Fun-gi - you are well named. I like the double-entendre. I had a couple of these plants and found that a bit of benign neglect helps a lot in the later growth stages. Obviously as seedlings they need a lot of care but later on if you fuss too much they tend to grow bit floppy and dependent. For a sturdy specimen a bit of buffeting from the social weather will toughen them up. This one looks like a potential show winner. How are the young females taking the newly germinated off shoot?

We are experiencing something similar. My husband retired from the military 18 months ago. We had enough equity from the sale of our last home to finance this build. The builder appeared to be very professional and claimed to be in good financial shape. The house was started last March, and still not completed. Due to the economy the builder started borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. He has a couple of unsold, unfinished spec houses as no one is buying at this time. (We suspect he used our first 3 draws to finance these 2 houses). Since July we've had to take over the payments to the subs, after we'd already paid him $140k plus! The subs show up only when they feel like it. The builder has not shown up since August, does not return phone calls or emails. The building supervisor, DH and myself are trying to get our house finished. It has been a painful, expensive experience. If your builder is avoiding you now, and hasn't been upfront with you, what will it be like once you start building? Your husband may like this builder but this is not the military where personal accountability is front and foremost! Have a good think about things, interview a couple of other builders, ask friends and acquaintances for references and take it from there. As nice as it would be to have a new home ready by July, I'd try hoping for the end of the year!

Linelle, You are welcome, and I couldn't have said it better myself. Lynn, I've seen many a photo of your beautiful home and can't imagine you are having a hard time finding a way to display your photos! I can understand why you wouldn't want to print them in black and white though and agree that you shouldn't! I love family history and you're lucky you had pictures that are good enough to frame. My father passed some years ago, and all the pictures I have of him are too small for framing. So for Christmas I designed a black leather bound table book with all of his pictures in it (through Kodak) and had one made for each of my siblings as Christmas gifts. I have one of those as well for my living room table, and am planning on making one with special memories of my daughter (my one and only) and another of with our family history. I have an uncle who has spent years tracing our irish history and has tons of photos that will be perfect for the book. On the other hand, my wall will be a little bit of everything, mostly people and things we love. I sort of envision the collages you see at some of the restaurants. Nice photos mixed in with fun abstract stuff, lots of color. I've been collecting things for months now, and will post a picture when it's done. If I can ever figure out which wall would work best that is! thanks again! Yadax3, that is a very clever idea, and would work perfect in my office. Dust, that's probably something I should consider, but I've wanted this wall for so darn long, I think I'll just have to invest in a good duster! :c) Oakleyok-I hope you will remember to post a picture when your wall is done. I look forward to seeing it. Thank you for the pics! Your displays are really warm. Good inspiration, just what I was looking for!

I would not be happy with this work quality either, maybe for a first time DIY job but not a pro. Also, he should have your floors protected and cleaned after each work day, the mess is unacceptable. He apparently did not measure and layout the tiles correctly, the most important part of the job is to measure and know where your cuts will be so the shower will look professional. I agree with the comment above, what is underneath those tiles? Is that RedGard I see peeking out? If so, then it waterproofed but over what? Greenboard or Durock? I would not pay the balance as the job done is not up to your expectations.