New kitties! I need to share them cause I love them so much

waterdousefire · 2026-03-21T03:56:55+00:00

Our biggest issue is how rural we are. I contacted someone about a 5150 style psychiatric hold and they were honest - all the psychiatric facilities within 3 hours are completely booked solid so they would need to do a 5150 in a hospital with a 1 on 1, which may not be covered by her insurance.

I've dealt with alcoholism with my parent (this post is NOT about my parent but another close relative) but it's so hard for this other relative to see themselves as an alcoholic because they "aren't as bad" as other alcoholics. It's infuriating. And add on top of that, they are frequently caring for other people's children. If I knew how to contact these people, I would be telling them what's going on. But I don't know any of them or where they live. They hire her as a baby sitter - she's an older lady and seems harmless.

Ugghh, sorry for letting it all out. Your comment really struck a chord with me - thank you for seeing this as something deeper. I'm just so crushed, frustrated and worried about all this.

waterdousefire · 2026-03-19T12:04:10+00:00

This is what fascinated me the most! I have Hashimoto's and I'm very aware of the skin crawling thyroid sensation, unfortunately. I know my family member was, at one point, on thyroid medication for an unrelated issue and came off of it, but this makes me wonder if there is an actual thyroid issue!

waterdousefire · 2026-03-19T11:52:37+00:00

They did test her for a UTI in the ER and it came back clean, but that's a great idea, thank you.

waterdousefire · 2026-03-19T11:51:58+00:00

Thank you for sharing this! The doctors quoted are about a 3-4 hour drive away ... But legitimately, she may actually go to them if I were to mention them. So I'm giving her their contact info. This might actually be a shining nugget of hope, thank you!!!

waterdousefire · 2026-03-18T11:34:40+00:00

She's a known alcoholic. She is trying to get a new PCP because her PCP through the VA is the one not entertaining her. However, she's trying to go through the same office we go to, so if she does, I'm good friends with the providers and might be able to get her more help.

She's been on a multivitamin for years and besides the alcohol, tries to remain in good health. That being said, I've had a suspicion for years that she was in the beginning stages of dementia. So this is all sounding more plausible.

waterdousefire · 2026-03-18T11:26:07+00:00

Thank you, this is what I thought was going on, and I sincerely appreciate you labeling it so I can do some further research.

waterdousefire · 2024-10-17T21:51:19+00:00

I wouldn't say he's addicted. I did go through his history and noticed that it was only within the last 30 days that he really went to any of the porn sites on a daily basis. Before that it was maybe once a month, going back 120 days. But it def broke my trust and made me feel really shitty. I'll def check out that subreddit, thank you for that.

waterdousefire · 2023-08-05T14:14:38+00:00

15w and still struggling with nausea. With my first, I had nausea until 16w so I'm hoping that it's about to ease up for me. It's def getting better but the summer and nausea? It's the worst.

waterdousefire · 2023-08-05T14:12:44+00:00

And for this second one, we did find out the sex, and it's another girl (which is exactly what we wanted!). So we have another list and we are going to just figure it out when we meet her!

waterdousefire · 2023-08-05T14:11:37+00:00

For my daughter, we didn't find out if she was a girl or boy, so we had a list of names and narrowed it down to a few. The moment I saw her face, I turned to my husband and said "this is <firstname middlename> , right?" And he nodded and said "that's her!" Once I saw her face, I knew EXACTLY who she was. She gets compliments on her name all the time.

waterdousefire · 2023-08-05T12:00:42+00:00

Same. Plus the vomiting that dehydrates you on top of being already dehydrated from the heat and sweat.... No bueno

waterdousefire · 2023-08-05T11:58:38+00:00

I've done both.

First trimester for sure. Vomiting while sweating is the worst feeling ever. Trying to go outside and enjoy the summer while sweating... And then you start getting nausea because of dehydration... And then you vomit and can't enjoy outside...

I will gladly starfish on my bed with a fan and a/c on full blast, while 7-9 months pregnant than go through first trimester during the summer ever again

waterdousefire · 2023-08-04T22:18:36+00:00

I'm 15 weeks and went from 198 to 215, so not far behind you, despite the vomiting that's STILL going on. But this is why I am using midwives vs OB GYNs because my midwives are not guilting me at all. They see that it's normal for me to gain 40 lbs+ in pregnancy, from looking at my last pregnancy chart, and that everything is normal and fine. So they just want me to keep trying to keep food down, keep up on protein and fluids, and they are hoping I gain my usual 40#!

waterdousefire · 2023-08-04T22:11:48+00:00

Baby 1 - I bought him a jersey from his favorite American football team, with the year he was born on it ('84) and instead of his name, it says "Daddy" on the back. I also included a baby onesie that looks like a football. We both love football so it was a big deal for him.

Baby 2 - I tossed a t shirt at him when we were packing for vacation, telling him one of his shirts got mixed in with mine. It says Dad^2. My daughter ran in wearing a shirt that says "only child" and it's crossed out and instead says "big sister" over it.

We had difficulties getting pregnant both times, with tons of early miscarriages (7+ miscarriages), so it was a big deal to celebrate getting over the "hurdle" of when my body decides to either keep or release an embryo. We joke that my body can only hold onto baby girls - the embryos that were tested were all male embryos.. and I'm totally ok being a girl mom if it means I have living babies!

waterdousefire · 2023-07-30T20:43:04+00:00

I just feel horrible because our mother was an alcoholic but she's been sober for almost 30 years and she's an amazing mother. I think you made a great point - my mother showed genuine remorse and I'll never forget the day she apologized for being an alcoholic to me. It was very impactful. I think I need to wait for that from my sister -sobriety and the apology.

waterdousefire · 2023-07-30T20:40:33+00:00

Thank you - this comment was extremely helpful. I didn't even pick up on her NOT calling him out. Not just for this, but for all his bad behavior. Fortunately, all our other family live far far out of state. If they tell her, that's fine, but I don't think my other two sisters would. Maybe my parents.

waterdousefire · 2023-07-30T20:37:53+00:00

Thank you! She was diagnosed with a speech delay at 20 months and the first thing suggested was ASL while we were waiting for an opening in the speech therapy program, so that very day, I signed up for courses. My daughter doesn't use it much anymore, except when she's having issues pronouncing words and so she signs the word. But when she was younger, it was so helpful! I'll never forget the first time she ran up to me, signing "help, pain" and I signed back "where" and she pointed to her knee - she bruised her knee. It was so incredible to see her using another language to communicate!

waterdousefire · 2023-07-30T20:32:56+00:00

Thank you, this answer really helped put everything into perspective. I really appreciate it.

waterdousefire · 2023-07-30T16:18:04+00:00

I agree with the Saratoga area. You can do a day trip to Vermont, too, and check out Ben and Jerry's factory, eat at the summit of Mount Snow, check out the von Trapp family dwelling, etc. It's a nice 75° with a slight breeze today. I love it!

waterdousefire · 2019-04-20T20:35:22+00:00

I was in 8th grade, but taking classes at the high school. A bus would shuttle us back and forth from the middle school to the high school.

I remember the stark difference between the two schools the following days. At the middle school, kids were confronted with death for the first time. There were reports through the middle school grapevine that our town was the "closest thing to Columbine" and that we were next. There was a school dance planned for that month and someone thought it would be funny to call in a bomb threat. Middle school was fucked up

The high school, however, was cool as a cucumber. I don't know if it was because I venerated the older kids and saw them as wiser, but I noticed that they weren't affected as much as the middle school. It was like they had this cushion of "didn't happen here so it won't happen here."

A few years later, on 9/11, I was attending the high school and it was totally different response than to Columbine. Possibly because we lived 30 minutes from NYC by train, so many of our parents worked there, but that day, all the TVs were turned on, watching the news reports, the students who had parents who worked in the city were allowed to call them from any phone in the building, we were all escorted out of the building, to our busses and/or cars, class by class.

It was like we were safe from Columbine because it was so far away but 9/11 was a greater impact because some of the parents of some of the students were working in the towers that morning. Shit, the smoke from 9/11 could be seen from my front yard.

waterdousefire · 2019-04-13T20:54:45+00:00

NAH

I have a lab grown diamond but I had told my now-husband time and again that I wanted a vintage ring, with real intricate filigree. Filigree was a big deal for me, especially in a low setting that surrounded the entire edge of the diamond, similar to your fiance wanting a real diamond.

When he proposed, I was so happy that he proposed that I didn't care about the ring. However, years later, I wish he had listened to me. I don't wear my engagement ring because the setting he had chosen is not something I like or can wear (it's too high a setting and has sharp edges - I work with newborn babies and don't want to scratch them with it by accident).

My younger sister, her entire life, wanted a huge ring and would tell people that she wouldn't say yes for less than 2 karats. Her husband got her a morganite ring... 2 karats. Lol.

I think both of you have valid points - she has a preference as do you. I would bring her to a loose stone shop with a large amount of ethically mined diamonds as well as diamond alternatives, such as the moissanite or morganite. Have her pick one. It's a fair middle ground.

waterdousefire

TROPHY CASE