Thanks for the link, Neil. I don't disagree with your earlier post entirely, suzy--while I don't entirely agree with every action taken by some environmental groups (which doesn't always stop me from giving them money) or, say, Critical Mass (a group that expresses its anti-car, pro-bike message by periodically taking over city streets and inconveniencing motorists), I respect elements of the "lunatic fringe" for bringing attention to what I consider worthy points of consideration. And there's still that word "better." As in "Living a better life." I know that's a phrase that has come up here, not necessarily with the compact people. I like qualifiers in speech. I can accept "living better in line with our own standards," or "living in such a way that we can sleep better at night," but without qualification, there's always the potential to hear, "living better than the wasteful, spendthrifty, morally bankrupt likes of you." But maybe that's just me having a hearing problem. I did read a blog compiled by one of the compact members, and I've read some of the compact group messages too (for the sake of argument, we'll disregard the most radical, like those promoting hysterectomies as a means of keeping tampons out of landfills). I understand the spirit of the thing. And, true to Marda's point, there doesn't seem to be much "I'm greener than you" stuff. (Though the blog entry about giving newlyweds donations in their name to adoption advocacy groups in part to create an opportunity to talk to the young couples about choosing already-existing babies, presumably over unnecessarily producing "new" ones, which strikes me as just plain pushy). But I agree that the compact is sort of a game. And from reading the blog, I'm not sure that I see the appeal in giving your relatives a CD of your vacation pictures (that's one CD, to be eagerly passed from one aunt or uncle to another) as Christmas gifts, even if they were from wonderful "extended travels." This seems a fine illustration of Neil's point about borrowing your neighbor's tools so that you can eat steak instead of chuck. Nevertheless, asset allocation is something we all do to some extent. Buying used cars so that you can afford nicer vacations seems like a natural to me. Not buying your loved ones presents so that you can have a nicer car (a model an earlier generation of my family followed) seems the opposite. I suppose in the perfect compact world, you neither buy the car nor the presents, but get around on your bike and make your children charmingly segmented marionettes from cast-off bottle caps and bits of cottage cheese containers. And you still go on vacation, but probably not a cruise. If you're handy, healthy and creative, it might be a nice life. But it just all still seems so doctrinaire.

I feel your anxiety kksmama! I have done nothing but second guess myself through the whole process. In the end, after all the stressing, I am pleased with how it turned out. Sure there are things that bug me, but that will always be, no matter what decision I made. We have a few similarities, namely, weird ceilings, choice of two-toned cabinets, and hood. Here are 3 pics of my kitchen lined up, left, center right. You'll see that spreading the dark cabinets around the kitchen helped balance it. Google Sketchup helped tremendously here as you can see your kitchen in 3D and change the color instantly. Note that my wood hood isn't finished yet, It needs angled molding on top and the face will be finished like the cabinet doors. My stove is 30" and the hood is 50". Leaving space on the side is a good idea as stated above...your cabinets will not get spatter on them. It also helps to have that extra prep space for spices, oil, ladles, plating, etc. I don't have gas here so had to go electric and I wanted the gas knob look of the Viking range. It only comes in 30" but I purposely left 3-ish inches on either side if I want a bigger range down the road. So far so good though. Also that extra space on the sides makes it easy to slide out and clean down there. Lastly, the weird ceilings. The next pic shows the 2 different ceiling heights, the left side being almost 20 feet! Chunky molding seemed to help here as it doesn't seem like it's a cabinet just stuck on a wall, if you know what I mean. Having the chunky molding run all around the cabinets made it feel more like built in furniture. We are on a lake so I might toss a teak model sailboat up there that we have. Or maybe a large decorative plate or something. Hope this helps!

We moved ours ... I posted photos but not floor plans in my kitchen reveal 3 years ago ... We basically turned the family room and dining room into the kitchen and breakfast nook, turned the kitchen into the dining room, and the living room into the family room, losing a separate living room in the process. I was a bit concerned about it, but we also have a study on the same floor that was DH's office ... we moved his office into the guest bedroom, and now there is a living room again. Our dining room could definitely function as a living room if we are ever to sell; the breakfast area is plenty big enough to serve as a more formal dining area. We too had really awkward traffic patterns, and although it was scary, I'm VERY glad we did it. We took down two load-bearing walls. Our basement was unfinished at the time, so moving mechanicals wasn't too bad, plus there was a wet bar in the room where we moved the kitchen to, so plumbing was already there. Yes, it was more expensive than leaving the kitchen where it was, but we aren't planning on moving any time soon, as in ever. Or at least 30 years! So we weren't concerned with recouping what we put into it. Here is a link that might be useful: my kitchen

How long will the RE boom last in California? Isn't it down a bit already? My advice: Take the money and run. Invest it. Rent in Omaha until you're sure about the work and the location. One thing at a time. This is actually three things: New location. New job for DH. New job for you. Put parenting on hold for a year. If you won't/can't bear children, you can ignore the ticking clock for a while. I'm laughing my head off about 'bugs' in the Midwest. What? I'll show you bugs! Go to Hawaii. Go anywhere there's no hard freeze. (Not that climate isn't changing everywhere. Chicago had a single snowfall Jan. - Mar. Miami is flooding while the rest of Florida burns; ETC!) Rent first is good advice for anyone who can afford it when relocating. Senior friends moved to Arizona, where they liked the weather, but not the 'black helicopter' vibe. Years ago one of DH's friends moved to Atlanta, where they discovered they were unacceptable Damn Yankees. We visited friends from suburban Chicago at their gorgeous home in Atherton, California; they moved 'home' after two years, not wanting that atmosphere for their young boys. My uncle and his bride lived Kauai as newlyweds; moved to the mainland to expose their boys to life beyond 'Surf's Up'. Right now there seems more polarization than ever, with Red State/Blue State. (We need a return visit from Dr. Seuss!)