Yes - that impressed me - it looks like something from Architectural Digest or some such ... I wonder if they're Marie Kondo fans ....

Hey babe, let's go down to the dungeon and...spark some joy.

I'm really down on myself this week. I keep getting sick, I've fallen more than once this winter (which leaves me angry and embarrassed), and I lost what little progress I made with exercise waiting to find out that there is no good reason why my ankle is swollen.

I was on campus until 11 grading midterms tonight. (And I left before the grading was finished, and the course coordinator seemed like she was kind of irritated at me for that, but I was in a ton of pain and just couldn't handle it anymore, and I'd already graded everything that I was supposed to grade -- we were running behind because one of the other people was grading much more slowly than the rest of us, so the work left was to pick up the stuff that she hadn't finished yet. And I'm pretty sure that it was fine that I left early.)

Also got back in contact with the realtor, and she suggested a few more condos. A few of them have HOA fees of over $500 a month, so I ruled those ones out, and one of them has no stairs to get to the apartment, but then does have stair inside the apartment, which is just a ridiculous design choice. So, that one's ruled out, too. The two left were the same two that I was considering based on the ads. And, if they basically look the same in person as they do from the ads, then I think I know which one I'm going to choose -- it's further from campus than I'd ideally like, but everything else about it looks like it's a better choice. And I know that I'm not going to find something like that closer to campus, because it just doesn't exist.

sj, you didn't choose to fall, and you are not alone. Falling in winter is a very common experience, and it hurts like hell, both physically and emotionally. My personal least favorite is when it results in being covered in muddy slush; yes I don't miss winter much. Alas, being sick a bunch also happens when you have young kids in school, aka germ pools. I'm sorry it is so hard right now. It also could be some lack of sunlight getting you down. If you see those rays try sitting in a window for a bit. Hugs.

Hil, chances are the course coordinator was just annoyed at the whole situation and not you in particular. When do you have to make a condo decision? Do the ones with HOA fees over $500 include a bunch of extra things? It is a tough decision, but it will be a great change.

When do you have to make a condo decision? Do the ones with HOA fees over $500 include a bunch of extra things?

There's no specific time when I have to make a decision, but I want to move at the end of the semester. The ones with the pricy HOA fees mostly have a 24-hour doorman and a pool, but in Cincinnati, a pool is only usable a few months out of the year anyway. The one that I'm leaning toward is a little bit further out in the sort-of-suburbs, but still within the city limits, and it's a townhouse type thing, except with just one story (plus a finished basement.) Being able to just open the door and be outside is nice, and I've got some friends who live in that neighborhood and they like it there. The major drawback is the somewhat longer commute, but it's not ridiculously long. I'm going to go look at it sometime this weekend, I think -- I'm waiting to hear back from the realtor about that.

If there were a drug that would allow me to be energetic and able to follow through on things I want to do even one day a week I would totally take it. I would probably trade body parts for it.

If there were a drug that would allow me to be energetic and able to follow through on things I want to do even one day a week I would totally take it. I would probably trade body parts for it.

Back in the day they called these "diet pills." They kept the American housewife of the 50s and 60s focused and productive.

B12 shots were a thing for a while too, may still be.

My mother was on "diet pills" for a while when I was a kid ... and one of the girls in college (who had a friend who confiscated the pills and regulated her dosage, since she'd get a little too alert). Later, we just called them "speed".