Michelle, kudos to you on your annual plant sale for Children's Hosp. Boston / Children's Miracle Network! Just want to share that it was your spreadsheet on googledocs last year that gave me the idea for our Zone Wars spreadsheet. By using a table in html Manda had gotten everyone's screen name listed individually for the first time, instead of an anonymous total. But it was tedious to do in html & hard to hand off to someone else in the future. Manda had posted about wanting to use googledocs but did not get around to it before she got sick. I clicked through to your spreadsheet in reading about your plant sale last year, your charity plant sale organized in nice online spreadsheets. Just what we needed! I read all the googledocs help and voilÃÂ - easy excel in an online document instead of complicated html. Hard working Terrene has had to split merged cells and squeeze in extra zones but between NancyPlants and Terrene, Zone Wars is splendidly displayed. It is thanks to you! I made local donations of my winter sowing plants last year but I am not driving distance for you :) Hope Boston area residents will wintersow the 2-3 packets of seeds you ask & donate the plants for your worthy cause: Children's Hosp. Boston / Children's Miracle Network! Best wishes, River

I am "just me" as well. Here's what I do....and eat for 2 meals and freeze the rest. 1/4 cup chopped onion 2 T chopped green pepper Sautees slowly in 1 Tbs olive oil When starting to soften, add 1/2 pound lean ground beef and a large clove of garlic sliced thin or chopped. Sautee and stir until the meat is broken up and no longer pink. Add one large can ( think it's 32 oz) of whole canned Italian plum tomatoes. Break them up with your hands, and add 1 small can of continadina (other brands are bitter) tomato paste, and fill the can with dry red wine and add that too. Add herbs...1 bay leaf, 1 tsp dry oregano and 1 tsp dry basil and 1 tsp of dry parsley. Cover and simmer at least an hour, stirring occasionally. Serve over cooked pasta. Makes about 3 to 4 servings. Or....this is more likely to happen in the summer. In a 10 inch fry pan sautee a small sweet onion, half a green pepper and half a red or yellow pepper in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When slightly softened add 2 small zucchini cut into chunks, or one zucchini and one small peeled eggplant, 2 cloves of garlic, several mushrooms...4 to 5 small ones, and 3 or 4 fresh peeled cut up tomatoes. add a handful of fresh mixed basil and parsley with a little oregano or thyme is you have it fresh... Cook fairly rapidly stirring often until most of the liquid has evaporated ands erve over pasta....top with Fresh grated parmesan. Oh my....I love summer!! Linda C

You should definitely list your "wants" and "don't wants" out -- including reasons why you think you want them that way. Everything in the "Welcome to the forum" posting is just as useful for a designer as it is for this board. You could show him the ideas so far, but make sure that you both agree as to what are the good/bad points so that he doesn't just copy the 'hated' parts. You've already gotten several layouts or tweaks from this community, I wouldn't worry about gathering any more for the moment. You should ask for: References, references, references. Scope of work. If you are planning on getting multiple bids for the cabinets, then does that mean you only want a layout and are not using the designer to pick materials? Talk about the scope of work, what you are hiring out and what you want to do yourself. A good designer will be knowledgeable on different price levels of materials, and can recommend installers as well. How much running around do you want to do? After a while, I loved having the designer pull a limited number of colors and materials to choose from, it made decision making less overwhelming. It did take some time before I trusted her, but after that I didn't feel the need to re-research every little thing. Get a sample contract, but don't sign it until you have had time to look it over and check references. Make sure you have a clear understanding of costs/billing. (If he's billing at XX per hour, ask if that includes the time to drive out to your place in the country. Ask if that includes phone calls, emails, etc.) An experienced designer probably comes with a list of things they usually cover at a first meeting, so you can start there then add items from above as needed.

hey don't be shy and get a w.chair and enjoy yourself! that back pain can be a "bummer" (replace with stronger word, lol) love the dress and hair... too bad it's not the san diego zoo...they have a bus ride around the park that allows you to see about 80-90% of the park and then shorter walk to the primates, children's petting and snakes(yuck)....i always encourage people to take it...