Hi Just had to add some comments on the way the state handled the "canker " problem in florida . First they spent a fortune on "mandatory" inspections. Then removal of infected trees , then removal of all citrus family within 1500 feet of an infection. i don't remember the total of what this cost but court said they could not remove without compensation .Paid about one third of the owners , fund dried up.Class action lawsuit followed which is still pending. decided that removal is useless due to the fact that the disease is airborne .Program was cancelled lol Sure hope they handle the "greening a bit better?? Sure hope so considering replacing my lost citrus . gary

I think nowadays washers are pretty much designed to last 5 years. The extended warranty people won't sell a warranty that lasts longer than 5 years from purchase date, and they know their business. They've no doubt got it all graphed out and five years is where the average expenses involved in keeping machines going starts to climb steeply. Right now I'm waiting on delivery of a Bosch frontloader. Old top loader machine is six years old, the five year warranty has expired. Getting someone to look at it would cost AU$110 before they even dropped their tool kit down next to the machine. I could open it up myself and tinker with it, but I've a fair idea what is going wrong and it would need a moderately priced and somewhat fiddly to install new part and since I'm not terribly good at such things there's a chance I'd balls it up so bad as to make it not repairable at all. A large machine is also difficult to handle when doing repairs, and both my partner and I have had back injuries in the past. And quite frankly, the old machine was OK but it had it's problems. New machine cost AU$745 delivered. I get AU$200 of that back from the city because they run a rebate scheme for buying high efficiency water using appliances. In every year of use I'll probably save about AU$100 on my water bills. And it's a nicer machine in general, with a better choice of cycles. And I get to buy a five year extended warranty for it for just AU$99, thus securing myself from most unexpected expenses associated with the machine, an option I no longer had for the old machine. What happens with the old machine? It gets taken away by the delivery guys and delivered to an appliance reconditioning center that will look at whether it can be repaired and resold economically. Since this occurs at their timetable rather than as a call out, they can do this rather cheaply. Maybe it gets fixed up, maybe it gets broken down for parts to fix other washers, maybe they pull all the stuff that can be sold as scrap out of it and junk the rest. I would prefer that the expected lifespan of a major appliance was ten years or more, but that's just not how things are any more.

The miniseries was good but the book was so much better. I hate multiple choice questions because I am usually good at finding the correct answer. It's Colleen McCullough for certain. Now if you had thrown in another Colleen, I would have been forced to think a bit.... ;)

Yesterday I felt such a block in decision. I think that I needed to explore options again, and really define what I did not like, what I wanted most, and what I could live with and not live with. Yes, I wanted more open space and I want to use the foyer better,(there is furniture in there now...but I will be revisiting it after the remodel to be sure it is used well) The foyer is a high traffic area, but we have also used it for entertaining with temporary seating and it works great. After thinking it through again and weighing the pros and cons... I think the new layout in the existing kitchen is the best way to go. I put masking tape on the floor and lived with it yesterday too. And today, I tried to imagine again my kitchen in the dining room, connected to the living room. It did not feel right to me. This is our relaxing place in the evening. Plus, as I said, this kicks up the total cost much more. I still very much appreciate all of the suggestions and ideas. I'm still telling myself to "breathe". It helped just knowing that you all gave even the most minutiae details such careful attention to your kitchens. Your finished kitchens are some of my inspirations! I realize now that to have the end vision clearer and to define my priorities for the kitchen are essential. I am still going to order the cabinets and try for the remodel sooner rather than later. I realize that it seems that I just began yesterday and want it done asap, but really it has been alot of thinking and planning and research in bits and pieces over time, so that things just weren't coming together as quickly as I wanted it to once I finally had time to get focused on the plan. Sorry I did not answer all of your questions.. I did read and think about all of them... many we had asked ourselves before, so it reinforced that we have given more consideration to things than it seems.