Blane, I have three accounts which I pay 25 bucks each per year for the upgraded version without ads and banners. I have 500 pictures in some of the albums then start another album. Not all of them are that full, but I never move them around and rarely delete anything, but that is always an option if you do not mind broken links. I realize that different folks enjoy different things and some may spend more that that total amount on one fancy meal eating out (I have in the past, at a fancy Inn of the Mountain Gods where they come out and set stuff on fire at your table), but get a lot more pleasure out of what I am doing now so do not even think about the little dab of expense. There are many ways that I can be frugal and more than make up the difference, if I want to. ":^) And happy gardening and Happy Easter to Y'all. I guess that you will get this "Easter Spell" over there in M-I- Crooked letter,- crooked letter. Bill P.

Bob, thanks for this time saving tip. I've used Irfanview from the very beginning, used it on the first photo I ever took...great little fixer. But, I've always resized just one photo at a time....didn't know about "batching"....gosh, what a time saver. I also use another little online "freebie" for photo editing since I don't have a program like Corel or Photoshop. Its called Photofiltre (from a French firm I believe). I downloaded from their site and it has some pretty good little features. Those are the only editing programs I have and they both do a decent job. I resize with Irfanview, save the pix, and use Photofiltre for sharpening, contrast and any other little fixes I might need to do. It has a number of filters that you can use too. I usually save my pix at 20 to 25 percent compression so as not to lose too much resolution. I almost never save a photo at more than 1600 x 1200 pixels unless I'm going to have that particular pic printed.....then I don't resize until after printing and then usually store them at less than that...usually about 800 x 600. Bob, thanks for the heads up on batching.....this is really going to save a lot of time..... ~Kathy~

I'm no heating and cooling expert by any means, but my understanding is that the actual SEER ratings are similar to the EPA fuel ratings for your car - More hypothetical than actual fact because they are influenced by so many 'unknown' factors (your duct sizing and condition being a couple of the many) that what you actually get in everday usage is some other number, almost always lower than the advertised number and sometimes MUCH lower Buying more efficient equipment still pays some dividends, however. Likely the 10 SEER system you had some time back was probably only operating at 9 or 9.5 if you were lucky and changing that out for a 12 SEER system and making no other changes probably bumped you up to 10.5 or 11, so there was SOME benefit to the better equipment even though it won't operate at it's published efficiency in your particular application I bought 13 SEER equipment this go around and the outside unit is physically MUCH larger than the 12 SEER unit I had in my other house (larger condensing coil) and I would bet that I'm getting very near a full point increase over what I would have if I had bought another 12 system, so buying higher efficiency helps . . . . to a point - So long as it doesn't cost you too much more for the equipment, it's still a 'good deal' In my research, there seems to be a 'sweet spot' on cost VS energy usage right around the 13 to 14 SEER units. Professionals I have asked about this tell me that going much above 13 without installing a complete new system, ducts and all, properly designed for the house probably doesn't give you the best bang for your buck. If you want a new system but intend to use your old ductwork I would probably buy something in the 13 to 14 range and let it go at that - To get the absolute maximum from the extra you're paying for the really high efficiency units, you'll probably need to install new everything, specifically designed for high efficiency You can probably make a substantial savings on your bill by buying one of the new programmable thermostats and setting it for the way your family uses the house, backing it down a little when nobody is at home and then bringing it back to the comfortable level just before you're scheduled to arrive home. I know we're saving a good bit this winter doing that with our furnace, as we actually prefer sleeping in a colder house with an extra blanket but we don't like getting out of bed in a cold house so the new thermostat gets things just right as the alarm clock goes off in the morning - You can program some pretty exacting scenarios in these new thermostats . . . . the one I have allows you to take it off the wall and do the programming from your easy chair ;-) Just another layman's opinion . . . . maybe not worth the 2 cents, so no charge ;-) Don

Hi, first of all I love your house and furniture. I like the first option better but how about this (I don't know if it works): put the couch under the window facing the dining room and put the console where the couch was originally. Possibly a big ottoman (rectangular) between the coffee table and the dining room (so you can sit and chat with the couch but not block the view of the dining), put the chair in the first option angled facing the console. I assume that's your front door, moving the console leaves that walkway more available. I would put something else there, a narrow table or chest of some type. Either art or mirror can go there or on console. Bring in some more green and I like the round mirror. Mariana