Yeah, the clogs thing really cracked me up! I just don't know what people are thinking sometimes! And yeah, the fact that the building is so poorly built yet they charge a heck of a lot of money for rent gets to me a lot if I let myself think about it. We complained A LOT to the manager a few months after we moved here (there was also a huge construction project started shortly after we moved in that they didn't tell us about -- one that included lots of jack hammering or something on the exterior of the building!!), and he said we could move if we wanted to, but it's difficult to find a lease for less than a year, and since we won't be here much longer it just didn't seem worth moving all of our crap and our poor cats. However, I have to say that the other conveniences of living here come close to making up for the noise factor. And I like living in a great part of the city, being able to walk to most places, and being very close to my office and to my husband's hospital. And regarding the baby, last night was the first night since they came home that I slept through the night! Looks like they're holding up their end of the bargain. Yay!!

Hi pinecone, I understand that busloads of people come from neighbouring states to Canada, largely to purchase their drug supply. So there must be savings to be had. One reason is that 68 cents U.S. buys a buck Canadian. The international drug companies are making noises, and one threatened to cut off the supplies to the ones that they consider to be scoundrels. There are some drug agencies that do large volumes, I think. There may be something about having problems with prescriptions written by U.S. doctors, but many have channels set up to deal with this problem, I've heard. If you want some quotes, I can see what I can find out. My email address is available here. Good wishes for a lovely week, all. joyful guy/Ed P.S. You say that you're posting this also on the "grandparents" site. Am I missing something? Don't tell me I'm in second childhood! EB P.P.S. You're not the "pinecone" company that runs research surveys, I suppose? Forgive me - just being mischievous. Nothing like a good laugh to bring down the blood pressure - and relieve stress. EB

Hi pinecone, There are busloads of people coming from neighbouring states, one of the main motivations being purchase of drugs at lower prices here (along with some tourist interests, I think). Parcel postage is rather expensive - but $15.00 seems a bit high. If you have some specific drugs in mind, I could check local prices for you, if you wish. I think that there's something about needing a prescription from a Canadian doctor. I think that some of the pharmacies who send substantial quantities to the U.S. have links with Canadian doctors - who may contact the the U.S. patient, doctor who wrote the original, etc. I've seen websites relating to Canadian prescriptions, but don't remember them (didn't file them). Sorry. Good wishes to you and yours, joyful guy/Ed

Like blfenton, I originally came to GW when I was planning a kitchen remodel. Since it was a fairly comprehensive, major DIY effort I also frequented the electrical forum, the plumbing forum, the appliances forum, and the bath forum (for tile info), as well a as couple of non-GW external forums for plumbing and tile info. Jasdip is right that there are some astoundingly expensive remodels in the kitchen forum, but there are also are more modest budget remodels and even some low-budget total makeovers. To me the biggest benefit of the kitchen forum is the body of kitchen design knowledge there. Often people will post a design that they paid a professional kitchen designer to devise and ask for comments. The kitchen forum people will critique and tweak the design pointing out issues and concerns and ways in which the design could function better, and sometimes a poster will completely redraw the design, producing something better than the professional kitchen designer came up with. After "finishing" the kitchen remodel I continued to hang out there to "pay it forward" with the wisdom I had gained, but also started frequenting the cooking forum, and eventually also found the kitchen table. Edited to add: I've been away for several days for thanksgiving at a relative's place that doesn't have internet, I've missed you guys. :-) This post was edited by bob_cville on Mon, Dec 1, 14 at 11:38