This sounds like something we could use, too. Listening in… And, if I can add a question (sorry), what if you never had a receipt, or if it was lost/tossed out decades ago? Are photos sufficient?

Look up rain gardens for your area. Often native plants are easier to manage, and some of them might possibly be able to withstand the deer. This list includes several that might work, depending on what you want: shrubs, trees, perennials, etc. Look at the inkberries, pussy willows, Joe Pye weed, blue flag iris, Hibiscus moscheutos, and there might be others. Cardinal flowers would like the partial shade. https://www.thespruce.com/plants-that-can-live-in-wet-areas-4767394

A heartwarming story to start the weekend: https://wapo.st/3SXoj29 (gifted)

Just catching up here, and this is the best news ever. Hope you’re still doing better.

Update: Dd and I went to check out Costco. The selection is just plain weird in some ways, at least for this area (no basic stuff like spaghetti or macaroni, or plain white rice, but 25 lb bags of jasmine rice and 12-packs of cooked sticky rice, and assortments of unusual pasta packaged together). That puzzled me a bit. We went through some areas a couple of times to make sure we weren’t just not seeing the basics. But we found some interesting fruits that aren’t in our usual stores, and things like dried mushrooms which I wouldn’t see elsewhere, so we got some of those to try. And the eyeglasses… ! They don’t take my insurance, but I was able to get a pair for $170, which is probably half of what I’ve been paying after insurance. So that’s fantastic. We got some groceries we use regularly in an inexpensive bulk form. I think we’ll be going back occasionally, and certainly getting more glasses there. I really appreciate all the information everyone offered.

Thinking of you all

That is so scary, and I’m so glad you woke up. It’s good that you’re seeing the GP.

I remember your posts about him. I’m so sorry.

I’m familiar with the southern section of Shenandoah National Park. There are two types of views along Skyline Drive (in the park): long distance, over the mountains and valleys, and closer views of the road, forest, rocks and occasional meadows as you drive. The long distance views are pretty spectacular. That is unaffected by the season, though there are seasonal changes in foliage— you’re looking at mountain ranges rising one after another, in shades of blue, or at farms and towns spread out across valleys. The close-up views are more affected by the season, though I think they’re beautiful at any time of year. It’s hard to predict at this time exactly what will be blooming in early April, but I agree with @Spryte that redbuds are likely. If trees aren’t in leaf yet (likely), that means you’ll have a better view into the woods, and be more able to see some of the rock formations and perhaps animals. Are you planning on hiking, or thinking mostly about what you’ll see from the car while driving? I think April is likely to be a good time to visit. Looking at my pictures from the area last year, I believe the redbuds were blooming by April 9, and probably several days before then. Even if nothing is blooming yet, though, the mountains and valleys are beautiful.

I’m looking into membership because I’m tired of paying so much for eyeglasses from my ophthalmologist’s office. Is Costco a good place to get glasses? We do not have a store closer than half an hour away, so I’ve never been interested in membership before. Looking at the website, they have different membership levels, with the more expensive one apparently offering discounts on “services” which aren’t enumerated. What services are they talking about? I see they offer delivery. Presumably that’s within the immediate vicinity of the store, right? If you shop there, do you need lots of storage space for big quantities of stuff? Is it worth driving half an hour when you could go five minutes to a local store? Please help me decide if this is worthwhile. My ophthalmologist is five minutes away, too… but glasses have gotten so expensive, and online options won’t work for me.

This is a very good point. It might shift me to the two-sinks-outside camp, depending on space and configuration of the inner room.

Something else to consider is the door between the outer and inner spaces. Ours has a flimsy folding door. It’s no flimsier than any other bifold door, it’s wood and doesn’t have louvers, but it doesn’t give any sense of privacy to the person in the inner space. In consequence, in the many years we’ve lived here, no one has used the inner room (commode and shower /tub) while someone else used the outer room (sink). I guess while the kids were tiny, they did, but not past preschool years. If you want both spaces to be usable simultaneously, make sure the door to the inner room is as solid as the door between, say, a bathroom and hallway. Make the inner room genuinely private.

I think a commode room without a sink is gross, and I say that having lived in a house with that configuration. It can work, but it’s not ideal. I also agree with the people saying toothbrushes in the commode room are gross. So, my vote would be for one sink in the commode room, with some storage space (toilet paper, hygiene supplies), and one sink outside the commode room, with a good big medicine cabinet, some counter space, an electrical outlet or two, and some cabinet or closet space. I know this isn’t a typical arrangement, but if you’re talking about serving the needs of six to eight people, that lets you have some flexibility. As for showers, privacy is important here. Showers would not happen without privacy.

Do you really mean there’s space to do it both ways? In that case, do it. That would give you the most flexibility. I really prefer having a sink within the same room as the commode, so no one has to touch doors before washing, but if there are also sinks other people could be using just outside that room, so much the better. If you mean that there’s space to do it either way, that’s a harder choice. Could you put one sink inside and one outside?

Philosophically, I’m with @bolt.. But I anticipate that most young people will launch well before marrying. Certainly that’s the case for my kids, though at this point we’re thinking more about apartments and cars than about buying a house, since there may be some years of grad school or a few job changes before they get really settled. So, I guess one needs to define one’s terms. Maybe homeownership is more likely to coincide with marriage. Buying a home was important for me long before I got married, though, and it turned out to be a good move financially. Eta: I guess what I’m saying is that (1) I approve of removing the emphasis from a wedding; (2) there may be significant needs for help launching well before a marriage, or in the absence of any marriage ever; but (3) I don’t have any problem with establishing a fund for whatever purpose you want, wedding or down payment or whatever. Helping our kids is good, when we can. I have no idea how much to budget, though.

It’s preposterous to say that simply noticing a person’s beauty is inappropriate. Actions based on that could be either appropriate or inappropriate, depending on a multitude of factors, but just noticing beauty is utterly normal and unremarkable.

Abhorrent.

Quite likely.

Ouch. I guess I misinterpreted “extracted” in the Wikipedia entry. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_a_Fourth_Grade_Nothing

Same. Is the idea that the kids could be upset when the plants eventually die, or that the parents feel that the responsibility for keeping the plants alive lands on them? My reaction to seeds or a plant as a favor would have been more that it was a pleasant, slightly educational, enjoyable alternative to the usual plastic stuff, so I’m missing something. I’ve given bulbs as favors, though not to kids. My kids have brought home the standard seeds sprouted in paper cups from school. It hasn’t seemed like a big deal. ETA: Okay, for anyone else who hasn’t read the book, research indicates that it involves a holy terror of a two year old who swallows the pet turtle his brother won at a party. The kid recovers after surgery, but the turtle doesn’t. I guess I think seeds and plants are lower stakes than turtles, but ymmv. Maybe it would help to be clear to the kids that many plants are annuals, with a short life cycle. They’re not long term commitments.

Maybe some good chew toys, then, like the ones you can put some treats or kibble in: some kind of distraction.

If he’s chewing the harness, could you just take it off between walks? ID tags could be on a collar in case of an emergency like having him slip out the door. If he’s likely to slip out of the harness while walking, our animal shelter taught us to hook the front loop on the harness and the loop on a martingale type collar both in the leash latch, for an extra layer of security. There, though, we were walking mostly very energetic pit mixes, so I’m not sure if that would apply for a tiny dog. I would think that an active walk, with some obedience work mixed in and lots of praise and rewards, might help distract him from the harness. Maybe he needs something to think about other than the harness itself. All this assumes that the harness does fit him comfortably, which is the first priority.

I would take her back in immediately, probably to the ER. She told you that she masked her reaction for the doctor. She needs to be seen again, and she needs to understand that it’s important to be honest about how she feels. Poor kid. She’s not “being good” by masking symptoms, she’s preventing the doctor from understanding what’s happening. She doesn’t understand that, but it’s time to explain it and figure things out.

Sometimes places in nearby cities will come pick up, fwiw. Might be worth a phone call to see, though I’m sure there are plenty of places that are too remote for pickup. E.g.: Our small town ReStore closed, but there’s one in another town about 15 miles away. But, the one 15 miles west of us still picks up stuff around 20 miles east of us. So it’s not immediately obvious they’d be helpful there, but they are.

In our area, we can call Habitat for Humanity and schedule a time for them to come pick things up for the ReStore. It’s easy peasy. I wouldn’t fool around with waiting for individuals, though you were kind to give them a chance.