Thanks, April! I sew for fun, and also make quilts...but I never use a pattern. Can't read the things! Which is why I don't crochet much. I'm pretty good at knitting a simple afghan, though! :O) (meaning: if you like a single color, boring stitch!) lol Selling on Ebay is OK, but I've found it's only worth it with bigger ticket items, like over $10. Because there are list fees, ending value fees, and paypal fees too....so unless you charge an extra $2-3 on top of regular shipping charges (which most sellers do, it costs around $7 to ship a SHIRT! Geeze!). Anyway, I don't Ebay much anymore, only with things I KNOW will sell fairly well, because it just takes too much time...and it's not worth it in the end, to me. But I hope you make a good go of it, if you decide to try! Wishing you lots of luck!! :O) I forgot to show ya'll Aubeni's "cupcake". OhMyGoodness, I don't know WHAT I was thinking when I got this for her! (well, OK...it's pretty. That's what I was thinking!) :O) It's an 8" round Rose, chocolate cupcake in the middle (about the size of a mini muffin!!) and the rest is sugar icing. Big DUH here....I let her eat it for breakfast this morning!!!! I'm gonna be peeling her off the ceiling in about 30 minutes. (countdown begins....NOW......) LOL

Hi Pam and anyone else interested, After my last posting, we had a very high wind come up for about an hour. It blew some branches and clumps of leaves down all around our area, but no rain. It also blew down a large piece of wood that may have frightened the baby, but for whatever reason, the little bird went back under the fence to outside of our yard, and the parents seemed to keep him there this time. In fact, he quite moved on from being squenched up next to the fence, and I could not see him any more with a quick check, but I did hear him answering his mother, and the parents kept coming back and were in different trees to watch after him. They were actually in the trees they perched in to watch their original bluebird home, about 10 feet closer to the front of the house than they had been through this ordeal in our fenced back yard. This morning when I got up, the bluebird parents were not there nor was he. The parents did come back a couple of times when I was outside and did not seem distressed. They did not seem to be calling to him at all. I didn't hear them sing or call any at all. The trees they were sitting in as I mentioned before were closer to the front of my yard and I cannot see the birds from my back deck with binoculars like I could when they were looking after him in the shed. I didn't want to stay too close to see and frighten him into running again, so I missed seeing if they were going down and feeding him, if they had encouraged him to fly and if he did, or anything at all. All I know is that by about 10:00 a.m. when I went around to sit on my little concrete bench which is about 15 feet from the bluebird house, the mom and dad sat in the tree there where they always looked after their home like they were communing with me. Lol. I did hear what I know was some kind of baby bird high in the trees in my neighbor's yard right next to this area. Since I have not heard a baby bird calling from that area throughout this weekend, I'm just going to believe that it was him and that he was able to fly and get up there with his parents calling him at some time that I didn't see. He could almost fly the day before, so I'm hoping that they get him moved down the block to the little field where they moved and where his siblings are. I hope they bring all their babies back to see me some day the way another bluebird family did a couple of years ago. I'll try to let you know if I see all 5 of the babies some time, but there are lots of bluebirds around here, so it may be hard to tell. Last week, there was a whole family of about 7 bluebirds on my roof for about 30 minutes. Karen

Taggie, the snack center by the MW is a clever idea. I think I need to keep our "real" dishes close to the table, but I'll keep the MW area in mind for disposables. That'd make grabbing a quick snack nice and simple. I've never kept my bread in a drawer. I can be a "out of sight out of mind" kind of person, so I wonder if I would remember to use it before it started grow fuzzy in there? It'd be nice to have it off the counter, though! Hmmmmmmm.... Thanks for posting the pictures Aliris. It's always nice to see KIA shots. I like your open area for being able to get the collanders and compost containers (and cutting boards, too, LOL) quickly and easily. 7 kiddos means we are constantly cycling things out of the house. We don't have a big place or a lot of storage, so we have to make hard decisions on what to keep and what to let go. I stopped at Sears last night and spent a good while reading through the manual to a Kenmore Micro-Convection combo unit that sells for about $300. (It was nice there was a rocker recliner across the aisle from the Micro display!) Frankly, I came away from it unimpressed. The chair was nice, but the combo deal took precious little time off the cook time, and it only had 1 (1!) bake rack, which was round. Bah. Did find a Nesco 18 qt electric roaster on clearance there. Whoo-hoo. : ) That'll take care of roasting a turkey and a bunch of other big jobs, relieving pressure on our big oven. Also, I found an Oster convection toaster oven (at Wal-Mart) that will toast 14 slices of bread at once (Cheers!) and it will fit 9 x 13 baking pans. It actually has 2 racks, too. More pressure off my ovens. Rhome, it's funny you mention putting drawers under the table top. I was discussing the dilemma with my Dad yesterday and he suggested the same thing. : ) I've also wondered about bucket style containers that could be hung from the pegs under the uppers, or even those wicker syle containers that picnic plasicware goes in. I don't want to toss out this plan for lack of traditional flatware storage. It certainly has been work getting this kitchen plan to develop. It was much harder than I ever imagined it would be. I appreciate the honest assessments of what works and what doesn't, even if those were hard to hear sometimes. Then I'd have to go and let it rattle around in my brain and try to format a plan with more of those qualifications in mind. Sometimes the criticisms ended up being the most constructive. : ) Question: Would it be a good idea to build a tall stack of 2' deep cabinets to the right of the top window? They would house the MW and Convection toaster (it's HUUGE, 21" across and about as deep), and then maybe tray storage above and some drawers below? This would shorten up the counter run by 2' and would help in substantially in cutting down the countertop cost. Good idea? Bad idea? Ambivalent? My reasoning follows: [Somewhat related, I had posted about doing a DIY solide surface, but when I did the math and factored in the glues, gun, router bits, sanding supplies, yadda, yadda, it's still way up there in price (about 3k for the whole kitchen.) and still is susceptible to scratching and staining.] If we keep the back counter to 6' or less, we can get a pre-made granite slab for around $200 for that spot. If we make it 8'long, then it would have to be custom from a fabricator shop, and the price jumps to $950. Thoughts?

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will wait a while to introduce them anyway, but to get a head start on info is good. And the condition that goes with adopting a kitten is that it be neutered before leaving my home or within 2 weeks and I want proof, I work for an animal rescue group that is doing this for free but I will ask each new kitten owner to make a minimal donation to help cover those costs for the rescue. This will also ensure that the people really want the kittens as pets, not to abuse. I see too many "free kittens" that are used for horrible purposes, so if the new owners are willing to make a donation I know they probably have good intentions. I actually took Amy to get spayed a week before her delivery, it was breaking my heart to do it knowing she was pregnant. After I dropped her off in her carrier, I sat in the parking lot and pondered my decision. Then two cars pull up to the MASH unit (a mobile surgical hospital that does spay/neutering as well as all necessary shots for those with low income) and out of the first one comes a pug that looked just like the dog my sister just had put to sleep a few months ago. The second car out jumps a white collie mix that looks like the dog my dad hit on their farm when she ran in front of his truck. I burst into tears, knowing Jade and Francie (the dogs) were telling me something. I ran out of the car, banged on the door and told them I didn't want to do it. They just tested her for FIV and other diseases, if she was infected I would have just put her down but she came up free and clear and healthy. I can't believe I almost did that now that the kittens are here. I am a FIRM believer in spaying, I have three full-blooded Ragdolls but had them all spayed because, as cute as they are too, the line has to be drawn, and I like this MASH unit because it benefits low income areas like mine to prevent any more "accidents". Thank you all. We have a screen door that might fit in the bedroom door frame, I will try that, but will wait. Laurief, the room is a spare, so it has a bed which she had her kittens under and room enough for them to explore and get their legs build strength, although the berber carpet is a challenge with those tiny claws! She can live there as long as she likes. My second question is this; once the kittens are weaned, is it not a good idea to let them out of the room since Amy will be not be with them? I want to raise them "underfoot" where they have the run of the house until they are ready to go to new homes. Last question: how old do the kittens need to be to get them neutered and how long for Amy? I have great knowledge of cats, but I know nothing of raising kittens!!!