I LOVE that "bad plant care" is so subjective! Except for killing them of course... but, now on to the confessions: - I heat with wood & my tropical foliage plants probably get too cold every fall/winter/spring and manage to survive (except for last winter, when they were all in the kitchen/dining room with the stove because the living room door was closed to stop cat pee/carpet interactions. They were in the lap of LUXURY!). - I have killed some rather old plants of great sentimental value & continue to have guilt & remorse :( - There have been random times over the years when I have neglected the plants for long stretches, but casualties have generally been limited to Rex Begonias, ferns, citrus, jasmine & African violets. - I still purchased/accepted more of the above plants anyhow. Who knows how many jasmine have suffered death by drought at my hands?! - I too have left plants in the same soil for years (5+) & not been a fertilizor. Phils, Monstera & Chlorophytum survive this. - I rarely remember to check plants I bring home for bugs until I am already at home. - I've potted regularly with outside compost or dirt & just swept up the dried up worms & bugs that crawl out of the pots. - I've regularly used nasty, dirty, chemical-ridden driveway gravel at the bottom of houseplant pots. Purple, I'm with you: this could be much more embarrassing if we were talking about outdoor gardening... at this point, I am apparently an Amaranth & Stinky Bob (herb robert) farmer with unripe tomatoes rotting on their vines. Thanks for sharing everyone - we all have our little secrets & sometimes it's good therapy to take a look at someone else's evils & think "Well, at least I don't do THAT; I guess I'm not so bad after all!" GB

Hey, I really had to search for this thread!! Well I'm down to 3 monarch cats, 1 5th instar, 2 3rd. WHOOHOO!! 7-8 chrys. Haven't collected any new eggs, orchard just sprayed again yesterday, so I'm assuming it's safe to mow the lawn so I can get some safe milkweed again. Well I'll probally check for survivors first, I know a week or so ago there were all kinds of eggs again, but I just didn't have the food to bring them in. I have one cat I've just been keeping an eye on, living on my butterfly weed, he should be off to pupate any time now. 5 of the 6 BST's I brought home have pupated, one working on it. And still have the 3 lil BST's who are starting to eat like crazy! I'm glad for the semi break though. I don't see how some of you raise so many monarchs by feeding individual leaves!! I much rather use plants in vases! Being left w/ only my butterfly weed to feed was insane! 3-4 feedings a day! And yes, I even did the middle of the night feedings on occasion! I didn't even have that many cats!

Thank you all-- I am researching what everyone has mentioned to see if anything "fits." Carol, I will keep in mind what your friend went through, in case it progresses. We saw a neuro at a nationally famous children's hospital. She does NOT think they are migraines, as the symptoms don't fit, and the typical migraine treatment doesn't work for DD. She thinks the pain is very real but that they are stress-related. :( Hard to say. We are going to be keeping a journal to try to figure out why some days are better than others. However, her treatment is to lie down in quiet for 30 minutes (along with meds/water) and DD is now avoiding complaining because she does not want to lie down. I can see on her face and in her behavior when she is in more pain, even when she does not talk about it. It's still a mystery at this point. I am thinking of alternative medicine next-- maybe acupuncture, and other stress management sources. I am just still worried they are missing something. I know of too many cases where the person was not given a correct dx.

Here are a couple of other options. In both, I switched the sectional around like Malhgold suggested. I wanted to point out a few of things common to both options. First off, I switched the DW to the other side so (1) you would have more room for a lazy susan (the left side is shorter than the right) and (2) the DW no longer is in conflict w/the range. Blind Corners vs Lazy Susans: You no longer have any "blind corner" cabinets...they have all been changed to Lazy Susans. Note: I shortened the wall next to the refrigerator by 3". If you don't shorten it, as others have noted, you will need to either pull the refrigerator out from the wall by 3" or put in a 3" filler b/w the refrigerator and wall so you can open the refrigerator fully...based on the refrigerator doors you have drawn. If you have a single door w/a left hinge, then you probably won't need to do either of the above. BUT, if you do that then the door will open in such a way that you cannot utilze the only landing space you have for the refrigerator (left/north of the refrigerator). I also suggest that you take that wall down completely, you'll gain over 5" of cabinet space if you do. MW & Vent: I took out the OTR MW and put in a vent hood. I did that b/c OTR MWs are not ideal as either a vent or as a working MW. A better choice is a hood at least 6" wider than the range and a MW mounted at a lower work height. [Option #1 shows a sculpted SS hood, Option #2 shows a decorative wood hood. Two looks for you to consider.] Unless you are very tall (>6'6"), trying to get things in and out of a MW over a hot range or oven is, at best, inconvenient and, at worst, dangerous....reaching over the hot range trying to look at what's cooking and trying to stir, etc. Then you have to take the dish out and try not to spill anything--even though you really can't see that high. Hence, a 36" vent hood + regular MW. The MW is still on that wall, though. Normally, I like to put the MW near the refrigerator, but in your case there isn't enough wall space on the refrigerator wall w/o making it look cramped. Left & Far left walls: I extended the cabinetry around the left corner to give you more work and "wall" space on the left wall and allow you to utilize all the wall space on that side of the kitchen. Additionally, there is now an 18" utility cabinet + 30" pantry cabinet. Since there doesn't appear to be any other pantry storage, I thought a larger pantry would be more useful. This is also the wall w/the prep sink. It's on the corner to be accessible from the kitchen, island, and FR. Since your kitchen is so long, especially with the addition of the island, I thought it would be very useful to have an additional sink available not just for prepping, but for anyone coming into the kitchen who might be trolling for a snack or beverage. BTW...The refrigerator is on the edge of the work area so it's easily accessible from both the kitchen and the FR, and the FR access doesn't interfere with the kitchen. Prep Areas: You now have three prep areas, two of which are a very good size, plus the island. The prep areas are b/w the refrigerator & sink, b/w the sink & range, and b/w the range & pantry. The last one includes the prep sink. Island: 24" Beverage Center plus other base cabinet(s) in the island Seating for 4 Work Flows: From garage/outside (??) to...pantry or refrigerator From refrigerator to...sink to...range or MW to DR or island or cleanup/main sink From pantry to...prep sink to...range or MW to DR or island or cleanup/main sink From DR or island to...cleanup/main sink Oh, BTW...I drew the sectional too long, it's 8' rather than the 7' 6" you mentioned...so that means w/6" b/w the back wall & the sectional, there will be 48" b/w the sectional and the patio door....much better clearance! You were wondering about the size of the sectional in the FR...IMHO, I think the sectional will dominate the room. I would consider instead a sofa and a couple of chairs....but, that's up to you. And now, the unique items to each option......... Option #1: In this option, the MW is north of the range. This location while good for kitchen use, may cause some kitchen interference from snackers since it's in the heart of the work area. If your faucet has a long enough hose, you can fill pots on the range from the prep sink! The sink is still 36", not quite centered under the window. There is a 9" cabinet to the left of the sink. Unfortunately, I don't think there are any 9" trash pullouts. But, you could take space from one of the side cabinets for a trash pullout if you want one. The island is 6' 3" x 3' 8" with seating for 4, a 24" beverage chiller, and an 18" cabinet. There is a 3 foot clearance b/w the south wall & the island and 39" b/w the sectional & the island. It should be enough, I think. Also, viewing the FR TV from the island isn't too bad. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Option #2: In this option I changed several things. Like Saskatchewan_girl's layout, the sink base is now 30". While it's a smaller sink, it allows you to center the sink under the window and, more importantly in my opinion, you have room for a trash pullout...possibly even a double...to the left of the sink in a 15" cabinet (what a difference 6" makes!) The MW is now south (left) of the range. This moves the range north somewhat, but there's still plenty of prep space as well as enough distance from the main/cleanup sink. The MW in this position does allow it to be used by snackers w/o interfering w/the kitchen work but, I'm not sure I like the wall cabinets as well. It does, however, give you an additional prep space! You now have four prep spaces + the island...I don't know if you need that many, but it's nice to have them! The prep spaces are now b/w the refrigerator & main sink, b/w the main sink & range, b/w the range & prep sink, and to the left of the prep sink. The island....this one is 4' 2" x 8' 6".....very large...maybe too large! It does, however, give you a great expanse of space for projects and other large-scale needs, it also has the Beverage chiller plus 2 or 3 additional cabinets. There is almost 5' of seating area on both sides. Since it's against the back wall, I thought it might be a good idea to have a little more than the 48" you would normally have for 2 seats. If you have many small children visiting, you could probably fit 3 on each side....party time! Oh, do you have children or grandchildren? I just realized that we don't know much about your family as far as needs are concerned....no children/grown, small children, tweens/teens, etc. HTH!