This may not help, but story of a relative. Pretty much constant cough - asthma suspected but inhalers didn't seem to help. Doctor thought maybe silent reflux - put them on PPI in the morning and Pepcid (prescription strength) in the evening. Cough has pretty much magically disappeared. We also made her eliminate her two humidifiers (nasty orange/pink mold in them) and got her easier to clean humidifiers about the same time - so it could have been that too? It gets pretty dry in the house here in the winter time with the heat on.

age 11 - IL, mid 70s. Breakfast we were on our own - so usually PB sandwich with reconstituted orange juice or hershey's cocoa chocolate milk. Lunch - Mom usually made - either a sandwich or leftovers from the night before. Often it was bologna. Nasty foul stuff. I bought a couple of slices at the deli to let my kids taste it - and they thought it was evil too. During the summers, we kids at home (mom at work) usually had a Campbells soup. My favorite was bean-n-bacon - which my middle sister hated with a passion. Supper - usually something with hamburger. I was the first one home, and the only one who could make dinner if the family was to eat together (older sisters off to work, Dad off to college (worked during the day, took night classes), mom worked semi-late). Spaghetti, sloppy joes, chili, hamburger helper - basically that is all I could do - something with hamburger! We always had a garden in the summer, so plenty of tomatoes, green beans, corn, radishes. If there was a salad, it was iceberg lettuce. Weekends mom would cook real food - fried chicken, roast, steak, etc. But, wait, I think we had navy beans regularly one night a week too. Often mom made yeast rolls (lovely!) to go with them. There might have been a little in them but not much. There wasn't a lot of money to go around, so my mom was excellent at stretching meals - I grew up thinking everyone had beans in their chili and sloppy joes. We had leftovers regularly but Mom usually managed to find ways to sorta disguise them. We rarely went out to eat. As I got older - maybe 15?16? we used to sometimes go out for pizza. If we were traveling to see relatives, we might stop at a fast food type place. We did get Pepsi and store bought candy once a week though. My dad would clean an office building on Friday or Saturday nights - and the whole family went with him, and we had a little party at the end - split two Pepsis (5 people) and a small bag of mixed chocolates.

Based on what I see in folks carts at the grocery store, many of them are mostly purchasing frozen/prepared foods. Cans of beans vs dried beans. Hamburger helper/meal options where you just add meat. Microwave meals - fish sticks, chicken nuggets, stuff like that. I too have some of those options in my pantry for emergency meals (little time to prepare). But they are rare here. We have a local Thanksgiving Food Drive. For years, people donated turkeys. About 5-6 years ago, the organizers requested folks bring canned meat products vs frozen turkeys as many of those turkeys were not being used. People didn't have the pans/know how to cook them/etc. This may not be typical as people who received those boxes went through a process to make sure they meet the qualifications of need.

One of our daughters is married. They decided to not have a wedding, which was a complete and total surprise because she has always dreamed of a wedding/wearing a fancy dress/what her bridesmaids would wear/etc. We gave a lump sum comfortable for us. The other daughter is not married, and I would be surprised if she gets married ever, but time will tell. At that point or sooner, we will have to figure out what to do. We did pay for 9 semesters of college for each. One got a BS, while the other got a BS + MS in that time. Prices increased during that time, so one costs more than the other. It's hard to figure out how to be fair, because technically one got more $$$ spent on her college education - but to a great extent that was because prices increased (rents went up 50% plus other general costs increased!)

Okay, I was off to google CBS gummies because I had never heard of them, and if they were helpful, I wanted to do research. But they were CBD! It probably would have taken me several minutes to figure that out!

One of my friends several years ago had her knees replaced (not at the same time) and they had her use a little machine like a bike pedal that they put in the bed with her so she could start working on that. That was probably 12-14 years ago? When my sister had hers done 3 & 4 years ago - I asked about that cycling machine, but that surgeon no longer uses it - said it wasn't very useful. I don't know all the particulars about each case - but I'd say my friend was younger (maybe 10-12 years younger) but more overweight than my sister. So I don't know if age/condition/weight/general health/etc plays any part in the PT prescribed afterward. My sister said the pain after the surgery was nothing compared to the pain she was in before the surgery. They made her give up all her pain meds for 7 days before surgery, so she was really feeling the pain and limping along. I did strongly encourage her to take the pain pills they prescribe after surgery for a few days because I didn't want her to get behind in the pain front because it is so hard to catch back up. I'm probably looking at a knee replacement in the future too. I'm not as scared about it seeing her journey. I stayed with her 2-3 weeks after each knee so I got to see the nitty gritty. But a few things I did not know 1. You have to watch/catch any and all infections very quickly. She has to take antibiotics before any dental work. She said she was told any infections would head for the replacement joints very quickly and cause problems? 2. The replacement joints don't last forever. 10-15 years is the life expectancy.

My sister has had both knees replaced. She wished she had done it sooner. 1. Her surgeon had her start taking Vitamin D, C, and zinc well before her surgery - and would check her levels and postpone surgery if the levels were not to his satisfaction. He also has you increase (wildly IMHO) your protein intake. But I think all these things help with healing, so it makes sense. 2. Her surgeon has excellent results from his patients. But he also has them do a lot of PT. Two weeks of PT at home (2-3 times a week for two weeks, I can't remember which), and then 2 times/week for 4-6 more weeks at therapy place. 3. Get Press-n-seal. They suggested we use that to cover the area so she could take showers without getting wound wet. My sister's doctor recommends a spinal block (I think that is the correct term) in addition to general anesthesia. No way would I do that if I were conscious. I know when she had the hip replaced, there was a fair amount of tugging/moving/etc to get everything in place. With her knee replacement, I think the doctor pulls the muscles to either side to get at the knee (so no cutting of muscles). That sounds uncomfortable. And my doctors during my C-Section were talking about GOLF. Really??? I'm cut open here and you are pulling a baby out (and me off the table with that baby too!), and you guys are talking about anything other than what you are DOING? It was a little disturbing to me. But everything came out okay, so they obviously knew what they were doing and probably had done it 10,000 times, but still, as the poor conscious patient, it was unnerving.

I bought a pair of Hokas (Zappos, I think). At first, I thought they were wonderful. I have wide feet, high arch, and high instep. But after a few days, I noticed that my feet were rolling inward whenever I walked. I've never had that problem before. If I concentrate when I walk, I can stop it, but that seems so weird. They are very pretty shoes, so they are still in the closet (mostly too late to return them) and only come out for short events where a dressier walking shoe would be nice but there isn't a lot of walking. Sometimes I just wear them to the grocery store because I want to like them - but I just don't. I recently invested in a pair of Kuru shoes (saw them suggested here I think). I really like them so far, but I've only worn them a couple of days (several hours each day) in the house. The Kuru shoes have much more space in the toe box than the Hokas did.

Should it be like finger foods (grazing) or will folks be sitting down to eat a meal? If the first, I'd probably head to Sam's and get their little appetizer things - mini quiches, egg rolls, taquitos, chips/dip, cheese cubes, fruit tray, veggie tray. I'd freeze some baggies with water for putting under the stuff that should stay cold (like the ranch dip for the veggies) - or use those cold packs you use with the 9x11 casserole dish carriers. If it needs to be more meal-ish vs. snacking, I'd consider either doing a few soups that could just stay warm in crockpots, or do a taco bar in crockpots - taco meat in one, beans in another, rice in the last. Toppings can stay out, but I would put ice under cheese. I'd use flour tortillas vs. taco shells, or maybe I'd use the individual bags of corn chips to use for walking tacos. Or I might just do hotdogs in one crockpot and chili in another, toppings can stay out. Or a baked potato bar. For me, I'd be after things that I don't have to make then but could just reheat (either making in advance or purchasing already made).

You know, I believe humans can order their prescriptions from Canada too. It does take longer to get the first one (2-3 weeks).

I'm sorry. Anniversaries are tough. I hope you have a good day.

One mom who one of mine dated her son. Son, 17 yo, pretty responsible, had been working 2-3 jobs for many years (mowing lawns/yard work/etc before he was 16), got good grades in DC classes, helped out at home. Had to be home from dates by 9 at the latest. 9 PM. Also was not allowed to leave the town we live in. Rules seems controlling and bizarre and arbitrary at the same time.

Paper flower bouquet. Longer lasting than flowers, no smell in case that bothers her, still attractive to look at, can throw away when you are tired of it (no clutter!) or save for another day (clutter!). For an extra $5 they ship it for you too. https://www.lovepop.com/collections/lovepop-flower-bouquet-shop Freshcut Paper also has these, but I think the Lovepop ones are better. They do, however, have some smaller ones which are nice too. ETA: and significantly cheaper, so https://www.freshcutpaper.com/collections/flowers

I'm so sorry. It is a mess. And every year too. I donate the weird stuff we get like that and hope someone else can benefit from it.

I wear Darn Tough and love them. But I only buy when on sale. GoBros has 20% off in November (or maybe October?) - it is late fall anyway. I would buy a pair a year until I had 7 days worth. I wear them more than 1 day in a row (hanging up to air out overnight). Also Darn Tough has a lifetime guarantee. I bought my hiker child several pairs about 3-4 years ago, and we just replaced three pairs that had holes. No issues. I had to pay $6 to ship socks to them, they evaluated and sent me a email with a code for $X - which translated to 3 new pairs of socks on their website - free shipping back to me. BTW, if the socks had been 10 years old, I would not have taken advantage of their free lifetime warranty. This child has always been super hard on her socks and pants. They just don't last as long as with regular folks. So, to me, Darn Tough is expensive up front, but when I count the fact I've worn these socks for 6-8 years and they are still fine? If they were the cheap socks (which I have some), I have to replace yearly because I get holes - these are a much better deal. $25/pair for 8 years is only $3.13/pair. Since these are still going strong, I expect them to last at least 15-16 years, so now that is down to $1.67/pair. That is a deal!

One of mine was in a holding pattern, she has so much potential and also so many interests/abilities it is hard to choose/and has trouble focusing/deciding what direction to actually go (because the holding pattern was okay - no real reason to push/change/make decisions). Then a younger sibling was working on masters decree (that was was driven by her interests which correspond nicely with a very profitable career path), and I think that sorta kick-started older into thinking. And then she became stuck in a decision which way to go (choice of schools - masters/PhD/etc), and to me the answer was pretty obvious, but much of her issue seemed to be that now she felt 'behind' because younger sister was 'ahead' of her. I pointed out you cannot undo/redo past so forget it, and you just have to make best decision for now and go forward. To my intense surprise, she actually listened to this, agreed with me (WOW!!! so heart warming!!!), and decided that this was correct - you cannot do anything about past decisions, so you just move forward from where you are now. So, the 'push' to do something I think really came from the slightly (okay more than slightly) competitive nature with sister, and sister provided that push without being aware that she was doing so. I see other young adults struggling to decide/move forward/make a plan/etc. Some get stuck in that loop for years, others come unstuck/focused when very interesting attractive potential mate shows up, some just find that job/opportunity that seems to lead to a plan. But it is hard. I'm glad my oldest found the motivation from her younger sister's path, but that was just luck in many many ways.

In my humble opinion, some folks are good gift givers and some folks are not. I've gotten things like an electric nail file and lawn mower from someone in my immediate family. I now shop for myself or send specific links so I get things I want. I'm not trying to be mean, but this person is not a good gift giver, so this bypasses those "what-were-you-thinking" gifts. I never used the electric nail file (???) but we did use the lawn mower (but that is not a present!!!) But if this person got me something that was not something I wanted at all, I'd basically thank them and ask if it was okay to exchange it for something specific that would be a better fit. But my person would be okay with that.

I'm sorry. I would be hurt too. To fly to your continent - I get wanting to see the stuff they will be seeing, but it would be relatively easy to add a flight to your country and see you, or at the very least to agree to meet somewhere in-between for a mini vacation for both of you? I will say that I've seen older adults who are really stressed by being away from home so long with such different environments/food/schedule/etc, so they may be super anxious to get home to their routine again. My retired parents once drove 8-10 hours to see us, eat dinner, and then said they HAD to go home. And they did. It was bizarre to me at the time, and still is to this day, but it was what it was. I don't think they ever came back. They used to go on vacation with my other sister and her husband though -driving about the same amount of time and staying in motels at their destination.

My dd's cat watches the neighbor's lights when we go out for his evening walk. Neighbor has some neat lights that change color/patterns/timing on his house. Very impressive - and generally different every night.

That is going to be fun! Please post pictures - before and after - when you are done!

I hear you from East Texas. The humidity is slightly better here but is still awful. I hate sweating. I sweat very easily. So I exercise inside, not as great as outside, but less sweating. I have an elliptical machine and a stationary bike. Give me my ear buds and a good book and I'm good to go. I do not want to take 3 showers daily. However, whenever we visit anywhere else, and their humidity is not 98%, I find my skin feels awful - like it is drying out and I have to keep putting moisturizer on it all the time. So, I tell myself the silver lining to this humidity is I will not wrinkle as much because the humidity is keeping my skin moist. (If you know this not to be so, please keep it to yourself! I have to have something!)

We hosted innumerable supper/game nights/movie marathons/mystery parties/etc here for my kid's friends when they were all teens. So many events. And two families hosted events - one two times, one one time. I still hosted events because it was good for my kids and their friends to have events. We even did formal luncheons once a summer to help kids work on table manners, how to eat with extra flatware/etc. I never expected any other families to host anything although it was nice when they did. If I invite folks over for a meal, I do not expect them to do the same. I invite them over because we want them to come here and enjoy some time together. I haven't been able to do that much due to one anxious child and now there is so much chaos/various other things that I haven't been able to invite anyone for a long time. I sorta miss it.

If this is a general question to anyone, I'm going to throw in. If not, ignore me. My Dad gave one of my siblings a fairly new very nice truck when he could no longer drive. That sibling has always lived close to the edge - they worked hard, did not waste money, just not a good situation. He felt that he must be fair so he gave all the other siblings the cash equivalent of that car. Both of us told him we didn't need the money, so he didn't have to give us that cash, but he insisted so we took it. We immediately put it in savings so if he needed it later, we would help out. I totally get the idea of treating kids fairly, but I wonder about the equally part. My sibling needed that truck. The rest of us did not need the cash. I think it would have been fine for Dad to give truck to needy one and nothing to us - because there was a need (not because fiscally irresponsible either - some of their decisions have been not great but not awful). However, I do have a problem with funding things that are not NEEDS for fiscally irresponsible people. To me, that is empowering them to continue to be fiscally irresponsible. And I don't think that long term that is a good for them. Short term it is probably super hard to watch adult kids struggle, but struggling is not the end of the world, IMHO. And quite frankly, I would prefer to be able to fund a decent long term care facility/assisted living place for me vs. give those funds to a fiscally irresponsible adult child. I've been many times in the ones you go to if you have no money, and quite frankly, I wouldn't let any of my relatives stay there if I could do something about it. The ones I've been in - horrible, stinky, workers often don't seem to care/or are so badly overworked, etc. And the ones you pay for - more like a mid-priced resort - workers care, workers are still overworked but not so badly they are exhausted and evil tempered, place is clean, etc. This may well be selfish but we worked hard and long for that money, and we gave up lots of pleasures, things for years, so we could have a decent retirement. We worked hard helping our kids get established, educated, well prepared to make good sound decisions in their life. The rest is up to them.

To me it does not seem like a wise financial decision to buy a house if another party (relative or not) has to advance you money for a down payment so you can afford it. I would not do that, nor would I help the buying party by giving them money for down payment. I might offer advice/suggestions about how to save money for down payment or relocating to a cheaper area to live - all sorts of ideas. Especially now house prices are very high, and I don't think they will stay long term. I'd be a little ticked off if my parents did that for one of my siblings. It would be different if my sibling needed help with regular bills due to emergency medical issues/major disaster/etc (aka no need because they had made questionable financial decisions for years). But it is their money, so if they wanted to do that, I would be okay. I might ask some questions/give input - or I might not (my parents would have, I think, appreciated another viewpoint, but I can't say for sure because they passed many years ago) depending upon relationship/openness/etc. I probably would give my sibling a, "What are you doing taking Mom and Dad's retirement money???" Good luck.

Wide feet here, high arches, high instep. I love my Birkenstock Arizona sandals. I got a pair of Stegman wool clogs (the wide - so you only have a couple of choices) because the foot bed is very similar (I think) to the Birkenstock foot bed. At first I thought I ordered them too small as the fit was snug, but it loosens up over time, very comfortable now. I had one pair for 3 years (still wear those), but they were on sale, so I ordered a second pair. I bought these for house shoes, but I've worn them out of the house several times and I've had a few compliments. I had these Mary Janes for years. I loved them (the sides are some stretchy material, so very comfortable) except I ordered them in XXW (4E) which is what I wore in my New Balance tennis shoes - but that ended up being a bit too wide. I also think the sizing for these is a bit big (so if you wear a 8.5, you might consider ordering an 8 instead - but maybe I'm just weird on that). https://www.orthofeet.com/products/springfield-827-black