The holes would be extremely easy to patch with a fast drying joint compound. You just dump a bit in a bowl, maybe 1/2 cup or so, add water and stir until it's the consistency of mayo. No lumps. Let the mixture sit 3” so that powder fully absorbs water, stir a few more times with fork, then take a rubber spatula and apply to wall, squeezing it in to holes. Let dry about 15”, then take a rung out sponge and lightly remove excess from wall. You could also wait 30” and sand with 100 grit sandpaper but the excess washes off very well and you probably wouldn’t need to paint depending on the paint color. As long as the mixed joint compound is dry and unpainted, any blobs can be easily washed off with a sponge or rag. Easy Sand joint compound cleans up super easy even after it hardens. You can buy joint compound that is premixed, but it tends to be slimy and takes a bit longer to dry. For small dart holes, it would dry fast enough, though. Home Depot sells everything you’d need: Smallest bag of Easy Sand 20 or 45. The number refers to how long it takes to dry—20 or 45 minutes. (Don’t buy Durabond.) a cheap spatula or squeegee (you could use a plastic drywall taping knife, too, but spatulas work well in a pinch) any old sponge 100 grit sandpaper if you want to sand They are completely ridiculous if they fuss over dart holes. Such an easy fix and just not worth complaining about. Anyway, hope it all goes well. Sounds like you have things in order and soon you’ll be out of there.

I work with a feral cat program that pairs them up with humans to control rat populations. They are usually infested with fleas. I was just bitten about two weeks ago thanks to an irresistable lovable kitten. lol Capstar tablets will kill adult fleas on the animal for about 24 hours. It’s an insecticide and once it reaches the blood, fleas who bite will die quickly. You’ll probably want something more long term as well. We ask vets for recommendations because they have a good idea as to what is working. In the meantime, vacuum daily wherever your dogs hang out inside. Empty the bag into something they can't escape like a plastic bag that is tied. I prefer to get any possible bagged fleas to the outside garbage bins asap. Thorough steaming can kill them, too. Washing and drying on a hot setting also. From what I’ve read on forums, a spray called Alpine works well, too, but it takes about a month to completely work due to the flea life cycle. https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef602

My youngest adult son is living at home this month and tested positive for Covid last week. Bad headache, achy joints, sore throat. He’s on the mend but will be taking it easy for a month or two. So far, dh and I feel fine and are not positive. We live in a small place, maybe 1,000 sq. ft. Go figure. Hoping we stay negative. Would love to get Novavax eventually.

Adding a bit more about divorced spouse social security benefits. To make this easier to follow, I am going to make the ex-husband the higher earner. The ex-wife could potentially receive Social Security’s Divorced Spouse Benefits, which would be a percentage of the ex-husband’s SS benefit. The amount that she receives would have no bearing on what her ex-husband receives even if he has remarried. So, if the ex-husband receives a $1,000 retirement benefit per month, he will continue to receive the full $1,000 even if his ex-wife chooses to receive a benefit for herself. She would not be taking away any SS benefit that he receives. She can also file for this without his knowledge or consent. This site goes into more detail and has a tool to help figure out if an ex should take this benefit. https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/4388 If the ex-husband were to die, then the surviving ex-wife might still be entitled to receive Social Security’s Surviving Divorced Spouse Benefit. This amount would be slightly more than the Divorced Spouse Benefit. https://ssabest.benefits.gov/benefits/social-security-surviving-divorced-spouse-benefits

I’m sure it will help a lot. Take it easy as well so you can heal up.

I work outside almost daily and have been bitten 100s of times by chiggers. I guess they find me tasty. They are most plentiful in late spring and through about beginning of July and then slowly decrease in numbers until the first frost. I was bitten just a week ago in late September so they’re still in my area unfortunately. If you think you might have been bitten or exposed, take a hot bath and scrub your body with a wash cloth or scrubby as soon as possible. They latch on and stay there for days and because they’re so small, you probably won’t see them. The heat is supposed to remove some of the enzymes they spew into you. I also place my dirty clothes in a garbage bag twisted up until laundry time. If you get the itchy red bumps anyway, use a hair dryer on the hot setting. Aim it at the bumps, fairly close, for 15-30 seconds. The bumps will feel itchier. As soon as the heat feels too hot, stop. The itching should go away or subside. If it begins to flair later, use the hair dryer again. People have used this method on chigger and fire ant bites, poison ivy rashes and even portuguese man-of-war stings. Some people prefer to use very short bursts of canned air on the bumps to numb them. Only very short shots though. Calamine and hydrocortisone cream brings down the itching too.

Boo that it’s shingles but yay! that you’re getting the antiviral sooner. It’s so much better to treat it as soon as possible.

Chiggers are most active between 60 and 90 degrees. Above or below those temps, they become less active. Frosts will kill them. They mainly bite around ankles, along the leg and waistbands and other areas where clothing can be tighter, less so above the waist but I’ve been bitten up higher occasionally. It takes them about 15” to crawl from the ankle up to the waist. Anyway, sounds like shingles needs to be ruled out.

When we bought our current home, which is a unit in an older multi-dwelling co-op, it was infested with bed bugs. We found out when we spent a few nights and woke up with bed bug bites. Luckily, we were gutting the place and hadn't moved our stuff in yet so were able to treat the place when it was bare bones. The advice we followed was from Rutgers University where they study bed bugs and treatments. We used steam and CimeXa powder which is a dessicant similar to diatomaceous earth and must be applied very lightly. It must have worked because we were not bitten after we moved in. The bed bug detectors didn't show any signs of them as well. We've been here eight years. So far, so good. A few years ago, a neighbor below us also had bed bugs and had to get the pros to come in and heat his place for hours. It worked but was a hassle. We travel a lot and use a Zapp Bug pop up container to heat our suitcases, shoes, etc. when we get back. I set it up a day before leaving so that our stuff goes in asap when we return. We heat it to 130ish degrees for a period of time as recommended. There are other steps we take to reduce chances of getting them -- when traveling clothing goes into all vinyl zip up bags, never goes into dressers, dirty laundry goes into garbage bags which are twisted shut, suitcases go into contractor bags that are twisted shut, etc. -- but the Zapp Bug and washer/dryer have worked well so far. Freezing can work as long as your freezer stays cold enough the entire time the items are in the freezer. Some freezers cycle too high and go above the minimum temp, though. You'd also want to freeze them long enough to kill both adults and eggs. A few days. Good luck. Bed bugs are very hard to get rid once you have an infestation. An ounce of prevention definitely goes a very long way. Some advice from Rutgers: https://njaes.rutgers.edu/fs1251/ Zapp Bug enclosures for anyone interested: https://zappbug.com

Journaling can be very helpful in understanding your past and seeing more clearly what you experienced. It can be used as a tool to help end dysfunctional generational problems that have been passed down. I highly recommend it. Dan Goleman talks about the brain’s empathy triad and how all three areas do not work in some people such as those with NPD. For some, only one part functions and this prevents them from being able to fully empathize with others. They cannot make the connections with others. I read about this a long time ago but iirc, it was in his book Focus, the chapter about the empathy triad. Nonetheless, the people at the receiving end are hurt and harmed and doing activities like journaling, talking to others, working with a good therapist and possibly other treatments can be helpful. Bessel van der Kolk’s book The Body Keeps the Score discusses how trauma embeds itself physically. Fight, flight or freeze responses can be long lasting. I am friends with a woman from Cambodia whose husband was killed in the Cambodian genocide. She was later given a few hours to flee with her son but had to leave behind family, friends and employees some of whom were killed. She’s now elderly and still blanks out when events from her past re-emerge in her mind, pretty much daily. Time does not heal everyone (or maybe anyone) but certain treatments can. Van der Kolk mentions some of the methods he uses. Stephen Porges also has interesting methods to retone the vagus nerve which then has a more positive effect on other parts of the body. Trauma release exercises can be helpful also.

Tofu scrambles are easy to make. They’re just sauteed veggies, tofu and seasoning. To save time, you could use frozen veggie mixes. I pre-make a big jar of seasoning — turmeric, paprika, cayenne, garlic salt and Brewer’s yeast (I think) but could be anything you like — so that it’s ready to go when needed. Takes about 5” to make.

Wow, that takes some serious cajones. What a nightmare to deal with all of this.

Waking up having to pee can be a symptom of sleep apnea so you'd want to rule that out. Glycine taken in the evening. It works by preventing a spike in body temp in the very early morning hours. A programmable cooling pad, such as the ChiliSleep Ooler, that can be set to drop slightly in temperature just before you tend to wake. My husband and one son use this system. In studies, participants outfitted in special temperature-regulated outfits were brought in and out of sleep just by moving temp up or down. Matt Walker, a sleep researcher, did some of these studies which he has discussed in interviews. You can find those on YouTube.

The intense exercise your daughter is doing could be causing her gut problems. She could try taking zinc carnosine which can improve the lining of the gut. Drs Best is a decent brand. Just one capsule per day should do. Talk this over with the dietician first. https://www.dougcookrd.com/gut-health-benefits-of-zinc-carnosine/ Certain supplements can cause nausea if the dose is too high or too prolonged. She might also want to see a GI doc as well.

We had a French door Samsung that was okay for about a year. After that it began to have problems with freezing up and then thawing to the point that it began leaking on the kitchen floor. If you look Samsung up online, you can find many complaints about this. It's not easily fixed. Even on YouTube, there are people who repair them who advise staying away from them. We now have a GE French door counter depth fridge that works well but I don't like the weird shapes and ridges in the pull out drawers. Also the shelf brackets make it difficult to store containers beneath them.

Maybe. We just heard back in the past hour and they have agreed to not scan our DLs. Now it's just a matter of signing the contract, paying and getting the transponder and key fob. I'm going to ask when we meet if we are the first to request they not copy our DLs.

We did ask them and they did not respond.

We would prepay 6 months and are providing a $500 deposit. The condo can also tow anyone illegally parked at the car owner's expense.

I am not asking if we should rent the space; I'm asking why in this case they would need a copy of our DLs. They did not tell us why when we asked. There might be a good reason but I don't know what that could be. That is what I'm trying to find out. We do tend to be more cautious than others because a few years ago someone tried to file a federal tax return in our name. It was a fiasco dealing with it and still is. In order to file, now we have to get a pin from the IRS and physically go in to an office. We file quarterly and our taxes are not run of the mill. (My husband's employer was at fault of a data breech, btw.) I realize it's possible to get anyone's information on the internet but to the extent we can minimize that risk, we would prefer to do what we reasonably can. Yes, we are already looking at a different garage. However, it is two blocks farther which is why we would prefer the condo garage. The second garage only checks ID and then we just have to fill out an application and pay monthly for the spot.

We are in the process of renting a car space in our city. It is in a clean, well-maintained condo and we would prepay 6 months plus provide a $500 security deposit. (We are doing this because our lot has a developing rat problem.) Anyway, the owners of the space want to scan and make a copy of our driver's licenses. We don't mind them looking at ID but don't want them to make scans or have copies. From what I've read, driver's licenses have personal information embedded in them, and then there's also a photo of each of us that I suppose could be used. Fraudsters could use special scanners or apps to read the bar codes. Maybe I am missing something but why would they need an actual copy of our licenses? We would prepay for 6 months as well. What says the hive?

What great news! I am sure you are relieved. Now to just get the sellers to firm up the sale.

HH is thought to have originated as a survival mechanism in northern Ireland thousands of years ago as a response to their eating a diet low in iron. With HH the gut does not discard a lot of the iron and stores it throughout the body. The excess iron acts as a superoxidant which leads to scarring in organs and the scarring causes health problems. (Because of this, people shouldn't take iron supplements unless they really need them because eating too much iron can also damage organs.) Diagnosing HH and treating it early will prevent a lot of the scarring. To complicate matters, people with HH can develop something called iron avidity. If so, then your doctor might adjust the phlebotomy schedule. Years ago I had very wonky iron numbers for a few years and found a medical researcher from UPenn on a forum who had similar numbers. (Mine are normal now so it was likely something weird. I suspect it was a result of insulin resistance.) She found that certain other genes probably do affect our iron and began researching this with the MD who was treating her. So, it could be that your children do have other genes at play. As their iron numbers improve, though, that may switch off the mystery problem genes. You’ll likely begin to see changes as their iron numbers improve. Make sure to read about diet and lifestyle changes that help. Insulin resistance will only make it worse, too, so that would probably be helpful to keep in a good range. Benjamin Bikman has written a book about it that’s worth reading if you need a resource. What amazes me is that someone thought to test for hemochromatosis in your children. Kudos to that person because it usually goes undiagnosed for years.

See if someone at a local nursery will help you plan something out. They will need to know the rough size of the garden, whether it gets morning or afternoon sun (afternoon sun can burn some plants), how much you want to work on it and what you want to spend. If they know where you live, they might know if your soil is alkaline or acidic, if it's clay or sandy, and if deers or other critters could be a problem. All important things to consider.

I am so sorry, Kung Fu Panda. That is so much to bear.

Some more ideas… Where the steps and railing meet, a ‘Diablo’ ninebark. These are gorgeous. They like sun but I’ve had success with just morning sun. To the right of that in front of the railing, ‘Gold Flame’ or ‘Magic Carpet’ spirea, maybe three. In front of the spirea, ‘Purple Emperor’ sedum, start with 1-3 and then divide in the next years to get more. They are super easy to divide and grow. In place of the spirea, you could also plant winterberry which would give you cheery red berries to look at in winter. Very pretty against snow, especially if you can see the berries from the two big windows. ‘Berry Poppins’ and ‘Mr. Poppins’ winterberry would work. You’d want at least one of each planted next to each other to get berries and they do need a bit more water but those berries in winter are worth the bother. Just snake a soaker hose around them. You’d probably find these at a reputable, local nursery. In front of the winterberry, you could plant bright pink obedient plant. Just get a pack of seeds. They grow easily and well. I grow them in part shade with no problem. They just bloom a few weeks later than those grown in full sun. Smaller shrubs and perennials are also fine. They will spend the first year growing roots and then afterward, you’ll see more branch and leaf growth. A plant that will be 3 feet wide eventually needs to be spaced so that it has room to grow. Just keep in mind that little plants initially will look odd spaced so far apart but they will grow and fill in.