Glad to hear you all are doing ok . My son too is a walking disaster, must be a boy thing. When he broke his arm we did get questioned a lot on how it happened. I guess maybe I was too calm. When they told me they had to X-Ray his arm to see if it was broken, I told them I didn't think they needed to. Maybe to see how bad it was but, it was obviously broken. (Nifty 30 degree angle where there shouldn't have been one was a clear give away) When he threw up from the pain meds I just calmly asked for a pair of scissors to cut his shirt off. I couldn't see pulling it over his head and dumping it in his hair. My DH was not so calm, I kept sending him home for things (clean cloths, let the dog out...) I guess one parent, usually the mom, is wired to get through whatever the situation. That little guy will probably give you plenty more. Sounds like he's a good little trouper. Hope he does as well when the staples come out. Nicki

Well, I'm in Western Australia and enjoying daylight saving. The weather is still the same no matter what the hour, daylight saving doesn't make the days any hotter, some opinions to the contrary :-). My husband, who installs TV antennas, is enjoying the fact that with daylight saving there is a little more time during the morning when it is cool enough to work in and on a roof without being turned into a crisp. There is also more light time in the evenings for finishing off jobs. I am enjoying the fact that I can get all our evening watering done while it is still light enough to see what I'm doing. My adult daughter enjoys that she can go to the gym in the evening and not come out to a dark car park. Yes, we get up in the dark but we do that in winter anyway and its no big deal. Certainly it is easier dealing with businesses on the other side of the country (where a lot of the head ofices are based) with a two hour rather than a three hour time difference.

Glad you like the pictures! I dyed my hair in a cancer fundraising event we have here annually where you either shave your head or dye your hair an outrageous colour, and I really liked it so it's stayed that way :-) The funny thing is, because I'm inside the hair I forget it's blue until someone stops me in the street or a shop or whatever and says, "Love the hair!"

While Sophie is definitely blunt, I do think you need to take a step back and reconsider the layout of your kitchen overall. I honestly think you could have a better functioning kitchen. A few things I see. You have tons of space on either side of the cooktop, but not enough space on either side of the sink, yet on the side of the sink is where most prep work is done. You are seriously lacking drawers. If you do nothing else, switch all the cabinets you can from pull outs to drawers. You'll be forever grateful as it's easier on your back, and when the drawer is pulled out you can see exactly what you have. Also you can get more into a drawer than you can into a cabinet. Having the sink lined up with the cooktop is actually not good ergonomically in that you have to pivot from one to the other which can be dangerous. You're better off offsetting the sink. With such a large kitchen you'd actually be better off with a separate prep sink and a separate cleanup sink. I know you are concerned with symmetry but you'll find like I did in my old kitchen that the only time you notice if everything is symmetrical is when you're standing straight in front. Otherwise, you won't notice it. My last kitchen was symmetrical. My new one is so far from symmetrical but it will still look gorgeous and will function even better than my last one. I personally love appliance garages. Just make sure you have them where you'll be using them. I would highly recommend a drawer microwave. I had one in my condo and am putting one in my new build. Lastly, before you pull the trigger, I want to second the idea that you float your layout in the kitchen forum and have the gurus there see if they can actually come up with something better. Over a year ago, there was another woman who came onto the kitchen forum insisting she had to order cabinets the next day. The kitchen forum got her to stop, take a step back and rethink her kitchen. She did and her kitchen now not only functions beautifully but is a true showstopper in how it looks. And she admits it was the best thing to wait and get it right.