Glad to hear that your yardlongs are doing well, Dennninmi. It sure is a good year for them in our neck of the woods. What variety(s) did you grow? While I am a big fan of yardlongs, I wouldn't go so far as to say that I prefer them to P. vulgaris snaps. Both have their distinctive flavors & textures, but I still prefer 'green beans' as a vegetable side dish. Normally, those snaps would be bearing early, followed by the yardlongs. But this year, the yardlongs started at the end of July, and I have yet to pick a snap. Furthermore, given frequent deep irrigation (a trick I learned during the flooding of 2010), the pod quality has been outstanding, and the plants are loaded. Isn't bean diversity a wonderful thing? ;-)

I haven't had a chance to update this til now (had periodontal surgery on Friday, and have been pretty much out of it since then) - but did want to say that we got the CL piece, it's in place, and I really like it! Since we didn't have anywhere else to use, or even store, the old painted piece, we put it at the curb Friday evening (a bit reluctantly on my part -- after all, it was one of the first things I "created" when we moved into this house about six years ago). But it was picked up within about an hour, so I hope that it's making somebody else happy now. :-) DH doesn't want me to paint this piece, but I keep envisioning it in some kind of stain -- maybe a turquoise or red -- that would give it some color while still allowing it to look like a wooden stained piece. I'm not even sure if such a treatment exists, but I'm thinking it probably does -- I just don't know what to call it! Anyway, here are new pics. Oh, and it holds a lot of stuff too. With the exception of a couple of pair of presently unused 2" blinds, which were stored in the old piece, the new piece holds everything that I had stored in the other chest. I do wish it didn't have to be sandwiched in by the washer and dryer, but my hands are pretty much tied in that regard. ;-) (Must apologize for dark pictures again! I dunno what I'm doing wrong with the camera ...)

Well ladies, let me tell you some of my secrets...before my DH and I got married his mother did EVERYTHING for him, made all his meals, snacks, etc...I mean the man couldn't even pour himself a glass of milk...his mom would shoo him away and do it for him. He would take his dirty clothes off to shower and by the time he was done his mom had already picked all of them up and she was waiting to take care of his wet towel. Well, the first time he showered after we were married and left his stuff all over the bed and floor I informed him that I was his wife, not mother, and I would NOT be picking up after him. If he wanted to have someone pick up after him, he could move back home with his mom. It worked, he's never left wet towels or dirty clothes laying around. LOL As far as kids go, it's a lot easier to train them when they are little. Our last house was a ranch and since I would pass by their rooms all the time they had to keep them neat. My DD would complain all the time when she was young that she couldn't wait until she moved out so she could keep her mess out all over the place. She did keep her locker at school messy. When she moved to the dorm and had a messy roommate she discovered that she really did like having things neat and clutter-free! My DS was a little harder to train though...so I allowed him to have a "junk" drawer in his room and maybe 2 or 3 times a year I would make him clean it out. Now we live in a colonial and once I wake up in the morning, shower and dress I don't see their rooms cause I'm on the main floor or in the basement so a mess wouldn't bother me now but I have them trained so well that they still keep things neat and clutter free!!!! Sneaky huh? Sorry, it is harder for you Maria because they are already set in their ways, it will be hard to make them see the light and start keeping things clean! WHAT I CAN DO FOR SOMEONE IS....take pics of your mess and post it to photobucket or something like that, then send an e-mail to me with your link, and I will take a look at them and make some suggestions about how you could organize it. E-mail: OneBigDave@sbcglobal.net Of course, if you live close enough, I could come see you! Barb

In a perfect world, I'd go with wood. It looks great and feels warm underfoot, is more forgiving to the knees and hips, is less likely to break a dropped dish, and ties into the adjoining rooms in such a way that everything looks seamless. In a perfect world, I'd go with tile. It just says "kitchen", is available in so many lovely renditions, cleans up more easily than any other kitchen flooring, and is almost impossible to destroy. However, since we don't live in a perfect world, I'm thinking of plain old-fashioned sheet laminate. My kitchen is small enough that no seams will be necessary, and nothing is cheaper. It's warmer and more forgiving on the joints than tile. It's easier to clean and more durable than wood. I deem it the best compromise of all options.