Oh my! I hate to say this but your lawn guy is better at negotiating and getting out of work than he is at lawn care. Anyone who is unwilling to learn the simple (and I emphasize SIMPLE) elements and methods to his chosen profession should not be coddled. He needs to be cut loose. And if you think he does not understand you now, he will really not understand you when you try to fire him. You need to find someone who can fire him in Spanish so that he understands to never mow your lawn or touch your water again and he will never again be paid by you. Usted no puede trabajar aqu ¿entiende, señor? And he should be nodding his head. When he asks you why, the only answer that will work is to tell him you are going to do all the work yourself (Voy a hacer todo el trabajo yo mismo). If you don't tell him that he will beg and plead and promise to do exactly what you want, but you have already seen that he does not keep his word (about the seeding for example). But if you tell him you are going to do it, he should understand you want to save the money. By letting him go you have bought yourself some time to learn to do it yourself (it is embarrassingly easy) or find someone more in tune with you and your ability to communicate. Here is the combined wisdom of the lawn forum accumulated over the years. There are lots of other things to discuss, but hardly anyone disagrees with these simple principles. Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. Not only does this apply in Phoenix, it happens that I learned it from a Phoenix based lawn professional on this very forum many years ago. Mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, Bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses are the most dense when mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. Dense grass shades out weeds and uses less water when tall. Dense grass feeds the deep roots you're developing in 1 above. Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Now to contradict myself, I would suggest mowing the rye short toward the end of March. Your bermuda needs all the sunlight it can get and tall ryegrass will provide too much shade. Next year see if you can get through the winter without ryegrass. Just because the neighbors do it does not make it right. Believe it or not in Iowa many people burn their grass every year - doesn't make it right. Your lawn guy broke several rules. He mowed too short at one time taking more than 1/3 of the grass down. If your bermuda was tall, it should have been brought down gradually with multiple mowings during the week. He should know how to do that but apparently not. He waters WAAAAAAAAY to frequently. That water schedule is okay for getting new seeds to sprout but as soon as they establish roots, watering needs to be cut back. And I'm going to say that seeding rye over bermuda in the winter is a rule he broke. Sure everyone does it, but it's not good for the bermuda. Oh and weed-b-gone spray is the classic way to get rid of the weeds you have and not hurt the grass. Round-Up must advertise on all the sports channels or something. I hate that stuff.

Watermark your photos when you upload. Chances are they will not take the time to remove. (I still get a giggle out of the guy that wrote me a hot letter about how I ruined the images I uploaded with my big ole watermark...guess he wanted that image free and not pay for it. It was available on my paid site, but for $$ no free)

Can the mudroom/laundry get a little deeper? It's so narrow and long, I'm afraid of it being a lot of square footage, but not too efficiently used. I'd want to turn the washer and dryer with their backs to the garage or kitchen to get a sink and/or counter space next to them. The way it is, even a hamper down in the laundry end of the room will get in the way of standing at the machines. They are really in kind of a tunnel. The kitchen looks pretty good. If you foresee using the micro convection often, as you said, I'd want it more in the kitchen, rather than on the fridge wall, past the island. I might place it right next to the pantry and move the range/rangetop down toward the main sink. That way it's close to the fridge and the prep sink, and you could use the counter to the side or the island for landing space.

This kitchen was first posted in 2010 or so on Retrorenovation, I am not sure why it's been resurrected as recent elsewhere on the net. But it is worth posting it for people to see here. Apparently the house was never lived in and the current owner as of 2010 was selling the original appliances. Maybe he wanted to sell them all as "unused" but needed a DW so plugged one into the spot. I know I could've used a DW even when I didn't have a stove.