Around the garden

I think you meant the Jack and Jill bath?  We want two master suites with ensuite, one for me ( bed1)and one for Brian(bed 4). The boys can share the hallway bath when they visit, two, three times a year...??

It 's a small place, when done, will be about 2500sft.  There are still works that need to be done, especially the kitchen area. It lacks quite a few elements I like but the yard will make up for it.....I hope so, I have a plan

This is my CA retirement home, one story bungalow ....haha

I forgot to mention Cherry, there are six 15 feet skylights in that house. For an old house of 58 years, that's quite ambitious.

Thanks Ladies, I hope the headache is worth it! The contractor just told us, 5-6 months, once we agree on the floor plan.

Hi Ladies,

I hope all is well. Just by looking at the posting frequencies, I can see my dear friends here are doing okay.

I will report what's going on with me in the last two weeks:

Work: Getting ready to let the entire facility team go, and at the same time, trying to get them employed again. I am very fortunate, my contact will come to the rescue, they will hire half of the team almost the following week, we will still give them 2 months of severance pay. The majority of the other half will retire and the rest will take time off to travel for 6 months to a year.

Marketing plan: we are trying to push ahead a very ambitious marketing plan across three countries in SE and Central Asia, and six other countries in Eastern Europe. So hectic learning what need to be done.

House: Well, we ( you know who) keep adding square footage to the plan, but we will know who we will select by end of this week. I have a very good idea after today's meeting. One of the companies we have been talking to brought over a team today. A structure that my hubby has been wanting to demolished and rebuild completely has about 700 sft, the team's structure engineer told me it would cost us $10 to demo per SFT and $150/sft to rebuild a new structure before any HVAC, Electricity, Plumbing and finish materials, why don't we just modify that existing structure? My hubby wants a home theater, that will do it. so there we go.

Garden: my gardener and I spent an hour planning today. I am into succulent plants and cacti now. What do you ladies think?

www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS822US833&sxsrf=ALeKk00XuBP8uJ4ZhVXn2LtaSANje1hjQg:1603244407428&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=pictures+of+small+succulent+gardens&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjI-ZHrxsTsAhWPvJ4KHRzNA0UQjJkEegQICRAB&biw=1920&bih=969&dpr=1

Annie, you sure are busy. I don't know how you find the time but you always seem to manage. Such an ambitious undertaking at work as well as at home and at the same time.
You're making your new house your dream home and I hope you will share pics as it progresses. And succulents can add so much to your landscaping and as Cherry said, most are easy to grow. Don't forget to look at cacti also, closely related and when they flower they are amazing.

ahmmmmm... what can I do to redeem myself? I think I am going to keep you posted with my progress.

As I mentioned, we interviewed a whole bunch of contractors but finally decided on this one:

myconstructiongroup.com/

We met with them for five times in the last 5 weeks. The first meeting, two guys came, they are about in their late 20s to early 30s, they looked like they just came out of a GQ magazine. I was disappointed. I thought they sent me some jocks because they knew I was a woman but immediately, they climbed up to attic and crawled down to craw space. 30 minutes later, we gathered in the kitchen and they showed us the pictures they took with their cell phone. The second meeting, they came out with their topographic engineer. I know these guys are not cheap since I am involving with the new campus constructions project at work. They explained to me my extension should be on the right side of the house instead of the left, it will give the house a more balanced look and the position would be at a better location. The third time, the structure engineer guy came out to help me validate if my wanting to open the entire house is feasible ( I don't want any closed walls except for the bedrooms and bathrooms). The fourth time, they came to discuss what we can do to fit everything I want in my budget, and yesterday, talking about the solar roof with my husband. Tomorrow, they will come back and I think I will sign off the contract. I like it that they are respectful of our time. I can't meet more than 2 hours at a time, mostly because of my work schedule and my attention span.

I will take the "before" pictures to show you so that you can see how it's like when it's done. Here is our final floor plan:

If you are satisfied with their quality, which you obviously are, then forget cheap. They do sound like serious builders. 

As a small aside, I presume it is something that comes with age, but I am finding that most people 20 - 30 years younger than me are attractive lol. More so, proportionately than when I was that age.

Happy days, Annie.

I am not laughing                  


much.

It took me a minute to decipher. 

I do have some irish ancestry, so I do appreciate you enjoying a bog.

Karen, you are not alone, sister!

I can see you are torn up over this. 

hahah Cherry,  yes, from the roof to the floor!

Will do Karen!