Mora, I guess in a sense, what you did is what I was trying to do. My first pair of bifocals caused me grief, and even though I was still wearing them, I never got used to them. Constant headaches all the time. So I started taking the glasses off to read and squinting to see the computer. These glasses are actually functioning the way they should, and I'm so glad about that! I have to adjust a bit to the movement when looking down, but am getting there as opposed to the last pair. Something tells me that switching eye doctors last year may also have been an excellent move. BP, It appears that the reading part on the lens is slightly less than half, but from what I understand, you can have your eyeglass provider change it slightly. The 'progressive' lenses cost me an extra $50.00, but I went to two optical places, and the final price for my glasses would have been around $600.00. Then I checked out another place in Halifax which DH and I have noticed lawyers use quite a bit, and the price was $279.00!!! I also have astigmatism in both eyes. My left eye has a tiny , tiny 'hole' in the middle which my optician is watching carefully - pardon the pun! LOL!! I've been wearing glasses since I was 4 years old. Practically the only piece of jewelry I wear!

Patty_cakes has a good point: My hand-eczema worsen when I drink citrus juice, esp. Orange/pinapple/strawberries. There are so many pesticides on strawberries that can set off a rash. I have no problems with cranberry juice (no pesticide & no need for citric acid since it's so sour). What's worse, they add citric acid to juice. Citric acid is made commercially from a genetically-modified black mold, rather than from citrus fruits. Lots of people are allergic to that. I can tolerate juice WITHOUT chemical citric acid .. much better than juice with citric acid added. Also find that applying Milk of Magnesium STOP THE ITCH better than other remedies, be it hydroxide peroxide, calamine lotion, iodine, or apple vinegar cider. Milk of Magnesium works because magnesium relaxes the tissue, thus help in calming the itch. With my 3 years of eczema & itching right hand, I have tried all remedies possible.

I think I wrote in an earlier post to you that you need to be careful about the costs of additions -- they are expensive! That was about the construction cost, not the architect's fee. I cannot say how much it should or might be but I can say that we paid $5,000 for just a structural engineer's work and towards the upper end of the range you set out for the architect -- for a 2-story addition. I'm sure there is more than one way to accomplish all of this but here's one way. First, you shop around for an architect, the same way you would for anybody else: interview, check references, look at portfolios. While I personally would not recommend design/build firms you do want to make sure that the architect you hire really has a firm grasp on construction costs. You seek to have something that could be called "phase I" drawings or "conceptual drawings" or something similar to that. These are just the ideas -- more than one but probably less than four -- and that costs you maybe 1-3 thousand. (I'm sure that if my range is wrong someone will correct me.) Once you have that, then you can obtain an estimate on the cost of construction. This is just an estimate, it's not based on what actual ppliances, flooring, etc. you will have. It is not a firm bid. Nobody is promising that this estimate is accurate. This is where things can also go very wrong. The estimate may be way lower than the actual costs will be. This is where you have to throw away your desire to hear Low Numbers and Demand that your architect give you the really bad news. If you read mightyanvil's comments it appears that he is suggesting that you have a GC involved during this whole process whose job it is to keep an eye on the costs on a consulting basis. (I think this is the idea of hiring an expert on costs to be involved which costs you more up front but keeps you out of trouble later. I have no experience with this.) If your architect doesn't know enough about construction costs he or she will be useless to you at this critical stage because this is where you decide whether you want to plunge in and hire the architect to enter the really expensive part and you need to know what the construction costs are going to be before you make this investment. Now, perhaps your addition isn't at all complicated and you just need drawings, not really anything that's the least bit of design work...I have no experience here either but perhaps someone else can advise you.

I think that I understand why you are so sad. Here is my advice, take it or leave it. It is meant with kindness, and I hope it doesn't sound too harsh. I think that your response to the dish breaking is a release of the pent up stress of everything you are experiencing right now, and the feelings of things happening that are both good and hard at the same time. The dish is a physical reminder of your time when you and the children were together, doing something as a unit. And of course it is a thing of beauty in its own right. We all know that time marches on and things change, and that can be both joyful, difficult, wistful, and gut-wrenching, and make us both proud and lonely. I think that the dish breaking was just a physical release of all of those emotions for you. And your darling son is trying to help you focus on the true physical reality of what actually happened, and detach it from the emotional meaning that you may be feeling from what happened. And that in itself is yet again a reminder of the finish line reached as a successful parent, and a solemn reinforcement of the fact that your role as primary teacher and problem solver for your children is over. So again both happy and sad. (Yes, I am going through the empty nest transition myself, and have been reflecting a lot on this as my friends and I all are experiencing this together in different ways. And we moved last year and I had to do the possession evaluation as well.) Of course this could be just how I would feel and think, and may or may not have anything to do with you and your experiences and feeling. But I wanted to share in case it helps you. And the reason is, aside from wanting to help you understand, is that if this had happened to me in this context, I think having something made from the pieces would make me feel this anguish over and over and over again every time I saw the broken pieces. And that even if I found the "same" old piece, I would always know it was a substitute. So I guess what I am saying is that if this had happened to me, not only would I be sad like you are sad, but that I think that I would pout a bit, and then try to move on, instead of recreating the past. Now you might find great joy in a key fob or pendant or tray or frame with the pieces, but I know that that would make me beat myself up over and over. For me, it would be just better to be sad, and then to move on and create a new good memory. Again, I am not trying to say what you should do. I just wanted to bring this up in case it would apply to your situation. And now, back to home decorating. hugs and sighs, Julie This post was edited by juliekcmo on Sat, Jun 28, 14 at 8:40