No government regulations are complete without a thicket of bureaucracy to support them. Like "Cap and Trade", EPA permits juggling of numbers by OEMs of OPE to meet or achieve compliance with the standards. Similar to what began in the 1970's regarding automotive fuel economy standards (Corporate Average Fuel Economy or CAFE for short), corporate averaging across a range of engines will be allowed under the rules known as ABT (Averging, Banking, Trading). Considering the relatively small volume of emissions coming from OPE, I have the opinion that the entire thing is more about tapping into another money well to feed government coffers than it is about reducing any emissions. With all the new emissions standards going into effect, I predict that there will come a day when owners of OPE will be required to purchase a "Certificate of Compliance" annually after passing a mandated emissions test administered by the government. Possibly the professional and commercial lawn service folks would be targeted first followed by the home owner sector. "Honey, I'll be back later. I have to take the lawn mower and the weed eater to the test center and see if they pass or not and then run over to the courthouse to get this year's operating permit." Anybody got a reliable crystal ball?? Here is a link that might be useful: Of course there's a bureaucracy

Great advice oceanna! I couldn't agree more. You want to have more than you need, just in case. I learned this the hard way, on what was going to be my first craft project, since I don't sew. I bought just enough fabric to complete it, and now I can't, because when I laid out the pattern, I didn't give myself an allowance. Not the end of the world, I can buy another piece of fabric, but it was disappointing. And now I have a piece of fabric that I can't use, waste of money. Very pretty curtain BTW!

1) I didn't even think about custom cabinets as an option because I assumed they would be too expensive. When I received a quote for the semi-custom brand I planned to order, I was shocked at the cost, so decided to get a few custom cabinet quotes just to see. They were surprisingly close in price (some custom lines were actually much lower). Since I wasn't limited to specific sizes, it greatly improved my whole design, allowed me to get a bigger sink and some other custom options. It also changed the entire look of what I originally planned. I went from full overlay, raised panel to beaded inset, recessed panel doors. It's really more like the look I wanted all along. 2) After demo, we decided to move the main kitchen doorway over a few feet, which allowed us to include a buffet which will house a much needed appliance garage and provide a lot of extra storage. 3) One of the last minute changes was to a farmhouse sink. I had originally ruled it out based on the likeliness of it chipping, but someone on GW mentioned the video demo of the Kohler cast iron apron front sinks and I was sold. 4) One change early on in the planning stages involved the windows. We had a large, beautiful bay window where the kitchen table was and a very small window over the sink. There was no question we were going to change the sink window to three much larger windows, but I was playing around with the idea of eliminating the bay window altogether and extending the run of sink windows. We did that and it brought in so much more natural light and we gained so much more cabinet space. It greatly enlarged the whole kitchen area.

Several years ago, when we were redoing the basement family room, I repeatedly asked my hubby about running cable outlets. Each time, he said "no, don't bother, the cable is only for the internet service." Of course, shortly after finishing the room, teenage daughter sets up her video game stuff and wants to move the tv to the adjacent wall. Hubby than asks me why if we can put in another cable outlet on that wall. I said sure but that's more money and that's why I asked you that question multiple times. So, he said to me "I know I said that, but why didn't you just do it anyway?" My husband is a consultant...he can think of many different ways to backpedal from a definite answer or to provide a intelligent-sounding meaningless answer to darn near any direct question. One time, my partner attempted to clarify one of his vague points..."So, I understand that you want the gutters to be the top priority, is that right?" "Well, yes, that is important and I would like to have it done soon but there's several other items that need to be done also. I don't think you should stop working on the current items just to get the gutter project finished" As always, it reminds me that the FBI does not have the 21,453 Most Wanted list instead of the 10 Most Wanted list. There's only so much space at the top of the priority list and someone has to make that list.