It is the love we have for them and the love they have for us, both without reservations, that make losing them so hard. A family member is missing disrupting our routine and leaving empty space. Now who will hear our secrets, comfort us and celebrate with us? I feel your loss and cry with you but I also know that you have a big heart with room for a new furkid. Let yourself cry and grieve and you will know the right time for an additional love. Missy will never be forgotten. If you find that you need a "kitty fix", visit an adoption center or shelter and just visit with some of the orphans. Hugs to you.

Pamala...that was deep :oP And in my case quite correct :) I actully feel a connection with the things I add to my home. A lovely little cordial glass can give me as much or more pleasure as an antique piece of jewelry. I love that the things were held in someone's hand a hundred years ago :) and now I get to enjoy them. I've always been this way, from a canning jar to a yellow ware bowl, I just love the joy of old stuff :oP And now I have an excuse to need more...so the hunt continues. And I will say, it's the hunt and kill aspect that makes it so much more fun than if I just walked into a store and said "I'll take that and that and that" to fill spaces verses searching for the perfect silly little thing...which normally I don't find, it finds me :o) I will say, I also have really gotten into the hunt to give away as well! I just gave habitat for humanity enough stuff from this house to fill three truck loads. I love losing the clutter and love that losing it meant it went to help someone else have a home some day or fill a home someday (our habitat store is a nice thrift store and it's a wonderful place to shop). I did the same thing in alaska when we moved into our finished house. It was great to donate a huge heap of very usable stuff that no longer apealed to me or I didn't have a need for anymore. Maybe I have house focused bulemia? Binge and purge syndrome...only instead of food I binge on silly things like antique canning jars LOL

I was wondering....I know you want to keep the closet in the Library, but could you move it to the other end? I.e., move the refrigerator all the way to the left and move the closet & walled-in pantry all the way over to the right. Alternatively, could you extend the "bottom" wall 6" or so to the right? It would allow you to fit the refrigerator + ovens on that wall w/o modifying or moving the closet in the Library. If the measurements are correct, is there only 34" b/w the walled-in pantry and the left wall's corner? Is there only 27" b/w the walled-in pantry and the ovens? Those are very, very tight aisles...especially with an oven there. Because of this potential issue, in Layout #15 I show what is more reasonable...reducing the 18" tall pantry to 12" to gain another 6" for that aisle to make it 33" b/w the walled-in pantry and the corner of the left wall. If the actual aisles are wider, you might be able to stick with the wider pantries. If the measurements are correct and you want that extra 6" in the aisle, then subtract 6" from any cabinet on the end of the left wall. Change...I suspect your mother is resistant to change and that's why you cannot convince her to eliminate the peninsula, despite all the problems it solves and how it opens up the kitchen so well. She's been living with the peninsula for 40 years and is probably so used to it that she doesn't want to change. As we age, most of us become more and more change-adverse. It's not a good or bad thing, just a fact. Oh and just as an FYI, I'm not advocating removing the peninsula b/c I'm anti-peninsula, I put two peninsulas in my kitchen, but I did not put in an island. It's more like #7, but with only the Prep Zone, Cooking Zone, and Baking Center in the "U"; the Cleanup Zone is across from the "U". Oh, and the peninsulas aren't as wide/long. [] There are several problems w/#3, especially if you keep the ovens and keep the sink centered on the window. (1) Combining the peninsula with an island makes for a very cramped workspace. (2) You will probably not solve your baking storage needs or be able to create a dedicated area for baking b/c you won't be able to have a Baking Center convenient to the ovens. (3) You will also have quite a bit of wasted counterspace...namely the peninsula and the right side of the sink. That's b/c it's not really convenient to the Cooking Zone, so it doesn't make a very good Prep Zone...at least not a primary Prep Zone. (It's also not a good Baking Center b/c it's not convenient to the ovens...the island is in the way.) Here are some possibilities; #15 is probably the "best" b/c it eliminates the island and allows you easy access to everything. (I also did "zone" maps for each, they're at the end.) .. .. .. In this layout, the absence of the island gives you much more work room, moves the refrigerator closer to the left wall, and allows less expensive appliances, in particular the refrigerator and DW. A standard depth refrigerator will now fit as will a standard DW...both less expensive than what you have been planning. Additionally, b/c the oven cabinet is pulled out from the wall around 6", you now have room for a 4" pullout broom closet behind it (see the link below). .. .. Zone Maps Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: 4'' Broom Closet from Ikeafans

we had 2 kids, b and g, then before dh could be clipped we "oops" and omg it was b/g twins, lol...needless to say the appt was made asap..doc that did dh, did have me sign, but it was mere formality...that was 1976...one reason was his wern't reversable..he took a piece of the tube out, and reverse the direction of the remaining... in retrospect, i'm glad i had these 2 wonderful kids. and in the end it was by choice...had a pal who was social worker and could have arranged to ligit abortion but MY choice, said no... i'm sorry to hear that you ladies/guys are having such difficulties still...it's just not right... and as for interferring insurance co's, i'd send them the bills for unwanted kids!