Nice, Jnfr! I just noticed a tomato on one of the plants in the Earthbox showing color too, and then when I looked closer the bottom had a huge brown spot. Do you guys throw the whole tomato away, or cut the bad spots out? It only seems to happen to my container plants, the ones in the ground don't do that. I tried to be more consistent with my watering this year, but there was a day or two that I missed, and before I could get there, the foliage was droopy. Almost immediately the brown spots showed up on the bottoms of some of the fruit. Anyway, I have quite a few full sized tomatoes that should ripen before the first frost ... if it's not earlier than usual, that is. Oddly enough, I have some pie pumpkins that are already orange. Never knew them to ripen this early, but it's been a weird year all around.

I usually try to check my order before leaving but in reality, don't always. And of course you know WHEN the mistake will happen! Mostly, I check to see that, for instance if I order to sandwiches and a fry, I see if there's two sandwiches and a fry in there. On burgers I order just ketchup. Interestingly at Burger King, I've found there's a WAY to say it, to get what you want. Do not say "just ketchup", you need to say "ketchup ONLY". Never a problem since. It's using THEIR lingo. The new thing I've run into is the way they push upsizing. "Small" costs $1.50 more! You have to say "value size". I started saying "whatever size is the price you advertise". I've made them change it more than once. I do like to think that most of these places truly do want to try to make things right when there's a legitimate problem. And yes, if they don't know about it, there's nothing they can do to improve. So we as customers do owe it to them to let them know when there's a problem. You were very reasonable Glenda. Many would be expecting they give them the world for a mistake. Hopefully they can straighten things out and you can return to being a satisfied customer at their establishment. I understand the business's frustration too, what with people threatening all sorts of things and the like. Everyone knows that nobody in their right mind will sue for a burger mishap. But it makes for good laughs at the water cooler. And really, some of these mistakes are just people not paying attention to their job. And that's a big frustration of mine. I don't care if you're a CEO of a gigantic corporation or a floor sweeper in an office. If you don't take pride in your work, you're incompetent. So many of these mistakes are so easily avoided. After all the health issues lately I've been forced to eat out much more. I'm tired of of. Been buying more groceries lately and doing light cooking at home. And appreciating it much more. I'm sure many would laugh at my menus of late but compared to drive through... it's gourmet cuisine!

Thank you all so much for great ideas and comments. Herbflavor thanks, again...you've been so helpful every time I post! I will definitly think about widening the "u". Eliminating the 4th seat would be a big compromise bc I have 3 kids and my dh works late a lot so I picture us eating there together a lot. But I usually eat standing up anyway so...?! That half of the door is fixed anyway so I think I could maybe still keep a seat there. I was concerned about widening the U too much though because I want to keep a comfortable path to the sliders between seats at peninsula and seats at dining table. But you think I do have enough room to go close to end of sliders? Question...Do I really need the Ref panels? They add 3". I have a wall on one side and a full height turned cabinet on other side. Could I just have the cabinets above the Ref attached to the wall on one side and the pantry cabinet on other side? I'd gain 3" of clearance around the island pinchpoint, worth it? No one has mentioned my cooktop shouldn't be within 4.5" of corner, so I'm thinking it's ok? Sena thanks, I do think I'm going to need to put something in my island. Anyone think I could just have 1 row of deep drawers along bottom of island, then finished open shelf above them, so the island/work table is like half "open"?

Just last spring, I paid an artist about $1300 for an oil painting of our cat for my husband's birthday present. Her prices have since gone up--today, the same portrait would cost closer to $2000. Your granddaughter should consider making up a price list. Prices would depend upon: size of finished work, number of subjects, complexity of background, whether the finished product is framed or matted, etc. It's not enough for her to say a 4 X 6 costs X amount--some people might expect to get a 4 X 6 of 2 dozen family members for the same price that someone else would pay for a 4 X 6 of their beagle. You'll also want to encourage her to make sure she's doing all this legally--collecting and paying the appropriate sales tax; keeping careful records, making sure that she's allowed to run such a business from her home. Nothing shuts down a home-based business faster than that visit from a town official when they get wind of an unregistered enterprise.