Guess we decided to hang out in a place that has temperatures as hot s our own (it said 109 on the marquee a few minutes ago) and different sorts of bugs than we have, with the ocean. Thanks Pidge, it was fantastic! It was LF's first time at the shore and he was fearless. I'd post the two pictures which show him running towards and away from the tide, but photobucket or gardenweb is preventing posting (changing my typed in URLs) :( We had a blast. We drove down I-65 until it ran out. Seconds before it did, the conversation went something like, "We have to choose, left is Florida, right is New Orleans". "Uhh... Left then. We'll go to New Orleans tomorrow.". LF and I were stung by jellyfish(?) and lived. Jumping in the surf, splashing in the waves, sitting on the sand sipping brews, we all got what we came for. Since we stayed on Santa Rosa Island, we drove to the tip end of it in the morning. That afternoon, we were in New Orleans. LF was able to taste beignet and cafe au lait, the sites were amazing (as many previous times have been) and sad (destroyed roofs, windows, walls, FEMA trailers as far north as Hattiesburg, MS). They are rebuilding, they're alive and their spirit is soaring. Unfortunately, they're still not done and much repair is continuing. Our hotel was at 12% occupancy and we ened up with a corner room overlooking the Mississippi and downtown NO, normally worth $525. We paid $129 for it. While we dined on our french doughnuts, we were serenaded by Goldie. He sang The Way You Look Tonite with Lady in Red mixed in, his own rendition. I heard America singing and saw a phoenix rising. Fun vacation!

Argh - this whole "cut holes in my beautiful granite" thing is very scary! I guess I should figure out which is the main "clean up" sink - we have young kids and had only one sink that was ever used to actually "wash" the dishes b/c it had a disposal. The other was a receptacle for holding while we still cleared the table, etc. If I make the "washing" space on the left in the big sink, with the disposal - then wouldn't the soap need to go over there? Otherwise, I'd have to lift the pot or plate into the smaller sink, get soap, then lift it back over? (I see now why people don't do divided sinks! Ah well...) I can't see doing the primary work of washing, scrubbing, movin' the dishes around in the smaller sink, you know? Maybe this is why people have two disposals? The hot/cold water faucet is for chilled water and an instahot. We went with a fridge that didn't have cold water and ice in the door despite it being a lifelong dream of mine. (wink - but not really a joke. I've dreamed about it since I was a teen at home. We've never even had an automatic ice machine in our freezer - just trays... I can't WAIT!)) so hubby promised I could have chilled water at the sink. I originally wanted it at the prep sink but there isn't a lot of room there, you know? I'm sort of trying to space it out so you could go get a glass of icey cold water or a cup of hot water for tea without slamming into the soap, you know? Thanks for your thoughts - I think the more complicating thing too is that curve of the second sink being shorter on the right - that's where the faucets etc are supposed to go, I think...?

I'm in So Cal zone 10.

You're right in the middle of our winter growing season, but it's only about another month and a half or so before we start planting our summer crops. So, if I were you, I would only plant fast growing winter crops outdoors at this point (radish, lettuce, etc) unless you have lots of room to have both winter and summer crops in the ground - and definitely get your rear in gear on starting things like tomatoes and peppers indoors. Those I usually start indoors the first-second week of Jan to plant out at the end of Feb or early March. I'd also start preparing your outdoor spaces and planning for planting summer crops like beans, squash, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, etc toward mid-March or early April. We definitely grow year-round here. We usually can plant things throughout the winter that most climates have to squeeze in during spring or fall. If we get temperate years and you live in a decent micro climate, you can even grow some summer crops year-round (I still have tomatoes ripening on the vine from last March's plants). This is a good generalized guide about what to plant when in southern California - although depending on your micro climate you can definitely push the boundaries on a lot of these. Just a good rule of thumb. http://www.lagardenblog.com/2010/11/month-by-month-planting-guide-for.html And a rule of thumb for sowing seeds - http://www.grangettos.com/assets/products/VeggiePlantingGuide.pdf Lots of other guides out there too for the googling :)