I actually wrote peta once since at the time I donated. No reply, so stopped donating. I always open my mouth at the local stores, and actually start selling customers the right thing. Manager lets me at one I go to, even let me set some up in larger bowls with banana plants - sold out! (I feel so sorry for them, I often used to (had to stop) change their water each week) and at other huge place no body was there and guys were given bettas at a function, (nice present you now have to go and buy what is needed, thoughtless really) and I was suprised they bought what was necessary. Even a nice low light expensive annubias (never had a fish before so thought that would be easy to keep) Horrible and shows how we as a species (sans those who keep fish correctly of course) disregard other species (my background in science and later psychology and papers on animal abuse) As a person who used to sell clothing while going through 2nd degree, I don't understand why they don't realize they would make more money. Little tank with heater, filter so on, plant or two, cave... I think little set up for 20 - 25.. better price target met and happy customer who will buy more later. At least that's what I suggest and have shown them when I do a sell - sold 80 bucks worth once. People just need education and that's the key. Most places don't really care. sigh Sherry

I'm confused. Why can't someone just use Bake? I may be totally naive and not discerning enough --and not baking with enough variety to relate to the conversation, but I don't notice any difference between using the Wolf Bake that apparently uses a little of the top element to do what they've considered is the best job, and using my old GE Profile that wasn't convection. I thought maybe it's part of the compensation for having the bottom element buried? I have also never found much of a learning curve with convection, other than to not use it for certain things. I don't adjust temps, and am happy to have things cook a little quicker when they do. Those old ovens weren't all that perfect or precise, so checking to make sure things didn't under or over bake was routine. There aren't ovens out there, are there, for which you can't turn off the convection? I'm with you on the knobs, of course, and do wish there was a quality oven available without all the bells and whistles and in the hundreds, not thousands, of dollars. I would've gladly done that this last time. But less expensive just meant cheaper. It's like the cars that have GPS and electronic everything, but you can't trust to get you from Point A to Point B without parts falling off.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read through these posts and to post advice and suggestions and constructive criticism. I am taking all of it into consideration and some of it was not what i wanted nor expected to hear, but what I needed to hear. I feel as if a little more explanation is needed. We found a builder that we really like and everyone that he has built for has been really happy. He had several plans that we could look at or if we had any plans he could build whatever we liked. He has a gentleman that could draw and customize a home for us. We thought it was architect at first and the price was so good because we were going through him and he would then be able to have our house plan to use in the future. Upon our first meeting with the gentleman that was going to draw up of dream home so we could make it a reality, we learned that he was not an architect, or designer. He's retired now from 40 years of experience woking on/building homes and is good with the software. He is very kind and has been very patient with the many changes we have made along the way. However, we soon discovered that he really has no design ideas or suggestions. He just draws whatever we ask him to or whatever I draw to send to him. If we wanted something a changed, the standard procedure was to just make part of the house bigger, we had gotten up to almost 4400 square feet! If we didn't like the way something worked and asked for a change, he would fix that issue and cause 2 more. I got so frustrated that we are trying to build our dream home and pretty much the only person I had for design help was myself. Uhm, I really want someone with much more skill and talented and better taste to design my home. I know what I want, I just do't know how to get there. We have been working on this for 8 months. I got so frustrated that I gave up for 3 months. Our neighbors are using the same builder and they had difficulties getting their design as well. However they had found a floor plan that they liked and just had him make changes to it and add a mother in law plan. I firmly believe that we are his first truly start from scratch home. Again, this is the guy the builder sent us to to have plans drawn, not our builder. Giving him credit he has taking my very very basic sketches and turned them into something the builder can build from, but pretty much the design is about 99% me, not that I wanted it that way. Here is where I'm at, so you can see that he is doing all the builder type stuff. We don't want to be difficult, but we want a good design. We don't want the builder to think that we are difficult or indecisive because we just can't get there with his guy. I'm at a loss! Several people wanted to know the lot dimensions. So here they are: It is at the top of a ridge, has some slope to it and has a nice open are in the middle. Of course we want the house to sit about at the arrows part of the lot. There is an utility easement of 20 feet on the right side of the lot, but the utility poles are more like 30 feet inside the property. I really do appreciate all of your insight. It has been eye opening. I'll make another post addressing questions and comments. Sorry to be so long winded.

@kgeorge12 regarding the orientation - your neighbors are pretty far away, so I guess the question you need to ask yourself is how important it is for you to have light in your home, vs. seeing a neighbor's house. Your house doesn't need to be oriented DIRECTLY south, either. An architect can help you orient it to maximize both light and privacy, while still giving you curb appeal. I agree with cpartist - your initial draft looks very similar to a lot of home plans I've seen. Since this is for ageing in place, also consider that your kids may come visit when they're older, and with their families. If you do a house with "wings", or an L shape or H shape, you can create privacy for everyone (your kids as kids, your kids as adults, your kids with their kids) while still maintaining your goals. Regarding the garage: if I had your space, I would absolutely put the garage through a breezeway off the house. Regarding laundry, you could consider a laundry closet with a stacked W/D for the kids near their rooms. If they're older, they can do their own and won't need to access the laundry by your closet. It's a long haul for them to bring their clothes to the current laundry room. I assume the closet in the hall behind the kitchen is the pantry then, and the closet labeled "PANTRY" is actually the mudroom closet? If the closet behind the kitchen is the pantry, consider a pocket door there, or an inswing at a minimum. That door will likely be open, and having it open into a busy hallway will get frustrating quickly. If the room labeled pantry is the pantry, it's too far from the kitchen. Also - if you have a king sized bed, you may not be able to get it into your bedroom through that hallway unless it's a split king. They don't turn 90 degree corners through narrow doorways very easily (just tried to put a king in one of the kids' bedrooms with a similar orientation in my own home when we replaced our carpet and couldn't get it in).