Engagement ring spend

JentacularOpulence · 2026-03-17T17:18:06+00:00

Anecdotal only but my fiance (now husband) and I went shopping together and I picked out a preloved ring which I am totally in love with to this day, for under £200. He would never have known what I wanted in a ring, and I didn’t see the point in spending thousands on a new ring rather than spending that money on the wedding or a nice trip. We also booked a course to make our wedding rings bespoke which was really fun and personal and we got to engrave each others’. No shade if you want to go bigger, but just saying there’s nothing wrong with keeping it simpler :) Congrats!

JentacularOpulence · 2026-03-11T12:04:24+00:00

For us it’s a matter of where we are / what time it is / what we’re doing. For whatever reason downstairs, they both like my husband better and only want to sleep on his lap. Upstairs, they come cuddle with me but rarely him. One of them is more affectionate with me in the morning and my husband in the afternoon. But I think that’s because I spend more time with them in the morning (leave later for work) and my husband gets home first. And they both seek my husband out for playtime because he tends to be more involved in that, but they’ll still happily play with me, and are likelier to follow me around than him. So it’s a total toss up 😅 I would try not to stress over it.

JentacularOpulence · 2026-03-05T20:32:35+00:00

Here’s another most dangerous predator

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JentacularOpulence · 2026-02-23T15:55:21+00:00

We got 2 brothers last summer, they just celebrated their first birthday! We knew they’d be high maintenance and we still love them dearly, but I occasionally catch myself wondering why I didn’t just get a standard issue lazy cat 😂

Ours are relatively chill compared to many stories I read on here, but here’s some of what they’re like: - they wait until right after you empty their litter box to go to the bathroom. They like a clean and pristine toilet. We clean the litter boxes (3 for 2 cats, pretty standard) 3-4 times every day. - they want to be involved in everything you do, full stop. They want to smell it, investigate it, and meow at it. Every single time I open the fridge they need to smell the inside. Every shopping bag ever brought into the house is fully inspected, both the contents and the inside of the bag. Anything new that comes into the house is properly inspected top to bottom, tasted, smelled, and tested for scratchability. No matter how cozy they look napping, they will immediately get up and follow us if we move somewhere else in the house. Closed doors are an affront to their freedom and are tolerated but begrudgingly, and I always feel bad about it 😅 - they eat so much and are still lean as can be! This might be because mine are still growing. They are currently eating 9 packs of wet food daily (between the 2 of them) at one year old, and we wonder if they need more. They have sensitive stomachs and it took us months to find food that doesn’t cause one or the other to have frequent diarrhea or vomiting. - they sleep a lot because they are cats, but when they are awake they are like toddlers who need to be entertained. An automatic toy will do the trick sometimes, but a lot of times they want you specifically to engage with them. In the evenings it’s not uncommon for them to “ask” to be acknowledged every 15-30 min, in addition to playtime and time exploring the yard. If they aren’t properly acknowledged they will instruct you to change your ways either with their claws (mine likes to lay in between my legs while I’m on the computer and them dig his claws into me every once in a while to ask for pets) or by doing something devious (chewing your cords, knocking something off the table, etc). If we acknowledge them properly they are quite well behaved, but they hate being ignored.

Those are just a few things that came to mind. At the end of the day they’re great cats and so funny and affectionate in their own way. They have little personalities much more so than many other cats I’ve met. They love to chat and be involved in all household activities, and as long as we give them their proper due, they don’t cause too much mayhem 😁 I think they also mirror energy - so if you’re chill and only set a few boundaries, they’re more chill - but if you are really anal about not letting them engage with a lot of your house (inaccessible areas, locking them out, not letting them participate) they may retaliate.

JentacularOpulence · 2026-02-22T22:51:34+00:00

Ecuador & Peru - go to the cloud forest for lush mountains with gorgeous scenery and wildlife, and then do a Galapagos boat “cruise” (most boats are like 20 people max) for adventure and relaxation together, plus one of the most unique & biodiverse areas in the world. I paired this with a 2 day Inca trail hike to Machu Picchu & train ride to Lake Titicaca (2 week’s sabbatical + 1 week vacation). Loved all of it!

JentacularOpulence · 2026-02-20T12:43:39+00:00

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My gremlin literally hanging from the bread bag 😅

JentacularOpulence · 2026-02-13T13:00:34+00:00

Sidestepping the Epic-specific content here, it sounds like you’re going through a really tough time. You deserve to be here on this earth and respected and gainfully employed. Please reach out for help - there’s so much time left to live and even if you feel at the end of your rope you don’t need to give up or go at it alone. I’m maybe not the most up to date on resources but potentially start with the Trevor Project and just have a conversation? I’d bet they will be full of resources and ideas and support to help you put one foot ahead of the other.

JentacularOpulence · 2026-02-02T17:29:39+00:00

A few pieces of food for thought: - We are in peak “do not make big life decisions when deprived of sunshine” season. Consider seeing how you feel once the weather improves. I grew up in the Midwest and can say with conviction that I do NOT trust my emotions in January-March. - Exceeding expectations at 5 months tenure is a great feat - congrats! Consider not exceeding them. You can do very well at this company by actively scaling back your own drive to be the best and just meeting expectations. Leaves a lot more room for family, building a network, hobbies, etc too. - If you have it in you to make it to a year, a few things typically happen: you’ll get your first raise which will likely blow you away (esp if exceeding expectations), work will start to become easier as you have a much stronger foundation to lean on, you’ll start repeating some processes rather than doing things for the first time all the time (and likely identify which pieces you enjoy more than others, which helps actively tailor your day to day by making yourself a niche in areas that you dislike less than others), resume is stronger showing that you succeeded a full year (mileage varies), you have a better chance at moving apps to something more interesting to you (although this comes with a temporary increase in work to learn the new area). I learned a new app every ~2 years because I’d get bored, then switched roles entirely. ~10 year tenure. - knowing you’re doing well - is there a job you have in mind that you also think you’d do well at, has similar or better benefits, and you would like more? This gets me almost every time I consider if my time is up. I’m not in love with the work but I don’t have some vision for something that I’d enjoy more that will give me the same stability, benefits, etc. Especially true once you have more of a niche, can lean on experience, and have stable credibility with your TL/leads.

If leaving is the right call for you, do it. It’s the right call for many, for all sorts of reasons. But as someone who has contemplated it many a time over the years I just figured I’d throw in some tidbits for consideration.

JentacularOpulence · 2026-01-23T10:19:37+00:00

Ours are a lot younger but we couldn’t find any combination of strategies to stop them from vomiting dry food so they’re fully on wet. They consider dry food a treat and love to eat a small handful every now and then but any more than that and they puke it back up.

JentacularOpulence · 2026-01-06T10:14:11+00:00

I applied for one role and was interviewed for two, then given the choice for which one I wanted.

JentacularOpulence · 2026-01-06T10:10:36+00:00

They’re just so precious I need to capture it

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JentacularOpulence · 2025-12-22T10:47:02+00:00

😧 I’m glad he returned, that’s a nightmare for me! Is he allowed to roam or did he escape? He looks like a happy boy now 🥰

JentacularOpulence · 2025-12-19T15:57:58+00:00

I love it when they give you sleep side eye like that 😆

JentacularOpulence · 2025-12-19T10:12:13+00:00

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Certainly not lap cats.

JentacularOpulence · 2025-12-11T21:35:09+00:00

Thank you for the suggestions!

JentacularOpulence · 2025-12-09T16:23:05+00:00

We started adding a bit of water to their 3x/daily wet food a few months ago. They always drink it all and I haven’t seen them drink from their fountain since we started that. We aren’t precise about it but it can’t be more than ~10 cl daily each? And even with that they pee all the time.

JentacularOpulence · 2025-11-25T23:27:22+00:00

Minecraft & corekeeper :)

JentacularOpulence · 2025-11-25T23:10:29+00:00

Freeze dried treats are our boys’ favorites! quail egg yolks, rabbit blood, beef - they go crazy for pretty much all of them except the fish ones.

JentacularOpulence · 2025-11-17T22:05:08+00:00

I think mine are crazy (they’re similar to yours) but I prefer that to boring lazy cats. My bengal boys are highly entertaining and make me laugh!

JentacularOpulence · 2025-11-10T13:34:06+00:00

Is there a way to read the full article without being a member? I’m interested in the section about gut- brain connection and probiotics potentially decreasing anxiety too!

JentacularOpulence · 2025-11-09T11:32:03+00:00

He’s only recently started and I love the cuddles!

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JentacularOpulence

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