We had this problem with both of our cats after we moved 2 years ago. We tried restricting the area of the cats, adding litter boxes (we had 3, we added a 4th), different litters, ruled out medical issues, made sure the litters boxes were scooped 2 x daily, made sure the litter boxes didn't have covers and were in a private area and did as much as we could from the list linked above. I think the stress of the move plus the large number of roaming unfixed neighbourhood cats that are able to hang around outside our windows and mock our indoor cats was too much for them. In the end, we ended up going the medication route. Fluoxetine for each cat once a day and since they've been on it, there hasn't been a single incident and it has been 7 months. One cat gets his pill in a pill pocket and the other one is remarkably easy to pill so that has not been a problem either, although it took about 2-3 weeks for us to figure all that out. The vet was OK to prescribe once we went through a medical check up for both cats and went over a detailed list of all the many things we had tried in the previous year.

We didn't move very far from a geographic perspective, but it was a huge emotional move for us just over a year ago. Many years ago, as a young couple working 4 part time jobs we had a purchased a serious fixer upper built in 1892 and poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it. It was a huge house on a large lot, very rare for the neighbourhood, and in a central, vibrant area where we had easy walking or cycling or public transport access to pretty much everything - stores, cafes, libraries, work, play, downtown, the theatre etc. We lived there for 25 years, and over the course of those years we installed all new windows, a geothermal system, gutted and redid the entire house top to bottom with period details, finished the basement, dealt with the foundation etc etc etc. We planted fruit trees and lilacs. We got to know all our neighbours. I was pretty sure we were going to die in that house. And then a series of events in 2021 led us to being very unhappy in the house and a serious conversation in 2022 with the kids led to what was practically an impulse house purchase in a neighbourhood we'd always liked and visited, but that was very different in many respects from our old neighbourhood. As it turns out, moving to someplace where it was a very walkable neighbourhood and there is a strong sense of community was crucial, because we were welcomed right away and everyone stopped to talk to us and by the end of our first week I pretty much knew as many neighbours as I had at our old house. It's been a year now and it has been such a great decision but I think knowing something about the neighbourhood we were going to was key to making this a success. So I echo what others have said about making sure the new place has the right community for you - that's been even more important to us than the actual house we bought.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. It's also helpful for DD to read these to be aware of how long it takes to get anywhere (I've told her, but she hasn't really experienced this in the same way I did when I spent 10 years of my childhood driving across the US and Canada every summer from one coast to the other and then down south), which will help us narrow down what we want to do.

We'll have about 10-12 days to tourist (plus 4 days for driving there/back).

I haven't posted in forever, but DD is getting super anxious about our upcoming road trip to the Arizona/NM/Colorado (and possibly Utah) area in August and suggested I ask the Hive Mind about ideas for things to do, see etc since, to quote her "that's where you go to every time we need to buy a new appliance". (She's not wrong.) So, crowdsourcing for any must see or do things. I know it will be stupid hot and I know that it might be difficult to get into National Parks. She's happy to spend some time doing outdoorsy things, like hiking or rafting or ???, but also happy to spend time in cities hitting up museums and theatre and shopping and going to all the restaurants she can't go in Canada. We're also happy to do silly tourist things. We haven't gone on a vacation since 2015 when she was 9 (she's 17 now). We'll be driving down from the Canadian prairies, and since we have two drivers (huzzah teenager with license), we are hoping to make pretty good time getting all the way to Colorado and then focusing on the 4 corner states. My planning skills went kaput when I spent the last 3 months dealing with my ailing mother-in-law and then selling her house and dealing with her estate as well as finishing one job and starting a new one so I've really dropped the ball on this and would appreciate any and all input!

We have always had one carrier per cat whether we had 1 cat or 4 cats. After having had to evacuate all the pets (at that time 2 cats, 1 dog and 2 guinea pigs) due to an emergency in 2021 - fire thanks to arson, we will likely always have that as our standard. Both DH and I were engaged in fighting the fire/removing valuables and vehicle from house and the kids were able to evacuate all the animals and take them to the neighbours halfway down the block, partially thanks to the fact that they didn't have to stuff two cats into one carrier.

Olivia was one of the girl names that I wanted to use for a baby and didn't but I did get to use it for the dog! The other girl names that I didn't get to use are: Anna Claire and Saoirse and Valancy and Threnody. Boy's name: Tallinn. I have a lot of trouble coming up with boy's names.

Work is slowing down a bit (for the moment) so I have time to read the thread early in the week, but life is getting hectic so I'm not getting much reading done! My main reading goals right now are to keep on reading Outlander - but in French. The first two chapters were slow going but once she got flung back into the past, things picked up. I'm 200 pages in. I do somewhat wish that I hadn't picked such a chunky book for my first read in French for 3 or 4 years but it's holding my interest. This is one of those situations where I can't decide if I wish I was reading it on a kindle/kobo/whatever - there's a fair selection of words that I can guess by context and then a fair selection of words that I can't guess by context but I can still figure out the overall meaning of the sentence, so I haven't bothered looking anything up. Not sure if having the ability to highlight a word and find the translation would help or if that would hinder the flow of reading. I'm also reading A Passage to India as my 'on the bus' book, which I was hesitant to do, but figured was worth a shot. I was afraid it would require too much concentration to work as I only get 15-20 minutes of reading time on the bus and that can sometimes make the experience a bit more disjointed than I'd prefer. It's working better than I expected and when I finish that, I'll have finished Shelf #2.

So I only seem to get on here when I'm at work and this week has been crazy busy so far, but I just managed to sneak a look at the Robin's introductory post and note that I managed to celebrate poetry month! I was at Costco last night and they had a bunch of Shel Silverstein poetry books; we have one and DS loves it so I picked up another one. He was so excited that is was quite sweet and spend last night selecting special poems to read to us. This morning I brought the kids to work with me (long story) and he picked the poetry book along with his current chapter book to bring with him. It's quite neat to see how much he enjoys poetry - reading it, both funny poems and more serious poems, short or long, but also creating poetry. I'm hoping to have time to read through the rest of the thread today or tomorrow!

On a reading related topic, has anyone been having problems when they add a new book to Goodreads? For the last week, every book I add to my list of books I've read has automatically had a second Date Read line added, which is blank. This messes up a few things, not the least of which is when I want to organize books in certain ways. I can go in and delete it, but it's a bit of a convoluted process and I'd rather not have to add a new book, then go back and edit something I hadn't added in the first place.

These are all non-underwire and very lightweight. This is the new version of it. I'm lucky to not need a lot of support, so this works well for me - perhaps that's why they've lasted so well. FWIW, I dry all my clothes - all of it, everything, and so far, no ill effects. On the rare occasion that I've shrunk something I take that as a sign that I was not meant to own that piece of clothing. But for bras and sports bras and other workout clothing, it all seems to just keep lasting. Although I don't have underwire bras, so that might be one difference.

I feel positively luxurious as I have 9 that I consider to be fitting and in rotation - 3 white, 3 black, 3 peach. They are all identical in style. I love them so much. The problem is that I bought them all around the same time (6-8 years ago) and Patagonia no longer makes that version and I hate the new style that uses the same name. So when these wear out, which will likely happen all at the same, but hopefully not for another 3-4 years, I'm going to be desperately searching for a replacement. I also have quite a few sports bras, although I did just toss two of them that are probably 15 years old as the elastic was more crunchy than elasticky. So probably about 6 left, although since I'm at the gym or playing volleyball usually 5-6 times a week and only do laundry once a week, that is kind of necessary.

Yes! Particularly when the other thread at the top when I signed in today was kind of the opposite of baby pictures. They are all adorable.

So I decided to wear my bathing suit to the gym, giving me no option but to do something at the pool. If there was a lane available, I would opt for swimming laps, if not go to the aqua fitness class. There was a lane available so I swam laps for 45 minutes and that was actually very pleasant aside from the constant filling of water of the goggles. And then, because life is like that, I ran into the instructor I was trying to avoid after I finished swimming and was getting dressed in the change room. Such is life.

Thinking of you and your husband - hope that things are looking better today and you are not being harassed by people.