My pond is not all that big. It is about 4 feet wide and 8 ft long. it is 3.5 ft deep in one section and the other end has different depths for plants. I lost a koi this winter (just opened pond this weekend) and my large koi seems fine but my one shubunkin appears to have dropsy, most likely caused by the dead koi in the water. Luckily the temps have been warmer so I am adding some salt to the pond to hopefully help the shubunkin out. He is at least five yrs old now. I hope he makes it. My koi looks healthy at least. I think I may give the pond shop a ring and ask if I can bring him in. I have no idea how I will do this as he is pretty big. I don't want him to get sick. I feel terrible about giving him up. We saved him from certain death as he and his brother ended up getting ulcers after we purchased them (must have come w/ it) we treated them both and although they were in rough shape they both made it and grew up to be beautiful fish. We lost his brother last year. He was never really "right", probably because he was sick when he was young. He appeared to go to sleep in the shallow section of the pond and he was frozen in the ice. Guess he wasn't very smart. Do the shubunkin breed easily? I would love to see baby fish around the pond! My parents do have a larger pond but they are about 3 hours away and I just would worry about making the trip with the koi. I would LOVE to build a bigger pond however we have a stupid inground pool (grr!). It came with the house. Someday when we fill that in we will build a great big pond. We can't convert the pool to a pond because it is a vinyl lined pool. I feel like such a bad fish mom right now! Hopefully if my poor Shubunkin makes it I will purchase 3 more shubs and give my koi up for adoption. -renee

Sigh - I envy my more southern and western sisters and brothers, at least where I live, Walmart, Home Depot, etc. don't have much out yet. But. For us space and price challenged, I was delighted to find a Suncast resin storage box 22" x 22" - snaps together in minutes - at Walmart for ~30$. I own the Suncast vertical shed - these ARE resin, but, they are holding up great and keep the water out! Good stuff for the price! Also there is some organic gardening soil with 3 months of natural fertilizer for $5 a bag - this is some of the best soil I have ever seen, already has perlite - I never pot straight from the bag without amendments but I was able to with this stuff. And one cheap Queen Elizabeth bagged rose, for a problem spot that needs a nice tall bush. I'll be heading back to get some more soil, and any interesting roses.......

My hallway has the same doors. Although it is half the size, we must both live in a 50's era home. The hallway is almost a small room of it's own that is the opening to bath and bedrooms. At first I was going to change the doors drawers with new shaker fronts. They still sit in the garage. After thinking about it, new doors felt like they would clutter the area. Plus the drawer fronts would be a real problem replacing without destroying the front. Currently I have cup pulls on the drawers and "close to the door" fitting closet door handles. Drop handles work well and come in so many designs. You can take the hinges and boil them in water to remove paint and/or spray after to match whatever color is wanted. I found some old original art deco ones which are still in their original packaging. Simple and work well. I don't know if the original owner framed my units or was an add-on. Small framing painted the same as doors around each unit of doors/drawers. Not on the panels. It works well and finishes off the flatness of all. Trim and doors, baseboard are white, walls are same as yours. At one time I also considered sanding the edge of each door. There has to be number of layers on them. A good light sanding would help revive. My cupboards are wonderfully deep, they take up part of bedroom closets behind them. Bottom line for me is to embrace them and refurbish just a bit for cleaner lines. At some point my entire house was painted a robin egg blue. Everything.....walls, doors, windows. Once in a while I will have a small chip and there is the blue underneath. I would love to see old pics of this and the decor involved.

So, let me get this straight? He cheated on you with BM (yuck - at least it could have been with someone better!!) and yet he has never felt that he should be considerate of your feelings when telling you that "you should be the bigger person," etc.? He has always "taken her side" and you have always felt that he valued her feelings over yours. Before I knew about the cheating, I thought the entire situation was stinky but now that I know - how could he seriously say the things he has said when looking into your eyes and knowing that he betrayed you with her and was continuing to betray you?? I am furious on your behalf!!!