Thank you, thank you for all the wonderful feedback. I do want to stick with getting the grill and am going to do so. We probably will be cooking steaks outside most of the year (Jersey Shore), but in the dead of winter (especially like the last one) we would be cooking inside for 3 months or so. I want to grill vegetables, romaine, etc. inside. Two of you mention that you have the Wolf hood. Did you entertain the Best one? I have not priced the Wolf, but based on your comments will look into it. I had thought of Modernaire, Best and now Wolf. I do think I want to go a bit higher than the 1200cfm just because we have had such problems with setting off alarms. I will definitely try seeing how a 27" looks/feels - my hubby is 6'1" and because of his height we have had to scrap buying cute little converible :( so want to make sure he is okay with the height of the hoodt - he is the steak pro at our house! JScout - where do I look up more info regarding make up air. Would it only go on when the fan was on? Where should it be installed, how much, etc.... We keep finding and adding things in $$$$$! But, this is our dream house and we are so looking to doing it the way we want. Again, to all of you who took the time to write in - THANK YOU! Pls let me know any more thought on the air thing and if the brand of the hood makes a difference. Will certainly post once we are in. Ordering cabinets and they are beautiful. Now in the midst of all the appliances .

Maybe I should repeat for those who missed it. DH and I are the sole beneficiaries in estate, and its a very nice house in a desirable neighborhood, so... As I see it, it's really a question of 1.pay them now or 2.pay them later with interest, extra paperwork and possibly unnecessary problems. I have no doubt we will get it all back. As I've said, the only things I'm paying are ongoing house utilities. And we're keeping those as low as possible. I even unplugged things drawing "phantom" power like TV's. I did pay the current property tax bill and hoping to sell before the school tax bill (thats the big one around here) in Sept. Her yearly reports just came this week from Metlife. That's kind of confusing. Say's they are annuities and there is also a death benefit which is the same amount as the balance. So they sound like tied to insurance? Sorry, I'm just ignorant of this so far. Meeting with her agent again next week and hope to clear that up. Just wish he'd focus on the task at hand instead of talking to me about our own investments, where they are, how they're doing. Sandy

Shee, I wish I could give you a hug. I can appreciate how overwhelmed you feel (it's how most of my life feels from time to time!). Let me try to put things in a more manageable state, and I'm afraid I'm going to contradict some other posters in doing so. They have good advice, but it's not all what you need right now. I really do think you should go to the LD forum, it's really not a bad place. Your question about symmetry in DH's plan is a perfect one to focus on to start with, though you should obviously present your project as a whole. Just go in looking for tips to help you design it yourself, rather than for someone to design the thing for you. That's exactly what the forums are for! DO link to this thread, so that people there don't have to repeat what people here have already said. I'm sure you will find that the conversation evolves toward resolving other questions, and people will ask you to clarify things. Perhaps what needs to be articulated about LD is that it is not a hand-holding, cheerleading forum, but rather a place for problem-solving and analysis. The funny thing is that HD and LD are almost a bit like female/male equivalents of each other. Quality analysis of design occurs in both places, just in HD it is embedded in a warm, supportive, connecting environment, where in LD that's all they're there for (though they connect in the process). Think of it as getting "just the facts ma'am!" Some steps to focus your thinking: (a) try to formulate a mission statement for your project with your DH that expresses YOUR needs with respect to OUTCOME in the long term. People will tell you to make an overall plan before starting, but you don't have the knowledge yet to do that. So just try to establish a direction. I jumped to "nestle into the site" from what you originally posted, but maybe that isn't quite right. Talk about what effect you want to achieve. It can be kind of vague, like "just look normal" or "less bare", "ground the house" or "balance the house," as long as it sets up a bit of an idea in your head that you agree on. Just to give some perspective, other people might say "wrap the house in a naturalistic woodland" or "vegetable gardens as far as the eye can see" or " a place to organize my collection of irises." Or they'll want a formal Italian or Versailles type of garden. Or "Sleeping Beauty's castle." You may need to look at pictures and read books to name your objective. I find that negative identification helps too - seeing a hundred examples that you reject can help you narrow down what you DO want. This will also help you distinguish relevant advice from useless advice. (b) establish what is most important to you THIS YEAR. I went to foundation planting because it sounded to me like both you and DH are currently thinking pretty close to the house. It also sounds like you're focussed on the front. This means you have to ignore everyone, including me, who talks about stuff you aren't ready to do, like planting trees, which may be smart, but if your heart's not in it and you're not ready, leave it for even a year. Besides, you've already done some of that, so good stuff. I was going to mention that mail-ordered plants are small but my fingers were wearing out. But (if they survived) ou're going to look up one day and realize you already have some respectable-size trees. (c) decide whether you can do it yourself or have to get help. The issue of symmetry points out something quite interesting about landscaping: it can be tricky to achieve even a pretty generic effect when the house is unconventional or atypical in some way. What form of help? Why not start with the forums, as it's a format you enjoy and that leaves you in charge of your project. Hire someone later if you still feel out of your depth. But you won't know till you try. (d) when you are doing it yourself, understand that you are on a learning curve and you will make mistakes. Everything you do will teach you something, whether it works or not. Getting one plant and putting it in the ground is like painting a patch on the wall rather than just walking around with paint chips. That's why there is nothing wrong with letting DH go ahead with the planting he has in mind already, so you have something in the ground to step back and look at, and watch grow. I think that Wellspring's comment about impact will hit home immediately: he'll plant it, step back and go "I need more." Then the process of figuring out WHAT more is needed will be done with a better understanding of how things look in place. ANd if the hostas start to burn in the sun (and southeast, they will), you can dig them up and move them to the north side (just catch them before they actually die). If the roses look boring up close, head back to the nursery and look for something that scratches the itch that they leave you with. Plants will probably die at some point, they always do. I think I've killed one of every plant I have before succeeding with them. Some thoughts to hold onto: (a) there is no "right" answer to how to landscape this house, or any others in terms of either OUTCOME or PROCESS. Landscaping is done for the people in the house, not for the house. Put ten different families in that house, and you'd have ten different landscapes, all of them just fine. (b) the most important thing going on in any house is the relationships inside it. Never sacrifice a relationship to get a plant or rock put in what you think is the right place. (c) unless you pour concrete, there is nothing in landscape design that is irreversible. See (b). I'm not going to answer all your questions right now , partly because I think you need to forget about picking trees for now to do what matters more to you, the front foundation planting. I will just clarify that yes, rhodos are rhododendrons, and a V-groove is just a way of edging a planting bed - ignore that for now as you don't need to think that far ahead. And try doing an image search for "rockery" and I think you'll see right away what I mean. But I will add that the point about deer is EXCELLENT. I keep forgetting about them. If you have them, you might like to be prepared to think about whether or not you want to fence the house off at all. See you on LD! KarinL

My "Mt. Vernon Purple Noisette" is in a large pot, and too big for it really; it needs to go in the ground, and I can't fight the tree roots to dig a hole that large. Blooms are petite, clustering and usually light, lilac pink. In cooler weather it's a slightly darker color. Nicely fragrant to my nose... Fairly thorny, not too bad, but not a rose to plant near a pathway. Mine would probably have more leaves and blooms if it were properly planted out. One day, perhaps, but despite fine new shovels, my husband is strangely reluctant to dig holes in the summer heat, and I have a few other plants that are in more desperate need of his spading abilities... I hope this is somewhat helpful, Virginia ETA: No mildew here, but that's not usually a problem in my conditions. No balling either, that I've noticed. It may prefer hot'n'humid to hot and dry? I hope your experience will contradict that theory...