WOW! And here I thought that no one replied... turns out I just never got any emails about the replies. Anyways, thanks to everyone who did reply for all the hints and tips. In the time that has passed I have walked with my landlord over the whole property and he's all for what I plan on doing here as he's been unlucky with his tenants to date not wanting to do any type of improving upon the aesthetics here. I can understand why the landlord hasn't put any type of money into the place as when we moved in last fall the whole back yard under all those nice shade trees was nothing but dirt. That's why the grass is so patchy back there. The tenant before us had 28 fox-hounds in a big caged in area under those trees... the area is almost completely filled in with grass that was seeded last fall, needs another seeding though. Now that I've had more of a chance to pay attention to just how much sun each area I plan to plant gets I now know better what to plant there. The back of the house gets quite a bit of sun actually, almost 6 full hours of afternoon sun whereas the front gets full morning sun. The place we chose for the veggie garden is in an area that gets sun from about 9am until dusk so it will have enough, plus it's close enough to the water hose! I've also identified some of the "bushes" that I didn't know when I originally posted this thread. There are two large groups of Common or American Elderberry (one that is crowding out my snowball bush) as well as some honeysuckle bushes, a large Mimosa tree that's just about to bloom and a straggly looking red Mulberry. It's difficult to tell at first whether some of the trees are Black Walnut or Tree of heaven but I figured it out as the BW has it's fruits developing. There are still two unidentified bushes but I'll figure it all out. Now that I've bored y'all with my uninteresting story I guess I should end this by saying that I will probably be posting photos of the design I finally chose for this large property. From what I've figured so far, the investment will be no more than about 2-3000. We are planning on staying here for quite a while... don't plan on moving until hubby's ready to retire (15 more years) and the landlord knows that if we do move most of what I plant will be moving with me. Especially the bulbs and anything easily transported to the new place. So once again, thanks for all the replies. ttfn Mystic.

I love your sweet little butterfly garden! It made me smile. Thank you for planting it. The female Tiger Swallowtail at the bottom is just stunning. What a great shot! The Tigers are especially tolerant of human presence I find, and you can get really close to them with the camera. They don't seem to mind. As for the hand raising of butterflies, a person has to decide for themselves what they want to do. If you want to hand raise them, then learn all that you can about the best ways to do that, and then do it to the best of your ability. It's also fine if you don't want to make the commitment of hand raising. Simply providing the plantings that they need in order to thrive is a big contribution. Most here will probably tell you to concentrate on having as many host plantings as you can possibly offer. The host plants are the ones that they lay their eggs on, and each species uses different plants. I will include a link for a good listing of species specific host plants here. First, you need to know which butterflies occur in your area, and you can look at area specific lists at the BAMONA site which I will also link here. I have a favorite basic butterfly ID book that I always recommend, and I will link it here too so that you might take a look at that. The nice folks here will help as much as you ask. So ask away! Happy butterfly gardening. Angie Host Plants: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/butterfly/2004041551026161.html BAMONA: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/checklists?species_type=0amp;tid=61 My favorite book:http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/LifeCyclesBook.jpg

Are there any occasions that would come up over that time period that you would need b-day presents, cards, gift wrap etc.. maybe a few standbys.. When I had surgery back in September I started some major cleaning/purging... Why I felt compelled to do this.. I don't know, probably nerves and it kept my mind occupied but it made me feel better to know that it was done. Pick up extra stamps/envelopes. Post notes over washer/dryer of how you like things.. for instance, my girls don't like certain things put in the dryer so it's posted for everyone. Do the same for other parts of the house. Also make list of recycle days, garbage days, etc on your list. Get a big desk calendar and write every dr appt, playdate, activity etc and leave out for everyone to see. Tell kids to always reference that before making plans. Possibly put laundry basket in each room so when someone is doing laundry they don't have to guess who's it is.. We have 3 teenage girls and they each do their own laundry. I don't have to figure out what socks/underwear belong to who. Maybe sign up for Blockbuster or Netflix during this time, will give everyone (mostly you) something to do that won't require inconveniencing anyone, kids can order online w/ you.. make the list before surgery. Have a couple hundred dollars cash somewhere, kids always need $$ plus you will have for people when they run errands. Pick up some extra nighties/bathrobe/sweatpants. Assuming you won't be very mobile you will have something new to wear. Get extra bandages, I didn't have what I needed for my incisions so someone had to run out and get some. Stockup on ibuprofren/cold meds/vitamins.. etc.. Do you like puzzle books/crossword puzzle books? But in the end your houseguests WANT to help you.. so even with all your planning and organizing and cleaning they are there to help you.. No doubt they will appreciate all your prep work but they are there to do all of the things that need to be done. Leave cleaning supplies in each bathroom so there is no guessing to what you use or like done. Leave a couple rolls of papertowels under each sink. Your caretakers will appreciate that you have taken the guesswork out of what you like. Does everyone know where the clean sheets are? Towels? Good luck to you!

Ladyvixen, we were in our 30's in 1985 when we bought our 1898 house. Looking back, we were very young. Neither my husband nor I had any skills or knowledge at all about how to work on houses. All we knew was that our house was nearly intact, was very inexpensive, and that we loved it. I had always wanted an old house, and had been buying things such as light fixtures, hardware, etc., for years before we bought the house. We bought the house "as is". Fortunately we were both employed and had no children. We had to hire almost everything done, and it needed a lot of work. We did not take a vacation for years. Then came a time of around a year or two that my husband was either unemployed or underemployed. During that time, the house just didn't get worked on. We didn't care that we lived in an unfinished house; in fact, I thought it was beautiful from day one. We have a corner in the dining room where all the little balls the cats play with end up, but you don't notice the slope otherwise. It has taken us over 25 years, and we are almost finished, but still have some work to do. We should have it finished by now, but are in our 60's now and do like to take a vacation now and then. Also we sometimes didn't have work done even when we had the money, because we were tired of the mess of having things torn up. We lived with a practically non-existent kitchen until about 2004. I said all along that this house was my dream house. People would look at me funny, but it was and still is my dream house. Don't let others talk you out of your dream. Make the decision based on what you want and what you think you can handle. If you think you can live with an unfinished house for years, go for it. If you have to have everything finished and perfect, you shouldn't buy an old house. I have the ablility to not even see the unfinished stuff until we get ready to do something about it. I meant this to be an encouragement to you, but reading back on it, maybe this will scare you because it has taken us so long. Don't let that scare you--you can do it faster than we did! I will try to attach some pictures if I can.