My faith in humankind has been restored on this beautiful Lord's Day! As I prepare to go to Church & worship my God above, the one who has been taken out of schools, courthouses, & many homes in this day & time, it is so good to see a great bunch of people that are 'back to the basics I was brought up with, in rural NC. I feel that my love for nature & the 'calling to raise b'flies' has been given to me from God, it is the greatest therapy for a person that lives in daily agonizing pain, & I have done that since '82. It has gotten me off of the sofa, looking at soaps. Never was one to pop pills, though there were pills given by the various drs, for Lupus pain, Fibromyalgia pain, which is unrelenting, pain from 3 failed lower back surgeries, & so on. But I can go outside, among my plants, (with a very moderate amount of pain medication), which have always been a hobby all my adult life, & find a peace, unlike any other. Seeing the seeds planted, growing each day, & the growth spurt after the evening t-shower, more than if I had given a good dose of fertilizer, knowing the purity of the water released from the heavens above has a growing power unlike anything man can make. I am not a fanatic, but I do find a special inner peace watching the creation emerging from the chrysalis, knowing it "went in as a caterpillar", came out as a beautiful creation, & that amazing change was done by One greater than I or anyone I know, on this earth in the flesh, today. We all are doing our part to make this world a better place to live in. We are, I believe trying to help get back to that time when the earth was a cleaner place; before the dirt & smut was so in control. I can remember when a young teen guy wouldn't go out without his jeans being starched & ironed, with that sharp crease, & that button down collar wasn't just right. Some of you probably don't remember those days. But in sharp contrast, the more ragged, & dirtier they can look, the better they like it. No more neat clean hair styles, but unkept unruly, & dirtier they look the more "in" they are. I am not being judgemental, to each to his own. But to get out among the plants, gives me a sense of being in contact with something good & clean, no matter how bad the pain, or what is on my mind, I can find a sense of peace unlike any other place, during the normal weekday. I enjoy my Church & what I find there, but I feel I bring part of that home with me, in scripture I hear, sometimes it is reflected in my activities outside during the week. None comes to mind at the moment, but God is so good, to give us these beautiful creatures, & place the love in our hearts to want to help them. To go beyond planting the flowers, but to go that step further that some don't understand. Let them take one egg, watch it go through the stages of growth, into the pupa, then the beautiful chrysalis of the Monarch, especially, like a piece of jade that a master artisian sculpted, & flecked with gold, I sat in total awe when I saw my 1st one, & then to watch when it gets transparent, & see the new creature inside. And, on to the final stage, when that beauty of the spread drying wings is present, they are magestic. Nobody can tell me that came as a result of the 'big bang theory'! Not even sure what they say made the ocean that this big bang or whatever it was supposed to have been. Some magical force? No, a Creator, that loved us enough, & I won't go any further, but we are all giving nature some help that the world has taken away. And we wonder why there are guns in schools, & knives.. I well remember the shock in our small town when the "No guns or knives allowed on school property" sign went up! The very thought of this was shocking, & then the rest is history. We are doing our part to help keep our world a better place to live. I don't know of too many men or ladies who raise b'flies who shot their c-store operator, or robbed the bank, or turned out to be serial killers. Didn't mean to go on so, but I see God Almighty in every butterfly that I release, & I thank Him for giving me the 'want to' to do this hobby. I just found a picture that I took of my first BST & a little saying I felt inspired to write "For by watching the phases of the butterfly, from the egg, to the caterpillar, all the way tp the final stage, the beautiful butterfly; surely we see the Hand of God at work, before our eyes, in today's world, as in the days of old, and appreciate even more His Wonderous Love for us daily." The photo is old, & the ink of the writing is a bit smeared, but it is so special to me. This was before I knew anything about butterflies & the terms, etc. Love to you all & In God I do trust..monarchs

Here's ours, which still is not used as a desk, although we're getting closer now that the construction tools aren't here as much. I never thought it should be desk height, but DH did and he won. We have the swiveling t.v. over it so if HE wanted to, he could look at it from chair I think. We still have to decide on an appropriate chair. Currently we have a wastebasket and dog bowls under it. Cute, yes? Items jump from that lower surface to the upper one constantly. I had hoped that it would be a barrier, but it's not. In my thinking, we might as well have had entire surface flat. Cork board between cabinet and desk is now used less decoratively. It's a working message center. That's where calendar hangs, thank-you notes and such are posted and oddball coupons get put. Although there's a "pencil drawer" we keep a pencil mug on the desk. Cabinet above desk is 16 inches deep--allows notebooks for financial statements, phone books, etc. Top shelf is unrelated storage of party gear. A permanently mounted power strip at front of bottom shelf of this cab allows DH to put chargers in here and let cord dangle down so that the device is seen and not forgotten once it is charged. He can turn off power to all chargers with one switch. Lobby is to left of desk. I'm trying to put "things going elsewhere" into the shelves in the closet in lobby instead of on desk--lib. books, stuff for Mom's sr. residence, things going to friends, etc. Otherwise, they accumulate on desk. But that's fine with me--better there than in the rest of the kitchen where they used to cluster, esp on top of refrig. because that was by front door. Because the peninsula is right there next to the desk, I would rather spread out on that to do any work with pencil and paper, but then, I'm a person who needs special glasses to focus on arm's length stuff, so I suppose that little desk just looks like too much work--easier to stand and write at peninsula with my multifocus lenses and squint. I clear pencils and paper and calendar and address book off the peninsula at least twice a day and plunk them back on HIS desk. Computer will never be used at desk, I'm sure. (It moves between peninsula and dining table all the time.) Telephone holder lives on desk, at least for now. I'm hoping to get it wired into a place on wall closer to dining room, but until then, it's here. This cordless phone is another thing that hides throughout the kitchen and has to be put away on desk when I spy it. One benefit of this space: For parties, we can clean off the desk and bulletin board, put up a sign or something decorative like this framed piece, then put beverages here. Keeps traffic out of kitchen. Remember--this is Formica, so it's not going to mind.

We did our remodel about 10 years ago. We have a nice desk in the kitchen and its where the "family" (read desktop) computer is located. We also did a recessed niche with an outlet and phone line next to it for the printer. Phone and answer machine are in shelving hutch above. I myself use this every day. I read the morning paper (online) and have my coffee there. Great for recipies, and can watch dvds while baking. I have to say that we have 2 kids. One in college and one just finished high school. In all honesty, by the time your son is in high school he will need his own personal laptop. (many schools are going to school-issued laptops or netbooks). So I don't think that your sone will really sit at the kitchen desk and do homework. That said, both my kids used the kitchen table a lot for homework, and could also sit at the island with their laptops too. But kids seem to want to spread out a lot doing homework, and also need space where they can leave things out if working on a multi-phase project. So I guess from my experience the kitchen desk is great for the family computer. But I wouldn't put it in if your only reason for it is to give your son a space in the kitchen to do homework. I think you might prefer to get a laptop and wireless and let him spread out a bit For what it's worth, our desk measures about 48x24, and has a pullout tray for keyboard as well.

De-lurking for the subject... I am the mother of 4 kids. Three boys ages 13,9, and 6. And a daughter age 12. I am also the wife of a high school history teacher. Where I live they are taught cursive. Beginning in 3rd grade. They start teaching it in the second semester. Anyhow....I am one that believes a child should write with what they feel most comfortable doing. @Jemdandy, then I guess you would consider my 13 year old son illiterate. That is where you are ignorant of one fact. Not all children can write in cursive. It has to deal with lack of a fine motor skill disability. He prints his name out. And it is false that you do need to know how to write in cursive to sign a legal document. My son is on the honor roll, receives straight A's since 1st grade, yet you would down grade his hiring position just because of that. That is wrong. My 12 year old daughter who is also a honor student and is in 3 advanced classes prefers to print. She says cursive takes way to long. My teacher's never taught me how to write in cursive my parents did. A lot of parents like to blame the school system for not teaching there children certain things. Parents are responsible for there kids education if you don't think they are getting taught the right things...then teach them at home. I do write in cursive. My kids know how to count money. My daughter who is in 7th grade is in 8th grade advanced Math. Next year, when she is in 8th grade she will be bused over to the high school for a math class. I don't think my daughter would be in all the advanced classes she is in now if I hadn't worked with her at home. My sons that are 13 and 9. The older one has a fine motor problems with his hands. He doesn't have to write in cursive and is not made to. Matter of fact, a teacher of his just got 'in trouble' for making him try to write in cursive when it is in his files that he only writes in print only. She actually humiliated my son in her class full of other students. Just because he wasn't writing in cursive. My 9 year old has ADHD and has borderline aspergers however, he still manages C's. And he is in a regular classroom. He is in the 4th grade this year. He also doesn't write in cursive. But he prints. And his printing is the most beautiful I have ever seen. My 6 year old son...is reading at a late 1st grade level. He is in Kindergarten. I actually started him a year later. So I could work with him at home before he went into Kindergarten. His teacher is thrilled with him. Says he helps her, doesn't seem bored and helps the other students when he is done. She said, he is a born leader. I don't think he would be this way if we wouldn't have decided to start him a year later. Learning starts and ends at home. If they aren't learning up to par to is time to talk to the teachers. Teacher's these days are Swamped with students. My sons kindergarten class was up to 31 students before they hired a new teacher. Now there is 19 students. However, there are 7 kindergarten classes at his school. When you have a lot of students to teach. Things do get pushed aside. It is not unusual for kids not to be able to read cursive writing. What surprises me is the amount of 'thing's that kids don't know. Like who The first President of the United States was? Or who Columbus was? It amazes me at the amount that kids do not know. I am always shocked when my husband comes home from school and tells me what his kids don't know. Another thing....My husband was with his students one day...and one of them pipped up and said,"Mr.___ You are pretty cool." My husband asked,"Why do you say that?" They told him that you never say, "You should know this stuff." The kids says that makes them feel stupid....just that little sentence. My husband told them. Thank You, and that he does that because he is suppose to be teaching them....and if they already know it then great...if not you get to learn something new. I thought that was awesome. Oh, Wow! Sorry that is so long!