Oh my gosh, what a surprise to see my old thread pop up! It was, all in all, a great trip for them all. What worked? Just about everything . . . and thanks to everyone for the wonderful advice! ~ Sleeping arrangements: DD and 2 of the girls fit nicely in DD's room (bed, window seat bed and single mattress on floor). The two other girls slept out on our living room sofas. That room closes off with 3 sets of French doors, so they had a bit of privacy, at least. The 2 guys slept in our guest room. Bathrooms: I decided before anyone arrived that, with seven 18 & 19 year olds in one house, there would be no long baths; only quick showers. So, I put 2 wood tv tables in the bathtub with a laundry basket on each. One held big stacks of folded bath towels and washcloths. The other was for the used ones. I told them not to hang the damp ones. The nightmare of many wet towels hanging everywhere inspired that decision. Great one on my part!!! I just washed and replaced the towels every afternoon while they were out sightseeing. I also had stocked both guest bathrooms with a box of essentials: from travel-size tubes of toothpaste, deodorants, Kleenex; small combs, Tylenol, Tums, Chapstick, toothbrushes, girl essentials, sunscreen. Thank goodness, as they were pretty much all used! ~ I put a supply of local postcards, stamps and pens in each bedroom for them to send postcards quickly and easily. Also a supply of local travel books to inspire their daily outings. ~Food/Meals: as I expected, they ate like they were all starving. They loved my meals . . . even the vegetarian. I'd stocked up on enough snacks to keep them all happy. Thank goodness! ~Sightseeing: LOL LOL LOL!!! None of them had been to New Mexico before and their expectations were funny, to say the least. We have small herds of wild horses, but they're wild, not kept in pens. Our visitors wanted DD to drive them , wherever they were so that they could "pet them" and take pics! That didn't happen (LOL), but they did see some occasionally here and there. Same with coyotes. DD had to warn them not to make a big deal about any Native Americans they saw. They tried to speak Spanish to people here, which was met with patience and kindness (thank goodness!). Our chile was "too hot", but they loved exploring Santa Fe and Albuquerque. And Madrid, NM, where the movie "Wild Hogs" was filmed. What didn't work? Well, getting 7 college freshmen to agree on anything, such as where to go exploring next or what movie to watch, was a PIA for DD. One gal turned out to be a hypochondriac, which frustrated the rest. And, DS & his girlfriend decided at the last minute to cancel their hotel reservations and sleep on a queen-size air mattress in our foyer (the only place left!), as they stopped by for a few days on their way to his new job in Tucson, AZ. So, we ended up with a real houseful . . . but it was a lot of fun. Would we do it again? Yes, if DD asked. Would DD do it again? Absolutely not. She said it was fun but exhausting. This Spring Break she's bringing (just) two of her close friends/sorority sisters here to celebrate her 21st birthday. They'll dance at some of the higher end (read: safe) clubs. Shop Santa Fe and ABQ Uptown. Visit Madrid and The Tram. Eat out at some favorite spots and generally spend all the money their parents promised them for this year's Spring Break on themselves instead of an expensive hotel room. Their first choice, Austin, TX, was pretty much already booked up, as South by Southwest will be there at the same time. They were looking at $500/night for modest hotel rooms and super-inflated SbSW ticket prices! So, we'll be entertaining again, but on a much more sane level! Lynn

There's no basement (we're in a So. Cal. split level built alongside a hill). We don't have a mudroom or a laundry room to borrow storage space from. The laundry is in a closet off of the family room. We're currently storing paper towels and bulk items in the wetbar that we don't use (also in the Family Room -- but it's going to get the boot one of these days). The wall between the dining room and family room is only 4" thick -- total, although I'm probably going to beef this up slightly because the family room is currently covered in paneling (it's been painted, but as long as I'm remodeling, we might as well fix that) and there's no insulation in the walls. Other thought I had was to do a partial half wall with support columns there to open the family room up to the dining/kitchen area. I would have to keep part of the wall so I have something to set my barrister's bookcase against, but a half wall would let the cook see the TV. I could move the message center/backpack storage into the closet in the Family Room with a bit of an interior closet remodel (it's currently our games/toys/crafts/office supply closet). That wouldn't be too inconvenient since it is just around the corner from the front entry at the top of the stairs. Here's my floor plan again to help with visualization. The master bedroom is missing from this drawing (it's on the other side of the kitchen) and the kids' rooms/bathroom/linen closet on the third level are not quite to scale (they were sleeping when I was trying to draw it out). Here is a link that might be useful: Floorplan

Regarding window treatment(s) -- Your window is an odd size and I notice from your photos that the top of your refrigerator, doorways, cabinets and top of window all are about the same level around the room. If it were me, I would break up that pattern by doing some sort of simple inside mounted shade for privacy and mount a classy valance up close to the ceiling so that the bottom of the valance comes just below the top of window frame. It will break up the line running around your room and give the illusion that your window is taller. Check out your fabric store for easy valance patterns that can be adjusted for your window size. An easy one I've seen if you don't want to sew is to purchase square napkins, then drape them over a rod, with points downward, overlapping each napkin across the rod. Make a few stitches to tack in place, and voila, you are done.

I took her to the orthopedic today. She won't need surgery, she will be in a sling and also use an ace bandage wrapped around her body at night to immobilize her arm. She has been in a good mood all day and hasn't complained of any pain so that part is great. However, he said it would take 6 weeks to heal and I need to keep her restricted for that entire time. Keep a 3 year old restricted...so funny! No swimming which will be hard as we have a pool and swim every single day. Also, she's left handed...with her left arm in a sling. Raven- his eye is a long story but I'll try to summarize. In December 2012, he was working in the shop when a piece of wood flew up and hit his eye. His actual eyeball was bleeding, not profusely but there was blood. Goes to the doctor, gets eyedrops, it heals fine. Less than a year later, he develops a cataract in that eye. A nasty big one that required 2 surgeries to fix. Now, his retina detaches. All of it is due to the initial trauma in 2012. Thanks everyone for letting me vent.