As many of you know, last year my wife and I purchased a house.  This is the first home I've actually owned since I rented apartments and townhomes during my single life since it was easier with my Military career.  since I'm not going to leave the Colorado Springs area (at least it's HIGHLY unlikely since most Space Command jobs are here...and I'm fairly close to being eligible to retire) we bought this house with a nice yard for the dogs and plenty of room for us to start a family.

Plus it has a sauna!

I've noticed that since we've bought the place, we've (I've) been doing quite a bit of remodeling/home improvement things and it's been a lot of fun.

So far:

I've replaced nearly all the light fixtures and chandeliers in the place with copper or brass fixtures to get rid of the polished brass ones that seem to be in every house on the block.

I've replaced the fixtures in the mainlevel powder room with a much nicer sink (it looks like an old water pump on a farm) along with the towel bar and other items to match it.

Of course there was putting up nice thick curtains in the finished basement (affectionately known as "guy town") to keep the glare off the big tv.   

We've also installed a whole house humidifier and airconditioning and upgraded the main circuit breaker.  (Ok...contractors did the bulk of the work, but I wrote the checks!)

Today I did my first real bit of emergency repair as the high winds blew down a section of our fence.  Our new dog, Tia, was thrilled because she thought her domain had instantly doubled in size!  From talking with the neighbors, the fence had blown down years ago but it was obvious they didn't do the best job of fixing it.  (I've done some minor fence repair on that side of the house before, but nothing like today!)

I thought it would be interesting because lots of us own homes and have done some sort of home improvement to share ideas about projects or interesting stories about things that may not have gone as planned.  Hell, there are some great WIP shots of a new deck on a house and Brent's been working on finishing his basement since the dawn of time!   

If the exclusive was a 40 of Colt 45 I'd bite.   

I understand the frustration, just know the offer stands.  What are friends for?

God I hope so.

Nick,

I have had luck around here with Wal-Mart exclusives.  If you have trouble when these are released, and if my luck holds, I'll help you out.

This is going to get expensive.  I've got at least 6 Gunships, and I'd really like to have ball turrets for all of them.

You my friend are gonna need a lot of balls!

Although my wife and I do not have children yet, this does concern me.  I have a couple of friends with Autistic children.  One has a child with Asberger's Syndrome and the other has one with Asberger's and the other is pretty severe as he does not talk and it's tough for them to have people over to the house.

I worked in special education a long time ago and understand how much a routine is important to Autistic children.  Such a tough thing for parents to go through.