It's wise to plant with lots of space. The first few years, mine looked nice. But yikes! I can see I'm going to have some problems next year, especially if I don't remove a few which did the "leap" thing in a big way this year. You can always plant impatiens or whatever else you like until the hostas fill in. I don't have room for impatiens in some of my beds now. Everything is touching or almost touching.

I am so sorry for your loss. Nothing said or done helps,but I do care, that you've had to go through this traumatic experience. My Mom died of ovarian cancer July 3rd 2009. She had the surgery followed by chemo treatments, it was in remission for 4 years. Only to come back again about a year and a half later. More chemo, tons of tests, they switched chemo treatments a few times. We got her into one of the best cancer treatment centers and the end result was, she still died. I seen my mom go through so much with the chemo treatments so I understand your mom's not wanting to go through it =/ I would of insisted Mom do chemo, too simply cause I couldn't bear to lose her. It hurts. It hasn't gotten better so far. In fact sometimes it seems to get worse as I realize, I've never gone without talking to her for so long. I really hope it does get easier for the both of us. Like you my Mom was pretty much all I had. Never been close to my Dad.

thanks for the kinds wishes. now i feel like a total idiot. i have been so preoccupied and had jamie on my mind as well as terri, i was certain it was today - the 17th is next friday. i have been looking at "this friday" all week long and mentally preparing for this day...but i am a week off. i even tried to call terri today, but no answer. guess its a good thing. sheesh...what am i thinking. too focused on this date to realize it was the wrong friday. deb

Our house, MCM built in the mid 70's, had the in wall toaster which had stopped working by the time we moved in in the mid 80's. It also had a NuTone which still worked but after I had used it a couple of times, it broke and we couldn't find any parts to repair it. But since we already had a KA mixer and a blender, we didn't try that hard. The whole cabinet below it was dedicated to space for its motor to hang down and its accessories. The house also had a Thermador wall double wall oven where the top oven was suppose to also be able to microwave (the original speed oven?). The microwave function didn't work when we moved in but we had it repaired. It only worked a few times and then broke again. On a visit to my sister, I realized she had the same oven - it turns out that the microwave in hers also broke shortly after they got it, they had it repaired and it broke again. So for the next 20 years until we remodeled, we just used it as a regular oven. The timer/clock module on the thing was also replaced a couple of times and broke again shortly before our remodel and self-clean required it to work. I wonder how the baskets and loading worked on that full height drawer dishwasher. In the picture it looks like it is paneled to match the cabinets - a pretty modern touch too. Our chest freezer is more than 30 years old. Now that's an appliance with staying power. It isn't self defrosting but being a chest design, it doesn't accumulate frost very quickly (there is less air interchange when a chest freezer is opened). Once a year or so we take the baskets and the food in the bottom out, wrap them in a sleeping bag and pull up a button that turns on heat coils in the walls. The ice lifts out in big chunks so defrosting is pretty fast and easy. Then the food goes back in. Simple, effective and no self-defrost means little or no freezer burn.