Poor dear Felix, You will survive. You could try killing those neighbors with kindness, like offering them some of the stuff you normally compost that horses love. (Do you grown corn? Horses LOVE those cornstalks you eventually have to cut down, your leftover corncobs from dinner, I think all fruit and veggies, not just the fruit but the trimmings from the host plants.) Horses are HUGE vegetarians, and aren't picky. It's kind of fun to see what they like and don't like, but you're guaranteed that they'll like anything green that produces fruits or veggies (even melon rinds). And you could get free composted horse manure back, right? I'm such a hypocrite! Here's how I dealt with my worst neighbor nightmare. An area media personality (a.m. radio, no big deal) bought the house next door to me as an income property. He rented to four (4!) twenty-one year old male brain scientists that had a party almost every night. I'm not talking about having a few fun friends over, there were 100 people next door several times a week. They parked their cars at the Circle K store and walked the few blocks to the big party. I called the cops about the underage drinking. Public urination. Suspected drug dealing. (All regretably true.) Called the owner every time I was woken up at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 a.m., since he goes on air at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. Called the owner when those kids were doing roosters in the backyard (drainfield) with their cool ATV's. (He had to replace the drainfield when he bought the house, because it was an "as is" sale from a dear neighbor.) None of that worked, except, well ... one drug bust went down. Yet those boys carried on after the drug bust. Tension builds. Pressures rise. One weekday night they emptied beer bottles, cans, and who knows what else in their garbage bin, spilling many on the driveway and ground adjacent to me in the process, and WAKING ME UP AGAIN at 3:00 a.m. I went outside in my nightgown at 3:00 a.m. and started picking up beer bottles and threw those beer bottles at partiers (didn't actually hit anyone, but came close, having lots of bottles and lots of partiers). I shouted at the top of my lungs in words they could understand (but you would certainly not approve of, Felix,from a man, much less a lady). Then I promised that the next time I would be out there with a 350 MAGNUM. (I don't actually have one, but isn't that what Clint E. used?) They all moved to Tallahassee shortly after that. They may have been scared by the crazy lady, don't know. So, yep, "Neighbors can be a pain?". Good luck with yours. Tony, your quote about picking your neighbors cracked me up, as did all of the posts on this thread. Great post, Felix. (And I'm kind of skizzy because the place next door is up for rent again.) Maybe they'll be good renters.

Trailrunner - I was reading some of this to DH last night, he thought they sounded like great ideas btw, and when I was done reading the first thing he said to me was,"Wow, I can't believe people take the time to type that much out trying to help someone. " Ha. Gotcha on the wear them only for running. Oh I know not to wear the orthotics and insoles at the same time. I know now (didn't at first years ago!) to take out the pads shoes come with first. Powerstep is the brand of inserts I bought from the Podiatrist. Heard of or any thoughts on them? I forget what name my orthotics are they don't say anything on them but they came in a bag that did. The bottom is hard plastic but the top is blue firm foamy stuff. He said something about it being new stuff. Do you think the Podiatrist would give me a hard time about "put a good padded front made of the new high tech triple layer stuff they have or....you can get a good insert and cut it to fit flush with the front of the orthotic"? Guess I won't know until I try but I'm picturing them wanting to know what I'm diagnosing myself since they apparently didn't think I needed that. Oh, well. I wondered how the ball of my foot was getting any support if I'm use my new orthotics in shoes I took the insole out since there's nothing there. In the past (I'm sure from wearing heels) I've had pain in the balls of my feet. I tried to tell him this too while I was there but he wasn't interested in hearing it since I wasn't having pain. Thanks for the heads up about the glucosamine. I think it actually might be what DH takes! I need to check that out. He gets on me about how I really should take it. I can take all three of those types of pills. That does sound like a lot! I'm guessing it just kills the pain longer? Does that help with the healing process at all. Perhaps that's a dumb question. I checked out that roadrunner site and the chart and I'm not sure if I'm N or PN. I'm under 150lbs and I do under 25 miles a week for N but the PN says, you run races or enjoy fast running. I like fast running. When I said I never considered myself a runner it's because I normally don't do more than 3 miles at a time and normally it's intervals. The thought of a 50 or even 10 mile race makes me cringe. Figured I'd ask but thought N would probably be my best bet regardless? Also, the NB shoes look like they're for trail running and I'm normally on a treadmill, does this matter? I really like that site. It even tells you to order sizes up for some shoes. The current ones I have are on there and it does say to order 1/2 size bigger. Go figure. Onlines shoes didn't tell me that! How's this for the laces? It still feels kind of tight around the top. Probably just the poor fitted shoes. For now, I'll rest from running. I have other sneakers I can wear for biking or whatever. By the time I'm ready to hopefully run again I'll make sure to have good sneakers. Seww - Thanks for the link. It seems very common here that even running stores have people in them that don't really know what they're doing. They just find the size in the back room. I'm at least going to go and attempt to try some on in person. Deedee - Oh my, I laughed out loud when I read that. That wasn't real nice of him! For a long time I thought I must be the only person with wider feet! One time on ebay I bought a really nice and expensive pair of heels. I did not know B meant narrow (I think it's B - whichever one is narrow). There is no way I can wear them. Not possible. It was funny even trying to put them on. They're in my closet because I couldn't resell them. Nobody in the world has a size 5 narrow foot either. :)

The foot and all the muscles/tendons around it can be a challenge to figure out.....unless you're a foot profession/physical therapist. You can have a pain at one end of your foot, and its caused from something at the other end (or even a shortened calf muscle). I fear you just haven't seen the right doctor yet. My experience with podiatrists has run the continuum from totally useless to absolutely a miracle worker......so don't give up hope. You just have to keep looking. I personally have found podiatrists to be much better than orthopedic docs. I don't know why. Don't give up. I spent quite a while in total pain, unable to hardly walk (with plantar fasciitis), and once I found the right podiatrist, he fixed it. I was finally pain free! It included a steroid injection to start with, and then custom inlays that I wore all day, every day. I eventually didn't need them anymore. You might also have to be on NSAIDS for awhile, if you can tolerate them. Good luck to you!

You are not alone. As others have said, I think the first step is accepting that your house is never going to look like a sit-com, TV, Ozzie and Harriet, Cosby and family home. In real homes the floor has to be mopped over and over again. You have to take off the kids clothes and wash them, ( wash the kids and the clothes ) and then put them away and wash the bath tub. I used to live in fear that someone would come over and see my mountain of clothes on the sofa. We practiced stashing things away in 2 minutes or less, I used to think that was abnormal. It not, thatÂs why most do not want others to drop by with calling first. I am feeling you sister. I was traumatized the day my dear sister-in law told me she was in the process of cleaning under her refrigerator. How do you factor that task in? I would rather be doing, well almost anything else, but housework. The whole subject of cleaning makes me hungry. For me the first real step in dealing with the whole thing was reading these posts. You see, you are not alone. The second is following the good advice from Tally- Sue and all the others who have been there too. The third is accepting that, like brushing your teeth, it just bugs you until you deal with it and afterward you can forget about. I sometimes get up real earlier in the morning just to clean and listen to a movie. Even if I spend the time on the forum at least my day starts earlier and the work does get done, eventually. For me the real big change came, when I started replacing all the old things that I could never could get clean. When I felt the pressure from DH to do more, or to switch my concentration to some dismal task, I started throwing things out. I mean I went crazy and decided, I was not going to deal with the un-removable 15 minute scrub down of my toilet anymore so I threw the toilet out,( and got a new one )I did the same with the nasty uncleanable toaster and the smelly old microwave, then the wall to wall carpet. I only have things around me that I really love and are new and crisp. So when I spend time cleaning it looks clean. I want to keep things looking clean. Instead of bringing the mountain of clothes upstairs I leave it in the basement. I clean between commercial breaks now. When I get that creepy feeling that DH thinks I wasted my day doing "nothing" I leave the kids with him for a few hours and go to the library. Ususally when I get back, he "gets its". I hope you continue to enjoy your garden and your kids, and I hope you keep us posted on your plan of attack!