I understand, Seil. More than 25 years ago, I would leave an overhead, oscillating sprinkler going over large areas of my Newhall garden, requesting the community gardening staff to turn them off when they left for the day, on triple digit days. The horse manure mulch disappeared quickly. The foliage was huge, plants even more so, and they flowered amazingly. Water was cheap and plentiful, so not an issue there and then. There were no disease or insect issues. The plants were fully clothed in very dense, durable foliage and there was no such thing as sun scald nor Flat Headed Apple Borers which became great issues once that type of watering had to be discontinued due to availability and cost. Black spot and mites were frequent issues with the own root plants we propagated as volunteers at The Huntington. I learned early when bringing home any new plant such as those to pull off all of the foliage before bringing it into the garden. I had an area in filtered sun under a tree where I kept a pile of horse manure. I'd clump the newly arrived own roots in their pots together, surround and fill between them with the manure, often inside them as mulch, then overhead water until new foliage began developing. No mites, no diseases and the plants exploded into growth quickly. A bit of hardening them off in larger cans and higher levels of heat and light and they were ready for planting once they'd filled the five gallon cans. Growing them up in larger cans also permitted me to move them around to see what position was best to their liking. It often made quite a difference. At the beach, I had a number of customers who regularly used my "proprietary blend" of Ultra Fine and Miracle Grow sprayed every two weeks except between the middle of July through the middle of October. In the Perma Fog, it prevented disease, eliminated the constant aphids and saw flies and kept really terrible things there, like one lady's beloved and hated Paul Neyron, viable. He caught her heart in books and she was determined to grow him. He languished until I suggested the Ultra Fine and MG foliar application. She had severe bronchitis, but made sure she brought me a bouquet of beautiful Paul Neyron from her bush! Used during the heat, that mixture did burn, but when there weren't heat and light intensities to contend with, it worked wonders. NO way I could have ever used it in any garden at home! I tried it once, learned my lesson the hard way right there and then! Anything presented as being even slightly phytotoxic WILL burn here. I am in total agreement with your walking the roses daily. I can't imagine having them unless I wanted to walk them every chance I got. Each has its own personality, likes, dislikes, needs and will quickly let you know if you don't provide them. It's the best way not only to head off problems early, but also to detect sports. They can happen so quickly right in front of you and seemingly behind your back. A big part of the serendipity for me! Kim

It can be good and can be bad. I've found some good deals, and a lot of not so good ones. ultimately its difficult to find windows to fit what you want as far as openings from craigslist. we're doing a whole house remodel/addition. I bought 2 windows and a patio door. Patio door was from a pella dealer who had a special order that was misordered $1800 door for 400 brand new. The windows were arch top casements that someone ordered the wrong size, they were very pricey and cool, I paid 200 each. For normal windows it just doesn't pay, they cost money, butt hey're not that expensive. You're not going to get such a great deal that it pays to compromise the design and you're not going to collect enough matching ones. if you see something you really like at a good cost, buy it, but for normal double hungs and casements... unless you find some really super deals, it doesn't pay.

I think it definitely would add value to your house because the next owner wouldn't have to go through what your going through now. I think you're right that people want more usable, functional space. Too many people think they want totally open spaces but they end up with what you have now with wasted and useless space. and in furnishing those purposeless areas, they end up with something that looks like a furniture store showroom. Boring! I agree with squaring it off and placing the French doors facing the foyer. An added benefit when finished, is you gain some wall space in your living room for a wide but not too deep statement cabinet that could hold a lot of the kids' toys and games. If you have frequent guests and need an extra bed, I like the idea of a fold-up couch or desk/bed set-up to give the room an extra function.

anglo, I'm the family tech support department. My kids are grown and out of the house now, but over the years, I've "supported" Macs, iphones, ipods and the ipad. Supporting involves using them when necessary to resolve problems. I was the one who needed to set up network (not just wifi) connections to a Windows system when a kid wanted to transfer school files to the family backup system. It was nearly impossible and much too hard. I debugged update problems, user problems, other hardware and software issues. I'm also in Silicon Valley and have a closer exposure to Apple and things and people in the Apple world than people elsewhere might have. Apple makes excellent hardware and software but I would call it on a par with its competitors on other platforms, not superior to. What they do excel at is creating marketing excitement and buzz, and passing out Kool-Aid to users to make them think they are in a special place when they use Apple products and convince them their products are worth premium prices. I have nothing against Apple products and I admire the company for what it's done to get to where it is. Personally, I think their products are overrated. I really dislike the inflexibility of their stuff compared to what can be done in the PC and Android worlds and I'm happy to not have to use any of it on a regular basis. Apple customers are maybe the happiest customers I can think of (considering other consumer products) and for that, both they and the company get what they want. I'm completely understanding of that. But it's not for me. PS - I have two grand-kids under 5, both of whom use iPads from time to time. The units are in padded, bunker-like protective cases. Both were told - you have to be gentle with these. If you break it by dropping or throwing it, it will be gone and never fixed. There have been no problems.