My father was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon. After running all kinds of tests, the doctors could find no obvious cause for the bleeding. They think that drinking the dishwashing detergent irritated something enough to make it bleed for a while. The bleeding has stopped, and he seems none the worse for the wear. He was doing somewhat better mentally yesterday than the day before. Tuesday, my brother was helping him in the bathroom, and handed our father some toilet paper. Daddy just started at it, so my brother told him to wipe. Daddy wiped his chest. After my brother got him to use the TP correctly, Daddy couldnÂt figure out what to do with it even after my brother told him and showed him where to put it. He was doing a bit better yesterday, but still not functioning as well as he has been. He didnÂt seem to know why he was in the hospital. We met with the director of the assisted living facility yesterday morning. They feel that itÂs time to move Daddy to the dementia ward, but want to see how heÂs doing after heÂs been back from the hospital for a few days. ThereÂs also not going to be an opening in the dementia ward for a few weeks, but weÂll probably move him when thereÂs a room available. For now, he'll receive a higher level of care where he is.

If the 'turned' area is realitively small, I'd just choose a pattern I liked, and continue it throughout the area. The tiles touching the walls in the 'turned' area will need to carefully cut, but it shouldn't be all that tough. Or you could use the same pattern in the turned area, but laid parallel with the walls. In that case, I'd use a separate tile border around the walls and between the two patterns. I'd do an overhead angle, scale drawing on graph paper. Make several copies, and draw in the tiles in various patterns till you find one you like. Graph paper is the tile designers best friend! Not only will a scale drawing help you calculate how much tile to buy, it will be invaluable when the tile is being laid. Cutting angles in tile isn't that difficult. You [or your professional] just have to think very clearly about what you are doing, where a particular tile goes. One of my favorite things about tile is that the creative possibilies are endless, and a little extra time and care with planing and installation will give you a beautiful, one of a kind result completely unique, completely your own.

Elyse, Your family has big hearts, so I know things will work out for you in the end - lotsa good KARMA headed your way! We also put our kitchen on hold to help a friend almost two years ago. In fact, we were halfway through ripping out the old one, when an old friend/co-worker of my husbands showed up in dire straits. We decided to take the kitchen money and finish out the space over our detached garage into a studio apartment for him and my husband hired him back at work. He stayed for 7 months, long enough to get his feet back under him and be able to afford to go out and rent his own apartment. So, in that respect, I guess we did what we set out to do, but in his case his depression and lack of willingness to take his medications or to take actions to improve his own conditions had us asking him to leave. We lived with that half torn out kitchen for just over a year...but, in the end, WE ENDED UP WITH A MUCH BETTER KITCHEN! When we tore out most of the old kitchen, we moved the refrigerator to the new location and we found out we HATED IT! OF course, it wasn't the built in version we have now, but I knew I couldn't live with it there! I could hear every ice cube drop all night long as it echoed down the hallway to the bedroom. Also, by moving the refrigerator, we moved the main sink and added the prep sink. We really love the kitchen we have now! Also, had we done the kitchen earlier, we wouldn't have gotten the cabinet finish we have (wasn't offered yet) and the GORGEOUS marble slabs we found just days after they were delivered to the slab yard. I think our good karma worked for us in many ways with the kitchen! And, I know it will work wonders for you! Best of luck to you!

We had a similar thing happen to us July of '14 selling our house in Highland Park. We also got hung up in attorney review, buyers tacked on a few things, most piddly and easily managed so we thought we were good to go. Then at the last minute they came up with something big - as in wanting $$ to replace the furnace and AC which were both old but fully functioning and maintained. Somehow they had come up with a $ amount based on nothing more than some online estimate they'd gotten. We offered to replace furnace only (at our cost since my husband is in construction) and they said no, they want the money based on the bogus estimate they got kicked back at closing. We said no deal and walked. I agree it's time for you to draw your line in the sand. What do I wish someone had told me? Draw the line sooner. They dragged us on for over a month.