This was a great thread to read after having moved back in the summer - some very good advice. I was very conflicted about moving but I think it was clear to me that moving the garden wasn't going to happen. As it was I did take well over 100 perennials I potted up as they emerged in the spring (they were mostly splits of plants that really needed it). To be honest this was really too much...I spent a whole week moving car loads of plants before and after work and was already completely exhausted from moving the house. The new tenant at the place asked the landlord if she could contact me about the garden but in the end I said no. Of course a big part of me wanted to still be involved with that garden but I knew I needed to make a clean break and focus on my new garden. This fall I planted about 1300 bulbs and cant wait to see them if this winter ever ends.

I have bought a couple of indian cookbooks over the years, but I've found that the recipes often call for things that aren't available or contain steps like "take the unpasteurized milk and make your own raw cheese and hang for a week to dry." or even just, "now simmer for 24 hours." Gee, thanks, I'll get right on that. I have devised several easier-to-make versions of some Indian dishes, the one that has turned out the best is a version of what restaurants call either Saag Paneer or Palak Paneer. The recipe is: 16oz frozen chopped spinach 1 cup water 4 tbsp Pataks mild curry paste 1 stick butter 1 tbsp mint chutney 1 tbsp sweet mango chutney 4 oz feta cheese (cut into ½ inch cubes) Put spinach and water in large pot, heat uncovered over medium heat until spinach is thawed and simmering. Add butter, curry paste, mint chutney and mango chutney, continue to stir and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat, add feta cubes, stir thoroughly and serve with basmati rice and/or lightly toasted pita bread. Also when I make basmati rice to accompany Indian food I'll usually add about 1 tsp of tumeric, 8 to 10 whole cloves and a bay leaf to the 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water

bloobird, About the AOL ISP numbers, the AOL numbers in the code that I see do not indicate the location of the user. Unless I and several other users all happen to live in the AOL offices in Manassas, Virginia. I can state with complete and utter confidence that I do not live in Manassas, that I do not live in Virginia, and that I do not share the same identities with the others here on GW who are signing in using that ISP number. There is no way to tell from that number anything about the user other than that they are using AOL. Sometimes an AOL number will indicate that the user is in the state of Washington. Something connected to AOL is in the state of Washington but it doesn't mean that the user is there. (Note, if you didn't read my earlier post about my going online and posting with AOL, then this might not make sense to you, bloobird. So you'd have to go back and read that post and look at the code.) To determine where an AOL user lives, you'd have to know their AOL user name which the ISP number does not give you. It doesn't even tell you that it is an AOL individual. It tells you that the person uses AOL. That is ALL it tells you. Even if you knew the user's name, if they hadn't filled out an AOL profile, that doesn't tell you where they live or anything about them. They can be quite anonymous. I do NOT know that my stalker uses AOL. In fact I thought that they did not use AOL. I do know that they know enough about ISPs that they know that using AOL obscures their identity. And AOL is free if you access it by using another server as I do. So it is easy to sign up for AOL and use it if someone wants to for any reason. It is not good for being on the internet at it tends to kick you off. So someone could write a post and get kicked off before they submit it and then they'd have to write it again. That would be annoying. So I doubt that many use it for this purpose unless it is their only access to the internet or they want to obscure their identity. As for my stalker, I don't think they are intending to harrass me if they are here or they would have done it by now. It may be that if the person is here that they are content just to have located me and to read the threads. That might be sufficient for them. It is someone whom I know and from whom I am estranged. I would not report them to anybody unless they did something pretty horrendous. So I may go back to my other name. I haven't decided yet. I kind of like this name too. Decisions, decisions!

natesgram, thanks, I've actually seen that link before, and it's what really pushed me towards painting. It really has a lot of helpful info too. As much as I would love to get new doors (shaker is my favorite!), I'm going with paint for now. The wallpaper...yes, I don't see what's wrong with it either. I took a really close up shot just to show the blue specks, but it really just looks like textured cream colored walls. I would like to know if the suggestions to remove it are because it's ugly/dated or more for resale purposes where painted walls are the preference for most buyers??? alabamanicole, now that I look at it some more, I agree the track lighting needs to go. It should be easy and inexpensive ($100-150?) to change it out. I love the look of bronze, but would it work with my ss appliances and ss cabinet pulls? Or should I get bronze pulls and faucet...CAN you have a bronze faucet and a stainless steel sink? Confusing! Also, thanks for your kitchen idea. The rest of my house is decorated with warm creams, reds, greens. I love organic stuff like wicker, stone, metal, and I love shaker style, country style, and arts-n-crafts style. I really like cream cabinets, but I already have enough cream with the counter, the tile, and the wall. The breakfast bar opens into the dining room, which is has cream furniture and red and green as the accent colors. The kitchen doesn't have to be matchy-matchy with the adjoining rooms, but it should flow colorwise. I'm going for a sleek, simple, yet casual and warm look with bluish/green cabinets. Below are kitchen looks that I love. Some won't work with my sleek cabinets, but it's just to everyone an idea of the look and feel that I hope to achieve... I love the color on this wall...if I ever take down my wallpaper! lol I love the warmth and casualness of cream cabinets. My dream kitchen...if I could start from scratch! :) Here, I love how the bottom cabinets are darker than the top cabs. Cute chandelier, and the island color is gorgeous! Ok, since I also LOVE the idea of two cabinet colors, what if I paint my top cabs cream and my bottom cabs blue/green? I really can't decide between my two colors below, and painting all the cabs either color will be too much cream in the room, or too much blue/green in the the room...no? I'm also open to sage green. If I go with using two colors, what if I paint the storage wall like the storage wall below (where the top and sides would be the blue/green color)?