Mama's Without Kids ~NEW~ 2009 Thread - Page 5

[jlutgendorf]

Originally Posted by BurtsGirl

Ok, a little more time now.

Grace. I don't got much. I tried googling cube decor and it was not a pretty sight. I need a cube makeover myself so I'm not much for advice in this department. I've actually never thought about decorating my cube in a mindful way. I've just sporadically thrown stuff up there and it's not all that cohesive. Since you brought this up though and I am looking around the cube I am definitely going to do a make over. My only suggestion is to add an office plant. It's really awesome to watch something grow in your cube and I high recommend it.

We've had somethings going on lately. We had to call a plumber out to the house today because the washer was backing up. Fortunately it wasn't too big of a deal and he was done in 30 mins. Just a really big clog.

We also got some bad news last week about Terri's Step dad. He was diagnosed with lung cancer last year. They did a surgery and chemo and we thought he was in the clear. Turns out in Jan they found out it spread to his brain. Terri was a wreck. Mostly because of what her mother has gone through lately. Her mom lost her parents in 2005 & 2007. She's been caring for a very sick much older brother and her husband. She can't seem to catch a break and it's heartbreaking.

Terri and I discussed what we would need to do if he passed before our planned trip up there in June/July. Terri really wants to be there for her mom so we're at the very least going to fly her, if not both of us, if/when the time comes. At first I wasn't sure if our planned vacation up there would still be on or if we'd try to put it on hold but Terri wanted the two events to be separate so that's the way we're treating it. Her mom didn't tell her how long the step dad has but they are going through Chemo again. If that doesn't work we're not sure what will happen next. It's hard to be so far away when we know her mother must feel so alone in this.

Wow Rachel, that must be really hard. Terri's mom sounds like a strong lady. Is there any way she can get respite care sometimes for the people she's caring for? It doesn't make them less ill, but it can give her breaks and time to herself. I know that caretakers (who are mostly women) often get burnt out and end up not taking good care of themselves. Maybe Terri could send her a gift certificate to use for a massage or something like that.



~Julia

[BurtsGirl]

That's a really good idea, Julia. (about the massage) Terri's mother is one of those people who has to have someone to take care of. She wouldn't step down from that position, i don't think. She needs to be needed.

I am going to look into that massage. They live in such a small mountain town that I'm not sure what's up there.

[Scribe]

If you can't do a massage GC in her location, maybe something like a take-out GC?

I just ordered my first cube decoration--this calender, which I've been eyeing for months.

[BurtsGirl]

Grace those are so pretty! You need to pass along any ideas you are gathering for your cube so I can steal them for my cube.

[Scribe]

Do you read Dooce? She's got a great "Daily Style" section. I bookmark things from it all the time.

[jlutgendorf]

That's pretty! I'm so sad they've stopped producing the Print Gocco. I really wanted to try it out.

~Julia

[BurtsGirl]

Googled dooce and apparently I'm reading her NOW! 44, thanks Grace. LOL! Now I just need to google Gocco

[Scribe]

Hehe. You're welcome?

Did you ever make those massage candles? I made some and they turned out great. They are super cute in thrifted wine glasses, too.

[BurtsGirl]

My bff and I are getting together next monday to make them. I haven't decided what to put them in yet. I did get the wax from the link you posted and I also got some apricot oil for them. I just need some wicks and containers. Any tips or suggestions from the btdt view?

ETA: love the wine glass idea!

[Scribe]

I used 3 parts wax to one part oil, which seemed to work out just about right. I used a combo of almond oil and coconut oil, just because that's what I had the most of on-hand.

I'd use something smallish for containers, because was melts down so much. I used small wine glasses and needed about 6 oz wax and 2 oz oil for each candle.

[jlutgendorf]

You all should post photos of these candle thingys. They sound interesting.

Rachel, the print gocco is/was this cool little device made in Japan that let people make their own small, short runs of screen printed items, but without the huge hassle of doing it "the real way" (which is complicated, involved and messy).

But the Japanese manufacturer has stopped production. and i'm thinking that since they aren't making the inks and flash bulbs needed to use the machine, that once people run out, that's it, there's no way to make them work anymore. very sad. so people are trying to get other manufacturer's to pick up production.

[Scribe]

They look just like regular un-dyed container candles, they're just much softer to the touch and burn at a much lower temp, so you can extinguish them and then use the melted wax/oil for massage.

[BurtsGirl]

I might do a test run this weekend to see how it comes out.

Wow, the Gocco is pretty neat. Bummer they are stopping production!

[BurtsGirl]

Found this one a blog and thought it would be appreciated here.

TO ALL NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:

(1) They live here. You don’t.

(2) If you don’t want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That’s why they call it ‘fur’-niture.

(3) I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

(4) To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don’t speak clearly.

Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they…

(1) eat lessDog and cat

(2) don’t ask for money all the time

(3) are easier to train

(4) normally come when called

(5) never ask to drive the car

(6) don’t hang out with drug-using people

(7) don’t smoke or drink

(8) don’t want to wear your clothes

(9) don’t have to buy the latest fashions

(10) don’t need a gazillion dollars for college and

(11) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children

[jlutgendorf]

That's funny Rachel!

And it actually reminds me of a situation I've been thinking about. Our neighborhood is generally very "lax" when it comes to animal care. There's tons of feral cats, who are sadly kept in check by cars and stray dogs. I don't think I've seen a cat last longer than a year around here.

On to the dogs, there's also a big population of stray/irresponsibly owned dogs. We're sort of attached to one stray, we call him Sun Pup (cause he lays in the sun a lot). He's picked a family to be his pack and he sleeps on their front porch. I think the mom tries to feed him some of the time, but they're really poor.

We also have another dog, we call call Not Zeke (cause she looks like our neighbor's dog, Zeke, but isn't him). She sort of has owners. Sort of. Well, she and Sun Pup are good friends and she spends a lot of time with him, and she is, of course, now knocked up and HUGELY pregnant. Like she looks like a hippo she's so big with babies.

So what do we do? She used to be more friendly, would try and play with Keira when Robert walks her, but lately she's gotten skittish. She's also too far along to spay/abort. I'm honestly surprised she hasn't popped yet, she's just huge.

We have absolutely no where to keep her and puppies if we could grab her. Our yard isn't fenced in and the house is too small and crowded with animals already. Plus, her pups are most likely going to be lab/pit/gsd mixes (that's the majority of the dogs in our area). They're probably going to be black and mid sized, meaning they're going to have a hard time finding homes.

So what would you do? If anything? None of our friends are looking for puppies or dogs, the rescues are full up…

Any thoughts?

[Scribe]

Gah. If only I had an answer to that.

[BurtsGirl]

I don't have much advice either. I'd probably try to take her to a no-kill shelter. That just sounds like a heart-breaking situation, J.

So what are the weekend plans? If you haven't already read my blog, we don't celebrate V-day but I have no opinion on other people celebrating. We're planning a hiking trip on Sun but Sat is pretty open because it's supposed to rain. Might just stay in and watch movies.

Grace's costco post on her blog had me talking Terri into a visit there tonight to check out what they have and if it would be benefical for us to become memebers.

I'm also thinking of doing my taxes myself this year. I normally have someone else do them for me because I have the house, student loans, charity donations, etc to deduct but they charge me almost $200 to do them. I'm looking at something like turbotax to do them this year. How do you guys do your tax stuff? Any advice/opinion on tax software?

[wannabemoms]

Geez, I don't know what I would do with that dog. There's seriously no rescues around who could take her? Any not-so-nearby that would be willing to arrange transport? Eek, I'd hate to see that around me, I'd be worried sick.

Speaking of preggo dogs, our little miss Heidi entered "womanhood" today, she started her first heat! We decided to delay her spay, partly because she had/has mange and partly because we think there are some long term health benefits to delaying, so now we get to keep her under lock and key for a while, yay. Our neighbourhood is full of intact, roaming males. : On the plus side, I found a use for the huge bag of cloth diapers I scored super-cheap last year, which have been sitting gathering dust in our closet...some creative scissor action for a tail-hole and voila! One dog cleverly disguised as an organ-grinder monkey

Oh, on the taxes note. In the past we've had an accountant do them for us, when DW was claiming her driving/auto expenses. That's not happening anymore so I think I'm going to do them myself and save us a few hundred dollars in fees. I've done them before using QuickTax (dunno if there's a US version). It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be.

[jlutgendorf]

Yeah…I'm kicking myself for not grabing her when she was friendlier and not knocked up. I think it's $60 for a spay, which is a little expensive for us, but it's better than 8 new, not really adoptable puppies. sigh.

We don't have many plans. Art show tonight and "anti-valentines" pizza and beer with friends. I had to grill Robert to find out if he was getting me anything for Vday. I'd rather we just eat candy! but he's a romantic guy and he's always planning something, so I found him a last minute gift, an illustration of two guinea pigs in love (we have lots of guinea pigs!). I liked your blog post btw rachel. and grace you need to blog more. That's how i entertain myself at work!

~Julia

[BurtsGirl]

Originally Posted by jlutgendorf

grace you need to blog more. That's how i entertain myself at work!

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