Thanks everyone! Suebot, my kids and my garden - the only things I have time for. I used to have other hobbies, but now I can only have winter hobbies, as my gardens are all-consuming. I also have lots of toys, water, hoses etc. outside to try to get the kids to stay outside with me for longer. Purple daisy - yes, that is euphorbia polychroma with Santa Cruz iris. This year they are even more beautiful and in bloom right now. I added baptisia and montana bluet so as the iris fade the euphorbia has a new purple partner. It blooms for so long. Here it is: New projects for this year are: * an orange, yellow and white barn bed * a front shade foundation planting * a circular potager * and a peony bed all along the front drive. I transplanted the peonies in the fall, and now the peony buds are getting big and fat, so I only have to wait about 2 more weeks to see how that turns out. I'm optimistic! The edging is only half done. It's boring so I just do it a little at a time. Photos in the winter! Right now I'm too busy planting, mulching, etc.

This is great and a time consuming task. Perhaps to make it easier for you, why need just group them into afghans/baby/holiday/assorted or whatever and then see what the postage would be to ship 5 or 6. Then, offer them as "bundles" to people and let them be surprised. Just a suggestion to make your life easier.

Well, apparently this wasn't a big hit with you mommies, but I think this poem is a wonderful tribute to the fearless, adventurous innocence of toddlers, and if I hadn't used up all my son's baby pictures already, I would make an album using this poem! :)

I haven't used any of the ideas yet, but hope to show some of the ideas to our remodeling contractor to incorporate as we proceed on the remodeling of our new (old) house. One idea I thought was particularly clever is the use of space beneath a staircase. The house we will be moving into has a staircase up into an attic room. In the book, they use the space beneath the stairs in creative ways such as building regular or pullout drawers of various sizes tucked in under the staircase. Another idea I liked was using the taller part of the understaircase area as a small, but efficient home office. Other ideas include a small bookcase built in between the studs just above a doorway that I thought was very clever. There are many ideas in the book that make use of space between wall studs, thus diminishing the effect of having yet another piece of furniture poking out into already limited room space yet still providing storage or display space. For a couple of projects, she shows space that is shared by rooms on either side of the wall. She has one where there is a washer/dryer that goes through a wall in a sunroom and emerges on the other side as part of a covered bathroom vanity top (hard to visualize, I know). Another clever idea shown is a one-can width pantry covered by a sliding barn door type mechanism. One project in the book says you can have spacious undersink drawers beneath your kitchen sink instead of the traditional cupboard if you reroute your pipes and trap towards the back of the cabinet. If other posters have come across other innovative books on small house storage, I sure would appreciate sharing the titles.