Thanks for all of your tips. I am trying to see it the way some of you mentioned, that it doesn't look that bad and it is beneficial. Well my pond plants are finally coming back in (I can see them sprouting from the bottom of the pond), so hopefully this will give a little more shade. Plus I have a birch and maple somewhat nearby enough that in a few years they might give more shade as they grow. You were right that scrubbing is a lot of work and really does nothing. I looked into one of those algae eater fish, but I really don't want to have to bring it in over winter. A friend recently gace me a cup of barley pellets to try out, so maybe I'll try that this weekend. Some great news though... we saw 5 American Toads were having a nice time together in there this past week, calling so loud all day and night. Now we have tons of eggs in there! I attached a link to a picture. Maybe they can eat some algae when the eggs hatch. Here is a link that might be useful: toad eggs

I just tried printing a top fold card and the alignment seems to be OK. Just thought I'd add that.

I would 1. Enclose the W/D behind wooden louvered bi-fold doors if there is enough room/depth. 2. Assuming the wall between the kitchen and laundry is load-bearing, completely open the wall from the closet to the other side leaving only a foot of wall left. 3. Install a laminated "I-beam" header, frame it out, and have a 12" deep cupboard built-in accross the newly-made 5'10" wide X 12" deep niche...with lit-up glass-front doors for display on the top over a counter that could provide extra serving space for the dining table, and lower cabinets for extra pantry storage, etc. Then, next to it, in the current niche in the kitchen area, either a built-in counter to make a desk under the window, or if there is not enough space, possibly a built-in window seat w/storage. This leaves the fridge where it is. When I moved into my small house 6 years ago, I was very concerned about the same problem; my fridge was in the same corner and my side door is right next to it, where the door to your laundry is located. I found a GE Profile stainless steel refrigerator with features that made the placement work. There is only 2 3/4" space on the right which allows for greater than 90 degree opening. The door is hinged on the right, obviously, and the bottom freezer rolls out. The fridge opens enough to fully extend both crispers, but it doesn't open enough to allow the right-hand crisper to be pulled completely out -BUT after the left hand crisper is removed, the right-hand one SLIDES to the left, allowing full removal of both. Other refrigerators may now offer these features. Frankly, despite all my initial concerns, I had completely forgotten that this was once an issue for me until I read your post! I like your idea of moving the front door as it will be away from opening next to the bathroom, and will allow closer access to the patio from the kitchen. Jakabedy's idea is great, to switch the door and window if there is enough room in the bedroom, and if you would feel safe with a door in your bedroom - a french door would be pretty. The present arrangement you have with the space between your bedroom and bath seems really nice! There is room for artwork or family photo's on the walls, or maybe a corner bookcase. Please keep everyone posted on your decisions! - Penny.

MtRdRedux is right on with the into on Too Much Available Credit", which is a myth for actual FICO Scores, which are used by almost all lenders. There are a few, very few, lenders that have issues with too much available other credit. This mostly applies to marginal borrowers and lenders that specialize in risky loans where the lender knows their prospect is already marginal and making them cancel the other credit will help to ensure that they are the one getting the money before they finally descend into the abyss. Perfect Credit Score is also a myth. The algorithms break down on extremely high scores and are effectively useless in differentiating risk. Classic FICO Scores have a theoretical range up to 850 but all versions of those scores including the '04 versions used for Mortgage apps max out well below that, one of them at 818. NOBODY can get 850 as there is NO path through the algorithm that makes 850 possible. If you are really curious about this, you can follow her link to MyFico.com where you will find my name attached to much of the mythbusting on credit scoring. I haven't posted in years as it eventually became more about selling stuff than information. Still the best credit site around in spite of big flaws. One piece of info is that it always a bad idea to close any credit card from a scoring standpoint. It can make sense from saving money if it has a fee and worth the small hit it has for a person with good credit, particularly if your accounts are mostly older. It affects Average Age of Accounts.