[Goosegirl]

I am so blest to have some dear friends, two of which came to see me on Tuesday then I saw another one yesterday. What wise words they gave me just when I needed them. One was "tough love" and the other one was "challenge yourself every day no matter how small it is." Just thought some of you might appreciate them.  Going to see my husband in his nursing home today for the first time and he'll no doubt have a long list of things I have to do but, as he's only there for 28 days unless it becomes his permanent home, he's going to have to make do and mend as we're not moving big bits of furniture twice. I am also going to set myself a challenge every day and try to give myself some credit when I do it but - not to beat myself up if I don't because at least I've tried and that's the important thing. I hope this is of some help to those out there who are finding life a bit hard at the moment. 

[jaydig]

I have found that setting myself challenges every day certainly helps, GG. I can't allow myself to sit and think and you will probably find the same.  I am becoming very familiar with the tools in my husband's shed and you will be surprised at what you can do when you try.  I find Youtube very useful when I am really stuck. Some things are really silly little ones, but if you've never had to do them before it is a challenge.  You'll feel so proud of yourself when you achieve something new, or even get done something you've been thinking of doing for ages.
Today's discovery is that, after finding the gloss paint in order to paint the windowsill in the utility, and finishing painting it, I popped the brush into some turps to clean it and it just sat there, holding on to all the paint. On reading the instructions on the tin I realised that you can now clean gloss paint off brushes with just soapy water!  Who'd have thunk it?
Good luck on your daily adventures and let us know how you get on.

[Growster...]

Never fear, Jaydig!

I ruined a whole door by mixing water-based paint with oil-based, and we can always cope with cock-ups like that! You ought to see the state our mower's in after all that rain!

I'm so pleased to read that you're getting on with what's needed now! More strength to your elbow!

[wighty]

Water based glosses are finally more widely available and usually have the words 'quick dry' in the label.  As far as we understand from Crown we will soon be going the way of Australia where all paint is waterbased by law.  We've certainly seen an uptake in sales of them and don't have a large stock of turps or white spirit in the storeroom any more.  We now only buy a box of 24  as and when we need to.