Yum, I'm with you... I only have room for 2 tomatoes in my new retirement garden. (I used to grow 24). I also agree with Carolyn... Taste them in your own garden to try them as I did using pots if necessary. I tried Sweet Million a couple of years ago and it was terrific, but it cracked!! Then last year I tried Nectar. It was even more delicious and no cracking. I planted it again this year but also taste tested it in a pot, along with 5 other cherry tomatoes grown in 1 gallon pots. Now before everyone jumps in to tell me these pots are too small, please note they are TASTING SAMPLERS, not intended to be full grown tomato plants. When I get a taste of the tomatoes to compare, I'll toss the tomato plants. Nectar had to be one of the plants grown in a 1 gallon pot so all tests would be equal. It had ripe fruit second behind Ample which was also very good, but not good enough to bump Nectar out of first place for taste. Still waiting for Sakura, Sunsugar, Sunpeach, and Sugary to ripen. Sugary has the most blossoms at this point... Absolutely loaded beyond belief!! This experiment has been totally perfect in every way for me. It allowed me to see which cherry tomato was the best for my garden and my tastebuds with my qualifications... Early. Sweet. Delicious. No cracking, lots of tomatoes. Nectar wins the test. If I run into a tomato I feel I can't live without, I buy a bigger pot and plant one. :) I encourage you to try it next year and enjoy the ride!! Rebecca

I got past 35! But now stuck of 56 which is the split screen with the chocolates and black screened jellys. I can't seem to get to the bottom level and when I do miraculously I can't keep back the growing chocolates. It makes me crazy how slow the game is to clear so I can click on something, but meanwhile the chocolates keep invadingâ¦. I think I need a striped one and a dotted chocolate, but those are so hard to get in the small upper area! Hate this gameâ¦..

Thanks for all the help everyone! I will use this thread as a reference over the coming months as we work through our plans with the architect and builder. trail, I had put only 1.5 baths on my "critical needs" list, and 2 bathrooms on my "desirable wants" list. I'll switch the 2 bathroom to the need list. Counter space. I expect this may come down to - do I have an island (or peninsula or something) for extra counter space, or do we use the dining table as prep? Looking forward to hearing any more advice you think of! angela12345, we may rent the place out to friends or acquaintances once in a while, but primarily it is just for us. Great advice about noting the things we use frequently in our primary kitchen, I'll do that. Sleeps 26, holy cow!! Our place won't be nearly big enough for that, but I do want to be able to sleep 8 comfortably, and up to 10 or 12 on air mattresses or pull out couches. For the next few years the most likely over night guest scenario is one other couple and 2 to 3 additional kids (in addition to our two). We will need one bedroom big enough for a couple of bunks I think. I agree about small bedrooms otherwise. If DH and I do end up living there semi-permanently after the kids grow up we could consider merging two bedrooms to come up with a more spacious master bedroom (if needed). dilly - absolutely! :) Thanks again rainwood. Interesting that your LR is the smaller space. We frequently have 'girls' weekends at various cottages off season, usually spring or fall. That is when I find we need the bigger living space - usually there are a few of us playing games at the DR table, a few reading magazines in the LR, a couple napping, etc. Usually we are 8-10 women for these weekends. We will have a screened-in porch and will likely either be out on the lake or on the porch from May to September. But off season people seem to like gathering around the fireplace/stove and chatting/reading, etc. Hopefully our architect will be able to create multi-functional spaces for us, given the small(ish) overall size of the cottage. maire-cate, great space saver recommendations, thank you. Noted! kaismom: I think your recommendation is closest to what I had in mind - abundant comfortable seating, large communal tables open to the kitchen. Most kitchens I see with this sort of open/communal type setting are unfitted. I'd love an unfitted kitchen (like mtn is considering) but I assume I need at least one very efficient fitted run (galley like) given the small space we will likely be looking at. No doubt the architect can help with this, but I do want to give him some preliminary guidance. During summer (only about 4 months here) we will cook and spend almost all time outdoors. We'll use the bbq for cooking for about 7 or 8 months a year probably, but will likely eat indoors off season. Unless we put an outdoor fireplace in our screened-in porch and make it 3-season friendly ... but that is a big maybe and probably a few years off. The pantry is on my "critical needs" list for the architect. Rosie - "What I'd really want if I could have it, though, is a rectangular window seat with a fabulous view of the water and goings-on inside and out, like our friends. Everyone always wants to sit there, and it's the most valuable real estate in the house--cantilevered off its side." - sounds like a great area. You don't have a pic by any chance? It sounds very intriguing. Crockpots are a good idea. They just take up space though, but I can bring them up for the big cooking weekends (which will likely only be 2-3x per year). localeater - that is DH's only point on our "critical needs" list - an area for kids that is away from the main living area for those rainy days, esp. in spring or fall. I agree that open loft spaces aren't ideal given noise issues, so we are probably looking at space in a walk-out basement. Our site is sloped so a walk-out makes sense I guess (I didn't want one originally, but I'm coming around to accept it). Given our budget and the site, the basement makes sense.

Thank you all for your feedback and opinions! Holly, I am concerned about trying to match the Garnet Hill with something online but that pinecone hill sky colorway might work. I love the stripe-- it looks a bit more modern than some of the other stripes I've seen. The color I like in the roses is called "silver" but it seems to be more of a blueish greenish gray (ala Restoration Hardware's silver sage) which is exactly what I want. The natural color it is paired with looks like a flax in some photos and an ivory in others. I am tempted to order a sham or a pair of pillow cases to test it out. Meanwhile, the PB set is a set.. ready to go. That's a bonus-- no additional shopping required. But as errant noted, it's not all that remarkable... and I fear I'll gp to sleep each night thinking about the roses.