HAHA I have another story.HEEHEEE when I was still a teen in PA in the 70s when straight hair was a MUST I was caring for an elderly man. It was New Years DAY and my mom was a nurse. She headed out the door for the morning shift and fell and broke her leg on the icey step. A friend had heard the address on the scanner and called me to go over. Well we all hurried over and they were asking her why she hadn't called sooner. To that she said i figured being last night was New Years Eve you guys were all drinking and theres no telling what I would have gotten. They bit their lip and glanced over at my older sister who had just read that in order to tame her kinky locks you should sleep with underpants on your wet head. Boy I bet they had some tales to tell back at the firehall LOL!!!!!!!

Glad you decided to stay and please keep posting photos. I also have a flamingo story. A couple of years ago I decided to raise money for a charity in Guatemala. I found an idea on the Internet and decided to buy more than 20 pink plastic flamingos and I would go to a house early in the morning and plant them in their front yard. I would leave a message saying "You have been flocked!" Then I would explain why I did it and I would ask for a donation for my charity. It was supposed to ask for ransom in order to take them off their garden but I didn't know if they would understand so I just asked for a donation, explaining I would be back at 5 in the afternoon to take them off. They could also give me a donation and I would put them in the house of their choice. I started with my sister. I went at 5 a.m. to put them there and went home to wait for their call. Well, I waited almost all day and nobody called to say anything. When we finally talked she said, "Oh, yeah, that was funny". She was supposed to pick the next house to be flocked but she didn't want to do it. She eventually helped me by putting them in other houses. I had put a sign explaining the charity so a woman called and asked me to put them at her daughter's home. She loved them and I got a donation. I did it in other houses during the summer but I finally decided to stop because some people got really mad when they found the flamingos. My brother in law said that was the most embarrasing thing that had ever happened to him. That coming from somebody that doesn't seem to be embarrased by anything. It was fun doing it and my husband and children loved it. It was a lot of work to get up early and then go back to pick them up. I still have them and we put them in the back lawn from time to time. My kids love them! Here are some picture:

giving less water = plant stress, and I still have gnats. I found out the best way by accident: I placed a "bouquet" of fresh bay leaf cuttings next to my kitchen counter for cooking, within a few days I noticed there were NO gnats ANYWHERE. I thought it was just their off season, but I realized, they have no off season, lol! so i looked up on the internet, and some people do use bay leaves (or other strongly scented herbs) to repel these insects. It worked extremely well for me. Next time I will just crumble dry bay leaves directly on to the soil.

Holy moly, look at that pic! So awesome. And we have a white sink too! That window looks awesome! Room wise, as that part by the sink comes out really close to our eat in area, there isn't room. We also have a door to the outside deck right past where the dishwasher in the pic is, along the straight wall. Thank you so much for the rendering, I love seeing pics of how things could look, and this is so neat. I'm so not good at seeing spacial design/plans, so I love pics/3D. I had a thought this am, thanks to lisa_a- perhaps a microwave drawer along the peninsula. We take food out of the fridge, put it in a bowl which is along the range wall, then walk across the kitchen to put it in the microwave in the uppers (and I'm short, so sometimes it's a reach), then walk over to the eat in area with it. A lot of crossing the room. Hmmm, might be able to convince the husband of that one, if it's a good idea to have it there. DH loves the layout as is and thinks I'm nuts to want to change it. But the kitchen is in shambles I'm trying to explain, and trying to find the best layout for the cook (85% of the time-me), but we do love to cook together too when time allows. But my main prep area is that peninsula. Would a microwave drawer be a pain in the butt being there? Thank you so much sena01 for that wonderful pic. It really helps me see what the space could look like and if it would work space wise and for our family.