This is what I bought for our dog - it works well. However, unless your cat is very easy going, I'm not sure how well he will take to being trimmed. I've used it (with me and another person holding the cat) to try to clip our cat's backside and it was not well received. She'll hold still for the hair between the pads on her feet being trimmed with the clippers, but that's about it. https://www.amazon.com/Andis-Pro-Animal-Frustration-Pet-22690/dp/B00UT3F31O

Sending good thoughts his way!!

Most of the FB quizzes are third party data gathering - I've tried to educate my family about participating or allowing their "friends" to post the quizzes on their pages and answer questions about them. A couple articles about it: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34922029 http://www.pcworld.com/article/164527/online_quizzes.html http://betanews.com/2015/12/19/stop-doing-quizzes-on-facebook-if-you-place-any-value-on-your-privacy/

I agree that it won't come out fair, but hopefully you are in a state that is more fair than some others. After 18 years of marriage, his income 60K+, mine 0 - the state I was in still imputes the non working spouse's income at full-time, minimum wage (so when they figure out child support, it automatically showed me with that much income, even though that wasn't the case, and hadn't been - and no alimony at all). I think it's awful that there's no consideration for the sacrifices the stay-at-home spouse made and then they are penalized for putting their trust in the wrong person. I did everything "right" I think in trying to ensure that things were as fair as possible according to the law in my state, but even after that, and all the money spent on fighting, it still was not very equitable at all.

I bought this in July to replace hubby's old expensive Cuisinart that was intermittently brewing coffee all over the counter. I think with discounts, I paid about $12. It's been great so far. http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-593504/black-decker-12-cup-programmable-coffee-maker.jsp

I recently moved to CA from being about 2 hours from Yellowstone. We always stay in-park, but when I called to get reservations for next June at Old Faithful, it was already full. You will be lucky to find anything in the park at this point (previously I always made next year's reservations immediately after we got back from that year's trip). There are probably some campgrounds still available, but I'm guessing that most of the lodging is booked, or very close. West Yellowstone is your closest bet outside the park, but it is a very touristy type town and may not be what your dh is wanting. I'm not sure what is outside the north entrance (Gardiner MT) since we lived on the west side, but there may be options there. But anywhere you stay out of the park, it will be a bit of a drive to get to wherever you're going for the day - I'd suggest leaving as early as possible and trying to get into the park by 7am. You'll avoid a lot more of the vehicle traffic and probably see more animals out earlier. The later in the day it gets, the more vehicles (including tour buses) , the more traffic jams, and more time spent sitting in your car. One year, we spent over 2 hours in a traffic jam due to a motorcycle accident where they had to life flight 2 helicopters in. There's nothing you can do when the traffic is stopped - and if you don't plan for the potential extra time, it could really ruin your trip.

How much are you taking per day? When xh and I first started supplementing with Vitamin D and had lower levels, we took 10,000 IU a day and it took him more than 6 months if I remember correctly to get his levels raised enough. Mine were good after 6 months.

I used to just use a regular towel to wrap my hair up while toweling off the rest of me and getting dressed. However, a regular towel is generally quite bulky, and difficult to put a shirt on over, so after getting an Aquis towel, I've never gone back to a regular one. I don't leave my hair in the towel until it's dry, just until I'm dressed - I don't like wet hair dripping on my shirt. It gets enough moisture out of my hair so it's damp but not drippy and is easy to pull a shirt on over because it's thin and doesn't feel like I have a big weight on my head (which I feel like if I'm a guest somewhere and don't have my towel). It's one of those things that's definitely not necessary in life, but I do miss it when I'm not home.

I recently bought an Instant Pot and do really like it, but if you're looking for something not quite that expensive, I also love my Nesco 6qt roaster. It slow cooks, but also has more functionality than a regular crock pot (and with the newer crock pots not really allowing the temperature to be a true simmer, or below, this one goes from below 200F to over 400F).

I've been using an Aquis towel for my hair for many years. My mom gifted me my first one and I've replaced it once (Amazon says I bought the one I have in 2007....I can hardly believe that, but I know I've only ever bought one and it's still in great condition). They're not really big, but lightweight and very absorbent. https://www.amazon.com/Aquis-Microfiber-Towel-Lisse-39-Inches/dp/B000AM82GM

I had 5 different breeds and the yolks on all of them were dark yellow to orange.

We had our own chickens before I moved to CA, and after raising my own free range on organic feed, I can't go back to regular store bought. I don't like the way the chickens are raised for one, but there's just no comparison with the eggs. There are places around here to buy eggs from farmers (and we could have our own in our yard again, but I've just had too many other projects to deal with), but I've ended up buying pastured eggs from Vital Farms. They are expensive, but very good.

I have 14 in one window, and 6 in another, only because my son was giving me grief (however, he tells me having 2 windows with that many tabs doesn't make it any better...).

My xmil is like this (attention loving extrovert) - but I don't even think she realizes she's adding or embellishing the stories. I think she lives in her own reality so much that she truly believes what comes out of her mouth is the truth. And at this point, I don't think anyone even tries to challenge her (and xh seems to be developing a similar lack of memory for the truth - not nearly as bad yet, but I wonder how he'll remember things 20+ years from now).

I use Tide Free liquid (much less than the recommended amount). I really prefer powder, but for a long time have had a difficult time finding Tide Free powder - my grocery store doesn't seem to be carrying it anymore.

Thanks for the input! As to booking early - it's one reason why I'm trying to narrow things down now, so I can get stuff booked and not be disappointed. I'm used to having to book early - living near Yellowstone, I always booked the following summer trip right after we got home from that summer's trip. I tried to get an overnight at Old Faithful Inn for June, but it's already too late (I do not want to take the RV into the park - the kids and I always stayed at the Inn and it was a special tradition - but we'll just do a day trip this year).

We're planning a trip next June - will be heading from Idaho, through Oregon, down the coast and into California. The first stop in Oregon is going to be in the Multnomah/Mt Hood area, and then my ds really wants to see the Redwoods, so we're planning on staying overnight in that area. What would be a good place in between those 2 for another overnight (or 2 - I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have in each area yet)? We'll be traveling with an RV and pets, so will need an RV campground. There are so many places I want to stop, but as dh has told me, I'd need like 3 weeks to do everything I want to do and we don't have that much time (unless I take the kids by myself lol). So some help narrowing it down would be very good. Thanks! :)

That's the hardest part - I could have had a good career, but chose to follow xh around as he pursued his career (moving a couple times), and the decision to have me stay at home and raise and homeschool our kids was a mutual one. I never expected him to leave - at at 41 was woefully unprepared, but had a job and was working outside the home the day after he moved out (making minimum wage, though).

I would (and did) a few years ago (another one who strongly dislikes oak). When we bought the house, oak cabinets were standard and I went with the least offensive oak option (to me) and had them use a whitewash finish (I hate honey oak!). I used the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit and did the kitchen and bathroom cabinets in a dark espresso - didn't regret it for a moment.

The affair(s) didn't affect my xh negatively at all...I don't think there would have been any way I could have gotten full custody, unless he was in jail or something like that. I wouldn't have even taken it into the court system, but just wanted the state to dictate the child support (because the two of us weren't going to reach an agreement by ourselves). But even that ended up going against me. I guess there's even instances of charging the stay at home parent for not earning up to their potential (I have an engineering degree - I researched it a bit in the midst of everything, but have tried to forget most of that crap...).

I think it varies widely depending on the state - things were not equalized at all for me. When my xh left me, the state we lived in didn't care that I stayed home with kids, helped enable xh to graduate college (he never would have gone without me), that we had been married 18 years, or that he was cheating. Once the marriage is over, each able bodied person is expected to support themselves (no alimony - I've heard of it there before, but it's very rare). My parents hired a very good lawyer, she was very competent, but the judge in our case (a woman) took an instant dislike to me (maybe because I had been a stay-at-home-mom, I have no idea). A lot of money was spent trying to get the best resolution possible, but I still had to buy him out of the equity in our house after he got all the 401K funds, and the child support wasn't that much. I'm now in CA and it sounds like the laws here are drastically different.

I've been taking Enzymatic Therapy AM/PM Perimenopause formula for ...well, I guess it's been since sometime after 35 when I started getting hot flashes occasionally. It stopped those and has kept me remarkably even keeled emotionally (and there's been a lot of stress over the past few years, divorce, long distance move, etc.). My stepmom swears by DIM for her menopause symptoms, and the AM/PM Menopause formula didn't seem to work for her (she thought it woke her up in the wee hours of the morning, so she stopped taking it).

I've ordered from Zenni for a number of years with no previous issues until the latest order for my daughter. She said that they gave her a headache when she wore them, so we had her eye dr check the prescription, and the axis numbers were off (one was way off, over 150, the other only 1). You do have to send the glasses back and pay postage (which they refund), and wait for them to check the glasses to verify that it was their mistake (so if you don't have backup glasses in the meantime, it could be an issue). The replacement glasses should arrive today or tomorrow, so I'm hoping that this time they are correct. I'm not thrilled with the phone customer service, since it's outsourced and sometimes difficult to communicate effectively, but the money savings over the years has been substantial.

I also love my Speed Queen - have had it for about 5 years now.

We just got back from a day drive through Yosemite last week. It was getting chilly at night, but still warm during the day. Just in case anyone is planning a trip there and wanting to see the giant Sequoias in the park - the Mariposa Grove (which I read has a wonderful hike through them) is closed and will be until next summer. My son and I were really looking forward to that and quite disappointed when we found that out. We opted for Yosemite instead of Sequoia National Forest because of the continued fires near/in the forest (my dh's family live near there and recommended we not go that direction and drive through Yosemite instead).