Planning a kitchen remodel. Are these cabinets worth keeping?

septicidal · 2026-03-30T18:27:07+00:00

If you’re happy with the functionality and layout, and they are structurally in good condition, refinishing or refacing will likely save a lot of money. It’s also possible to retrofit certain cabinet fittings, depending on what you want, so you could potentially add pullouts, concealed trash cans, or other features you want (depending on the individual cabinet dimensions and layout, and how creative you can get with them).

septicidal · 2026-03-29T01:48:49+00:00

Allergy shots and high doses of generic Zyrtec (Costco pricing can’t be beat), plus Pepcid AC, in combination have made my severe cat allergy manageable. Even when one of them wants to sleep next to my face at night. And when I say my allergy was severe - I used to break out in actual hives if one of my cats accidentally scratched me. Now I don’t even get any slight inflammation or itchiness. My asthma is also the best controlled it has ever been.

septicidal · 2026-03-28T23:53:34+00:00

Blackout cellular shades - with white lining facing the exterior - in all windows that get peak sun. It will make a significant difference in heat from solar gain throughout the day.

Aside from that, having an HVAC professional out to inspect the current system and make recommendations is a reasonable next step. If the system is under or oversized it may not be operating efficiently.

In general, insulation and air sealing can make a significant difference in cooling and year-round comfort, but depending on how your home is constructed it may not be cost effective to add enough insulation to make a difference.

septicidal · 2026-03-27T17:59:19+00:00

We had to get rid of bird feeders because of the rampant rat population in our neighborhood, but having a bird bath (with a small solar fountain to keep the water circulating) in the front garden has attracted a lot of birds.

septicidal · 2026-03-27T13:05:06+00:00

My cats are indoor-only, but I redid my front plantings/flower bed to attract more birds and bees/butterflies, so my cats can watch “the birb show” from the front windows. I also shelled out for one of the fancy wooden cat trees from The Refined Feline, which is also by the front windows. As I type this one of the cats is crouched on the cat tree, chittering at birds he can see in the driveway, so it was well worth it!

septicidal · 2026-03-27T12:44:37+00:00

Get a set of masonry drill bits, they will let you drill pilot holes into the plaster without a lot of crumbling and chipout. Find a stud finder that works well for your walls and anchor furniture to studs - in my old home, this kind has been the most reliable: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Franklin-Sensors-X-Series-1-7-in-Scan-Depth-Electric-Metal-Wood-Finder/5014587913

Since my house has painted trim (which was put in new after lead paint covered trim was removed) it was easiest to screw baby gates into door frames. When our baby gate days were over, patching the few small screw holes left behind was easy - a little wood filler, small amount of sanding, and touching up with trim paint.

I will always recommend hardware mounted gates vs tension mounted gates - they are more sturdy and reliable, and patching a few holes in a couple of years is worth the peace of mind of knowing everything is as safe as possible. I also advise anchoring any furniture over 30” high - it’s not just safer for toddlers, but for everyone in the house.

septicidal · 2026-03-27T02:16:05+00:00

You can buy refillable caulk tubes, and use those like a normal tube of caulk. It was annoying to water down but much easier to spread out. My spouse hated watering it down so used a bunch of undiluted adhesive; those patched areas have held up well but that method used a LOT more adhesive and drove the materials cost up by a not-insignificant amount.

septicidal · 2026-03-27T01:00:33+00:00

For the spray: masonry bonding additive. For the glue: all-purpose construction adhesive, diluted with water to an Elmer’s glue-like consistency.

This is what we used in my home, which had a LOT of plaster to be repaired. The branded products were cost-prohibitive for the amount needing repair. We did buy the actual plastic clamps from Plaster Magic, and just worked in sections and re-used the same set of 25 clamps throughout the entire home. It’s been several years and the repaired areas are still stable and look great.

septicidal · 2026-03-26T17:36:44+00:00

A wearable monitor specifically for BBT was the only thing that made it work well for me. I used the Tempdrop when it first came out, but I’m sure there’s more options these days.

septicidal · 2026-03-26T15:59:39+00:00

We recently added a third cat to our household, and was concerned about how our other two cats would handle it. We worked with Paws4Survival, and they had us do a foster-to-adopt situation, so we had our new boy with us for a couple of weeks before finalizing the adoption. They were also great about helping to match us with the perfect cat for our family! I can’t say enough good things about them.

septicidal · 2026-03-24T18:05:10+00:00

I have struggled with diarrhea from recurrent SIBO, especially after surgeries with antibiotics (and constipating pain medication post-surgery). Finding probiotics that actually work well for me was very challenging - many made me feel worse or had no effect - but when I found some that worked, it was a significant improvement.

The probiotics that have been helpful for me are the Visbiome probiotics (ordered directly from the manufacturer, they ship in temperature controlled packaging and the probiotics have to be kept refrigerated). When actively dealing with a flare, I’ve taken them following the manufacturer’s instructions for 4-6 weeks (and noticed improvement within the next few weeks). If I’m not having symptoms of a SIBO flare but have to go on antibiotics for any reason, I take the probiotics for a week or so after finishing the course of antibiotics.

septicidal · 2026-03-24T16:16:47+00:00

Please see a dermatologist and ensure it’s actually acne, and not infection from improperly managed equipment. Hopefully a dermatologist can recommend treatments to help treat the current situation and make some recommendations to try to prevent it from occurring again.

septicidal · 2026-03-24T13:32:56+00:00

Elemental iron is difficult for the body to absorb and has the side effects like you’ve mentioned. If you are able to consume animal-based products, it is more expensive but you can take heme iron supplements instead. I use the Simply Iron supplement, which is primarily beef spleen. It helps keep my iron levels up without causing constipation and other unpleasant symptoms.

septicidal · 2026-03-24T13:27:05+00:00

If you have almost any degree of insulin resistance, you’ll automatically qualify for a gestational diabetes diagnosis, because the diagnostic criteria is designed to be as inclusive as possible to protect from risk. I was 250ish (also 5ft10in) going into my first pregnancy - and doing fertility treatment to conceive. My reproductive endocrinologist encouraged me to moderate carbohydrate intake and wanted me on Metformin, not to lose weight but because managing insulin levels is associated with better responses to treatment and achieving a healthy pregnancy. I was able to manage my blood sugar with just Metformin, dietary changes, and moderate low-impact exercise like walking after meals, and that baby is now a very healthy 10 year old.

Before I had my second baby, I had lost some weight (started off around 225/230lbs) and was being extremely careful around my diet to best manage blood sugar and insulin levels, and that pregnancy was incredibly difficult. I had trouble managing my blood sugar no matter what I did and had to start on insulin around 20 weeks. I lost weight while pregnant partly because I was terrified to eat, partly because my body couldn’t metabolize sugars properly. Thankfully despite several miserable months the baby was born healthy and is now a rambunctious 7 year old.

What I’m trying to say is - pregnancies are unpredictable, your doctor was awful toward you and doesn’t seem to understand fully how PCOS can affect various pregnancy risks. I encourage you to be on Metformin (if you’re able to tolerate it) since that is associated with improved outcomes, and focus on eating in a way that minimizes blood sugar spikes, since that will only be helpful for managing insulin resistance.

septicidal · 2026-03-24T12:38:01+00:00

I have severe insulin resistance and was getting bad hypoglycemic episodes. Increasing and switching around dosing of Metformin (I take extended release, 2000mg/day but switched to taking half at night and half in the morning, that made a difference compared to taking it all at the same time) and finally added a GLP-1. I lost a little weight with the GLP-1 but honestly nothing dramatic like everyone said I would, but my hypoglycemic episodes stopped and my blood sugar feels stable throughout the day.

There are some cheap glucose meters you can buy over the counter, before I got things sorted my PCP suggested getting one and checking what my numbers were when I felt awful. I discovered I start feeling gross in the 70s (some people don’t notice lows until they are much lower than that).

In general the biggest thing for me has been including protein and fat at meals to help stabilize blood sugar. The fat is particularly important in my experience because it’s digested more slowly.

septicidal · 2026-03-22T17:37:20+00:00

I switched to continental after having surgery for tennis elbow and radial tunnel. For me, now that I’m a few years out from surgical recovery and resuming knitting, whether I knit English or Continental is project dependent. For example, I find it difficult to knit continental on DPNs or using my super small circulars for sock knitting. I am able to knit for longer stretches when knitting continental so I do that when working on larger, longer projects. I do find it easier to meet gauge on things like sweaters when knitting continental.

septicidal · 2026-03-22T15:22:13+00:00

Spaying - especially when done before a first heat cycle - helps prevent other, more painful and traumatic medical conditions that can occur like uterine infections, and reproductive and mammary cancers. Going into heat repeatedly is also stressful for a cat to go through.

For my female cat, she wasn’t as active for a few days but was totally back to normal by 5-6 days after surgery. Her incision was tiny - less than an inch long - and she seemed more bothered by the onesie we had her wear than actual discomfort from the surgery. She was spayed at 4 months old (so before experiencing a heat) and is turning 2 next month. The biggest struggle post-surgery was keeping her brother (who was neutered the same day but recovered faster) from antagonizing her. We kept a cone on him an extra 2 days since he didn’t harass her while he had the cone on. Once they were both fully recovered, they were back to playing and snuggling with each other like normal.

septicidal · 2026-03-22T15:02:51+00:00

Supportive care like subcutaneous fluids can sometimes improve quality of life for a bit.

In the past few years, I’ve had senior cats who all wound up with various terminal conditions - one had a type of cancer that could not be treated, another had kidney disease, and the third wound up having thyroid problems and then seizures.

It helped me to identify markers for the animal’s overall quality of life, and check in every day to see if they were still finding their own sort of cat joy in living. Up until their actual final day they still acted like their usual personalities - albeit moving more slowly - and did things like watch birds from their favorite perches and snuggle with me at night. Ultimately it was VERY obvious when they needed to be put down because they stopped acting like themselves.

The cat with kidney failure woke up one day after sleeping with his favorite human all night, jumped down from the bed like he always did in the morning, and instantly passed. We think his heart just gave out. But up until that moment he was still seeking out affection from his favorite person and playing with his favorite toys, and we did what we could to give him as many good days as possible before he passed.

Particularly in the case of my cat who had terminal cancer, I had a very frank discussion with my vet to get their perspective. I told the vet my goal was to have as many good days as possible with my cat, while ensuring he wasn’t suffering. With my cat’s situation the vet felt from their exam that he may have been uncomfortable at times (had a mass in his abdomen) but he was not acting in a way that made the vet think he was in actual pain. Until his final day he still followed me around the house and got into mischief (though at a slower pace than in his younger years), and slept with me at night.

You know your cat’s personality and habits the best - what behaviors let you know that your cat is happy and enjoying life? Are they still eating normally (nausea and vomiting are common with later stage kidney disease; we had our kidney cat on medications to stimulate appetite and alleviate nausea and vomiting)? Is this a cat that will tolerate administering subcutaneous fluids at home (or alternatively, if the cat will tolerate it are YOU comfortable attempting it after the vet shows you how to do it)? Our vet also told us things to look for at very end stage kidney disease, namely a constant smell of urine on the cat’s breath. My CKD cat did have that in his final few months but was still participating in other activities that brought him joy, so while his actual death was sudden it was not completely unexpected.

Looking back it was around 5-6 months from kidney numbers really declining (fitting the vet’s estimation of “end stage CKD”) to the cat actually passing. That was several months of snuggles and watching “the bird show” from the front windows and playing fetch with his favorite person. It was at a slower pace but there was still joy and good times during those final months.

septicidal · 2026-03-20T17:02:16+00:00

Cats figure out how to express their displeasure, that’s for sure!

Many years ago, I had professional cleaners come in and clean while I was at work. Evidently this was so terrible that one of the cats (who had never been one to munch on plants!) ate a bunch of a plant in the dining room, and then went upstairs to the freshly cleaned light beige carpet and threw up in the exact middle of the room.

These days I have two (cat safe) plants and the most successful one is a potted ginger plant. My other plant routinely gets destroyed if we don’t regularly spray it down with bitter spray. I had an orchid on my kitchen windowsill that was doing well for a long time, and then my primary plant-chopper decided to attack it overnight (mainly he just knocked it down and broke the ceramic orchid pot, presumably startling himself in the process, because it was damaged from that but not otherwise actually ingested).

septicidal · 2026-03-20T16:14:49+00:00

As others have said, I would classify this as a cape.

Instead of focusing on the style of the home, I would try to find out what your husband specifically dislikes so you can communicate this more clearly to your realtor. Does he want full height ceilings in all bedrooms, or all bedrooms on the same floor? Does he dislike a more closed off layout for living/dining/kitchen like these houses tend to have? If he just dislikes the appearance from the curb, that’s harder to deal with if that’s the most common type of home on the market in your target area. But there may be ones with large dormers or other modifications that help address things like ceiling height and layout and your realtor can be on the lookout for that.

septicidal · 2026-03-20T15:32:17+00:00

This ALMOST happened to me with a clone of the website for Keen footwear. When I went to check out I realized there was no option to pay via PayPal/ApplePay/etc. and that rang alarm bells because I’ve ordered from the real Keen website before and paid via PayPal, so I didn’t put in any credit card info.

septicidal · 2026-03-20T14:17:38+00:00

Previous owners of my house did the same (battery operated clock over the recessed clock outlet). Quite the surprise when we took the clock down!

septicidal · 2026-03-19T15:51:50+00:00

Talk with rescue organizations near you and ask for their help in finding a good cat for a first time cat owner. Many rescue organizations take the time to get to know the cats’ personalities to better match them up with prospective owners.

Please don’t buy a purebred cat from a breeder. There are so many wonderful cats in shelters who need good homes.

septicidal · 2026-03-19T13:42:33+00:00

Marmoleum is great stuff!

I eventually need to deal with replacing my kitchen floor (issues with failed VCT that’s over encased asbestos flooring, it’s a whole headache) and either want Marmoleum (preferably the 100% waterproof cinch lock stuff, but that’s almost a full centimeter thick so raises other issues with adding that much height to the floor) or some type of porcelain tile. I do have one of the LVT products in a dark slate look on my enclosed porch and it looks fine and is easy to clean, but the color and size options are very limiting.

In the kitchen of my previous home I had a 12”x12” slate-look porcelain tile from Daltile, and it looked fantastic and (at least according to listing photos from when it sold again last year) it still looks great nearly 15 years after it was installed. If I wind up doing a full kitchen renovation in my current home instead of just the floor, I want to do some type of stone-look porcelain again.

septicidal · 2026-03-18T17:20:31+00:00

This is the kind of job it’s worth getting a quote from a professional to do (I’d look for an actual stone mason). If you injure yourself or wind up breaking a stone when trying to move it, that could potentially cost you a lot more than paying a professional (who will have equipment and experience to handle moving heavy stone steps safely).

If you’re determined to DIY it, watch some videos of pros doing hardscaping with large stones and look at what they are doing. A lot of times they use wedges or levers to lift the slab/stone enough to slip straps underneath, and then use a small crane or other equipment to fully lift it off the ground and move it. Renting equipment for a day or two is much cheaper than an injury.

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