Masha, I just saw the heading of your post saying "long" and my heart started beating excitedly. I quickly grabbed a warm cup of coffee (its freezing cold and foggy here in Melbourne)and decided to settle down to enjoy the show. It was as breathtaking as ever. I absolutely love the combination of Sharifa and Ebb and am planning to do it myself. Your WS2K is so beautiful, I wish mine would grow like that. Do you prune it hard every winter? I have pruned mine the last two years, but I wonder if I should leave it as it is this year? Its hardly grown more than a foot and a half. Your Cecile Brunner is magnificent and I love Roseraie de L'Hay is beautiful and I was especially excited to see Christopher Marlowe since I have ordered it too this year. I am not fond of cream roses, but loved Gruss! All the others look wonderful too. You have a lovely garden and thanks for posting the pictures. Sanju

Thanks Ladies...... Cat - I don't think the judge would have really listened to both sides if the claims BM made did not seem so outrageous and DH and I had not been collecting all of the information we did. BM in this case really took it way to far with the false allegations.... she claimed DH's entire family and myself and daughter were all against and abusing SD..... Of course the worse things were pointed against myself. But we had tons of things to counter as well..... pictures, dvd's of family events and vacations we took SD on, and the other things BM left as a paper trail.... letters from the school, daycares and doctor. It was extremely stressful to have to go through a BM trying to take away joint custody from my DH simply because he got married and to see all the lies and allegations.... BUT like the judge said - because DH got on that stand and said he did not want to take custody away from BM - he just wanted to have a peaceful relationship with his daughter and was willing to give BM another shot at trying to be mature - the judge as she put it is giving BM "custody probabtion" and hopefully BM will take her words to heart. We have been so much more peaceful at our home - and just to see SD be more peaceful when we pick her up or when she comes - lets us know that maybe the alienation for now has ceased. I just am hoping the situation remains peaceful for now - and this story may help someone else out in some kind of way.

i-chic: I want a tree like that! The pic of your son asleep under the tree with all those stuffies brought tears to my eyes. So, I can finally post my tree. As the chaos of our life continues I wasn't able to do much, but I really like it. It's the first time I've been able to do a "theme" tree - all red and silver. Sadly, the topper (a silver star you can just see) is too heavy for our little rosemary tree. From Christmas2008 Should I switch the angel and the frog to balance things? BTW, the tree is sitting on the hearth of our hideous fireplace (that will be completely redone some time in the hopefully near future. There's no mantle so our stockings are hanging from sconce holders on either side (you can see a bit of one on the right).

I think I'd do 18" (or maybe 16") shelves on the lower part of the straight wall (R) with more shallow shelves above them - maybe 10". on the L side maybe counter depth for a good # of feet - with maybe drawers underneath? counter for mw, counter oven etc. that could end part way to the 'point' with shelves that are triangle shaped into the wall to be open shelves for a few larger pots or whatever. or at that end of the counter depth shelves cabs have a taller (end) cabinet like we often see as a 'broom' closet for a pantry ladder closet. The ladder would be right there when needed - but hidden. you could have the top part of it (above ladder height) as skinny horizontal shelves to slide your larger trays into. like the cookie sheet slots except horizontal. the first few ft of the wall to the R could have some hooks for dog leashes, coats / sweaters (or dust mops? if needed - or a grabber bar). but that would keep the entry area open so it doesn't feel cave like. from the end of the counter depth shelves/cabs on the R to the point area could be for the dog food bin and dishes. you could hang pictures of the dogs over their dish / food area so they can look at themselves while eating. without shelves running into the point area on the R side, it'd allow for open / standing space in front of shelves on the L side. you could keep a small ladder in there for reaching higher shelves - possibly hang on the wall toward the point area or lean on the wall (if not in a 'ladder closet'). Also, try to think of anything weird or weird in shape that you will want to store in there.