It's cold and dreary here in PA. I am staying home and making some Chili, doing laundry, listening to a book on my MP3 player, sewing and cleaning. Not very exciting, but somehow it sounds comforting to me. ((Maddie)) It sounds like you have more on your plate than one person can handle. Prioritize and let go of the things that you can't change. All that stress isn't good for you and I worry about you. I know your mother's diagnosis wasn't what you wanted to hear, but remember that she can't help what she is saying and doing. This is the illness talking, not the mother you remember. Try to find someone who has gone through this with a parent and talk about your situation. It will help to know you are not alone. In the meantime, don't forget to take care of yourself!! Besh - How great that a new job came at just the right time. And how awful that a school district thought to do away with a library in an elementary school!! Why do schools look to the arts first when they are cutting funds? Reading is basic to all learning!! And instilling a love of reading early is so important. I just shake my head when I read about decisions like this. But I am glad you found another job and I wish you well. Patti - How is Dave feeling? I hope you were able to see a doctor by now. And I hope your DGS is able to bounce back from the pneumonia. We have so many preschoolers out with upper respiratory infections, strep and even a case of MERSA! Luckily the child hasn't been in school for awhile, so the doctors say we don't have to take any precautions, but it scared me nevertheless! Milkdud - Sending Aubrie HUGS and hoping for good news from her doctors. DeeMarie - Hope you are feeling better soon! QOD - Since there seems to be so many going through bad times now, lets post something good that happened to eash of us recently!! We could use some positve thoughts! Had my car in the shop last week and now it is running so smoothly! I love having my car in perfect working order. I got to hold my newest great-niece last week. She was so precious!! She only weighs 6 lbs. I have never held a baby that small. Like my other niece said, her babies only weighed 6 lbs. when they were in her womb! LOL Next.......................

Sorry I haven't uploaded photos; going to try to do it in the next few days. Have had so many doctor appointments between myself & my daughter; weekends have been spent cleaning the house because I'm hardly home during the week. From Trailrunner We are in awful place for tonight. Allen's sick. Motel near Union Conn. oh well . I'm stopping in Bar Harbor & going home miss my sweetie TOO much!!! Sorry for no updates & that I will be home June 24 28 or so

Our spare room is in the attic. DH is in the process of painting it, as we had the old ceiling tiles replaced with drywall. It has seven large built in drawers (two cabinets) with the drawers going under the eaves. I use the room for my sewing/crafts room. Have a regular machine and a serger, a linen press filled with quilting fabric, and an antique larkin desk for my quilting books. In the middle of the room, I have a small drafting table for cutting fabric, etc. My crafting supplies and yarn are in the drawers. Extra sweaters, linens, etc. are in the window seat, and out of season clothes are in the closets. Christmas decorations, boxes of family china, etc. are stored under the eaves. I'm trying to get my sister to take the china as we never use it. We rarely have guests, and when we do, they sleep in our bed and we sleep on an air mattress in the (finished) basement. The doors on this old 1938 house are too narrow for a sleep sofa.

Ugh I'm sorry you were subjected to a territorial gym jerk. I've had pretty good experiences at large gyms but I've also had an unpleasant experiences at a local small rec center weight room. I think when a gym is very small and infrequently used, some regulars get territorial about them and feel like it is their own personal space because they are used to having it to themselves. Additionally there are some people, typically men, who feel it necessary to grunt and slam weights without regard to others around them. My most recent large gym membership was at a Planet Fitness where such behavior was explicitly disallowed. After that gym closed, I tried lifting weights at a local county rec center with a small weight room. I went a few times until I had an unpleasant encounter with a territorial man. There were only two weight benches and he had piled up many weights around him (rude) so he could use them without regard to others. I grabbed a weight that wasn't quite what I wanted from the remaining racked weights and figured I'd make due and started using the only other bench next to him. He began grunting every single lift in a very exaggerated manner. When that didn't drive me off, he very obviously and intentionally lifted a butt cheek towards me and passed gas very loudly and disgustingly. It smelled horrible and it was clearly not an accident. I never returned to that weight room and started lifting weights at home. Unfortunately without staff to enforce rules or sufficient people in the room to peer pressure jerks into behaving, I think small gyms are rife with bad behavior. I think your options are to ask the HOA to make changes to the way the TV sound is channeled or wearing noise canceling headphones is probably your only option. Hopefully you can also avoid the time that this jerk normally visits the gym and not run into other jerks. Good luck!