I have made up queen size beds with fresh sheets 4 times in the past 2 days. I remember when I was younger my grandmother would have me make the bed the "right way".....nice crisp hospital coreners, fold the top of the sheet down over the blankets a few inches, etc. Every time I changed the sheets the past few days I noticed that they seem to short to be able to tuck the bottom in and have enough to make nice hospital corners and there certainly wasn't enough to fold over on the top. Are top sheets shorter than they used to be or am I just doing this all wrong?

My kids were NOT so thrilled when I told them that I had great ideas for us coming up. They do NOT want to hike that far.

I grew up within miles of where the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) was started and while I was Baptist, 99% of my classmates were CRC or Reformed. Agreeing above it was likely just where they were in the scripture. I attended a CRC church yesterday where my friend's husband is the pastor.....and he didn't preach from that text.

Last year the kids and I visited all 38 county parks in our county. This year I had the goal of 50 parks but not sure we will make that.....unless I count the same park once for each time we visit it. I might be older, and far but slow and steady I can hike.

I am an older 40s, overweight mom who is in physical therapy for Achilles's tendonitis but I did a nice 6 mile hike today using my hiking poles. The hike would have been gorgeous in another 3 weeks or so with peak fall colors but it was beautiful today. We even found one of the 2 waterfalls in the lower penninsula of Michigan .....and it was flowing. Just a motivation for those of you who don't think you can do something like this. If I can do it, most people can do it. We went slower than some but enjoyed every minute of it. VID_20180924_144854762.mp4

I replace them when they are gone. Some it has been years. I helped my friend pack up her kitchen when they were moving and I noticed some old looking labels on the spices. I asked her about those and she said "oh, yeah, I bought those when I was in NY City"......umm, that was over 20 years ago....but they got packed and she is still using them.

Just because only one wall is red and 3 walls and the hall are green?

I believe the owners would have the paint colors for me to match. I actually love the red and had that color in my kitchen 15 years ago.....but not with the green. If so, would you paint that red wall the green color or the cream yellow? I had not thought about restretching the carpet but that is a good idea.

I need to decide what, if anything to do at my new house before moving in. Living room is deep sage/forest green and canyon red Rock with beige carpet. Paint and carpet are in excellent condition. Kitchen/dining is a cream yellow color and has almost new laminate flooring....again in excellent condition. I like the green and I like the red but not sure I want them together. I like the cream yellow color and I love the laminate flooring. I am not sure on keeping the carpet. Issue is if I put luxury vinyl plank flooring in the living room I would really need to take up the almost brand new laminate. I just don't really want the laminate through the living room as I know over time water/snow is an issue and I am not sure the floors would be level and that I could match what is there. So do I paint living room (one or both colors), change floors, both, neither? Black leather couch will stay as will print chair. I might add in an electric fireplace. UPDATE.....some dear friends decided to bless me with a professional painter for the living room. I will most likely go with the cream that it in the dining room. It is more the light cream you see to the left of the green living room wall va the more yellow color it appears like in the dining room area picture.

I am now single parenting it and right now substitute teaching special education at a local school for severely impaired students. I love what I do, the students, and co-workers but the pay is quite low. Someone today told me I need to get on Linked In and see what else is out there in the special Ed, advocacy type fields. O know nothing about linked in,how it works, any cautions with using it, etc. Anyone want to give me a 101 crash course?

The shows are mostly earlier in the day so it was worth being there early as well. Since you can come and go throughout the day it was nice to take a break, get lunch, etc and come back later again.

The Clearwater Aquarium is the one that has the dolphin winter. My girls really enjoyed it. We went early in the day and it got quite busy. We went back later in the day about 2 hours before closing and it was almost empty. My girls got 1:1 time with the staff, got to hold Winters tail, got to watch them work with her, etc. That made it extra special.

We flew Alligant airlines direct to Clearwater/Tampa for $60 per person each way. Lots of great places along the shore between Clearwater and St Petersburg. The Saturday market in St Pete is awesome. Lots of near nature trIls to explore in the area, free historical sites, neat beaches. We did an air BNB but not on the water as we wanted to be closer to my girls' bio sister's house.

I would have voted a nice sunny yellow but not with yellow ceiling.

Look for grief support groups/camps for kids. One if the best things I did with one foster boy was take him to a day long camp for kids/teens that had lost a parent. It was so helpful for him to know that he was not alone in this.

I am leaving it up to the realtor to decide. Just to put such hateful things out there and then ask to be the backup for the sale of the house is pretty suspicious.

There were 2 very nasty threads. The moderator of the FB group did say it could be found. Now to decide if I want to.

He is incarcerated out of this area so this actually happening are almost nil. Amazing the things people will post in FB.

Last Friday things turned very very nasty on our local area FB group. Someone posted warning others to NOT buy my house (due to my ex husband's criminal activities) and no moral person could raise a family here, etc. and from there progressed to mentions of a bullet to his head, trying to implicate me, questioning the ethics and license of my realtor, etc. It was cyber er bullying at the very least and very likely crossed the lines into legal action as it was designed to hurt me financial and my realtor. I was with my kids running errands and upset that I didn't think to screen shot it all. Now the posts were removed. Is there any way to prove it existed and who said what? Oh, and to make it worse, the person that started the thread had her realtor call mine yesterday and ask to be the back up offer. NO WAY would I ever sell to her now. The whole thread might have been motivated to get the buyer to back out and then she could get it as I had multiple offers within 48 hours of listing and had just chosen someone else's offer.

If you can swing it one of the best outdoor things I ever bought was a dump truck load of clean fill dirt. That dirt pile got.climbed.in, dug in, hauled around the yard, etc. Years and years of fun.

I have done it several ways. One way was 1. A box for donation 2. A trash bag/box 3. A basket for stuff that needed to be put away elsewhere in the house. I had someone helping me and I started in one area of the room and moved around it as quickly as I could. Having someone else there to run donations to the car, geab a new trash bag, etc wA great.....and kept me on task. Now I am doing a MAJOR dejunking....going from 3000 sq ft. 5 bed, 4 bath on 5 acres with 2 pole barns to 1200sq feet 3 bed 1 1/2 bath in the city. Basically anything I can't envision a new place for new in the new house goes. Most books were donated to a homeschool family and a friend with a little library. excess bikes, furniture, house wears, etc all got donated before I knew I would be having an auction. I am now having an auction to liquidate all of ex husband's tools, vehicles, trailers, etc. I am also throwing anything in the auction that I don't want to move. I have given extra Bibles to friends, donated most DVDs to the public library (tax deduction), given coats and other outerwear to other a program from refugee families in the area, etc. I even threw away all but my senior year of yearbooks. Haven't looked at them in years so out they went. I now tend to think "what is the worst that can happen if I don't have this at the new house".....and if it isn't horrible then it doesn't make the move. Most stuff can be easily boughten or borrowed if I ever do need it again ....and often if you store things for years they aren't in the best condition by the time.you need them anyway.

Last week I finished Instant Mom. Written by the writer and actress in My Big Fat Greek Wedding it is a story of her struggle with infertility and ultimate path to motherhood by adopting through foster care. I loved the movie and she was very real in the book. Not great literature but as I adopted older kids through the foster care system it made it more personal for me. A solid 4 stars. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062231847/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_ZxWNBb9CC7QE1

I love NPs for almost everything. I have found them to be great with my special needs kids and often more willing to look at the whole picture than some MDs (although we have an awesome MD now that our NP moved).

Sounds like this is a pretty personal decision. Guess I will see how I like the flat top stove and what condition the dishwasher is in.

I am buying a new house in a few weeks. I am going to have to replace some appliances in the not so distant future. Kitchen has honey oak cabinets (yes, 1993?) ,forest green laminate counter tops, and a nice wood laminate flooring. Right now there is a stainless steel fridge that is newer but quite small and I would love one to fill the space. The smoothtop stove is white and has a brand new white microwave. Dishwasher is also white but I believe quite old. I am considering swapping out the smooth top for a gas stove with center griddle like I have now as I LOVE LOVE puffy heart LOVE that stove. I don't know what color to go with. I have no thoughts of remodeling the kitchen. As it flows well, cabinets are in excellent shape, and I like wood. Any thoughts? I likely won't buy everything all at once but on an "as needed" basis.