Do you have any ethnic grocery stores in your area, they just might have a larger selection. It is hard to believe that sometime during the summer you don't at least end up with some Florida Avocados. I don't see the difference in the plants so far and any from seed would take way too long to produce any fruit.

I love this topic. I'm so thankful for my beautiful and still handsome husband, we've been married for almost 38 years (I was young), and our two beautiful son's. But I'm really thankful that I now have a large family. As some of you know, my parents were born and raised in VA., then moved here to OK. after college. Go VA. Tech! lol So most of my relatives are/were in VA, leaving our family very very small. My only sibling passed away last year, my mom has severe dementia and lives in another state, so I would get kind of lonely, wishing I had a family member to call. DH's family is also small. When my DS married, we now have a large, extended family. A real family whom we are with for every holiday and birthday. Plus my DIL's sister and her husband. What used to be 5 of us at TG (dh's mom would come), ended up being 17 people for dinner yesterday! I couldn't have asked for a better set of in-laws if I hand picked them myself. All we do is laugh, and they are there when I need a shoulder to cry on. I admit, I said a little prayer to God yesterday simply thanking Him for this wonderful blessing! Cue the violins! lol

Disagreements over Kids & Money are usually the biggest issues in a marriage. It's so much more complicated when it's a subsequent marriage & partners try to share money but have their own kids (and then kids together sometimes But when the kids are adults & you're on a limited or fixed income or you just want to save for retirement and/or even be able to spend on what YOU want to enjoy because you've worked all your life & now the kids are grown & gone... it's even more complicated when they disagree because the "kids" are adults that should be taking care of themselves and not draining their parent because who is going to take care of the parent if they spend money that should be saved for retirement, on adult kids' whims? My dad had the same issue in his second marriage... his wife's adult kids were always asking for things, money, etc. They kept funds separate from the beginning and she usually gave them what they asked for. Then when she got sick (she was in a vegetative state after a brain aneurysm for 12 years) and my dad cared for her at home using her disability & retirement funds... and taking the rest of what was needed out of HIS pocket (a couple thousand dollars a month), just before she died, her adult kids hired an attorney & had my dad in court... trying to get what they could from what they thought was their mom's money. They wouldn't accept that there was nothing left... after 12 years of home care. They not only didn't offer $$ to help take care of their mom, they didn't even thank my dad for taking care of their mom daily while still working full time ~ then they sued him & fortunately they lost. (which cost my dad over 5k in attorney bills, besides the stress) I guess my point is that even when you keep the money separate, you can't change what someone else does (in my dad's case, he couldn't change his stepkids from being greedy, self entitled sloths that never visited their mother & still thought they were owed something up to the very end). I only hope their mother didn't have enough brain function to know how her children treated her in her time of need & her final days. and my father did what he could to not allow himself to have any resentment toward them because that would have made HIS life more miserable.

I loved Ina's kitchen too, so I can't wait to see your finished kitchen! And I'm dong a 10' island with no upper cabs so we have similar taste :-) Here are my thoughts at first glance: - Ditto what Marcolo said about the range being butt to butt with cleanup, so moving the sink would be good. - It might just be me, but I feel like a 48" range (nix the speed oven) would have more visual balance with the island size. - Where will your dishes and silverware be stored? I know you said in drawers, but where will those drawers be? In the pantry? - Do you envision using the two DWs daily? Or one more when you're entertaining? We're doing two as well, but are putting the second one in our pantry and are going to use that as the "hide the mess" spot when we entertain. - Can you post your whole first floor? I searched for it but the references to it have been removed from your photobucket acct. - The current island seating looks like it might be hard to get in and out of because of the cabinet sides on the two end stools. Especially if two people are sitting in the middle seats. - I'd consider doing L-shaped seating and increase the seating amount to 6 or even 8. You said you have two kids but may have another one. I'd want to have a seat for at least everyone in the family, and ideally be able to accommodate each child having one friend over and all of them being able to sit at the island. - If you did do the L shaped seating, you could do cabs back to back on the other end and have more storage in one area. I drew your island at half inch scale so you can see what the L-shaped seating would give you and how much space you'll still have. You could also do backless chairs, like Ina, so they're hidden underneath when not in use. Since your den and nook is at that end, I imagine people will gravitate towards that end when you're entertaining.