What did you do today?

[Ron Van]

I been doing this wrong!

 

[Ron Van]

I put this room back together and added the missing baseboard trim. Now I have to finish painting the rest of the hallway due to the color change.

 

[zannej]

I went to the store to find a suit for my brother for our friends' wedding. Had to find him a bright red shirt that fit. Finding pants that fit wasn't too bad since he can wear XL (not sure what that translates into).For shirts & jackets it depends on the fit. He can wear 2xl or 3xl. For the jacket he had to get a size 52 just fit over his shoulders. I also wear 2xl or 3xl tops in womens sizes depending on the style and whether they run tight or loose. In loose fit I can sometimes wear XL. For pants I generally wear XL. I think that translates to size 16 or 18 but sizes are so inconsistent it seems. My brother was trying to help me find some cheap dress shoes and kept pulling out hideous stuff to laugh about and then commenting on how expensive stuff was. We were in agreement.

Of course, I had to cook for Mom before leaving the house. Went to samsclub after to look for hamburger meat but they were out. Got cat food at least. Then we ate at a chinese place before heading home.

Got home and had to feed Mom again. Took a nap and cuddled with kitties.

 

[Ron Van]

Don’t forget…wheels up for water landing…down for runway landing.

 

[Ron Van]

I went to the store to find a suit for my brother for our friends' wedding. Had to find him a bright red shirt that fit. Finding pants that fit wasn't too bad since he can wear XL (not sure what that translates into).For shirts & jackets it depends on the fit. He can wear 2xl or 3xl. For the jacket he had to get a size 52 just fit over his shoulders. I also wear 2xl or 3xl tops in womens sizes depending on the style and whether they run tight or loose. In loose fit I can sometimes wear XL. For pants I generally wear XL. I think that translates to size 16 or 18 but sizes are so inconsistent it seems.

Women's clothing sizes confuse me.

Then we ate at a chinese place before heading home.

I really wish we had some decent Chinese food around here!

 

[zannej]

Ron, pretty much all clothing sizes confuse me. And I found out the pockets on my pants are sewn shut. There are actual pockets, I checked inside, but someone decided to sew them shut. I hate that. Tried to get mom to take a picture of me wearing the blouse and pants I got but she's terrible at taking pictures. LOL. Will have to either get my friend to take a pic or get my brother to take a pic. He actually took a photography class in high school.

I have to drive an hour to find a place with Chinese food. There are a few Chinese places up in Alexandria. My favorite is Flying Wok, although China Bull is not bad. Their bourbon chicken is good. Unfortunately, I think having the leftovers sit in the car too long wasn't a good idea. I ate them when I got home and then was violently ill that night. Puked up my entire dinner and the pepto bismol. Ran out of pepto. Had chills/shivering, and then woke up drenched in sweat. Stomach hurt all the way from the front to my back. It sucked. I was exhausted the rest of the day but I'm feeling better now. Just cleaned the toilet and took out some trash.

I had to cancel an amazon order from January because they never shipped it. Found something similar for cheaper from another seller that had prime 2 day shipping. I may end up having to call Amazon on the one order because they said they couldn't guarantee cancellation. I'll tell them that since the seller hasn't shipped it, they should have to cancel it and not charge me for it.

My friend loves the suit I got for him (he picked it out). It only needs a few minor adjustments that his fiance can make.

 

[zannej]

Tossed and turned all night. Got up and took a shower. Took out the trash. Refilled water for cats. Went to the post office, then to the doctor, then to Walmart. The good news is, my immune system is working. Low grade fever and swollen gland behind my left ear. Bad news is I have an ear infection and a sinus infection. Doctor also said to stop taking Provera to see if it changes anything because of the post-menopausal bleeding I experienced last month. I was supposed to talk to the clerk about getting an appointment with a womens clinic but I forgot bc my fever broke, I was sweating, and I felt cruddy.

meant to get sweet feed for the cows but drove past the parking turn-in and felt too cruddy to turn around. Unloaded groceries, emptied kitchen trash can, sang Happy Birthday to my brother, and am now resting with cats on me.

 

[shan2themax]

@zannej I'm glad you are feeling better!

Those closet doors look great @Ron Van .

@Spicoli43 I think a lot of us do dumb things with money. I know I have in the past 2 years.... REALLY DUMB


So, I had a plumber come yesterday, I knocked the kitchen sink drain pipe loose 2 weeks ago when I moved the kitchen sink back.

Also, I can't remember if I posted a pic or not, however, I found the culprit that made this big hole.



It's about 3 inches wide.
It's a big rat. I saw it this morning. I scared it back down the hole and poured a third of a bottle of disgustingly minty mouth wash down the hole and one the wood. Then I put a board over it to try to keep it out and ensure that I break or stub toes in the mean time.

The other day, I was irritated over the kitchen drain and considered just selling the house and going back to renting.... let someone else have all the headaches.

I know I am just whining, but I just can't seem to catch a break with this house. I just want it to be a normal house with a completed kitchen, bathroom and carpet/flooring, but I don't have the money for all that.
The only thing that stopped me from doing it was thinking about packing up all the stuff I own.

On a lighter note. I had the kids yesterday for several hours. They played well. The youngest threw a fit because she was tired and needed a nap. The middle one rocked himself to sleep and the oldest wanted me to make up stories about families with mommies. My heart hurts for him, he is so angry and confused and anxious. Life is hard for these littles and here I am whining about not catching a break. Humans are ridiculous.

I've been watching (sort of) videos about innatentive ADHD (just diagnosed at 52...) trying to help myself put systems into place that work for me.

This diagnosis and the OCD diagnosis make life make SO MUCH MORE SENSE.

If I had the extra money, I would pay someone to come and help me go through everything and get the house into some sort of order. I feel like that would make putting systems into place easier. I just need less stuff and I have gone through so much stuff the past 2 years especially, but 5 or 6 in total that I am so sick of it. The last 1.5 years since my mom passed has definitely made me dislike it.

Back to the rat (fat rat), I wish I could put poison out but I am terrified that it would go into a different room in the house and one of the dogs or the cat would get it and then they would die. I am definitely not in a place that I could emotionally handle that. The dogs are like my children. I did consider buying an animal trap and wrapping it with chicken wire and putting it underneath the house in the crawlspace and put dog food in it. That's what it is coming in to get is the dry dogwood. I'm sure that if I see 1, there is more than just 1.

Well, I am gonna go attempt to work on going through stuff. Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[Spicoli43]

Sorry Shan, but I think you have more than 1 Rat. I don't know how to get rid of them this side of a .50 Caliber Machine Gun.

I don't understand the Kids part... I thought yours were all grown.

I wish you Good luck with ADD / ADHD, but you can fix that real quick with a Functional Medicine approach... Yes, I'm a broken record with that BECAUSE it works...

Here is my Functional Medicine "Sensei", Dr. Mark Hyman...



I get you on the House situation, I swear my next place will be a Van down by the River. I will own a pair of scissors to cut the grass, which will be the size of a recliner. I will fish all day and bathe in the River like a proper Cave Man should. It will probably be a Double Wide for appliances... NO TERRORIST CATS will ever enter the domain.

Just to get out of this House I will have to do a Ron-like renovation. If I could throw the Cats outside, I would never let them in again, start the renovations now and sell this place, using the equity for said spot down by the River... Every time I want to sell because it would be therapeutic to fish all day, I think of the lost equity in the coming years.

I am VERY TEMPTED to pile up all my crap in the driveway (stuff I would put on Craigs for $5 to $20) and put it all on Craigs for Free... People here are Vultures... The only problem is I would get 20 emails "How do I get to your place"???

Also, for Free stuff here, sometimes people don't show up. It's better to mark it for $20 and hope someone steals it.

 

[shan2themax]

@Spicoli43 yes..... unfortunately I am aware that there is more than 1.
I had hoped since getting the siding that mice wouldn't be a problem..... and I haven't seen any, but this is just dumb. The garage door doesn't fit tightly because it needs replaced, and then the crawlspace isn't tight either. I think that I lured it in by putting the dog food there and there was a very small hole there already.

I have thought about moving the dry dog food, however.... I don't want to lure the rat further into the house.

Kids..... I thought I mentioned them, I am pretty sure I did.
Long story short, my daughters significant other is now helping him raise 3 of his kids. My didn't want to be a mom anymore. So, I got a 4, 2.5 amd 1.5 year old grandchildren for Christmas. (The younger 2 have birthdays coming up in April and May. The middle child is autistic, but he seems to be doing better. It's been hardest on the 4 year old.

I am doing better with the ADHD since taking active forms of Vit B. I really want to try NAC, I know we have talked about that. There's a reason why I haven't tried it yet, however I can't remember what that is currently lol.

As far as functiinal medicine, I'm interested in going. However, my insurance doesn't cover it and that's a huge investment. I work for a health system so basically stick to their groups and it's nearly free. Otherwise, not so much.
I'm also not big on the thoughts of messing with things and getting the OCD roaring it's ugly head either.

 

[Spicoli43]

Ok, I can see how storing Dog Food outside would be a problem. They can sniff that, so can Skunks and Possums etc... Have you thought of making Homemeade Crock Pot food for the Dogs? My Dog is 14 or so and jumps up and down when I'm about to feed him, never seen a Dog do that for kibble.

Your garage door doesn't go down all the way? Have you pulled the cord to unlock it and make it manual to see if it goes down all the way, followed by hooking it back up again and testing it?

Your Daughter is helping raise her boyfriend's kids because their biological female do nothing birth giver is a radio edit?

NAC forces the Liver to produce Glutathione, which is excellent. I take 600MG a day and am going to make my own capsules with a capsule machine because it's much much cheaper.

I have never understood why Health Insurance doesn't cover actual health. They cover the deadly drugs, every one of them Russian Roulette, and they cover sickness and procedures needed because of sickness. Why wouldn't they cover health and take people's money for far longer and dish out far less cash because people are healthy? It comes down to Pharma sales of course, but having to cover Thousands for one customer's surgery is a lot more than they get as kickbacks from Pharma. Oh well, I belong to the biggest Pharma customer probably in the VA, so I would have to pay for a Functional Doc as well.

You called and asked around about pricing for Functional Docs? They can make their own rules.

OCD goes away with proper diet.

 

[shan2themax]

So.... the hole in the floor is in the dining room, and there food dish is about 15 inches from that hole.
I have considered making their food.
Yes, my daughter is helping him raise his children. They moved about a month ago to a 3 bedroom, 3 story apt, out of a 1 bedroom apartment. He has 2 other children that live in Florida.

NAC: I believe it's because I am on BP meds and have a history of asthma. So... for now, I'm chicken


OCD and diet, this comes full circle to the gastroparesis problem again. Although I do agree.
My entire methylation pathway is a mess. Started out with bioactive forms of m6 and b12.
I try to take magnesium bisglycinate but man, after 3 days I am nearly tearful. Probably because it relaxes me and helps with anxiety levels. I always forget to only take it for 2 days and then not take it for 2 or 3 days.

Functional medicine. The closet MD that my insurance may pay a small amount for is about an hour away. It's on the list of things to do at some point.

On a good note. I was going through mail and got some encouraging words from mail that should have been tossed in December and I have since straightened my tiara and quit whining.
I forget that I am a child of God, this evening I was reminded. HiS divine intervention and promises are always on time.

 

[zannej]

Shan, I feel you on the urge to just throw in the towel on the house. Mice chewed through metal screen to get into my pantry so now I need to fix it again. Some chickenwire with small holes and steel wool can block rats/mice from chewing through stuff. Best not to use the poison. We used poison in the past and it killed at least one of our cats when the cat caught a mouse that got into the poison.

An opossum got into the house the other night and Princess just about tore the kitchen up trying to catch it. Poor thing managed to get into an empty plastic cereal container and curled up. Princess toppled stuff over and was trying to drag the poor thing out. It had curled up but its head was far enough down she couldn't reach it. It's tail, rump, and back feet were sticking out and she was really going after the poor critter. I made her stop, picked up the container, got her & Fippy to go in the living room and shut them in, then took the opossum outside to and dumped the container out-- had to shake it a few times to get it to drop out. It just stayed curled up until after I went back inside. Then it must have made a run for it. I had to get something out of the truck afterward. Princess got back out and climbed all over where the opossum had been.

I almost took a picture but I didn't want to prolong its suffering and decided to get it to safety asap.

Today I still felt cruddy and tired. Had to take numerous naps throughout the day. Itsy woke me up finally and I saw that my friend was ready to come over to help try to fix the phoneline. Turns out its on AT&T's end though. I contacted them online for support and was told they would have to transfer it to a different department that only does contact via phone and they would call me on my listed number on the account. I then had to explain AGAIN that the listed number doesn't work- hence the reason for the complaint-- and that my cell signal sucks out here and I didn't want to go stand outside in the rain to try to take a phonecall. So the person said they would relay messages for me. Paying way too much for landline service and it keeps getting worse & they take too long to fix stuff.

 

[Spicoli43]

So.... the hole in the floor is in the dining room, and there food dish is about 15 inches from that hole.
I have considered making their food.
Yes, my daughter is helping him raise his children. They moved about a month ago to a 3 bedroom, 3 story apt, out of a 1 bedroom apartment. He has 2 other children that live in Florida.

NAC: I believe it's because I am on BP meds and have a history of asthma. So... for now, I'm chicken


OCD and diet, this comes full circle to the gastroparesis problem again. Although I do agree.
My entire methylation pathway is a mess. Started out with bioactive forms of m6 and b12.
I try to take magnesium bisglycinate but man, after 3 days I am nearly tearful. Probably because it relaxes me and helps with anxiety levels. I always forget to only take it for 2 days and then not take it for 2 or 3 days.

Functional medicine. The closet MD that my insurance may pay a small amount for is about an hour away. It's on the list of things to do at some point.

On a good note. I was going through mail and got some encouraging words from mail that should have been tossed in December and I have since straightened my tiara and quit whining.
I forget that I am a child of God, this evening I was reminded. HiS divine intervention and promises are always on time.

Well, there is as many Dog Food crock pot recipes as there is any other kind of recipe, and that's a guarantee there is no rotted dead carcasses included or euthanized animals like the major kibble producers use.

NAC helps with breathing problems. Of course you should ask a Doctor before using, and you know them, but they probably have no idea. I have used it for EONS with no side effects that I know of, none worsening my COPD.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=NAC+asthma&t=brave&ia=web

The only OCD people I have known in relation to diet is bodybuilders that have to have all their meals prepped and they have to workout for 18 hours a day and they have to count all their macros etc... They aren't the OCD people that need all the pens to be on the table 1 inch from the edge etc...

 

[Spicoli43]

Here's a standard recipe for Crock Pot Dog Food... Chicken on top with Sweet Potatoes... Underneath is Carrots, Kidney Beans, Brown Rice and more Sweet Potatoes. I soak the Kidney beans overnight and pressure cook them before hand, cook everything for an hour, turn the Chicken and cook for another 45-Hour, then when the Chicken is done I turn it on to the keep warm setting and add some frozen Green Beans for 30 minutes and add a spoonful of Coconut Oil.

100% Human grade Organic... It's 4 days worth for my Dog, but would be 2 weeks worth for a small pocket size Dog.

He LOSES HIS MIND when it's food time. Never gets tired of it, although I sub in a pound of Ground Beef or Beef Kidney etc as a changeup.

I use a Dog Multi-Vitamin as well, but probably don't need it with all the nutrition. I would need to do an experiment where he was off the supplement for a Month and then get labs done to see if it's deficient in any nutrients, but I give him all kinds of other stuff as well like Fish Oil...

On that note, I recently learned that DHA cancels out EPA, so most Fish Oils don't have much benefit. You need separate EPA and DHA supplements with one taken in the Morning and one taken in the Evening (or hours apart).

 

[shan2themax]

I will have to try the dogwood recipe for my pups. One weighs 22 pounds, the other weighs 80lbs.

As far as my particular case of OCD goes..... mine is more intrusive thought based- at least that is what I have the hardest time controlling. I do have some repetitive behaviors, but most people don't notice it.
When I was little I would miss the bus from rechecked the door, or rechecked that I unplugged the curling iron or didn't leave toaster making toast. I do prefer much order vs chaos, however if you were to visit my house you'd tell me I was full of it. Lol
I get paralyzed with what to do when I don't have things in order (which is most of the time).
I prefer things to be either completely typed up or completely handwritten. Not typed up and then handwriting all over it. Drives me nuts. I always beep my car horn when I get out, however indo it again at about 50 feet away and sometimes again about 100 feet away. I also get caught up in perfectionism, which leads to me just not doing anything alot of the time.
It's quite annoying at times. I do feel like it has gotten better since taking the bioactive b vitamins.

I'm trying to decide what all to do today. I need to go get gas, I think I have 32 miles left , and I need to go to Habitat Restore and see if they have any chest of drawers so my daughter has somewhere to put hers and the little girls clothes.
I suppose I should also put up the 2 baskets of clean clothes I have also. I'd like to clean out the hall closet also, it's packed full.
Weird facts about me.....
I can deal with socks, shoes, toys on the floor..... however, closets that aren't clean and organized drive me crazy.

If I can find my motivation. I may try some homemade dogwood today or tomorrow.
Hope everyone is well and has a great day!

 

[Ron Van]

@zannej I'm glad you are feeling better!

Those closet doors look great @Ron Van .

Thanks! On to the next project...Yay!

So, I had a plumber come yesterday, I knocked the kitchen sink drain pipe loose 2 weeks ago when I moved the kitchen sink back.

How do it go with the plumber?

Also, I can't remember if I posted a pic or not, however, I found the culprit that made this big hole.

We had (or maybe still have) little tiny black mice in our house when we moved in. Ruby got some small traps and we caught at least 15 of them. We chauffeured them, one at a time, over to the boat ramp and released them. I don't know how good their navigation abilities are but hopefully they aren't coming back. Meanwhile, Ruby adopted numerous cats that have strolled onto our property. She catches them in a live trap that we have and gets the cats neutered/spayed. 3 of the cats are still here and I know the cats do catch mice. . .we see them with mice all the time.

You need to show your cat a picture of a mouse/rat and give him a pep talk!



I don't know if you can sufficiently seal your house to keep them out. They can squeeze into very small spaces.

The other day, I was irritated over the kitchen drain and considered just selling the house and going back to renting.... let someone else have all the headaches.

We all have those thoughts. What brings me back to reality is seeing how high the rents are! And you know they just keep going up.

I know I am just whining, but I just can't seem to catch a break with this house. I just want it to be a normal house with a completed kitchen, bathroom and carpet/flooring, but I don't have the money for all that.

You're making good progress! Your house is getting better all the time. One day you will look back and wonder how you had the energy to do all the stuff you have done . . .and then you will do more!

You just have to focus on one project at a time. If you spread yourself over too many things, it gets overwhelming. Let the victory of one small success propel you to the next project.

If I had the extra money, I would pay someone to come and help me go through everything and get the house into some sort of order. I feel like that would make putting systems into place easier. I just need less stuff

I struggle with that too. I am actually an organized person but my stuff gets out of control and it ends up being organized chaos. My shop area looks like a tornado went through it but I know which pile to look in to find what I need. Actually my next project is to clean up my shop. I hate to throw away my scraps of wood because I might need them. Same with my nut, bolts and screws . . .which happens to be the punch line to a sick joke. Did you hear about the patient that escaped from the mental facility and sexually attacked a woman? The headline read, "Nut bolts and screws." Every time I see that in a hardware store I cringe!

Back to the rat (fat rat), I wish I could put poison out but I am terrified that it would go into a different room in the house and one of the dogs or the cat would get it and then they would die. I am definitely not in a place that I could emotionally handle that. The dogs are like my children.

Yeah. . .stay away from the poison. I actually had that happen. I had put rat poison out in my garage (in our old house in California) and I noticed one day that the poison tray was pulled out from where it was tucked away...as if our dog had pulled it out with his paw. Well, the dog, Bosco, started acting weird so I took him to the vet (it was a Friday) and told the vet what I suspected had happened. The Vet said he had seen dozens of rat poison cases and this wasn't that so he gave Bosco a saline shot and sent us home. Later that night, Bosco was in such a bad condition that he was leaning up against a wall. He wouldn't lay down because I guess it hurt too much. We rushed him to the emergency vet (because it was now Friday night) and the emergency vet said it was definitely Rat poisoning and if we would have brought him in earlier a simple shot of vitamin K would have fixed him up but now, Bosco, needed oxygen and a blood transfusion. That cost several thousands of dollars.

I was really upset for several reasons. Mostly because I had poisoned my dog but also because the first vet didn't recognize rat poisoning even after I told him that I suspected it.

I have a friend that lives in Georgia that told me she leaves bubble gun in her yard so possums will eat it. She says the bubble gum clogs up their intestines and kills them. I thought...what a horrible thing to do! Are humans really this sick?

I did consider buying an animal trap and wrapping it with chicken wire and putting it underneath the house in the crawlspace and put dog food in it.

Get a live trap. They sell them in a lot of places.

We have one similar to this. Ruby catches cats and then gets them neutered. Then we release them in the yard. We don't see many mice any more.



Ruby leaves food out for the cats and whoever else wanders by.

Hope everyone has a great day!

You too!

 

[Spicoli43]

Shan, have you seen the movie "Matchstick Men"?

I'm reminded of Nicolas Cage's role in that movie from what you say about your OCD... It's pretty hilarious, from someone with some OCD in all areas like me.

 

[Spicoli43]

Ron, I take it you have never had a Raccoon infestation? If they find that Dog Food, you will have 40 of them. You will eventually (probably quickly) end up with a rabid one, and you will have to snipe that one and hope they didn't spread it (long shot that they didn't)

If a Baby jumps on your roof and gets down your Chimney, Mama will rip your house apart in an attempt to get the kid back. They will also rip the roof apart for nesting purposes...



If you call animal control, they will kill all of them. Your only other option would be to wait it out until the rabid one died and again hope that it doesn't happen again.

I get wanting to help animals, but feeding them within 100 yards is not something anybody around here does... Feeding is really non existent besides Birds here, especially because of Bears.

Sorry for these instructions, but I don't know if you were a City slicker in CA and this is all new and cool to you, which is natural, but it's not a good feeling that lasts once the Raccoons show up... That picture of Ruby's food dish signals to me a big Red flag that you haven't had that experience.

Possums and Skunks were solitary for me, so I never had rabid ones. If I knew only they would show up, I would feed them.

 

[zannej]

I don't know if its being sick or the meds but I have been very thirsty so I've been drinking a lot of water and having to get up to pee frequently. Couldn't sleep well last night because I kept having to get up. I'd just get comfortable and then my bladder would scream at me.

need to take my brother to the DMV today to renew his license. Hope he has cash to pay for it bc I don't. And they charge up the wazoo if you try to use a credit card.

Waiting for the naprosyn to kick in on my sinus headache.