Well, I am not sure how old is the sun-dried horse manure I got. The manure in general looks like finely light-brown chopped up and loose hay. Some are in clumps, dark color. When I broke the clumps up, the outer part was very dry. Most of the inner parts were dry too. There was small amount of the inner parts were still moist. Being a city girl, I had never seen what horse manure looked like. I did not know what look to expect. I thought at first only were the clumps the manure. I asked my friend if the chopped-up and loose looking part was not being eaten but decomposted a little. He told me that the entire loose chopped-up hay looking was digested through the horse's stomach. What do you think about the manure I have? I was thinking the same way too, that I have only nitrogen. I even don't know where to get sawdust. If it is a possibility, I can get the shredded wood from the recycle center. However, if this kind of donated shredded wood has been exposed to pesticide or herbicide, would composting process kind of kill the effect of the chemicals?

What a wonderful package! I remember those toast racks, altho' I think we ended up using it for napkins as well! The bar set is tres chic, and I love the regional foods. I think those are often the coolest part of swap packages, but they get a run for their money in this one!

Jon1270 - This is awesome! Thank you so much. This is closer to what we had expected. First, the position of the cans at the counter edge, then the placement at the peninsula. I felt the cans should surround the sink, your suggestion does just that. We already have undercounter lighting at the places you recommend, in addition to the upper displays - the one forgotten one was the light in the niche over the range. We had an electrical run for it, but forgot to order a light for it so will do that as well. And yes, we were very uncertain about placing a can above the range. We have quite the powerful lighting in our range hood already plus an ambient light bar there as well. It seemed to be overkill, plus the range hood sticks out as far as the range. We're considering a hanging light over the island that is about 28x28 - do you think this is too large/small and regardless still in need of cans flanking either side of the light? Also, do you think having no cans between the island and the peninsula will leave 'dark holes'? It is about 8ft from the center measure of the island to the center of the peninsula. I think the lighting specialist we visited with (who actually visited us) was trying to keep the lights symmetrically in line. And while we are symmetrical with lots of what we do, the suggestions just didn't feel right for us. Yours do. Thank you again.

I watch very little tv but I do tune in to a morning news/entertainment show and an evening news show. In the morning there is a gal with a bare pregnant belly advertising some kind of cream to keep that belly soft and it annoys the cwap out of me. I do not want to see a stranger's bare belly with my morning coffee, no matter how cute and young she is and no matter how wonderful the miracle of birth is. Here in Florida (I never noticed this so much back in NJ) we see TOO MANY car dealership commercials and lawyer commercials. OMG. There is one loud, fast talking and obnoxious (just my opinion) couple who sell cars and the lady has a choke hold on their dog which is always sitting on the hood of a car. I think someday I'll write a complaint to the ASPCA just to make myself feel better LOL. I am an expert at hitting either mute or off on my remote :)