I haven't been here in a long, long time, but I felt strangely compelled to come visit and now I know why...Someone is LETTING Gin EAT PEEPS!!! Good lord! Call a medic.... Here is a recipe for less toxic peeps for everyone to file for next year. Happy belated easter, Mimi Here is a link that might be useful: Martha's Peeps

I will take some pictures when they are all done hatching. They have been hatching for two days. We'll give it a couple more days and see how many more we get. So far the neighbors white eggs are ahead of our brown and green eggs. His are all yellow chicks and ours are all weird mixed colors with some crazy markings! I saw the ugly rooster limping across the yard today. I bet he has a sand bur stuck in one of his toes. I'd remove it for him but I don't think he'd let me get near him with a pair of tweezers. He might be hard to get a pic of. He generally hangs out under the boats or the tractors where it's damp and the bugs are plentiful. But I'll try, I just have to remember to take my camera out with me when I go to the garden. MeMo

W-R - congrats!! Room looks great - machines look great. I've been meaning to take photos of mine and post my official review. Hopefully I'll find time soon. My detergent drawer popped out too at first - although maybe not that far. I push it in tight before I start the load and it no longer pops out. Weird. I consider myself very particular and I didn't really notice the lights at all. Now that I can sort of see it - it doesn't bother me at all. Although I'd be curious why they didn't make them the same. Black grate on that vent will be much less visible - I have metal ones from Summerhill (Elte) and they are also very strong if you step on them - which you probably will where it is placed. I am really LOVING these machines. No regrets here (yet anyway). They absolutely clean better and most definitely rinse better than my previous machines. I have used several settings and have been pleased with almost all of them. Wasn't sure I loved the dress shirt setting in Master Care so I've been using wrinkle free for my husband's shirts. I really loved the comforter setting! Amazing for bulky items. Even after all the hullabaloo about the Miele not using the heater on the normal setting - I use normal quite a bit for my kids' things. On warm it is plenty warm and their things come out clean and fresh. I have used the extra white setting for white sheets and towels and things come out beautiful. I did white towels this week on normal (extra warm) and they still came out beautiful. This washer rinses SO well. That is probably the thing I'm most happy about. I can now see how the Frigidaire was not rinsing well at all. I have used the delay setting A LOT. Since some loads take forever to wash. For example if I'm doing tea towels on extra white extended it can take around 2 hours. I have it start early in the am and when I get up they are ready for the dryer - sweet! The dryer takes a little getting used too. I'm still debating whether it is leaving too much moisture in my loads or not. It dries so quickly and things come out so fluffy. I really love the dryer too. I feel that the dryer leaving a little moisture is probably much better for the fabrics. I hope you are as happy with yours! Looking forward to a follow up when you've had a chance to really use them and see what they can do.

mimi_2006, What a beautiful table! I love the legs. If I could have found one that wasn't round, I would have gone that way, but almost everything I found in antique shops in the year or so that I was looking was the round table, usually with the claw feet, and the other thing was that the leaves were normal, versus quartersawn, oak. The antique salesman told me that was because the table was usually covered with a tablecloth when pulled out, but I can't imagine covering beautiful wood, so that was a sticking point for me. I love how your leaves pull out of the ends. I looked at several tables like that (I can't remember what that is called) and REALLY like the style. You found very nice chairs to match the table. I think they work great in your space. If I do decide to buy that rug, I'll probably use it in the attached living room instead of under the table. I just can't imagine spaghetti and such on the rug for the next few years at least. The dogs are good cleaner uppers, but still... :) flowerchild, You are right. It wasn't that long ago, mid July if I remember correctly, because we hoped to have them around the 4th and they were finished about a week after that. The waiting, in retrospect, wasn't that bad, but at the time, with the GC and DH breathing down my neck, it was pretty tense. But, definitely worth all the headaches and anxiety. We might not have the same style (although we do have the same front door) ;-) but I love seeing your posts also. Your home is beautiful and I love you master bedroom. The bed is beautiful and to have a fireplace in the room and the great "bones", to die for.