Every house I can afford to live in is a shit shack in the middle of a garbage dump.
I exaggerate, but only a little. I REALLY don’t want to live in my dad’s basement for the next year while my ex refinances his house to get me off the mortgage so I can buy my own place and renting has proved to me impossible because I have dogs. God DAMN it.
If your dad would let you live at his house with the dogs, any chance he could take at least one of them? I had the impression you have good sized dogs, and three of them. Maybe even an apartment would be more doable with just two dogs? I know a lot of them have weight restrictions, and it might take more persistence. I know people have trouble finding apartments here, too, especially with bigger dogs. I lucked out, and found a management company that’s totally pet-friendly, they manage a bunch of buildings in the city and don’t restrict people’s pets. I moved into my place with 4 cats, and my neighbors on each side have 2 50+ pound dogs each.
It took more than a week of looking to find them, though, and a lot of screening through Craigs List. What I ended up doing was finding reasonable buildings there, then visiting the individual companies’ websites - much better results when I could check all of their buildings in one place rather than trying to sift through Craigs.
You have my sympathy. I hated the boot and I hated hobbling. If you have to go up stairs, sit on them and bump your butt up. I learned this from the Dope after I had my foot surgery. My advice might be any good for you because you had bone cut off, and I had just had bones reconnected…but dang stairs really made me scared of falling.
Spring time in Houston just sucks. I’m good in the house, but as soon as I walk outside my eyes start running and my nose starts going. I’m willing to fire up my chainsaw and cut every pecan tree down that I can see.
Hurray and good on you 
I understand that many people feel like having their bodies “defiled” is disrespectable but IMHO when you are dead, you have moved on. Its good to know that your body will be treated with respect and people will be happy for the gift of knowledge.
Can you afford to rent/buy a cheap trailer on a lot? They usually have yards. And other poor neighbors with pets and kids who are pretty tolerant about noise.
Thanks for your kind words. She actually did run around a little this evening to my surprise, after a day of moping around the house. I think my biggest worry is that I will jump the gun and take her in to the vet too soon just for my own convenience; having a sick cat around the house is a lot of work and stress.
Our house got listed today! We worked our asses off to get it ready to sell, so fingers crossed now that it goes quickly and smoothly!
Fingers crossed that your house sells soon. As to the bolded part…I am not you and I don’t know your kitteh. I do know that when my cats are ready to cross the bridge, I always wonder if I’m letting them go too soon.
But…think about this…You have an old, sick cat who won’t be happy to have strangers in her home and she certainly won’t do well if moved to a different home.
Your cat, and your heart. From what you have posted, I’d let her go now. Not out of convenience, but because it might be kinder to her.
I’ve kept cats too long because I didn’t want them to leave me. I feel really badly about all of them. I let one of my house ferals have a stroke and go blind because I thought she was doing so well for her age and I was afraid to try to put her in a carrier to go to the vet.
Holding one hand on her head, trying to keep her from falling out of the carrier while I signed the paperwork was so painful. Signing my name where the form said that authorizing the vet to euth her would end up with a dead cat just made me laugh.
I sent Fred to the bridge when he was having more bad days than good ones, and I honestly feel good about that.
Something I say to everyone is better a day too early than a day too late. I say that because I have had so many people say they regretted waiting too long. I’ve had some wonder about whether they made the decision too early, but no regret in any of those cases. And as a tech who has participated in more euthanasias than I can count, I don’t give that advice as lightly as the phrase sounds. When a pet is ill to the point that the humans in the house are getting stressed over it, when they can’t keep themselves clean or eliminate as they used to, the pet is just as stressed about it as the people.
It’s always a difficult decision, even when it’s obvious. Don’t beat yourself up over it, it really sounds to me like you’re being as conscientious as you can and you’ve given her a great life. One last good day is better than an awful last day. I’ve also had to do more “very fast” euthanasias because the pet arrives in such awful condition we’re afraid the poor thing will code before we can give the injection. I’d rather see a pet able to have a treat or favorite meal, do a favorite activity, play with a favorite toy on her last day, you know?
And, congrats on the house selling, hope it goes well. Did you find a new place already? Wasn’t that you who posted a listing with some crazy atrium and commercial space in the front?
Dang it girl. You always say it better than I do. I’m one of the ones who has kept pets too long and regretted it.
I can’t sleep tonight. I’m on new drugs and they have me so wired that I type here and go off to chase cats out of the litter boxes so I can clean them. And my teeth hurt.
I’d try self medicating with one of my beers, but new drugs. Even though I still wish I’d wake up dead, I don’t want to have a EHOL/med interaction that will put me in the hospital. I think I’m going to shut my comp off and brush our dog hairless. After that, I’m going to go on a claw trimming marathon. Heck, I’m feeling brave enough to try to brush Steve.
Its a very good thing that my husband is home and that I won’t be driving anywhere soon. With all the drug induced courage in me I’d probably try to challenge semi-trucks in the morning.
Thanks for the advice. Yes, I did post that listing - what a house! We haven’t found another house yet - we’ll be moving to a new city, so we really need to get this house wrapped up before we buy something else. I’ve been looking at tons of listings, so I’m pretty confident that we’ll find something good.
Personally I find embalming to be more creepy and disrespectful. Why would I want my body to hang around for years after I’m out of it? Why would I want to take up land? Just let me rot and put up a memorial plaque on a wall somewhere. Let’s be green here. 
[QUOTE=flatlined]
Avarie537 how’s your son’s arm?
[/QUOTE]
Not broken! Amazingly enough, later on that evening, he attempted to perform the exact same maneuver that led him to getting X-rays that morning. I give up.
The part in double commas was a direct quote from one of the friends I visited there, in those dark ages before I knew the Dope.
Apparently whichever trees hereabouts I’m not officially allergic to like having sex* at temps between 15 and 20ºC, with high humidity. Acetylcysteine is my friend.
I spent 3 hours on two different days sitting down for 5 interviews with your managers and execs. Perhaps I’m not the best person who applied for the job, but I at least deserve some manner of communication indicating that I’m out of the running. Especially you, HR Recruiter Person, I reach out to you twice for something resembling an update, and you just ignore me.
Rude and inconsiderate. Of course, if you come back with a job offer, all is forgiven.
Before long I shall be 50. My doctor is insisting that I have what seems to be a rite of passage for the 50-year-old, and it unfortunately does NOT involve large amounts of chocolate and silly movies. It involves drinking nasty, nasty stuff and having a camera stuck up my ass.
There are two problems with getting older. Your maintenance increases, and there’s no good alternative.
I do have three, ranging from 25ish pounds to 60-something, so not huge. Most places around here have either a weight (25lb) restriction, a restriction on the number of pets, or both. My dad, although he is a lovely man with a good heart, does not have the same ideas about dogs that I do. I don’t expect everyone to allow their dogs on the furniture, but his pup is barely allowed in the house. And that’s the main problem: his dog. Only one of my three would tolerate his dog (one hates all unfamiliar dogs, one is afraid of dogs bigger than him) and she would lose her MIND out in the yard all alone. She loses her shit if I’m out in the yard without her, she is very much a “gotta be with my people dog”.
I have sent probably… 35 emails about listings on Craigslist and actually have a realtor helping me look now, but so far… bupkiss.
I am going to call my landlord tomorrow and see if she owns any other properties in my price range (the OTHER roadblock. I just don’t make a lot of money stacked up to my bills) as someone suggested in my thread about this whole mess. I’m also going to spend a portion of my weekend looking for a second job.
Oddly enough, I had this exact idea while driving to work today. You planted it there, I know it!
Mother Nature enjoys watching her plants practice bukake on me. It feels like someone snuck in and filled my sinus cavities with cement. While mrAru did get rid of all the damned forsythias, and it isn’t as bad as previous years it gets seriously tiresome.
I feel like moving onto a boat 5 miles out to sea and away from any breezes blowing from the land for a few months. I would just like to actually stop being a mouth breather and inhale through my nose. 
MUST YOU leave crumbs on the butter? MUST YOU use your crumb-and-butter covered knife to scoop jam out of the jar? Don’t normal people use a spoon to scoop jam/jelly/preserves out of the jar or am I the only one?
I wanted PB&J for breakfast with the yummy cherry preserves I found the other day. Imagine my delight when I opened the jar and saw the residual butter and crumbs. ICK!!!
In the grand scheme of things, it’s not that big a deal, and I know your feelings would be really hurt if I’d said anything. But it still pissed me off!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrr
This reminds me of a scene from Roseanne where Dan is reminiscing about asking some other girl to marry him … she was tall, thin, beautiful, etc. but she put toast crumbs on the butter and he knew he couldn’t live with that.
I missed that episode, but I can identify with the thought. I’ve managed to train my spousal unit to use a spoon rather than his fork or knife when accessing a communal condiment. His father, however… I wasn’t going to yell at him because he really is a nice man, but I didn’t need to see butter and breadcrumbs in my cherry preserves. Seriously, dude.
He’s on his way home now, and my preserves and jams are safe again.
Gosh darn it. At almost 2am, after doing a little work, farting about on the computer, listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and reading the Dope, I’m just about ready to hit the hay when I hear my youngest kid call out to me.
“Dad? I just puked.”
Yep. A huge pile of ramen, all over his bed and bedroom floor.
That’s cleaned up now, and he’s sleeping like an angel on the couch.
Now I’m just waiting for the washing machine to cycle.
She’s relatively new to the department (she started in November of 2012). I started in our department about a year-and-a-half before she did. She started having some kind of “problem” with me last year, I think because she felt that I was taking too many unauthorized breaks. Which, to a certain extent, may have been true (although I’ve been making DAMN sure I don’t do that now. Matter of fact I hardly ever take any breaks at all, except for lunch). Issue went all the way to H.R. (mostly, I think, because the person who was previously in her position is now the administrator and he seems to be VERY averse to confrontation and was not prepared to deal with that particular “problem”). I was not happy with the situation and esPECially not with the H.R. representative who, apparently based on what my co-worker told her, was convinced that I’m some kind of slacker who is trying to “take advantage of the system.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Furthermore, in my opinion this co-worker of mine is in absolutely NO position to criticize other people’s work ethic or work habits (esPECIally not mine). She allegedly is in pain a great deal of the time but even before that came out she was (and still is) constantly late for work (matter of fact she came in as I was composing this, after 10 a.m. local time. Our office opens at 8). Matter of fact it has LONG gotten to the point where I do NOT expect her to get to work by 8 (or by anything close to 8, for that matter). Now, I personally don’t mind while she’s away because (and this another thing that makes me crazy when she’s around) when she’s here she acts like she owns the little kitchenette we have nearby and for a tiny person (she can’t weigh more than about 100 lbs. or so) she sure makes a LOT of noise! Anyway, we’re supposed to be “playing nice-nice” these days but even when both of us are trying I’m not sure how much I can trust her. Thanks for reading.