>> jimster, you can buy seed on Ebay for $3 including shipping. Yeah, one can. I completely endorse it for anyone who has money to burn and garden space to waste. I've been thinking about joining them - I must have 5,000 Bhut Jolokia seeds, or at least ones that look like the BJ! Mike

Hey Lavender-- not at all a kitchen thought, but next to the woodstove you should definately plan a space to store wood. Not a lot of course, but we have a woodstove, and after my husband gets it going in the morning, he usually brings in 3-5 pieces so I can feed the fire during the day, without having to trek outside. We have a gavanized bucket that we use and a small part of our hearth that sticks out to set it down on, but I would love room for a small wood box on the actual stone hearth, and its not quite big enough. I am constantly cleaning up wood chips, fallen bark, spilled ashes, etc. So make sure there is a little space around your stove for those "function" things! Woodstoves are messy :) My wood floor however is not gunky at all near the stove, but I do vaccuum up debris almost every day so little feet, and doggie feet don't grind it into the floor and ruin the finish, stratch it, etc. Of course we use our stove from October through April most years (this look like an early spring this year though!!) So 7 months out of the year, my floor near the woodstove and hearth aren't ever clean for longer than a few hours :) In other kitchen news... I like your floorplan/layout. It is simple and functional, especially if you never clean-up during prep, because I do see the DW placement as a little bit tricky if you ever plan on having it open while you cook, which you say won't be often, but I only wonder if the door to the DW would open into the path of the oven door. I guess you'd have to measure the DW door height. And maybe its not a real issue... How wide is your trash?? It looks like its 18". Swapping the trash and dishwasher may only require that window to move a few (6) inches. Are you tring to center the window over the washer and dryer or align it with an exterior window?? Because I'd say function in the kitchen should trump beauty in the laundry room/pantry :) Good luck!!!

I'm a recovering alcoholic and if one of my co-workers made cookies, I would very much appreciate a sign with the cookies that reads: Sambucca (YES, REAL SAMBUCCA) Cookies Enjoy! I wouldn't bother with the complete recipe. I wouldn't inquire ahead of time either in private or not. Your co-worker is an adult who should be capable of making their own decision. To me, some of the suggestions offered border on treating this person like a child and, if it were me, would be insulting. Keep it very simple. By the way, one of my recovering friends used to drink vanilla extract by the bottle....she says that real vanilla extract provides quite a good drunk:)

Jasdip - yes, I have a very good memory and it isn't diminishing with age. It annoys many people until they need my memory! Now if only you could shovel our snow... No we no longer have our beloved dog. He dog passed at the age of 17 - in the middle of the pandemic. I will be forever grateful that our vet was open. But he was good until he wasn't so that is something and the average age is only 14 so living to be 17 is wonderful. I still look for him, talk to him, find things that belonged to him. I even miss the double coated white fur! We now have 2 senior kitties (one is white) - we got them a year after our Eskie died. We are too old to adopt another dog - heck we were told by one rescue that we were too old at 55 before we adopted our Eskie! What would they say now? And we have excellent references - 4 general vets, a vet in a specialized field, our groomer etc. but no, they are only interested in age, a fenced back yard (our dogs never went out unless attached to a regular leash) and personal references. In what universe is a vet lower than a personal reference who can say anything! But it is impossible that our pets outlive us - they all love me. Yes, adoption fees have gone up. I know that Petsmart has kitty adoption days. In Toronto (or so I was told) the kitties are brought in from the humane society, but outside of Toronto they are brought in by rescues and you are subject to their rules. And these days there are many rules. I dread the pandemic puppies that will soon be in the rescues. It has already started in the U.S. Our vet pre pandemic used to put kitties in a crate in the lobby and to a kitty they were all taken. We just lucked out - they are no longer taking in kitties but due to unusual circumstances (think awful) they did and were there for 6 months. Horrible, but now they are very well taken care of and our bosses! We adopted many of our dogs through our vet. We of course still go to her. Her idea of the mourning period is how long it takes her to find a pet who needs a home who would be a good fit. But she practices what she preaches and has a few of her own - both cats and dogs.