my house right now smells like a flower bomb and I am so happy I am not bothering anyone with it. I swear I could live in a hyacinth filled room with vases of stargazer lilies and gardenia plants around and I'd be thrilled.

Since I am highly conflict-avoidy, I'm trying to think of a way to tell co-worker that her floral scent is more than enough for 5 people AND it aggravates my migraines.

I had to do this years ago, not because my co-worker's perfume gave me migraines, but it was aggravating. I just said "I think I'm allergic to your perfume. I don't think it smells bad! It's lovely but it makes me sneeze." She responded well to it.

And I think I'd rather someone tell me to my face then go to HR.

Maybe if you started fake sneezing a lot and wiping your eyes and saying that your allergies are bothering you.

She would probably never pick up that it was her perfume you were talking about. It probably smells great to her!

I've been trying to decide if I could donate some unscented dryer sheets to my next door neighbor, because she uses regular Bounce, one of the most evil perfumes there is. Yes, often when I flee into the house coughing and sneezing, it's not because of pollen, but because she's drying something.

I use unscented All detergent these days and Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap. I'm usually okay with hair products, unless they're aggressively scented. I use whatever unscented dish soap I can find, but I haven't found one I liked since the late, lamented Dawn Free.

for dishwasher soap (hand washing not machine) I use the least evil concentrate I can find with 4 to 1 vinegar and lemon oil. Of course this won't work if the vinegar or lemon oil scents bother you.

I like most citrus or spice scents. Floral I love, but not to wear. I ADORE the scent of jasmine or orange blossom in my backyard, for example.

9 things the rich don't want you to know about taxes [link]

Sometimes I really hate my family.

I had a stress dream a week ago that my father had called me to say that he needed me to book a hotel room for me and my mother, that he couldn't do it because his phone kept dropping the calls. In the dream I was pissed that the responsibility of booking was falling to me, and not my brother. Yes, it makes no sense. The room was for me, and I would be paying not with my own money.

So, here I am, trying to clean the apartment, and mom calls, and says she wants me to book the room, even though she's already got her eyes on an ideal place. So I get on their website, but they don't have the rooms/nights we need. So now I'm stuck with hours of research trying to find the right location for the right price that's not on some seedy jughandle highway.

Flove you very much, mom. Enjoy tripping over my laundry and recycling when you stop by.

We make all the travel arrangements for my mom. Not just to see us, but wherever she goes. My DH signs his emails to her "Fogelson Travel. We treat you like family." I have a feeling my 82-year-old mom is way older than yours, though, Juliebird. We would not have done this when she was in her 60s.

Yeah, moms are like that. My mom called to ask me about starting a blog. I explained a bunch of stuff about it and said "the instructions are pretty self explanatory. I know lots of people who aren't as smart as you who have blogs, so you shouldn't have any problem"