I'm not the cleaning queen and I like to see a difference if I have actually put the effort in. This is quite the conundrum. If I get one too camouflaged, I would never clean it. And, I definitely do not want one that looks dirty after I actually went to all that effort! Thanks for all the replies! I will keep mulling.

Very nice, Mercy! It just seems so awkward to be thanked for a thank you--I don't like the focus to be on me. It's a great help to know what to say beforehand.

I am a secretary of a club and routinely write thank yous to members who donate time or money or do something thoughtful for the club. These are genuine and individualized. In response I often have them saying Thank You to me for receiving my thank you. How do I respond to this? Saying "You're Welcome" seems wrong since they are the ones doing the thankable thing in the first place!

I am picking out new flooring for a few rooms in my house. My husband said that the color and pattern I have picked will show dirt. So, I question whether it is better see the dirt and know it is there and clean it up or live blissfully in filth because one cannot see it. What do you do?

Advantage Multi for dogs does not indicate that it kills ticks. And, just an FYI, my friend here in central Indiana just saw a deer tick yesterday. 😞

Well, we are do-it-yourselfers to the nth degree so we have to have tools and supplies to do it all ourselves. I mean seriously--mechanics, carpentry, gardening, excavation, electricity, cooking/canning, upholstery, caning, painting, plowing, plumbing, you name it. No such thing as minimalism here.

Well I can't be the only one sitting here with tears rolling down my face....

Well, MY name is Heidi and I was named after a German Shepherd! I named my feisty female GSD Dagger since it goes nicely with my Husky, Dirk.

Any grant writers here? My friend and I are members of a group that wants us to learn about writing grants and are sending us to a 2 day workshop. We have already gone to the first one and we both are overwhelmed. Any tips?

I always recommend rubber flooring. I have Nora rubber in my entry and plan to put it throughout my kitchen when we finally get it remodeled. It is easy to clean, soft underfoot, and looks wonderful (not institutional).

Well, what would be the harm in starting an herbal protocol for Lyme and it's co-infections? Buhner, Cowden, etc. There are a lot of protocols out there. The Healing Well website has a lot of information and folks who have dealt with a lot of troubling physical problems from these infections.

Exactly why I said, "constant vigilance." In my opinion, anytime you have more than one dog you are taking a chance. I have seen multi dog families have one dog turn on another after years of living together then the other dogs pack up and they all attack the dog that's down. Yes, there was a chihuahua in the mix attacking the larger dog. Dogs are animals and there never is a 100% guarantee on anything involving them.

Well, I will be the dissenting vote and say keep her. I firmly believe most dogs can be trained but it will take constant vigilance on your part not to trust her for quite some time. We had a husky/German shepherd mix who started to kill our chickens well after she was through with the puppy stage. EVERYONE said she could that once she got the taste for it she could not be trained out of it. EVERYONE was wrong. We trained her out of it and she never bothered the chickens again. She was a great dog.

You could just paint it. I vote rubber. That is what I am going to have whenever I finally get to finish the floor. I have it in my entry and love it. Check out Nora flooring. My sister and a friend have cork and it has not withstood the use at all.

Perhaps they do see beauty when they look at you since they are looking through lenses of love.

Yes. She can also learn EFT to change her inner dialogue.

One of the signs of being a true adult is to own your actions and not to blame others. She isn't there yet. Hugs to you.

I would try little dots of Sugru. Great stuff and you can use it on so many projects.

Love Stephen Buhner. He recommends one stay on his protocol for 8-12 months and it is not cheap. My husband and son waited 3 months to go to an LLMD for chronic symptoms and inconclusive tests (Lyme tests are notoriously inaccurate). They told him they were on Stephen Buhner's protocol and he said, "Great. Keep doing that." He did order some more testing to check for the all too common co-infections. Waiting for results on those. But, we plan on using Buhner's protocol for those, too.

Are you certain it's poop and not rust?

Beautiful! And your pictures make me want to see the rest of your house!

I would try to put myself in her shoes. There are things in my past I have not told my kids and probably won't. If they somehow find out, I hope they have the grace to forgive me.

It is an American Range. I had a Capital before and it had a number of problems so I returned it. This one isn't perfect, but it fits my needs and bakes well. I can fit all my huge canning pots on it without any problem and the griddle makes a nice area to put hot things when its not in use or I can use it to keep things warm. I like having my ovens under my vent hood--fruit pies are done when they boil over and that results in smoke. A pizza stone smokes when you put cornmeal on it. Roasting meats smoke as does broiling. And, who wants the smell of baked fish floating around?

I like my 6 burner stove with griddle and two ovens. I had thought about wall ovens but I like having a big commercial vent above me that can suck out all the heat and smoke, etc.

Our 25 year old lives with us and we don't charge him rent. He owns his own house (rents it out) and has a good job. We don't need the money and we want him to bank absolutely everything he can for retirement--he has a 401K and is maxing that out. However, he is a mechanic and we do expect him to help us out on some of our aging vehicles when they need to be fixed!