Depending on the size and location of your spa and pool, spanning both or each is certainly something that can be accomplished with a wood structure if, at the least, it's designed by a professional (preferably and engineer with wood structure experience). The larger issue might include questions like... How big is the pool and spa? Is this and inground pool? Will you be ceasing operation and use of the pool by contructing this deck? What does your local zoning and health codes say about such issues? These, and other questions, will and should play heavily into your decision making. If the pool is an inground, and if you simply cover it with a deck and do nothing more, it will, in time, become a swamp of sorts under the deck offering up more trouble than you might expect. With nothing over it to keep the rain out, the pool will continue to collect and hold water, or at the least, moisture, making it a perfect breeding gound for mold, fungus, algea, mosquitos, and other insects. If it's an above ground pool, demolition should be relatively inexpensive, perhaps even a homeowner job. If your purpose is to eliminate the pool from your lives and replace it with something else that is above ground, then your best direction would seem to be spending some money up front to have the pool structure demolished and buried permanently and in conformance to whatever local ordinances or regulations might attend to such issues.

Nice job awm!! Isn't it amazing how good it feels to drop a few pounds? Do I remember you from the kitchen forum too? I recognize you from somewhere. So sorry to hear about all the continuing knee problems. That has to be extremely frustrating especially when you're used to being so active. Hope you can recover soon! I don't know what triggers cravings for sweets for me - other than just the sight of them. Addiction I think. Yesterday someone brought these beautiful, gourmet cupcakes into the office for someone's birthday. For several hours I just admired the beauty of them but at the end of the day I could no longer control myself and snatched a lovely key lime one. I was practically drooling over it. I ate it, savored it, logged it and stayed within my daily limits and today dropped down a couple tenths of a pound to my lowest level since early 2010. I haven't actually maintained this weight for any period of time since 2009. One thing I'm finding kind of helpful is sometimes eating half the amount I normally would - small glass of juice vs. large, one piece of toast vs. two, etc. The thing I have to figure out is how to incorporate treats into my diet without going completely crazy and eating massive quantities of them.

I have now hit my goal weight. Started my serious weight loss plan on Jan 2 and hit my goal on Feb 7 so about 5 weeks. I waited another day to declare victory to be sure it wasn't a temporary fluke. I only had 7.6 lbs to lose but I haven't weighed this little in maybe 5 years. Gradually kept creeping up but reaching the 7 lbs over mark during the holidays really hit home with me and that's when I got serious about getting back on track. I did what I did when I initially dropped about 12 lbs in the past. More disciplined, healthy eating and more frequent exercise. I'd just gradually started eating more junky food and exercising a little less and of course the pounds crept back on. Now I'm focusing on continued regular exercise, building and maintaining muscle and healthy eating. I had my tracker set for 1/2 lb weight loss per week and it's very nice to get a couple hundred more calories to work with each day. Some things I observed over the past month that I have to continue to do: stay conscious of the quantity of stuff I eat - portion control and snack quantity control - no mindless eating forbidden treats - not a problem in SMALL quantities - eat slowly, savor, and linger over each delicious bite

I've been told by my doc that being truly allergic is different than being "sensitive" to some foods. My brother always got mouth sores from eating oranges but the doctor said he wasn't allergic, he was just "sensitive" to that particular item. I can't stand those bath and body shops or candle places because I'll promptly become congested and get a headache. It's not an allergy, it's a "sensitivity" according to the doctor. They aren't life threatening, just inconvenient and uncomfortable. I have developed a sensitivity to bees sometime in the last ten years, and so I carry an epi-pen. It sucks being a farmer and being "allergic" to my pollinators, LOL, although my reactions have not been extremely severe. Again, the doc says it's not a true allergy, but could develop into more severe reactions, thus the epi-pen (which I've never used). He also conjectured that bees have a more potent venom developed from trying to adapt and survive all the chemicals we feed insects to kill them, but that was a personal theory and studies are still being done on that. As for the breastfeeding link to allergies, I don't know but I'm not impressed. I breast fed my first daughter and she has seasonal allergies but not food allergies. I bottle fed my second one and she's healthy as a horse. I know Maggie and I have discussed this too and her breast fed baby is the one with all the allergies. I was fed Carnation milk and karo syrup and have no food allergies at all. As I stated, if a child in Makayla's school had a life threatening allergy to peanut products, I'm sure those products would be banned. I don't have a problem with that, my issue would be that two kids have allergies which are apparently not life threatening (since one of the kids sits at Makayla's table due to their assigned seating for lunch), and I can't see banning an everyday substance if it's not necessary. That's an over-reaction and unnecessary. Maybe it's just here, but all parents got a message from the school that snacks provided for consumption by the class as their "every day" snack cannot contain peanut products. Everyone has complied without complaint as far as I know because that was a reasonable request. Oh, and children are not allowed to "swap" lunch items, which I also think is reasonable in kindergarten, although I would have an issue with that being a rule for older kids who need to learn to think independently. I don't think keeping an allergic child out of school is a good option either, that's another over-reaction. That child will eventually have to function in the outside world and the isolation won't help them do that at all. That person is going to have to find behaviors and adaptations that are acceptable to most of society and live with them thoughout their life, isolating them from the rest of the world won't help them gain that ability. As for the child at the ball game, there are a couple of places in this part of the country where there WILL be peanuts. One is at baseball games and another is that steakhouse chain that encourages you to throw the peanut shells on the floor. I don't think I'd take a peanut allergic child to either of those if I were a parent and had a kid with a deadly allergy. I don't have a problem with not giving an allergic person specific foods. Amanda had a friend in high school, Becky, who had the weirdest food issue I ever heard of. She was PKU intolerant, and so was her younger sister. It's apparently inherited, and the body lacks the enzyme necessary to break down the animo acids in protein (or is it the other way around?). Anyway, this kid couldn't have protein rich foods. At all. She had a special formula that she got from Michigan State University that she lived on, and she couldn't eat meat, beans, peanut butter, cheese, yogurt, eggs. It was amazing. No artificial sweeteners either, no diet pop, no sugar free gum, but she could have all the full sugar stuff she wanted. I was one of the few overnights she was allowed because most other mothers were too afraid that they'd slip and feed the kid something she wasn't supposed to have, or wasn't willing to remember all the dietary don'ts. I figured in high school she was responsible for not eating something she wasn't supposed to have, but she would regularly "sneak" sugar free gum and make herself sick, I have no idea why. At least I didn't feed it to her! Annie