What a trip down memory lane! My tree is now pushing 8 feet. And, I haven't had another Zebra Swallowtail sighting since. Sigh. Maybe this will be the magic year. I know they have been seen around here this year already--so here's hoping. Christie, it is so exciting to get a new butterfly. Pawpaws are really hardy once they take off. And a beautiful specimen tree. My tree has fruit again. It is self-pollinating and if anyone wants seeds this fall, I'll be glad to share. Laura, this particular pawpaw was from a stand that grew on a farm outside of town. So it's an OK native variety. Love hearing about sightings of this butterfly. It is truly a beauty. One of it's favorite nectar plants is the Lemon Monarda that grows in the wild. Sandy

I'm so glad you posted photos. You home is beautiful, may you have many, many years of happiness there. ....and on a practical note..may your Houston home sell quickly, and your settlement be a breeze. The snow in the photos surprised me since I didn't realize it snowed in SC, but then I looked again and noticed that it looks like a wet snow, the kind that doesn't last long. But how nice to have snow on Christmas. Even here in the colder clime of the north (Philadelphia area) we don't have snow on Christmas all that often.

I did that 7 years ago and have been SO happy I did! Now I have really useful storage space on both sides of the corner instead of 'so so' space in the corner. One other thing I did that I'd like to suggest was recessing a utensil bin into that 'dead' corner space. If I had a 'do over' I'd have probably recessed a knife block also. My dead corner has raised counters on both sides, so keeping the clutter below the countertop height makes things look cleaner.

North Iowa here.. What no one on this thread understands is there are no "green spaces" here. We have Habitat ReStore. We have Menard's or maybe Lowe's or Home Depot. Iowa people help each other all the time. Craig's list has junk. I did a kitchen gut 10+ years ago with Menard's hickory cabinets and laminate counters. No back splash. Existing Vinyl floor. Used my just fine white appliances. My house was built in 1880 so no open concept here. My kitchen is a room. A small room by comparison to almost all kitchens on here. I had a handyman who worked cheap. I had known him for at least 30 years so when I left for work I knew he'd deal with whatever came along. He was gone when I got home and I did clean up. I also did the gutting of the old kitchen; dead mice in the light fixture but he warned me about the potential so I was prepared. Maybe I was very, very lucky but I got a great kitchen for $10,000. I don't know what inflation would do to that price today. Compared to what I started with I now have a palace. You are a long way from final plans and I think you will do just fine. It takes a lot of price comparison shopping to get there. And shopping on eBay and Menard's sales. Don't over look the consignment shops. If you do Menard's cabinets wait until they have the 11% off. If you visit the cabinet people there regularly and tweak your layout, you will find people you really like and who like you and they will tell you when the sales are coming up. You can also make your own laminate counters for cheap. I didn't do that 4 inch backsplash thing and even though I didn't do any other kind of backsplash, I'm glad I didn't add it. Right now I have wallpaper but I'm thinking I might tile some paneling that's cut to fit so that if I get tired of it I can pull it off and put something else there.