Grandmom, Chandra is heavy on my mind. Jordan is the locale my taste buds were tainted. Oh the hummus he's eating daily!! I'm envious! Street vendors.. hummus is like cheap fast food! the streets of Jordan swell with aroma of roasted chick peas and pine nuts. OH.... but I digress... Lisa, I thought about the growing Asian markets. Availability is enlarging (thank, goodness). Then, there is the internet. Shipping for imported food stuffs is not justified on my budget. In fact, I'll be buying my next paste from one in Stillwater or Tulsa. These places don't have USDA standard practices in mind which helps eliminate outbreaks. (Nowadays I think the USDA is pretty lax or, at least, cannot keep up. Well, OK, it's NOT keeping up, apparently but reporting after the fact.) There's a scary thought. Was I at risk all these years? I guess we're always at risk with manufactured goods. In the accompany of Jordanians, it was different. Culturally they keep up with "who's who and what's what" on an informal basis that parallels the effectiveness of government organizations! That's no longer my case, though I have relations with my daughter. She resides in Illinois in a Jordanian community, but she frequently travels missing my stock. I still depend on her for Jameed. Many take advantage of Jordanian travels for the sake of gold. Me? Food, baby. But these are why I should grow it myself, mishandle it myself and give my self Salmonella, too. LOL Bonnie

WoW! Thanks for the responses. Cyn: Yes we do talk talk talk to her and have her dancing to music and try bringing her to new and interesting places. This is such a fun age. workinprogress: we do try reading everyday. I am not sure if this is just normal for a 9 month old but she will not stay still for a book. She is very active and does not like to be held very much. So we do continue to try and read but am wondering if she is just too young to stay in our lap and enjoy a story or is she is just particularly antsy. Anele: Thank you so much for those on line sites and recommendations. I will take time to go thru them all and look at that book on amazon. Thanks for the time you took to write all the recommendations. Bumblebeez: That book sounds interesting even though she is done with the pregnancy part and infant stage. But never know there might be another one someday. My daughter does make all the babys food and is very up on all the nutrition as far as what she can and cannot eat. I am enjoying being a gramma for the first time and this little 9 month old is growing so fast. It seems like yesterday I was asking you all for color choices when we were planning her nursery. It is for this reason, that they grow so quickly that I do not want to miss the boat with things we can do to be the best we can.

Thanks everyone for your compliments on our house and your congrats on the baby! We are very excited for this baby - its been a long time coming!!! Same with our house  weÂve been working on it for 2 years. We had been doing a bunch of things ourselves taking down all the wallpaper, painting the entire house, leveling the subfloors, ripping out all the old carpet, reconfiguring our master closets, opening up the walls between the kitchen and great room as well as hiring out for all new hardwood upstairs, refinishing the downstairs hardwood, getting a pool/spa put in, new landscaping, irrigation/ outdoorlighting, repiping the house with new tankless water heater, gutting and redoing the master bath. I have to post before and after pics sometime  the house always had good bones but boy was it dated. The kitchen is the last major project  of course there are other little projects left Âlike the babyÂs room which I havenÂt even started furnishing/decorating . Anyhow youÂve all given me such great ideas for ways to make the kitchen safer and more user friendly when the little one arrives. Rookie-2010 thanks!! Congrats to you too on your new house! Love love your kitchen!! Have you moved in yet? alwayssunshine I will definitely start looking for a large gate(s). We actually have two openings between the kitchen and the great room (there is another smaller one on the right). There used to be pocket doors where the large opening is and stationary glass doors where to smaller one is but we decided to open it up and really looks so much better (but I can see how it make things harder when the baby is mobile). I have been hoping for a gas range but if we canÂt vent it we might have to go with a cooktop on the island again which would have knobs on the top. Or if we get a range we might do what withoutanh suggested and take the knobs off if the baby shows interest in playing with them. Sadiebrooklyn thanks for the tip about the pack and play. Judging from how DH and I are I am betting weÂll have an inquisitive baby. dianalo we have thought about just doing a facelift on this kitchen but I really have my heart set on a new layout and better cabinets (they are really beat up when you see them up close). We ended up doing a facelift in the kitchen in our previous house after spending a year planning a gut renovation and my husband promised me IÂd get to remodel the next one - so we bought this house specifically because weÂd get to redo it. As onecatonedog said I think things will bother me more after the baby comes and IÂd rather try to get it all done before if we can. rjr220 we are planning on a single large sink  although still deciding whether to do farmhouse or undermount. I hadnÂt thought about bathing the baby in it but I have certainly used it to rinse the dog on more than one occasion so that makes sense I guess! I far as the pool we have to install a bunch of things  we are planning on a pool alarm as well as door alarms and exterior doors with hardware mounted higher than little babies reach  we also have magnalatches already on the backyard gates. Rexroat yes I plan to use the island for prep  the way I have been using it is I stand facing away from the sink. Not sure if weÂll be able to add a prep sink at this point - we just repiped the whole house and didnÂt include one. The island shape in those drawings is not really finalized  I just know I donÂt want the same shape we have now  so IÂd be open to suggestions about that. Thanks again everyone!

@ junco ... it CAN ... but .... A garden, per se, can be a random collection of plants that need no justification for their being included in a garden other than that their owner wants them. A landscape is a highly specialized garden in which the plants are usually part of a larger structure of plants, and specific demands are made on their abilities (to screen, produce shade, avoid looking bad, be maintainable at certain sizes, be permanent, etc.) In a non-landscape garden, very frequently the number one criteria for plant selection is its flowers. In a landscape garden, that is often the last criteria to justify selection. If one is buying plants and asking where they can be planted, that is likely gardening. If one has a place for a plant and is asking what plant will best work in that position, that is likely landscaping. A garden CAN be an adornment for a home, but it requires that one be more discriminating about what plants are chosen and where they are placed. Sometimes it can be very charming, but on the other hand it sometimes comes with higher maintenance. MOST people do not want to put forth the effort so gardens, per se, usually only work out well for a small percentage of people.