too which my doctor contributes to my weight gain - I'm not keeping my metabolism working. I have a thing about paperwork I just HAVE to do, I will look at it for weeks and get very frustrated with myself. God that reminds me, I have a report to write, I managed to beg a $1,600 grant from our local Club for my Computer Club but I now have this final report to write on all the benefits we have gained from this grant. Trouble is with all the upheaval with the reno, I know I put the forms in a safe place, just which one is the problem.

It's good to have the tax thing off my plate, for sure. My appetite has been poor lately overall, and I've been dropping weight like crazy (usually I'm more the opposite too, if I don't eat enough).

I know what you mean about the "safe place", with the move last summer I had a heck of a time finding all my receipts and whatnot that I thought I'd kept organized, but apparently I didn't. Hopefully I found everything.

Don't let that poor appetite go on for too long without checking it out, especially if you are dropping a lot of weight.

Yes..weight loss was one of my symptoms...I thought it was all those trips to the gym! Hey OLLDS! I'm checking in! I took a wood turning class today and second half tomorrow, so I won't be in touch a lot.. I'll check in again when I get home tomorrow!

Hi, Dave, nice to hear from you. That wood turning is amazing. BH is always in awe of it but won't do classes. He is hopeless at joining in things. We have Men's Sheds here that are spreading like wildfire, specially for retirees, and they do all sorts of things like that. Don't know how he can not join. Good luck with it, don't forget to show us what you do.

It's just stress. And the gym. I like food too much to go hungry for too long, it'll turn around. I'll keep an eye on it though.

Wood turning class sound like fun. Enjoy!

Nite all.

I'm the opposite, stress puts weight on me. Hate it.

Sleep tight.

Hello all! I know it's late but I wanted to tell you all that my BH prepared judyg's recipe of pork chop with cheese grits dinner last night! It was quite delicious and will be a "do-over". We call a good receipe a do-over, meaning this is worth doing again. The tangy sweet of the tomatoe sauce was delicious. I even took a photo of my plate to show you.

I'll be busy doing a scrapbook for my daughter. I'm filtering through 39 years of photographs, old notes to Santa and her first lost tooth. My "baby" decided she'd like a photo scrapbook of her life for her birthday (and it's this Saturday) and I'm not crafty in that arena! I guess it's off to the craft store to buy the cute stuff for the pages. Since 2000 the photos are on disk..so it's hunt for the best photos and off to print. Time crunch!

But, I'm getting anxious to spruce the garden. Spring fever has arrived.

ps..Roo. It IS hard to keep up with the discussions...But I ditto your assesment of low use water toilets. What kind of water saving is there if you need to flush twice!! We went back to the regular commode.

@judyg..your retirement home plan sounds just right!

Roo – I remember a guy at work years ago, saying how much easier some countries had it, “supporting” their elderly, because they had a very high threshold for allowing people INTO the country in the first place. I think he was talking about Canada, and said that anyone moving there had to have at least X amount of money in the bank. I wonder if it’s still the same now, and whether Australia also requires that immigrants be solvent & have an income. One reason taxes are so high in the U.S., is that not only do we allow anyone in, but have a huge illegal immigrant situation .. and there’s a fight over whether people here illegally should be entitled to various benefit programs too.

I am disappointed in how few professionals respond to the questions on their photos. People will ask who’s couch it is or where to get a lamp, but the person who posted the photo rarely responds.

Judy – I can relate to wanting a smaller house, but what I’d like is a more natural lot like I had in north Jersey. I had more wildlife & less landscaping expenses! I envy the tax rates in your area, but to get that, I’d either have to move out of NJ, or move to one of the half-dozen ritziest towns (which I can’t afford) that has the lowest tax rates.

What a cute picture! Awww....Those are great ideas, roo!

So, how are things with BH gone? Restful? Relaxing? Or do you miss him and are ready for him to come home?

Astraea - we do have pretty strict immigration rules here too. I knew a South African lady one time who was very well off and they wanted to bring her elderly mother over who also wasn't short a quid, but despite proving they had the means to fully support the mother she was still refused on medical grounds. I guess while people think they can support an older person, they would not be eligible to join a health fund because of probable prior medical conditions, their age and potential problems in the near future and I doubt many people would be able to finance possibly millions of dollars of hospital bills.

Unfortunately all this doesn't apply to the boat people, the handouts they get is sickening, to the point very few bother to work, it is easier to keep having kids and living off welfare and all the perks. We are constantly accused of racism where these people are concerned, it isn't about the race, it is about the fact that there is no monitoring of the money they are receiving and people born and bred here, particularly elderly people are struggling and paying the price for these handouts. The other issue is the fact that they are rewarded for breaking the law by queue jumping and when they burn their passports or other travel documents and the countries they come from are in such chaos records are almost non existent, there is no way of checking who they really are.

MISS HIM ??? Six months would be too soon. Just loving the quiet and doing what I want to do when I want to do it.

hehehehe

Roo - I'm sure that's what people in some places think about Americans too, that we're "racist", but all of these subsistence programs cost the taxpayers money.

Darzy, your plate looks better than the photo in Real Simple. I can't wait to try it. And the grits were good?

I love good, simple meals. Tonight it is going to be chix thighs roasted in honey, balsamic, rosemary, with whole shallots. Again, from Real Simple.

The dining room post was fun. Have to head over there and read the outcome.

kimdee, any luck with the capiz mirror? That one from PB is quite outstanding. I have learned over many years that, even though the price is a little higher than I intended to spend, it just kind of blends in with the other expenses. Plus, you will have that forever. Maybe there will be a sale soon.

I like sandwiches and take out.

Hey judyg -- I'm still browsing. It's become one of those "things", but I'm sure I'll find the one eventually. I really love the PB mirror and you're right, it's staying for a long time so it might be worth it if it makes me happy. I mapped it out on the wall in that thread, do you think it's the right size?

I might scoot over to PB today and see if they have one in-store by chance, it would save me a bunch of money if they did.

What is "PB"?

Pottery Barn. Sorry :)

Sorry; there's no Pottery Barn really near me, so I didn't think of it .. but I know a few OLLDS have mentioned that they really like it. I also find PB a little overpriced, because they have a trendy reputation.

Yes, I agree -- a lot of their stuff is seriously spendy, for what it is.

Judyg...the grits were really good with the cheese! Bobbi..girits does have a texture. BTW...the funny part it was in the MORNING and hubby said...look what I'm fixing us for breakfast! I see the pork chops, grits and receipe on counter. I said it's a dinner meal! He says..what? it's grits...that's breakfast food! lol We ate for dinner. :)

Rooo. thank you SOOO much for the scrapbook tips! Very valuable! I filtered through photos late last night and cropped all of them to 4 x 6. I'll go back and change some of the sizes..and also crop to round, or oval. Since the first half is already different sizes (before digital us) I'm good there. school photos, etc.

Roo...questions. How do you use word on a the 12 x 12 acid free paper? Do you type, then cut paper and glue? My printer only prints 8 1/2 x 11? I like the idea different fonts (child font for baby years). I was thinking to save time,is to use the black bacground and use the old fashioned corner sticky things for the photos. Then use a color ink? Do you glue the photos to the paper? Thanks for the story tip! I cropped some picutures without the "story" background...Grrr..I'll go back.

Question for all! I was thinking of writing the "story" in the first person..Like "I was born..." This is me just before I was born. But, I don't want to put words in her mouth...Like this one...Here is a photo of my first "stupid love". :) An old boyfriend (the stupid love kind) which she readily admits. Write in the first person? Or just

Another question for all. Should I include at least a couple photos of her first husband/wedding? And, the "first family baby/photo? It IS a part of her life and they are still on good terms, but I don't want to offend her current fiance. Thoughts? Leave the ex out?

Roo, are there special pens for writing on the paper? Oh..I have the baby photo on a charm (for a bracelet). I'll need to find something like that for the tooth as well.

Thanks so much! I can work on the photo part and later this afternoon off to the craft store.

Oh...you cracked me up...Perfectly normal behavior to show Houzzers what we had for dinner? lol Abby-normal.

Abby-normal! hahaha Love it!

Thank you eztia. Great idea making the pages in question "deletable" without changing the story. Plus, she may want to add some pages of her trips I don't have photos of. Love the "mad Libs' idea as well. Good thinking! My daughter stopped by today so I'm another day down without going to the craft store! Oh no!

Darzy - can you get photos printed in round or oval or do you have to cut them? Never seen that here, but I have so much equipment to do things, I don't need to bother too much.

I do all my journalling on normal A 4 paper. You can get acid free in this, but I don't worry as I don't put it over my photos and the plastic protects opposite pages. Don't forget too, you can add printing to your photos before printing them out. I've done that a few times for a bit of humour. For example, one time Miss 6 was at Malibu Pier surrounded by seagulls and she just happened to be pointing in one photo (I think trying to tell the seagulls what to do) so across the photo from her hand I put 1..2..3..4..5..6.. Another time they were in Las Vegas and were looking at a super stretched stretch limo. Miss 6 just happened to have her hand on her hip so I just had to add "Where has that driver gone NOW".

Do you have a paper guillotine? You might need one to crop photos if necessary or cut things out, especially the journalling. I'm thinking maybe Michaels might be a place you could pick one up fairly cheaply, you can get small ones just for scrapbooking that take a 6 x 4 photo.

The best thing to use for sticking is double sided tape, I use one about 1/4 in wide and just cut it into a rough square. Make sure you get a repositionable one - some are sudden death and once stuck can't be removed. Trust me, you will make mistakes. I still can't get things right the first time. You can also get tiny brads that I like to use sometimes to attach journalling just to jazz it up a bit - I can spend a day just doing one page, but you won't have time for that.

There are gel pens you can get that are acid free and come in many colours too. You can also get glitter and gold and silver. Don't use them much as my writing is going downhill so I prefer to print everything and a lot of the fonts look like running writing anyway.

As far as the journalling goes, I do get a bit all over the place, but I don't think it matters, I feel it gets boring otherwise. Most of the albums I have done are for the 2 LA grands as their mum is the only one who ever sends me photos regularly - she scrapbooks too. I have pretty much done everything as if Miss 6 is telling the story, but things like the first birth photo, I have generally made it into and "Announcement" page "Introducing Milly Molly Mandy born 1/1/10 at Hospital, length, weight and then including the newspaper announcement. Her preschool graduation photos, I just did a large graduation heading but I included the programme from it. The ultrasound photo, you could title "Look what's cooking" ??. Actually another great thing for her birth photo is if you and your hubby both write a little piece on how you felt the first time you saw her. That can be so moving, my dd here did it with hers and it is just so moving no matter how many times I read it. Kids really love to read it too.

Now Miss 6 is older and has a sibling, I write things as we, unless it might be a friend's birthday party for example and then she tells the story of the party.

If you have something you want to include that is double sided, photocopy one side, with colour copiers it is hard to tell the difference at times.

I do have pages where I just record things they said and did and usually write them as dd told the story, so if you have some with funny stories you can write them from you or in a generalised way - A family outing to .. today and such and such happened. With old boyfriends, even a wedding photo, you could do a collage page or double page, and jokingly title it The Mistakes in my Life. I wouldn't leave anything out, it is HER life after all and I don't see why the fiance can't accept that - he must have some past too. I think making light of it though, will clearly indicate she has moved on.

The good thing about the plastic sleeves is that you can put things in loose that you may not be sure of till you check with dd, but just have backup so you don't throw the album all out of order. Gosh I keep thinking little things here, I do things so automatically, get extra black cardstock so each layout is on a separate sheet, that lets you move them around too.

Think that is all your questions answered.

Here are two websites with some great ideas for quotes too
http://www.scrapbook.com/quotes.php
http://www.dennydavis.net/poemfiles/bbychld/educpgs.htm

A poem can take the place of journalling and add so much extra meaning. This is a beautiful poem for the first day of school

First Day of School
(Wendy Silva)

I wonder what you're doing right now
and if everyone is treating you kind.
I hope there is a special person,
a nice friend that you can find.

I wonder if the teacher know just
how special you are to me.
And if the brightness of your heart
is something she can see.

I wonder if you are thinking about
me and if you need a hug.
I already miss the sound of your voice
and how you give my leg a tug.

I wonder if you could possibly understand
how hard it is for me to let you grow.
On this day know that my heart breaks,
for this is the first step in letting my baby go.

I think there is something infinitely wonderful about watching a square piece of stock seemingly magically transformed into something curvy and beautiful. My only lathe experience is watching Norm on New Yankee Workshop but I always loved how the shape of whatever it was he was doing started to appear as he was working on it. And I always wanted a router, too. And something to rout.

Ez, that is so true. Adults sometimes need to slow down and see things through a child's eyes, everything is so simple, adults create problems.

Thanks so much for taking the time to give me the tips. Great info. Adding funny stories...even without a photo of it is a great idea. How mommy/daddy felt on delivery is such a sweet touch too.

One story I'll be including: As a toddler my daughter saying from the hallway...Mommy...C'mere,,C'mere. (come here). Show you! I said bring it to Mommy. She brings in and shows me a turd in the palm of her hand...straight out of the toilet!

I've copied and pasted your ideas and poems so I can re-read at my "workstation". Thanks again!

Good luck with it all, hope I've given you some helpful tips. Scanning those two websites will give you some different takes on things too. BTW, you don't have to do everything in strict chronological order if want to group photos of a similar theme together to save space.

The toilet story reminded me of one I heard where a mother went out shopping and left her 2 year old in her daddy's care. Like most males daddy was involved in a game on TV, so when daughter came and started playing with her tea set and offering him cups of "tea" he happily joined in and sipped the tea with her. When the mother came home he said to his wife "you've got to watch this, look how clever she is and sent the child off to get them both another cup of tea. When the daughter came back he continued to sip the tea and praise her until the mother said "You do realise the only place she can reach water is in the toilet bowl".