Another who prefers renting condos, houses, etc. rather than a motel. We've had great luck and wonderful owners to rent from. Just this year we rented a cottage that had been in the owner's family for many years. It was FILLED with antiques and lots of family items. Gourmet kitchen with many nice items. That was the one where I LOVED the sheets LOL. I could not imagine having all that stuff out - both expensive and sentimental, but apparently they don't have a problem. We've rented for years in Seabrook Island from a couple who live in NJ. And next month we rented a cottage in the mountains of Alabama which is a stone cottage - again filled with antiques, etc. I know we take care of things - but I'm sure there are people who don't and walk off with things. All the places we have stayed, except one in Cashiers, NC, had cleaning services. The couple in NJ keep in touch with us and I am often their "spy" on the cleaning services at that condo. LOL About bedbugs - you can get them anywhere and everywhere. You can even get them in old pieces of furniture. And the fanciest of hotels. It has nothing to do with cleanliness. If you travel anywhere, you are at risk. Many people bring them home in their luggage. NEVER put your luggage on the floor. tina

Chellamaral, there was tile EVERYWHERE in this house and it only bled through in one area - a back bathroom. I think the grout was white, but I believe it was white all over the house . The tile that bled was the only original tile from 1958 left, so maybe that had something to do with it. To be honest, it didnt look that bad. One contractor was kind enough to tell me that if he stained the existing concrete, I would have ghosting every where. The current contractors said the same thing, hence the overlay. My friend just used the same contractor, and their existing floor was good enough to stain w/no overlay. I will ask the flooring guy why some floors are good tomorrow. I didnt get any pics of the bathroom, but here is an example I found online: Pip is doing well. He is a male parakeet. I already have two small (potty trained!) parrots, and wasnt looking for any more birds, but little Pip needs someone. His wings are cut (badly) and his nails are VERY long, but he seems tame. I have scoured the internet and no one has posted a lost ad in that area. My friend says that there are lots of foreclosures where she found him, and she thinks someone just let him go. How could someone let a bird that cant fly "loose?" It is bound to be eaten by a cat. I will probably get him a girlfriend and a bigger cage, once I move into the new house. There will actually be a bird room for my two birds. I love my birds, but had I known how much time/attn. they require, I would have thought twice before buying them. Below is my Rocky (post bath) and Zeek. I had an AC contractor look at the ducts. He said I have a HUGE underground duct with branches to the rooms, and moving the current ducts would be fine. The ducts are moved now and they have laid the first coats of overlay. Unfortunately, the scoring is still showing through and looks terrible! They are laying another coat tomorrow, but I am not confident it will disappear. I am not sure I am willing to pay 1k for the scoring, since the last one was wavy. I told him to cover it up and assume I am not scoring. kitchen: living room moved to bar: I love the reto renovation site! Thank you for the link. LOL@the 90's song posted on there. I will keep you guys updated! Thank you for your help. :)

"why would parents repeatedly tell their children that they inherit something? why would this topic even come up? how would it start: hey i am going to leave you XYZ. lol repeatedly their whole life? why? I can see how maybe when they wrote the will they said something...but repeatedly tell them their whole life...what for? I get upset to think of my parents dying, as I watch them getting older, why would they be bringing it up my whole life?" In my case, I suspect it was a need on my Dad's part to periodically "set the record straight" because SM (for many years GF) brought up money issues incessantly. (Generally with the theme being "gimme, gimme".) I never once brought up these issues. My Dad got together with SM when I was 13 and inheritance (again, among many other money issues) was already being brought up then, long before I could even really comprehend the issue or had any reason to imagine my Dad would ever die (kids don't think about stuff like that). Another major talk occured when I was about 18 (surprise, surprise), then another one when I was about 20, then again when I was 24, then again when I was about 29, then several after he got sick when I was 30 up until he died when I was 32. His statements were always pretty much the same, with his wishes being to pretty much split everything he owned 60/40 (SM's favor). The only major change occured when *I* told *HIM* that I didn't think it would go well if he left the house for me and SM to split thusly, that it could cause any number of problems for both she and I. I told him he should just leave her the house outright. He then took it upon himself to arrange things so that his intended 40% to me was maintained by allocating other assets to me, but I had not asked him to do that. Overall, his wishes stayed the same for years, even though SM kept insisting she should have more. And even though she might have *expected* that she could make him change his mind. One very crucial little encounter, especially in hindsight, really drives home the point to me why he kept feeling this need to "set the record straight". (Sorry in advance to those who've read this story before... and sorry, too, that it's a little long.) It was about 1996, I was about 20, and my SM and I had gone last-minute holiday shopping together. I had only so much cash on me, which I'd used up on presents for my Dad (and her, btw) and others. We were kind of far from home and really hungry, and discussed going to the McDonald's that was on the way home. But this decision became a full-on philosophical crisis for SM, as she agonized out loud: "Hmmmm... well what should we do? I mean, you don't have any money left to get anything." And I said: "I can pay you back when we get to the house, I'm really REALLY hungry..." and after some serious moral rumination she finally agreed that was do-able. In hindsight, I think she was so consumed by her one-track mind obsession that as an ADULT, I, stepchild, should not EXPECT ---literally--- a dollar for ANYTHING that it next precipitated the following exchange, once we were inside the McDonald's eating our Happy Meals: SM: "You know, when Dad dies, everything's going to me. And then, when I die, if there's anything left, you'll get it at that point." ME: [bewildered as to where in the heck this subject was suddenly coming from] "Why are we talking about my Dad dying? Is he sick or something?" So over a decade later, when I finally had the nerve to tell my Dad about this little exchange (b/c he asked why I don't trust SM), and when he reacted with shock and said "I never told her that!", I believed him. Because in all those times he sat she & I down and told us what's what, that little plan of hers didn't enter the convo. I believe she was either 'testing' me out, trying to get some kind of rise out of me to start a family feud, or living a freakin' delusion in her brain. Which to me clearly illustrates why my Dad kept feeling the need to divest her of her persistently unfounded expectations. Which leads back to the orginal question. So to sum it up I think the reason my Dad regularly had these "sit-downs" with us all together about his will and what would happen is precisely because he wanted us both to hear the same thing out of his mouth at the same time in case either of us [she] tried to pull some deceptive little crap on the side. And he didn't want either of us having expectations that would be disappointed... especially her, apparently. My point with all this is that the situation that some SP's may view as "typical" ---that is adult kids "demanding" an inheritance--- is just simply not always so. Sometimes it's adult spouses who "demand". That's the main difference with my story, and perhaps it's unusual. I'm sure there are plenty of bratty, spolied adult stepkids who not only DEMAND an inheritance but who mean-spiritedly believe their parents' spouses should get nothing. I can honestly tell you that even though my SM has been a royal arse to me for many years, I would never think she deserved to get NOTHING, or less than what my Dad promised her in my presence.

I've lived in 22 homes/locations in my over 80 years, including 6 years in a university dorm. A number of them were provided by my employer. In some cases, I shared a home with others, and once shared a house with a couple of other men, and we ate in another house on the same compound where three or four women lived: we were all missionaries, helping with health and educational issues in war-torn Korea, with some of us helping refugees get back on their feet. I boarded with an old lady for a couple of years 25 or so years ago when re-locating back to Ontario, rented a room from a guy for a couple of years, then shared a two-bedroom townhouse with unfinished basement with another guy for a couple of years and continued living there alone for another dozen years or so. I was paying about $800./mo. for the townhouse, paid for my power and heater rent but water provided, no sewwer or garbage fee, prior to moving here to what was old step-unle's farm, nearly 7 years ago. The bungalow on the farm had two bedrooms and a wreck room, plus unfinished basement, but being older it had somewhat less utility than the one in town ... but the initial rent was $450.00 per month. Water for washing, etc. was from a well so the only fee was the power bill to run the pump, but the well is too close to what used to be the barnyard so I pick up water in the city, etc. in jugs for drinking and most cooking, though I may boil potatoes in well water. Landlord will pay to pump the septic tank if/when it may need it. I pay the power bill, and landlord shares it, as he installed it into his shop from the same meter a few years ago. Put newspapers, plastic out for recycling, free - could do so for aluminum cans, but I sell them to scrap dealer. Garbage costs $1.75 a bag, but much of it is added to the landlord's burn pile. While travelling past my old townhouse home the other day, I saw that they were offering them for rent, starting at $849./mo., so that rent has not gone up a huge amount since my departure. I'm paying $512.50 rental, with increase as of Mar. 1 anticipated. I have a shed in which to park my car, with extra room in it where a friend's van is parked, a garage where I have builing materials, supplies, a couple of trunks and a freezer, plus space in the barn which I use to service the large garden that I have, plowed and tilled by my landlord ... and he gets a share of the produce. The government offered us a tax-free savings account aimed at home owneership about 35 years ago, max. allowable $1,000. per year, $10,000. total and I thought that I'd need to find a home on retirement in about 20 years. I invested the max allowable $1,000./yr. beginning in '74, and continuing till '83, missed one year so had invested for 9 years, $9,000. total, into a fairly stable, mortgage-based mutual fund. Its current value, having been unmolested in the interim, has grown from $9,000. in '84 to over $73,000. now, 27 years later, i.e. about 9% annual compound rate - with no deduction for the high-rate income tax that I've paid annually on the increases. I've been thinking that, in the interim between seniors, especially singles, living in their traditional home and entering a residential or nursing home, it seems to me that, rather than buyig a (temporry) condo or renting an apartment lone, it makes a great deal of sense for several singles to share a home. There are several advantages: sharing a home means discussion and more mental activity than when one lives alone; I find that I'm inclined to talk to strangers when I'm out, and am sure that I would do less of it if I shared my home with someone. Many find that carrying out all of the chores related to operating a household becomes onerous - and sharing would mean shared chores. They eat better, for several atthetable wouldd preclude the"tea and toast:" that a number of seniors may refer to as a meal. If someone fell, there'd be help available - and they couold triage:we can rtake care of it; we call this person's caregiver; or we call 9-1-1 - right now! There'd be major saving of money, what with rent, utilities, insurance, etdc. Gotta run - 3 min. to library closing (but I figure that my loaner car'll get me safely home). ole joyful