The "What's on your mind?" Thread -2017

[arouetta]

Could the cutting back be what's keeping the weight on? Sorta like the starvation mode people who diet get? Cure for that, crazy enough, is to eat more.

How much overweight is she? Shadow also has arthritis but the vet was downright thrilled she was a couple of pounds overweight. The vet said most cats her age were skin and bones so the extra weight is actually keeping her healthier.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

oh crap my dryer is dead again. It runs but won't heat up. I don't like new appliances. Jon wants to buy a new cheap one. nope I told him. Let me find a good maytag from the early 2000s. I HATE buying new stuff when there's plenty of used items out there. I tried to research how to fix it-since the last fix cost $600=I assume buy a used one for $100. Rather than buy a new one for $500 only to die 2 years later. The motors are junk. They use cheap wiring and cheaper Chinese parts that wear out faster or don't hold up to the heat.

I found a site that shows me how to trouble shoot it- evidently there's a way to toggle error codes like in our car computer-but that doesn't mean I can fix it. It looks complicated and we don't have a ton of room for dismantling. The lazy part of me says take it to the dump and just buy a new one=where they deliver.

I have no patience for eating Lobster-I like it-but nope I just assume get steamers or fried clams. yum!

My fridge is leaking into the crisper drawer :/. I thought it was a one-time thing because a bottle broke in there and I thought it was that stuff that ran into the drawer. But I cleaned it out and yup, it has water in it again. So I googled it and apparently the drain line is clogged but it's an easy fix (supposedly!) so I guess that's what I'll be doing this evening. They better be right about it being quick and easy!

Oh, my dear friends! At moments like these, I am thankful beyond belief that I live in an apartment. When something stops working, I call the office and say, "My someting has stopped working," and presto, a guy shows up, fixes it, leaves, and doesn't ask me for money. I really miss a house, but there are some compensations.

 

[artiemom]

Oh, my dear friends! At moments like these, I am thankful beyond belief that I live in an apartment. When something stops working, I call the office and say, "My someting has stopped working," and presto, a guy shows up, fixes it, leaves, and doesn't ask me for money. I really miss a house, but there are some compensations.

I know, I love when I can call my super and say, " so and so, is not right.. can you come up"... sometimes it is a quick fix, other times it is not... the days of me fixing things are over..I do not have the tools nor the strength to do them anymore.. cannot kneel either..

 

[tallyollyopia]

Does this sound fishy? When the supervisor position was posted, we got a couple of candidates and brought 3 external ones in for an interview. We ended up hiring one of the external candidates. One of the other external candidates was offered the regular associate position and she accepted. The person who was previously the supervisor knows people in the industry and found out that not only does the new supervisor and new associate know each other, but they are BFFs and both are friends / former college buddies of one of the other supervisors in the department. It just seems strange that both of them applied for the same position and both were hired, one as the supervisor and the other as an associate. And neither are industry certified which was a requirement in the job posting. Of everyone now on the team or soon to be on the team (just heard that our contract position was filled), I have the highest certification.
I have a feeling the supervisor, her BFF, and my current one co-worker will be clique-y. I cannot stand cliques



I wasn't interested in eating rubbery overcooked lobster anyways. Mom always overcooks it

You want perfectly cooked lobster--start with raw frozen. It's easier than it sounds. And, I can't stand cliques either--the best advice I can give you is to not be the clique's enemy. Amazing the skills picked up over time.

hmmm that sounds fishy. I always get nervous when they hire new people here. Because there's always a connection. In my job-it's not what you know. It's WHO you know. Which BLOWS you know WHAT!!!

I am so used to being on the outside and not included in groups but I can understand why you don't like cliques. I hate how people are so disrespectful these days and don't pay attention to how their actions hurt others. Both in private and work. Sounds like maybe time to move on? Or just stick to your guns-don't do extra work-let them figure it out. Sounds an awful lot like playing favorites. I used to think being in a union would stop that=found out nope. Doesn't matter if it's union or non. We all have games we have to play. It gets very tiring. I hear you. Sorry they are such stuck up you know whats.

I hate that sort of thing myself. One of the good things about my job is that we are a team. Anyone who isn't playing with the team--leaves. (Our newest "teammate" is trying to sow dissension and make us stop cooperating with each other--I don't think he's going to last long.)

I admit that I'm a complicated introvert and don't care for groups but it does bother me when I'm exluded from team activities because of the clique-iness. What I liked about my previous supervisor was that she hated cliques too and made sure that I had a say in everything and the team actually functioned as a team, even with the two guys who technically weren't part of the team anymore. We'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks as the supervisor and associate settle into their roles. I never interviewed the associate when she was brought in for the supervisor interview so I have no idea what she is like. My current co-worker only said she was unimpressed with the person.

I don't think I've ever had perfectly cooked lobster When I've had it in restaurants, even seafood ones, the lobster was still somewhat rubbery and tough.

My husband enjoys a good fried flounder, but he's never been one to go to a seafood restaurant. Nearly 20 years ago I talked him into taking me to Red Lobster. He was admiring the pretty fish tank with all the lobsters in it and made a comment about how the tank added a nice bit of decoration but he was wondering about why their claws were rubber-banded. I told him it wasn't decoration, that if someone ordered lobster, they were told to pick out the one they wanted for dinner, and the binding of the claws was to keep them from damaging each other since they were inventory. He looked horrified and I don't remember what he said, but I realized he had no clue about how shellfish were cooked. I explained that lobsters and crabs released a toxin when killed that makes the meat inedible, so they have to be cooked alive to keep the toxin from being released, and that's why there was a tank of live lobster instead of humanely killed lobster waiting in the fridge for ordering.

To this day I'm not allowed to have cooked crab or lobster bought from the grocery store in the house, nor can I order lobster or crab at a restaurant that cooks live ones. It's only been the last couple of years that he can handle us getting lobster tails at steakhouses that get them pre-cooked. Don't get me wrong, he's not a tyrant nor does he expect obedience, but he is a major animal lover and knowing how they are cooked was just too much for him so I respect his sensitivity in this matter.

I wonder if the rules of cooking have changed--one of the things I learned in an online cooking class is how to quickly and cleanly kill the lobster before cooking it.

I don't eat any of those as I am allergic to shellfish although when I was little we would hunt for crayfish at night and bring them home in a bucket and my mom would have a big kettle of water boiling and we would dump the crayfish in there and eat them as soon as they were bright red, just the claws and the tail/body. I don't know when the allergy set in but by age 18 they would give me horrible nausea and I would upchuck until I thought my toes would come up. I have since then discovered that it takes only about half an hour with just the tiniest bit of shellfish, like a sauce that had clams in it, to give me that reaction, so please do eat all the shellfish you want, eat my portion too, just don't offer any to me and don't try to sneak any to me either, the result is not pretty.

We used to go hunting for crawdads (I think that's another term for crayfish) as kids too.

oh crap my dryer is dead again. It runs but won't heat up. I don't like new appliances. Jon wants to buy a new cheap one. nope I told him. Let me find a good maytag from the early 2000s. I HATE buying new stuff when there's plenty of used items out there. I tried to research how to fix it-since the last fix cost $600=I assume buy a used one for $100. Rather than buy a new one for $500 only to die 2 years later. The motors are junk. They use cheap wiring and cheaper Chinese parts that wear out faster or don't hold up to the heat.

I found a site that shows me how to trouble shoot it- evidently there's a way to toggle error codes like in our car computer-but that doesn't mean I can fix it. It looks complicated and we don't have a ton of room for dismantling. The lazy part of me says take it to the dump and just buy a new one=where they deliver.

I have no patience for eating Lobster-I like it-but nope I just assume get steamers or fried clams. yum!

All I can do is tip my hat and say good luck.

that sounds like a headache. I will see what it is tonight. We already fixed it once before-There's not much room to work where the dryer is. I am hoping Jon can help me pull it apart and I can buy the part-but sometimes it's just time to send it to the dump.

I also think it could be lint buildup in the back-I will see what I can do tonight.

I hope he took the wet clothes to the laundry matt. He's still dealing with body aches and pains and won't go to a new doctor-he needs a primary doc-he won't listen to me-so now I will make sure he understands that things still need to get done-but he did cut some tree branches yesterday-I told him he needs to rest more and stop being superman. My foot is still sore but I will hopefully have enough tools to take apart the covers on the dryer-he's got a voltage meter to make sure there's enough volts going across the terminals as well as check the codes on the digital readout. Too bad they don't post this information right on the panel-same as with new tv-how to reset it.

I found a dryer for $25. I don't know if it works=I still would need to take the covers off and clean out the lint...but buying a new one at least I can send it back if it's fouled up-not sure what to do...but I will figure something out...

it's very muggy out-so hopefully it cools down enough tonight because it's hard to work in the corner where the dryer is without air conditioning..yes I am whining.

Whine away. Sometimes it helps.

My fridge is leaking into the crisper drawer :/. I thought it was a one-time thing because a bottle broke in there and I thought it was that stuff that ran into the drawer. But I cleaned it out and yup, it has water in it again. So I googled it and apparently the drain line is clogged but it's an easy fix (supposedly!) so I guess that's what I'll be doing this evening. They better be right about it being quick and easy!

Good luck!

I won't eat anything boiled alive either. Once my now-ex and I went to Maine on vacation where of course, he had to eat freshly caught lobsters. I had to sit at a far table on the outside platform with my back to the entire operation because otherwise it was too upsetting. Ditto with crabs. Since I live in Maryland, crabs are a big thing here and I can never watch the cooking process, much less eat what I'm told is a delicious delicacy. Ugh - I can feel myself getting ready to mount my soapbox so will shut up now!

foxxycat - I'm so glad to hear that your foot is feeling better. That's an utter pain about your drier, though. If I could get a newer, working one for $25 I probably wouldn't even waste the time working on the old one, although having to go through the installation of the new and disposal of the old does make that idea less attractive.

Today is an exciting day at our house. Paul and Chula got a gigantic new scratching post. It only takes two screws to put together - I don't see how I can mess that up. If there's a way, I'll find it though.

Post pics!

 

[foxxycat]

I got a code from the dryer- F-25. Google search It says it's an outlet thermistor which is connected to high limit thermostat. It suggests replacing these parts. Also it could be a failed heat element.

I showed Jon how to get the error codes to show up=ingenious! I told him we need to pull it away from the wall and take it apart. He will need to vacuum out the lint in the back and we need to add some kind of booster motor to blow the air out-evidently the motors don't have enough power to blow the air out which causes lint buildup behind the dryer. What a headache. And the engineers who build these things keep using thinner and cheaper materials which fail. I told Jon I want a commercial dryer like they have at the laundry matt. So for now I will attempt to fix this switch or he will fix it for me-if it works-great. Then once a year we will take it apart and vacuum out the lint-if not-I want a 1990s maytag dryer or industrial one. No more average appliances. I also looked into speed queen dryer- $800. I think we will fix it one more time then switch to something else.

Pumpkin face-someone asked about her weight- she's 12.5 lb and used to be 10 lbs. She looks healthy-blood work is good=at least 2 years ago it was. She was more comfortable last night- I got her to take her liquid meds which she hates-she looked comfortable last night. I have to get a refill of it. Gabapentin.

Honeybee didn't sleep with me even though I kept air on 71. Jon slept in the bedroom complaining it's too cold...good grief! we have tons of blankets! I need my blankets!! Honeybee whined all morning to let her out but it was pouring out-she sits in the rain then leaves muddy prints everywhere.

 

[arouetta]

Okay, so I finally figured out why Midway yowls early in the morning. I just don't know what to do about it. He's lonely, and he's trying to make someone get up so he's not alone. Correction, he's trying to make a human get up so he's not alone.

A bit of background, my husband works on average 60 hours a week. Sometimes he leaves for work prior to Midway's yowling. Other days he's working the late shift and needs his sleep, or he's off and needs his sleep. Me, I often work until 11pm, I recover from work by staying up and relaxing the brain until 12am or even a little later, and Seroquel knocks me stupid. Sleeping in is a requirement. My daughter, we've fought the sleep battles for years and we've pretty much lost the war, so she stays up really late (around 3am), gets up when my husband does to feed the cats and any needed things that he unexpectedly needs prior to leaving, and then goes back to bed until I tell her to get up. She normally works evenings as well, never goes in prior to 12pm.

So work has pretty much made our schedules late to bed, late to rise. Shadow just sleeps a lot, Montressor sleeps in until I get up. Midway has apparently not gotten the memo that he needs to join the family schedule....or he's completely ignoring the memo.

Midway has also gotten worse about knocking stuff down. I think that's also a behavior caused by wanting to force people to get up so he won't be lonely.

Any ideas for combating his lonely feelings without traveling down the path of sleep deprivation?

 

[Mother Dragon]

Have you tried cat videos? You could set a timer for them to start. We found no sound was just as good as sound. Or perhaps a recording of your voice, again set on a timer? There are also some interactive toys that have timers. I saw them on Chewey. There are also timed feeders.

A really exhaustive play session just before you go to bed might leave him tired enough to sleep for a long while.

There's a really great product to fasten down things you want to stay put. It's easily removable, too. It's called Museum Tack. It's sort of a putty that you gently work to soften. You put a tiny ball of it on the bottom of whatever you want to stay put and press it down. My weather station display has stayed in place for years despite all of the cats bumping it, jumping over it, and nudging it.

I wish I had more and better answers. Please let us know what you find that works.

 

[foxxycat]

Good suggestion above ^^^

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Last night, in the deep quiet hours
I sat, silent.
Across from me, on a swath of grass
Dotted by trees and bushes
Silvered by moonlight
One shadow emerged and became
A cat.
Close on her heels came
Two more, tiny little mites.
They played there,
Mama and kits
Gamboling on the lawn
Until headlights flashed by
(a neighbor wending his way home from work)
Quietly those three shadows slipped beneath
Their pampas grass home
And I was alone again,
Entranced and wondering...

 

[margd]

What a lovely poem, Mamanyt1953 . It's so evocative of the quiet magic that summer evenings can bring. And such a sweet description of mama and kits.

 

[debbila]

that sounds like a headache. I will see what it is tonight. We already fixed it once before-There's not much room to work where the dryer is. I am hoping Jon can help me pull it apart and I can buy the part-but sometimes it's just time to send it to the dump.

I also think it could be lint buildup in the back-I will see what I can do tonight.

I hope he took the wet clothes to the laundry matt. He's still dealing with body aches and pains and won't go to a new doctor-he needs a primary doc-he won't listen to me-so now I will make sure he understands that things still need to get done-but he did cut some tree branches yesterday-I told him he needs to rest more and stop being superman. My foot is still sore but I will hopefully have enough tools to take apart the covers on the dryer-he's got a voltage meter to make sure there's enough volts going across the terminals as well as check the codes on the digital readout. Too bad they don't post this information right on the panel-same as with new tv-how to reset it.

I found a dryer for $25. I don't know if it works=I still would need to take the covers off and clean out the lint...but buying a new one at least I can send it back if it's fouled up-not sure what to do...but I will figure something out...hat
it's very muggy out-so hopefully it cools down enough tonight because it's hard to work in the corner where the dryer is without air conditioning..yes I am whining.

,
Home warranties are great! I've had one for years. They cover every appliance you have, even plumbing. The yearly fee and the service fee is nothing compared to what it costs to fix or buy new.They replace anything that can't be fixed or costs them too much to fix. I've had my central AC, my microwave, my plumbing, and my garage door fixed. They replaced my garbage disposal, kitchen faucet, and the garage door system.
You might want to think about getting one. The yearly fee is less than the price of a new front load dryer.

 

[arouetta]

(Long, feel free to skip.)

So I've been half-heartedly applying to jobs and now I want to get serious about it. One thing I'm worried about is ageism. I'm in my mid-40s, not the worst age for getting a new job but getting up there. My mother pulled my first gray hair out of my head when I was 11 and around 25 I had a nice little skunk stripe. However it is in the worst place, so far forward it's close to the top of my forehead and right where my natural part is, so it goes in all directions when you look me in the face. Somewhere between 40 and 41 the gray started to spread a bit so I've been plucking the odd gray hair out of the sides of my head. So I decided it was time to dye it.

People at my last job discouraged me from dyeing, saying I didn't have enough gray to justify it. But with that skunk stripe, it's pretty obvious to interviewers, so a couple of weeks ago I looked at hair dye. While my hair is long, it is not quite long enough to pull forward and compare against the boxes so I couldn't quite figure out if I was a "dark brown" or "darkest brown". Last week I got coupons for hair dye and asked a fellow customer what she thought. She said "dark brown".

I was pretty nervous, since I've got seborrheic dermatitis and right now the worst of it is in my hair. So I got prepared to abort the dye job by being ready to shower if things went bad. Started putting it in my hair and when it hit those areas it BURNT! But it was no worse than dandruff shampoo after I've had a serious itching fit so I gave it a little time and the burn went away, just like with dandruff shampoo.

Waited the time, jumped in the shower. Rinsed it out really good, but I didn't dare open my eyes. My family uses a different shampoo, so I decided to use that for the first wash. My eyes closed, fumbled for the shampoo, and dropped it. Luckily it didn't land on my foot. It's a pump bottle, so I didn't have to worry about shampoo washing down the drain, but it's a completely full 36 oz pump bottle, so it really would have hurt had it landed on my foot.

After multiple washings I finally felt safe enough to open my eyes. And I saw that at some point I had splashed loose hair dye on the side of the shower. I have a hose with the shower head attached, took it down and sprayed the wall. Came right off.....except for the caulking. That's now dyed lavender purple.

There was some kind of conditioner included in the kit and in my young and foolish days I had gone platinum blonde more than once. So I had brought a comb into the shower with me, since I learned during those young and foolish days that combing in conditioner is more effective than working it in with your fingers. I kept pulling solid pieces of dark purple dye out of my hair every time I combed it. What the heck? The dye solidified??? Then I realized the dark purple chunks were related to my seborrheic dermatitis. For those with a strong stomach and a curious mind, read up on the condition and you'll figure out what got dyed.

Finished with the dandruff shampoo and the family's conditioner that I never normally use. When it came time to brush my hair I looked carefully at it in the mirror and saw a bit too much red. Whoops, guess I'm actually "darkest brown" instead of "dark brown". The redder areas are where there was gray and the end result just didn't turn out as dark as my natural color. Good thing the dye had red in it, you can't really tell but I have a lot of red in my hair. Found that out during the initial platinum blonde bleaching, the hairdresser got the brown out in half an hour and the red out in 3 hours. I had a nice strawberry blonde color going on while she was still trying to get the red out.

I don't own a hair dryer so I'm waiting for it to dry to tell how obvious the color difference is. Wet, it doesn't look like it's obvious, it looks like it will blend well. But when hair dries it gets lighter, so I don't know how the end shade differences will look together. Crossing my fingers that I won't look so ridiculous that I need to follow up with a second, darker dye.

 

[LTS3]

Can I whine and vent?

Today there was a geneal meeting for not only my team but the main team (my team is kind of separate from the main team). Our manager did the usual announcements of new staff, general department news, etc. He also congratulated my one co-worker (who was not present at the meeting) for the recognition she received from the lab for everything she has done in the past few months while our team transitioned from being under the lab's control to another department. Great but all I could think was "What about me????" Why did I not get recognized as well??? I do a lot more than my co-worker and our previous supervisor totally agrees. I later texted the previous supervisor (we keep in touch) about it and she said it was just the lab playing favorites and creating distrust and to ignore the games they play. Still, I'm really disappointed that the lab didn't recognize me as well for my part in keeping the facilities from falling apart during the transition

My co-worker was in a sour mood today. I dropped by after the meeting to giver her supplies I knew she needed. I could tell right away that she was not in a good mood. I'm guessing there's some resentment towards me beause I am getting help every day while she only gets help twice a week. My co-worker does not know that I am on work restrictions. Our manager just said that he has a person assigned to help me for the next few months. The new supervisor is still in and out of trainings so she hasn't been able to help much.

I made a suggestion to set up a shared calendar in Outlook so the team can see when people are out of the office. This was something I suggested to the prevous supervisor who liked the idea but couldn't let me set one up because at the time the lab head demanded full access to our private Outlook calendars (didn't happen. I complained to HR about it and they dealt with the lab head). The new supervisor seemed fine with the suggestion. Our manager said a shared calendar already exists for the main team and we should just use that. I've seen that calendar and it's too to see the time off for 20+ people. I don't care to know if X person is on vacation for a week. I just want to see my team. I'm tempted to just set up a shared calendar anyways just for my team. The new supervisor can just add our time off to the other calendar.

 

[arouetta]

Can I whine and vent?

Of course! Everyone needs a pity party from time to time to stay sane.

My co-worker was in a sour mood today. I dropped by after the meeting to giver her supplies I knew she needed. I could tell right away that she was not in a good mood. I'm guessing there's some resentment towards me beause I am getting help every day while she only gets help twice a week. My co-worker does not know that I am on work restrictions. Our manager just said that he has a person assigned to help me for the next few months. The new supervisor is still in and out of trainings so she hasn't been able to help much.

If you feel comfortable sharing, it might be a good idea to let her know about the work restrictions. I just yesterday got off my work restrictions, so been there done that. I found that people who hadn't heard of the restrictions were pretty resentful when I called for help for something a person should do alone and then I didn't help with the lifting. People who did know I had restrictions were more than happy to do the same exact task for me.

 

[tallyollyopia]

I got a code from the dryer- F-25. Google search It says it's an outlet thermistor which is connected to high limit thermostat. It suggests replacing these parts. Also it could be a failed heat element.

I showed Jon how to get the error codes to show up=ingenious! I told him we need to pull it away from the wall and take it apart. He will need to vacuum out the lint in the back and we need to add some kind of booster motor to blow the air out-evidently the motors don't have enough power to blow the air out which causes lint buildup behind the dryer. What a headache. And the engineers who build these things keep using thinner and cheaper materials which fail. I told Jon I want a commercial dryer like they have at the laundry matt. So for now I will attempt to fix this switch or he will fix it for me-if it works-great. Then once a year we will take it apart and vacuum out the lint-if not-I want a 1990s maytag dryer or industrial one. No more average appliances. I also looked into speed queen dryer- $800. I think we will fix it one more time then switch to something else.

Pumpkin face-someone asked about her weight- she's 12.5 lb and used to be 10 lbs. She looks healthy-blood work is good=at least 2 years ago it was. She was more comfortable last night- I got her to take her liquid meds which she hates-she looked comfortable last night. I have to get a refill of it. Gabapentin.

Honeybee didn't sleep with me even though I kept air on 71. Jon slept in the bedroom complaining it's too cold...good grief! we have tons of blankets! I need my blankets!! Honeybee whined all morning to let her out but it was pouring out-she sits in the rain then leaves muddy prints everywhere.

Have you tried cat videos? You could set a timer for them to start. We found no sound was just as good as sound. Or perhaps a recording of your voice, again set on a timer? There are also some interactive toys that have timers. I saw them on Chewey. There are also timed feeders.

A really exhaustive play session just before you go to bed might leave him tired enough to sleep for a long while.

There's a really great product to fasten down things you want to stay put. It's easily removable, too. It's called Museum Tack. It's sort of a putty that you gently work to soften. You put a tiny ball of it on the bottom of whatever you want to stay put and press it down. My weather station display has stayed in place for years despite all of the cats bumping it, jumping over it, and nudging it.

I wish I had more and better answers. Please let us know what you find that works.

Last night, in the deep quiet hours
I sat, silent.
Across from me, on a swath of grass
Dotted by trees and bushes
Silvered by moonlight
One shadow emerged and became
A cat.
Close on her heels came
Two more, tiny little mites.
They played there,
Mama and kits
Gamboling on the lawn
Until headlights flashed by
(a neighbor wending his way home from work)
Quietly those three shadows slipped beneath
Their pampas grass home
And I was alone again,
Entranced and wondering...

What a lovely poem, Mamanyt1953 . It's so evocative of the quiet magic that summer evenings can bring. And such a sweet description of mama and kits.

,
Home warranties are great! I've had one for years. They cover every appliance you have, even plumbing. The yearly fee and the service fee is nothing compared to what it costs to fix or buy new.They replace anything that can't be fixed or costs them too much to fix. I've had my central AC, my microwave, my plumbing, and my garage door fixed. They replaced my garbage disposal, kitchen faucet, and the garage door system.
You might want to think about getting one. The yearly fee is less than the price of a new front load dryer.

I might look into that for our home.

(Long, feel free to skip.)

So I've been half-heartedly applying to jobs and now I want to get serious about it. One thing I'm worried about is ageism. I'm in my mid-40s, not the worst age for getting a new job but getting up there. My mother pulled my first gray hair out of my head when I was 11 and around 25 I had a nice little skunk stripe. However it is in the worst place, so far forward it's close to the top of my forehead and right where my natural part is, so it goes in all directions when you look me in the face. Somewhere between 40 and 41 the gray started to spread a bit so I've been plucking the odd gray hair out of the sides of my head. So I decided it was time to dye it.

People at my last job discouraged me from dyeing, saying I didn't have enough gray to justify it. But with that skunk stripe, it's pretty obvious to interviewers, so a couple of weeks ago I looked at hair dye. While my hair is long, it is not quite long enough to pull forward and compare against the boxes so I couldn't quite figure out if I was a "dark brown" or "darkest brown". Last week I got coupons for hair dye and asked a fellow customer what she thought. She said "dark brown".

I was pretty nervous, since I've got seborrheic dermatitis and right now the worst of it is in my hair. So I got prepared to abort the dye job by being ready to shower if things went bad. Started putting it in my hair and when it hit those areas it BURNT! But it was no worse than dandruff shampoo after I've had a serious itching fit so I gave it a little time and the burn went away, just like with dandruff shampoo.

Waited the time, jumped in the shower. Rinsed it out really good, but I didn't dare open my eyes. My family uses a different shampoo, so I decided to use that for the first wash. My eyes closed, fumbled for the shampoo, and dropped it. Luckily it didn't land on my foot. It's a pump bottle, so I didn't have to worry about shampoo washing down the drain, but it's a completely full 36 oz pump bottle, so it really would have hurt had it landed on my foot.

After multiple washings I finally felt safe enough to open my eyes. And I saw that at some point I had splashed loose hair dye on the side of the shower. I have a hose with the shower head attached, took it down and sprayed the wall. Came right off.....except for the caulking. That's now dyed lavender purple.

There was some kind of conditioner included in the kit and in my young and foolish days I had gone platinum blonde more than once. So I had brought a comb into the shower with me, since I learned during those young and foolish days that combing in conditioner is more effective than working it in with your fingers. I kept pulling solid pieces of dark purple dye out of my hair every time I combed it. What the heck? The dye solidified??? Then I realized the dark purple chunks were related to my seborrheic dermatitis. For those with a strong stomach and a curious mind, read up on the condition and you'll figure out what got dyed.

Finished with the dandruff shampoo and the family's conditioner that I never normally use. When it came time to brush my hair I looked carefully at it in the mirror and saw a bit too much red. Whoops, guess I'm actually "darkest brown" instead of "dark brown". The redder areas are where there was gray and the end result just didn't turn out as dark as my natural color. Good thing the dye had red in it, you can't really tell but I have a lot of red in my hair. Found that out during the initial platinum blonde bleaching, the hairdresser got the brown out in half an hour and the red out in 3 hours. I had a nice strawberry blonde color going on while she was still trying to get the red out.

I don't own a hair dryer so I'm waiting for it to dry to tell how obvious the color difference is. Wet, it doesn't look like it's obvious, it looks like it will blend well. But when hair dries it gets lighter, so I don't know how the end shade differences will look together. Crossing my fingers that I won't look so ridiculous that I need to follow up with a second, darker dye.

good luck on both your new hairstyle and a new job.

Can I whine and vent?

Today there was a geneal meeting for not only my team but the main team (my team is kind of separate from the main team). Our manager did the usual announcements of new staff, general department news, etc. He also congratulated my one co-worker (who was not present at the meeting) for the recognition she received from the lab for everything she has done in the past few months while our team transitioned from being under the lab's control to another department. Great but all I could think was "What about me????" Why did I not get recognized as well??? I do a lot more than my co-worker and our previous supervisor totally agrees. I later texted the previous supervisor (we keep in touch) about it and she said it was just the lab playing favorites and creating distrust and to ignore the games they play. Still, I'm really disappointed that the lab didn't recognize me as well for my part in keeping the facilities from falling apart during the transition

My co-worker was in a sour mood today. I dropped by after the meeting to giver her supplies I knew she needed. I could tell right away that she was not in a good mood. I'm guessing there's some resentment towards me beause I am getting help every day while she only gets help twice a week. My co-worker does not know that I am on work restrictions. Our manager just said that he has a person assigned to help me for the next few months. The new supervisor is still in and out of trainings so she hasn't been able to help much.

I made a suggestion to set up a shared calendar in Outlook so the team can see when people are out of the office. This was something I suggested to the prevous supervisor who liked the idea but couldn't let me set one up because at the time the lab head demanded full access to our private Outlook calendars (didn't happen. I complained to HR about it and they dealt with the lab head). The new supervisor seemed fine with the suggestion. Our manager said a shared calendar already exists for the main team and we should just use that. I've seen that calendar and it's too to see the time off for 20+ people. I don't care to know if X person is on vacation for a week. I just want to see my team. I'm tempted to just set up a shared calendar anyways just for my team. The new supervisor can just add our time off to the other calendar.

Vent away, everyone needs a little venting. All I can say is .

 

[tallyollyopia]

Okay, warning to all: The beautiful flower, Red Hot Poker Kniphofia is poisonous. AWM got some from a friend, and (not knowing) we put them up in the house. They look awesome. And then we all started getting sick. Headaches, dizziness, nausea, coughing, sneezing and more. We took the flowers to the dump (in a triple plastic bag), and aired out the house--and we're all doing much better. (Still a little off-kilter, but hoping that goes away soon.) So--pretty plant--don't touch or take home.

 

[LTS3]

I give up The new associate director was copied on the emails about the shared calendar and he just wants one calendar for the entire team (the main team and my team) to use. It just annoys me that people say they're open to suggestions and ideas and blah blah blah but whenever I make a suggestion it gets shot down every single time And then those same people say that I never make suggestions and am not a team player and blah blah blah So what exactly do they want?

I don't feel comfortable telling my co-worker about my work restrictions at all. She'll probably hear it from the new supervisor anyways since they're slowly getting chummy with each other. Then she might tell the guys in the lab who may tell other people We are working July 4 together and she's going to have to help me.

 

[tallyollyopia]

I give up The new associate director was copied on the emails about the shared calendar and he just wants one calendar for the entire team (the main team and my team) to use. It just annoys me that people say they're open to suggestions and ideas and blah blah blah but whenever I make a suggestion it gets shot down every single time And then those same people say that I never make suggestions and am not a team player and blah blah blah So what exactly do they want?

I don't feel comfortable telling my co-worker about my work restrictions at all. She'll probably hear it from the new supervisor anyways since they're slowly getting chummy with each other. Then she might tell the guys in the lab who may tell other people We are working July 4 together and she's going to have to help me.

I'm afraid that in situations like that, there's really nothing you can do other than grin and bear it. As for your current suggestion, did you ask why he just wants one calendar? Maybe there's a reason and a compromise that can be worked out.

Well, the guests are finally gone, so I can vent. And this is just venting--no need to read further. IB's grandfather (not related to us) died and he came down for the weekend for the funeral. The original plan was for him to stay at his parents' place (he's adopted and AWM has been advocating reconciliation for some time) while Rose stayed with us (he couldn't find a pet sitter for her, and was afraid to stick her in a kennel for the four-day trip). Well, that quickly got thrown out the window when he remembered how much he doesn't like his parents, so he ended up staying with us. Excuse me--he and his GF (who wasn't supposed to come down) ended up staying with us. This meant that all my careful plans to keep Rose separated from the other cats (whom she hasn't seen in almost a year) were thrown completely and totally out the window as he decided that she missed her kittens. (She didn't. She's been enjoying the life of a single cat and is now totally spoiled rotten.) Oddly enough, she got along with the other cats--for the most part. For some reason, she developed a hatred for Princess. She would ambush Princess while sleeping, block her away from food, and everything I did to try and mitigate the problem was countered. Bad enough--except he also decided to throw several parties while he was here! Without informing us! I will be the first to admit (unless someone from work is asking and then I lie my little rear off) that I am not a people person. Going from work where I have to pretend to like people all night (not to mention training the whining priss who tried to make me angry at my AM for being late--she has a three-month-old--life happens) to a party on the back porch (the front door is broken) is just--just too much for me. And then I get scolded (by the GF who seems to be auditioning for Sister-In-Law) for being unsociable. Not only that, but every time I tried to retreat into my laptop or a book I had people peering over my shoulder, grabbing and pulling down the screen of the laptop (I threatened to bill one of the jerks who did that) just so that they could see what I was doing on the internet (hence, why I had to wait for them to leave). To top this madness off, she was sick and the smell of anything stronger than toast (and no, pregnancy is not a possible cause) made her ill. Now, I have no sense of smell--but I work hard at work, both physically and mentally, and when I get home I need food. Real food, with nutrients, and not dry toast. (And this is the same woman who was perfectly fine sitting out on the back porch in a cloud of cigarette smoke--I really don't think my frozen dinners were torture.) However, she was sick, and IB was grieving (I think), so before they left I baked them a loaf of banana bread (recipe over in the Foodie section) for them to take home. (This was while all of us were still sick from the pollen of that plant I mentioned a few posts ago, for context.) She turned right around and tried to guilt me into baking a second loaf (when it was all I could do to make the first one) and then, while I was trying to be calm and pleasant, IB came over and said that he wanted to leave the spoiled rotten cat here, and take timid little Asia with him back home. I got very unpleasant at that (and probably said a few words that I shouldn't have, all things considered), and made sure that when they left I was able to account for all my cats. And then, and then IB demanded to know why I didn't trust him! It's possible that the lack of down time made me overreact to some things--but I'm pretty sure I reacted with just the right amount of anger at others.

Well, I'm signing off to get ready for bed so I can go to work tonight. At least tomorrow morning I won't have to deal with all the other stuff I've been dealing with, and can actually get some down time before work.

 

[foxxycat]

,
Home warranties are great! I've had one for years. They cover every appliance you have, even plumbing. The yearly fee and the service fee is nothing compared to what it costs to fix or buy new.They replace anything that can't be fixed or costs them too much to fix. I've had my central AC, my microwave, my plumbing, and my garage door fixed. They replaced my garbage disposal, kitchen faucet, and the garage door system.
You might want to think about getting one. The yearly fee is less than the price of a new front load dryer.

Unfortunately None of my appliances are in this century. Other than the washer/dryer- Not likely they will give me a warranty and I think $500 a year for something I never use is too much. I don't have a garage or standard home so doubt that I will qualify. Thank you for the offer!

Last night he took the dryer apart and the tubing was stuffed full of lint. I have to see about wiring an axillary booster blower motor on there=the motor doesn't have enough UMP to blow the lint out-so we will have to do this every 6 months. we also looking for a new exhaust hose that's shorter and rigid. I think part of the problem is the tube is very long-so if we only need an elbow bend to go from the bottom of dryer to the back of dryer in the floor where the shoot is built=maybe it won't clog up as fast.

Today I will be looking up parts to order now that I have the model number..I think he was enjoying himself.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Thank you, margd and tallyollyopia . It actually didn't start out to be a poem, that's pretty much how my thought processes work when I'm just relaxed and observing. I almost have to concentrate, or at least change gears to have conversations. And often my thoughts are totally wordless, they are made up of images and emotions. Regardless, I'm glad you enjoyed my night.

OK...It is my monthly shopping day, and Suzanne has been over here drinking coffee and talking a mile a minute since 10 AM! She just left, so I'm getting a late start. I will try to get back on the forums when I get home and everything is put away, but I'm making no promises just now. It's hot, and humid, and I'll be pretty wiped out. If I don't get back online today, I'm thinking of you all, and wishing so hard that I could be here, not there!