Hi Bernie! Yes the link to the Special Instructions is broken and has been for some time. That was why I was really 'amazed' that the Test Forum got fixed as quickly as it did. Anywho, I am the resident busy body here, and I started a thread with the Spec Instructions in them. We all then try to keep the thread 'bumped' up on page one. Special Instructions for the Exchanges When you get ready for your next seed exchange advertisment let me know. I'm curious how the whole process works. Well, my 'advertisement' posts as you call them were actually offering up seeds for BEAP, bubble envelope and postage, and the amount was determined by how well the member was set up for the Seed Exchange. Here is a link with instructions on how to get set up.addressing newbie and newer member issues-first draft. You aren't set up very well... No member page email link. and email link is not set to be shown to members. You have nothing on your Seeds Wanted list. No member page blurb...Come back here and holler if you have any trouble getting set up. I think you are just joshing me though. Sue...resident busy body

Hi Irina, Squirrels are a problem...so are birds. I had a grape vine...after 3 attemps, the vines took, grew and produced fruit. Problem was..we never ate-a-one. The birds helped themselves to 90%. I love birds, but don't want to eat fruit that has poop. lol After 4-yrs, I dug out the grape vine, and replaced with Trumpet Vine. What a mistake! I'd much rather have grape that will nourish the birds than a vine that grows everywhere..Although TV flowers are pretty, attract bees, and hummers, the con side, besides being invasive, blooms attract flies & ants. People were considered old at 50 because they didn't live as long. Over time, we've changed..We not only live longer, but we're much taller. lol Irina, so you're saying people in their 50's are more like 30? Too bad dog years haven't changed, too. lol. Toni

I'm not sure if anyone's still following this thread. It's unfortunate to see that so many have a hard time with the Kitchen Kutter. I have one, which I got a few years ago with my purchase of the West Bend cookware. I love the cookware and the Kitchen Kutter. It's so hard to find 100% stainless steel cookware anymore. I use mine every day, and it still all shines like brand new, which I really like, since I always fancy myself as a TV cooking show (er, um, but without the cooking show :) ) For those who are interested, I will say that the Kitchen Kutter IS a great tool, but of course like any good tool, it does require some talent to get proficient with it. I will offer a couple of pointers based on my experience: 1) Use good, cold, crisp foods. Nothing shreds cabbage for cole slaw better than the Kitchen Kutter, but if you want a good product, you need uniformity. That's hard to acheive with cabbage, because the leaves get progressively softer the closer to the surface you are. Quartering the cabbage before you start shredding, thus keeping it to small manageable sizes, when shredding, and then holiding it tightly together as you shred, oriented in such a way so that the grinding motion of the tool tends to compact the leaves, seems to yeild the bst results. 2) Product orientation / positioning - I've noticed the tool tends to handle foods differently depending on how you position them while cutting / shredding. I suspect this is by design. Assuming you crank right-handed, the tool tends to "drag" foods when oriented toward you, and to compact them when oriented away. Slicing works well when it's dragging the blade over the food, but shredding tends to work better when it's compacting it, so try holding your foods in different positions. I also tend to rotate foods, like a potato, when shredding, so as to get the highest degree of mechanical advantage from the machine as it works. Once you get the hand of it, you can shred an entire potato for hash brown and waste NOTHING but the paper-thin peel of a Russett potato, but it does take practice. 3) Did I mention COLD? This is particularly important for foods like cheese, which tend to get gummy if they're at room temperature. The shredder likes good, hard foods, and you can accommodate this be having your cheddar cheese, for example, good and cold when you shred. Other foods, like potatoes, don't so much need to be cold as nice and firm (which a good potato should be anyway). This thing will shred the heck out of a stalk of broccoli, which is GREAT for broccoli-cheese soup. I can do all my food prep for a huge pot (small commercial recipe) in under ten minutes, broccoli, cheese, and onoins. 4) Lose the little metal safety cover. It will get in your way most of the time, and if you hold your food and your tool properly (which you should always do with any instrument in the kitchen), you won't get your fingers in the wrong place to begin with. 5) Use as smooth a surface as you can find to mount the base. I like to use my glass cooktop. wipe it with a damp cloth before you secure the suction cup, and you'll have an airtight seal you won't break no matter how hard or fast you crank on it. This feature alone is GREAT, because, as someone with commercial foodservice experience, one of my big gripes with most "home" kitchen tools is that they're too light and / or too flimsy. My big commercial meat slicer, for example, might way 70 lbs, but all that weight also means it won't slide all over the place when I'm trying to slice some big honkin' beef brekset on it. The Kitchen Kutter, with that handy duction device and its sturdy construction gives me the utility of the larger, permanently-mounted roatry food processor I had in my restaurant kitchen, only it's small and portable, so it's not in the way. :) 6) Use appropriately sized foods. You'll notice at the dmonstrations that the demonstrator has carefully chosen, for example, the butternut squash (?) fo rmaking that yummy squash salad. Often times, the ones we're tempted to pick up in the supermarket are larger (fatter), and don't fit as well into the tool. No problem, just slice it in half lengthwise. When shredding, start it out perpendicular to the machine (on top of the drum), and as you work your way in, spin it around so that the peel is away from you, and then begin lower its angle to the drum and allow it to clean out the meat of the squash right down to the peel. This method of adjusting position and angle and changing pressure as you go is what I refer to as "feeding" the machine, and it's something you kind of have to get a feel for. Remember, the demonstartors do that show ten times a day, six days a week, 40 weeks a year, so they get lots of practice. :) Feeding the machine too fast or with too much pressure will tear up your food; feeding it too slow or with too little pressure will cause it to turn semi soft foods into much. This is the only home kitchen tool I've ever seen that can truly feather-shred cheddar cheese and leave it light and fluffy as goose-down... and the drum will nearly wipe clean witha damp sponge... wow. 7) When shredding cheese, especially feather-shredding, as I just mentioned, get that stuff right back in the fridge ASAP. Cheese gets sticky very quickly when it's shredded up and exposed to the warm air. 8) Last and certainly not least, when you see this thing at a trade show or fair, ASK the demonstrator to let you try it out. Most of them are really easy to work with and are all too glad to help make you a pro. After all, nothing sells his cookware better than an utterly delighted customer. Okay... One lass thing, about the feather-shredded cheddar... Try this yummy little snack with your Kitchen Kutter, the finest shredding drum, the largest pot and lid in your set and the following ingredients: 1/3 C coconut oil (yes, coconut, and stop crying about the fat content already-- IT'S GOOD FOR YOU! You can get the really good organic stuff at Wal-Mart for about $15, or the regular stuff for about $7.. The choice is yours, I prefer the organic, but I'm that kinda guy :) )... 1/2 C Popping corn (yes, they actually still make it, and after this you, like I, will forever scoff at microwave popcorn... Use the good stuff, I recommend Trail's End from the Boy Scouts or Oville Redenbachaer's)... 2 oz. extra shart cheddar cheese (oh, hell, just buy a 1 lb block and shred off as much of that sucker as you like :) )... 1 oz (a good sized pinch; a couple fo tablespoons) of grated parmesan cheese (this is one time I'll actually recommend the dry, powdery stuff you get in the store over freshly grated)... OR... 1 tablespoon of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (I buy this in big spice jars at BJ's wholesale).... and sea salt... Yes, SEA SALT. You can buy disposable grinders from McCormick in the spice aisle, but once your addicted to it (and you will be) you'll want a nice refillable grinder. You can get one from William's Sonoma. Don't use a pepper grinder-- Sea salt is MUCH harder and will destroy the carbide blades in a papper grinder... WS is the only place handy I've ever actually seen a real, bona-fide SEA SALT grinder.... $40, get over it... You won't be sorry. Before you being, feather shred your cheese and set it aside in the fridge so it won't get sticky or clump up. In your largest Kitchen Craft pot, begin heating the oil over high heat. After a minute or so, throw two kernels into the oil and replace the lid. When you hear both kernels pop, you oil is ready. Immediately add the remaining kernels, all at once, and replace the lid with the steam vent OPEN. You'll hear then sizzle and almost immediately begin to pop. Raise the lid "SLIGHTLY" as the corn pops to allow excess steam to escape. This keeps it from getting chewy. Kill the heat. Don't wait for it to stop popping-- There's plenty of heat left in the cleat on that pan to finish popping the corn (that's why I love these pans.) You can shake it a little, if you feel the need, to ensure that all the unpopped kernels get to the bottom. Once the corn is popped, immediately dump it into a large serving bowl. Add 10-15 turns of sea salt (on the finest grind setting), then toss in the parmesan cheese or Ranch seasoning. Finally, very quickly toss in the cheddar cheese, a few pinches at a time. It won't turn orange like Cheetos, but turst me, IT's IN THERE. It will just stick to all the popcorn nicely. No, you won't need any butter, TRUST me... I'm a butter lover and you won't need any. So, there you go... A tasty snack and a chance to play with all kinds of things in the kitchen. I'm surprised I haven't seen Alton Brown with one of these on his show. I'm so jealous of that guy..... Wow I hope someone's still following this! Regards all, -- Jim

Okay, I could never figure out how to post photos to the site here (I am not savvy) but I think I can embed a link to my mac.com account where I have a few stored. Also- a caveat - I *just* noticed that the original post indicated "high end" which is not our house, so my cost figures are really not comparable. I don't know how I missed that when I first read the posting, sorry all; I hope this reply is still relevant. The house is 6290 sq ft (porches add another 2410) and the finished space above the garage is 1175. You will see the garage to the left of the house. (You drive around the back of the garage.) Ceilings are 10' on basement and main floor, 9' on second floor. (Garage apt is 10'.) I thought of a few items I did spend more money on that I was not prepared for...like wood-mould brick (Old Virginia Brick) on the walk-out basement level (not visible in these photos) and the masonry fireplace. My DH wanted three true masonry-built fireplaces (only God knows why they had to be "true," the boxes with masonry surrounds and chimney look great to me), and the labor cost of doing that really blew my mind. I also thought of a few other "saves" ... Anyone on a tight budget like mine might find these useful, but they are more time-consuming so if I were building a dream house on a dream budget I might pass! I bought my marble direct from a Ga quarry, because I had my heart set on "Georgia White" which is similar in color to Carrara but is harder and less porous (so better in a kitchen application, though still not perfect) and is from Georgia (Tate). It has been a bit of a PITA because it is no longer quarried, so the only slabs were the ones still in the yard, and the quarry is not really set up for individuals walking in and buying half a dozen slabs. (They are more of an institutional source.) But, I got a beautiful material at $22/sq ft which was far less than similar marbles quoted from fabricators. For windows, I really wanted true divided lights, and I love casements. But, I restricted myself to casements in the places where I could see really using them (kitchen and master bath) and I put double-hungs everywhere else because they saved $$. Also, I have not accounted for window treatments/drapery in my budget. I have saved a ton on appliances by shopping at discount stores over a long period of time and so far, I have not made a compromise in what I wanted. For example, higher-end panel-ready units often sit at discount stores because people who shop scratch & dent discount stores are usually not buying custom cabinet panels. So the stainless dishwashers sell quickly but the panel-ready ones sit there and get marked down. I bought my new DW - Kitchen Aid, stainless-tub, panel-ready, hidden controls, etc. for $199. I got a built-in Jenn-Air panel-ready fridge for $1300. I did compromise on my cooktop - I wanted the Viking 36" induction because it has true knobs not touch controls, but I saved $2200 by buying a discontinued Siemens 36" all-induction at 50% off. The icemaker was discount because it had a nick on one side of the door that is hardly noticeable (and won't hold a candle to the havoc my toddler will bestow anyway). I won't buy the ovens discount because I really want the white Viking ovens, one convection and one steam. (A girl can have one perfect appliance, right?) And, the tile I used in the shower surrounds and kids' & guest bath floors is super-basic white ceramic (3"x6" and penny rounds). For mudroom and utlity rooms, instead of Peacock Pavers (Athensmom, they look great, get samples, they are gorgeous) at $6/sq ft I used gray pavers at $2.25/sq ft for mudroom floors. Savings on the tile all around. At the outlets (up 400 near Dahlonega), I found amazing deals on hardwired light fixtures. I bought 7 solid brass sconces for the stairwell for $7/ea, which was probably my greatest find. So, I saved enough that I could then go a little overboard with Circa Lighting in the areas that meant the most to me. Sorry for the very long post! I hope this info is helpful to those of you with budget constraints. Like I said, someday perhaps I will not spend the kind of time that shopping discount requires, but then again, it has been really fun! I will try to remember to post updated photos. I hope in 6 weeks we are complete, and then I can share the final finishes and interiors. At this point, if we stay on track in these last 6 weeks, the per sq ft construction cost is just under $72, so not in the high end category for sure. I will keep ya'll posted if there is interest. Here is a link that might be useful: New house photos (mid-October)