Mike, hey, Mike!!! Good to see you, friend. Your ears must be burning- Kristy and I were talking 'bout you yesterday, about how much we miss you. I knew you had a good reason for being gone but sorry to hear the circumstances! Glad the pinkie is going to be okey!! And yes, welcome to the joys of home-ownership- it all falls on our shoulders! LOL! ............... Wait! That's not funny! Well, what a difference a year makes. You have made it your own and it is just beautiful. I love what you've done! You have alot to be thankful for. So do your neighbors! :-) Your puppy sure has grown into a magnificent lady! Waiting for Xena and First Belle to bloom, seeing them has kept thoughts of you close to me! Look forward to seeing more of your gardens! Wow, I can see why Angel's Exotic is special to you. Salmon Perfektion does the same, for me! ~Brenda

Yikes, FOAS! That's the same site & recipe I've got copied for us to try. I can't get DH enthused about it. He thinks it's more complicated than he's willing to tackle. I'm working on him though... Anxious to hear about your trial run. Also saw a Chopped show last night using black garlic combined with raspberries for a sauce. I thought that looked interesting. We've got lots of freeze-dried raspberries so that might be a possibility. /tricia

My DD informed me this morning that a long stretch of counter at the back of the kitchen would look "weird" and just get covered with stuff, THE NERVE! It's like she knows me or something. It's weirder to have a long, useful counter cut in two by a vertical element. Show her the NKBA guidelines--a budding kitchen designer is never too young to learn. ;) Guideline #3 (In part): A major appliance and its surrounding landing/work area form a work center. The distances between the three primary work centers (cooking surface, clean-up/prep primary sink, and refrigeration storage) form a work triangle. Guideline #4: A full-height, full-depth, tall obstacle should not separate two primary work centers. (Examples of a full-height obstacle are a tall oven cabinet, tall pantry cabinet, or refrigerator) If the oven cabinet is directly adjacent to the fridge, it becomes part of that work center--you move items from the fridge to the counter beside the ovens, then have a clear field to the cooktop. That long counter would be useful for staging baking trays for making cookies, lining up and landing multiple dishes going to/from the ovens for large holiday meals, and assembling school and work lunches.

We built a home that had a fireplace and no glass doors. No wood smell at all, except once in a while if the fire wasn't roaring and the wind was blowing, it could send some smoke smell into the room. Maybe post here. I've posted a few times regarding my wood stove and there are some very knowledgeable and helpful people. I suspect the same would be true regarding fireplace questions. I hope you find the cause. Hearth.com