Wow, I thought this page dropped off to no man's land, lol. Didn't realize anyone was still looking at it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the compliments and kind words!! You all have really helped me accept and love my space even more! olesya, sorry..yes. Counter is laminate! We didn't have the money to do granite, and honestly wouldn't have in this house anyways. And yea, my painter was cheap! At first he quoted me $320. At the time we were going with a different look. Going to do some distressing. And I believe a lacquer finish or something. When we changed to the white, no distressing..the job was fairly quick. Oh, and I supplied the paint which I believe originally he was going to. I love the sprayed finish. It's nice and smooth, no brush strokes. The grain is still there, but I don't mind it at all. I didn't ask him to fill it or anything. There are some areas the grain is pretty heavy, and it seeped in pretty deep. Leaving little grooves. But, I hardly notice any more. I just see the over all result. NO MORE OAK! :) kitchen monster, here are some pics of during. all dh did was pop off old molding. glued, then nailed 6 inch MDF back where the old crown was. And use a little trim piece where the cabinet and MDF met. And added the crown back on.

Some of these responses are hilarious! I've just finished wiping up the spewed coffee... Send me that lamp JNM! Serenity - I just don't think I could deliberately bring myself down to that level of making myself 'gross' on purpose. By accident - sure! But on purpose? Too many years spent trying NOT to do that... BF is very direct and never avoids a confrontation if there's a problem to be solved. If she was hurt by Jack's actions, rest assured Jack will definitely have heard about it already. And if she thinks I did anything wrong, I'll hear about it too! If I were to talk to her about it, she'd definitely chew Jack a new one and take care of the problem right away. But I don't want to give the issue that much credance with her, IYKWIM. Even though I suspect there is a bit of a crush going on, I'd never want to tell her that, and if I don't add that crucial bit of information, even mentioning it as "something that makes me uncomfortable" blows the whole incident out of proportion. (Her logical response would be "He was drunk - It didn't mean anything." To which I could say either "I know" or "Yes it did". Saying it bothers Hubby but I know Jack didn't mean anything by it could come back to Jack as "Sweeby was OK with it but her husband wasn't." As for saying how much of a 'one man woman' I am -- honestly, I think that would backfire. It's already very well known in our circle of friends how happy Hubby and I are together and that Hubby's the only man for me. (The special looks, smiles, hugs, honeymoon glow.) In fact, I think it's our mutual devotion that makes us each attractive to others, if you know what I mean. People who see that closeness want it for themselves -- and mistakenly assume that it comes with the person, not from a relationship that has been carefully nurtured. Hard to explain, but if you've felt it, you'll understand. The more I think of it, the more I think that may be the heart of it all -- so the more I show/say how committed I am to Hubby, the more attractive I would seem to Jack. Odd, huh? And FWIW, BF is very attractive, keeps herself in great shape and has a lot of energy and enthusiasm - so I think Jack would actually be disappointed! So what would make a man like Jack want to 'test the waters' when he absolutely knows what the answer would be? (Because I do think he was doing some of that.)

It's rarely a good idea to come off as a tattletale. Better to overlook & let her hang herself w/ her own rope, IMO. Thinking about it, if I were deeply bothered by such an email, I might send a reply to her asking something like, "Does this violate our policy?". This also made me think of a neat site for all kinds of work-related questions, hosted by a very smart woman who appears regularly on APM's Marketplace programs: http://www.askamanager.org/

Oh, yes! I've been to Hastings. SE of St. Paul. It's a beautiful place! I've seen photos of the Gothic Revival LeDuc House and would dearly love to tour it. Lucky you living so close to the S Kedem nursery! Although I now live on the West Coast, I've been tempted to order from SK which sells Rosa pomifera and carries a modest but very nice selection of Rugosas. I truly miss MN. I moved from TX and thought I might remain in the snowy north, but it wasn't to be. I still treasure my Scandinavian sweaters, and I drove vintage Volvos until I adopted my daughter, when safety and reliability took precedence. :-) Sometimes I Google images of MN locations just to "visit" again. Thank you for posting rosy images of my former homeland and for reminding me of the wonders of Hastings, including your delightful, historical rose! I'm going to encourage my Twin Cities friends to visit Hastings, sneak some sidewalk "tours" of private front gardens and visit the SK nursery again this spring. Carol