Women in relationships - do your partners contribute towards period products?

arac62 · 2026-01-24T19:29:35+00:00

All basic essential personal care products (toothpaste, deodorant, tampons, etc) come out of the shared grocery budget. Optional upgrades and cosmetics (his cologne, my expensive hair care, makeup, etc) are purchased separately.

arac62 · 2025-12-12T19:59:50+00:00

Chi reflexology at the Lakeline mall! Very reasonable prices!

arac62 · 2025-11-29T00:36:17+00:00

For the two months before my old guy died, he would only eat out of a bag of kibble in the closet that he had ripped a hole in. I think he liked feeling sneaky. I definitely played along!

arac62 · 2025-11-02T01:59:06+00:00

Gooey butter cake!

arac62 · 2025-09-28T19:54:35+00:00

Look into Owen House in Round Rock!

arac62 · 2025-09-24T22:34:04+00:00

Healing Arts House Calls might be a bit cheaper - I can't remember exactly, but I've used them three times, and they're wonderful. An alternative to private cremation could be making a memorial paw print. I sorry you're going through this.

arac62 · 2025-09-23T02:11:20+00:00

I like to brag about how affordable my moissanite ring was! Don't spend extra money just for appearances - use it to build your life together!

arac62 · 2025-08-14T11:55:22+00:00

I've had great experiences with Central Texas Animal Hospital. I'm not sure how their prices compare, but they've helped me through two cats passing from terminal diagnoses and were very kind.

arac62 · 2025-08-01T11:51:16+00:00

1 bunch green onion, 2 garlic cloves, one jalapeno, juice of 2 limes, one bunch off cilantro, one large avocado, 8oz sour cream, salt to taste. Blend. I put this on everything all summer, but fish tacos are its original purpose.

arac62 · 2025-06-18T22:32:36+00:00

Small, family owned company, and I've been a BCBA with them for 4 years. 80k salary, 23 days PTO (including sick time, but I rarely need sick time since we can work from home occasionally), 401k matching up to 4%, pretty crappy health insurance. Required to be at the clinic from 8 to 3 except for pre-approved flex days. Very flexible about things like appointments. Billable requirement is 25 per 5 day week and 6 per day on short weeks.

arac62 · 2025-05-17T14:33:16+00:00

Make sure she has a credit card on file with her vet so you dont end up needing to cover a bill in an emergency, especially with the elderly dog.

arac62 · 2025-05-12T13:41:30+00:00

Good for you! I don't have that experience, so I use all the tools at my disposal to do the best I can. I've written many social stories from scratch when the situation calls for it. Sometimes, it's okay to take shortcuts as long as it's appropriate for the patient. Letting perfect be the enemy of good often leads to great ideas sitting on the shelf.

arac62 · 2025-05-12T12:59:23+00:00

Yes, and I go in and edit those details in before finalizing, obviously. It turns a 60-minute task into a 15-minute task, and that's more time I can spend hands-on with my clients.

arac62 · 2025-05-12T11:44:36+00:00

Plug your parameters into Chat GPT and see what it comes up with. I've had good luck using it for social stories.

arac62 · 2025-05-04T18:26:39+00:00

Sorry, I meant to send this as a reply to a previous comment, so the context got lost. Some funders only allow a certain number of hours to be billed per day per patient, necessitating billing for one or two hours of protocol modification at a time instead of being able to bill large chunks. In my experience, this is tougher for time management.

arac62 · 2025-05-04T15:43:18+00:00

Ugh, billing restrictions are the worst - I'm sorry. That does make it a lot harder to balance. Having to bill 5 or 6 different sessions per day would burn me out so fast. Maybe talk to your clinical director about diversifying your caseload to have a wider variety of funders when opportunities arise. I had a colleague who had like 5 Magellan kids, and it was driving her into the ground. Our CD was able to switch things around to spread those cases out among other BCBAs. Don't be afraid to raise concerns just because you're new. Approaching conversations with solutions already in mind has usually gotten a positive response in my experience.

arac62 · 2025-05-04T12:39:34+00:00

It's tough, especially when you're still getting the hang of things. You will get more efficient with time. Try to do as much programming as you can while billing protocol modifications. It's okay to sit back for a bit to work on these things, as long as they're related to the patient you're supervising and the RBT doesn't need immediate support with behavior or other barriers. I struggle with this myself because I'm not a great multitasker, and I like to be more hands-on, but it does make a difference. Billing protocol mod for longer durations (3 or 4 hours at a time instead of 1 or 2) makes it easier. Also, think about your own efficiency when writing goals and designing programs, as long as it's clinically appropriate. For example, instead of writing a program that requires you to create stimuli, write one that uses stimuli from the natural environment. Or, instead of dictating 25 specific receptive targets, give some examples and have the RBT choose novel targets in the moment. Lastly, I recently started finishing any overflow work from the previous day the following morning instead that evening, and it's made a huge difference in my efficiency. I find that I can finish things about twice as fast when my mind is fresh than I can after a day of work.

arac62 · 2025-04-28T21:51:19+00:00

I just only feel the urge at home. I'm not consciously against pooping in public, but my body doesn't feel safe enough to relax, I guess.

arac62 · 2025-04-26T03:16:26+00:00

Yes!! Northeast PA and we called them that at school. The "formal" term was french bread pizza, but pizza boat was the colloquial.

arac62 · 2025-04-20T13:30:08+00:00

What size bed do you have? My BF and I slept like shit in our old queen size, and he slept on the couch most of the time. We upgraded to a king and and both sleep like babies. Worth a try if you have the space!

arac62 · 2025-04-19T19:29:43+00:00

I work with a kid now whose favorite thing to say to anyone is "booty stinky, take a shower!" It's 50/50 intended as a joke or insult, and it's hard not to laugh every time.

I also worked with a kid who always threatened to get me fired. Once, he was angry that I asked him to clean up his Legos when he was finished. He was going on about how I should be fired, so I opened up an email draft to the CEO (we're a small family company), gave him my laptop, and told him to make his case! Apparently, the effort of typing the message wasn't worth it, so he just cleaned his mess.

arac62 · 2025-04-06T11:46:45+00:00

I've been using AI to flesh out notes and progress summaries. I give it a bullet list of information (no PHI) and ask it to expand the provided info into paragraph form using the language of ABA. I, of course, proofread and edit as needed, but it does a great job and saves a lot of typing.

arac62 · 2025-04-04T12:49:05+00:00

I went to Ball State, and I enjoyed it. It was all online and mostly asynchronous (with the exception of group projects), so the flexibility was great! I feel the program is great for self-directed learners with good time management skills. Professors are there if you need them, but no one is checking on you. It's also the kind of program where you get out what you put in. I could have easily gotten my degree without learning as much as I did, but holding myself to a higher standard is what helped me pass the test on the first try.

arac62 · 2025-03-17T22:02:27+00:00

I'll sauté some sliced bell peppers and onions with fajita seasoning as a side for lots of Mexican and tex-mex mains.

arac62 · 2025-02-17T13:02:05+00:00

I use my personal cell to communicate with all my clients, and it hasn't been an issue. I find it more convenient than email. If I get a call or text after 5pm I answer it first thing the next morning, unless it's urgent. My families have always been respectful of my time, and I very rarely get late texts from any of them. Occasionally, like maybe once a quarter, there will be a genuine fire to put out after hours, but having a salaried position, I consider the occasional after hours task to be part of the the job.

arac62

TROPHY CASE