I haven't really dived (dove?) in full-force to this yet, but I am a new mom who just went back to work and needed to streamline dinner, too. The first things I've done so far are: 1) never make 1 of anything. If ever you are cooking something, make a double batch so you can freeze or refrigerate one for another night. Very little extra work, but a whole extra night's dinner 2) I love doing "packet cooking" in the crock pot. Put chicken breasts with some veggies and some kind of liquid (seasoned chicken broth, bottled or homemade marinade, lemon juice, you name it) on a piece of foil and seal tightly. Wrap a few baking potatoes in foil and seal tightly. Put all these foil bundles in the crock pot on low before you leave for work and you'll have a great meal waiting for you. Add a tossed salad and dinner's ready in 5 min! I also like to have "spaghetti week". I make a big pot of homemade spaghetti sauce on sunday and put it in several 1-meal sized containers in the fridge or freezer. When I don't have time for anything else, I can boil up spaghetti and use the sauce, or make ravioli, or baked mostaccoli/ziti by layering cooked noodles, sauce, mozz. and parmesan cheese in a casserole and baking until cheese is melted. All your basic pasta and red sauce, but a little different each night.

Have friend who was redoing her kitchen--she likes blue and for while throught she might try Labrador Blue but much too strong a color to go with the other colors in her open kitchen/breakfast/den... she went with uba tuba green (the verde was too expensive). She has white cabinets and tile flooring and wanted very little movement... she thought about Kashmire Gold but with white cabinets and tile her daughter told her it was too bland... We bought granite to put into house we own and were getting ready to sell...thought with the market so dead 3-4 yrs ago even more than low price having upgraded kitchen and baths would be better selling point... so I picked NVG to go with medium dark oak cabs (original) and a light tan new larger format tiles, and tan walls...they look good but they are not striking...that kitchen as no long runs except for bar counter behind sink and it is not really focal point of kitchen.... thought in THAT kitchen having a strong pattern was more distraction and jumpy look...so went with NVG... in MY house with a long raised counter top behind sink and long island a more dramatic pattern would have been good focal point...but I didn't get to make the choice.... so it is not just what the colors are of the elements...but also the "runs" of the countertops you will have... short, broken runs separated by appliances or cabinets to me says use a less dramatic, more even pattern for several reasons....but I am not kitchen designer or artist... I bet your choice will be great---but I do see your point about building a kitchen around the Lapidus...I loved that pattern when I was shopping...

I know this isn't very sophisticated, but turn your desk so that the cords are facing the wall. You can move the side of the desk against the corner wall to get the most space in front of it. Even if then you have to face the wall, you will at least have the side area open, an "escape route" if you will, and folks coming in can use it to access you. Then, because facing the wall is going to be annoying, put something both behind you and to the right of your desk, on the wall to the right of the monitor, that is fun to look at. Then, put the two chairs in the corner or against the wall opposite the door, with a little table between them. Put something interesting on the table that has some life to it. If folks are in your office and you all need to work around the monitors, then you can move the chairs around to your desk easily. Also, then you can slide your desk chair back away from your monitors to other parts of the room to give yourself a break from the hum and radiation, if even just for a minute. You can even get out easily to do a little stretching. If you close the door, no one will know. And get florescent light alternatives ASAP! Facing a wall is not ideal but I have found if your job is to face a monitor most of the time, it doesn't matter if there is a wall behind it. It's a wall anyway. So by putting other things on the walls around your monitors or behind them, it gives your eyes something else pleasant to look at around you. A fake window or great scenery poster could go on the door wall then, and when you looked up from your monitor, it would be to the right of you. You could put another poster on the filing cabinet wall, which would be to your left.

To be honest, I find it doesn't do the job quite that well, and my boss went right back to his "old" system. Me! So maybe others feel that way? But I'm not really hearing that. Good luck! When I first read you got a clean slate, I thought, what an opportunity! but it can be daunting. I left insurance 13+ years ago (health fields, not P&C), and medical fits well since it's the flip side of health insurance. Flip side of P&C? I dunno! Sell boats? ;) Good luck with your clean slate.