Haha. Well since I have way too many "projects" to do already, I'm afraid the outhouse is a bit ambitious for me at this point. But maybe one day I'll be able to do that! I do like the idea - especially with the vines growing around it! It would look fantastic next to my shed! MissSherry - Hehe. No, I live in an pretty cool community. It's one of those old beach communities that people never seem to leave once they come here. We have no restrictions whatsoever. :) My neighbors are nice. They're a bit older, but they definitely have a sense of humor. (The wife was asking me one day "What do you have in that cage?" I told her caterpillars and she looked at me like I was nuts. But when she saw me releasing the butterflies it was like a light bulb went off. I even heard her telling another neighbor how "Neat" it was! Haha) I think they'd probably be ok with it. Especially if it's not just "there" ya know? THAT I could understand. I mean who wants to look at an old toilet just randomly in someone's yard? Haha. I think with a clump of native grass or a trellis behind it and some pretty plants flowing OUT of it, it would be just enough. I LOVE the "Flower Pot" sign idea!!!!! If I do a trellis, I could attach the sign TO the trellis and have some flowering vine growing around the sign! I might just do that! And I PROMISE to post pictures when I get it all planted and it's in bloom! Thanks for the encouragement everyone! :) I knew I couldn't be the only one who thought it would be fun!!

The Man for reds = David Kirchhoff! And, no, I don't even have any of his yet. But I've seen BETTY FORD and others in my nearby AHS display garden, and they are stunners. I also second floota on POINT OF VIEW, a Sanford Roberts. One of my top favs in my garden this year. LARGE and BRIGHT. Stunner. The always and deservedly popular RUBY SPIDER. I'm in love with this one. An older, very good red: POINCIANA REGAL. Good, good doer, dormant, I really like this one. I saw HOLLY DANCER, which gonegardening mentioned, at clump strength in a region 3 summer meeting tour garden....one word = WOW! One that was also a clump strength wowser, and that I have and can vouch for is the newer and still pricy RED SALLY, a Gossard beauty. Sunfast! (gonegardening & floota -- that was the eyecatching Gossard red in the Bange garden, wasn't it??? I forgot to write the name down.) Yet another fab one at clump strength and, coincidentally, in the same tour garden as the two above, is Pat Cochenour's MYSTIC PIZZA....now that I think about it, I think you "need" that one! Clump strength wowser but sounds like it'd be too short for what you want: REGENCY DANDY. In fact, that one and another you should look at, ROCKET BOOSTER, a Santa Lucia, tied for first place as best red. One that I got yesterday at the club event and so can't say much about is ROYAL GUARDSMAN, a John Benz red. But I've never seen a Benz intro I haven't loved, and this one's registered as having 35 buds on 4 branches. If I were to go through the little notebook I carry to gardens, I could list WAY too many reds. But say the word, and I'll do it. :)

OK- I totally cheated. Over the weekend I met up with a family friend who happens to have been sewing for most of her life- helping to outfit community theater productions at last minute notice in addition to her many other achievements with her hobby. I asked her for tips, and she told me to stop by her house (she's on a tight travelling schedule, so I went last night with the tops, black sleeve fabric, thread, and every pattern with short sleeves in it I had at home.) She chose one of the patterns, cut them with an extra long mid section, ironed, pinned, and sewed all four sleeves between 6:30 and 10:00 while I tidied cut pieces, folded patterns we weren't using (gosh darn things!)collected pins, started sewing the snaps in the pants, and generally watched carefully. I had offered to take the others home to do once I saw how to do it, but she was up & running and would have none of that. It worked wonderfully, they are regular short sleeves that have a touch of gathering/slight puff over the shoulder since the tank ended about an inch to inch and a half from the edge of my shoulder. She did a zigzag stitch to hold the twice folded hem at the end. I only hope that it doesn't shrink when I wash it- cold water of course, since I didn't get to wash it beforehand. I'm going to have to pick up a nice bottle of wine for her when she's back in town. The snaps for the pants, on the other hand- are kind of funny because I put the pants on and we pinned them where I wanted them- but it turns out the front parts are offset (height) by about 1.5 inches. I guess I tend to tie the backs higher than the fronts, although you can't really notice just by looking. I don't think I should move them because then I'd have to start tying them differently. BTW, when I asked for "clear snaps" they seemed confused- until one asked if I meant plastic- so I ended up with nylon plastic snaps that can be ironed. Thank you for all your suggestions.

I will try to answer questions. I don't know our GC's rationale and that's a good point that I should just ask him to explain his thinking. I doubt he is thinking resale as we have very clear with him that we intend to live in this house for the long term. (And the neighborhood defintiely does not call for huge "professional" gas ranges.) The capture point is a good one. The counter is that it's a small old kitchen. A big hood would dominate unreasonably, IMO. And I'm tall enough to bump my head on it too. So I think the slide out is a decent compromise. We have a gas furnace that is located in the attic. I doubt it has it's own mua, though the attic is also leaky. We have a gas tankless water heater located on the exterior of the house. And we do have a wood burning fireplace--currently never used, but with very long range tentative plans to convert it to gas and use it. The kitchen will have multiple operable windows (one of my main goals for this remodel is windows I can open in the kitchen). Thanks everyone!