Thanks for the comments everyone! Happy, yes the glass was a lot of work! Some of the pieces were so tiny that by the time I got them wrapped with copper foil you could barely see the glass so I would have to use an exacto knife and trim the copper. I'm happy with how it turned out though. Lynne, are you asking about the plants the butterflies are on? If so, the Gulf Frit is on pink penta "Starburst" and there are dune sunflowers in the background. The zebra longwing is on purple porterweed. ~Betsy

I took the advice of the group. I found a qualified professional. He took a look at the issues. Normally, this guy does mostly commercial. He has a small group of referral only residential customers. He said that there was no need to replace either the 10 year-old Trane heat pump or the slightly older 80% efficiency backup natural gas furnace. They had more years of satisfactory service. He did warn me that coolants would be changing in a year or so. The old stuff will start to get scarce. That's not a problem until the heat pump springs a leak. He suggested for immediate attention he would remove all the stopgap tape and mastic. He would properly align the plenum and clean the coil while he had access to it. Then he would button it all up. He agreed that the vent pipe was fine as is. I told him we would be doing a renovation in the near future and would undertake to address the situation when the wall was opened. He said that a new double insulated pipe could be inserted through the roof, if necessary. But, as things currently stood it was okay. He said to develop a phased plan. We will think about adding more returns replacing duct work in the future. I like how he addressed things. We felt like we were dealing with a used car salesman when we were dealing with the first guy. I called and cancelled the replacement appointment. This company has lost my business. I know I didn't provide all of the system details, but I appreciate the second opinions. If it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. You've saved me some money and a lot of wasted effort.

Thanks so much for the encouraging comments! I'm really happy with how they've turned out so far. I hope you guys will provide me some assistance with the accessorizing them part, I'm much better at the building and more clueless when it comes to accessories. Kitchendetective .. this is an auto body paint. I'm going to give you all the info on the can, because I'm not sure how it's pulled up at the store. The number is 43814 Prime. The OEM code is MX704966,WT7010. It's labled Ford ( N America ) Light Green. The actual brand we bought is Omni AE (MAE ) .. which is an inexpensive auto paint, the quart only cost $24 and it did all three cabinets inside and out. Lynn, I have a 1 1/2 inch wood countertop that I'm going to recycle into this project. I just need to paint it a satin black, then I have some flat BM poly hanging around that I'll put on top for durability. I'm going to have my DH cut it to size, then router out the middle a bit, so it sits down on top of the three cabinets and provides a lip to cover just above the drawers.

Hope today is the day. If you can lay down for a while and take a nap, this may be good, in case today is the day you will need all the rest you can get. When you get up if weather permits you should walk, walk, walk. I remember my doctor telling me when my contractions were starting to walk as much as I could that this may speed things up a bit. (I always had very long labors) Don't know if it would help but sure is worth a try. Good luck and keep us informed. Here's hoping for a new little one today!!