Your narrative of Campbell's return, and the photos of JT with her friends had me in tears laughing. He has been a hoot on his trip and I'm so glad I got to 'meet' him (and get a load of goodies from the Junk Train). I am WAY behind in updating his album, but I do have all the photos saved and will get them in there sooner or later. His adventures came close to rivaling JT's, I wasn't sure he could do that but he's a determined little orange frog. Thank you for a GREAT ride on the junk train. hugs, Karen

Yes, Marlene. I remember each of us made a special ornament and sent to Sylvia when she had cancer surgery. (and thankfully she is healthy and doing great). I made a purple moon ornament ;o), and did the words "I see the Moon and the Moon sees me, God bless the Moon and God Bless Me" along the moon in small print. Sylvia loved her little tree and had it in her kitchen area I think after she got home. Neat you remembered that! And neat idea if we could come up something special for Lynne from us!! any ideas, anyone? I just can't believe all the complications she's had from the surgery and all these months in the hospital. She got such a short time back at home, then everything just went bad. Her husband is a rock, and a blessing to her. I know its has been so hard on him too. I keep sending prayers daily for both of them. hugs, Karen

I'm here . . . at least for a moment! It was nice of you all to think about me. I miss everybody and this great forum a lot, but have been so darn busy these past few months; I don't get much time on the Net lately. And, I haven't been doing any special tables and no house decorating, except painting DD's desk and credenza black two weeks ago. We spent some time on a trip here in NM in January and then in February I spent a week in the Tarpon Springs area at my parent's winter home there. More to help them out with Spring cleaning and some weeding, while trying to talk them into moving back to live in Michigan full-time again. They're now in their early 80's and not able to keep up with the heavy work around their Florida home. No luck so far, though, but it was a fun trip anyhoo. Flew back and apparently brought back a lone bedbug from the airport. No bites, but it was alive and very identifiable. Still, what you have to go through to make sure you've gotten them all is nothing short of a very long, exhausting, expensive (and creepy) nightmare! Please be careful when you travel these days. You don't want to go through that! DS called the other day to tell us that he's proposing to his girlfriend this weekend. We're happy for them both as they, and DH & I, head into this next life phase. I'm going to be a mother-in-law! Emily is now busy with end of school time, her tennis team and the annual Spring round of concerts with her (not school based, but private)chorale group and it's new spin-off group of only high-school girls. The group's name is River Voice, which I think is lovely. I sit on a few committees for the school, which seem to be taking up so much of my free time lately. I'm the head of one large parent group and have been nudged into the spokesperson for them, as well. I'll be glad when summer arrives! Speaking of Summer I'm, as always at this time of year, in the midst of planning our big week-long family gathering at the beach on Lake Huron in Michigan. Our clan keeps growing with new babies being born to my nieces and nephews, as well as new spouses as our children marry. Unfortunately, the place we stay at doesn't grow and so it's my job to find places for everyone each year, to help plan menus, events and to pay all the bills, as I'm the executor of our family's reunion fund. We're hoping that DS and fiancee will be able to make it this year. And, being a glutton for punishment, we're taking our newly-17 y/o Emily on a Spring Break trip to Galveston Island's beach soon. I've been busy researching everything and making those arrangements all this week. At this point, I'm both looking forward to the relaxation, gulf views and fresh seafood . . . and dreading trying to keep our luggage and ourselves bedbug-free! Hopefully, things will calm down (at least for a while) once Emily's out of school for the summer and I can get back for some serious time here. Till then, I hope you all are well and have a great Spring. Lynn

amck - Just noticed your post so I am sorry for the delay in my response. I cannot begin the kitchen remodel until we finish the addition we did off the back of the house. We did a 24 X 18 two story addition - one room up and two rooms down. This addition was planned with us doing as much of the labor as possible. Unfortunately this has caused our addition to be about three years behind. My husband works hard at his job, nagging doesn't work so I just have to accept the delays. We are very close to finishing. Primer is going up this week and the mantle this weekend and flooring as soon as I can make up my mind. Oh and the balusters on the deck - all 120 or so must be painted and installed. Hopefully, very soon. The reason I tell you my poor sob story is that as a result of my delays in beginning the kitchen remodel I have had an opportunity to buy at least 100 kitchen mags and gone to over a dozen kitchen cab shops to get their ideas. I may have mentioned in my other post that three of my friends who live in raised ranches across the street have already done their kitchen remodels. Family #1 took down the wall between the kitchen and dining room. The dining room became their breakfast type dining area. They are not "formal" dining people so they did not want to have a formal area. Where the breakfast room area is they put in a double sliding french door to the deck. By knocking down that wall it allowed them to add a few more inches of cabinet space and to put a very small penisula at the end before the breakfast area. If you could picture being with your back to the stove (assuming her RR is like everyone I have seen) and the sink to your left, they moved the fridge to the right, recessed into the wall somewhat and flanked the fridge with two pantry cabs on each side. The downside is that she has no landing area for the fridge so if you are pouring a glass of milk you have to turn around and "walk" about four feet to the counter next to the sink. The upside is that she gained much more cab space with those pantry cabs. Her remodel was the least of the others because of the small number of cabs and the fact that the only wall removed was a non-bearing one so construction was limited. It was perfect for their lifestyle. House #2 - They first added a LR off the back of the house - I estimate about 14 X 24 with no walls separating the addition from the existing stucture. All the walls between the old DR and old Kitchen, and the old DR and the old LR, were removed so that as you came up the stairs the entire area is open. The formal dining "area" was moved to the front of the house so that as you walked up the stairs it is to your right (with no walls). The livng room is to the back of the area where the new addition is. The kitchen is in the middle - now an area about 24 (side to side) X 18 (front of the house to back). It is very difficult to describe how the cabs are set up without drawing it. House #3 was built by a couple who have tons of money and the husband owns his own construction business so there was no limit on funds or time. Again without a drawing it is difficult to explain but they added on the back and off to the side. The old living room is in the same spot but the wall is down and as in the other house, as you walk up the stairs the whole area is open and vaulted. They too live an informal life style so they only have a "breakfast area" dining spot with double sliding doors to the deck in the dining area. Works for them. When I can get a chance to draw them and my son comes around I will ask him how to scan or post or whatever you do so that you can get a clearer idea of what I am saying. I have learned much in the past five years from my neighbors and other friends redo's. I always ask the question "what would you do different" because you can learn much from their responses. The upside of the delay is that if I had done my kitchen five years ago I know I would have done it different then I will now and I would not have been happy. For example, I had planned on going with a stove/oven like I have now. I have changed in that with this remodel I am now definately going with a cooktop and a separate wall oven. Being over 50 is killing my back and although it will cost me more money to do it this way, it is worth it to be pain free from not having to bend down to retrieve hot and heavy cassarole dishes. I do not have unlimited funds so the delay has allowed me to have a clear idea of what is important to me. I know from the addition we are finishing that any remodel will cost you much more than you had planned, no matter how much you think you have tweaked the numbers - between the unknowns you find and the "stuff" you add on as you go along. Ask anyone who has done a remodel and they will tell you this. As for me, as of right now (always subject to change)... the plan is... The existing LR will become the new DR. The new LR will be in the addition off the back. We had an architect work with us and we decided to do it this way because our backyard is wooded and the front faces the street knowing that we spend much more time in the LR than the DR so why not place the room where we can enjoy the outside views most. The new DR will remain a formal DR with walls separating it from the "new kitchen area". This is tricky for me to explain but, we are moving the wall that separates the old DR/K from the old LR four feet to the front of the house to gain more space in the kitchen. This is a load bearing wall so there will be an expense involved but I will gain about 64 square feet in the kitchen. There will be three separate rooms ultimately, I am not in love with the open floor concept. As far as the final kitchen cabinet layout, I have yet to decide. I have spent hours and hours with graph paper trying to decide which one I like best. I would suggest to your daughter that she buy as many kitchen mags as she can and go to as many kitchen cab places as she can to get ideas (as well as prices). Of course you will get better suggestions at a kitchen cab place than you will get from the big boxes but you may find that ordering from them, or even a local custom shop to be less expensive. I say pick as many brains as you can. And I cannot stress this enough, find the time to go to the kitchen forum here at the Garden Web before she shops. Just have her be a lurker and she will learn so much from the people who have done it, are in the middle of it, or are in the planning stages. She will benefit from what they have done right and what they have done wrong. And the finished kitchen area will also give her some great ideas to copy. I think she also needs to decide if she wants to blow out walls because that will affect any design suggestions more than anything else. So I am sorry for this long winded response but this is the best advise I could give anybody just starting out in their planning. I will try to post those layouts if I can. Lynn