Couldn't hoit!!

I came by to say "hi" on my own--do I get extra credit for that? :-)

I think it may of been Donna (speaking of... has anyone seen her around?).

It's a great gesture, jubileej ~ go for it!

cat mom, you do!

Well, the GW search engine for kitchens showed me donna's last post was Feb. 07, however, I don't know if I trust the search engine.

Cat mom, hi back!

Bill, hope it don't hoit!

Let's see who dives in!

Happened to see a post of Donna's dated today on the discussions side. (See kitchen rug post.) Said hello.

It never hurts to have more friends! Too much getting me down lately, so the more friends the better!

I saw the post and came over to see what it was all about! Honestly, I had never noticed that little area at the top which gave that option and even after you posted I had to hunt around for it. I would like to get involved as my time allows. Thanks for the invite!

*peeks in*

Thanks jubileej! Now that I know you're all here, I promise I'll bake some cookies in my recently hooked up oven & bring them next time :-)

It is a wonderful group and as was said the more the better.

Hi! Nice to meet all of you! Let me introduce myself. My name is Cindy and I am building a house. when I say I am building it, I don't mean I am having it built. I mean I am actually building it. This is our 3rd and last one. We are framing the inside walls right now. It is so exciting to see the house I designed finally come to life. I am gonna LOVE my kichen!!! It's a little bigger than it looked on paper though....which is actually a really good thing. I have been reading every thread posted and trying to learn all I can. I want this house to be perfect. It's not huge.....only 1700 sq feet plus another 500 sq ft in the sunroom. Two bedrooms is enough for us now that our kids are grown. Vaulted ceilings in the living, dining and kitchen. If I could figure out how to post pics I'd show ya'll! Anyway....nice to meet you.

Cindy

Wow, building your own home Cindy - that's what I call quality assurance, lol

Welcome to the other side!

LOL....you're right Paulines.....you remember the old saying? "If you want something done right, do it yourself"? Well, it's true. No shortcuts in this house and it will be exactly like I want it. We will sub out drywall finishing, but that's it. We did all the framing. We are doing electrical and plumbing now, along with the main trunk lines for the HVAC. It's hard work and I am not getting any younger (I'm 48). I think it will take maybe 18 months to finish it. that's the plan at least.

He, cedelchef, glad you found it! Moonkat, bring on those cookies, especially as I am banished from my kitchen while the grout dries.

Ccoombs, I forgot my Photobucket password, can't find the cable connector for uploading to my computer, and don't even know where my digital camera is at the moment - Can't help you on the pix thing, but stand in awe at the thought of you guys building it yourselfs. Kazaa!, as my son would say.

BTW guys, donna has been on Trailrunner's thread - I knew that - just had slipped my mind.

Sorry to disappear a few days but life gets like that when "the crew" is on task.

Cordially,

Julie

Cindy, I'm in awe. Seriously, I'm 48 as well and I admire the energy you have to take on such a project. Are you or your significant other in the building biz? I would love to hear more about your project, if you feel like sharing.

Hi Julie, how are you doing?

Hi guys,
Most definately invite the discussions people over, we need more input on conversations. I'm mostly on the bathroom forum. I check in to kitchens but the post go too fast and I can't keep up. I check in here too but don't join in unless I have something helpful to add. I don't have children so I'm afraid to give my advice on that subject.
I have to say that I am not loving remodeling my bathroom. I am too much of a perfectionist and I drive myself crazy. I just want it to be finished.
Donna

Hi Paulines. No...we are not in the home construction business....we just learned to build stuff out of necessity (it costs too much to hire people LOL!). We had a mobile home burn down in 1980 when we were both really young and decided that we didnt want to live in another one because they burn too fast....so we started learning how to build houses. The end result was our first one. Building codes in that county back then were VERY lax and I am sort of surprised that house is still standing....but it is! We sold it years ago. The second one was big. TOO big. We lived there for a few years and bought 25 acres in the country. We moved into another mobile home and started this new house. This is the last one though. My kids are both married and live on the same property, I have a new grandbaby on the way. I am NOT moving away from here!!

I am really just project drive person. I can be really lazy if I dont have a project to do, so I sort of keep a lot of projects going. I got interested in Koi a few years ago and decided to build myself a nice 9,000 pond to keep koi in. That was a LOT of hard work, but the end result is great. It's in the backyard of the new house. We are living in a mobile home in front of the new house.

Anyway, that's probably more info that you wanted LOL! I'll keep you posted as I progress with the house. It won't be done anytime soon though. It's hard to work full-time and then come home every day and put in a few more hours on the house. We also work on it every weekend. So much to do!! We are starting wiring, plumbing, central vac lines and HVAC lines now. This house is much smaller than our last one (and only one story instead of 3) so it will be easier. Thank goodness!! Here's a picture of my koi pond and also the floorplan of the house (if this works right).

Cindy

{{gwi:213185}}

Oh wow, your pond is gorgeous. I really like how the shape of the fence compliments your plantings. You have my dream yard, lol

Have you posted your kitchen plan for critique? There are some really talented folk here that can help you tweak things, if you aren't 100% satisfied. I know you haven't asked (and I sincerely hope you don't mind), but could I suggest opening up the entryway to the kitchen just a bit and moving your fridge to the left end of the sink run? You could then bump your range/cooktop down a bit so it's out of the angle of the pennisula? Just some thoughts, again, I hope you don't mind me running them by you?

I love the openness of your plan and your yard is stunning.

Your colorful plantings among the rocks along with the iron work bring great joy! Mind if I ask about a few? What is the plant in the foreground with the long skinny red and green foliage? And what are the red flowering bushes? What area of the country do you dwell in?

You can tell that I've never frequented the garden side of GW, LOL!

Hey thanks for the invite jubileej, I had heard of "conversations" but wasn't sure where it was. I'm a fairly new poster and a longtime lurker. As I just posted in another thread, GW is my new favorite place to be and my DH is suspicious about what I could possibly be doing for so much of the time on the pc short of having a cyber boyfriend. I tried to tell him you guys are much better than that. At this point I think I've read almost all of the 67 pages of posts trying to learn as much as possible. Is that obsessive? :) The wealth of info and experiece is amazing. I'm so appreciative and have learned enough to start paying it forward to those in an earlier phase of their planning and research. Not that there isn't a lot more to learn, it's juch a great feeling to be on the other end too. Most choices are made for our impending kitchen reno, just waiting for the contractor to be available, probably in late May. Now I just have to figure out how to scan my design and post it to have some expert tweeking. In the meantime, it's perfect timing to visit here and engage on a more personal level. Just when I thought my affair with GW was cooling off....

Jubileej,

Thanks for the invite! I've popped over here once or twice, but not "knowing" everyone, I feel a little like I'm eavesdropping! I know, it sounds silly. But some of these discussions are quite personal so I feel like I've stumbled on a group of close friends having a serious discussion.

Cindy, you and your husband are amazing! I thought my in-laws were champion DIYers, but you put them to shame. They actually hired someone to build the shell of their addition -- slackers! ;-)

While we're sitting and chatting... can I get anyone a cappuccino?

Amy

I'll pass on the cappuccino, but an after dinner drink would hit the spot! It's funny but I'm craving this warm butterscotch liquor that a nearby restaurant serves with one of its desserts.....

Come on in, fothia and chmpgntst!

Fothia, lucky (or smart!) you - doing your upfront homework with all this great advice! You are so right to realize that you really are getting qualified to advise. I am learning that today's GW advice will be tomorrow's local yocal awakenings.

Champagne, I would love a cappucino right now and might as well as GW is getting me "all woked up" again :- o

Cat mom, I laughed with great empathy at your remark on igloo's thread about collecting computer print outs. Me too. Let's have a bonfire! - and bring on the butterscotch!

Jubilee

On a more serious note, if I disappear next week, it's because a couple of dear friends have some needs I might be able to help out with this week. That doesn't happen often, so hope I can rise to the challenge. That, plus - time to wash and dust after renovations part II.

Later, gang.

Paulines, thanks. The yard is my dream yard too. I spend many hours out there, just sitting and feeding the koi. I love it. I need to tweak the kitchen design. ActuallyÂ.it needs a LOT of tweaking!LOL! At the end of the run of the cabinets on the sink side is the wall oven. The refrig is on the end of the other run of cabinets. I plan to use a beverage refrigerator in the peninsula so that people wonÂt have to walk all the way thru the kitchen to get beverages. I am also going to move the cooktop out of the angle and center it up on the straignt run of cabinets. I think it will look much nicer that way. I originally wanted the cooktop on the peninsula and decided against it because of the hood requirements. I appreciate all suggestions on this kitchen!! Believe meÂI want to do it right the first time!! LOL!!

Jubilee, thanks. I am glad you like my garden. The plant in the foreground is a ornamental flowering peach. It is actually covered with pink blooms now. It has not grown in the 2 years IÂve had it and it produces walnut sized fruit. It produces WAY more blooms than a regular peach tree. The red flowering bushes are actually impatiens!! I plant them bare-root in the rocks around the top of the pond so their roots are in the water and they just take off. Basically, the pond is sort of a giant hydroponics system. The bio-filters convert the ammonia produces by the fish and convert it to nitrites, and then the nitrites are converted to nitrates, which go back to the pond. The impatiens thrives on the nitrates that the filter produces for them. As far as my areaÂI live in the central part of SC.

Chmpgntst, thanks. We have always been DIYÂers. I canÂt imagine actually calling a plumber or any other tradesman in to fix something. If something breaks or needs to be done, we just learn how to do it and DIY. It sure saves a pile of money!

This sure is a nice cozy little "conversation corner" yaÂll have going on here! If you donÂt mind, I think IÂll make my self at home.

Cindy

jubileej--I am very proud of myself, I did clean out a whole mess o' papers and crap from one room in the house on Saturday!!!!

LOL cats mom....that's the kind of stuff I never seem to have the time to do. I HATE housework! I'd much rather be digging in the dirt. I have a "junk room" that is just horrible. I keep that door closed. I'll be SO glad to get moved out of this little cracker-box trailer we are living in and have some space.

My whole house is one big junk room. I hope I can get inspired to clear out the rest of it, so it will be worthy of this beautiful kitchen we will have soon! Of course, the money's run out with the kitchen reno, so the rest will have to wait to be reno'd, but maybe it can be a just little less messy....!

I know what you mean!! We moved from a 3000 sq ft house into a small single wide trailer so we could build this last house (which is smaller than the old one). We had to buy one of those overseas shipping containers to put our stuff in because it sure wouldn't fit in this trailer. I will be SOOOO glad to get that house done. When you are doing it all yourself and paying as you go, it takes a while. Everyday I work full time, then come home and put another couple hours in the house. Who's got time for house work?? I need a maid!!

Well, back. sort of. Need to help friends more, clean much more, purchase for house more, and a host of other things!

Cindy, glad you like the conversations nook. Ornamental peach! I would not have guessed. I like it. And your impatiens and other flowering plants really have taken off! That's just great!

Cat mom, my whole house needs a ruthless hand at this point to "clear the decks" - in part due to the ritual of carting boxes from one point to another for the reno, and I, too, am eager to find the means to make the family room worthy to sit next to the new kitchen, as well as tackle some landscape and outdoor needs. Yippee on your getting a whole room done! Perhaps that will serve as the "hatpin" I need to get going!

One of my friends has a bad back and it is so slowing her to a halt. I should count my blessings.

Jeepers Cindy, you work full time also???? You don't need a maid girl, you need another you!

fothia & Amy, so glad you joined us!

cat mom & jul, maybe we can inspire one another to tackle some much neeeded home projects. I have company from out of town arriving on Tuesday and my housework has been somewhat negleted lately ;)

My 9-5 job is undergoing a merge and the conversion has started, talk about crazy! I'm also working with 3 clients at various stages, during my off hours-but that's my fun.

paulines....another me would be great!! Do you know of a good cloning clinic I can go to? I do have a few too many irons in my fire. LOL! Luckly, I go to work really early and get off at 2:30 every day so there's still a good 3 or 4 hours in the evenings that I can work on the house and pond projects.

DH finishes grad school for the semester in two weeks. After that I told him "your a** is mine!" LOL!

How much you want to bet the same crap will be sitting in the same spot when the fall semester begins....?

OK, Pauline, you're on! Ask me what percentage of papers around my computer area I have cleared by Monday (if I can get thru the red tape on a few looming matters - remember the old Adventure games - "There's a threatening little dwarf with an axe at the door"?).

Cat mom, let your DH sit in a comfy chair with the cat in his lap for at least 48 hours before whuppin his rear in gear, LOL!

Blessings to all! And remember - blow off at least one meeting on your calendar this month!

Okay, 48 hours I can handle (if he promises NOT to drag it out for the entire 5 months 'til the fall semester starts like he did last year!).

My guy's a tennis buff, and every blasted 3 day week-end in summer and fall seems to have a must see tennis tourny on TV! Oh, well - he puts up with my "creative perpetual mess" - so I guess turnabout's fair play - though mom was right to turn pale when we married each other.

jubileej, you make me laugh! My DH is a computer guy by profession, but also plays guitar/sings, and performs at some local street fairs, farmers mkt, animal shelter fund raiser(s), as well as some local restaurants/bars on occasion. He hasn't had a chance to even pick up his guitar in ages (as this semester of school winds down), so I know that's what he will be doing every chance he gets when the semester ends. If he lines up any gigs, he'll be practicing nightly to get up to speed.

Maybe I should tape that "honey-do" list to the inside of his guitar case so he'll be sure to see it! LOL!

Cat mom,

Yeah! the perfect place!!

He's supposed to be studying for his finals and working on his final projects, but is re-doing the tracks for the U/C lights before the elctrician comes back (they cut them shorter than they needed to be). He kicks in gear when he has to....!

He'll still need that list though!

Don't we all, sigh!

Now if only I could manage to get through mine without getting sucked in here at the forum!!!!

Speaking of which - oy vey! How long have I been at this keyboard!!!