Lainey, I agree with Ken's "P.S." Shipping and depotting causes great shock to hostas, and they will sometimes do weird stuff. In addition, if a hosta has been used to total shade, and it is then placed in more sun than it's used to, they can go into shock. Also, I have seen what is most definitely a nutrient deficiency look something like HVX. If you got your plants from John (diggindutchman, hostabargains on ebay), you can guarantee that he will make the situation right for you. I have bought from John before and he is an absolutely honest seller and would never intentionally sell you a plant with HVX. I can tell you from personal experience that I bought a hosta from John last summer, and when it arrived it looked great. I did the exact same thing as you and soaked it for a couple days, but when I finally planted it outside, it started looking terrible. Turns out, the hosta was getting more sun than it was used to getting at John's place. I had to place a lawn chair over it, and give it extra-extra water, and it turned out fine. However, just in case the original one died, John sent me a duplicate hosta. Both of them ended up surviving wonderfully, and both came back this year. Just wanted to share this because I think sometimes people jump to the conclusion of HVX, when it could be transplant shock?? Perhaps you can post a picture? Also, what hosta did you get that you think might have HVX? Buff

The travel distances in the kitchen are excessive and inefficient. You have created too many work counters too far apart for one person. I find your comment intriguing. You are clear in conveying the gist of your opinion but you've completely left out any reference to WHY you hold this opinion. Why are the travel distances in an 8x12 open space excessive and inefficient? Is there a kitchen designer's study which suggesst kitchen designers limit the point to point travel to less than 12'? Is that what you're basing your opinion on? As for the inefficiency, here too I'm lost. Efficiency is a concept related to productivity, at least when it refers to human labor. Most of the labor in a kitchen involves either work at the sink, fridge or stove. This kitchen design minimizes travel between these fixtures. To the right of the stove is 5'6" of counter space before the sink interupts the work space. Within easy reach of the fridge are two counters upon which I can place items removed from the fridge. In terms of labor productivity I think that the kitchen works efficiently. What are you seeing that I'm missing? On the side of the kitchen opposite the work triangle is the dishwasher and plenty of uninteruptted counterspace. This counterspace has a grain mill at the end, it allows for baking to take place without intruding on the work triangle, it allows for me to place 60 canning jars without worrying about crowding, it allows me to place any gadgets that I decide I simply must have. Now perhaps you're concluding that the space is being inefficiently used because it's not being used as centrally or as frequently as the space within the work triangle and if so, yes, I'll cop to that, it's not, but if this is the line of your criticism, then it should be the case that every kitchen that incorporates space outside of a work triangle is using space inefficiently. Rather than me guessing WHY you reach your conclusion it would help me to have you TELL me WHY. What would help me even more is a suggestion from you on what I should do differently. That would be golden. A statement that the layout is inefficient and excessive doesn't help me much at all. A better configuration is a double loaded work area with support elements either side like a pantry or pastry station that you would not use as often as the central area and appliances. What is a "double loaded work area" and how would 1 person use this work area efficiently? Other than the bar sink I have located in the area outside of the triangle, what else, specifically would you suggest be included to make my time in the kitchen proceed more efficiently? If you think the basic design, a G-Kitchen, is beyond salvage, what would you suggest replace that layout? The kitchen is overly generous with space, the stair is an overly grand staircase but the entrance is into a cramped back hall with far too many doors. The elements of the house seem oddly out of scale with each other. In another thread I wrote that I couldn't offer an informed critique of someone else's plan until I knew what was guiding their choices. In this thread, in my original post, I wrote the following: The requirements were: - Big kitchen, disproportionately so compared to the remainder of the rooms. So I find it odd that, after you chimed in and agreed with me in the other thread that you needed to know more about the other person's goals before you could offer feedback, that here, knowing that I want a large kitchen, your feedback to me is "The kitchen is overly generous with space." The entrace isn't into a "cramped back hall", it's into a "cramped vestibule." Most vestibules are cramped, it's kind of the nature of the beast, isn't it? I agree that there are too many doors. I've since remedied that by removing two doors, so now the vestibule has an entry door, a closet door and two glass doors leading into the home. I moved the powder room to the back of the home and created more landing space around the bottom of the stairs and I removed the closet door on the right side of the house, across from the stairs and I use that volume of enclosed wall for a built-in accessable from the living room. See below: The space at the center of the staircase is to be used by a curving masonry bench which forms part of the fireplace and which will retain some of the heat from the fireplace. I've experienced such benches in my travels in Europe and I really enjoyed curling up on them and reading, or napping, after coming inside from a cold day of skiing. The gentle radiative heat seeping into my bones was luxurious. I admit that the inclusion of this space now is a design compromise but it's one that I'm happy to make for it gives me a space that I will use, it creates more radiative mass into which heat can be stored and it's out of the ordinary. It wasn't a "must have" but as a space filler it hits the mark on a number of fronts, far better than how I see people fill up space in their homes with chairs of tables that will never be used. The space at the foot of the stairs is available for a table, art, a build-in of some sort. The space midway up the stairs allows for a shelf for a plant next to a window. The staircase is overly grand. I've been struggling with how to incorporate it without wasting a lot of space. It's been quite a struggle. If I did away with the curve and went to a simple straight staircase I could slice a 6'x 15' section off of the plans and make an even smaller home, thereby making the kitchen disprortionately larger in a smaller home. Look, my garage is 24x24, space for my truck, motorcycle,sports car plus room to spare at the front. I'll have a metal/wood workshop in a separate barn. I have a large kitchen. These are all spaces that are useful to me. My dining room is small because I don't have large family gatherings and when I have guests it is only every a handful of people, a lady friend over for dinner, a buddy over for beer and to watch a game, one or two couples over for an evening - there are no grand dinner parties where I have 20 people crammed into my house. The living room is primarily for my own use but has space for 6 people sitting around conversing - I don't need space for more people and I don't need space, like a family of six would, for 6 people doing their own things in the LR - when I have six people in that room, I can assure you that one won't be watching TV, while another is reading, while another is doing needlepoint, and while two others are playing Monopoly. In the basement will be the utility and laundry rooms. I'll have an endless pool down there, a sauna or possibly a steamroom, I haven't decided yet, as well as a workout room of some size, and open space for whatever may strike my fancy in the future. Upstairs will have two master suites and an office if I can squeeze it in and if not, no matter, I can do office work anywhere in the house because I don't have kids or a spouse to distract me, so I don't need to cocoon myself away to find a quiet space to work. The elements of the house seem oddly out of scale with each other. There is some truth to this. Large kitchen, large garage (considering many 2 car garages are 20x20 or thereabouts), large staircase, fair sized mastersuite, small dining room, small living room. I'm not sure what I should be doing about this though. Should I scale back all the large rooms where I want space or should I scale up the the LR/DR where I don't want space and should I make my mastersuite larger or smaller and should I do away with the secondary mastersuite which might be used by one of my parents at some point in the future if they move in? Any suggestions? Criticism is useful, to a degree, but what really helps people in the design phase are actual, concrete, suggestions and alternatives. As I noted in the thread title, fresh eyes and fresh ideas would help me a lot.

OK. Make sure hubby reads this before he proceeds with disassembly. It's not necessarily obvious how to go about it if one has no previous exposure ... although there are many instructional videos on YouTube. Access to replace the pump (and to the entire mechanism) is by removing the outer cabinet. Locate and remove two screws at the lower front corners of the control panel endcaps. Pull the console slightly forward then flip it back, it's hinged at the top rear corners. Don't be excessively rough, the plastic hinges may break. The dispenser hoses on your model must be disconnected. Remove the plastic cover at the left side under the console. Disconnect the hoses from the dispenser distribution valve. The hoses will remain anchored under the machine top to the dispenser cups at the front corners. Locate and disconnect the lid switch wiring plug where it passes through the top under the console. Locate two large spring clips (usually gold colored) under the console which anchor the cabinet to the rear panel and leverage them out with a large screwdriver. Open the lid, grasp the cabinet, tilt it forward and off the machine base. The rear panel is anchored to the base via a plastic latch in a keyed slot and will remain standing, be careful not to flex it or push it back or the latch may break. The latch can be rotated to release it from the slot to lean the rear panel a little further back although it'll remain attached to the base by two screws at the lower corners ... but this isn't necessary for access to the pump. If you need to run the machine with the cabinet off to locate/confirm the leak (it may not be the pump), the lid switch plug coming from the console can be jumpered ... BUT beware of water spraying out of the dispenser distribution valve since the hoses are disconnected! A workaround is temporarily disconnect the wires from the dispenser valve solenoids (don't get them mixed up for proper reconnection). The pump has two hoses attached (one from the tub outlet, the other to the drain) and anchors to the motor with two spring clips. Disconnect the hoses from the pump and release the clips. The pump should pull directly off the motor, assuming it isn't stuck. Examine the motor shaft for rusting, clean it (wire brush, steel wool, emery cloth, etc.) if needed. When reattaching the pump, rotate the motor shaft as needed or orient it to the pump hub. Attach the pump clips and hoses. When setting the cabinet back on the base, two slots at the left & right rear corners of the bottom edge must fit onto tabs on the base to properly anchor the sides ... and observe the two plastic guide pieces on the left/right edge of the rear panel. Connect the lid switch plug, dispenser hoses, cabinet anchor clips. Lower the console, replace the screws.

All I can say is that if I found out that my husband had posted his photos and a profile on an internet dating site, it would be a very, very big deal to me. It would be an even bigger deal if I knew that he was corresponding with other women and (once I found out) told me that he only did it for a "joke" and because it made him feel good to know that other women found him attractive. And then tried to put it on me by saying that it was my fault because things I said or did made him feel unloved. To me, that kind of thing is the start of infidelity. Even if I found out during a time when he hadn't physically cheated, I would see it as him starting down that road. I would have a hard time even starting to put it behind me unless I felt that he fully realized the seriousness of what he'd done and would never, ever do something like that again. If he was still voicing the excuses you've written here, I would think that he still doesn't get it. If you have other problems in your marriage-- and it sounds like you do--I think that this was more than just an inappropriate way to deal with them. This seems more like creating a new problem to add to all of the others. If you do try to work things out, my guess is that this internet flirting thing is going to be one more issue you guys have to address.