Well floodthelast, Where's your imagination at? You can make a childfriendly sand box & add a bench & a couple of larger rocks to sit on while the babies are playing with their sand buckets & shovels. A few potted flowers for color around the bench or rocks for the kids to help water, touch & smell won't hurt a thing if you are with them there making sure they don't eat them. They'll get a kick out of listening to the roar of the ocean in one of the larger sea shells. That is how kids learn by touching & smelling & playing. I all ready have mine set in my head how it will be, of coarse the wadding pool will be at the edge of it & on a hot summer day we'll add some water to parts of the sand for making sand castles & memories at Grandmas house. I am so excited to start my kidfriendly sandbox/flower bed for me & the grandbabies to play in. I have a kiddy table & chairs to set in there so we can have refreshments when we go to the beach, of coarse I'll have to drag up my Granny chair or set on the adult bench. LOL When my 6 yr old grandaugther comes over on cold days she always asks "Grandma, it's cold outside can we plant seeds in the kitchen? " so we usually do a couple of ws jugs if at all possible, & she is just in heaven.(memories already taking place.)

Gee, this is interesting. About 4 years ago I built three small, shallow bogs with tough plastic sheets. I dug trenches about 2 feet deep. I also punched holes about 12 inches from the bottom. I then filled them with a peat and soil mixture. Now this worked well for about two years but then invasive plants started growing. I'm sure the sheets have been punctured and the water no longer collects. Your photos have spurred me onto redig the holes(deeper) and not punch holes in the sheeting. When working the bogs provided most interesting plants. Also this time I shall add sand.R squared

I think some of your instincts are good. Here's what I got: two different-size three-drawer units. The drawers are SHALLOW--that's crucial. And the markers go SIDEWAYS in the smallest drawers--they JUST fit, which means the top ones can't slide off the end of the bottom ones and get tilted up, thereby jamming the drawers, and taking up more room. That's the key to MARKERS--a space that's exactly as wide as they are all. I have been known to tape a strip of cardboard to the inside of the drawer (tape it to the sides of the drawer at both ends, both sides) to CREATE that space, and keep the markers fro sliding around.. I got the small one, which is perfect for markers, pens, etc. in the office-supplies section of Target. I got the larger one at Bed Bed & Beyond. Sterilite makes one, too; Target sells them. And Iris makes two-drawer ones; those drawers are a tiny bit higher; office stores carry them, usually. Iris makes one that has shallow drawers AND one deeper drawer--that would be good, so you can put the paint in the lower drawer, and the stamps, markers, scissors, etc., in the upper ones. Don't forget to get those Rubbermaid or other drawer dividers--little boxes that help you make compartments. I put one in the front of one of those drawers, and it holds the scissors. You also need to relax your standards on this a bit, I think. It's never gonna be perfect,a nd lovely, and right. Here's what matters: 1) can she get to it? if you don' t want her to, store it up high; if you want her to be able to color without interrupting you, store it down low. But no matter WHERE you put it, store it in something that makes it easy for her to access the stuff. That's why a deep drawer of jumbled stuff doesn't work. Those shallow drawers work well, bcs they come out, and can become the container while she's working, and corral the markers to keep them from falling on the floor, etc.. Don't fill 'em too full, or stuff will fall out on the floor when she's digging for the green. 2) will it keep stuff from falling all over? Don't try to set any of this sort of stuff on the shelf, as you already know. Consider moving the playdough stuff away from the crafts stuff. Does she use them together? My kids don't. Maybe yours uses feathers and foamies w/ her playdough, but mine don't. So playdough goes somewhere else. That would free up your deep drawer to hold tubs of foamies, etc. I like the idea for racks on the top; don't try to combine paper w/ other stuff. And drawers seem like a good idea for paper, but they aren't.

Thank you for the concern and advice. Unfortunately in his case, a wheelchair is deemed by Medicare to be a "luxury". They have rules. Medicare only covers a wheelchair if it is absolutely necessary for mobility in the home, not for mobility outside the home. So if he can "get around" the house, even in pain, and falls down all the time, he does not qualify for a wheel chair. With his physical problems he needs a wheeled walker to be able to get around the house and has one. He also has severe Alzheimers, so he never recognizes it, and forgets how to use it or to use the brakes. Every day is a repeat lesson on it's use. Due to his Alzheimers he cannot be left alone - ever, so one has to either pack him up and bring him along, or get a sitter to stay with him. It would be so much easier to plop him in a wheelchair to take him along and to use it to take him for his doctor visits. Right now it takes a half an hour to get him out of the house and coax him to shuffle down the broken sidewalk to the garage. It would be sooooo much easier to just rumble him down the sidewalk in a wheelchair. He has fallen down in the past and with a wheelchair he would be safer. I've already done research, phones calls and talked to an advocate at the senior center in town to see what can be done, and no help is forthcoming. It's just easier to find a wheelchair on CL and have the problem solved. No paperwork to deal with either. Maybe tomorrow will be my lucky Craiglist find day...... Craigslist rocks!