Isn't it great to see something finally happen like that? Can't wait to see the final result on both sides of the wall! I'm with you on the open concept thing. If I am cooking and have a mess in the kitchen when I am entertaining, I don't want to look at it nor have my guests see it. Geez, a long time ago kitchens weren't even in the house in wealthy residences! Not practical, of course, unless you have servants. :-) I guess for me, too, my kitchen is my 'hang out space'. I watch tv there while I am reading magazines, working on projects like floral arrangements or craft things. The kitchen table is my desk and work table.

Here I am, again. After a procedure to shoot foamy stuff into my enlarged varicose veins a couple of weeks ago, I have had to wear a squeezy stocking all the way to hip for two weeks on the treated leg - finishing yesterday (or today) ... ... and walk for half an hour, twice daily, for those two weeks. I've been fortunate, so far - as I live in the country, and made of salt (or is it sugar?) I wasn't impressed with the idea of walking in the rain ... ... and, fortunately, have been able to avoid it, so far. Today is the last day to do it, and the weather is pleasant. It was rather attractive doing it last night just after midnight, with moon either full or almost so. And son just suggested, this afternoon, that continuing that regimen might not do me any harm. I go back to using the knee-high squeezy sock on that leg, as on the other, as of tomorrow. However ... in a couple of weeks, I get another shot to shrink the veins, with the high-level sock and the two half-hour walks daily, for another two weeks. Then again, in both November and December. I have the feeling that my teeth may chatter for the first couple of minutes of walking, just before Christmas. However ... they tell me that this is the modern alternative to the reportedly painful surgery of stripping those veins, of earlier years ... and I'm thankful to say that the only discomfort that it caused me was the pinprick when they put in the needle. ole joyful ... with, I guess, a couple of walks yet to do, today - not dog-sitting, at present

I hope the company you will be dealing with is better than ours. The pressure on my hubby's CPAP is too strong. Dr. faxed in an order to have it changed. We've waited and waited for someone to come out, hubby keeps calling, and in the meantime I am paying monthly the difference owed from Medicare for a machine my hubby can't use. They are getting their money so they don't care. He will call again next week and this time "I" will deal with them. They won't like me when I get done with them.

The second part of your sleep study (Friday night), you'll be sleeping with a CPAP. You'll feel a whole lot better Saturday morning! My husband and I both have to use a CPAP. We've had them for a little over two years now, I guess. Like Clare just said, neither one of us can sleep without it. Hubs has sleep apnea and I have an "upper airway obstruction." We have identical machines, but with different settings (his is set to a higher flow rate than mine). When we have to fly anywhere, the CPAP machines do not count as carry-on luggage because it's a necessary medical device. The security folks will make you take it out so they can inspect it, but it's fast and never a problem. When I got the results of my sleep study, the doc told me that she was amazed that I could function; because she said that I never got any REM sleep. And then she said, "you're seriously sleep deprived!"