I'm so glad some of you remember a lot of the things I do. Some of my most cherished memories are when my playmate two doors down (Ellen) and the girl our age (Mary) across the alley would play in a little lean-to playhouse built against the north side of Ellen's garage. They had a huge wooden sandbox. People don't like the tracking and what it takes to fill and maintain sandboxes, but I've got to tell you it was heaven on earth. The sandbox was under a slightly larger pergola. Over the pergola grew Concord grapes. How beautiful it was under the shade of the leaves and when the grapes hung down as we played in that sandbox. Sadly, Ellen whose parents had the sandbox died from cancer a few years back; we had been separated for years as she taught school and moved to Michigan. The other girl, we parted ways after kindergarten, and she went to the Catholic school. We made new friends and lost touch with one another. A few years ago I found her how? The internet but somebody must have given me some clue, didn't even know what her current married name was. I met her when I was 3. She lives in NC and is such a lovely person. I cannot remember the last time I saw her, before I was 10. We correspond regularly and share these precious memories. Right now I have heard that her husband is facing a terrible ordeal with cancer and his pacemaker; her health sounds good. Tears flowed from my eyes when I read that, and I need to answer soon. I didn't have a video camera, but one beautiful fall day, I walked the old neighborhood with my wide angle lens, walked up the middle of my street and back (there were low hills on both ends of that two-block long street), walked back down then around and up the alley we shared, then around and down her street, clicking all the way. I put the photos on a cd and sent them to her. She was so grateful for them. I'd never met her sister who was older and away by the time I met her, but she sent those photos to her sister, too. I'm so glad I did that. This is the same street from about the exact same spot and one of my photos from that day. The older one I took with my brownie Kodak when I was about 8. The second one was Oct 2005. My house was the one on the right that is yellow now (hard to tell the color) with a red roof and the white rails. Ellen's house was the first one on the right you can see, a grey house with red trim and grey roof. There was a small one in between that isn't visible. I presently live about 1/2 mile from there. The oddest thing is that apart from the cars, trees and a few cosmetic changes to the houses, it has changed very little. 55 years then and now.

No worries on the hijacking. This thread ended up way more interesting than it started and got to the crux of the matter, even if I didn't realize that's I was really asking. The consensus thing is interesting and so right on. I am constantly looking for validation for my choices. I consider this to be a character flaw and I'm trying to change my ways. So the way I deal with things is to not tell anyone what our decision is (well other than a few people like the friend who has been weighing in on design decisions for years and people who I know will nod politely even if they hate it). It is easier for me to be all confident and take on the attitude of "it's my kitchen and therefore the opinions of my DH and I are the only that matter" when I've not opened myself up to hearing negative comments (real and perceived) about our choices. The second I hear something negative it takes a little joy out of it for me. Like I said, it's a character flaw. That's why I don't ask for opinions on GW unless I REALLY want to know the good the bad and the ugly of it. Because people here are honest. That's a good thing, by the way, because it's the kind of honestly you won't get from the "oh that's nice" nodders and sometimes you really need that. You'll notice, for instance, that I never came back to this thread to mention what the decision actually was or to report that I did make one (thankfully just a few days after starting this thread so I could move on with my life). People here tend to be much more positive when they see a kitchen finished not only because they see the whole vision completed but also because they realize that it's not changing now so there is no need to say anything but positive comments (that reaffirm those pesky decisions). The nightmare: a finished kitchen post that only gets a handful of comments because you know people are doing the whole "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything." And of course that's when you wish you had asked for some truthful opinions while you were making the decisions.

Annie, that's great! You're very talented. :) I'm in total agreement with your praise of BIN! My cabinets are the same fake wood laminate, and I primed with BIN before painting them white. For this project, I was hoping the gel stain would stick better (it worked over the factory finish on the dressers with just a scuff sanding and deglosser), so that the faux grain would show through and eliminate the need for me to create the grain! Perhaps I'll leave it for last and see if I'm up for that, if the other projects go smoothly. I've never heard of grocery bags for faux graining. Was it hard? Pal & Dawnp, I wondered about painting the headboard to make it blend in. That's part of what prompted my post...I couldn't find an example like that, so I wasn't sure if it would work or look disconnected. It makes sense to de-emphasize a less attractive piece, though. An idea I had as I was drifting off to sleep last night was to take off the back and decoupage green patterned scrapbook paper to it, like when people have put fun paper or fabric lining the back of their bookcases, then paint the rest of it dark brown or white. I'm not sure it's tall enough to show much of the paper, though, and that would have the opposite effect from blending it in. I evaluated all the green spray paints at Ace (plus the copper patina kit, and brown hammered metallic), and nothing is quite the right shade to go with the wall color. The more I look at my inspiration pics, the more I think part of what appeals to me is the layering of greens. So, I think I'll mix up a quart of the next shade down on the color strip from the wall color. I still kinda like the paper decoupage idea for the back, even if it wouldn't show much. If the green doesn't work out, lukkiirish, I'll probably be painting it black! Always a nice fall back option.

Yes, you can make starter with grapes. Or whole grain. Or any number of things. Wild yeast is on them. It's all the same kind of yeast. The bread doesn't have to taste different if you use wild yeast (sourdough starter), unless you're trying for a yeasty taste. Commercial yeast is a different strain than wild. Regular bread will taste the same if you make it right. The real issue with using wild yeast is that the method is different and it takes a lot longer, and getting a good rise out of a new starter isn't guaranteed. All over the 'net, however, all kinds of people (especially young ones) are catching yeast and baking breads both sour and not from it.