[mnemosyne]

What a strange day. The northern part of my state is covered with snow from a freak early snowstorm, but here in the south it's just cold - not quite cold enough to kill everything off, but cold, and rainy, and gross. I made a chocolate cheesecake (low-fat!) for my secretary's birthday, and had a very small piece - about 130 calories for that size piece (1/16 of a pre-made crust-sized pie). I have way too much work to do today, but don't feel like doing it. I'm wearing my black heels today. When I started in January, I wore tennis shoes to work and then put on a pair of black flats, but only when necessary for meeting clients. I couldn't wear heels at all - now, I can wear these heels (about 2 inches, although the heels themselves are nice and big, chunky enough to give me a stable base) all day at work and my old flats literally fall off my feet.

I'm retaining water today - I can tell by the way my rings fit - but I don't think it'll be enough for me to meet my Halloween goal, which is probably a good thing. I made an unrealistic one to keep myself from buying some Clinique Happy at the dept. store, since I've been shopping too much lately and just need to break the impulse buying habit.

SueMarie - I have four cats and have the same problem. I am only going to try to winter those plants that I can keep out of their way at home, but I think I'm going to have to try the Bitter Apple spray you mentioned. I hadn't heard of it before.

Wyllenn - congrats on exercising! I try to exercise first thing in the morning, but with the sudden bout of cold weather, I don't want to get out of bed! I've been later for work every day this week, but have managed to exercise in the evenings. I MUST get up earlier, but have a hard time between my addiction to the Daily Show and the current book I'm reading (The Known World by Edward Jones (?)). Tomorrow!

Rabidstoat: have fun at Disney, but remember to sleep. Our bodies need sleep. Lack thereof is linked with weight gain!

aaaand, next time I go somewhere, I'm taking my innerValerie with me. I don't WANT to be a doormat, but often am.

Okay, I really have to work. Have a great day, ladies!

[rabidstoat]

Argh! My cats are dead cats walking!

I went to clean around the house a bit this morning before work. I hadn't been in the guest bedroom for a couple of weeks, it's unused. Well, turned out it's used. By the cats. They've been spraying and peeing on the bed!

I don't have time to deal with this before my vacation, ugh ugh ugh. I have to do some stuff at the office before I can leave town. I had to take the comforter to the dry cleaners. Twenty bucks! The pillows, I just tossed, the last time I tried to wash pillows they flooded my laundry room. Another twenty bucks. The sheets I did hurriedly, and I had some folded towels on the bed I'll have to do when I get back. My poor stuffed elephant I tossed. I probably could've saved him, but it's probably good to let go. And they soaked down to the mattress in one place! I cleaned as best I could, with soap and water and febreeze, I'm not sure what else to use.

I'll deal with the rest of it when I get back. Dead cats walking!

[mnemosyne]

Rapidstoat: Did your drycleaner promise to get rid of the urine odor from the comforter? If not, I would call them and get the comforter back, because the dry cleaning processes might further set the odor and make it impossible to remove.

Most specialty pet stores sell products that are designed to remove cat urine and odor - I use one called Nature's Miracle, which I bought at PetsMart. IIRC, there was some product on an infomercial over the last year that claimed to do the same thing, although the products at the pet stores are cheaper than the infomercial product. Most cleaners don't get the odor out and some will set it further, especially in fabric. You really need to START with a product specifically designed to remove cat urine and then go to your usual cleaning products. I recommend a trip to [pet store of your choice] to pick something up.

[Lilion]

Hi everyone!

rabidstoat: Cat urine is one of the hardest smells to get out - ever. I suggest you go to a pet supply place like Petco and get a enzyme cleaner. That is your only chance of getting the smell out. (and then kill the cats ) Seriously, you have to keep them out of that room too. If they've marked there once, they WILL NOT STOP. I assure you of this.

mnemosyne: High heels! There's a NSV I hadn't thought of! You know, after 70 lbs, my feet haven't shown ANY significant shrinkage, darn it. (I wear a size 12! I'd hoped they'd get smaller!)

SueMarie: Good luck with the bitter apple. I haven't tried it with cats, but for my puppies it was just a tasty marinade for the furniture! I've had good luck keeping the cat away with red pepper. At Xmas our tree skirt isn't really red - it's just the amount of pepper I sprinkle on it! Try sprinking ground red pepper on the leaves. You don't want to use hot sauce because that has vinegar, which is bad for plants.

Julee: (((hugs))) Repeat after me: "Men are swine." Seriously, even the good ones, who don't mean to be hurtful are utterly CLUELESS! And I have a WONDERFUL husband - doesn't mean the poor man has 1/2 a clue about how I think or feel most of the time. Guys are way simpler than women. If the store is closed his brain says "The store is closed. Can't do anything about that. We'll go another day." Simple. Your brain says "What do you mean, we'll go another day? Aren't you upset about this? Why aren't you upset about this? Maybe you don't care about it as much as I do? Maybe you're relieved the store is closed?" One thing, the store is closed, leads to a totally different conclusion - that he may be glad the store is closed. But you know, I bet he doesn't see it as a big deal at all, because if you are looking at rings, in his mind I bet it goes without saying that you are getting married and you don't need to hurry with the ring, because it's a done deal! You said you are waiting for him to propose. I bet he thinks he already did! He can't read your mind...(although we all know that men should be able to do that!) and I bet he doesn't even know you are insecure about him asking the big question.

Welcome to all the newcomers! Gotta run!

[rabidstoat]

Yuck. Well, I can't get the comforter back now. If it's bad, I'll just replace it. I'll definitely look for something when I get back from vacation (leaving after lunch!) and they're shut out of the room for now. Crazy cats. Bad kitty! Man, they don't pay rent, they don't get a job, and they mess up the house.

[Lilion]

Originally Posted by rabidstoat

Man, they don't pay rent, they don't get a job, and they mess up the house.

Sounds like my first husband!

[JuleeCeeS]

Oh Lilion..you got it right. Well more or less. He is nervous as well and know that this is a big deal. He even said that he wants to get me a ring that I will love. We are actually going to reset the diamond from my grandmother's engagement ring. It's such a gorgeous stone and insuch good condition. He keeps repeating "we're only going to LOOK on Thursday...just LOOK." He knows he hasn't proposed yet...I think he wants to do something romantical and sweet and try to surprise me.

After running around like a maniac with work since mid-September and the weather going back and forth and now being cold and drizzly...I am finally coming down with a cold. I have no desire to leave the house today but I'm going to have to go to walgreens to get some HPB cold medicine. I took a regular Sudafed this morning because I neded something but with having HPB and being on meds for it I am wary of taking certain meds. One can't hurt though, right? Meanwhile I am supposed to be away for work all weekend so I need to be a little bit better. So I'll spend another day chilling on the couch with hot tea. Maybe a nice hot liquid cleanse will help me at my WI tonight (teehee).

Have a happy!

[SueMarie301]

S T O P ! !
Please do not post here anymore.

Instead, why don't you join us at the next thread entitled

300+ And Ready To Try Again.. #776