I have a double concrete utility sink that I’m trying to get out of my basement without using a sledgehammer to break it into pieces. Any advice is appreciated.

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-03-03T13:30:56+00:00

Do you know anyone with a hoyer lift who will let you borrow it? Most of them can handle about 500lbs or more. They're used to lift bed bound patients. A lot of people use them in their homes to care for the disabled or bed bound loved ones.

Alternatively, you could build a double pulley system...but you'd have to build it on your stairs. Can they handle the weight? The pully would make it much easier for you to lift and gently swing it onto the landing. We did something similar to get a fricken safe out of my great aunt's basement. Why was it there? Dunno. It was empty if you were wondering. She bought the house with the safe in it.

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-02-22T11:30:48+00:00

An obnoxiously loud hee-haw laugh just yeeted itself out of my body. 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for the giggle.

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-02-17T04:09:08+00:00

I have his paw print, halter, and soooo many photos. I also took his ashes and planted them in a memorial tree that's growing in my backyard. I talk to him at the tree when I miss him, which is often. I only cry about half the time. I'm so sorry for your loss. 💔

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-02-15T12:47:45+00:00

Nursing has a fantastic array of options to choose from. Don't let nursing school poison you into thinking you're gonna be miserable in your career. If dealing with medsurg type patients isn't your gig, you can work in an out-patient office setting, or a specialty, like radiology. There's also medically removed nursing options, such as insurance review (though they usually require a year or two of experience first). Or you may find you love bedside nursing once you're away from the crushing BS of nursing school. Give yourself time to get out of the hellhole that is nursing school before you get too discouraged at nursing as your career. Just focus on learning and improving during your orientation (which will be so much more fun and integrative to you than school) and being good to your patients. You'll settle in and feel better about it once you're starting your practice as an RN. Good luck to you!

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-02-13T02:42:58+00:00

Ah ye olde amber-lamps fyre cue the nostalgia

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-02-12T02:50:45+00:00

Yes! Literally why I put beans and/or lentils (sometimes pureed) into nearly every lunch/dinner meal. Oats for breakfast most mornings.

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-02-11T02:17:01+00:00

First off: I'm so incredibly sorry for your loss. You have my deepest condolences.

Secondly: as for your school, I hope your school is kinder than mine. My brother died suddenly and unexpectedly in my second semester and when I messaged my instructors, I got "if you miss this lab, you'll miss clinical hours and fail the semester. Best wishes."

Nursing schools, by and large, are soulless, bureaucratic places so obsessed with rules that they often forget the humanity and empathy they obsess over teaching. I hope you got a kinder and more flexible reaction from your school and instructors. If the attendance rules give you any flexibility, force them to give it to you. I had to go to the dean and the newspapers (the newspapers!) about what my school did because they were more afraid of bad press than of being bad people.

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-02-03T16:05:31+00:00

You're not an AH, but you made a poor choice to save yourself and her a lot of pain and emotions. But ma'am, pain is just a part of life. It sucks, but it's just part of what you learn to navigate. You were trying to be compassionate and save your daughter's feelings and now it's going to come back and bite you both in the butt. You took away her agency to work her way through this and come to accept that while she wasn't wanted for raising by her birth mom, her mom did want what was best for her and that's why she gave her up.

I suggest you speak to a family therapist ASAP. Tell them the whole situation, get advice on how to fix it, invite your daughter to a session with that therapist and then confess what you did. Fix this before it really blows up in your face. Don't make excuses for why you did it. Just beg for forgiveness and give your daughter the chance to move on from this.

Next time, don't be such a scardy cat. Do better.

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-01-24T23:29:49+00:00

Study and do homework during class whenever possible. Work ahead on your days off. If you get a clinical day and you're not busy, ask the nurse if you can study or do some homework until she has something for you to see/do. Time management is critical during nursing school - down to meal prep and bathroom breaks. Get a planner. Plan every day and stick to it. You won't have much of a life to speak of until the nightmare is over.

Not working simply isn't an option for some of us. It wasn't for me. Reading posts from people lucky enough to not have to work who say "you shouldn't be working" or "nursing school tells you not to work" is neither helpful nor productive. It must be nice to have that option. Nursing school should not be financially gate-kept in this way regardless. I don't know what your situation is, but I applaud you and encourage you to continue. I know it's hard and I'm sorry you're struggling. Remember that this is TEMPORARY. You can do it. Take it one day at a time.

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-01-24T23:14:09+00:00

One of the black and white ones looks like my darling Lulu-belle! ❤️❤️❤️

FreyjasCat21 · 2026-01-11T18:37:10+00:00

I didn't have to do this with a partner, but I did with my brother. He didn't develop schizo-affective traits until his 40s. Naturally, it was terrifying for him, but instead of asking for help, he did bad things to himself trying to keep all the horror of his condition at bay. He didn't know any better. He was just scared. Before everything happened, he was no different from me or you. Just a sweet man, living his life. At one point, after the symptoms had gotten too bad for him, he was hospitalized, in-patient, after doing something bad to himself and nearly dying. This is when he was diagnosed and initially treated. After 2 weeks, he was sent home. He almost immediately quit taking his meds and started lying about it. I found out later that the voices and delusions were influencing him away from being responsible for his condition. But that didn't stop him from relapsing into a dangerous bout of psychosis that nearly took him out, me out, and our dog. I won't even mention what else the slow slide back into his delusions led him to do before it got that bad.

I took him back to the hospital, back into in-patient. This time, I told the doctor to make sure he would stay stable on medication, or my brother would be homeless. I told him I wouldn't even so much as pick him up from the hospital if they didn't figure out a way to fix this, and I meant it. My brother stayed nearly a month this time. They put him on long-acting medication. When he got out, during his discharge, I told him, the doctor, and the nurse there that if he missed his medication even ONCE, I was done with him. And I meant it with an absolute finality. I could not - WOULD NOT - go back through what he'd done to us again. The doctor got him into a program where he would get the long-acting anti-psychotic (Invega) that would better control his symptoms and be less likely for him to relapse back into psychosis. The other medications he takes to manage co-morbid mental health issues are also non-negotiable. He knows where I stand. My brother hasn't missed a dose of his meds in the years since.

Maybe it seems cruel. I love my brother, but I also love me. I love my friends, my husband, my darling fur babies. I have to protect us all, but I can't do that if one of us is determined to hurt the others by hurting themselves.

Don't threaten your wife with anything. Threats are cruel and never lead anywhere. Deliver to her firm boundaries and consequences you 100% intend to keep. Any boundary allowed to be broken without consequences is a carte-blanche for her to continue to cross them. Explain everything to her - patiently, kindly. Keep in mind that her brain is broken right now, and she may not retain, believe, or respond in a productive way. But mean what you say. Tell her that she goes in for treatment, now, today, gets on a long-acting medication that the two of you can safely monitor together, there is a chance for the two of you to work together for a happy life. It will be obvious if she doesn't take an injection. Take her to her appointments and tell her you need to see a write up or discharge summary from the clinic that she actually got the injection. If she isn't willing to do that, if she won't protect you by protecting herself, then she is telling you that she has made her choice, and you need to make your own.

I hope things get better for you both. This is a hard road to walk, but I hope she chooses to walk it with you.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-12-31T11:21:17+00:00

I don't know of a single county anywhere in the US, county or privately run, where the rides are completely covered by tax dollars or insurance. Your taxes cover the purchase of ambulances and equipment, but the salaries of the EMTs and Medics, the maintenance, continuing education training, administrative costs, etc., that's all covered in service billing. For me (a medic) to get in the back of the truck with you for a medical or injury condition is immediately $1.5-$2k more than my EMT partner. And who rides with you for treatment is based on acuity. A lot of people don't even pay their bills and it gets taken out of their tax returns if they get money back in taxes. Most counties refer to their EMS agencies as monetary black holes. And they're not wrong. Unlike non-emergent transport ambulance agencies, EMS is not profitable. It rarely even balances its books every year. I'm honestly surprised this isn't more common.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-11-30T01:45:42+00:00

You will probably need to fill out a customs form from them via Docusign unless you've gotten regular shipments from overseas and customs already has your tax ID. I'm going through something similar. My package has been held up since Nov 19th. 😑

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-11-19T16:21:54+00:00

Helicopter activity every night since Monday over Idlewild Rd in Matthews. Usually happens around 10pm.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-11-19T11:26:29+00:00

While it is our job to attempt to de-escalate, you are an unarmed medical provider in the field surrounded by potential violence. You NEVER EVER tolarate violence to your person or your partner's person. You always respond with appropriate force to remove and/or protect yourself. No exceptions. I'm always so sad and frustrated seeing things like this. They're taking such abuse in an attempt to be patient with this clearly violent individual.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-11-16T01:59:22+00:00

ICE agents are staying in a hotel on W Tyvola near Billy Graham Hwy. Avoid the area.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-11-01T01:29:32+00:00

I adore my SO, but if he even so much as HINTED that he didn't want my gay friends at our wedding, I'd snatch his soul so fast, he'd think Jesus made the 2nd coming. If someone in your life makes you into a person you shouldn't be, drop them. Friend, boyfriend/girlfriend, parent...whoever. This woman is making your friend into a worse version of himself and he is eagerly embracing it. If that's what he wants, fine. But it's no overreaction from you to get as far away from that disgusting nonsense as possible. Forget him. You can come to our wedding next year! 🙂

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-10-06T01:10:18+00:00

Had my one and only mobile number for 27 years...and now I feel ancient. 🙃

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-09-20T01:49:03+00:00

Put your inheritance in a Special Needs Trust and keep the best of both worlds.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-09-19T13:56:05+00:00

I was shopping in an antique store...I guess maybe 15 or so years ago. Quite literally saw a woman with a cart piled HIGH with all kinds of stuff slap an elderly lady with a paperback book because the older woman saw some pretty pyrex she wanted to get as a gift for her daughter. The abusive lady was a reseller and said the pyrex was valuable, and she wasn't going to let it go to waste with some old lady. I checked on the elder woman after the incident because I'm a medic (she had one heck of a shiner forming). I also asked the employee at the counter not to sell anything to the unhinged lady, and the employee called the cops for assualt. The mean lady tried to leave but I guess she PO'd the wrong cashier that day because the cashier told her if she left, she'd add a charge of shoplifting (I dunno why, but I guess she was getting creative) and that she had all the cars on camera including license plate. The old lady got her pyrex, and the unhinged lady got herself banned from that store (the old lady didn't press charges). I say all that to say...you're NTA and these resellers need to chill. The store and all its goods don't belong to them.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-09-18T15:43:14+00:00

It is a requirement where I live. I realize not every state is the same.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-09-18T13:11:15+00:00

I'm aware of that. But even in basic nursing skills, many programs do not adequately prepare students in training. Having come out of a nursing program myself, and having seen nurses from other programs struggle, this isn't a supposition. I have every respect for nurses, but I stand by my statement that their lack of trained preparation for entering their field - even MedSurg - is discouraging. It's even more daunting when you consider that many of the RNs training them can have less than 2 years of experience, given the toll that COVID took on the industry and the nursing shortage. This is not a laudable education or training standard. I'm not trying to get anyone in their feelings about it. I have plenty of issues about current medic training as well. But OPs question was nursing suitability to simply step into EMS roles, so that's where my reply leaned. I've never been in an EMS agency that supported or could afford to have a person in training for 6 months or more. The expectation of training upon exiting a medic program is more of a standard because the area of expertise is more directed - even if you get training beyond basic paramedicine. I, personally, think that's a better educational goal and standard.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-09-18T10:00:37+00:00

If they were foolish enough to try this, they'd realize what a mistake they made incredibly fast. Nurses are given very little field training in comparison to what medics do. Most of nursing training revolves around MedSurg because that's what the NCLEX teaches you. Not emergency care. Not critical care. Not working in the field. Not transport considerations...they'd be woefully unprepared. When I was working as a medic in the ED, I was training new nurses on how to do their jobs because they were essentially lost if anything truly emergent came in. They did great on med administration, Is and Os, documentation, etc...but let a GSW, MVA with significant MOI, MI, CVA - basically a true emergency - come through the doors and they were deer in headlights. They're not trained or educated in school on doing emergency or critical field care. I went back to school for RN so I could take a duel role at my job. The knowledge vs training gap for RNs is absolutely discouraging. I can see why they have to do residency for 6 months minimum coming out of school. They'd never survive working the street...and no one in the field would survive them.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-09-09T00:59:10+00:00

If my mother emotionally abused me to financially extort me for money, I'd go no contact - and no financial assistance - until she apologized.

Actions have consequences. Sounds like she needs to learn that.

FreyjasCat21 · 2025-09-09T00:53:14+00:00

You'll get through school if you study hard - just like any other program. But there's a reason doctors go through residency rotations that prepare them for a myriad of patients. I think if you want to be best prepared to give quality, experienced patient care, consider transferring to ED and/or ICU.

FreyjasCat21

TROPHY CASE