No worries! I've been on so infrequently that I may never have mentioned that Chris and I are renting the house. Its a nice house for being over 100 years old.

We are looking forward to building our own house, not looking forward to the expense of it. I still need to work on making digital plans. Once the office is set up here, I'll be able to work on my other laptop that has a CD drive and see if the if the program I have works. If It doesn't, I'll have to find another free program online.

I might not have noticed. My niece is trying to buy a house, so I probably had house buying on the brain! Ooh that sounds exciting! Any house I would plan out would be to crazy to build. I know I would get carried away lol.

I tried to not get too carried away when I did a rough sketch of the floor layout. Once I digitize the layout and have measurements of each room, I'll probably make some changes, because some rooms in my sketch look rather large.

Right now, Chris and I plan on building a 50 foot by 50 foot two story house with a basement and wrap around porch. I would love to have a limestone house, but that will up the price. We want a large kitchen with lots of storage, a decent sized office, a reading room that can house all my books, a large storage room, and I want a large craft room. If I remember right, we've got 4 bedrooms in the plans, 2 full bathrooms and a half bathroom. Plus we'll have a shower in the mudroom with the washer and dryer (and freezer and extra fridge).

We want to do as much as we can ourselves, like the wiring, putting in flooring, painting the walls and anything else that we could do, mainly because my parents had a horrible time with the contractor who built their house (if took about a year to build it and they've had constant issues).

That is going to be an amazing house :D I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

I can paint a room, but that is about it lol. I am not that "handy" around the house.

We want to have a house that we will enjoy living in. So far it seems like it will have a running farmhouse and vintage theme, with a lot of vintage influence in the kitchen.

I don't know how handy I'll be, but I did help my brother rip out the old floor of a house he bought because it smelled terrible. Chris has heard the horror stories from when my parents built there house and he has seen the damage that has happened over time because the builders didn't do a decent job (basement flooded every time it rained, pipes leaked, builders broke the bathtub and hid the crack, helped themselves to my mom's garden). So Chris decided that we will be the contractors so we can be in charge, but anyone we hire will have a list of requirements to live up to.

Oh I would love to live there :D like a dream come true!

I have heard a lot of horror stories about contractors! You would think they would strive for better reputations!

It should be a pretty cool house. I'm looking forward to getting the house built, but I do want to make sure that I'm happy with everything from the start.. I've got flooring samples and photos of other things we want in the house. Then I have a Pinterest board with more ideas (that I finally organized Friday). Chris and I have differing preferences on how to finish the kitchen cabinets. Chris likes the natural look of wood and I would rather have the wood painted (which works for a vintage looking kitchen). I've found some photos of kitchens from the 40's and 50's, some of them have beautiful color combinations (most combine a color with white), so that's made it harder to choose. I don't know if I want red, turquoise, or a mint green.

I would think that contractors would want to have raving reviews so that they could get new customers. Instead it seems like some of them have such a big ego, it gets in the way of doing their job right. I live in a very rural area, so we have to look for contractors, plumbers, electricians, etc in the surrounding towns (sometimes up to an hour away). There are some local people that do plumbing and electrical, but they seem to run on their own schedule and aren't too concerned about starting the job right away.

I would deff choose the vintage look! I bet it is going to be beautiful :D Red is my fave so I vote for that one (I do get a vote right? :P) These contractors need to realize that with so many reviewing sites customers can get all the info they need about them. The good, bad and the really ugly info!

Sure you get a vote! It helps me decide, because I know Chris will say it doesn't matter to him. The photos I've seen of red and white kitchens look really nice, as do the turquoise and white. I've seen pictures of an all pink kitchen (appliances, counters, cabinets, and i think even the sink!) and it was a little over the top, but then I've also looked at photos of a yellow and white kitchen. I'm tempted to try and copy some of the cabinets that my grandmother had in her house in Minnesota, tall glass doors so that you could see the dishes, but it would be completely from memory.

I think some businesses still aren't used to having reviews left online that everyone can see (or they are oblivious to them), they're still relying on customers to brag about them or using advertising that promotes their best qualities. Chris and I won't be hiring the contractor that build my parents' house, because that contractor has set the standard that we don't want. That guy only showed up when it was time for a check, brought his dog and let it run around (it went after me and our dog was not pleased), and hired Mexicans that took their sweet time working (nothing wrong with Mexicans, but I do wonder if they were legal or not). They also refused to drain the water out of the basement after it rained and said they wouldn't work on the house until the basement was drained and they would not drain the water. A few days ago I looked at the reviews for the apartment complex I lived in (has since changed its name) and it has a 2.2/5 star review, and every low rating says close to the same thing. I'd like to know how management could just look at the reviews, give a very basic response (contact us, we'll make it right), and not make any changes to prevent the issue from happening again.

Ayyyyye

I'm sifting through Shark Tank II from page 21x since being off Lumi, goodness. Chinese New Year is dying down as it's been a week now. I grew particularly fond of Animal Crossing Pocket Camp over the holidays:

Auntie Ami Friend Code is 10466784912

I don't want to play as much here as I used to, just staying connected and waiting for a summer plot. How have you all been?

A Barbie kitchen?!?!? I would have to pass on that one lol! I love the idea of red. I have a red microwave and toaster. I can't do too much in an apartment :( bummed about that! oooh those cabinets sound nice, You could probably find some like that online. In our old house I had a yellow and white kitchen. The yellow was black eyed susan. I loved it! It was yellow, but not a really bright yellow. Ugh isn't there anything they could do about him? There should be some kind of law to protect people right? I hate when companies give that non response. It is like they just want people to see it, but they don't really mean it!

Hey Hun hugs A plot would be great!

Hey ^^ still sifting through posts I'll get through more tomorrow. For now goodnight!

Night and sleep well :) I am off to bed too! I should have been in bed a long time ago lol

OK I got to page 248 because I'd rather chat than play 💦...

General question, that whole fcc net neutrality thing, did it affect the site?

I love deviled eggs too. I have them if they're available at events however if it was up to me to make them I pass. I don't want to waste any yolk piping. Agreed with Sriracha.

How are you and Chris doing?

What type of "Christmas Crack" do you have? Had to look this up but there's toffee to chex mix

For milder options the Lee Kum Kee brand sells a Sriracha + Mayo condiment, it's orange. Or you could make your own with mayo if it settles well with your stomach. Mayo and white bread was a large part of my childhood due to finances. When I learned it was oil and egg whites I gave it up. 😬

Speaking of acquired taste I like roast duck now, the slick bird used to bother me.

add me, my ACPC FC is on my profile >:D

Also, a lemon juice soak before regular painting makes the polish stay on longer

my flip phone died I had to upgrade to the times and got a J7. The games are too fun, I'm destroying my life one app at a time.

I forget where it's from, there are more pet dogs (/owners) than pet cats (+ owners) in the world however there are more cat videos than dog videos on the internet. (Google says 15% of the internet is cat videos.) There are more popular cats than popular dogs however, the few dogs (that are popular) are more popular than the cats on YT.

Ahhh did I miss you again? Are we ever getting pictures of your crafts? :)

Is your landlord bothering you again? 😠 Our APT doors used to be blue now theyre brown because it's cheap and durable(? as in hides stains over time...) You'd hate it here, cig smoke and weed smoke is always getting in here. I'm not sure, possibly even vape smoke which isn't suppose to travel far but it's been humid recently. I could be mistaking it for a toiletry but the questionable smell is just too weird for a bath fragrance. Sometimes a good chicken roast smell gets through though.

-- The fear of getting back onto the site wholeheartedly remains. I made a clean break for almost 3 months. This just feels weird to want virtual materialism again. no melody goodies clean. bathhouse day 4 clean. Oh god I missed Free shop? Dang, forgot about NY tokens too.

I still have my flip phone. I destroy my life one website at a time on my PC lol!

That's pretty much what it was, everything was pink. I think I found it in an article I found a pinterest that gave a virtual tour of a house from the 50's that still had everything original to the house. It was a weird house though, the kitchen was all pink and then the basement had a yacht club feel. I'd pass on a pink kitchen too. Pink isn't my favorite color, even though people tell me I look good in pink. That's one thing I don't like about renting. I can't do much to change up this house either. I'd love to redo the walls here, most of them are white or cream. The kitchen is the only room to have some color, brown on one wall, and blue above the cabinets. I've got a turquoise KitchenAid mixer (stand mixer and handheld), bread box, and utensils, so that's the only way I've been able to add color to the kitchen. The cabinets my grandmother had were really nice. Its been 7 years since I last saw the cabinets, so I can't remember if the doors had rectangular glass panels or diamond shaped glass panels. That kitchen sounds like it was really pretty. The yellow and white kitchen picture that I saw had a very pale yellow, which looked a little washed out when paired with the white. My dad got pretty fed up with the contractor and let him that somethings needed to stop (bringing his own dog and his crew helping themselves to my mom's garden). The house was built about 17 years ago, and all the problems have happened over time, so I'm not sure if there is anything that could be done to amend that now. I'm sure there are laws to protects homeowners against contractors, might be something to look into before Chris and I start building our house. It's kind of ridiculous how often companies give a generic response to reviews, and give that response to every review. And that generic response typically includes a contact us line, which is funny to see on a review that mentions never being able to talk to anyone in the main office.

I love deviled eggs and I always make mine because I add more mustard. I also use the left over yolk mixture to make a sandwich.

Chris and I are doing pretty well now. For awhile things were stressful because because we had been living with my parents, then moved to a rental, then he got fired from his job (should have sent JAG after them) and spent 2 months unemployed looking for a job and finally got one. He left Sunday for annual training and won't be back until April, but I'll only get to see him for 4 days before he has to leave for pre-mob training (I don't know how long that training will be). I'll get to see him for another 3 or 4 days before he's deployed, then he'll be gone until next year.

I made the toffee mix with saltine crackers. My mom and I made two batches because we had saltine crackers and ritz pretzel crackers. My mom made her toffee with almond extract on accident, and I made mine with vanilla extract. Both variations were good. I'm not a big fan of the taste of mayo, but I'm fine if its taste is overpowered by something else (like mustard).

I play Animal Crossing Pocket Camp too! I haven't logged into the game for awhile, but I sent you a friend request.

I want this kitchen

The color was really pretty. It was almost like the perfect blending of orange and yellow, but a little darker. I am trying to find a sample, but can't remember the brand of paint. Yeah it seems like the customer always has to do a lot of research these days. A real shame that so many companies don't take any pride in their work anymore.

Hello everyone - hope you are all well and enjoying Survival.

- you don't have to waste yolk piping if you're just making deviled eggs for yourself - you can either put the yolks into a bowl and mix with whatever, then use it sort of like a dip with the whites as the dippers. Or you can get close by just making egg salad with the same ingredients you would have used for the deviled eggs (I usually prefer the less homogeneous version - so deviled eggs, rather than egg salad. But I don't care all that much whether they're pretty if they're not for company.

We were talking about previous places & some of the nightmares we went through. It's much better where I am at now. Services, on the other hand, are problematic. Considering I'm renting, I have a pretty good place. The kitchen is middle range quality with lights on top of the kitchen cabinets and real tile floors and countertops. I have two balconies, one is a private one that has french doors but a boring view whereas the other one "fire escape" has the view of the landlord's private backyard. The man specializes in landscaping and he has a beautiful setup with a mini pond and trees... bit of nature escape. I have a larger than normal bathtub and the bathroom has tiles for the floor and walls. The entire apart was renovated only a few years ago. The other areas have hardwood floors. I have outlets for the washer/dryer & I'm allowed to have Gismo. No cigarette/weed issues (which send me to the hospital due to asthma), no mega probs with neighbours (last place was horrid, especially when heard woman being beaten by man & other horror stories). I have 1 neighbour beside that can sometimes play music loud or have visitors talking loudly around 2am but not often and if he exaggerates I can talk to him. My landlord knows I'm having issues getting litter so she's gotten me some and refuses that I pay for it... drops it off at my door (2nd floor up). There are sometimes issues but nothing big, so homewise it's good. Health isn't cooperating & services are an issue... but hoping things settle down eventually :)

Rofl When I was trying to go to your profile to add for ACPC, I clicked on my own name instead. And even then I was like, "Whoa, her profile looks a lot like mine!" ....facepalm My ACPC name is Kupo and I have pink pigtails, just so you know who it is when I send the request! :D

Any time I watch an older show or even read an older book and it shows customer service how it used to be, I am always shocked at how far we've come. I know some of that has to do with consumers also being worse at times, but whoa! I like the two-tone look with darker cabinets at the bottom and white uppers. And mostly a bright, airy, kitchen. Kitchens are one of my favorite rooms to design in the Sims games, lol.

Wow I am so glad it sounds like overall that living situation has improved so much from the last place. I remember hearing your horror stories with that last landlord and just... ugh shudders What a nightmare indeed! Also, THANK YOU so much for all the flowers you sent, holy crap! <3 I really appreciate it. I knocked out almost 100 today and I am sure at least half of that was from you. Ty ty ty!