My girls, son-in-laws and grandkids just left after a nice Memorial day B-B-que. Little AJ had his first holiday get together (Italians, we have a lot of them). It's amazing to see your babies with babies of their own. DD isn't able to breast feed him, because of latching issues. She has to use a special bottle with a special nipple, and has to squeeze the milk into his mouth, mimicking the sucking motions. She has to pump 6-8 times a day because she want him to have breast milk. I'm so proud of her, she's doing a great job.

Excellent thread! I am a person who turns to books when I want to understand something, so I have a number of suggestions to throw out: First, I'll second what another poster said: Make Your House Do the Housework (Don Aslett) is a great book. Written by a man who's made his living as a custodian, he points out ways to design your house so that less cleaning is needed. I've incorporated some of these things into my current house, but other ideas are really only practical during a new build or remodel. Incidentally, I have not adopted any method of keeping my chairs off the floor. To give an example of his ideas: He suggests that you should limit the number of entrances to your house; the theory being that it's easier to sweep one really dirty entrance than three slightly dirty entrances. Also, he says that every entrance should include a good, long doormat -- one that'll require 5-6 steps -- this keeps the dirt at the entrance rather than allowing it in the house. He wrote a couple other books, which I also read, but this one beats them all. Most recently I've been reading Designing Your Perfect House by William J Hirsch, Jr. I'm not done yet, so I can't really give a complete run-down of it. It's about typical pitfalls and mistakes that people make in design planning. He begins with a good bit of philosophy of architecture, which is new to me, and I'm still digesting that part. It's a good book, and by the time I'm done I think I'll say that it's well worth the time. Not long ago I read Better Houses, Better Living: What to Look for When Buying, Building or Remodeling by Myron E Ferguson. I highly recommend the book. The author is an engineer who worked in the construction field for decades. This very informative book helps with basics like how to decide where to situate your house on a piece of land, and it also discusses details that'll annoy you forever like dishwashers in the corner, doors that open across one another, and light switches located behind doors. He has attached a multitude of photographs to illustrate the problems that you want to avoid (or the proper scenerios that you wish to create). You absolutely should read this book; if it helps you zero in on just 2-3 details in your house that would've caused you trouble, it's worthwhile. In reality, you'll find more. His book isn't particularly easy to obtain; I read about it, but I couldn't find it in bookstores and Amazon was sold out. I had to wait for them to restock. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you can make the waiting easier by reading his blog online. Being a teacher, I have to say, however, that this book deserves an A for content and a D for the writing. Mr. Ferguson knows his stuff, but he is tremendously disorganized in his writing. The book could've been 100 pages shorter, had he chosen not to return to the same topics over and over again. Also he tends towards wordiness and frequently makes grammar mistakes. I know that I read one particular sentence a dozen times (it contained multiple negatives), and I never did figure out what it meant. He really should've employed a writer to help him. Earlier this year I read The Construction of Houses, Fourth Edition on my Kindle. Author: Duncan Marshall. It was a free Kindle book, but it helped me understand things like foundations, trusses, support beams, and so forth -- things that really matter a great deal. Now when I look at floor plans, I understand why things are drawn as they are and why certain things really can't be moved around here or there. It's dry as dirt, but I do recommend it. About two years ago I became enthralled with the The Not So Big House series by Sarah Susanka. She also has a blog online. I bought her entire series (used from ebay -- they're not new books) and enjoyed them all, though they do become a bit repetitive. I agree completely with her main theme, which is that we should build houses only after considering exactly what we need and want from those houses. She advocates building well for your everyday needs rather than stretching your budget to include seldom-used formal living rooms, dining rooms and their ilk. She also discusses in detail how human beings like "cozy spots" -- spaces within spaces -- such as window seats, nooks, areas with dropped ceilings, etc. And she advocates the concept of having "away rooms" that will provide for quiet. Much discussion on trusses and garages and how they've led to houses "looking bigger". I like the exercises that she proposes in her books; for example, she tells you to come up with a list of adjectives you'd want to describe your house. When I realized I was writing words like cozy, homey, light-filled, cottage-like . . . I knew I should stay away from modern, dramatic, show-y and so forth. Another exercise tells you to make a list of all the activities you expect a certain room to support; this helps you decide how you want to use your space. For example, some of us might say that our bedrooms are JUST for sleeping and dressing. Other people might say, no, I want to include a spot for drinking morning coffee and watching the news, I want a small writing desk, and I want storage space for a collection of music boxes. Thinking these things through helps you get your rooms right. Warnings: I find it ironic that her "not so big" floorplans are all larger than any houseplan I've considered. This is a definite must-read, though you should not come into this book thinking that smaller house = less money. Her ideas are expensive to incorporate. Okay, I'm branching out a bit, but when I looked at my house-building shelf, I saw Landscaping With Fruit by Lee Reich. I do recommend this book as well. The author gives a very basic run-down of how to go about choosing trees and bushes that'll provide you with shade, seasonal color and also food. Good discussions on just what will/won't grow in your location. Now that we've picked the site for our house, I am planting pecan trees soon (because they take so very long to "take hold" and begin to produce). I recently bought Designing Your Dream Home: Every Question to Ask, Every Detail to Consider, and Everything to Know Before You Build or Remodel by Susan Lang. I'm not into it yet, but I think it's going to be much like Ferguson's Better Houses, Better Living. That is, descriptions of pitfalls and mistakes that often occur simply because people didn't think things through. I look forward to reading it. One last book on my bookshelf deserves a few words here, but this book I do not recommend: Eat In Kitchens by Catherine Warren Leone. You might enjoy this book if you are completely unfamiliar with kitchens and want an overview of what might be included in such a room. On the other hand, since you very likely are familiar with things like ranges, islands, tile, windows and sinks, you are not likely to actually learn a single thing from this book. She presents many pretty pictures (though not nearly so many as you can see for free on Houzz or similar websites), and she gives mind-boggling facts such as sinks are available in single, double, or triple bowl models -- but she doesn't give any help on why a person would choose one over the other. You could literally learn just as much by walking through Lowe's Home Improvement. I bought this book (used for $3 -- waste of my $3) thinking that it'd help me with appropriate choices and dimensions for an eat-in kitchen. Nope. I think I have a couple other books that might be helpful, but they're not in the right spot on my bookcase, so I can't locate them right now. When I find them -- probably under my bed or sofa -- I'll come back and give you a description.

I'm betting that she could run a sprint in those heels because she is so used to them. I don't care for platforms, didn't wear them when they were in style when I was in my 20's and I don't wear them now. But whatever floats yer boat! I do love heels, I too think they really enhance a woman's leg. When I was younger I seldom wore a flat and one time I too ended up in extreme pain from wearing them. Wearing heels all the time shortens the achilles tendon and calf muscles, when you them put on a flat it stretches them out in the same manner as that first big workout...OUCH!!!

Yep, I would consider muck boots as default wellies. Meindls are actually German - take a look at their website - they used to have a really interesting video about the making of them - more or less handmade still in the age of mass production. I love these boots - most especially since I have suffered from foot issues my whole life (born with club feet, many bones had to be broken and reset) - warm, tough, yet somehow deeply soothing when laced around my dodgy feet. Why do you need to take them on and off, David? I put mine on in the morning and take them off at bedtime. Doormats and even, in extremis, bootscrapers remove any need for indoor removals. Merrells are the choice of my eldest...but he is still firmly ensconced as a trainer wearer (I would bake my own boots out of old tyres before enduring those sweaty Nike/Adidas/New Balance monstrosities near my tender footsies) and Merrells still have a faint youth cachet and make rather good walking sandals (although tbh, walking and sandals are not concepts which really go together in my eyes). Ah, sadly Hunter have gone the way of the old Dr.Martens and are essentially a fashion accessory for festival wear - not made in the UK anymore either...but still notable for bringing out a half height version which Mr.Camps prefers.