It looks like I'm going to be the first one to own up to letting my pets ruin my financial future. I don't know why other people do it, but I do it because I love & adore my pets & I don't love money. I also choose to have monthly donations to "doctors without borders" & "greenpeace" deducted from my bank account, because I also love other people of all nationalities, & the planet, & I don't love money. I have a very reasonable annual income, but I drive a second hand car, wear mostly second hand or chain store clothing, & have mostly second hand furniture. I don't have organized holidays away from home, don't drink, gamble, smoke or go out to entertainment activites. Why? Because I love the things I can do with my money if I don't waste it on meaningless crap. My three teenagers DO love meaningless crap in the forms of surf label clothing, going out, i-pods, laptops, & mind blowing expensive sneakers. (o.k., I do use the macintosh laptop a fair bit) And I fund all this silliness because I love & adore my kids & it seems to give them a lot of meaningful pleasure. No, I'm not some dried up old lesbian or an old maid who wouldn't know how to have a good time if I won ten billion dollars. In my 20's I earned & spent a lot of money & lived the "champagne & caviar" materialistic lifestyle. Yes, it can be fun. But for me, it was hollow. I'm happily married to a man who also values the simple things in life. Canoeing on a remote river at sunset, throwing a stick on a lonely beach for our nine dogs, riding through the bush at sunrise, these are the things that make my life worthwhile. Things that don't cost money, because the more you consume, the less you live. Our nine dogs provide more than friendship & company for me. They are my THERAPY every single day. They're my mates, & I willingly undertake the challenge to love them as much as they love me. It's a big challenge, because they would die for me without a second thought. Am I serious? Yes. Am I mad? Probably. But you only get as much love as you give in this world, & I make a point of loving everything that I can. The dogs are by far the easiest & the reciprocity is a joy.

I found this thread by accident and am very happy that I'm not the only person in the world who doesn't like dog - or any droppings for that matter - in my yard. We live on a corner and it amazes me how people will allow their dogs to run 20 feet up into my yard on one of those 'wonderful' retractable leashes. To me that's trespassing, plain and simple. On more than one occasion I have flung open a window and shouted quite loudly 'CAN YOU KEEP YOUR DOG OFF MY GRASS PLEASE', and then slammed the window shut so they got the hint that not only didn't I appreciate it but let them know they could be seen. I mean, what is it about windows, they think you can't see out?? And I don't care if they pick it up, it's STILL there. If you doubt me, go step on the grass where someone has just 'picked it up' and then sniff your shoes. Nice, eh? It's still on the top of the grass and you're gonna track the smell everywhere you walk. My favorite is what happened recently - I walk a treadmill in the evenings after dinner when many people walk their dogs, and I can see out two windows, one on the side of the house and one in the front. One evening I see a couple come walking two big dogs, a couple I've seen before, not every day but off and on. Never really paid much attention to them, I just see them through the window when they go by. On this particular night I'm walking, and I see them coming back from the end of the street, and I saw a bag in her left hand and thought, Oh, well that's good, at least they're one of those walkers who picks up. And as I'm looking at them - and this all happened in a matter of seconds - she suddnely turns towards her husband (which meant she was turned away from my house so I'm just seeing her back), she kind of leans in towards her husband, like she's saying something to him, then straightens back up and continues walking. As they continued walking, I notice a bag at the edge of the neighbors grass across the street and immediately looked at her hand. No bag. So here you have someone who probably picks it up but then will simply drop the bag somewhere so they don't have to take it home. As hubby said, not only is that a really low thing to do, it's littering. So I got in my car and followed them to see where they lived - which was in a completely different neighborhood than ours so obviosuly they come to OURS to do this - and then after dark I retrieved the bag and 'returned' it to them by tossing it up onto their driveway. I was really hoping it would still be dark when they left for work in the morning and they would drive right through it. At any rate, no one has seen them since, which I would hope is because they're too embarrassed to be seen on our street knowing they were caught doing something so unkind, and also because they now know WE know where they live. And like my husband says, we're pretty sure this probably isn't the first time they've done this, they just never got caught before.

Oh boy! Thanks so much to those who posted pics. Just to clarify--soapstone is out of the running, as the only ones I found that I liked was through that TX place that would require some DIY to make it affordable...and I think I didn't want so much contrast. Okay--I think we're down to the Wild West or the River White...though I must confess that prior to yesterday my "white" was going to be BM Marble White which is really creamy, but I got it home and feared that it would read too yellowy with a truer white on all the window/room crown trim...but one of these pics (that I really like) does have the creamier white tone cabinet with whiter trim and I think it's lovely! Ugh. My cabinet makers think I'm nuts already. I really hope that the white I've picked doesn't read to bright. I love white kitchens, so you'd think I couldn't go wrong but I have this fear that it'll be too crisp...too bright for the space and I want to be sure it feels warm (though I hope the walnut top island will accomplish that) I've opened up wall to dining room (now it's nearly 8 feet of opening) and it's filled with dark (unfortunately pretty formal) furniture. Here's another question if someone has an opinion. I have 2 base cabinets and a window seat over the radiator in the dining room (it's the wall opposite the kitchen cab wall that are white that I'll re-paint to whatever "white" I go with. Those 2 pieces have emperador dark marble on top. At the time I chose that, I had little emperador dark tiles worked in to my backsplash design in the kitchen, so I felt like it made sense. But now I wonder, should I change those to whatever I pick for the kitchen perimeter cabinets? Is that just throwing money out the window? I figure it's another $500. This project is already so much $, that doesn't even sound like too much to me anymore!! Though I hate to waste perfectly good stone and wonder how else I'd use it. Thanks again!

Well, if the people-skills required to seal the deal will translate, it could be very useful. In general, the missing part of the equation is how the situation is successfully resolved. While the Realtor(s) involved may feel like strangling someone (or two), this is frowned upon, so I'm looking for alternate reactions.