Misty is definitely not keen on her 'treads'! That picture was the funniest and may eventually end up in a frame. When we first put the booties on, we put them on her first and then put our winter coats on. I went to close the closet door and it didn't close properly. When I looked down to see what the problem was, this is what I saw: The kitchen is usually NOT neat :-) In the original house, where the kitchen table is now was the dining portion of an L shaped living room/dining room. There was a window where you can see the doorway on the right side behind the chair and the main kitchen window looking into the backyard started above where you can see the dishwasher by the stove. The addition we put on runs behind that side, so the window to the right of the table became the doorway to the pantry and the window above the dishwasher and sink is an opening looking into the living room. The original living room became the dining room after we put up the wall - and doorway to the dining room - on the left side of the table. That left a long, narrow kitchen that would have had no windows! So the window you see there now had to be knocked through the outer wall as part of the renovation. That gave it a nice wide windowsill that is perfect for plants! There are counters and cabinets on both sides of the kitchen, with the counters on the left side being short - 30" tall - and the ones on the right 36" tall. The shorter counter makes it easy for me to sit to work at the counter if need be. There are sinks on both sides too - as well as one in the pantry. And there is a fridge in both the kitchen and the pantry. The pantry has a long counter on one side with no base cabinets to make it really easy to use that surface as a work space - that's where I did all the drawing work for the course I took last winter. When I planned the kitchen, my intent was to make it as efficient and usable as possible for as long as possible given the many unknowns about where my health issues will go. So far it's worked quite well. We did think, when we moved in, 'At last, lots of storage space in the kitchen' but we could still use more space....:-) One of the odd things in the kitchen is that the floor is uneven just about where the picture starts. The old stairs to the basement went down under the cabinets at the entrance to the kitchen. The new stairs go down outside the kitchen and, when the old stairway was filled in with new joists, it became very obvious that the original house had sunk on one side because the joists would not meet on the level! So there's a funny dip in the kitchen floor...

We were skunked 3 weeks ago. About 4 am, my husband found our 13 pound dog SHAKING a skunk in the backyard. As my huband bathed the dog immediately, I was looking for instructions on the internet. We did EVERYTHING wrong. LOLOL Well,finally, the house is better, the dog still is stinky but has improved. We ordered products from the internet that helped the house smells but didn't seem to do much for the dog. We think our dog ingested skunk spray and it is still being eliminated from his body via the skin. Fortunately, he did not get ill. Lessons were learned! LOLOL

CarolsSis, JMHO but I would do some very drastic things. I would also set up a camera, maybe a home recorder inside. I would also be VERY CAREFUL with your pooch. I knew someone once at work had 2 Rotts poisoned by meat throw over their fence laced with rat poison. Also, if my work schedule allowed it I would leave and come home at odd times during the work day maybe in an effort to "surprise" someone. Do you have ANY neighbor you're close with that might watch your place while your at work? Like the neighborhood watch but on a smaller scale. Since you have an insurance claim, plus a police report (?) is there anything the insurance company can do to put some heat on the local police department to investigate? I have a teenager and a young adult son. You have to be one step ahead of them. Prepare yourself for anything. Maybe you can outsmart them and catch them red handed. I'm with Kathy, it makes me angry. I wish you luck.

Snookums - Thanks! I was amazed at how they made the stairs.. no forms or anything... they just shot a pile of gunite in that area and did the rest with a shovel and a squeegie thing-a-mabob... from time to time they'd shovel more gunite on top and then level it out again... I'm happy with them, but in retrospect wish I had made the first step a little wider to accomodate a little chair, but no biggie. If our backyard was bigger I would have gone for a baja shelf, but didn't want to sacrifice the play and swimming area. We're in Lake Forest. Overall, I'm happy with Mission so far, except for one guy (Our first P.M.). He seemed a little disinterested to me, and not so "customer friendly". I was on the verge of letting the management know about it, when voila - The manager showed up at my house to look at our progress and let me know that our P.M had been fired because they received one too many customer complaints about him. Anyway, they (Mission Pools) have more than made things up to me, and now the new PM is just what I expected from them.. I know that Mission has the rep of being a little more than other companies, but in reality their bid came very close to the other ones we got (Swan and California), and Mission's design was better (especially the hardscape plan - fireplace, ret walls). I toured about seven or eight of their projects nearby (Nellie Gail, Bear Brand, Mission Viejo) and was very impressed, especially with their mason that does rock-work.... Longwinded, sorry... but so far so good.. I'll keep you posted. Next step is for the mason to come in and start the grottos! -Pags