Thanks, Mysterymachine. I think that after living with the gray light kitchen the black on the counters just hit me hard. I agree about the cherry. It would have to be very simple...like cat mom's. Please continue to follow me with this. The support from the people on this forum, and the support of the people on the pool forum as I built my pool has helped so much to get me through the tough stuff during both projects. DH tries, but truly doesn't care as much as I do! I'm glad your seams are nice. When mine was lighter is was the first thing that caught my eye when I walked into the room. As I said, my back seam is perfect. I wish that I could have switched them! Minac, did you see? I do have apples up above my counters in a silver bowl. They were on sale at Target! My things on top are not my final choice, just stuff I picked up and put up there to make my kitchen look more finished for Christmas company. LOL. And yes, I guess I was leaning towards the colors in my dining room set. The chairs are cherry with a black leather seat. The table is cherry, the painted glass, and brushed silver. I thought that using that color glass would look great and bring my counter into the year 2008. If I got new door and drawers, I would go with the longer hardware too. I've included a link to my set (I got a much better deal than that!) but mine is cherry and black. It's the coolest table ever! It pulls out to a very big table for large gatherings, but pushes in to smaller for a more intimate dinner. I waited 20 years to get what I wanted! Glasskote contacted me today, and asked for my measurements for a bid. I'll let you know how it goes. I also ordered a sample from 3M. Can anyone recommend a company that would make replacement doors similiar to Cat Mom's for my cabinet guy to buy? The closest he had was a slab door in pear. Here is a link that might be useful: Dining Set

So many good suggestions - thank you. I am glad I'm not alone. I printed out the recipes posted by Nicole, Glenda and the one chi83 mentioned from Ina Garten. I noticed that Ina's recipe calls for an 18 x 12 pan and then the recipe says that it makes 20 large brownies - I normally get 16 brownies from my 9 x 9 square pan. If she cuts hers into only 20 brownies they must be huge! That's a real treat. lowspark - what a neat idea - a muffin tin. Never thought of that one or warming up the dry brownies and making a brownie sundae. I'll have to try buying several boxes of the same brand and then experimenting with the cooking time to determine the best one. I tend to buy whatever is on sale. I have tried the Ghirardelli's mix and it is really good. My son is stopping by the house tomorrow after work to celebrate his birthday and he asked for comfort food for dinner- a baked ham and mac and cheese. Since he doesn't care for icing I think I'll make 2 batches of brownies - one for our dessert and one he can take home. That way I won't be too tempted to eat them. I have to admit that I had no trouble eating either my overdone or underdone ones in the past. Thanks again everyone. Maire

I do try to be helpful, and I try to write with the idea that more than one person will read what I say and hopefully gain more enjoyment from the growing experience because of something they learned. I enjoy nurturing plants, and look at nurturing people who also enjoy nurturing plants as a natural extension of my own growing experience. If I couldn't know I was helping, my efforts would be for naught & I'd quickly lose interest; which is why kind comments like yours are always appreciated. Thank you ..... and I enjoyed your story. ;-) In reference to the part you italicized ...... I always figured it's pretty hard to push someone up a ladder unless they were wanting to climb. ;-) So from what I gather from your linked post is this: • I should definitely repot my plant to a slightly larger container and not just pot up. It hasn't been done in at least four and a half years. You can repot or divide PLs for best outcome. If you repot, it might not need to go into another pot, but the root structure of PLs doesn't make them top candidates for root operations related to repotting. You can also simply cut the leaves off each plant and most of the roots, divide the plants and repot into the same pot they came from. They'll recover quickly & take right off. Of course, you have to look at a bare pot for a month, or just stick it in bright indirect light outdoors somewhere & ck on water needs every few days. • When repotting, I should remove all old soil and prune any large roots, upward traveling roots, and "j-hooked" roots. When I do this, where do I clip? As high as possible? This is the part that scares me the most! Honestly, IO'd divide thios plant and save the root pruning learning experience for plants that really need it as part of their care regimen. • I should find a general potting soil (I'm thinking Miracle Grow brand because, as a beginner, it is the only thing I know of that has a seemingly good reputation) and mix it with Natures Helper and Perlite. If this is correct, what should my ratio be? MGs reputation is more a result of its advertising campaign than its performance record. If I were you, I'd seek out a source for pine bark in an appropriate size. If you can find it, you can use perlite and the MG potting soil as small fractions of the soil (added to a large fraction of pine bark) to make a very good soil. A good soil can eliminate over-watering concerns and make a sound nutritional supplementation program monkey easy. See pine bark from 3 different suppliers at 3, 6, & 9 o'clock, and finished soil in the middle: When I refill the new container with the soil mix, how far up should I fill it? There are a lot of stem cuttings that are visible. That's probably not the correct terminology but I assume you understand what I mean. Should I clean this up? Should I bury these any if at all? The soil level should be .5-1" below the pot rim, minimum; and the plants should be planted so the crown is above the soil line to prevent crown rot. Lastly, if I remove all of the old soil, will I need to pack in new soil to fill the void at the thickest part of the roots? I'm sure some of these are silly questions but I truly have no idea what I'm doing and this plant means a lot to me. I want to do what's best for it. I use a wooden dowel rod, sharpened in a pencil sharpener (same tool as you can use as a tell to show when plants need water) to work soil into the voids between roots. See the 2 tools on the right. They serve the same purpose, except I favor the white one I made. Al

Our mudroom is also a long and narrow space....5'6" x 16'10". I don't have any definitive inspiration pics to show because I've found I want 'a little bit of this and a little bit of that' in my mind. In my real life with two girls (ages 11 and 13), a messy husband and two large dogs and in reading a ton of information on useful mudrooms I will tell you that I will be designing the following for our family: 1) About 6' worth of hooks and a bench. I'm not saying 'cubbies' because I do NOT want them to be individually divided for each person. My real world experience is that stuff spills over. Not everyone's stuff will fit neatly into 18" of space. I might take up 6" for my small purse, but my sport playing 13 year old will need 24" or more for a school backpack, sports bag, and 4 pairs of shoes. 2) Shoes will rest on the floor. Not on a perfectly painted white shelf that will look disgusting in about 4 days. They will also not be in a basket. We have that system now and shoes are always spilling out of it. Or really never get put in it, but in front of it. A wide open space will at a minimum let my kids and husband simply kick their shoes under the bench to get them out of the walkway. Good enough for me. 3) Individual shelves about the hooks. I'll have baskets here for each person to store their winter hats, gloves, scarves, etc. We live in Texas so this category is small for us. 4) About 24" of a 'drop zone'. - mail sorting section...'To Pay, To Mail, To File, To Sort, School Forms'. - closed cabinet with outlet for a paper shredder and garbage can. - One drawer for frequently used office items....pens, pencils, sharpener, envelopes, tape, scissors, etc.... - upper cabinet for other stuff that I don't want to see. Dog medicine/grooming supplies, key hooks or bowl, flashlights/extra candles and matches, extra batteries, etc. 5) 5-6' feet of 24" deep tall cabinets. I will use this for an overflow pantry. Small and infrequently used appliances, jumbo pack of paper towels, party size drink dispensers, extra step stool, paper plates/cups. All of this will go on one side of the narrow mudroom, leaving 42-48" of walkway. Plenty wide for a pass through assuming things get put where they belong. My mudroom is without a doubt the room I'm most excited about in the whole house. I've never had one with access to the backyard so this will be life changing!