Nora, Thanks so much for your response...I feel so fortunate to have so many people respond over the past 24 hours. Your idea of a styrofoam ball with yarn is fantastic. My mom knitted and crochet her entire life...learned while in school in 7th grade and actually did it for a living while raising me and my sisters. Now, I have bags full of yarn and I've tried to encourage her, but she won't (I realize now it's probably that she can't). But, if I get the styrofoam balls, maybe, just maybe I can get her interested in winding the yarn around them. I cannot tell you how much this forum has helped me already...For 4 1/2 months, I've been so frustrated with my mom constantly refusing everything I've tried to get her to do. At times, she seems completely fine, so clear headed that I lose sight of the fact that she's losing her mind and at times have actually argued with her!!! How ridiculous! I'm beginning to realize that it's not that she doesn't WANT to do anything, it's that she CAN"T, or is AFRAID that she can't. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for them...what are they thinking, what are they feeling? How frightening it must be for them. These are thoughts that I torture myself with. I so want to cure her and take care of her; all I can do is be there for her and let her know that I love her and will always be here for her. Every day, when I leave the house (I go to my main office for a few hours 3 days a week) she asks me "where are you going?" and every day, I say "I'm going to the office" and she says "be careful and make sure you come home" and I walk up to her, every day, give her a big hug and a kiss and I say "I will always come home, and I will always love you." I guess that is all I can do..let her know she is loved and truly cared for and that I won't let anything awful happen to her. Now that I've rambled on so....I do have a question, if anyone is even still reading this...How do you manage caring for your mom knowing that she doesn't have a clue who you are? It must just tear you apart.One more thing Nora...nine years is a long time...how was she through the majority of those years? Was she aggitated? Did she get along with her caregivers? Did she put up a fight about bathing?...I'm done for now....thanks again...you've been more help than you can ever imagine...my heart goes out to all of you for taking the time to respond to me and caring enough to do so....

Good, I'm glad you all seem to concur with my conclusion. I'd hate to give up precious counter space for another smaller sink. Seems like it wouldn't work in my kitchen. I do not like the setup of my frig/oven wall. I will have to work on that when we get to that point!

I, too, understand about the American Girl thing. My daughter has a trunk of beautiful clothes for her AG dolls, all purchased from her grandmother. I will *never* be the one to give any of this away or she will be posting one day about how she can't forgive ME! As for getting rid of husband's stuff...this is sort of along the same lines. My husband loves car races and has a favorite tee shirt he wears only when he attends a race. It's sponsored by Marlboro. Well, one day a telemarketer called and I picked up the phone (before caller I.D.!) and they wanted to do a survey on what kinds of cigarettes my husband smokes. Thoroughly disgusted, I exclaimed, "My husband has NEVER smoked." End of discussion. I was so proud of the fact that I ended THOSE phone calls. Awhile later my husband wondered why Marlboro wasn't sending him free racing tee-shirts and stuff anymore. Somehow we got on the conversation about that phone call and how I couldn't believe they thought he smoked. My husband looked at me with this incredulous look and said, "You didn't tell them I don't smoke, did you?" Yep. He was so upset and STILL is. Now they won't send him anything because they know the truth and he is still mad about it! So he has that one racing shirt that has little holes starting in the neckline but he refuses to part with it. And I definitely will *not* be the one to give away, considering I'm already in the doghouse about the other stuff! Sheryl

I will try to answer questions. I don't know our GC's rationale and that's a good point that I should just ask him to explain his thinking. I doubt he is thinking resale as we have very clear with him that we intend to live in this house for the long term. (And the neighborhood defintiely does not call for huge "professional" gas ranges.) The capture point is a good one. The counter is that it's a small old kitchen. A big hood would dominate unreasonably, IMO. And I'm tall enough to bump my head on it too. So I think the slide out is a decent compromise. We have a gas furnace that is located in the attic. I doubt it has it's own mua, though the attic is also leaky. We have a gas tankless water heater located on the exterior of the house. And we do have a wood burning fireplace--currently never used, but with very long range tentative plans to convert it to gas and use it. The kitchen will have multiple operable windows (one of my main goals for this remodel is windows I can open in the kitchen). Thanks everyone!