Gardenweb.com has furniture boards, and I know there are furniture dealers and makers that post. They might be able to offer some suggestions.

I have such severe sleep apnea, that I took to it immediately. I was afraid that I'd never get any sleep with that thing on my face, but it never bothered me. I was told the same things others have said, that it's normal to pull it off at first, or that just starting out for an hour or so will help in the beginning, but I never had any issues with it at all.

Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp.

Corelle gets hot, too. FIESTA! I saw place settings at Sam's Club just yesterday. $24 for a 4 piece setting.

I simply put "homemaker" to explain my 12 year gap in employment. I think I explained more during the interview. I did also list my volunteer work as a deaconess at church, because I had to organize events, oversee people, distribute duties, etc.

Well, here we are. It's the end of October and my house hasn't sold. It's been on the market for a month has had 1 showing. My realtors (both my listing agent and buying agent) continue to reassure me it's just the time of year combined with the fact our illustrious state has no budget yet, and my city employs many, many state workers. No one wants to buy until they know they won't lose their jobs. I get that. But it's MADDENING to have that lonely "For Sale" sign sit there with no one visiting it. AND, it's also MADDENING to get up early, make sure the house is pristine and smells fresh (with 3 cats, a dog,and a teenager, this is no easy feat) for nothing. So, I can't put an offer in on the condo I want because I don't have a contract on my house yet. Bah! On the up-side, this past week was midterm week and I received very good feedback on my papers and currently have A's in both classes. Woo! My class on the Beatles is interesting, if not a lot of work, but I cranked out my midterm paper in 5 hours, start to finish, and was told, "Good flow from beginning to the end, excellent use of outside sources, very strong paper: A" My other class is this stupid requirement for all online students majoring in Liberal Studies, and we have to do these stupid learning assessments, and personality assessments, and the big mid term paper was a "Presentation of Self" which made me want to gag all over. I hate this touchy-feely stuff. But, I did that paper in a few hours and was told, "Very well written and compelling work." On the section where I discussed being raised by a mother who's NPD, he said, "This is the best paragraph by an adult child of a mentally ill parent with this disorder I've ever read. Excellent." So, I am beyond excited that I'm doing so well. I was really nervous about starting back to school at my *ahem* advanced age and having been out of school for so long. It really helps to have bosses that are extremely encouraging and supportive. Now if I could just sell my stupid house! It's going off the market 11/22 and will stay off until February, to allow 91 days time to elapse before relisting. I hate real estate. I can not figure out why people think buying and selling it is fun!

This is something I struggle with, too. Part of my problem is that with work and school, I'm just flat out too busy to think about food and enough servings, etc. I have started making a week's worth of salads for lunches. I use baby lettuces and spinach leaves, shredded carrots, grape tomatoes, diced peppers. None of those are particularly wet veggies, so the salads stay dry and crisp all the way till Friday. I add a dollop of dressing and shredded cheese the morning I plan to have the salad. I also get those Dole fruit cups to take to work. I get the ones with no added sugar, as well as sugar-free applesauce cups. Helps a little to get the fruits and veggies in.

Upon your suggestion, I started listening today! Love it!!

I hated it. Very disappointed.

A friend of mine once told me, "Just say you have plans. Doesn't matter what they actually are. You can have plans to pick your nose. It's just a legitimate of a plan as anything else!" And conversely, I never ask people what they're doing; I say, "If you're free Saturday, would you/could you/do you want to..." Gives people an out without feeling awkward or feeling like they have to lie.

OH, do I hear you. Here comes fall and here come fall activities. I'm being very picky about what I do, and I'm not going to events simply because I have done so in the past. I'm back in school and my dd is a freshman in college and I just don't need to attend events for the sake of attending them. Upcoming hay ride--not going. Regional church picnic--didn't bother. Church retreat--nope. These are all events that can be fun, but they can also be noisy, crowded, and difficult for me. I am signing up for the women's group thing, but that's just once a month. I can deal with that. But for the most part, leave me alone--I'm busy!

I'm getting ready to list my house and had to replace flooring in the bedrooms. I put down vinyl plank because it was cheap and if the buyer wants to rip it out and put in something else, I'm not out THAT much money. The realtor said it looked great. My house is an 85 year old bungalow, and from what I've seen of the pictures of other comparable places around here, laminate, vinyl plank and engineered wood are the norm. YMMV.

I can NOT believe how long it's taken me to get this stupid house ready to go. We've decluttered, cleaned out the basement, taken 5 trips to storage, taken 3 trips to Salvation Army, replaced both bedroom floors, and had two realtors come out for market analyses. I plan to list next week and put in an offer on a lovely, completely redone 3 br/2 ba one level townhouse-style condo. I've seen the mortgage guy and I'm pre-approved! I just need this house to sell. I think I'm in a pretty good position. The Pink Palace I mentioned a while back is still on the market, but with a new realtor. She told me she's pretty sure with a good offer, she can work in a flooring allowance, since no one on the planet other than the seller of this place wants raspberry sherbet carpet in their entire house. The newly listed 3 br is a flipped foreclosure and it's all redone with new hardwood, tile and carpet (bedrooms), new granite counter tops, new bathroom vanities, and the best feature of all is the garage opens to a mudroom/laundry room, which is connected to the kitchen. The Pink Palace is significantly less expensive, but it only has 2br, needs some updating, and the garage doesn't open to the house itself, which could be a drag in the winter. The living/dining areas in both units are very close in sq. footage, and the kitchens have very similar amounts of storage; they're just designed differently. I do like the idea of a mudroom! Hopefully, by Thanksgiving, I'll be moved! Trying to get this finished while working and taking two classes has been...stressful, to say the least.

Urban Decay Naked Skin. I use a cheaper dupe now, but when I was spending that much on make up, I used UD. It lasted all day.

You can google dupes, too. Like, "Urban Decay dupes" or similar. Pinterest has a lot of info, but there are blogs that are dedicated to make up and dupes.

I have used Urban Decay's foundations, which I love, but they're $40 a bottle. In the interest of saving money, I switched to L'Oreal True Match Lumi and I like it a lot! My daughter is very fair skinned and she uses a Cover Girl foundation.

I'm very very sorry. We lost a beagle to cancer several years ago. I'm sure Molly May McIntosh Puppy Girl is showing RosieGirl around Doggy Heaven at this very moment. (((((HUGS)))))

People are jerks. Congratulations on your new baby!

Why do people take jobs that have duties that conflict with their beliefs? I get that sometimes you have to take whatever jobs are available, but being a flight attendant or an elected clerk are not "desperation" jobs.

Meatball subs. Get large bags of Italian meat balls at Sam's or Costco and cook in a crock pot with spaghetti sauce. Serve sub sandwich rolls, shredded mozzarella cheese for a topping. Have chips, dip, baby carrots and celery. Texas sheet cake or cookies and ice cream for dessert.

I voted "whoever invited", but that's not always true. When my dad's in town, it doesn't matter who suggests eating out, he grabs the check. I have given up even trying to protest. His love language is paying for stuff, so I let him, even though sometimes it makes me feel weird. But, as my adult son pointed out, I do the same thing! Every time I've asked DS and his GF out for a meal, GF assumes they'll pay for their meals and I always pay for it all. I feel that I invited, so I'm paying.

I wondered about the camera thing, too. **shudder**

I've been known to amaze people with my parallel parking skills.

I've only refused a gift once, but it was a weird situation. I was moving to my current house and a group of people from church were helping (the "moving deacons"). One of the deacon's wives came along to "help" (read: totally get on my very last freeking nerve). She made me insane. She questioned every single decision I made. She questioned my ability to know how to put my own bed together. By the end of the day, I wanted to kick her. So, when all my stuff was moved, I was relieved that she was leaving. I thought it was over. I was wrong. I was very, very wrong. That next Sunday, she approached me and told me she bought me a housewarming gift but she's left it at home. I said, "Ok, you can bring it next week. Thanks." She then said, "No, you need to invite me and my husband over to install it!" Imagine my surprise at that. So, I asked what it was. It was a hand-held shower massage. I politely said I was happy with my shower and while I appreciated the thought (freaky as it was), I had no use for it. She completely ignored that and again stated that I needed to invite her and her dh over to install it. I told her I could install it myself (read: donate to goodwill) and if wanted to bring it next week, that would be great. This was not acceptable to her at. all. I bowed out of the conversation and hoped she'd get the hint. She did not. This went on for a year. At least once a month, she'd corner me and ask me when I was going to invite her and her dh over to install this shower massage. Every time, I'd tell her thanks, but I could install it myself. Then I'd walk away. Finally, she cornered me in the church office and again, demanded to know when I was going to invite them over to install this thing. I finally said, "Thanks but I don't need it. I am happy with my shower; I have no need to change it." She said, "Are you suuuurrrreeee? You're going to loooooovvvvveeeeee iiiittttt," in such a creepy, sing-song way that the people in the office all stopped and looked up at her, with eyebrows raised. I flatly said, "No thank you. I don't want it," and walked out. I don't even want to know what the heck she was thinking and why she would not let it go. It's been 8 years since that happened and she still creeps me out. She follows me around, tries to get my attention, approaches me with bizarre conversation starters and most recently, has started sitting next to me in church. I now sit in a different spot each week in a row where there's no room for her to sit by me. She's even FB messaged my dd a couple of times, saying "hi!" or "congrats!" when she graduated high school. My dd and I both have her blocked now. I don't know what her deal is, but she massively creeps me out. That's my gift-refusal story. (You know, had she given it to me in the packaging in a gift bag, I'd have thought it was a weird gift, but not have been really creeped by it. But the insistence that I "invite her and her dh over" to install it was...icky. )

This was the excuse my EX used. He wasn't saved! So, he went out and "repented" but by golly, that didn't seem to work at all! He continued to cheat with anyone he could find on craigslist and yahoo speed dating. Don't misunderstand me. I completely believe in repentance and I believe people can change their lives with God's help. But it's a heart thing, a humility thing. Not an "oops! Got caught! I'd better make it look good!" thing. It just pisses me off. :glare: