After a little research I am pretty sure what I have are paper wasps, they are a little longer and more slender than some photos of yellow jackets, and they don't really seem to be too aggressive, I tried photographing one that kept flying around and around my potted golden celebration (my rose with the most leaf damage) it was very obviously checking the undersides of leaves & it payed me no attention at all. It was kind of neat to see this in action, these bugs are obviously pretty intelligent and seem to remember finding the larvae in that area before. BUT don't get me wrong, even if this type of wasp is less aggressive than actual yellow jackets I am still terrified of these little critters. Especially after researching them and reading a few of those horror stories out there. I just hope I never happen upon these guys' nest, I don't see it anywhere on my porch or my yard, so hopefully it's in my neighbor's yard! Michaelg, when you say yellow jackets usually don't do that until October, do you mean that they usually don't show their faces until that late in the year, or that they seem to be more aggressive around that period of time?

Lynn we are in a very similar place about our house - it's too big for us at this stage of our lives. We use most of the square footage in some way - because it's there - but could easily manage with half ! Our youngest will be graduating from college next May and HOPEFULLY will be employed and able to support himself but who knows? Our older son works for the forest service but those gov't jobs are shakey, to say the least, so we always want to have a place where they can land if needed. So.... we keep the big old house - for now. Stuff? I reached a saturation point many years ago and continually work to pare down. But it's back to that big house thing again - I'm not going to live in empty rooms so there's still far more STUFF than I actually need. When my mom died and I helped my dad move into an apartment, tons of family stuff came my way. Eleven years later when my dad died, the rest of it came to me. We've all talked about this before - the pull of family items and how hard it is to get rid of some things. But it has to be done so over the years I've pared down to the things that have the most meaning and passed the rest on in one way or another. I have dreams (nightmares?) about moving into a small home and having boxes and furniture stacked everywhere because I didn't sort and get rid of enough before moving!! Gifts? I could write a book. Christmas at my in-laws used to make me physically ill with the insane buying and giving of cr@p. It doesn't matter to me a bit how much time is put into the shopping and wrapping, or what the item is. When someone (namely my MIL) is purchasing *stuff* because of a date on a calendar and is obsessed with getting the same # of packages for each person, because that's "just what you do for Xmas" I want no part of it. We'd been married only a short time when I told my DH that I was opting out. He was totally on board. It was a sore spot with everyone in his family for many years but we held firm. We just stopped buying. Our kids would get everything they needed and some of what they wanted all through the year at a time when it made sense to get the item, not an enormous pile o' stuff, all on one day, much of it to be returned, exchanged or donated. And that returning/exchanging all fell to me, of course. A few years of that and we started just donating everything, in the boxes, tags still on. Give me a quiet day, with my family cooking together, laughing and going for a long walk...... THAT'S the gift I want.

About a week and a half ago I shoved every bit of sewing detritus to the back end of my huge cutting table and brought out the wrapping paper. This was fine while I was wrapping gifts. Then the DH and the DS went into my studio to wrap gifts. I may never see the table again, LOL. Paper scraps, ribbon bits, tape on the cutting mat, and where the heck did they hide by 6 1/2 square ruler??!! I must find that before I hit it with the rotary cutter. I usually use the day after Christmas as a day to sort and play with new fabrics (DH bought me (5) 1/2 yard cuts and a 2 yard cut of gorgeous fabrics this year - he knows the way to my heart), but it will have to wait this year. I love taking this time of the year to sort and organize. BUT - my son has a new girlfriend. She's gone for the holiday, of course (they are seniors at UT Austin), but she will be back on Monday. He wants decorated cookies to take to her. I have plenty of gingerbread cookies baked (I give them to the neighbors), but he was serious - he wants to decorate them himself, because Krisztina doesn't believe that he can. He's really quite good at it. So I'm going to be up to my ears in royal icing in several colors - I mix, he decorates, LOL. Here are some he did last Valentine's Day (for a former girlfriend).

The medallions on the ceiling and fan/fixtures need to go. I would install a nautical-inspired chandelier in your desired dining area. How tall is the ceiling? What furniture are you planning?