Heading out this morning to get ice scrapers from our workshop/detached garage and I stumbled on stepping stones twisting my ankle. I heard a very distinct pop and went down. Now both sides of my ankle hurt and it's radiating up the outside of the leg. I can put weight on it, but I seems like a pretty bad sprain/tear. We've been working on a reno on our sunroom that has stretched out far too long. I'm in the final stages, putting in the flooring. The rest of the house is a disaster because every waking moment I'm home I've been working on the sunroom. I was going to do some house cleaning, work on the sunroom floor, and finally start putting furniture back (it's spread all over the house right now). It's been 6 weeks since we started and I'm so ready to be DONE. But, instead I'm stuck on the couch looking up PTs who specialize in ankles. Oh, and I have the two youngest grandkids today. I'm annoyed with myself for being in a hurry this morning. GRRRR...

Happy birthday to your Emily. I have less than a year a to go until my last one turns 18. I'm not looking forward to it.

OTC is different. It has to go through a different step to be effective... so it isn't a 1 for 1 substitution.

I've ordered from overseas pharmacies, but it is from India...so you may not like it. for OTC I use Avene's Retrin AL 0.1 You may want to look at Angie at Hot&Flashy's video about retinoids. It's very informative about the different types and how effective they are.

While I don't want a island the size of Greenland ? I do want one bigger than the island i had at our previous house. IT was built in the early 90s - so it really was 2x4' It was enough room to have my stove top, but no room to chop veggies, etc. Basically, it was pretty useless and in the way. I'm looking forward to putting in an island here at my new house though.

My issue is also that I never ever look at digital photos unless I'm looking for something. And, we have lost some early digital photos, which makes me sad. I enjoy going through and old photos album from time to time. I remember as a child pouring over old photos my mom had. I would do it several times a year. I still have some of those photos etched in my memory. I never scrapbooked and never saw the appeal. I just wanted to look at photos... not all the do-dads and decorations that come with scrapbooking. Plus, those are so much bigger and there's hardly any photos in them, compared to a regular photo album.

Thanks you guys for your suggestions. I love the idea of repurposing the bed. I may look into that. I think it might make a nice garden gate because it has lattice work along the sides. I also like the idea of giving it to another young couple. I'll have to think on it for a bit.

I've been thinking about the clutter thread all day. When we found "the house" to move into last summer we quickly moved to get our house ready to put on the market. That meant getting a storage unit to store stuff while we staged the house. Then "the house" didn't work out and it took a few more months to find another house. This house is even smaller and has no storage space: no basement and no garage. We have a outbuilding but there are some things that cannot go in there because of heat/cold issues. So space for unused to stuff is at a premium. Added to that we started fixer upper projects, which means we're moving stuff around to clear out a room to remodel. Ugh. So, 16 months later and we STILL have that storage unit. Fortunately, it is about 2/3 empty. I'm at a loss on what to do with some of the left over things still there.. I figure I cannot be alone in trying to figure out what to do with things... but also sometimes we just need a pat on the back and someone to tell us its okay to give/throw away something with sentimental value. So, I thought I'd start a thread for us all. So here are two of my things I'm struggling with Photos - getting married in the 80s means that I have a wedding photo album. I'ts nice to have all the photos together - but it's not something I use or "need"... it's not something the kids need. And it's BIG album. Added to that all the regular photo albums from the 80s to about 1999 when we went digital. I have at 3-4 plastic bins filled with albums plus another box (or 2) of loose photos. What do to with them? They are my family's memories. But, they take up so much SPACE. I've taken a photo of some of them to put them on FB as memories, but they never look as good. The kids do like looking at them from time to time. Our queen size bed frame. It has sentimental value because my dear MIL bought it for us as a wedding present. When we moved in 2012 we moved up to a king sized bed and never put the queen frame together. Mainly because the darn thing is SO big. It's a chamber style bed, so it needed a highish ceiling without a fan. We have no room for it here at all.. but I can't bring myself to give it away or sell it. None of my kids have expressed an interest in it. They all either like King sized beds or have no room of their own. I loved that bed - even though it was huge.

I don't get annoyed but I can see how other people might.

I agree... I hate wasting money more than I hate holding on to stuff. It's a difficult balance.

that is horrible. Will the hotel pay to have your items cleaned? How does that even work? Thanks for the tip... so sorry it had to come from such a bad experience.

I've often said that one of the perks of moving more often is that the need store useless things is less of a problem. As hard as it has been to move, it may work to our advantage when we hit our twilight years. Watching Hoarders is another good way to get myself in the mood to purge.

What a great idea!! Thanks Dawn.

I would usually only use it while the symptoms were present. That's usually only a few days at most. I agree, it's too expensive to use all the time.

wow... what a great doctor

I like the Seize the Day attitudes that both Murphy and Jean talk about. If I look back, it is a bit how my life has gone. I have friends who are much more goal oriented and would gravitate towards goal-setting/bucket lists. That's how I learned to make soap in '98 (yes, I remember the year lol). My dear friend had a friend who was a soaper. She was doing colonial America in homeschooling at the time and said to me, "C is going to teach me and the kids how to make soap, wanna come?" My reaction was, "That sounds cool, why don't we do it at my house." We did it the "old fashioned way", which meant slowly stirring a pot of oil/lye for 20-45 mins. My friend hated it. I fell in love with it and have been soaping ever since (and made a new friend). But, I never would have put something like that on a "to do" list or thought it was something "fun" to do. There's been a few other instances like that. Things just kind of happened or fell in my lap. With weaving it was something that I wanted to learn for several years, but I was waiting until the kids were older and I was almost done homeschooling before I actually took the plunge.

I agree. Our son's wedding invitation said formal. It meant wear dressy clothes - men in suits, women dressed nicely (dresses or slacks), but not long dresses. I wore a midi-length mother-of-the groom dress as did the MOB. I think this becoming common because our culture is so dressed-down. People often go to church in very casual clothing (jeans/t-shirt). And, of course, a lot of people don't go to church anyway, so there may not be a gauge on what to wear to certain events. There are weddings that are also less formal (weddings with a cowboy/bbq theme for instance). I think this is a way to kindly convey a message that you should dress nicely for an event. I think if it had said "Evening Formal" then you should wear a long dress.

I don't think of those as bucket lists. I think of those as personal goals or life-choices. When I think of bucket lists I think of things that are extras such as jumping out of a plane or hiking the AT.

I don't have a bucket list either. I think it's because I'm not a very goal oriented person. There are places I'd like to visit someday - but my understanding of bucket lists is that they encompass more than travel. If I were the type of person to do bucket lists I think they would change and evolve over time. If these types of life-goals are something you enjoy perhaps give it time and some new ideas will come to you.

yes, but they don't get the heat and humidity.

oh man, that sucks. I'm sorry. Prayers for quick healing and that the pain is greatly diminished soon.

I am a lover of the gloomy cool weather. I've always thought I'd be better suited to PNW or English weather. This summer has been almost ideal for me. That said, I noticed about a week ago that I was quite depressed... One of those weeks where it was very hard to put one foot in front of the other. What you've said about storing up reserves is a light-bulb moment for me (p.s. - KungFu - IIRC, we're not to far from each other - so we've had similar weather).

That's okay. I'll give you my rice and I'll take the potatoes. ?

Sometimes I watch the old shows and get a little sad because that was back in the day when we were unattached to our phones. "oh look, they're walking around outside enjoying the world and no one is texting." I want to go to there. Sigh. I must be crazy person.

I love hashbrowns. I've only ever eaten them at restaurants. One restaurant used to have the best fried, shredded hashbrowns with sour cream. To.die.for. I've never made them myself.