Let me see if I can summarize: The owners poured money into a new pool for the benefit of the residents (it looks nice from the air, see the view link below). Instead of being finished at the end of September, it was finished at the beginning of December. That amount of delay is hardly unusual for a project like this. You knew about this construction before you moved in, and the work was done within a reasonable time. 2) A nail was sticking up from the floor, somewhere not too obvious or you would have noticed it before. So? Hammer it down or cut it off, and if you can't do it yourself just keep the baby away from it for a couple of days before the management can fix it. Not a big deal. 3) A light fixture broke. Odd how things like that just "break on their own" around tenants, but rarely in your own home. Still, no big deal. If you are so terrified about broken glass, make sure all of your cups and plates are made out of plastic too. In the real world, sometimes things break, and sometimes repairs take longer (and cost more) than expected. It is not surprising that the office seems a bit unfriendly, as you appear to be a hysterical drama queen. Here is a link that might be useful: overhead view

She was taking a B complex for a while and she may have stopped. She said "the bottle says to take two but I thought more might be better so I take three" -- that's another thing that stands out because she is a retired RN and always was very sensible and conservatibe about taking medications. She was taking a multivitamin for a while, but may have stopped that too. My dad is a health fanatic and tends to nag and correct her when she starts to take vitamins -- "did you take your vitamins?"; "don't take those together...", etc. I told her to take them in private when he's not around, but I suspect she stopped taking them altogether. She makes such a big deal about eating a regular sized meal of moderate portions -- "I can't believe I ate all that!" etc. when everyone else ate the same amount or more. Or she passes around her plate at the table at social functions to share her food, saying how full she already is and "I can't eat all this food!" when everyone else is enjoying their full plate (how do I politely stop her from passing around her plate like that? I wish she would just stop eating and not say anything to bring attention to herself). I don't understand what that's all about, but I think if she is so full with half a plate of food when she hasn't eaten for hours, then she is probably undereating (dieting) and her metabolism has slowed down. But whatever I say will go in one ear and out the other -- especially now that she has successfully lost weight and is thinner than ever. I don't know if she'll ever let any of us do anything for her unless she is totally helpless. Jen

I do agree that we are wasteful as a nation, and I know several young people who "don't eat chicken with bones". I'm told that everything must be handheld now so it doesn't interrupt texting. Ahem. There is little waste when I slaughter animals. Chicken feet are used in stock, as are the hearts and gizzards. I enjoy chicken liver very much, so those are not wasted. Cheeks become stew meat if beef, jowl bacon if pork. The man who slaughters my animals takes the hides for tanning and I use the tongue and heart in sausage, the liver for dog food (although I no longer have a dog, both of my daughters have them, and so they are happy). I haven't figured out what to do with wet chicken feathers. Yet. FOAS, I get the "soup bones" from my processor and they are always very meaty. I have the shanks cut (and the pork shanks get smoked) and all bones that are "trimmed" for hamburger get used to make stock which I can. There is usually enough meat on the bones to make a very substantial pot of soup or beef pot pie. I'm always astounded when I see bones with virtually no meat at all marketed as "soup bones". I work too hard to grow my food to waste very much of it, I can find a use for nearly everything. Our waste, though, isn't limited to animal products. How many people eat the tops of the beets? Make jelly from the apple peel and core? Throw the stale bread into the oven for croutons or the food processor for bread crumbs? Use that last bit of mashed potatoes to thicken soup? (OK, that's a stretch, there are NEVER leftover mashed potatoes in my house, I love 'em) Toss the vegetable scraps (or meat scraps/poultry carcasses) into the freezer for making stock later? It does not appear that income level has any impact on our wasteful habits. Some of it may be cultural but my kids grew up arguing over who got the giblets from the Thanksgiving turkey and now neither of them would eat them, barring near starvation. sleevendog, composting right now is very simple. All edible food scraps go into a bucket with a lid in the garage. Mama pig and her 10 babies love nearly everything, the chickens are always fighting for their share and even the apple peels that don't make it into jelly are fed to the cattle and horses, as well as things like corn husks and cobs, cores from lettuce heads, etc. Everything else compostable goes into the "pit", which is actually a big pile of cow manure. It gets added to, bulldozed over, moved around for about a year, then it gets used on fields and gardens. My neighbors regularly ask for a "bucket" full. That's a tractor bucket, not a hand held pail, LOL. So, although they are appreciative of my "black gold", only other farmers even think of composting, the rest do not. As I cannot change society or even my own family, I can only do the best I can in my own life. That's all any of us can do, in spite of preaching or argument. Annie

Nina, if your girl had good CBC results originally, why did they give her Vitamin K? I know it helps clotting, but usually only is needed if there is a defect in clotting (such as comes from ingestion of rat poison). If it was my dog, and there was even a slight irregularity the first time (as you say her clotting time was slightly increased), I would want to know it had not progressed. In fact, that is exactly what happened with our girl. She first had a very slightly low platelet reading in January. We ran a bunch of tests and she seemed to be fine. When she "crashed" in April, the first thing I asked for was a CBC (and a Lyme disease test). Sure enough, her platelets had plummeted. Thank you for the condolences. When we determined in April (a year ago) that her platelets were so low, we tried some treatments but she only lasted three days. We did have her put to sleep, but I am certain she would have died that day regardless. She began bleeding internally. I may be overreacting because of my experience, but I now know how serious bleeding can be. I really hope your girl just has an infection and I do agree with others that if you can get an MRI or CT that would be a good idea. Good luck to both of you.