I don't think I could do it, move that is. Not after 25 years of turning a nothing yard into flowers and beautiful shrubs. what I would suggest is collecting seeds from all of your annuals that you possibly can. Take cuttings of all perennials that you can and start rooting them now. If you wait any longer to start rooting them or taking root divisions, it will be too late to try and plant them in your new home. Maybe you should wait till next year and start the plans to sell in the spring. That way you will have all your annual seeds and divisions and root cuttings to start in your new home. Of course, you could do what a neighbor of mine just did. She'd lived in her home for over 40 years and moved into an in-law apartment with her son. This elderly woman dug up just about all of her perennials and annuals then end of july and moved them with her to her new home. She had to have had at least 200 plants with her. She did ask the new owners what, if any, plans they had for her gardens. They where kind enough to tell her they where going to demolish 5 of her garden beds to add on to the house and throw out all of the plants.!!!!! That's all she needed to hear, she started digging 3 weeks before they closed on the house. Yes she gave quite a few seeds and plants. No way where they going into the garbage heap.

I see the cover as nothing more than a visual sound bite. IMHO Time is doing what good journalism should do, present the facts, allowing you to form your own opinion. Extreme parenting is producing a generation of kids who don't see the benefits or necessities of creating their own success' in life, but are simply full of the feeling of entitlement. It is sad that so many people are sexualizing this cover. I am hoping it opens up a dialogue about the problems we are facing but let's not be confused as to the issues that should be addressed - it is not whether or not a toddler is shown BF but rather, what our society is going to do to change the attitudes of our teens and 20 somethings. This is a whole generation that will eventually be responible for taking care of many of us in old age. I truly fear for us all. What I find strange is why any one of your children would ask what is on the cover. My kids were taught that "boobies" were there to feed babies. I always fed my kids in public if I had to. I was discreet about it, but I would never let anyones stares keep me from doing something so natural. If any cover should have caused such a response, it should have been the one with the picture of the middle eastern woman whose in-laws cut off most of her face because she didn't follow the "rules". For me, covers at the cash register that are extremely unnacceptable are trash mags like Maxim, with woman shown in sexually demeaning clothing and positions. That I hate - for my sons to see, and even more for my daughter, lest she think that is her acceptable and expected role in life.

Thank you all, again. To clarify, we have an accepted offer on the house we are buying. We were able to work out a deal with a closing date in late February/early March, so that gives us four months to sell. Luckily, real estate is moving fairly quickly in our area, so we are confident our house will sell quickly as long as it's priced right. As far as buying when the market was high, we lucked out in that we got a great deal on a fixer upper at that time. We are very lucky to have a good amount of equity in the house. My husband and I are both in real estate (I'm a real estate paralegal, he flips houses) so we kind of saw the crash coming and were able to negotiate a decent purchase price. We're still a ways away from having all the pieces in place, but we're hoping everything continues to go smoothly.

rhome - I agree the dark counters would have been cold and warm but to me, more or less a black color is more neutral, and I was also borrowing the idea from a magazine. Why exactly that black and the beige worked in my inspiration picture is beyond me - I just know that it worked. That picture also showed a kitchen w/ white cabinets and it worked beautifully, but again I can't say why. Probably cause there's a hint of peach or pink that makes it less than just a really dull beige - and then also because the beige went so nicely w/ the floors. Yes I like contrast and I definitely would have had it w/ the black/dark grey counters but I was really trying to move away from something that's not only so ubiquitous these days and yes so potentially dreary in our small, dark, North-facing kitchen. I too like grey and beige together, which is along the lines of liking tan with black. And it's funny cause you know how right now tan and grey is going together more like in interior furniture. As for my instincts, I don't know...I think it's more of a hit & miss thing. I think when I hit it I really hit it but when I miss it, well it's just too often or random for me to be able to gamble considering I won't have the money to rip it all out and start over. Don't even really have the money to be doing this in the first place! :-o It's not deficit spending per se, and half the money's going to pay off the one and only credit card we have, but the money could have gone to pay something more off such as car, or savings toward kids school, etc. (having some guilt there). Re. not having enough faith in my instincts, I agree there too...I just haven't had the opportunity to remodel before (the most I've ever really done is choose paint colors, curtains, rugs, throw pillows and furniture)! I think the bottom line is that black w/ tan works REALLY well - thanks to that magazine picture pointing this out ;) but grey and beige is just a lot more questionable. Here's the clincher, which happens to be what I want to say in response to mondragon: mondragon - What's funny is that I totally agree w/ you that it works in a more modern looking way. I think in a modern kitchen, the stainless steel and beige tiles would look pretty cool. Almost retro-modern, since pink was such a '50's color. Problem is I'm trying to make the kitchen look more 1913 (trying to make the stainless *work* as period, due to its surroundings and the fact that they did have zinc countertops e.g. in pantries back then). So I guess the final question is that while it can look good in a modern kitchen - and that's I guess where I guess my instincts may be okay - can it work in an older looking kitchen (regardless of the fact that marble definitely can)? Something tells me the farm sink, gooseneck faucet and pendant light might tie it all together (and the original cupboards) but once again - not sure. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond, and I'm sorry to always be writing so much! I hate that about me but just can't seem to help myself when it comes to something so important to me! Can you imagine having 3 small, messy boys, one big messy husband, and no dishwasher or disposal or undermounted sink to make life dramatically better?! ;) And now I'm thinking of upgrading from a very standard fridge made in 1990 that has 18.2 cu. ft., to something much bigger! Just being able to keep big gallons of milk in the door will be a massive improvement!