The ground keeps getting further and further down! I can't say exactly why I can't get up and down.........I guess its a total system failure. haha I tried using Rubbermaid containers in the backyard for veggies, but they didn't work out so well. You really need the soil to come in contact with the worms and the other soil microbes, and I didn't want to use fake soil. I dream of a waist-high raised bed, but it needs to be soil all the way down to the ground.......which is a ton of soil (or more!). Anney.....my stool is plastic and has pretty thick sides, but if the soil is soft, it can sink. I think a small board under yours is what you'll need. Last year, when I was having alot of leg pain and needed physical therapy, I got into using one of those big rubber exercise balls. I started thinking that a slightly smaller one would work great outside. Its easy to sit on them, and then just glide forward to where you're working. I saw a smaller one at Target (its called "hoppity ball") with a rubber handle on it and thought that would work great. However, when I got it home and blew it up, it was so small that I couldn't even get down to it! So I will continue my search for the bouncy ball that can handle an adult's weight, and be just the right size. As to the reacher tool.........I have about 6 of them! I just wish they made them in a professional grade. I use mine for so many different things. I used one to pick up small branches in the yard, reach things up high in my chicken coop, reach things in my water garden. I even used one once to try to catch a snake. haha I even use them to pick tomatoes through my wire cages too. Romas seem to grow so low down, and fall to the ground easily. Can you tell I love those things!? Anything that helps us continue to garden after our bodies start failing us is a good thing! Here's another tip if you have trouble leaning over for lanting alot of seed.......I got a section of PVC pipe (about 3-4' long), 1" diameter, and if I'm having more trouble than usual leaning over, I use that pipe to drop seeds through, in my rows of beans. It places the seed exactly where you want it. Anney.....I'm really glad you started this subject!

Hi Scrappy25, I'm not sure how tall the soffits were but they seemed huge! We took down two soffits. One soffit was in a wall that we took out (now it's an archway and a peninsula). What you see now is just trim - we just ordered some stuff and played around with what would look best above the cabinetry. I definitely knew I wanted top of the molding to match the rest of the house, so the carpenter recreated the original molding for the new space - we just needed to fill a small gap (since the cabinets were semi but not custom),so that's when we played around with other molding pieces. The space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling is nothing compared to the soffits that were there before. The house is 1940 - so nothing is even. So everything was a challenge! However, we had to leave the soffit above the sink - I just had the carpenter make the soffit itself smaller - then we added trim over the soffit above the sink. That's why the two walls look different if you're really staring at them. But most people come to the house and just love the overall kitchen. I'm really happy with how it turned out - we did the best we could with what we had, under a certain budget. It's always a game of give-and-take! The hood - I believe it's the AK2500S Zephyr Power Series Hurricane 30" Under Cabinet Hood. God luck, and happy kitchen planning!

Yugoslava, I will be 79 in September, although I have slowed down to a crawl and not very agile anymore I will never give up my garden, it's what keeps me going. I might be sore when I come in but never in a bad frame of mind. I know what you mean about couch grass, once you have it you will never get rid of it, if one little piece of stolen is missed away it goes again. Even after I cleared all the plants out of one bed, pulled every bit of couch grass I could find, rototilled it every few days for over a month. I replanted and it was great for a couple of years but then that damn couch grass was back, came in under the fence from a neighboring yard. I have one large bed I've dedicated to vegetables, two years ago I decide to try the no dig method, I cleared the bed of most of the weeds, spread some sea soil and covered it with a thick layer of straw. In the spring I added more straw and planted tomatoes, pole beans, sea kale and a few other things. I only had to pull the few oats that germinated, had a great harvest. This spring I added more straw and planted it again. I have a lot of gravel paths, come summer I have several pieces of carpet I move around, leaving for a couple of weeks, then, on a hot sunny day the carpet is lifted and the sun fries what's left of the weeds. This I do in the decorative part of my garden.Down in my back 40 (forty steps from the back door) where the greenhouse is and a few more raised beds I have for vegetables I have started laying done roofing shingles over the gravel paths which so far has really cut down on the weeding. I also invested in a weed torch which I used on my patio made up of left over bricks and other assorted pavers. I used to sit and weed in between the pavers but now just buzz over it with the weed torch. I was out of commission again this summer, NOTE: an ice pack is now my best friend. Needless to say I have a lot of work ahead of me, when a garden is unattended for a couple of months especially in the growing season it goes to rack and ruin in a hurry. I had my hubby make me what I call a steadying tool, really handy. Made out of a replacement handle and a piece of rebar. Great for balance when trying to step in around perennials without trampling anything, stops me from (unintentionally) moving the wrong way, great for bending down to pull a weed without straining your back. Also great for steadying oneself when working on a slope or uneven ground. In fact I have several of these in permanent locations in place of handrails around the garden, works a treat. My garden is what keeps me going, so it's not looking it's best right now, it's still my little piece of heaven, weeds and all. In fact that is what I named my garden :). Annette

Just had to check the label on mine :) and it says Samsonite with a bed bath & beyond sticker on it. It looks like Annie's, but I think mine might have a higher handle on it. I like the high handle to lean against or hold onto while atop the high step. Is this the same as Annie's? Looks the same, but look for a high handle. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Step-Folding-Step-Stool/161655837033?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D35375%26meid%3Da1a570706d2242f48d33588a5537a293%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D7%26sd%3D161655837033