I have always struggled with swallowing pills, I just have a mouthful of food and tuck the pill in just as I am about to swallow the food. It is purely psychological it just seems wrong to have a lump to swallow with a liquid, saying that I can now take up to small capsules with just liquid.

If it is the event I think it is, find one of the big tables with several people on it and introduce yourself. I went by myself last year and had a lot of fun talking to different people at lunchtimes, after all you all have a common interest and a lot of people go by themselves. I found if i initiated the conversation people were happy to talk, or at least to polite to ignore me. The older I have got the happier I am to talk to random strangers, much to my daughter"s embarrassment.

The other thing to check for is residual metamphetamine, it is becoming a problem over here when people move into house that have previously been used to as drug labs.

I think I know the event you are talking about and I went by myself last year and it was great. I was forced to socialise with the people I was sitting with in my classes and then got talking to a variety of people at the lunch break. I met loads of interesting people from around the world, it is so easy if you are with a friend to form a closed group. Go and enjoy the freedom of doing it just the way you want.

At this point you can't do anything about it, so I would tell myself to relax and accept that I may or may not make the connection and it I don't it isn't the end of the world, at the most you will be a bit late starting your vacation. Maybe co-ordinate with your sons so that they can check in with out you if necessary and so they know not to worry if you don't arrive on time. Enjoy your holiday don't let this get you so stressed it spoils your trip.

I've used a lapsized quilt to cover my puzzles, as I found the extra weight helped hold eveything in place.

Regular cardiologist, as he may need long term followup

Gear Aid Tenacious tape is the tape most commonly used to fix outdoor style fabric, you can get it on amazon in a variety of colours or clear.

How about an Airedale Terrier? They are on the big end of mid sized dogs , very trainable and great with kids, not to mention cute as anything.

My go to escapist novels are Georgette Heyer's regency romances. E. M. Foner's union station series is one that I have enjoyed recently, i would describe it as human interest Sci Fi, a bit of fun escapism.

Love : Granite counter top oversize sink Asko gas hob, it has the best low simmer ring 75cm electric oven, I wanted a bigger than normal size but not huge, Large bin hidden in cupboard Custom built pantry so all the shelves are the size and depth I like Island bench with space to sit Hate: nothing, this is our 4th kitchen and it is just what I wanted

I have a friend who is an expat in Singapore, she loves it. What do you want to know?

In Kentucky the Mammoth Cave national Park is excellent,

Climb Sydney Harbour bridge, take a day trip to the Blue Mountains.

I love to travel, this is the sort of trip I would love to spend the time planning. For the ballet side of it, I would work of the the great dance companies, and try and fit into their dance season so you can go to performances and also see the amazing performance spaces. London for Convent Garden, Paris Opera Ballet, Bolshoi ballet in Moscow, Marinsky ballet in St Petersberg, the Danish Royal Ballet etc, once you have the dates for thier seasons you can plan rest of your trip. For the rest of the trip I would look at World Heritage sites and pick ones of interest and build the trip around that. Outside of Europe I would visit Hong Kong with a couple of short trips into China, Vietnam and Cambodia, I would avoid Thailand, way over commercialised and touristy. India, I would look at hitting a few places like Jaipur etc, if you can swing a trip up to Kathmandu it is a magical city. The middle east i would visit Jearusulem another magical city, Istanbul which is full of history. Australia depending on the time of year, you could visit Darwin and go into Kakadu National Park, which would give you a taste of Australia that is different to the average visitor. Really you could fo anything it depends what you comfort level is when travelling and willingness to explore off the traditional tour route. Have fun it would be an amazing trip.

I get where you are coming from as I too come from a family of packrats but I also have benefited from the same family. I have 2 beautiful antique dolls because my Grandmother kept her dolls from when she was a little girl, I have photos and mementos from 3 generations of my family including a 100+ year old baby gown and cloak now framed and displayed because people kept things that were't intrinsically valuable at the time but obviously held memories. When we went through my Grandmother's big box of stuff we found the handwritten newsletter that the troops had made on the ship going to the Boer war that her father had kept, he would never of guessed that a bit of trivia like that would one day end up in a museum. So I believe in decluttering but don't be ruthless, someone in the future may enjoy your memories too and if you can, put some on display so that you can see them and enjoy the memories they bring.

Growing up my friend's Dad had the losing keys etc problem, what cured him was if any one in the house spotted that the key hook was empty, they could ask him where were his keys and if he couldn't answer instantly he had to buy everyone in the house at that time a Freddo Frog (chocolate frog) He soon got trained into hanging up his keys as he walked onto the house.

After my mother died my father went to the same funeral directors and preplanned his own funeral right down to the death notice for the newspaper. When he died 18 yrs later we just went to the funeral directors and got them to find it in their archives. It was really helpful as he had some specific things he wanted that we wouldn't of guessed. My sister subsequently took our elderly uncle to plan his funeral and again she was surprised at some of the things he choose that we would not have done.

"Reach for the sky" is one that I really enjoyed as a teenager. It is a biography of a WW2 spitfire pilot who had Los both legs in an earlier flying accident.

:grouphug: I agree get the hospice team onboard. My father made this choice when he was diagnosed with a liver tumour at 79, for him it was the right choice and allowed him the dignity of managing the end of his life in his own way.

I'm in :001_smile:

From an Aussie perspective , you have 2 things, afternoon tea which is mid afternoon this consists of a drink and a snack and is something most people would do. If you want to go more fancy it would be called high tea and involve finger sandwiches and fancy cakes, this is not something you would normally do at home but is popular for meeting up with girlfriends or taking elderly relatives too on a Sunday afternoon. Then you have tea which is your main evening meal, this can also be called dinner if you want to be more formal. For example I might ask a friend and her husband over for dinner, or I might say bring the kids over to play and they can have tea together afterwards, both times I mean an evening meal but it is the context that decides which word I use.

A lamington sponge is a fairly dense sponge cooked in a 20cm by 30 cm tin , a 4 egg sponge would cook for about 25 mins. It is easier to use day old sponge as it stands up to the dipping and rolling a lot better. Search for a lamington recipe and you should get an Australian Women's Weekly or CWA recipe complete with sponge recipe. Also the icing needs to be runny so that you can dip the sponge into it to coat it, another option would be to make lamington style cupcakes.

I've been the neighbour in a similar situation and it is hard and got very disruptive to our family life, eventually it got to the point where we told the family that we were going on holiday, so that forced social services to step in and take over. As long as we were available to help her no one was willing to force the issue or take responsibility . I think you need to talk to the neighbour and find out just how much help they are having to give and also absolve them of any responsibility or obligation in her care. She may have to have that fall or hospital admission to get her to accept help. It is a difficult and sad situation to be in for the family and the elderly person with no easy solutions.

We went 2 years ago, worth staying on site to get the free fast pass, the one the on site visitors get lets you ride the same ride multiple times unlike the one you can buy. It makes a huge difference in the waiting time for popular rides, we waited 10 to 15 min compared to over an hour. We had 2 full days there and really enjoyed ourselves, The water rides you will get soaked on, as in someone has thrown buckets of water over you! Have fun.