Right now, tomatoes are my LEAST favorite reseeders! They grew everywhere this year, even more than last year. Must have been in the compost and not cooked enough. Hating goldenrod - it tries to take over and there are several different kinds here; I was coddling one thinking it was Balloon Flower. Love: Alyssum Petunias Forget me nots Cosmos Ageratum (they don't flower as fast as indoor starts) Violas, but they petered out this year after a 5 year run First year trial: blue woodruff - asperula - is supposed to reseed. I threw some seed on the ground just a few weeks ago and it is already blooming. Hope it comes back. It's a lovely delicate blue flower.

Here is my list - - Additional blocking in the framing stage to accomodate grab bars, towel bars etc. Additional blocking being the slidebar of the shower also makes it sturdier to use as a grab bar. - Kerdi board for waterproofing - Heated wires throughout the floor including the shower area - Tall niches with shelves sized to fit the costco sized bottles - Tile that is not too slippery for the floor. Also used epoxy grout to make future maintenance easier. - frameless shower doors - we did pay a couple hundred dollars extra for the really clear glass - U-groove frameless - One of the bathrooms is curbless to accomodate access issues. Has nice looking grab bars and a folding teak shower seat that is ADA rated to 400lbs. - LED cans (california code) - Elongated Toto skirted toilets with sanigloss to make the cleaning easier - the special lutron switches where the fans stay on an extra 20 mins to clear all the steam. we used them with panasonic fans which are much much quieter than what we had in the past - wall mounted heated towel rods - hooks instead of towel bars.. I just preferred the more streamlined look of hooks - plug outlets inside the vanity to charge things. - wheeled laundry basket with divers to sort laundry has a niche to be tucked in. - separate toilet stall with a door. We did not do comfort height as we are not overly tall people. Elongated toto toilets with an integrated skirt to make cleaning easier and a GFCI outlet to plug in a washlet. - paper towel holder from Moen that doubles as a grab bar in the ADA bathroom. - accomodated for daylight (skylight or a window) in both the bathrooms to help people to wake up in the morning.. I love the daylight. - radio for listening in the morning. We are big public radio fans - wall mounted lighted makeup mirror - mirror defogger to prevent the mirror from getting steamed up.. - vac pan at the floor level that connects to our central vac system to make daily cleanups a breeze. I am picky about hair on the floor - solid core doors to prevent bathroom noises from being heard outside. I often have to get ready before dawn and the shower noise wakes DH up. - recirculating pump for our tankless to avoid warm water delays. Ours is integrated into the tankless. - Hansgrohe ibox to get the thermostatic control to preset the preferred temprature - Ebbe integrated drain that has a hidden hair snare. - Handheld shower with a longer hose to make it easier to clean the walls. - rain shower on a longer arm so that you can stand away from the wall.

I'm in CT. I used a medium gray plaster on a gunite shell, so the pool has a dark "pond water" type of look versus a bright blue water look. My pool (also 20x40) warms up quite nicely on sunshine alone. No solar cover, etc. Summer it stays in the high 80s, in a long hot spell it can turn to bath water in the low 90s. I do have a propane heater that can heat the pool and spa. I heat the spa, but haven't heated the pool since the kids went off to college. A 400k Raypak. I open the pool in April and close it in November. For heating the pool you'll want a 400k heater. Favorite simple things? I love the gray plaster and the dark subdued color of the water. I put turn tiles at each end of the pool for swimming laps. Dislike? The 3' wide ribbon of Kool Deck around the pool. I would have preferred to not have it and instead have stone coping, but for budget purposes I did the pool with the Kool Deck right away, as the kool deck was part of the pool package. Then the next year I installed the roughly 1800 sqft of stone patio, built and installed the 450' of cedar fence, and built the 16' by 40' pergola. Step by step. pool

I had the big kitchenaid pro that I used weekly for making honey wheat berry bread but it broke apart at the housing for some reason. DH said he couldn’t fix it, he can usually fix anything, Kitchenaid said to send it in and they would take a look. I didn’t ask about shipping either I ordered a Magic Mill instead and have no regrets. It had a learning curve but after the first time my bread is just as good as ever. I still have a Kitchenaid artesian with the glass bowl sitting on the counter but I’ve only used it once since getting the Magic Mill. I’m sure I will use it for smaller things just haven’t been in a baking, cooking mood we have just been so busy around here that if I get dinner on the table I feel I’m doing good.