Yes! And Kelli, it's probably good to vary your exercise once in a while, anyway.

It's such a miserable day! It's dark and dreary and has been raining since I woke up at 5 this morning, and supposed to continue for the next 2 days. I need some sunshine.

I just finished cleaning out a closet in one of our extra bedrooms. I cleaned out my side of the closet in our bedroom about a week ago. The 2 closets combined yielded 4 big bags of clothes to donate. And my husband hasn't started yet.

In the not-to-distant future we're going to have the washer and dryer moved to an extra bedroom on the second floor. (They currently reside in the basement). That means we'll essentially lose a big closet for storage, so we have to lose a lot of junk that we never use anyway.

Karen

I find it interesting how early you have your flu shots available. They won't be available here until sometime in October, but when I was in the USA on the Labour Day weekend, they were already in drug stores.

My daughter got power back on last night after 2 days. Today she cleaned out her fridge and freezer and this afternoon came for her food. All schools are closed in Ottawa today and they encouraged people to stay home and work from home if possible as there are still some non-functioning traffic lights.

Found that a friend of mine had serious damage to her house from the tornado, but she got off easy compared to neighbours across the street. She has holes in her roof and siding ripped off part of the side of the house and some broken windows but some of her neighbours have no roof at all. For all the serious effects of the TWO tornadoes that ripped through the area, there have been no deaths (though two people are in hospital in bad shape). Only 6 people hospitalized at all. But the tornado that cause damage west of Ottawa, crossed the river to devastate a high density, poor neighbourhood there. I'm really mostly concerned about them because I think many of the low-rise apartment buildings are beyond repair, many of the tenants have no insurance and there will be issues with affordable housing for them.

I got in a good walk this morning.

Ann, that is sad about the poor people in that neighborhood, it can be difficult to find low cost housing these days.

Thank you Margaret and Karen.

I have often wondered why washing machines are not put on the same floor as the bedrooms. One of my grandmas had an old house with a huge kitchen (I think it was the biggest room in the house) and she had the washer and dryer in the kitchen. The bedrooms were still upstairs but at least she saved one flight of stairs by not having them in the basement.

I hope the Red Cross or someone can help those folks in Canada.

Kelli, one good thing about the washer and dryer in the basement, it forces one to get a lot of exercise as I did today going up and down stairs doing the laundry.

I've always thought that the laundry should be near the bedrooms. We only owned one house that had them in a closet in the bedroom area. It makes sense to have it where the dirty clothes are. Mine is in the kitchen, and it's a chore carrying the heavy basket from the bedrooms to the kitchen.It would be even worse if it was in a basement, but we don't have them here. The ground is solid rock.

I have trouble carrying laundry up and down the stairs. With one weak leg and two bad shoulders, I just can't do it any more. My husband has been my "runner' for a couple of years. He carries it up and down, but I do the laundry. I think having the laundry upstairs will make life easier, and allow us to remain in our house longer as we age.

The other thing is that we have 4 bedrooms and we only use one of them. When our son or anyone else comes to visit, there are still going to be 2 extra bedrooms with a double bed in each. The room where we're going to put the washer and dryer is basically a junk room now, with no bed. My husband has his desk in there and calls it his "office". There are bookshelves full of books that we've already read. There are cardboard cartons full of stuff we haven't looked at in years. This will force us to get rid of a lot of junk, donate lots of useful clothes to charity, donate lots of books to the library, and make the house fit our needs better.

Karen

Karen, that all makes a lot of sense, it should be quite an adventure going through those boxes.

You're not kidding! My husband found our old movie camera from 1980 (8 mm?). Also the first video camera (VHS) that replaced it a few years later. There are boxes of pictures our son drew when he was little, (he's 38 now), cards he made for us when he was 4 or 5... We bought this house in 1983 and have been accumulating stuff ever since. Now, much of it has to go. My husband is like a pack rat and never wants to part with anything.

Karen

Although my butt was sore, I rode my stationary bicycle for 45 minutes.

Karen, it will be difficult to get rid of some of that stuff, be strong and not let your DH hang on to useless stuff.

Kelli, your going to have buns of steel if you keep riding that bicycle.

I'll be glad to be rid of it. Being surrounded by so much useless stuff feels burdensome. Our builder and the plumber came today to look at the job. We have as much work to do a they do. The washer and dryer will be going into a closet, so we lose a big closet. We're getting rid of a lot, but have to clean out all of the closets to move things around. Some shelving needs to move to the basement. Some stuff will go down there too. Lots of stuff in the basement needs to be moved to allow access to the plumbing and electrical box in the basement. Clothes and books will be donated. However, we're expecting out-of-town guests the weekend after next, then we'll be out of town for a few days. Not much time to get this stuff done. Our primary exercise for the next few weeks will consist of working in the house.

Karen

Karen, that sure sounds like a big project, hope it turns our well with the washer/dryer in the closet.

Actually, it's not that big of a project for the builder, it's more work for us than them! Though some unforeseen issues might arise, as they usually do, it's actually a simple remodel.

Karen

Probably the biggest thing will be to KEEP the builders there once they start the job so it is finished in a timely fashion. Not a day here, a day there..............and on and on............

I know where he lives: NEXT DOOR! Both of these guys have done a lot of work for us over the years.

Karen

That's the hardest part of any job here, Anna. They all go hunting or fishing, or give a million excuses to drag out jobs for weeks or even months.

Manana, Karen.

As I told someone at work when she said that she got the Buns of Steel video, 'I'd be happy with buns of copper.' I think I am going to substitute one walking day with one stationary bicycle day.

We went for a walk today.

I've never had a flu shot. Last year I think I had the flu. I may get a flu shot this year. On the fence re the shingles shot. Yes, I do know how terrible shingles can be, but I remain leery of the 'new improved' vaccine.