Did I miss your birthday, Ginger? Hope it was happy, whenever it was/is.

Sorry the stepmother is tetchy on the topic of her stepness. Sounds like a great time to refer to her affectionately using the diminutive of her given name that annoys her most, in the most cheerfully oblivious fashion possible.

I misread that totally; I thought that TCG's *mom* doesn't like the stepmom being referred to as the stepmom, because her very step-ness is offensive to the DNA contributor.

But I suppose I read that through my lens of having step-family.

Teppy read it right. Sorry for the confusion.

Teppy read it right.

Score one for the step-kid!

Daylight Savings weekend means I'm already ready for bed at 9:20. Good lord. On the other hand, since The Boy had double-hernia surgery Wednesday, I've been taking care of him AND doing all the housework and pet feeding. I didn't realize how much it is for one person.

Also? I was right 11 months ago when I moved in and said I could NEVER clean the litter boxes because the litter dust would trigger an asthma attack.

signed,
had to prove it the hard way AND very thankful for a functional inhaler

Teppy read it right. Sorry for the confusion.

That's ... making the kind of sense that isn't. Sorry.

I don't "officially" have asthma, but I do recall growing up cleaning the litter box always resulted in me (1.) controlling the urge to retch, and (2.,) having trouble breathing for a long time afterwords, to the point of almost blacking out.

Now the first symptom is likely psychosomatic, but it might have a purging component, the second reminds me of hypoxia.

Twenty years later, I gladly leave the litter chores to Andi, despite my feeling guilty not cleaning them for her.

ETA: Not that I didn't find tricks I would employ should Andi need my assistance. A large t-shirt tucked into my pants and pulled up past my nose helped a lot way back when...Air mask might help.

I find that Zeolite has made a huge difference with cat litter odor, so much so that I sometimes forget to clean the cat box for days. But then, I've never had asthma-like symptoms.

edit: I use the non-reusable, sprinkle-on kind.

Windsparrow has asked me to post this response here.

I sent this email to my sister in response to her sending me another anti-Obama scare link. (7obamanations.com)

The text of my reply:

t sister's name,

What do I think?

I think it is another desperate attempt by pathetic liars and scoundrels who will stop at nothing to keep their opponent from taking office.

I think the amazing amount of outright lies, defamation and pointless attacks launched towards Barack Obama have disgraced our country and cheapened the process.

I believe that The extreme wacko hatemonger contingent is out in full force, and that all one has to do is apply a little common sense and read trustworthy, reliable and *independent* sources to get the facts.

For example:

>[link]

>[link]

And a few others.

I believe that I have become tired of the hate and lies coming from the so-called conservatives and people who pretend to be Christian and who have allowed torture, and seem to think that killing thousands of young men and women for a lie about WMD matters less then "getting" the last president for having an affair on the side.

Barack Obama is not a terrorist, he's not a Muslim in disguise, he's not a socialist, and he's not my first choice.

But I will not be responsible for electing a man who once had promise, but has thrown it all away for one last chance to be president before he dies. And I cannot stand the thought of the political group who took a point of national mourning and turned it into a useless war that put my nephew into harms way because they wanted to play God to a region, spending four or eight more years on top, further ripping apart the tattered integrity of my country.

I want my country back, dammit, and if we have to elect someone with a bit more panache and charisma than I like in a politician, so be it.

What do I think of it? I think that if these people put even a tenth of the effort they put into hate and fear into cooperation and understanding, we can make the America we grew up with breathe easily again.

Love,

Daniel

ETA: formatting

---

Also? I was right 11 months ago when I moved in and said I could NEVER clean the litter boxes because the litter dust would trigger an asthma attack.

How many cats do you have?

You should really, really (at least while Tim's recovering) look into switching to a dust free litter.

Daniel, that's a wonderful essay. D surprised me last night when he said, "but he is Muslim, right?" He doesn't think there's anything wrong with being Muslim, but it amazed us both how lies can infect even sensible people.