riye's Profile

At least your and your dog got there safely. It will all work out and then you can have stories to tell once you're settled in.

When I bought my apartment things that had been working previously mysteriously stopped working--like the a/c and kitchen disposal. The bathroom sink vanity started sagging because the mold/mildew colony behind it was trying to expand. One of the building pipes broke in my apartment and flooded my place and my neighbors. The same neighbors got evicted soon after and all their starving cockroaches came over to die at my house. It was crazy.

I mostly do my cardio outdoors but I occasionally use the stairwell in my building as a stairmaster. I live in a tall building so there's plenty of stairs!

One of the other folks in my building uses his parking stall as his workout area. He scoots his car a little further back and does his workout (i.e., jumping rope). Granted the concrete floor is probably not great but you could put a mat down to soften it.

Good luck!

I have had severe allergies and asthma pretty much my whole life. I'm allergic to cats but we always had them and I manage with a combination of allergy shots and an inhaler. The allergy drugs that are available now are so much better than they used to be. If your sister doesn't mind taking medications there might be something out there that would work for her. We also vacuum every week and I wash my hands after handling the cats. But hey, I'd vacuum every day if it meant keeping my cats! :-) Tell your sister to take care and I hope she can figure something out.

Does the person have to be based in the NY area? I have a couple of friends that might be interested but they're not in NYC.

Oh, and, um, I think you meant to say "discreet" not "discrete". :-)

The Spilled Milk podcast (http://www.spilledmilkpodcast.com), which is hosted by Matthew Amster-Burton (Roots and Grubs blog) and Molly Wizenberg (Orangette blog), is one of my favorites. They mostly talk about food (there was one shampoo and toothpaste excursion) and cooking and it is really really funny.

My own family never throws family parties because most of the relatives are either deceased or live in another country. That's probably all for the best because my mum used to like to talk about current events (i.e., which politician she wishes would have a heart attack and die) or health topics (i.e., the importance of bowel movements). My BF really loves her but she freaks him out.

Good old mum is gone now so I'll be at the BF's family party making small talk and listening to old family stories, which I really enjoy.

My bf has two rather cringeworthy paintings I did a while back displayed in his living room. Every time I saw them I'd think about everything that was wrong with them and get upset. However, he liked them so much that I finally stopped putting so much energy into loathing them and started ignoring them. I still don't like them much--but now I don't care. I guess my suggestion is try it for a while. You might find that after a while you stop noticing it. That approach even worked with my good friend's Wyland themed bathroom. :-)

I agree with thebrownbrickhouse. Coming back to a clean house makes me feel like my vacation hasn't quite ended yet. I can just put my stuff away and go to bed. :-D

We (my family and I) boarded the kitties at their vet. The facilities were clean and the staff was nice. Plus we got a little discount because we were patients and brought our own cat food.

My brother did a detailed list and diagram of our mom's yard for the housesitter when we went on a family trip. I thought was a little too anal but the sitter said it was great. And only one potted plant died! Yard looked great.

My bf uses one of Martha Stewart's recipes to make chocolate ginger cookies--they are so good. They're the cookie of choice for my office during the holiday season.