CAPE CORAL, Fla.- An early morning fire ripped through a Cape Coral home, destroying the building. Ithappened at 814 El Dorado Parkway East.

Neighbors credit the quick thinking of a newspaper delivery woman for saving nearby homes from also going up in flames.

Brandy Ferguson says it was a normal morning at work delivering the News-Press, when she noticed something was wrong.

"Isaw black smoke billowing from the house across the street," she said.

The house was engulfed in flames and black smoke, and she couldn't reach the door. She says she frantically woke the neighbors.

"We heard a big bang on the door and hollered and she said the house is on fire!" said neighbor Laura Caldwell.

Rita Sieber's brother Donald Chappelear and his partner are seasonal residents who live here. They weren't home at the time of the fire. The past four years, she says, they poured their savings into remodeling the property.

"Totally devastated. These two have done such extensive remodeling this was going to be their retirement home," said Chappelear's mother Frances Wolford.

The fire marshalsays the house is a complete loss, suffering about $200,000 worth of damages from smoke and water.

Neighbors are calling Ferguson a hero for her quick thinking. "She saved my house, and unfortunately couldn't save the other one but saved us," said Caldwell.

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Newspaper delivery woman alerts Cape neighbors to house fire

The historic farmhouse provided much over the years.

Its well cooled Union soldiers marching to Gettysburg. Its kitchen was raided by Confederates, the tables and chairs burned as firewood.

Decades later, the lawn was used by crews filming the movie "Gettysburg." Thousands have tramped the grounds for battle re-enactments.

But the famous farmhouse kept secrets, too.

A collection of historic artifacts remained hidden beneath the attic floorboards for decades.

Only recently did construction workers discover letters from the 1880s. In one letter, the writer complains in elegant script of a $3 bill for a doctor's visit and the $1 expense for medicine.

A rusty straight-razor was pulled from beneath the floorboards. A tin of witch hazel, used to treat sores and blisters during the Civil War, also was found during the remodeling work.

Construction workers discovered more - a red canister of "mild mustard plasters," which promised to cure everything from earaches to asthma. They found half-a-dozen glass bottles, once containing salves and ointments, and with the tell-tale brown glass and wide opening of 19th Century medicines.

The most curious find, perhaps, was the negative of a glass-plate photograph.

It shows a fat pig, clearly the prize of the farm. A lab analysis dated the image to the 1880s.

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Gettysburg farmhouse yields relics

Advice

Mock-up design of what Roger's kitchen should look like when completed.

The DIY addiction

World-Herald reporter Roger Buddenberg and his wife are embarking on a major home remodeling project. He'll blog about the ups and downs, delays and accomplishments at omaha.com/living

* * *

The DIY

June 6

After you swab a paintbrush back and forth for a few hours, it's hard not to ponder how DIY got into your DNA. And why it's still there after all these years, an impulse that ignores the body parts moaning oilcan! oiiiilcaaan! like the Tin Woodsman. Why do you still do this? you mumble to yourself.

It was a question from the start of our kitchen remodel. We chose a contractor partly because he was willing to let us do some of the project ourselves, working around him not an easy decision for contractors to make. No doubt they all can tell horror stories about homeowners who thought they could tackle the world because they watched This Old House once.

Continue reading here:
The DIY addiction

Amy Suardi recently started growing some of her familys food. On many days, she can be found with her children in the front yard of her home in Washington, tending their edible garden. Later, the family might make pizzas (using herbs theyve grown), tidy up the house (with cleaning supplies theyve made), watch a DVD (TV programs are not permitted) or play games the children invented.

While Suardi, 42, has fashioned a lifestyle for her family that is reminiscent of a slower, less stressful era, she is also decidedly 21st century: She blogs about her life, and gets paid for it.

I dont make a lot of money, but the trade-off is that I can be home with the kids, she says. I can also make dinner every night and take care of the house.

For Suardi, thrifty living is at the heart of the life she craves. On her blog, Frugal Mama, she shares her experiences, offering insight on creating a high-quality life on a small budget.

Her expertise, she says, is based on learning to live on a shoestring since college, first as a single young woman in New York, then as the wife of a doctor in training.

My philosophy, she says, is about finding the fun in saving and keeping life simple so we have time for whats important.

With her husband, Enrico, now working full time after recently

completing his medical training, and with Suardi earning money by writing, the couple has more income than ever before. However, they are also both in their mid-40s, have four children (ages 10, 8, 4 and 1), almost no money in retirement and a 100-year-old house that needs work.

For Suardi to remain an at-home working mother while they bulk up their retirement savings, the family cuts corners wherever possible: The children attend public schools and co-ops and wear secondhand clothing. The adults drive used cars and use pay-as-you-go cellphones. They clean their own home, shop at thrift stores, dont have cable, walk instead of drive when they can and eat most of their meals at home.

We live frugally out of necessity, but I would continue to do so even if I had a lot of money, says Suardi. Being frugal has led me on interesting paths and made us a better, closer family.

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Thrifty and thriving

Amy Suardi recently started growing some of her familys food. On many days, she can be found with her children in the front yard of her home in Washington, tending their edible garden. Later, the family might make pizzas (using herbs theyve grown), tidy up the house (with cleaning supplies theyve made), watch a DVD (TV programs are not permitted) or play games the children invented.While Suardi, 42, has fashioned a lifestyle for her family that is reminiscent of a slower, less stressful era, she is also decidedly 21st century: She blogs about her life, and gets paid for it.

I dont make a lot of money, but the trade-off is that I can be home with the kids, she says. I can also make dinner every night and take care of the house.

For Suardi, thrifty living is at the heart of the life she craves. On her blog, Frugal Mama, she shares her experiences, offering insight on creating a high-quality life on a small budget.

Her expertise, she says, is based on learning to live on a shoestring since college, first as a single young woman in New York, then as the wife of a doctor in training.

My philosophy, she says, is about finding the fun in saving and keeping life simple so we have time for whats important.

With her husband, Enrico, now working full time after recently completing his medical training, and with Suardi earning money by writing, the couple has more income than ever before. However, they are also both in their mid-40s, have four children (ages 10, 8, 4 and 1), almost no money in retirement and a 100-year-old house that needs work.

For Suardi to remain an at-home working mother while they bulk up their retirement savings, the family cuts corners wherever possible: The children attend public schools and co-ops and wear secondhand clothing. The adults drive used cars and use pay-as-you-go cellphones. They clean their own home, shop at thrift stores, dont have cable, walk instead of drive when they can and eat most of their meals at home.

We live frugally out of necessity, but I would continue to do so even if I had a lot of money, says Suardi. Being frugal has led me on interesting paths and made us a better, closer family.

Money problems

It all started out of conflict.

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Freeing cash for splurges

Walking away from my mortgage was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. The decision still haunts me to this day. Like everyone who has walked away from their mortgages, I had my reasons.

Underwater

Like many people, my home was worth less than what I owed on it when I decided to walk away from my mortgage. It was not worth that much less than the amount owed on it but it was enough to make it impossible to sell. The only way it could have been sold is to have done a short sale on it or to have come to the closing table with a significant amount of money. I attempted to sell it two different times and both times the house stayed on the market for months with little interest.

Repairs Needed

The home was aging and in need of many repairs. It needed to be painted inside and out, the carpeting needed to be replaced, the windows needed to be replaced, the exterior of the home needed to be repaired in places, and the bathrooms were in need of remodeling. These repairs would have cost well over $10,000. It seemed pointless to sink more and more money into a home that was already not worth what was owed on it. I had already spent quite a bit of money on getting squirrels out of the attic and getting the roof replaced on it in an effort to try to help it sell.

Difficult Bank

I had a first and second mortgage on my home and had already saved it from foreclosure once. I knew from my dealings with my banks during that process that the company that had the second mortgage on my home was difficult to work with. They lost my paperwork and even lost money that I sent to them. Before walking away from my mortgage, I sent in paperwork twice to them to try to get my loan modified. They ignored it both times without even bothering to call me. In the end, it was easier to walk away than to try to deal with that bank.

My situation was also complicated by the fact that my ex-husband and I had problems coming to an agreement about the house so these were not the only reasons why I walked away from my mortgage. But at the end of the day, I chose to walk away and I am the one who has to live with the consequences of that decision.

*Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a personal finance story that you'd like to share? Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own finance articles.

Originally posted here:
First Person: The 3 Reasons Why I Walked Away From My Mortgage

Bruce and Kay Chambers.

Kay Chambers always seems to get more than what she has bargained for.

Just looking for a dance partner at a nightclub in 1986, she ended up meeting Bruce McCann, her future husband.

Then in 1993, when she and Bruce as newlyweds bought a rundown Victorian home in Crescent Hill, she expected a few minor renovations. But she hadnt imagined the 17-year overhaul that would follow.

Kay presumed the house, which was originally a duplex, would remain that way. So when Bruce destroyed it to turn it into a single-family home, and Kay found it in shambles, she was shocked to say the least.

I grew up in old homes and wanted a project, said Bruce. I probably looked like a kid in a candy store with a sledgehammer.

The home was habitable after six months of intense renovation, a feat Bruce undertook himself with the help of contractor Andre Faget and Barry Hunt of Hunt Remodeling. But there was still much work to be done.

I was over here morning and night, said Bruce. Sometimes, Id be here 13 to 14 hours a day.

Kay gave Bruce full license to restore the home as he wished. So he demolished everything, apart from a few lighting and plumbing fixtures, the windows and main staircase.

He even stripped the walls of their Victorian-style, patterned wallpaper. But it wasnt until last year that Bruce and Kay had them painted. They were reluctant to do so because they felt the patchiness of the walls added a sort of whimsical charm to the home.

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The Museum of Bruce and Kay

Amy Suardi recently started growing some of her familys food. On many days, she can be found with her children in the front yard of her home in Tenleytown, tending their edible garden. Later, the family might make pizzas (using herbs theyve grown), tidy up the house (with cleaning supplies theyve made), watch a DVD (TV programs are not permitted) or play games the children invented.

While Suardi, 42, has fashioned a lifestyle for her family that is reminiscent of a slower, less stressful era, she is also decidedly 21st century: She blogs about her life, and gets paid for it.

(Katherine Frey/THE WASHINGTON POST) - Mark, left, and Luke help their mother tend the edible garden in the front yard, which grows tomatoes, kale, basil, blueberries and arugula.

(Katherine Frey/THE WASHINGTON POST) - Luke, left, and Mark play in the sunroom as their sister Sofia does her homework at the dining room table.

I dont make a lot of money, but the trade-off is that I can be home with the kids, she says. I can also make dinner every night and take care of the house.

For Suardi, thrifty living is at the heart of the life she craves. On her blog, Frugal Mama, she shares her experiences, offering insight on creating a high-quality life on a small budget.

Her expertise, she says, is based on learning to live on a shoestring since college, first as a single young woman in New York, then as the wife of a doctor in training.

My philosophy, she says, is about finding the fun in saving and keeping life simple so we have time for whats important.

With her husband, Enrico, now working full time after recently completing his medical training, and with Suardi earning money by writing, the couple has more income than ever before. However, they are also both in their mid-40s, have four children (ages 10, 8, 4 and 1), almost no money in retirement and a 100-year-old house that needs work.

For Suardi to remain an at-home working mother while they bulk up their retirement savings, the family cuts corners wherever possible: The children attend public schools and co-ops and wear secondhand clothing. The adults drive used cars and use pay-as-you-go cellphones. They clean their own home, shop at thrift stores, dont have cable, walk instead of drive when they can and eat most of their meals at home.

More here:
Frugal Mama Amy Suardi discusses her budget- and splurge-friendly lifestyle

Tuesday, May 1

John Minniti was issued a permit to replace rotted wood at 83 Washington St. Mystic Builders of Woburn is contracting the work for $5,256.

Ken Moeller was issued a permit to strip and reroof at 9-11 Dunham St. R.P. Farina Roofing of Watertown is contracting the work for $7,400.

Laura Dike and Vaughn Miller were issued a permit to remodel the second floor bathroom at 123 Mt. Vernon St. Byggmeister Associates of Newton is contracting the work for $61,267.

Kevin and Joan Slavin were issued a permit to remodel the kitchen at 83 Mystic Valley Parkway. Dale Hadley Remodeling of North Reading is contracting the work for $29,110.

Wednesday, May 2

Moira Ounjian was issued a permit to strip and reroof at 10 Chesterfield Road. Burke Property Services of Lowell is contracting the work for $3,800.

Robert Russo was issued a permit for electrical work and kitchen and bathroom renovations at 23 Canterbury Road. The owner is contracting the work for $75,000.

Thursday, May 3

Lucille Murray was issued a permit to remodel the kitchen, including the installation of new cabinets, at 60 Squire Road. Seaver Construction of Woburn is contracting the work for $38,000.

The rest is here:
Who's building what in Winchester -- May 1 to May 11

Advice

Mock-up design of what Roger's kitchen should look like when completed.

The dogs return to a new kitchen

World-Herald reporter Roger Buddenberg and his wife are embarking on a major home remodeling project. He'll blog about the ups and downs, delays and accomplishments at omaha.com/living

* * *

The Hounds

May 23

We aren't actually remodeling the dogs, of course. Although if that were possible ...

I bring them up because at first they were an obstacle to the project. (Note to self: "Obstacle" would be a good dog name.) Boarding two Lab-sized mutts for weeks and weeks would have been prohibitively costly. Instead, family friends (who have a dog of their own) came to the rescue. They have dog-sat.

The mutts return to our house for weekend furloughs, during which the poor creatures wonder, "What has happened to the place?" and, more important, "Where has the best dog-nap couch gone?" and "What time is supper?"

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The dogs return to a new kitchen