Well...I just told my neuro I want out of the study. He is all but begging me to stay with it, but I dislike the side effects and I have not had any relief from my migraines. a)the first two weeks were completely pain-free and I was in heaven. But then the migraines returned with a vengeance AND my Imitrex no longer worked very well on them!!! Net result= more medicine than ever needed and headaches never seemed to go away completely. b)the frozen forehead is now only partially frozen and my Imitrex has begun to work again. This is 9 weeks post Botox. c)my eyelids look a lot better. I guess the melting polar ice caps in my forehead are responsible. I have to think that if you are one who derives headache relief from the Botox, that might also be waning. d)my neck, which was soooooo sore for nearly 2 months, is now almost back to normal. It was very hard to read and ride my bike because my neck felt like it needed a brace and it hurt a lot. Neuro said next time he would spread around the injections instead of concentrating them in one area (the ones in my neck). e)I told the neuro I wanted to move on and try to find something that worked without compromising the one medication I've got in my arsenal that is effective (Imitrex). What I'd really like to do is not GET migraines. To that end, I have begun a new therapy that is designed to bring my body back into balance and will hopefully give me the bonus of reducing my migraines, which have increased dramatically in the last year. I mean, it doesn't take a brain surgeon (ha ha) to figure out this is likely hormonal, right? I'm 50 and am getting a big increase in migraines? And yet I couldn't get a doctor to do more than prescribe bc pills for me (big no-no with my migraines) or recommend estrogen patches, which I was fairly sure would not be a good treatment for me. I saw two gynos who told me, without any testing, that I needed estrogen, even though I did not fit the symptom profile. The second when said, when I questioned him as to how he knew this, "You're 50!" I finally found a doctor who specializes in women's health (it's all she does) and takes a more naturopathic approach. She ran a bunch of hormone tests for me, including a comprehensive saliva test, and determined that I am very high in estrogen (thank goodness I didn't use the patches!) but extremely low in progesterone. I'm very high in testosterone (ah, THAT'S where the rages are coming from!) and DHEAs (don't know what that is). Low thyroid, too, though it initially appears normal in testing. I have practically no cortisol and my adrenals are wiped out. So, I'm on adrenal rebuilder, a Rx natural progesterone cream that is compounded with pregnenelone (a cortisol precursor or something like that), thyroid stuff and some other supplements that are supposed to help me build back up and feel better. I've only been doing this routine for a week and a half so it's too soon to know how well it will work, but I can tell you that I normally get really bad lower pelvic pain for a week midcycle and I had only a slight twinge this week (doc told me it was the low progesterone at fault). I guess the (sex) hormone balance is easier to address quickly than the adrenal part. I'm told that will take 1-2 years since mine are really shell-shocked. I'm feeling more energy and drive but am still dealing with bursts of anger and periods of foggy thinking. Don't you just love perimenopause?! Apparently, I'm still a ways from menopause, but I have the adrenal/thyroid/hormone imbalance problems that are often part of the whole perimenopause picture. Here's hoping that my migraines back off with this new treatment, but no indication of that so far. However, the hormone problems I have are known to cause migraines so I have high hopes that achieving a balance will bring them under control. Here is a good article that explains much of what I've tried to relay. Here is a link that might be useful: don't assume you are low in estrogen because the dr said so

- Are you a solo cook? For daily meals, will there be two cooks? For dinner parties, will there be multiple cooks? Mostly solo, with occasional interference, um, assistance in prep, etc. from others. Mysteriously, no matter which way I turn, there always seems to be somebody in the way. Perhaps there are additional people living here I haven't met yet. - Do you typically serve food family-style (at the dining table), buffet-style (dining room sideboard or kitchen counter?), or waiter-style (plate in kitchen, serve each guest individually at dining table)? Buffet style? Horrible dictu. Either family-style or plated, depending. - Any quirky needs for where and how you prep? Like my "sink on my left" fetish? I like my sink on the left, too. but perhaps I'm just used to it. I would love vertical prep space, like an 8" shelf to put stuff on as needed so it doesn't end up ten feet away. But I may not be able to achieve that. In any case, I like cockpit cooking--everything I need in arm's reach, nothing in reach that I don't need. I like to expel things out of my way when I'm done with them, so I thought a long time about a garbage can accessible through a hole in the countertop. Then I realized the danger of breeding Swamp Thing on bits that get stuck in dark crannies. In addition to getting rid of garbage, I do not like to touch or see cooking implements once I'm done with them. I want them out of my way. Sounds weird, I know. But that video of an iron pan careening into a Kohler cast iron sink at top speed held special meaning for me. - Are you a big baker? How important is a baking center? Occasional baker. My mind doesn't really work that way. But I bake for holidays or just when I feel like it. A full-blown Iron Confectioner Baking Stadium would be nice, but I'd settle for a place to keep baking stuff out of the way of other prep tools. - A big oven user? Need double ovens? Speed? Steam? Need venting over the oven? Yup, I'm an ovener. Double would be fun for those Yorkshire Pudding occasions. I'm actually liking my tiny Easy Bake. It will be horrific when company comes, but for the two of us to roast the odd chicken, it heats up fast and works well. I do need someplace to cook my Christmas seven-hour pork shoulder. - A many-burners user? Need four, six, eight, ten? Six would be nice. I'll live with four if I have to, but what really bothers me about four burners is the crowding. - Any preference for range or cooktop/wall oven? No preference, though obviously a range is generally cheaper. - Are there any unusual tools you plan to include? Grill, griddle, deep fryer, wine cooler,(swing oven, blast chiller, immersion circulator, live fish tank . . . ) I'm not much of a nanotechnologist, so if I ever get the hankering for a molecular gastronomy experiment I'll just use the basement workbench. I'm a little old school, so I need to keep out my vintage Osterizer and two no-control toasters, one of which was my parents' wedding present in 1938, on display. The blender gets the most use. I need a place to securely clamp things, like apple corers and pasta makers. The chitarra can stay in the cupboard; I think it rusted, anyway. I need a place to store two sets of pasta board and pins. One is mine and oversized; it's a piece of plywood a counter deep, with a long dowel that can hang from a cup hook on the end somewhere. My mom's I'd like out on display; it's an old breadboard with a smaller roller. Plus there's her wooden spoon that needs to hang on the wall somewhere nearby. Never had a grill, I think I'd like one. - What size refrigerator is ''necessary''? How much pantry (linear feet of shelf) is ''necessary''? An unusual size is OK but not too small. The fridge always seems to fill up with wine and salad. Of course, even with French door fridges I can never find anything. I wish they were all six feet wide and a foot deep. I do have a root cellar in the basement, where I can store overflow cans of tomatoes once we get the paint cans out of there. I should mention the spice thing. You know when you go into a supermarket and see that huge rack of spices? OK, trim it down to one jar deep. That's what I've got. It's in an upper cab now, on those little step shelf inserts, and it's horrible. I want alphabetical. Neat. Accessible. All in a row. - Is a bar/beverage area important, for mixology, chilling, decanting, jello shots? Way. I may be able to find a nice bar for the DR or LR. But mixology has to happen somewhere. - How many people do you want to seat at this dratted ''eat-in'' zone? Two? Four? Two comfortably, 3 a little awkwardly, possibly 4 with permanent sciatic damage. Just to appease the future toddler moms. - Do you prefer pots and pans to hang or be stored in drawers? I loathe hanging pots and pans. In my apartment pots and pans were in a super susan, the kind where the door is attached and you just push it in, right next to the range. Worked well, except for flat pans, which you had to stack to infinity. So, I want them hidden, but I don't want to unnest two hundred pounds of metal to fry an egg. Appliances to live on counters or be hidden away? I imagine the stand mixer has to stay out, unless you figure out a way to lower it from the ceiling on command. Toaster and coffee maker out but out of my way. The Cuisinart should be accessible--the days of jamming my hand into a cupboard to find a sharp blade really have to be over. - All things being equal, do you prefer lots of upper cabinets or fewer? Lots of windows or fewer? The light here is great, but houses are somewhat close together. I want to keep at least one window on each wall (size may be flexible), but a wall of windows would not really be that pleasant. I do like uppers, but some need to be glass and I desperately want to avoid that oppressive Great Wall of China look. - Are you a "can't live without double dishwasher'' sort? No. - How ''traditional'' a look do you want? For example, in the 1920s homes didn't really have fixed kitchen islands. I'm thinking serious vintage, with allowance for creative interpretation. My inspiration is that online collection of 1920s kitchen photos, but I'm not going to replicate an entire dysfunctional '20s kitchen--I just want the charm. I don't 100% need a fixed island, either, but I'm not opposed to one.

While it can depend on the overall style of the room, as a generic statement I'd say that I wouldn't have one tile pattern meet another pattern straight on with no transition between the two. That's for most people and most installations. I think what you have to do is look at a lot of online photos. Or do mock up with your materials on hand. You may not be able to verbalize what you like, but when your eye sees it, your brain will give a "yea" or "nay" vote, and that'll help you define your style. Stye-wise...if you were going for a minimalist design? Simple? Clean lines? Minimal visual distractions? Then having one pattern butt right up to the other can look just fine. But the two tiles should relate to one another in some manner: Pattern, shape, size, color, texture, material, etc, etc. Some folk find pattern-abutting-pattern pleasing. But it depends on the tile, the pattern, etc. Others find it jarring. For a more traditional design, having a border or transition of some sort between them may be the better way to go. For a border or transition? If your shower wall was, say a marble subway. I'd terminate that pattern at the edge of the tub with a vertical run of tile. For a less busy look the tile for the vertical border could be the same used in the shower. If you want to blend details, it could be a darker tile, or something for example you used as an accent elsewhere in the shower, perhaps the same tile you used on the back walls of the niche. Easiest and safest is to use the same material as the shower tile. The vertical of the border will act as a transition between the marble in the shower and the backsplash pattern on the sink wall. In the end, trust your eyes and your gut. If it feels wrong, it probably is wrong. For you. Good luck.

How did it turn out? ---- A couple of solutions with no transitions: 1: Rotate your flooring 90 degrees so that it runs the long ways on the floor plan and START at the Kitchen/DR shared wall and FR/LR shared walls and install FORWARD into the kitchen, so that the majority of your install will be a normal forward install and the DR/LR/Foyer will be a backwards install. OR...... 2. The above would be best but, if you truly want to run it the way you have laid it out then... A) If there is doorway that connects LR and Foyer and doorway that connects LR and DR that I would start in the MIDDLE of LR making sure to measure first so that your end boards aren't slivers and then come around into FR (P100) back towards the Kitchen to fill in the gap and meet up with P10... so that you have an 'ISLAND' of flooring surrounding these wall as long as you only do enough boards a necessary to connect P10 to P100 it should be light enough that you can PUSH or FLOAT the floor 1/16" to 1/2" one way or the other as needed so that P10 and P100 are locking like normal... then complete additional boards in all directions... again when I say 'Island' I mean that you are not installing all the way to the LR outside wall you'll only install ONLY to the doorway to start P100/P10 and the same for when you get into FR you're not going to the outside wall of FR only to installing in FR along the FR/LR wall so that you can meet up with P10 --- once that is done and P10 and P100 are 'locked in' then complete like normal. B) If there is no doorway that connects LR and Foyer or that connect LR and DR (which I would imagine this is not the case) then I would do the same as above but start at the non-doorway wall.