Popping in to say how incredibly sorry I am, Maria, about all of the bad news you have gotten. Better things are coming, sorella. Stay strong. Erika, best wishes for your brother, as well.

Jilli, hurray! You will be fabulous.

Piles of hugs to Maria, and more to Vortex. Health and job and just general life wishes to both of you.

And to the rest of you too, Consuela, JZ, quester, anybody I've inadvertantly left out--Windsparrow, you do such good work, I'm fervently hoping you'll continue to have good work to do.

Sewing wonder you are, Aims. I love the prints you're using, too.

Le N, I have diabetes as well, but I'd suggest you seek advice other than from me, as I seem to be atypical. Let me just state with utter cynicism that the absolute worst thing I ever did for my health was to stop smoking. My always-slow metabolism slammed to a halt, and there has been a cascade of things to deal with. I'm at the point of taking the van down by the river to live, beer in one hand and cigarettes in the other, for as long as they, and I, last.

Personal cynicism aside, conventional wisdom does say you probably can regulate your blood sugar well enough with diet and exercise to get off the oral meds. All best luck to you.

Luck and health-ma to Todd with her eyes, and Raq with her brain weasels. And health-ma to erika's brother, as well.

All my excellent wishes go to the rest of you, as needed.

Sarameg & lisah! We are in Baltimore at the last minute. Maybe we'll see you at the market tomorrow ? Right now HKF is hooping on the square in FellsPt and declaring she'll never leave.

Paging bonny or other pet-owning buffistas: Last night my realtor told me that there is still a urine odor on my bamboo floors in the front room, courtesy of the tenants from hell who would leave her dogs inside for days on end without letting them out.

I found this article: [link] that has some solutions, but I'm concerned that since this is a lingering issue, i.e., not dealing with fresh urine, that it might not be what is needed.

Any thoughts?

Ugh, Nora, I hope you can find a way to fix the odor problem.

Interview~ma, quester!

Still no word from our current landlord. Soon-to-be landlord, on the other hand, picked up the phone right away when I called him this morning to confirm our meeting time tomorrow. It's the little things...

Oh, I forgot to mention above: jobma, quester! You deserve a break.

{{Maria}} Vibing hard for best possible answers come Monday.

Jilli, congratulations on tricking everyone into thinking you know what you are doing by actually knowing so much about what you are doing. Very clever of you!

Good luck, quester!

job~ma, quester!

Nora, there's an enzyme spray that's made to get rid of pet odors that might work. It works on carpet because it soaks in and the little enzyme bugs eat whatever's causing the odor. Bamboo is porous, so it might work as well for that. Alas, it's been a long time since I used it and I can't remember the name.

Beverly, your cynical take on smoking intrigues me. Have you ever tried nicotine patches? I've never smoked (I've TRIED) but I've used nicotine patches for a while now to boost my slug-like metabolism and help me calm down and focus when I get restless and jittery. (My BFF has said before that she feels better smoking than not, controlling for withdrawal symptoms, of course, and considering she's the most frighteningly healthy person I've ever met, I don't argue with her!)

I have hesitated to move in that direction, Zen, but I will run it by my PCP. She's as puzzled as I by my stubborn resistance to metabolic function. And thanks for the suggestion!

Current owner of condo refuses to return calls with questions about the property, or for a showing. Granted, it's a foreclosure property. But denying a person the chance to buy it will not make the problem go away. And it's one of the few that I can actually afford. Grr.