lwtsh's vox blog

to pet owners:

any experiences of your pet(s) having ticks?  how did you handle it?

as far as i know, my kids don't seem to have ticks.   last night i picked up a tick (GROSS!) in the area by the sliding door and suddenly i had fear that ticks would be sucking the life out of my kids.     we're giving them a bath this weekend. after feeling them up (lol, sounds gross, i know), they don't seem to have ticks latched on to their bodies.

i understand that people want to save on gas and squeeze into any parking spot but i don't think this car would even survive a SUV.   in my book, safety trumps price, size, and basically everything else.

http://www.car-accidents.com/2007-auto-crash-story/3-19-07-smart-car.html

dear temporary vendor guy:

please get your grubby hands out of the candy jar.   the employees and long term contractors contribute to the candy jar yet you keep digging your hands into the jar.   you're not contributing and you're being a freakin' greedy glutton by grabbing candy frequently daily.  didn't your mother teach you any manners?

have some freakin' tact!  you're representing microsoft very poorly.

regards,

lwtsh

p.s.  i'm glad i'm moving away from your area; i'm tired of listening to you stuff your face.

if you're a pet parent, you know that your dog or cat fur will shed in the spring time.

when my friend tracy recommended the furminator to help with fur shedding of our felines, i thought: wow, $40 for a freakin' grooming brush???

Furminator

sweet pea shedded so much and i was tired of it.   no amount of brushing with her previous brush and bathing helped her.  she kept on shedding until i broke down and bought the furminator after talking to a salesperson at our local pet store where we buy our cat food.   

i could have knitted a sweater with all of the fur i combed out with the furminator.  it was really worth the money spent -- she doesn't shed much after the initial comb and i don't see cat fur flying in the air.   fewer baths = happier kitty.   yes, i bathe and groom my cats at home.  we prefer to groom the cats ourselves -- at least we know how they are being handled.  they're not really happy being bathed but they tolerate it.  all in all, this comb is really what it says it is.

one caveat is that you have to be careful when brushing your pet.   i cringe when i watched the demo's at the furminator web site.  because of the heavy duty metal comb, it seems it can irritate your pet's skin when you comb hard.    lightly brush and see the fur come off.   however, it is definitely a lwtsh's best pet buy!  thanks, tracy, for the great rec!  

i should have posted this in may but better late than never!

• look at your stock/mutual fund/bond portfolio and rebalance if they're not doing well; face it -- everything is not doing well but look at what you think can do better than what you have now
• make sure your ac unit has a clean filter and it's running a-ok; you don't want to have your ac break down in the middle of 90 degree weather and have to wait for the ac repairman to finish up the four jobs ahead of you
• reprogram your thermostat to whatever fits your environment; when i didn't have any pets, i only turned on the ac when i was home; now as a pet parent, i set the thermo to 77 degrees when i'm not home and 70 when i'm home.
• pull out the your trunk of summer clothes and pack up the lambswool sweaters if you haven't already and break out those shorts and cami's
• stock up on sunblock since they're going on sale; with the blazing sun pounding on our city, i slather on the lubiderm 15 spf lotion daily
• stock up on frozen goodies.  i'm in my 30's and i still relish popsicles and frozen juice bars; markets usually have sales on this stuff around this time
• get that fabulous short haircut; props to the ladies who can deal with long hair during hot weather -- i can't do it 
• start researching about where you want to travel to in the autumn; obviously, if you had booked a summer trip, prices are going to be sky high and the crowds are going to be fierce.  why not look at a non peak season and less crowds? my favorite travel site is priceline.com; it is typically lower than all of the popular travel sites
• visit the dentist for that check up and teeth cleaning; i religiously get two cleanings each year since i've already paid out of my pocket through work  i actually don't mind visiting my dentist.  he is very pleasant to "listen" to as he's scraping tartar off the back of my teeth :P
• if you haven't gone to the doctor yet, schedule your yearly check up and blood test (yes, that also means a pap smear for the ladies!); as i am getting older, i am always on the watch for high cholestrol or anything that may seem abnormal
• take your car for an oil change  :P  that reminds me, i need to do this one. 

there are very few things i am addicted to like blogging, not wasting resources, joe's italian ice in anaheim, clean and clear face wash just to name a few.   so it's rare i found two new things in one weekend to fixate on...

• yogurtland: a self service yogurt joint similar to pinkberry except you do it yourself and they charge you by the oz.  only 30 cents per oz and that includes all the toppings you want.  more strawberries and less mochi? go for it  i love the concept because it gives the customer control.  i'm already thinking about the next trip there next week and looking forward to the new stores coming to the cities nearby!
• the office: tv series on nbc with steve carrell and jenna fischer.   this show is so hilarious that i spent the weekend, watching season 2 and 3; awesome show!

i would continue to work if i won a million dollars.   a mil doesn't carry the weight like it use to as the us dollar stinks and the staggering costs of well, everything.

this would be probably i'd do in this order:

1. pay off the mortgage
2. pay off the existing car loan
3. buy my parents a new car and a flat screen tv
4. jet off to europe or asia
5. buy a second car brand new -- still probably buy a camry; i don't see the point of buying a luxury car

maybe you received the generic girly gift in your secret santa exchange you didn't exactly want:  a bath and bodyworks shower gel and lotion set.   you tried a brand of shampoo or lotion once and you didn't like it. now you're stuck with an entire bottle full of stuff you hate.   do you let the shampoo sit in your bathroom cabinet, let it collect dust, and hope it will miraculously disappear?  do you regift the shower gel set at the next secret santa exchange?   you can't exactly give this kind of stuff away to goodwill but it's too good to dump in the trash.   what to do?

why not donate new or almost new personal care items to a shelter?

i ran across this problem with my mother gifting me with too many shampoo's, lotions, soaps, and even maxi pads i am not fond of.   my cabinets were full with all of these unused items, including the hotel toiletries i horded during my vacations.  even though she knows i am particular of certain brands (aren't we all?), she insists on giving the loot to me.  out of respect, i just thank her and take it.    i've actually asked her why buy this stuff when she can save her money.   apparently she buys these items with coupons and just pays pennies in tax; i happen to be the lucky receiving end of such great deals. 

so every so often i look through my bathroom cabinets to see what i can give away to the local shelter.   if i can't appreciate that giant bottle of V05 shampoo or super thick maxi pads, someone in need will.   double check with your local shelter website to make sure that personal care items are welcomed.  

i'm curious to see what people have in their car trunk.  this is what i have in an old espirit backpack from college:

• 1 old wearable work khakis and pair of panties (you never know when aunt flo will visit and it has visited during work before)
• 1 old wearable pair of jeans for the hubby
• 1 old clean pair of socks
• 1 pocket knife (love the scissors and screwdriver attachments)
• 2 plastic bags from target
• 1 bottle of water
• 1 protein bar, free from a 5K run i did recently 
• 1 small umbrella from the 99 cent store; it works fine and we would care less if it got lost
• 1 ziplock bag of emergency stuff
• aspirin (i steal these from the office's first aid station. hehe)
• antacid
• bandaids
• alcohol wipes
• saline solution in small breakaway containers
• contact lens container
• maxi pads
• latex gloves

outside of the backpack: a jumbo canvas bag for groceries, clean sweatershirt, clean towel and unisex canvas shoes (we share the same shoe size because my feet are huge).   

it never hurts to have some of the stuff in your car.  honestly, i have used most of these things once except for the protein bar and water which i replace every year because they are persishable.  the items i've used most frequently are the sweatshirt and umbrella.  the umbrella is a no brainer.   with this crazy weather going on, it could rain and you can easily go to the trunk and stay dry.   the biggest lifesaver is the aspirin.  i had a killer headache a few times and it was inconvenient to stop by a drugstore.  i popped the trunk, popped an aspirin, and was on my merry way.  

when the last tissue is pulled from the kleenex box, the empty box is usually throw into the trash, right?  i read a few creative ways to recycle the boxes:

trash bag dispenser:

instead of throwing the box away, you can use it as a plastic bag dispenser when you need to get a plastic bag for disposal.   this works great.   we have a big colorful kleenex box full of produce bags sitting by each litter box.  not only does it keep another box from getting trashed, the box is an attractive and efficient holder which keeps all of those plastic bags contained and under control.

valentine day card holder:

if you have child or if you're an elementary school teacher, the kleenex box would be a perfect container to hold valentine cards.  kids can decorate boxes and take them to school.