After reading all these post on your pets, I'm crying so hard don't know if I can do this or not. Last Friday we had our horses vet come out to the house and relieve my German Shepherd Kaiser of his pain and suffering. He would have been 12 in July. He had hip-displasia and had gotten to the point that it took a lot of effort just to walk. One night last week he apparantely fell down the steps and skinned his nose very badly, and he almost would not attempt to go up and down the steps any longer. We had been putting this day off for at least a year. He was a grandchild to me, a part of me: also my shadow. I still find myself turning to tell him, "Grandma's just going outside, I'll be right back..Stay" He never did, had to go with me even if it was only for a minute. He loved the grandchildren almost as much as he loved me. If they were sitting on the floor watching television, he was sprawled out in the middle of them squeeking one of his balls. They couldn't play in the yard under the water sprinkler, because he would stand over it blocking all the water. If I got the water hose he always had to come get a drink of fresh water. After I had caught my kitchen on fire once, I had some ladies cleaning for a few days and they had been playing with him. They gathered up their cleaning supplies and placed them in boxes. My husband helped them carry the boxes out to the yard and sat them by the gate. Then when they started to pick them up to put them in their car, he just gently put his mouth on one of the ladies arms as if to say, "My grandpa put those there and you shouldn't bother them." We told him it was OK and he released her arm. My son who is in his 40's likes to play pranks on everyone and one day Kaiser was asleep on the porch with his head resting between the bannisters. Kevin sneaked up to him and shook him and said "Whatcha Doing"!! Kaiser came to life with teeth bared and made a believer out of Kevin. He had to jump the bannister and landed about 6 feet out in the yard to keep from getting eaten alive, until Kaiser realized who it was. Needless to say Kevin didn't try that again. Kaiser's daddy was imported from Germany and was a Narcotic Dog with the Grand Rapid Mi Police Dept. Now they are together somewhere "Over The Rainbow" along with Jett one of his litter mates who belonged to Kevin and his family. Now he and Jett are bouncing around there with no hip pain at all, waitin for Grandma to come home. Glenda

Thanks to everybody for all the warm thoughts. It was so odd not having to get up in the middle of the night to carry her outside. But I still woke up every few hours. I slept well though knowing she is better off now. I cried the hardest coming home from the vet knowing that I could not take back my decision. I looked up her AKC papers this morning, and found she was born April 2, 1992. So whe was closing in on being 16 years old. The fab four were Missy, Tate, Alley, and Shelby. All Lhasa Apsos. Shelby and Tate were best of buddies, and had a litter of 4 precious puppys about 14 years ago. One of their offspring made the news by finding an elderly man fallen in his garage. With out his persistance, the gentleman would have probably died. Lots of wonderful memories the fab four had at this house. I will treasure them always. They helped raise my three kids here. Today I need to call the kids and let them know. Trin

Good morning everyone ~ Hope you all have a nice holiday today. It's just getting light out and the temp feels cooler this morning. Time will tell as the day progresses. Thank you for your kind comments about our little cottage. Enigmaquandry ~ Hurray, another frugal shopper whether it be curbside shopped, flea markets, thrift stores or hand me downs, nothing wrong with that at all. Do you have a blog or album of pictures of your place? Chris ~ Yea, we talked about this table before and I think you're right about it being tramp art of some sort, it just has that feel. Although, I suppose it could have been some 'shop project' 50 or so years ago. I love the scullery too, it just makes me feel happy. I'd have to say our whole house is 'non-fitted', but that's fine with us. ML ~ We are vintage, in more ways than one. :-) This is where we hibernate from the crazy world, and it always feels good to pull into our driveway, to our haven, our home sweet home. Sandy ~ That did take time yesterday morning, as anything does that you want to share on the 'puter. It is amazing what people throw away, their trash our treasure. Living small these days is a real blessing. Thanks again Ladies for all of your kind comments. FlowerLady

Westsider, Thanks for jumping in here !! Your place sounds great. I sure wish I was on your family list. ;) I also appreciate all of your comments. You have given me a lot to think about. More below to you (and anyone else who wants to comment)... I really appreciate everyone who is helping me with all of these ideas. Our builder said last week "That new layout looks good, sometimes it takes another set of eyes to see something, especially after you look at something for so long". That's what you guys are doing for me ... being my extra set of eyes and helping me think what is important to different groups of people. Good news from the builder ... he said yes to the bumpout behind the lower cabinets over the stairs ! That makes design #05 (a few posts up) officially ok from the builder. 1. have 2 or 3 outside beach showers ... do you mean hot & cold showers or just cold for rinsing sand off from beach ? We have planned 1 cold on the walk over the dunes and 1 hot & cold enclosed shower. 2, 3, 4. do you have some ideas for layout in these areas ? Would love to see what you are thinking. 5. weddings are probably not too frequent 6. Grilling - this is an issue. We will not be able to control if people ignore with portable grill, but rules will not allow a built in grill or homeowner provided grill on the deck. We have plans for the ground floor grilling area to be a fun gathering place though with a tiki bar, picnic tables, pingpong and foosball, horseshoes, in addition to the grills. Two grills is great idea !! Good idea also to plan storage for grill tools and mitts near the grills. 9. Will review to make sure stuff stored on high shelves is rarely used stuff. Looking like some of the high shelves will even be empty. Who knows - once it is unpacked, stuff has a way of filling the available space. LOL !! 10. Lot is 50 x 150 ocean front. With 7 foot setbacks for each side of lot, neighbor houses are 14 feet away from each other. 11. two washers & dryers - yep ! 12. elevators - will ask about property insurance - a neighbor has an automatic gate operator (which cost a lot extra) and had problems with renters messing up his door and lots of service calls, so he eventually disconnected his auto opener. We know now to not spend extra for the auto opener. 13. your property taxes are outrageous !! Luckily, we are on flat rate here ... approx 1% of home value. lakehouse, leaving now to go meet a friend for movie, but will check out your plans later. Looks like you are remodeling kitchen for a lakehouse you already own ? Thanks !! Keep the comments coming on all areas of the home !