Dorothy...I'm baaaaaccccckkkk. I'm Baaaccckk. he he. I emailed Joyce. Hopefully she will let us know who won. :) ~Tj~

What can I say--I feel you pain. My MIL has been with us for a little over a year now. I have recently quit my job of 9 years to stay home with her. She is 85 and her mobility is not good, confused on a daily basis, short term memory is bad and right now trying to keep her dressed seems to be the new thing with her. All in all she is a joy--pleasant and loveable but a real handfull sometimes. She stayed alone while my DH and I worked for nearly a year. I lived in fear that she would fall or get hurt while we were gone. We came home and found the house full of smoke and we knew we were really pushing our luck with this. She (for some reason) filled a skillet full of oil, placed it on the stove, turned it on and walked into the other room and forgot it. She didn't even see the smoke. She apparently fell asleep cause she said a loud noise woke her up--smoke alarms. And she still didn't notice the smoke. We came in just in the nick of time. I didn't go back to work. The first week I was home with her I was amazed at how good she was at "hiding" her confusion. Somedays she shines like a little star but others not so good and we are having a lot more not so good right now. I'm really suprised she didn't get hurt--we were so lucky. I REALLY miss going to dinner and running to the store or just going somewhere. It seems like my life revolves around how she is today. I miss doing things with just my husband or daughter. We sort of do shifts--one of us stays with her so the other can get out for a while. Like you we couldn't get any straight answers about the legalitys of leaving her home alone--and still can't . I guess we just have to go with our judgment with this. I keep telling myself how wonderful she's been to me through the years and how I"ll be in that shape one day. It's not easy.

In the last 15 years and 4 houses...we always have MIELE. We have had our current Miele W4842 washer and T9802 Dryer for over a year and they are AWESOME. 2x we swayed from Miele...Electrolux and Samsung. While not awful, they are so subpar compared to Miele, it is sad. The build quality and materials used on the Miele units, are unlike any other washer/dryer!! The outside is solid glass, the weights are with iron (unlike cement used on other units). Also, Miele is designed to last 20-25 years. Other units are made to last (if you are lucky) 5-10 years. Also, with the Miele, you can extend the warranty DIRECTLY with Miele, and Miele themselves do all service and repairs...NO 3rd party, moronic grease monkeys coming out. I would have nothing else but a Miele washer and dryer. I cannot even describe how much I love them!!!

Shelf life on a hot water heater is 15-20 years so yours has had a good life It would be cost effective to replace it. That said it sounds like you may have sediment in your lines that is slowing things down. I would venture to guess the bathroom with the most hot water is/was the one least used. So that would lead I am sure to how to fix it and that would depend on many thing like the age of your plumbing and what kind of pipes they are. There are a few things you might be able to have a plumber do but not many so your water lines may need replaced also. If you got a home owners warranty when you bought your home it may cover both the tank and any water line replacement Good luck Amy