i guess only time will tell. i have done everything i could except plant right at the beginning of spring. soil is slightly acidic at 6.0, moist, and appears to be well-drained in my own perc test. root flare exposed. sunny spot with some late afternoon shade. mulched nicely and ready to grow! let's hope. thanks everyone!!!

Depends on your conditions really. There is no best mix to repot them. As long as it drains freely and stays on the moist side anything is ok. I've grown Miranda in a variety of mixes over the years, it isn't particular. Most of my Nepenthes are in some combination of cocohusk chunks, orchid bark, charcoal, perlite, long fibered spaghnum moss. If you grow it inside you may need more sphagnum in your mix or need to water it more often if your mix is less moisture retaining. If you plan to grow it outside and it's humid where you are you can get away with less sphag to none. Miranda is a good plant to experiment on and learn what mix is best for your particular conditions and growing style. Just know that it will probably sulk, stop pitchering and growing temporarily after a repot. That's normal, they don't like to be messed with, so don't assume it didn't like what you repotted it in right away. Give it a few months before you decide you've made a mistake and want to re-repot it if it still isn't happy.

Well, I'm not really sure if this is worthwhile or will just be upsetting since these were your final plans, but there isn't much that I really like. The one thing that I was crazy about were the curved stairs, but you changed those. Anyway, I like the open floor plan for the living room, dining area and kitchen. Things that I would spend some more time examining would be the amount of wasted space in the foyer area compared to your private areas. The house seems as if it were designed to have a "grand" entryway feel, but the use of bifold doors in that foyer is very jarring (I'd absolutely lose those...stat). Also, the different sizes of the double front doors...what was your design philosophy here? That door is centered in the outside space, I see no reason for one door to be a 2'0" and the other to be a 3'0". If you also want the opening to be centered in the foyer space, it could be done without resorting to this option...I think your designer could have done better here. The foyer could be very nice (particularly if you had left that curved staircase), but it robs valuable space from your bedrooms. Which are, IMO, for a house this size all too small. Also, the intersection of the two bedrooms and bathroom on the first floor...way too much action in a small area. I think this area is going to look too busy. Also, again, the bifold doors at the linen closet and broom closet in that hallway...is there a reason why they are in your plan? I haven't seen these in new homes in a long time. Where do you plan for your W/D to be placed? I didn't see it on the plans. Also, the walk-thru the mudroom, through the foyer, around a corner, into the kitchen with groceries is pretty awkward. It comes back to the fact that the house is designed with a very formal entry, but then there is nothing else about it that feels formal. It is just an interesting take on a design. Where are you building? Some of the features that are off-putting to me may well be a regional thing. It looks like the exterior would be lovely. Best of luck with your project. Also, remember that this is just one person's opinion...if the house was designed for you and your lifestyle, that is the most important thing.

"Blood ties have nothing to do with it." My point exactly (see my previous post "Attachments"). I have two male cousins who divorced their first wives. I love my cousins but also cared deeply for the women to whom they were married. I still consider them family. They are welcome in my home. I visit them when I am back there. My relationship to them, my consideration of them as "family" does not alter the fact that they are no longer "family" to their ex-spouses. My one cousin refused to speak to his mother (my aunt) for an extended period of time because, like Kathline's X-MIL, she refused to renounce his XW. Her attitude was "You divorced her. I didn't." Eventually, my cousin got over himself and reconciled with his mom. In my post on another thread, I wrote that mothers and their children are and always will be family to one another; that fathers and their children will always be family to one another. In writing this, I was simply acknowledging a biological bond; in writing that XWs & XHs are no longer family to each other, I was referring to a "legal" attachment. (For those of you who did not read that earlier thread of mine, I suggested we can become attached/bonded to others on as many as seven different levels: emotional, spiritual, legal, financial, sexual, geographical, and biological/parental. We do not necessarily become attached to others on all 7 dimensions and the intensity of the attachment may be differ, also). I believe it was KKNY who responded to the post with something along the lines of "when ex-spouses share children, there will always be a relationship between them. I agree. And I would hope for the sake of any shared children, the relationship would be cooperative and cordial. It just strikes me as ironic (and somewhat contradictory) that some would deny the validity of the loving attachments that can and do exist between Stepparents and their stepchildren because of the absence of a biological bond but will vehemently insist that the bonds they have to the biological relatives of their former spouses remain valid and deserving of respect and recognition. Because, after all, "blood ties have nothing to do with it." I agree.