The guy shot 2 people on his way to the plant. At the plant he shot 15-16 people, killing 3. The Hesston police dept probably has 1 officer on duty at a time and he was the first responder who went into the plant and shot and killed the shooter. The shooter posted videos on FB of him shooting an AK47 into a field. Plus pictures of him and his kids at the zoo here in Wichita.

Never had them when I was growing up in town, nor when I moved here in the country. Once I had a friend who rented an upstairs apartment in a grand old house in a small community that had many Amish families as well as English. We were out walking one night before Christmas, and here came a group of Amish youths caroling house to house. We asked if we could join them. We recognized the songs, but they were being sung in German! All we could do is hum along. It was beautiful. Now that small village is a tourist haven and oh so changed and most all the houses on the main street were bought up and converted to shops. You can barely drive around with all the people and tourist buses from the city. This town is called Berlin, Ohio, if anyone knows of it.

ATK, I hear ya. I am also without much significant family at this point. No kids, not close to cousins and no nieces or nephews and my brother lives in another country and is estranged from the family so not even a sibling. And my husband is without much connection to family or friends either. But I faced the "holiday funk" long before I married him at 58. I came to realize that society puts a lot of pressure on people to buy and go and do certain things to celebrate, but what it really was consisted of a day off of work for me to do whatever I wanted. If you are christian, then Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Christ, all the rest is nice and fine and all that, but you don't need any of it to celebrate Christ, and IMHO, that can be done any day of the year. If you're not christian, then it's time to rest and regroup during the solstice. We get in funks this time of year due to the lessening of the light, (and here in the North Country it is damp, cold and miserable outside a lot of the time) so we need to figure out ways to bring light into our lives. Your solution is perfect!! I am also turning towards our screened in porch more and more during this pandemic, due to the dark nature of most of my house. Due to the garage wall and closed bedrooms taking up so much wall space, the light and windows in our house are mostly on the other side, which is bordered by the porch. I want more and more to cozy up out there and bask in the light, but no more due to it being just a screen and it is cold as heck out there. I hope next year I can figure out a way to enclose it . . . If one is without family, one needs to find connections to work, causes and communities that give you a sense of not being alone in this world and insignificant. Perhaps you can find some new outlets for that energy this year!! Your creative talent would certainly be valued by many in real life, not just us virtual friends . . . .

I enjoyed the video. I loved that she loved the design, and probably didn't give enough though to whether I liked the design (considering this thread is on a design website). There were elements I loved, and elements I loved individually but not in combination (like the burlwood and the mural you can see in the still for the video; I feel like they compete for attention in away that detracts from both). I really dislike the Cambria quartz pattern she has in her kitchen; something about the combination of over-the-top bold and super fake looking (relative to marble or any natural stone) just leaves me cold. Her pointing out the balloon on the ceiling amused me, and I enjoyed her storytelling in general. I really liked the laundry room, especially the artwork. I would probably never think to wallpaper a laundry room because of humidity, but papering everything was a nice effect.