bobbi, those sweet people are probably illegal as hell! lol!

Linda, have you ever seen that company that does like a fake staging of retail and business property...very clever idea I think. Like in a downtown area that has empty buildings in between other businesses? They actually pay a company to create a large photo/pic/graphic of a scene, like a bakery, or a restaurant, bike shop, clothing store, whatever....and it fits into the glass windows out front, but makes people with no imagination get an idea of what it COULD be! Fantastic marketing for realtors I think!

Linda – It was more than 5 years ago, so I don’t remember all the details, but there had been an agreement between the owners. It wasn’t something that could be enforced once either owner sold their lot.

Having been on both the Planning & Zoning Board, and knowing how some homeowners would do things without consideration of their neighbors .. much less zoning & building codes, I would never just assume that what a neighbor did was OK by default, if it seemed wrong to me. For example, we had restrictions on trees removed from the buffer zones (setbacks), and I called in about my neighbor having tree people in to remove a few. When the clerk told me she’d “let me know”, I told her it had to be NOW, because finding out the neighbor “did wrong” after the trees were cut down, wasn’t going to help at all!

@ Robin - don't ignore those ear problems. I've had ear problems in the past and had one major ear infection and ended up losing about half the hearing in my right ear overnight. I started that morning with a stuffy nose and ended up by midnight in total agony. I always have to be careful to take decongestants as soon as I start feeling the slightest touch of a stuffy nose or I end up with major sinus headaches. In my case, the doctor says it is a deviated septum, so it is in the nose. I know exactly where too, because each time I have problems I can feel the pain radiating from that one place on the side of my nose just underneath where the nosepad of my glasses sits.

I've had good luck with the hot drinks and the vapor inhalers. Mint oil on a cloth works too.

For all of you ladies who multi-task, and those you are music lovers, check out this video: http://www.wimp.com/brassband/

That video is amazing...thanks

okay no fair posting when I am not here!!! :) new House rules :) :)

That's pretty good! Where on earth did you find that?

Soooooo....did i mention, I think I did, how my builder used my house as a showhome a few weeks ago? I was just down there, and he asked me if I would mind if they came and took professional photos of the interior for their website.... !

Excellent! How cool is that?

Here's a before and after of an empty building....all fake, just big blown up photos on windows....The company is called Shopjackets and i think they are from London? Anyway....nothing like triggering someone's imagination for selling or renting a property!

Bobbi - Was that about the video I posted? A cousin sent it to me, but I'd also seen it before .. pretty amazing!

bobbi -- I'm kind of shocked actually -- I wasn't expecting that!

mp -- what a great idea!

MP - not on the same level, but many years ago, when parts of The Bronx (NYC) were in very bad shape, and there were empty highrises around, they began putting in "fake windows" like that. They'd have curtains & windowboxes with flowers painted on them, and it looked a lot better than a burned out or abandonned hulk.

Our city has decorated store windows in the downtown area at Christmas time. They try to work with local realtors and put displays in all the vacant shop windows in the area. Anything is better than just a regular for rent/for sale sign in the window

I've never seen Chicago's displays, but New York's are amazing!

Spelling police in Houzz?? Good Lord!

Oh, and just a pet peeve of mine. ESPRESSO is eSpresso, there is NO x in the word. The word is NOT eXpresso. That is not a word. Pleeeeease don't use the non-word ever again.

So many times I've wanted to correct folks on their spelling, but I bit my tongue. Hard.

Whaaaat????

Oh.. Sorry Robin... Well, I am a bad speller...
How are you feeling? Better I hope..

Robin you mentioned seeing something about making concrete planters with a bag? Did you keep that site? I would like to check it out...

Phew - ladies (and rooster) you have really excelled yourself today - 208 emails, and that was when I first started an hour and 15 mins ago.

Way toooooooo much to remember everything now but I do like the idea of that Fitbit. Have to see if I can get one here. Mouse, do you have any idea how much they are? I can always get LAdd to bring one out next month.

Robin, thank you, now I know your are only half my age I can cease to be impressed by what you achieve each day. Yep, I do remember those days and the speed I had too.

Angela, I'm on the same wavelength as Patty, I like the idea of a round table and chairs, probably because I hate sliding in and out of those booth settings. Otherwise I do like the ones with part fixed seating and the table and a couple of chairs separate. I think it is more versatile. The Dwyer kitchen you posted has dark timber with different coloured kitchen cupboards so I think going dark grey or black would be fine - even going for a painted finish and then you could use pretty much any colour you liked.

From vet shows we have on TV here it seems all doggie manners can be improved by various training methods based on the fact that the dog is bored or has been given the wrong message of acceptable behaviour. This website looks like it might have some interesting ideas for you

http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/how-to-stop-dogs-from-digging.html

Special note to Dave, thinking of you and praying hard, mate, hoping this is just a little hiccup, you have done so well. God bless.

Dave, thinking of you tonight. You are a strong man. You have your son. And, you have a date with Carolyn next December. bobbi will hunt you down and slap you silly if you don't get better. Trust me, you don't want to deal with bobbi.

Damn skippy!

@roo - aww. I'll figure out how to impress you yet :)

@patty - feeling ok. The ears are usually good during the day - but overnight they start causing me grief. I think it's because I'm laying down so gravity isn't helping.

I can't recall the specific site for the planters. I googled 'concrete planters'. Lots of great ideas and photos.

Thank You Robin... glad you are feeling OK...

Bobbi - What did skippy do? You are talking my rellies here.

Ahhhh, Robin, age does lots of things to people - including making them cynical. Have you had your sinuses checked? My Gdd had problems with hers for years, ear aches, headaches, everything and she had an op and has had no problems since.

@Robin -- hope you get some relief for those ears. I know how miserable it can make you feel.

Goodnight, Ms Roo... I hope you're having a good day so far. :)

Night kd - not as productive a day as I would have liked, I think I burnt myself out doing the kitchen. Think I will stay off the air tomorrow and Sunday and try for another blitz. Behave all.

OK... Roo... Is this daytime for you?....

Yes, it is 2.52 pm to be precise, just having a late lunch.

To confuse you further, for West Coast we are 7 hours behind but a day in front.

And it's Friday?.... I am in the Pacific Northwest... I must say, I love meeting people around the world...

Yep it is Friday, so you know if I'm here the world hasn't ended - handy when the Mayans come out of the woods. It is a lot of fun just picking up on different ways we do things, our outlook, attitudes and lifestyle, but I especially love the language ...... amazing how we all speak English so differently (and spell it too)

And, sorry... it's 10pm here on Thursday... And I must get my sleep... Hope to read you soon!

Oops, something is wrong there, by my calculations it should be 10pm West Coast and you have to add another 3 hours to that. Damned Daylight Savings throws me out - lost it now.

I got a real surprise last night; the only other women who graduated from the engineering school my year, called last night!! I haven't seen or spoken to her in about 30 years! Our 40th reunion is the end of May. I had written it off, because it's in Manhattan & not particularly convenient, but maybe I will go Friday/Saturday.

How fun! And how nice of her to call!

She's "on the committee". I think the reunion is for all the 10th anniversary classes .. 1973, '83, 93, and 2003. I said that the disincentive is not knowing who else is attending. If there are few people from your particular class, it's not much fun spending a very expensive day with strangers.

Good point. Can you ask her?

I did; people are "thinking about it".

I wish that Houzz had "earburning" like another place I post :) because i'm sure I miss some of the places where people write to me and I would like to answer.
ummm oh olldroo? the FitBit comes in different varieties, so the cost depends on which one you get. Their site is informative, you can probably find all you need to know there. We have the FitBit Ones. I know some people have the Zip and some have the new Flex. it's really a personal choice, but our health provider gave us the Ones.

mouse - you should get emails everytime a comment is added to a thread you have commented on unless you choose to opt out. I usually leave my options open until I see the thread has had its day, so to speak, and then opt out to reduce my inbox.

Thanks for the Fitbit info. I did check the website but didn't see price, although many don't put prices. I will send it to LAdd and have her look into it for me, I'm sure they aren't available here and would probably be twice the price anyway.

oh no that's not what I meant. it's whenever you use the person's name it can be highlighted and then you get a notice in your inbox. well, we don't have those do we ? :) it's a diff. system :)

The FB one I think is $99 and the Zip is about half that. The Flex I don't know...

There are some similar items out there, but this is nice because they have apps and stuff :) and you can enter your daily info if you want and track your life and there are oh no Forums!!! which I am not not not on!!

I get you, mouse, it would be unusual for anyone to mention someone's name though if they hadn't already commented though wouldn't it? If anyone did want to contact you, they can put a message on your ideabook and you will get it that way.

Actually, you reminded me, dd got a goggle for her sneakers that is compatible with an iPod but that is only a pedometer I think. I can't buy that here either. I like the sound of the sleep monitoring though. Lately I have been having fabulous sleeps but I would still like to know how good they are.

i'm not sure how the ideabook messaging works :) I have tried to send PM's to several people but they have blocks on their personal info so I have no idea? the other site has options below your comments too where you can click "funny" "agree" "disagree" "interesting" "educational" "love" so we always ask where's the "jealous" button? :)

The sleep monitoring is great. I can see how much sleep I don't get :) also, you can use it as an alarm. there is a vibration you can set for it and it's on your wrist so it wakes you up without waking up the other person with you, should there be one :) these records are kept over a long period of time so you can show your doctor or caregiver. it's a great tool.