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:) dear everyone!

just sending lots of courage & hugs!! :) :)
hang in there. things get tough. but we're tougher!! :) :) :)

on another note:
i'm lucky - i had a chance to get away from it all for some days. holiday.

i'm having an amaaaazing time.
i learned how to fish!! :)
caught my 1st fish in my life! it was delicious!!!!! butter, salt, pepper, frying pan.

of course, it was a HUGE fish.

some hours later, i caught 6 more fish!! :) :)

courage, everyone!

bundle of joy :)
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Just talked with a lender on what options I may have. She actually knows someone looking for a home in this area. Tomorrow my contract is up with my realtor, doing a direct sale would save about $30,000! Keeping hope alive!
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:) just sending another courage-hug to everyone!!

i continue to fish, enjoying my holiday.

just want to add, after the holiday i'll be full-swing at work, so won't be much on the forum. but i'll return at some point. hug!! :) :)

bundle of joy :)
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My son. granddaughter and grandson arrived this afternoon to stay until Labor Day to help me out. My son has a new teaching assignment this year that stars after Labor Day. Great to have them here. Give everyone else a rest. But of course my stepsons and DIL showed up. They've all been friends since third grade. Hope to get a few little projects done on the two cottages I'm remodeling.
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gladimhere, regarding the sale of your house..... please note that a buyer will bring in a Sales Contract $30k lower then your asking price, as buyers will automatically subtract the commission cost since they know you don't need to pay that fee. Don't be surprised if that happens.
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I can bear all things
With my hands tied in a straight jacket.
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FF, what? I don't need to.pay that fee?

HGTV has shown interest in renting my house while they work on local projects!
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Bear & Forbear

🐻 🐼
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Just thinking, wish modern science would make a calming fragrance for humans like they do for pets.

Recently we got one of those plug-in thingee to help one of our cats from biting at night, and so far so good. Even the other cat is so much calmer when there is a thunder storm. There is no noticeable odor but with my bloodhound sense of smell I can smell a woodsy oily fragrance if I get right next to the item. This thing is only good for one room.

Imagine if science could invent something like that to help calm humans in whatever situation they face. I would love something like that when I am in the kitchen as I really dread cooking.
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glad - renting could be a good interim arrangement but where would you live? A direct sale would be awesome.

ff - that would be a good idea.

On my mind - photos, photos, and more photos. A good 1/3 of my work in downsizing is stuff mother had shipped to me. I have tossed and tossed and did some more tossing today. Large very full photo albums are heavy for me to lug around. I just came out of a hot bath and have taken some Robax to ease the aches.

Mother made albums of, for example, her significant birthdays. So many photos of her and my sister. Lots of her extended family too which are more interesting and I have kept some of those for my dgd. I have flipped through others and taken out a few that I like.

I noticed that my niece and I had similar expressions in many photos - showing discomfort, not smiling, obviously feeling out of place. Many of those photos bring up some pretty negative memories and I am glad to be rid of them and have them trashed forever. May the memories go with them!!!
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FF - I use lavender oil in a diffuser every night. I remember reading about it during my caregiving years when I was trying to find anything and everything to reduce constant anxiety and panic. Even if it's only the ritual of turning the diffuser on every night as I get ready for bed (the signal for "I'm ready to relax now"), it does *something* for me, as evidenced by my years of continued use.

I noticed the other day how many specialty mixes of essential oils there are right now. I always thought Thieves oil looked nice. I wouldn't take it internally, though that is one advertised application.

And reward yourself every time after you cook, too, so you don't dread it so much. (That's my behavioral training in a nutshell. lol)
...

I'm done with my BS in behavior analysis; I just turned in the last paper. I'm sitting here with a sheet face mask on and thinking about fun things to do as a celebration tomorrow. I plan to go back for an MS, likely with the same school, but that decision/timing will wait for another day. Today, I soak it all in and relax. 🙏💜
...

Golden, my mom called me a couple of days ago and mentioned - as she has before - that maybe I could help her clear her two hoarded houses since I did so well with my GM/dad's situation. I likely will help her at some point, as best I can w/o getting enmeshed. Those two houses hold all my childhood pics and other important family things somewhere in all the clutter, and I would like to retrieve those for everyone's sake. It's a thought for another day. I understand the mixed emotions when looking at old pictures (((((hugs)))))

*Golden, I wasn't familiar with Robax. You can get it OTC in Canada? I searched for methocarbamol on Amazon, and it came back along with another muscle relaxant called tizanidine. Both require Rx here. Just interesting to me. Seems like a helpful medication for occasional sore muscles. I hope you get some good relaxation and rest. x
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Just a heads up. Be careful with essential oils in diffusers around cats and dogs. Some are toxic to them and can cause problems.
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Thieves oil is toxic to cats and dogs.
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Ah, sp, that's interesting. I was thinking, "Of course, no one's giving it to pets internally," but Google says it's also toxic for pets when diffused. I assume people do due diligence before they try things. But then again, I watched a YouTube video where a woman put 100% rosemary oil on her face and professed its healing qualities, even as her face turned red from a reaction. (Adding a carrier oil would've been a better way to try that.. and then try to sell it to her audience. 😆)
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Yes you never use an essential oil without a carrier oil because they will burn you. I learned the hard way about diffusing essential oils around my cat. He was sick and throwing up and I had no idea and then the thought to google essential oils popped into my head.
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sp19690, thanks for the heads up on pets and diffusers. My ginger cat has a high sense of smell. He won't come near me if I brush my teeth... had taken a bath... had used mouth wash... put on lotion... put on baby powder... had used nose spray... used scented detergent or scented dryer sheets. But he will sit with me when I am in the bathroom and am [ahem] busy.

Also had a cat decades ago who got sick, she could hardly breathe. Rush her to the Vets. Turned it was a product that one sprinkles on the carpet and then vacuum up, to make the rugs smell better.
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Your welcome FreqFlyer. I stopped using fabric sheets all together because they are toxic to cats. All floor cleaners unless safe for cats to. My cat used to use the bathroom when my husband did since we had the litter box in there. It was so funny. He used to barge into the bathroom when hubby would take a shower cause hubby would leave a couple of treats on the bath mat for him and he loved his treats. He's gone now but every time my husband takes a shower the door to the bathroom bursts open just like our cat used to do when he was alive.
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golden: Hope that your hot bath soothes you. My brother was so engrossed about creating his !,001 photo album that he couldn't even respond to me when I WAS TALKING TO HIM. Mind you, we reside on opposite coasts of the U.S. So yes, I get it. Ugh.
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I'm going through all the photo albums at my house too Golden and it's a real chore,
Iv'e only made it through 3 albums so far and the memories are about to do me in~
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sp19690, it's fascinating that your late cat still opens the door to the bathroom. That was quite a bond you and your husband had with the cat =^..^=
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ali - congrats on being done with your last paper (if I have that right). That's some request from your mum, but understandable. I expect it is a big job, but I can see why you would want to find family "treasures". Do celebrate, even quietly ,the end of this effort and your wonderful accomplishments. I am glad you are planning on continuing your education. I think it is the right thing for you. Robax (methocarbamol) is OTC here. It's the only thing that helps my FM pain and doesn't have the side effects of NSAIDS which don't work for me. It seems pretty safe, not that I need to use it much these days.

Thx llama - Robax and a bath helped. I lugged several armfuls of photo album downstairs, as well as moving a few bit of furniture to the garage for dumping. My back didn't like it. Sounds like it is good that your bro lives far away.

((((luckylu)))) - to many memories, eh? For me it brought up a lot of bad stuff that I don't need to be reminded of. Mother spent a lot of money making copies of old photos. For example I have 5 copies of a portrait photo of her grandfather on her mother's side. She made up large folders of her family ancestors for my kids and none of them wanted them, though I didn't tell her that. They got tossed. I guess it kept her busy doing something she enjoyed.
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golden23, how wonderful that your Mom made copies of her Grandfather's portrait.

I am heavy into Ancestry and love those old photos, which I put into the family binders. But I didn't get interested until I was in my early 70's and after my parents had passed, I realized I didn't know enough about who were their cousins, etc. And thankfully my parents kept a lot of photos. My Dad's grandfather was a professional photographer, that helped. There were even some outlaws/rattle rustlers in the family.
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Edit: 1,001 photo album - I dislike erring. Ugh. Guess I was mad at my brother (in my mind) when typing that.
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golden: You're very welcome. Thank you for the comment on my brother. I sometimes SMH about his juris doctor degree.
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My son in law's late cat could turn on and off a water faucet. DD's late cat loved to go on a lead and leash. However, when SIL was 'in charge' of the outing, he managed to escape the leash!
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I have narrowly avoided the most epic fail. I uploaded the wrong assignment to my capstone finals dropbox!!

The close of acceptable work is in 30 minutes. I'm thanking EVERYTHING that I noticed the error just now when I checked for grades. I sent my prof an email. Even if graded as a late submission, it's BETTER THAN GETTING A ZERO BECAUSE I PUT THE WRONG FILE.

I would have been so upset if I worked my butt off only to send in the wrong final. Whew.

Sometimes I hate technology. Of course, it's my fault, but that would never happen if I had handed in an actual paper. 😭 Note to self: "PS440 Assignment" and "PS498 Assignment" are not good file names. Too similar!

I hope I'm laughing about this soon. Right now, my brain is wondering what else I forgot. This doesn't help my recurring bad dreams where I forget to turn in school work. Now I'll be having them for a long time yet. lol
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Still in the hospital. Ongoing dialysis port problems. I'm so tired of the whole mess. I would love to pull the plug on dialysis. diabetic injections and then wreck my wheelchair. Vent over.
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Ali, Ali, Ali!!! Glad you caught your mistake. Yes you will probably have dreams for a while. For years and years after finishing my studies - I mean like when the kids were growing up - I would wake up in May panicking over not studying enough for exams which came in June. And now, over 10 years into retirement, I still have the odd nightmare about not being ready for classes. Old habits die hard. 🤔

Enjoy some respite!
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Chocolate is definitely a favorite flavor in the little boys! Grand-nephew said he had "lost" his dad at football jamboree so he joined me in the stands; asked for some water and drank half a bottle in one go, then joined foster son in picking through my bag of candy which has a little bit of everything: butterscotch, peppermint, and cinnamon hard candies, fruit bites, tootsie roll midgets, and some snickers bites. I was watching the game, when I looked over the two boys were surrounded by candy rappers - all of them from the chocolate candies. I've never seen either one eat so much candy at one setting, fortunately it didn't make them sick!
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Becky, so sorry you have to deal with so much. You’re a strong fighter, most of the time. Now and then you should let your hair down and vent all you want.
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