thanks for everyone's ideas. although I am in my second year of hard core gardening, I have never laid out a whole large area from scratch. Instead have done more like beds. Tomorrow morning, my friend who is a master gardener and my garden mentor is coming over to help me lay out the plants (I've collected over 100 things to put in the ground) - probably 10-15 vines. so, once i figure out where they are going, I will come up with how to keep em up! Will keep you posted with pictures, etc. He arrives at 6am and works like a crazy person at an insane pace. I thought i was bonkers when I get going, you should see Davyn! Wishing for lotsa energy and little rain. Actually cloudy in the low 60's is expected in Seattle. Yippee. Happy Weekend gardening to y'all.

Remember that many popular cake mix brands contain trans-fats (partially hydrogenated oils). The FDA has determined trans-fats to be unhealthful and has banned their use in food products. There's a 3 year phase out. The below linked article notes that it's expected the ban will reduce deaths from heart disease by thousands of people each year. That's significant. Maybe not in regular grocery stores, but there are mixes available with less dangerous ingredients. Trans-fat ban article

That's what I'm doing, to the second bedroom, both of which are rooms in which I installed the wallpaper about 15 years ago. It was good wallpaper, and the rooms were never occupied by children with crayons and art paint.. so the paper was/is in good condition. I didn't use a steamer on the one room completed, just the DEF (if that's the name, may be no better than vinegar) and a lot of repeated soaking and scraping/picking, not fun. It then took some effort to get the remaining glue off. The walls are wallboard, the house having been built in the mid 80s. I suppose I did a lousy job of "sizing" the walls, so it is appropriate that I pay the price when it is time to take it off. The master bedroom has the subject alcove/vanity area that is distinct but fully visible from the bedroom, and has the sink and counter. I suppose it is about 8' wide by 5' and is the entry to the master bathroom and on the other side to the walk-in closet. It has 8' foot ceiling (happy I've never owned one of the modern mansions with the 10' ceilings). I took the wall paper off of one wall, and it was such a job I decided to spackle the joints and feather sand and prime/paint. The oil-based KILZ primer/sealer is recommended for use over wall paper, the oil will not lift the wall paper (guess what, even when you can't get the paper off, a water-based paint/primer will find spots to lift) and will seal it so that a latex paint can be used for the final finish. I did the vanity area that way, and looks fine...time will tell. I may do the same for some large areas of the master bedroom too. Heck, this gives me another layer of barrier on exterior walls, two walls are exterior. I'm not suggesting a measurable increase in R-value, just trying to feel better about not getting the wall paper off. I'm yet to see how hard it is to take the paper off. I have had better experience removing paper I have installed, but as luck would have it, it was on a smallish room, still I appreciated the paper coming down in large pieces, even sheets. Sorry for the long post, hope there's something useful in there.

A floating cork floor (click together) has a life span of 25+ years. As for durability of the cork itself, the US Library of Congress has had their cork floor (same stuff minus a few repairs) since the 1890's (more than 120 years). As far as we can tell (cork has only be used as a flooring material for 180 years...unlike stone = 10,000 years of use) cork will last as long as the thing it is glued to lasts. It is like rubber. So long as the adhesive keeps on keeping on the cork will too. That should be long enough for a work out space.