I won't either...;~) I had been helping one of my home care patient's parents with their landscaping, and as I arrived at work one day, the mom greeted me at the door all excited..." Did you see the semen I put around the trees?" I said, "Ummm, nooo..?", as I'm looking out the window and thinking maybe it was some Jerry Baker thing..."OH, you put in some SEDUM! It looks nice" "Sedum, yeah, what'd I say? YIKES!" It apparently was hereditary, her sister asked my advice on a good "ground clutter".

when I first came to the KT there was a story on another of the GW forums called Home Projects or something like that...It was HUSBANDS messing it up projects...it had gone on for years and was sooo darned funny...I sure wish someone would have kept it... Like You Moni...I love rereading the Bath episode and just recently I sought out the DOGS IN ELK...episode...fortunately its pretty easy to find on the web...

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.

I might have gone down the rabbit hole with the following plan, but I was thinking--how cool would it be to have the clean-up zone on the peninsula, m/l as originally drawn, so that dirty dishes could be handed directly from the table in the smaller DR, to the counter? The DR is small--but when the kids have grown enough to need more dining space, the porch can be converted, and everything will still be convenient to the new DR. And nothing will need to be done to the kitchen, except removing the current sliding door and sliding window, and casing the openings. The smaller DR could then become a study area for the kids, sitting area for you, a breakfast area with a smaller table for you and your DH when the kids are grown and gone, or the older kids' table for extended family dinners. (A few years ago we added a 24'x12' room off the kitchen, which is used daily as a play room, but doubles as a dining room when we have the whole family over--with up to 20 seated at three 6' tables placed end-to-end, and up to 6 older kids at the regular DR table. Once in a while we have to add a drop-leaf table to the LR (visible from the play room), to seat 4 more. You could extend the porch to accommodate your kids and their future families in much the same way. I'm imagining a dessert buffet and coffee service set up on the counter under the big sliding window.) In the meantime, a parent can sit in the seat on the end, convenient for retrieving forgotten items, and the other parent can sit beside the baby. The dish pantry is full height, and can house pantry items in the lower and upper shelves, with dishes on a level that's easy for the kids to reach, and it's completely separate from the prep and cooking zones. The clean-up zone could also be used for extra prep, and with a cutting board that covers the sink, can be used for counter space/buffet serving. I drew a short backsplash (3-4"?), to help contain drips and splashes--if you're using stone or solid surface material, the back side of the backsplash strip can be polished, and the edge finished, to match the front. That leaves a wider prep zone between the other sink and the cooktop--the larger sink can still be used for hand wash items, especially mixing bowls and pots and pans, which will be generated in the prep/cooking zones anyway. I drew a blind corner with a 16" cabinet (not counting the corner cavity), and a door that swings left-to-right--the width of the door can be adjusted to make sure it clears the oven handle. The corner cavity can be voided (or partially voided), but I'd include it and store seldom used items there--send a kid in after them. Ana White--Build a blind corner cabinet. The cooktop is not as protected as it would be in the original plan, but since the dividing wall extends past the point where the cook will be standing, and there is plenty of space to pass behind, I think it's safe. (Unless the kids all head for the porch/DR en masse, like a herd of cattle. ;) There are compromises in both of these last two plans, and I guessed at the size and exact location of the large window on the left, so neither plan might be possible without altering the window. I seem to be verbose today (I'm goofing off, and putting off transplanting strawberry runners--I spent most of yesterday afternoon transplanting, too), but one thing I was thinking as I described the seating arrangements for our family dinners is this--I wish we'd added that room when my kids were small, even if we'd had to use a HELOC to finance it. The ability to gather the whole family, with minimum hassle and upheaval, has been a blessing--not buying/doing anything that wasn't essential while the remodel was in progress (including vacations, clothes, shoes, etc.,--a promise I made to myself), was worth every sacrifice. To have four generations of both sides of our family present is very special--for my kids, and for me.