At this time of the year I will let my feeders go 4 to 5 days-especially since I do not even have any birds yet. As long as it is in the 50 to 60+ degree daytime temperature range that is very safe. Some people go longer than that-but I never do. I must say that in July and August when we are in the 90 degree range I change my feeders daily. I do not have many shady places for my feeders so it is a must for me to change daily. I will have a total of seven feeders up in late may on to the end of the season, because I have so many birds feeding and most are very territorial. Believe me it is a chore to change 7 feeders daily-but well worth it as my feeders are so popular. If you have just a couple of favorite hummingbird plants(butterfly bush or quince or trumpet vine) you are very much more likely to have hummers. If you have some good plants for them they WILL find your feeders. May you have a yardfull this year! Vicki

The point though is that when kids aren't all in the same age group or geographic location or school schedule, it can become impractical to take them all on one vacation. If you want to call it a "family vacation", you should take all the kids, yes. But I see nothing wrong with taking some kids some places and other kids others - provided one child (or group of children) isn't specifically being excluded from all the vacations. Sure, if we had all been between 8 and 14, it would have been rude of our parents to only take some of us... But since you seem so worried about it being fair - what if one kid was TERRIFIED of rides and mascots but loved camping, while the other three HATED camping, but were pumped to go to Disneyland? Is it fair that three get the vacation of a lifetime and one is miserable? What if the first kid said "Mom, can I stay home with GM this week while you guys to go Disneyland, and then you and I can go camping for a weekend?" Would that be fair? If not, who is it unfair to, and why? How about my family? My Dad and SM mentioned to her two youngest daughters that they were planning on going to Spain. The girls (~23 and 28 at the time) decided to save up and go with them. About a month before they left, Dad and SM told me and my sister that they were going and asked if we would like to come too. When we said "No, we can't afford it" they said "SM's girls have been saving for like 7 months" and appeared genuinely confused that we hadn't been saving for a trip they forgot to tell us about. I was mildly annoyed that they told her girls months before they told us, but I also know that this was not intentional. They buy stuff for her girls all the time, but not for any of us. However, we don't ask for much, and they do. I don't consider this a slight on my parents' part, I consider this as me not being greedy like my stepsisters. Under your theories of how SMs shouldn't have any say in their SCs' lives, but be required to be equal between all kids all the time, my dad and SM should be buying me crap all the time! I say that's a load of horsehooey.

Thank you all for your help and the links. It sounds like it is not required that I have a white framed mirror just because I have a white pedestal sink? I really do not need a medicine cabinet as it is a powder room. It probably makes more sense to get something that works well with the pedestal and the light fixture. I found a custom shaker mirror website that may offer the best choice-one can even choose from over 50 colors, regular or distressed. If anyone else has any suggestions regarding the mirror frame, they would be most appreciated. Teresa

I'm 5'3" and loved the 16" clearance of our former kitchen - didn't even realize it was not standard until moving into our rental house for the reno. I asked my KD and cabinet maker (2 separate entities) about having the new ones 16" and they reluctantly agreed to indulge me in this, but then the 48" Capital Culinarian range top specified/required/strongly urged 18" clearance at least. We have so many drawers that I just said "fine" and planned everything above/behind the first shelf to be the weird things my 6'1" husband likes/needs. I have a short stepladder but I'm not wild about it. As for appliances fitting under the 16" vs 18", they *FIT* under the 16" just fine but weren't necessarily usable there! On the other hand, I am *so* short-armed that I pull all appliances out toward the middle/edge of the counter so I can really get at them, and that gets them out from under the uppers anyway. As for the Capital Culinarian, I'm not sure 18" is enough! Even after the adjustments are made to get simmer (crossing fingers), which will hopefully also make the flames rocket less than 12" into the air (seemingly), I will probably personally stick to the middle burners not right next to the uppers.