Hil, do you have a link for the floor mat you ended up buying. My tile floor is hell on my back.

[link]

After searching for a while, I realized that the mats they sell specifically for kitchens are basically the same thing as the ones they sell for babies, except that the kitchen ones are black and way more expensive. Most of the baby ones are obviously meant for babies, but if you search a little, you can find some nicer ones.

Looks like they've also got some wood grain ones. [link]

One year when I was in college I had a room with a (non-operational) fireplace in it. I used to store books in it ... my little joke.

I currently store books in my non-working fireplace.

At the same time, there is a ficus tree in there.

Fire bad. Tree pretty. Books cool.

it's reasonably ecologically sound.

As I understand it, the major advantage over hardwood is that bamboo replenishes itself far quicker and doesn't require cutting old growth (or, to put it another way, grows like a damn weed). All the glues and finishes and whatnot used to turn it into flooring are just as nasty as for any other kind, but not-tree-killing is a real plus and it makes a lovely floor. We're planning on putting it in our upstairs to replace the OMG DISGUSTING old cheapo carpet, just as soon as we get our savings back to a bit of order.

I've had bamboo in my yard. It grows at an alarming rate. We had one tree break my tile roof because it was too close to the house. Seriously weed like. We dug it up and pulverized the ground and sprouts popped up for years. Makes a lovely spooky sounds in the wind. Yes, we had a love/hate relationship.

Yes, the bamboo is cut above the root when harvesting, and then just grows right back. 3-5 years, I think they said. They do make VOC friendly versions of the flooring. Not sure of pricing.

We have all tile in our house and we love it. But it is mostly helpful because of the dog and all the gear we haul. Much easier to schlep the heavy stuff over a smooth floor, so the floor is a feature not a bug.

It is true that it is hard and can be slippery when wet. We have those rubber mats in the kitchen where we do a lot of standing. And we have specific tile in the walk-in shower that is less slippery even when wet, but that was an expensive specialty tile.

Our tiles are all matte and textured. I don't know if they would have enough traction for your crutches. However, the grout lines do really show dirt.

Cashmere, my most sincere and fervent good wishes for your mother.

And JZ, this year has been rough on my ability to spend time here. I miss everyone.

Thank you, all of you. My life would be much, much poorer without the friendship and support I find here.

Karl, it is lovely to see your font, even if you have only a few moments to spend here.

I currently store books in my non-working fireplace.

I'm wacky-paranoid about things like that. I keep getting mental images of the books spontaneously combusting. No matter how illogical it is to feel this way, I could never do it myself, because every time I looked at the books I would see them catching fire and have no peace.

Ok, I was super bored and decided to see on OKCupid how much better or worse it would be if I dated guys. So I searched...and in the top ten were my ex-roommate and another guy I recognize. Really??? Really? Seattle is not THAT small a place I thought! I mean, I hardly know any males in Seattle, how is this possible? (there was a shockingly hot guy who said he's in the symphony, but mostly I want him to be gay and hang out with me and be pretty. Not date me.)

I'll be off in a bit to the first business meeting for a big project that I've had since this all started. Perhaps I could use some "you can do it" ~ma from the inexhaustible store.

You could take a lot of the curse off the fireplace, omnis, by painting those two short walls a different color and putting a chunky shelf like an Ikea Lack across the whole wall above the fireplace and something like a tall dried arrangement, also easily available at Ikea, on the tile to the left of the fireplace. That would be a fairly inexpensive way to make it a feature instead of a bug.

(Okay, I'll admit it. I love decorating other people's houses. If I'm driving you crazy, please stop me.)