#i don't even clean my cats litter boxes when i need to

[followthebluebell]

Hey! I got my cat a water fountain recently, since she kept badgering us to turn on the faucets for her. After an initial period of wariness, she seems to like it. My question is, how often should I clean it? The instructions that came with it only give a frequency for changing the filter, and refilling it when the water gets too low. I don't want to supply my kitty with nasty water, but I also don't want to waste water by pouring the whole thing out frequently. Some factors: first, the model I got has a 'dry pump' setup where there's no tubes, and the water is drawn up a spinning plastic cone without touching the pump mechanism at all. It's supposedly easier to clean. Second, my cat loves slapping the water even though it's already moving, and right now we also have a problem where we bought a different brand of litter than usual and it's getting stuck beneath her toes, so she's getting litter particles in there :( ...as I was typing this, she got into my lap and walked all over my keyboard. It's a miracle she didn't manage to delete this.

I clean my water fountain at home once a week to prevent gunky water and biofilm grossness. The fountains at work are cleaned twice a week because a lot of cats use them and Butterscotch considers them his personal face washers.

For the litter problem, you could get a litter mat. There are a few styles but the cheapest and easiest is probably just getting a cheap bathroom mat from the dollar store and laying it by the litter box. It'll help catch litter. The cheap bathroom mat is probably the least effective, but it works well enough for short haired cats that don't have a lot of foot hair.

Fluffier cats may need a tougher type of mat, like the gorilla grip mat that has more ridges. Honestly I think a welcome mat would work just as well AND be cheaper.

egf

sorry cat walked over my keyboard :( i guess yardstick wanted to say hello to your girl!

[ltleflrt]

Due to DOGE fuckery, I may need to adopt an ex-fed, so I've been cleaning out my house in preparation for obtaining a roommate. It's something I've needed to do for many years, because this is a 4 bedroom house and it's just me and my husband and the cats, and somehow every room is full. Not hoarded exactly, but hovering in the danger zone because I've got The Tendencies.

Most of the house is just decorated, bookshelves full of treasures, etc. But I've got 1 room that's become kinda the "toss shit in there until we figure it out" room, and it's also where I keep the litter boxes, so it's all dusty and shit in there. I do "clean" it, but not as often as I should, and I don't go digging through the piles. I'm cleaning it out in case of Emergency Roommate, which is actually a great thing even if they don't end up moving in with me (please send good vibes to the universe that DOGE is stopped before they get any further with their pink slip attack), and I'm actually feeling really good about getting rid of all this stuff I've hoarded (yes, I admit it's the beginning of A Concerning Hoard).

And then I opened the closet. I found a brand new mop I didn't know I had.

You know you're in trouble when you find a brand new mop you didn't know you had.

[tea-stained-tabby]

.

[asdfghjklmals]

THE PURRR-FECT APPROACH✩༶‧˚

GENRE + T/W: sfw, fluff. WORD COUNT: 2.0k words. TAGS: satoru gojo x fem!oc, boyfriend!gojo, established couple. adoptedkiddo! tsumiki.

SYNOPSIS: tsumiki wants to get a pet cat, so she devises a plan with satoru on how to ask oc gojo girlfriend for one. AUTHOR'S NOTE: i was inspired to write this after seeing this picture. REMINDER: if you want to imagine yourself in oc gojo girlfriend's character descriptions instead, please do!

“you want to get a cat?” satoru asked in surprise. his blue eyes peeking through his sunglasses to look at his 10 year old adopted daughter.

“yes! i promise i'll take care of it!” tsumiki said with her hands intertwined together tightly. “i will use my allowance to buy everything it needs! i’ll make sure to clean the litter box too!”

now, satoru gojo wasn’t one to say no. especially if tsumiki, his golden child, was asking. you already had two demon puppies in the house due to megumi's shikigami. the hurdle was getting you to agree on getting a cat too.

“you’re gonna have to ask (y/n). you know she makes the rules in this household.” satoru sarcastically said.

coming up with a plan, tsumiki asked her guardian, “gojo-sensei. can you like… sweeten her up a little bit? like buy her flowers or give her a big kiss before i ask? oh, how about you guys go shopping before i ask? (y/n) has been wanting to buy a new work bag, but she's been busy.”

satoru smiled at the fact that his adopted children could be so cunning and smart. but then again, they were raised by intelligent you and guileful him.

“gotcha.” he winked at the 10 year old. “what time does the boss come home today?” gojo looked at the family calendar on the kitchen wall.

you both had a routine down after work. today was your turn to assist megumi with his after school activities. megumi had a school book club that both you and satoru supervised. you also both took turns with jujutsu training at the high school dojo. it was satoru's day to be in charge of dinner.

“boss comes home at 6:30!” tsumiki sprinted back to satoru, who was sitting on the couch, arms hanging along the backrests. she jumped on the couch to sit next to him.

“why don’t we start dinner? so when (y/n) and megumi come home, they’ll be in a good mood.” the blue eyed sorcerer suggested. he knew that you and megumi would be annoyed if dinner wasn’t ready by the time they got home. he could hear your voice in his head scolding him, ‘why did you wait until we got home to start cooking?’

“oh, you’re right. those two get angry when they’re hungry.”

"i think that’s called hangry, sweetheart.” satoru chuckled as tsumiki went to the kitchen to open the fridge to start dinner.

later that evening

"we're home!" you called out as you and megumi took off your shoes in the foyer. megumi took off his backpack and sighed. you put down your work bag and ruffled his hair, your eyes hidden by a cheeky smile.

"looks like you got roughed up, kid." satoru teased from the kitchen as he saw a couple scrapes on megumi's knee and cheek.

"don't worry about it, (y/n) used her reversed cursed energy to heal me and we made sure to see shoko before we left." he avoided eye contact with him. megumi knew that jujutsu training would be difficult, especially when he was training with the two strongest sorcerers known to man.

"he did really well today." you reported to satoru as he walked towards you and gave you a welcome home kiss. he hugged you as he winked at megumi behind your back.

"what's for dinner?" megumi ignored satoru’s teasing and walked towards his sister. tsumiki happily replied, "katsu and curry."

tsumiki set the table for the four of you. at the little dining table, the seating arrangement was that satoru sat across from megumi, and next to you and tsumiki. megumi preferred to sit next to you anyways, and it was only right that the two guardians that were so in love with each other sat next to each other. (the real reason was that megumi threw his grape juice at satoru during dinner once, which hit his infinity, which means grape juice stained your expensive rug. so they weren't allowed to sit next to each other at dinner anymore.)

"tsumiki, how was your day today?" you asked as you cut into your katsu. satoru seemed like he wanted to say something.

"aren't you going to ask how my day was, babe?" satoru interrupted.

"you can wait." you glared at him. you liked to hear about the kids' day.

you smiled and winked at tsumiki as she got your que to continue, "it was good! we learned about cats today."

"that's great, sweetheart!" you nodded as you scooped a spoonful of curry and rice into your mouth.

"(y/n), tsumiki wants to get a cat." megumi flat out announced. you and satoru choked on your food, surprised but not surprised at megumi's straightforwardness. satoru cleared his throat and started laughing.

"why do you want to get a cat? we already have kuro and shiro." you wiped your mouth with a napkin, clearing your throat while looking at her.

"that's the reason why! megumi has not one, but two dogs... i want a pet too!"

now, you were all for fairness, and she did put up a good point. megumi could summon his demon dogs whenever he wanted and they kept him company. if tsumiki could watch satoru on his days off without getting into trouble, she was definitely responsible enough.

"please, (y/n), pretty please? i told gojo-sensei that i would pay for everything and clean the litter box." tsumiki got out of her chair to dash to your side, grabbing your hand to plead.

you bit your lip in hesitation and looked at satoru, he just smirked at you and nodded his head in approval. ultimately, it was up to you. "okay, sweetie. you have to keep up your end of the deal though."

tsumiki cheered and jumped up and down. she hugged you tightly. "thank you so much! you're the best, (y/n)! i promise i will!"

"satoru will take you first thing in the morning, now finish your dinner." you announced.

"hey! but it's my day off!" satoru complained as you looked at him smugly, blowing him a kiss.

the next day

during work, satoru teleported into your office. it used to scare you, but now you were used to it. you could sense that man's cursed energy from a million miles away.

"when's your break?" he asked while sitting on your desk, looking around in your office. he leaned over and looked at the picture frame on your desk, it was a picture of tsumiki and megumi on their first day of school, a couple months after you and satoru had taken them in. they were so small at the time.

"right now." you shut down your laptop and smiled at him. he walked over to you, intertwined your arms and gave you a kiss. he quickly clasped his hands together and you felt a huge whoooosh!

you closed your eyes and took a deep breath before you almost shot his face with a huge stream of water with your cursed technique. you grit your teeth and put your hand down because you knew it would only hit his infinity. he loved to do this.

"satoru gojo! why did you teleport us away from the school?!" you yelled at him.

he just laughed and pushed you into the pet store where tsumiki was looking at the kittens. "i thought it was only right that both of her guardians were here for this moment."

you rolled your eyes at him while you walked over to tsumiki, hand in hand. "i brought (y/n) so she wouldn't miss this. did you choose which one you wanted?" satoru asked the smiling girl.

"yeah, i want the white one with blue eyes!" she pointed through the glass.

the pet shop owner picked up the kitten and put it gently in tsumiki's arms. the kitten purred as you watched by satoru's side. you could feel yourself smiling again, forgetting that satoru just teleported you away from the school without your permission.

"can you make sure to add in everything a kitten needs?" satoru asked the pet shop owner, flashing his handsome smile, sunglasses sliding down his nose, showing his beautiful blue eyes. the shop owner nodded their head with a shy smile and made sure to grab everything tsumiki needed to be a responsible cat owner. you scoffed at his ridiculous ways of trying to charm people. it may or may not have worked on you when you were both in high school.

you looked at your watch, you had 2 minutes to be back at the school before principal yaga would chew you out for leaving work. "my break is over, satoru. you need to teleport me back to the school. tsumiki, i'll see you at home, sweetheart." you kissed the top of her head as she smiled with the kitten in her arms.

"so bossy..." satoru mumbled while he looked at you.

the two of you stepped outside, satoru drew his teleportation symbol into the ground around you. you grabbed his jaw roughly with your right hand to pull him in, you glared at him and kissed him goodbye before he flashed a shit-eating grin at you. he clasped his hands together to teleport you back to jujutsu high.

back at the apartment

"so, kiddo, whatcha gonna name your new cat?" satoru asked as he placed a big department store shopping bag on the ground next to all the cat supplies. tsumiki's new white kitten laid in her arms, purring.

"i'm naming it catoru!" she smiled brightly.

"are you naming your cat after silly ol' satoru gojo?" satoru asked with a huge smile on his face. him and catoru were twins after all, white-haired and blue-eyed.

EXTRA:

"you didn't use the card that's linked to the kids' bank account, did you?" you suspected as you and satoru watched from the couch. tsumiki and megumi admired catoru as it slept in it's little home scratch post. megumi's demon puppies were also watching the kitten curiously next to him, tails wagging furiously.

"not at all." satoru softly said as he brushed your hair behind your ear to sneak a kiss on your temple. he made sure he swiped his own card at the pet store.

whenever purchases were made for the kids, you and satoru would pay for things instead of using their financial aid money that satoru received from the school. they deserved to have whatever they wanted without the worry of finances, both you and satoru made sure of that. it wasn't like you needed the money since you both came from very well-off clans.

"i hope you do the same when we go shopping on sunday." you joked with him, gently slapping his chest.

he chuckled, "don't worry, baby. hey, tsumiki!"

tsumiki turned to look over at her guardians, her brown ponytail flowing in the air, "yes?" she replied.

"can you go get the thing?" satoru asked her sweetly with his eyebrows raised. she nodded her head and ran into her room to grab a shopping bag. satoru sat up from the couch, you looked at them with confusion on your face.

"this is for you, (y/n)!" tsumiki cheerfully handed you the shopping bag.

"you. did. not." you looked over at satoru excitedly. he had his signature shit-eating grin. it was one of your favorite smiles to see on his face.

"open it, babe." he urged you to look into the shopping bag. you squealed as the kids came over to see what you were freaking out about. you pulled out the designer bag that you had been wanting since the start of the new school year. it was your little personal tradition to get a new work bag every year, but you had been so busy with work that you haven't had the time to buy one.

your eyes were entranced by the black leather and gold designer emblem. you tried on the bag by putting it over your shoulder, playfully posing with it as satoru and tsumiki smiled brightly at you.

megumi looked at the bag and quietly said, "that's the bag she wanted? it's ug—" tsumiki shoved an elbow into his side and muttered, "shut up, (y/n) likes it."

© 2023 ASDFGHJKLMALS — ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PLEASE DO NOT COPY, TRANSLATE, OR REPOST MY WORK.

DIVIDERS PROVIDED BY @/ANLIAN-AISHANG

[juullllssss]

Their pets or what pets would they have?

Price: He would have a dog, 1000%, it might seem a little basic but he is not one to change what has worked for centuries (Dogs being men's best friend and all) He really appreciates how loyal they are, he would be contend to train a puppy until it obeys perfectly (better than any recruit ever) And that the dog loves him for it, too, is just a bonus. His old man heart settles down thinking about his furred friend going bongers with happiness, every time he comes home. The absolut love and loyalty is what he likes. Definitely talks to it like a father.

Simon: That man would not have any pet willingly. For one he is nearly never home and when he is he doesn't want to take responsibility for any breathing thing, if he can prevent it. The only scenario i can imagine is when he finds a stray animal, maybe a little kitten, wet and hungry. He would grumble and curse but he is not a monster. (No matter how much he says otherwise) Taking the little thing home and turning full blown care taker in seconds. That Kitty never has to worry about food, water, entertainment, who takes care of it if Simon is not home or if his litter box is clean. (Simon best poop shoveler ever) At some point he would have serious conversations with it, taking the meows as answer. Maybe later after his retirement (or most likely retired, because they have to kick him out) he will get something small, like a hamster, nocturnal just like him.

Gaz: Easy a cat, and a long hair one at that. Absolutely spoil it to the heavens. The most expensive stuff you can think about, this cat got it. I think like Jumin from Mystic Messenger, just obsessed with it. When he does his skin care routine (or any kind of care) his cat is sitting there watching intently. Loving Gaz just as much back, wanting to be involved as well. This Cat got more self care routines, spa treatments and deluxe meals then some humans in their whole life. You can bet that he would never curse in front of his baby, using his most soothing baby voice.

Johnny: You might think i would just say parrot because....chatty. But no, this men needs something that matches his energy. So maybe a dog? No that would be to boring for him, wanting to boast about his pet to everyone he would go for something different. A ferret, yes that would be something, same type of energy, easily distracted. But i actually think in reality it would be completely different. Johnny is someone who likes to breaks some social rules. that and he likes a challenge even after retirement, and so he just takes some feral animal of the streets. Jep, maybe a raccoon, just jetting the animal out of the trash bin. (You are my friend now, we are getting soft tacos later)

Bonus:

König: To be honest i think he would be a sucker for anything cute. Which is a lot when you are his size. He would have something where he doesn't need to be afraid to hurt it. So i say a horse. He would feel fulfilled by taking care of it. Keeping his body and mind occupied. Not only that but taking pride in the trust and love he built with his horse. For some reason i can also so see him with a couple of cows. Even raising a little calf. These are all big enough that he can hug and cuddle them without worrying and they also show him their love in return. In the summer you would probably find him laying in a pile of cows napping.

Nikto: Nearly the same as ghost but even worse, so much worse. Straight up thinks any animal would die with him (Has never in his life had a pet) Then one day he finds a little animal in the middle of the forest. (don't ask me why he is in there he just is) A little rabbit shivering from the cold. He would not take it home, but he would come back every other hour to see if it was still alive. After a day of that he sees it worthy, has shown him that it wants to live. Finally taking it home. (We will just ignore how he brought it a blanket and hid it in the bushes so no predator would find it) Talks to the little thing like a future soldier, who only has to grow up to plan world domination.

[howlingday]

Blake Belladonna is a weird cat, but it's her birthday, so we'll just leave her be and let her do her own cat thing.

My source is this reddit thread.

Taiyang: Here ya go~! Salad for the birthday girl~!

Blake: Uh... Thanks, but-

Yang: Come on, Dad! Don't you have anything OTHER than health food? It's a birthday party; bring out some cake~!

Taiyang: The cake is still thawing and the burgers are still cooking. This should be enough for now.

Blake: Actually, I have a sensitivity, so-

Ruby: MORE FOR ME! (Dumps ranch bucket)

Blake: ...I'm relieved, but I'm also concerned.

Fun Fact! Cats have a primarily carnivorous diet. So much so that a good number of plants are actually toxic to them, such as onions, raw potatoes, garlic, and plants that grow from bulbs. Some cat food will include plant matter, but these are usually cooked before being added, making them less toxic than if served raw.

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Yang: So, Blake, you enjoying the party~?

Blake: I am, thank you. I wasn't expecting this many people, though.

Yang: Yeah, you've got a lot more friends than you think. Why, were you expecting someone specific to be alone with~?

Blake: (Gently shoves Yang away, Smiling) It's not like that.

Yang: Aw, c'mon, Blake! Not even one little hint~? I can probably guess it's not me since your hands are in my face.

Blake: You'd be surprised who I like more than you'd think.

Yang: Heh heh... Well, I'm gonna check on the other party guests. Later, Kit-Kat~! (Exits)

Blake: (Blushes)

Fun Fact! Cats may show affection by placing their paws in their owner's faces. However, cats may also do this while forgetting to clean up after themselves, so be aware of where you cat has been before they shove their feet into your mouth.

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Nora: Happy birthday~!

Blake: Oh, thank you, Nora, it's-

Nora: It's baby powder~!

Blake: Oh... I was going to say it's very nice, and I was going to say "I wonder what it is".

Nora: Well, it's baby powder~!

Blake: Er, thank you, but why do I need baby powder?

Nora: What do you mean? Don't you use baby powder?

Blake: Why would I use baby powder?

Nora: Well, you smell like it all the time, so I thought-

Ren: If you don't like it, I can take it for you.

Blake: No, no, I just... wasn't expecting this. Thank you, Nora.

Nora: No problem~! It's your birthday. Ooh~! There's Jaune~! Gotta go; later~! (Leaves with Ren)

Blake: (Clutches hair, Sniffs)

Fun Fact! Some cats smell like baby powder, though other cats may smell more like fish and their own feces. The latter may be due to an improperly cleaned litter box.

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Weiss: Hello, Blake, and happy birthday.

Blake: Weiss? I... almost didn't recognize you.

Weiss: I thought I'd get a tan while we were staying here.

Blake: In the middle of Jaunary?

Weiss: Why not? It's not like I'll have any time for it after this.

Blake: ...You fell asleep outside and woke up with a tan, didn't you?

Weiss: Is it that obvious?

Blake: A little bit, though it's a good thing you spoke up. With that tan line, I almost didn't recognize you. I thought some orange-skinned stranger with white hair wandered in from outside.

Weiss: Please don't say that around Xiao Long; the last thing I need is her guffawing at my mistake.

Blake: I won't mention it, but-

Ruby: HAHAHA~! WEISS, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU~?!

Weiss: RUBY ROSE, SO HELP ME, I WILL-

Blake: (Giggles)

Fun Fact! Cats rely on their sense of smell over sight. In fact, when one cat leaves for the vet and returns, the other cat may become aggressive, or even hostile, because they don't recognize the new scent soaking their housemate.

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Blake: (Smiling)

Blake: (Tenses)

Adam: (Glaring from the treeline)

Blake: ...

Yang: You good, Blake?

Blake: Huh? (Looks to Yang) Oh, I... (Looks out, Adam is gone) I thought I saw something...

Yang: Mm... Sounds like you might be drinking too much. C'mon, let's sit down on the couch. Sun and the guys said there was a game they wanted to catch since they were here.

Blake: (Smiles) That sounds nice, actually...

Fun Fact! Possibly due to the amount of serotonin cat brains produce, it is suggested that cats may hallucinate and see things that aren't really there.

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Sun: I'm telling you, man, it's the truth! Both hands to the Brothers!

Yang: Oh, you are so full of it! We all had a phase where we said that, but we both know it's not...

Blake: (Looking at them both, Slowly blinks)

Neptune: Uh, you okay, Blake?

Blake: (Shakes her head) Hm? Yeah. Just... (Chuckles) Taking in the scenery.

Fun Fact! Cats will show affection by slowly blinking. This affection is best reciprocated by slowly blinking in return. Some cats have even learned to do this when a person smiles at them.

[spindle-and-nima]

What would you say are the essentials of a bunny enclosure? I'm trying to get ready to make one for my new apartment

Hello friend!

First and extremely importantly you need space. I strongly encourage a minimum pen size of roughly 3x5 (vet and shelter told me to make sure my pens were no smaller than that size for my rabbits but a bit bigger is good). If your rabbit is not free roam, you can certainly make it bigger (my pen is a 6x6 my rabbits are semi free roam). I use a tall dog playpen to build mine so that or a Z pen will make for easy building. You can get creative with how you block out an area but space is incredibly important.

As for what goes in it:

-litter box of course but what's important is size. Do not get a tiny corner triangle box it's unhealthy for their posture. Opt for a cat litter box that's big enough for your rabbits to sit comfortably in and turn around easily in.

-hay tower or rack. You can either hang a rack (you can literally get a metal rack basket for cheap from Lowe's or home Depot and just stuff hay in it) or a wood tower like what I have. Bunnies must have Timothy Hay available 24/7 in unlimited quantities so this is the way to ensure that. It keeps the hay from getting soiled though I do always add additional hay to the litter box. Keep the hay near the litter box to kinda just keep em poopin in the litter when they want a snack

-hides. You need at least 1 hide per rabbit. I have 4 hides for mine. I like the cute wooden Castle hides bc they are roomy and my bunnies like them a lot but really you can get creative with it. Just absolutely no igloos those are not good for rabbits or their postures (vet and shelter advice). You can do tunnels or cardboard boxes but yea hides are a necessity for rabbits.

-flooring. There's a lot of things you can do for flooring but you definitely want something to prevent your rabbits from soiling your carpet and most rabbits dislike smooth tile or hardwood (slippery on non padded feet). A few things I've seen people do are use pee pads and lay fleece, blankets, towels, or rugs on top which are good options. If you're like me and busy and want easy cleaning and a cute aesthetic, you can use EVA carpeted foam mats. They absorb well without letting urine leak through.

I would NOT advise EVA foam if your rabbits really chew and actually eat everything. while I find these dont give bunnies much leverage for biting, especially destructive ones will find a way and you don't want them eating these. My bungies are luckily not interested in chewing them so they work well. A handful of guest rabbits I've housed did well with them too. Even my more destructive guests didn't manage to bite through it well but I need to put that disclaimer because I'm kind of lucky with my rabbits behaviour.

They look like this and come in many colors:

Pretty good and I like them because they are easy cleanup (wash by hand but you can just pop the soiled square out and replace it with a spare so the pen is immediately freshened up. And you can clean the soiled ones immediately or if you're busy just set it aside to wash when you got the time.) these are not essential ofc you can just use the ol fleece or towel or rug thing. Since you are renting i would really reccomend putting puppy pee pads under whatever you choose to protect the flooring.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I make my boyfriend move out of my apartment?

My (27F) boyfriend (28M) has never lived on his own and moved into my apartment straight from his parent's house a little less than a year ago.

Before I get into it: I do not want to stop dating my Boyfriend. I just don't know if I can keep living with him in a shared space. Before he moved in I wasn't fully unpacked or moved in because there was a lot of furniture I didn't own. I kept everything clean though. Dishes got done in a timely manner, I was able to vacuum all the carpets and wash my clothes on a weekly basis and my cats were get their boxes scooped on the daily, and trash would be taken out as needed, usually every 3rd day when I was living solo.

However when my boyfriend moved in the apartment started getting messier and messier. We both have full time jobs and I kept assuring him that I could keep doing the majority of the chores provided he did SOME of the chores. I gave him with a list of everything that should be getting done on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. He selected more than half of the tasks and I was like "okay this isn't what I asked you to do but if you're okay with it that's fine by me!"

Fast forward two months later and everything is a fucking wreck.

I've been able to keep up with laundry but there are a lot of chores I can't do if the trash doesn't get taken out or if the sink is full of dishes. Two of the chored my BF selected. I can't empty the vacuum cleaner or wash the vacuum's filters, I can't scoop the cats' litterboxes and throw away their leavings or wiped own the litter boxes on dump-day and worst of all I can't cook dinner every day as I WANT to do and ENJOY doing when all my pots pans and plates are dirty.

I've tried asking him multiple times to do just these two chores, trash and dishes, and I'll take care of everything else but he just doesn't. The apartment has slowly gotten so disgusting that it's beginning to effect my already delicate mental health.

The worst of it started when I injured my back and could barely walk to the toilet. I couldn't go to work for a full week and I couldn't bend or twist my torso for nearly a month. In that time laundry piled up and my boyfriend never did any of it even though I would ask him too. That was nearly 6 months ago and I'm STILL trying to get caught up on laundry.

Even though all of THAT is happening I still can't bring myself to ask him to do the dishes or take out the trash more than like once a week. His mom is a really mean person and I feel like I'm nagging him the same way his mother does when I ask too frequently.

All that in mind: would I be the asshole if I kept dating my Boyfriend but asked him to find his own place to live?

What are these acronyms?

[tomorrowsgardennc]

chicken update // february 18th

well i was gonna wait until i got these projects done to post an update... but between being sick and another winter storm coming in, it's gonna be a couple weeks before i can get back in to it. so here... we... CLUCK!@&&!

first off: the chicken schedule was released by the local hardware store!

it's been out for a month, and it's less than a month before they arrive. therefore, i believe possibly maybe i have narrowed down the breeds i will be getting. i expected them to get copper marans but *blue* ones?! mando. ideal 236 is actually the only breed they're offering with white eggs, interestingly enough. which is fine - stereotypical chicken is still stereotypically cute. now... the olive eggers. i KNOW i want olive eggers... i have wanted those since i started researching chicken breeds years ago. but the hardware store threw in a curveball and added ONYX olive eggers?!?! excuuuuuse me?! goth chickens yes please!! but they will not arrive at the hardware store until april 25th, an entire month after i get the other 2 breeds. plus, i am legit worried about our hot summers just getting hotter. there's a reason i'm only gothic during the cold months (joke). normie olive eggers are available the same day i'll be getting the other 2 breeds. what do you guys think??

the chicken nursery aka brooder (married millennial with no kids means the name changes to nursery instead of brooder i don't make the rules) is 99% done!! couple weeks ago i built the litter box drawer that goes under the nursery from spare wood we had. it was partically molded from being outside, so i did the same bleach clean sand kilz paint job like i did for the main structure. we keep scrap wood for a reason so buying wood would just make the avrap wood pile useless. the wood for the drawer is much thicker than it has any need to be, but free is free.

the bedding is and will be shredded paper and cardboard. since we can't go shopping at atores like normies, we get a lot of boxes from deliveries so i am not worried about running out of chicken bedding.

i was nervous about a heating lamp in my craft room with the door closed most of the time, so hubs and i settled on getting a heating plate. this hesting plate has been turned on high for the past 2 weeks and no issues or fires so far. i added the bedding today and turned down the heat on the plate for another test. on high, without bedding, the area under the heating plate read at 109°F. the handkerchief is to help hold that heat in one place, and has been there since the beginning of the test. will wait and see if needed when the chickens are here.

if we had a garage then i would use a heat lamp - between a typical fire break between garage and house, then i wouldn't care. but the craft room has majority of my business stuff, and is right next to the master bedroom 😬 just not worth the fire risk imo.

my craft room is either too cold in winter or too hot in summer due to just where it is and what isn't around it compared to the rest of the house. but will keep a super close eye on them with The Chicken Nursery WebcamTM. yup, i found a very old logitech webcam we bought in the pre-2010s and are going to have it in the nursery and stream the chickens. why? see: married, childless millennials.

the only 2 things left to do on the chicken nursery brooder structure thing is to drill a hole for those two wires to exit out of instead of coming out of the top so that i can install "locks" so the top cannot be opened by the cats. the craft room door will be open when i am in the room so the cats can come and go, but will be closed when i am not in the room. even though 4 out of 5 cats are indoor only, i still want them to get used to chickens being "normal" and not "dinner."

speaking of, here is my cat tax. when i was filling the bedding in the drawer, parsley was such a big help playing with the shreds that fell on the floor.

the prep work for the outdoor coop and run has begun, but only just. we did as much as we could during the false spring weather we got about 2 weeks ago. once this winter storm goes away for good, it looks like the weather will be nice again to go back to work on it. hopefully, this flu of ours will be gone by then 🫠

[ceasarslegion]

Ok you can't just tease gory roommate stories and then not share them! Pleeease tell us more!

I didn't answer this at first because I had to go back to dig up the photos to prove I am not fucking with you when I say how disgusting that place was

So how we ended up living together was that I had just graduated uni, toronto is too expensive so I couldn't stay there as much as I wanted to, and a federal government career opportunity in PEI fell through on the basis that I "didn't look enough like a minority" (which is a lot to unpack but let's just move on, if anyone wants that story send another ask my way lmao). So all this in mind, I had to grab all my stuff and fuck off back to edmonton and take a paying-the-bills job for a while.

I also needed a place to live, so I called up a few of my friends in edmonton and asked if any of them needed a roommate because I was making minimum wage in a mall skincare store, I couldn't afford to live alone. This person responded and told me they needed a roommate to get out of the sketchy part of the city. Win-win.

Honestly, would've been better taking my chances on craigslist. This person single-handedly ruined the concept of roommates for me for the rest of my goddamn life.

When I say disgusting, I mean vile. I mean that the entire time I was there I had the one laundry card from our unit and she never once asked for it. I don't know where or when or how she was doing her laundry, but most of her clothes were strewn about randomly. She had 2 cats, and cleaned their litter boxes maybe once a month, never brushed them. Cat hair everywhere, the whole place reeked of cat piss, dirty litter got tracked across the whole house, and one time one of them barfed on the carpet and she didn't even touch it for weeks. I left it there as a test to see if she would actually clean up after her own animals if I didn't get fed up and do it for her, like I ALWAYS did with everything else.

Dirty dishes were left to rot, her definition of "cleaning" them was soaking them in their own filth overnight and then putting them back in the cupboard, no brush or sponge. Half the time the dishes were fucking coated in grease and mold that was just rinsed off. And every time that happened was when I didn't do them. She ended up getting a tabletop dishwasher at one point and was so fucking lazy that she couldn't even be assed to throw a dishwasher tab in there and hit the on button when it got full, just kept piling dishes up in the sink.

The floors were COVERED in untouched impulse bought shopping bags that she would set down and never pick up again. The fridge and cupboards were chock all of all her impulse bought food to the point where I had no space for my own. She just kept buying more and more of the same shit she already had and then getting pissed at ME when I told her to reorganize the fucking fridge so that I can EAT. Honestly this was where I started getting petty and just eating her food, because it would go fucking moldy and sit there and she wouldn't do shit about it if I didn't.

I was the only one who ever took out the garbage. I was the only one who cleaned the bathroom. Wait sorry, she did it ONCE, so I'm a hypocrite /s. The previous sentence was her logic and tactics for arguing whenever I asked them to clean up after themself. Multiple times I had to deal with their used pads because they couldn't be fucking assed to take out the bathroom trash.

And hey, when I said I was fine with her boyfriend coming over sometimes, I didn't say he could basically just move in, throw all HIS trash everywhere, and never move out. I don't think that motherfucker (who was more disgusting than her) ever slept at his own goddamn house for 6 straight months.

She smoked so much weed that I think she might be the first person to have a legitimate weed addiction, often INSIDE so we would get smoking complaints. She would howl like a BANSHEE into the early hours of the morning on ps online with her brother in a building with thin walls. She would hoard all the dishes in her room to rot to the point where half the time I didn't have bowls to eat out of, because they were molding in her room.

One time, she made soup. And then didn't clean the pot for multiple MONTHS. And when I told her to clean her disgusting pot her reaction was to put it on the floor. Do you think I'm a fucking dinosaur whose visual competence is based on movement? Do you think im fucking stupid?

This all came to a head on provincial election night of 2023. I was a campaign staffer for the NDP so obviously e-day was hectic for me. I left my apartment at 6am and didn't get back until past midnight scrambling to get last minute canvassing done and poll inspections and go to the results party. She knew this, it was her day off, she promised me she would clean up her mess

When I get home, what do I find?

Not only is the mess not touched, it is worse. "Dirty underwear in the hallway" worse. She spent all fucking day playing video games and smoking weed. And now I would have to clean it all up because she won't, she never did, not one time did she ever actually make good on her promises to clean up after herself, I did it EVERY. TIME.

Oh wait no, sometimes she would move bags into a corner, so I'm a hypocrite and I'm asking too much of a grown-ass adult who is OLDER than me and she has to walk on eggshells around me. I'm so cruel and terrible and a bad person whose hygiene expectations of not breathing in cat piss are impossible. Don't I know she has depression and works 6 days a week? I'm a bad terrible ableist piece of shit and if I don't like it I can just leave. Which is what she acted like when I got so pissed at that that I confronted her about it and told her to get her fucking act together and grow the fuck up and take some responsibility for the fucking pigstye she was making other people live in. And then the next morning I found a lovely note on the fridge calendar that said "[boyfriend] moves in soon <3" so she was just kicking me out. Because I told her to pick up her dirty fucking underwear. She also had the AUDACITY to tell me that I was being unreasonable and had impossible standards of hygiene and that "it literally doesn't affect you"

So I went "lmao bet" and then told my landlord I was taking that offer of his to break the lease. What she didn't know was that I was telling him all this shit just in case I would have to bail early and cover my ass with the rental board. And he agreed that she was so unreasonable that he drafted me up a written agreement that this was a special case and he would not charge me fines or slap a broken lease on my record on the grounds that my roommate made my situation unlivable and a hazard to my health and safety. I contacted my grandma to move into her basement for a while and a week later I fucked off, leaving her with the entire rent and all the utility bills. I think it's less than she deserved honestly, I want my fucking security deposit back. Although I was very petty and did a shit job of patching up and repainting the mounted tv holes in my bedroom wall so they could deal with that.

Here's the photos of what I lived in for 9 months:

Are you taking the fucking piss

Now I live alone and I'm never doing roommates again. The only people I am living with are either my life partner or I'm moving back in with family if I can't afford it. I'll pump gas in the ass end of nowhere Saskatchewan in my Nan and grandads trailer before I live in this again

[skiptomy]

Y'all I don't know what the fuck to do right now. My cat Avalene, who I've had since she was a kitten, has started to get so anxious around our other two cats. We're not sure what started it but it's gotten worse over the last six months.

We've taken her to the vet a bunch, we've gotten her a special diet, had her on meds, got pheromone plug ins, made sure all the cats had plenty of play time, they have fancy litter boxes and they are cleaned regularly.

But she clearly has a bladder issue and won't stop peeing on the floor, on any clothes or towels or blankets she can find, she pees on the couch, and worst of all, on beds, even when you are in them.

She's still eating, she drinks normally, she's active and still just as loving as ever. I cannot overstate how much I love this cat and how much it breaks my heart that we are even starting to consider that she just might need to be re-homed. If she would be happier and healthier in a single pet home that's just what we need to do.

Our only other option is probably surgery and daily anxiety meds, but that's not something we can afford. Right now I'm late on rent and haven't had money to buy groceries except like ramen and canned chicken at the dollar store. I would give my whole fuckin world for this cat but there's no saying that she'll be okay after all that. I just feel so hopeless about everything, and I don't know what to do.

[sgiandubh]

A study in media fabrication: the Metro interview

I was on a late, self-prescribed ☕ break at the office and lo and behold, mindlessly scrolling @bat-cat-reader's page, what do I see? S's last 'interview' to Metro UK. Rarely have I seen such a poorly cobbled fabrication, so I thought I might share a couple of quick thoughts about it.

A word about the newspaper, first. This is not, as you might think, a part of the Swedish-owned and worldwide present Metro conglomerate of free commuter tabloids, that usually end up littering the carriage, by the end of the day. Nope, and I had no idea. Metro UK is owned by DMG Media (The Daily Fail people, in other words) since 1999 and uses a different logo, to avoid being sued on what is, in my opinion a blatant trademark infringement (remember, S was the culprit the EUIPO punished for way less than that!). More interestingly, though, the print and web editions have totally different content, which means that you'd look in vain for the James Bondesque pic while commuting from Wimbledon to London, for example. The relevance of this interview is nearing 0, in my humble opinion: if anything, it just served to check a box of the PR's current media plan and justify the retainers a couple of people cashed in, as a result.

Quotes and references like the one below abound:

Now, if you imagine S talked face to face to Ms. Josie Copson for the sake of this article, you couldn't be more wrong. In fact, I doubt he knows her name or (when questioned) even if he ever gave an interview to Metro.co.uk. In plain English, he didn't "tell" Josie anything: PR probably sent her some formulaic 'answers' by email and let her add some fill-in material, then revised and greenlit the whole for release.

How do I know it? Easy: no photos. No specifics (random example: 'seated at the counter of Soho's BAFTA Bar, in London, SRH' this and that). And the almost scrupulous rehashing of the talking points we have already seen (and it did break my heart to see so many upset people for literally nothing, in here). Give or take some last minute inserts, some of which are quite dubious, to he honest.

This one, for example:

How odd. A Zoom call apparently happened, of which - again- we have no evidence at all. It's not impossible, but it is improbable. What is interesting, though, is the 'related' discreet surfing suggestion at the end of the article, which sheds new light on that Gen Z. joke - which yes, now sorta makes sense:

Why? For more (monetized) clicks and traffic. Remember the tiny detail that Metro's business model is based on a free offer. So, they have to make it viable somehow: in print, it's the ads. Online, it's all about the ads and the clicks.

The only interesting thing I could take out of this would be a very peculiar choice of words:

Being spied on... By all means, please clarify and thank you. I can think of one or two people in this fandom, regularly and almost obsessively dueling for the position of best informed in town. Using very different methods, to be sure, but still qualifying for this spying position, in my book. Both of them completely lack perspective and offer very little context, but that is of no particular import, when it's all about feeding your captive audience with nonsense.

If these two people wanted to come clean, they'd only need to write two very simple phrases:

This is a gossip blog exclusively focused on SRH.

and

This is a social media monitoring blog exclusively focused on SRH.

Not gonna happen anytime soon. Cue in the mystique of 'sources' and repeatedly absurd 'lucky strikes'. It certainly makes things way sexier than they really are. Because when you know things, you don't brag about it. Easy as 1, 2, 3.

Oh, and mark me: it's always been about SRH. No wonder the boundaries feel 'blurred'.

[mcalhenwrites]

Life updates: - I have a new writing laptop! It came today, although I wasn't sure it would (UPS lied about delivering it), and I'm still setting it up, but I'm really excited to get back to my old ways of typing 5k words a day. ;P - I picked up extra hours at work, and work has been weird and incredibly stressful for a variety of reasons. (Some of it involves difficult clients or neglected dogs, then sicknesses floating around, and even one situation where I was choking up on the phone over the reasons for an appointment cancellation.) But I do love (most of) the people I work with, including a couple of new hires at one of the locations. - I still have about a month to wait before I can talk to my surgeon about what was discovered in one of my biopsies. It's something that is benign, but it isn't always, and I want to know if it could become cancerous later on. It's also possible it could cause other health concerns. It's nice I can bend over, and it's a damn good thing that I had this surgery if we're finding out my body is even more fucked up than initially realized. I tried to google some info the other night, and I guess the way I worded it, google was like, "Oh, your ovaries can't do that!" Yeah, that's... the issue. They're not supposed to be able to do what they are doing. - I did update Seasons a few days ago, I think. Time feels fake. I did it recently. I need to finish rewriting the chapter after, but life is wild. - I really, really want to get on my feet this year and find a place to live. If anything, just so I can have cats again. OF MY OWN. And I am fully capable of cleaning litter boxes and combing out fur regularly, just fucking saying. :) :) :) - I have been working on Stargazers' Hill mainly, and even then I just haven't had much time for writing. I hope that changes this month. I promised myself I wouldn't take on too much. (I did pick up a couple of extra shifts in January, but nothing excessive.) - I'm fighting a lot of stress these days, it's... overwhelming and discouraging. I'm trying to survive. I don't know what to do "right" to fix that - to stop having to swim 24 hours a day and still be nowhere even near the surface. - That said, I'm still creating and making beautiful things when I can, it's just a slow process. I've been missing a lot online, I'll be missing still, but I don't think many people actually miss me so I think that's good actually lol

[eight-freakin-gids]

Looking for advice: What's up with my cat?

Our cat Jasmine has been behaving unusually, and we're not sure why. For the last few days, she's been hunkering down in one place for hours on end, such as under my bed or in her cat tree. More concerning, she hasn't been eating as much as usual for a few weeks (though she has still been eating a little).

Context: We've had Jasmine for over a year now. She's 3 years old and is an indoor cat. She's always been a bit skittish, even when she was at the sanctuary. The first few days we had her, she hid under our recliner. And even after she stopped doing that, she still liked to hide in closets and under beds.

However, she warmed up to us, and she's obviously affectionate. Over the last year we haven't seen her hide or avoid us nearly as often (she does seem to prefer one-on-one time though). And overall, she's had a good appetite.

That being said, taking her to the vet has been difficult. She doesn't like being picked up under normal circumstances, so trying to get her into her carrier is difficult. After we get back, she'll disappear to a hiding place for a while, but she typically warms back up to us eventually.

Also, as far as we can tell, she doesn't like wearing a collar. We got her an easy release collar, and she's taken it off at least twice. And again, she really does not like being held or restrained, so getting her collar on is difficult.

All of this is to say, she's had a number of stressful events in a relatively short time frame.

Before she started avoiding us, we noticed she was eating a little less. So, we took her to the vet last month (she also needed nails her clipped). Notably, they didn't find anything wrong with her, and they said she's at a healthy weight.

In the days following that, my roommates and I all individually tried unsuccessfully to get her collar back on her.

And finally, we left her unattended for three days while we were out of town. We left her plenty of food and water, and we cleaned her litter box beforehand. Personally, I don't think this was an issue. She spent time with me after we got back, and she didn't seem to be acting differently. It's only been after that in the last few days that she's been avoiding us. We're not sure what's going on.

Because the vet couldn't find anything wrong with her, my roommates and I are wondering if she has some sort of anxiety or other similar issue.

One of my roommates has already shared this story, and we've heard the theory that she was stressed by the vet and everything else. I think this is plausible, but I want to hear other opinions.

Obviously, cats are weird and fickle. They'll do what they want to do, but we're concerned. What do you all think? Have you ever seen a cat behave this way? If so, did you find out what, if anything, was wrong? If nothing changes, we'll try taking her to the vet again. However, if they still can't find anything, we're going to explore the possibility that Jasmine would be best in a different environment.

[nukenai]

I have to put my 17 year old cat to sleep next week and my roommate has extremely ramped up the "acting like my cat Stella is HIS cat" bullshit. The other day he made a "joke" saying "that's not how I raised her" and today he called her his daughter.

For the record he doesn't even clean litter boxes or anything. He just shuts her in his room all day while he watches movies bc he's been unemployed for 11 months. Plenty of cute pictures of MY FUCKING CAT get posted to his Instagram every day as he begs people for likes and to watch his streams.

I know I should try talking to him when I'm not angry. But I've been so forgiving and gentle of his little baby feelings this whole fucking time of him being unemployed and stealing my cat and never leaving the house while I'm working my ass off and he thinks cleaning the kitchen counters (after being asked bc he made a mess) is like a Big Deal he deserves thanks for.

I'm at my wit's end with it all and I've been planning for a while that at the beginning of the year he's going to have an ultimatum. He NEEDS to have a job bc I can't keep getting rent at 11:59pm on the last day of the month. He needs to have a job so he leaves the house and stops hogging my fucking cat who was supposed to be very special to me, and now she wants almost nothing to do with me and acts like she doesn't fucking know who I am.

I am enraged and miserable and inconsolable. He acted like this before I got zero. He said he wanted to put a fucking ultraman tag on him and post him on Instagram, and when I said to stop talking like that, he got extremely fucking mad and yelled at me bc he was jealous he never had pets growing up. Not my fucking problem. Now he pretends he has a pet so he gets all the fun of a cat who loves him without any of the actual responsibility. Very on brand for him.

I don't want to ruin our friendship and I don't want to kick him out. But I'm so sick of being so forgiving and always being taken advantage of.

[bi-writes]

cat owner and used to work in a clinic as a kennel tech. please keep your future kitty indoors or harness train them from a young age and remember their flea meds if you take them out because i remember one of our client's old little ladies was either taken or killed because she was an indoor/outdoor cat. make sure you keep an eye on their water intake/pee in litter box because they don't drink as much and they can get dehydrated. wet food is a friend! and please avoid meow mix at all costs. if you can't afford expensive brands, just make sure to read the ingredients and avoid a lot of fillers and artificial stuff. i really like cats.com because they helped me a lot when i started. also they can get overweight and diabetic really easily and need a lot less food than dogs. like a lot. i'm so bad at it but just follow the instructions for the weight your cat should be at and talk to a vet with any questions. i really like feeding my guy from a puzzle feeder, but even like spreading it around or having some active way for them to eat it is pretty good! also look into the breed your cat is or is mixed with, because i did not realize my lil man was going to be a TALKER because of his breed. people will definitely normalize some of the behavior you're stumped with and have some tips. a personal but big one: hurricane/museum putty EVERYTHING you don't want knocked over. i'm talking vases, computer monitors, candles, etc. cats are really amazing and i'm excited for you! i love him just as much as my dogs and it's not too much different as long as you keep an eye on them and keep their litter box clean so it doesn't smell.

oh yes true about cleaning the litter box :)

i clean mine every other day, cause she doesnt go that much, but more than one cat or a larger cat might need 1-2x a day. if its dirty to your cat, they will not go in it :(

i also don’t buy super expensive cat food, but i just make sure the first ingredient is chicken/salmon, not chicken by-product. 🫶🏼 i can afford more expensive food, but she literally won’t eat anything else but what she’s gotten used to ):

ooooo that’s cool about the museum putty! my cat does not knock things over like that. im blessed lol.