Actually, I was only half serious when I said it was better 'NOT KNOWING'..Like anything else, it's important to learn, whether it's taking a course, reading, the internet or talking to ppl who study the subject.. Like Gabi's interest in breeding dogs..there's a lot to learn..When we lived in Chicago, I used to breed fish. So, there was tons of learning involved..what to feed babies, size of aquarium, what to do w/parents while babies were still young, etc. When we moved to the burbs, selling fish was too much, so we kept the parents, until they passed on..then got into breeding baby cockatiels..another learning experience..more reading..I bred birds for 6 yrs..lots of fun, but work too. Now that the parents are getting older, there's not much breeding going on, but I admit in early spring I discareded over 25 eggs..I felt terrible, but because of dad's age, I was concerned for the chicks health..The last batch bore a few babies that weren't right..I had to keep one, a pure white, tiel, girl. She's basically crippled, and has all sorts of health problems..so I figured as difficult as it was for me to toss eggs, I couldn't see breeding more..It's just too upsetting. BTW, Gabi, what type of dogs do you plan on breeding? Larry, what a story!! Sad and joyful at the same time..I'm glad you continued education though.. So, yes, it is important to read all we can on plant topics..and there's so much more to learn..My memory isn't what it used to be..so I mostly stick w/common names these days..sorry folks..And with all the new hybrids it's almost impossible keeping up..lol..take care, Toni

kcclark, Thanks for the suggestion about keeping leaves in the fridge. Actually, I have a huge selection of milkweed within 10 steps of my back or front door. I can get fresh leaves from outside nearly as quickly as I could from the fridge. I raised around 50 cats last year at multiple different ages. All the ones I have now are within a few days of one another, so it should be even simpler. In fact, they might be just about ready to eclose for the first week or so of school. I can send them to school with my kids. Martha

I'll tell you-- sometimes I think I'm just a glutton for punishment. I think I'm one of maybe three or four people in that entire forum with a conservative point of view. I go in there and within seconds, I'm pulling my hair out (what little I have left! :-) ), but when I get home from work, I can't wait to get all the tile questions out of the way so I can see what's going on over there!! Masochistic, or what!! LMAO

Some of this is hard to evaluate, particularly the white cabinets. As has been discussed a lot here, white cabinets seem to be "new and trendy" in some areas, but "longtime classic that happens to be popular right now" in others. We live in an area where the latter is the case, so I'm not viewing the fact that I'm painting cabinets white to be trendy, per se. But anyway: dark distressed wood floors - No, our wood floors are the rather standard "medium" finish oak, and I am perfectly fine with them. I think the really dark floors are one of those things that are going to wind up looking really dated really fast. white counter tops - No, we're going with honed jet mist granite (which, in fairness, could also be viewed as trendy I suppose). white cabinets - Yes, but as I said above, I view them as more classic than trendy white walls - Sort of. Wall color (and our kitchen is totally open to dining/sitting, so I had to pick a color that would work overall) is more of a very light beige/cream. So not white white, but not a bold color big gas range - Absolutely, and I can't wait. farmhouse sink - No. I wanted one, but since we're not doing a full gut and are using existing cabinets, it would have been kind of a pain to install stainless steel - yes. I have rather mixed feelings on this one. I'm fine with stainless steel, but don't love it in a House Hunters sense of "I NEED MY STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES". The range we ordered is a Blue Star, and I kind of wanted to go with one of the fun color options. But on the other hand, I wouldn't say that this is our "forever" house, and I do want to keep resale in mind. I may order a set of colored knobs eventually, though - I want obnoxious lime green ones to pay homage to the 70s era formica in my childhood home. Other things: Backsplash - I am doing subway tiles, but not white. That's where I'm bringing in some color, and am currently trying to decide between Fireclay's "nautical" and "crater lake" blues. The current cabinetry is raised panel. I'm about 75% sure that we're just painting (there is a chance we may replace just the doors with shaker style, which would be my preference, but budget plays a role). Even though the shaker is my preference, I won't be crushed if it doesn't happen and we stick with the raised panel. I don't really view raised panel as dated, I think of it as classic. I also think of shaker as classic, though, because it is. We are turning an existing peninsula into an island, but it's to improve flow/create a more circular floor plan, not because it's trendy. No built in microwave drawer. Keeping existing fridge which isn't counter depth. So yeah, it isn't as perfectly flush and sleek as it could be, but it holds groceries for a family, plus a collector-level amount of craft beer, so it's staying.