Steve, are you sure theres not something else youd like to have since Im sending the Callirhoe seed anyway. It wouldnt cost anymore to stick a couple more little packets in! Ill probably send it out the beginning of next week, so post here or email me if you can find anything on my list youd like to have. And Ive come up with a new possible germination method that Ill email when I send the seed! I still have Lavatera seed left from last year, so Ill just keep trying with that. If you do happen to find some from this year and have time to send it, that works too, but its not necessary. BTW, Im gonna be in SLC! Ill be there for 40 minutes on Christmas Eve! Hehehehe! Ill expect you to buy a ticket to somewhere so you can get thru security to come out to the gate to give me a baby plant!!! ;-) Seriously, if you have a couple seedlings next spring, after it warms up so they for sure wouldnt freeze in the mail, you probably could pad them with a little bit of moist peat and send them. In the meantime, if I ever get germination, Ill let you know! I havent gotten it done yet, but Im still planning to plant some directly in the ground outside to see if normal overwinter conditions will do the trick! Autodidact and Bean, I didnt get the purple coneflower seed collected before it snowed a couple nites ago. The snow has melted off now (beautiful day! It was 70 in my backyard today!), so I brought some in to dry the rest of the way. I leave on a trip tomorrow for three days, and by the time I get back it should be ready to send, so itll go out, probably, next Monday. Ill email after I put it in the mail. Isnt there anyone else around here whod like some free seed? Check out my list above. DELETE the Acanthus, since it apparently didnt produce seed this year, and ADD Aruncus dioicus, goats beard. See pictures of the things I have available at the thread linked below. AndhallelujahPMs are apparently working for me now, so if you want something, just PM me, but still post here that you didjust in case I dont get it! Happy seeds, Skybird

This is very similar to the situation that I had last summer. Same era and type of houses. My neighbors (whose garage was only 1 foot from the shared property line, and only 12 feet from my house) wanted to build a 2nd story onto the garage, and extend the structure both in front and in back (which would have brought the rear corner to within just a few inches of the line since their house did not sit square on the property). I had also had some difficulty with them because of trash issues but tried not to let that influence my feelings about the addition. So, I also was concerned about the loss of light and having a view of only the side of their house rom the dining, living and 2 bedrooms (they are close now, but with the garage placement I do get light and see sky and trees). I wasn't sure it would be putting that side of the house in constant shade, but it seemed like it would and I was concerned. This neighbor told me that I shouldn't care because in another, newer suburb, the houses were all constructed like that (which could be why I don't live in that suburb). . I wrote a letter to the board in charge of the zoning variance permit and simply told them why I was concerned. I did not come out and say that I was opposed but had these concerns. The board did take that as an objection and had quite a discussion at the meeting (I read the minutes later). One board member pointed out that although they may think that they will be there a long time, they possibly won't but the changes would affect my house forever and perhaps my home's marketability. They did not approve the variance, the neighbor blamed me, but he chose to sell in order to get the bigger house that they needed. Turns out though, that the addition would have violated state fire code (too close to the property line) and could not have been approved anyway. I have very nice neighbors now, very glad that I didn't have to find out if my fears were founded or not. You have more room between your houses; I wonder if there is a way to figure out if the proposed addition would block much light?

debi, I'm sorry my post was unclear: I didn't mean that *my* furniture style is elegant (it isn't; my style is extremely spare - elegance doesn't get a chance to enter the picture!); I meant that the furniture you've included above is elegant - not stuffy but still refined. That said, the walls may not be brown but the yellow you describe is what I'm factoring into the monotonicity above. All the browns you have up there are the yellowish brown - all of them. If you had some rich mocha browns or some rich red browns, that would keep the foundation colours in your room contained into one part of the spectrum if you like that, but still have some life. As such, the elements you have aggregated thus far are dominated with the yellow-browns which I'll submit are a bit jaundiced. If you look at the furniture picture you've attached there - the much lighter (cream?) rug and the similar cream seating makes that photograph look much lighter, happier and alive than when you incorporate that into your room with the carpet and floors you currently have. Neither of which are objectionable mind you; but I really think that with the lot of them together in that room, it just doesn't look entirely thrilling. I'm not objecting to the furniture, btw; I'm saying that you should get a carpet in a different color. Just my $0.02. Sorry if I offended or if the comments aren't what you'd prefer to hear. And BTW, if that's the case, you have your answer! What you put in to your house must please you and if you object to someone's assessment then you know that you've found something you like ;-)

When my remodel is done, my DW will be at the end of a run, next to the wall. It will probably add a minute, maybe two, to the unload time as all but the daily dishes/cutlery/glassware will be a tad farther of a walk to put away. But I don't care as the advantages will totally outweigh the disadvantages. I disagree with your KD. Strongly. I currently have my DW between my sink and range and it is the most hated thing in my kitchen. Everybody hates it, not just me. And when I say everybody, I mean my parents (who owned this house before me), my sister and her entire family, and my entire family. Plus all our kid's spouses. That's 14 people who have all voiced hatred for the DW placement. When my niece's husband, who was a chef before he became an engineer, heard we were remodeling the kitchen actually called me up to remind me to move that damn DW. And he's only cooked in it a few times. I remember he commented that it's poor placement from both a chef's and engineer's perspective (for whatever that's worth, lol). That is the only time he's actually ever called me. At the time, I didn't know where else to put it but the good folks here guided me to the new location. In fact, if the DW placement was good to begin with, I would probably have just redecorated my kitchen instead of remodeling. Of course, I'm getting other good things out of the remodel (like a prep sink) but I'm pretty frugal and would have probably saved the expense of it all if the DW placement hadn't been so annoying. If you use the sink on the window wall for prepping most often because you're facing the fabulous view (and who wouldn't?), the DW will NOT be able to be left open for immediate loading. You will need to keep the door closed most of the time and pop it open to load. If you're prepping and someone is loading/unloading or even just popping it open quickly to pop something in, it often coincides with the moment I need to get some water for my prepping. If you had a much longer counter between sink and cooktop, it might make some sense. But you don't. It will be crowded. And note that I have 54" between sink and range so I have more space to move over when that DW door is open. You have only 39". 36" is the MINIMUM recommended by the NKBA. You really can't afford to lose work space there if you want to use it for prepping. Of course, you will have the option of moving over to the other sink to do that but then that also adds extra unnecessary steps. And if you are prepping and have to move over for someone to do stuff with the DW, you might as well move all your prep work there because it also cuts into the available counter space unless you don't mind leaning instead of standing in front of what you're prepping. I don't understand the view argument. If you use your DW properly, as DW manufacturer's recommend, you'll be spending little time at the sink as you should scrape, not rinse, before loading. Washing fruit and veg doesn't take long. I wish I could remember the statistics exactly but studies have shown that prep time is something like 70% of the time spent in the kitchen with the remainder divided between cooking (like when you're standing at the stove, not counting unattended oven time) and cleaning up. So the majority of your time will be in the prep area, not in front of the sink or at the DW. For that short period of time, you won't miss the view. Ha! Can you tell I feel strongly about this? It's your kitchen. I would never do it in my kitchen. I hope you won't regret your decision.