Oh, I hadn't seen Princess Anne's attire before. You have to wonder who advises the 'royal' women on clothing. How did Princess Diana break away, overcome that awful bedskirt of a wedding gown and learn to *dress*? Princess Anne's outfit makes me think of WWII films where the British housewife answers the door in a housecoat. No, no, wait... she clearly does NOT have rollers in her hair, so I guess that wasn't the look she was going for. Many of these women have legs that make you wish for long hemlines. Some are also wearing what only they believe to be their dress size. (No mirrors in the house, dear?) I've never been near a formal event in Paris, but the most exceptionally beautiful group of women I have ever seen were those attending a ball at our hotel in Montreal. There was not an unatractive woman among the several dozen I saw. They were not all beautiful, and they were of all ages, shapes and sizes, but each was perfectly groomed and dressed, and each moved with grace. Memorable! (Of the few elegantly attired guests at this wedding, many seemed unable to put one foot in front of the other, gracefully.)

I don't know if this is significant or not, but when I was a child (under nine, because my mom was still alive) I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid. I'd say that could be very significant since a lot of the time all these health problems tend to be seen together. The current test for thyroid disease, the TSH isn't really a very good indicator of thyroid function.. but that's what most doctors go by. I'd suggest having your doctor run the thyroid antibody tests too. I went to doctor after doctor for over 10 years to finally get one to run the right tests. ALL my other blood tests were normal, but the antibody tests were way off indicating autoimmune Hashimoto's Disease. Good luck!

I read it early this morning when I read the linked article in Alisande's thread. Glad I scrolled up, it is quite amusing to say the least!! I love reading old newspapers. Journalism at its finest!

Hi Candace - I wish I could be more help, but so far I haven't hung a rug. Many others do this regularly, though, so if you'd like I can post the question on a rug hooking forum I frequent. Some of the members are true experts, and I know you'll get a knowledgeable response. As for the cleaning, I've seen snow mentioned often. One method is to lay the rug face down on snow and tap it to release dirt into the snow. Others describe putting light, fluffy snow on the rug, letting it sit for a minute, and then sweeping it off. And then I found this for you: IVA'S RUG CLEANER - I have used this home-made rug cleaner for over 20 years. For Small Rug - 1 tsp. TIDE without bleach, 2 T white vinegar, 1 cup water For 2 9 x 12 Rugs - 1/2 cup TIDE without bleach, 2 cups white vinegar, 2 cups water Mix ingredients and whisk into a foam. Brush foam on rug lightly. Leave on rug overnight. Vacuum next day. Here are a couple of entries from Gene Shepherd's rug hooking blog. He gets deeply into every aspect of rug hooking. Rug Restoration (including providing support when hanging, I believe) Making a Sleeve to Hang a Rug Hope this helps. Good for you for wanting to save and display your family rugs. Susan