I have a whole chicken, some tarragon, and a bunch of random veggies (onions, a red pepper, etc). Can I just toss it all in with some mustard and water and let it simmer all day tomorrow? Do I need to find an actual recipe? How much water do I add?

Yes, no (although I would add some s&p), do you want soup or stewy chicken?

Steph, that's a helluva coincidence. IJS.

Why do cats go into empty (peopleless) rooms and wail?

Good lord, Tep, that's amazing! The same thing happened to my brother (smaller town and his ex probably did know where he and his wife lived when she bought he house at the end of their street) and it ended up being a total non-issue, they almost never ran into each other.

Why do cats go into empty (peopleless) rooms and wail?

In my cat's case, it's because the empty room has a tap, and he wants me to come in and turn on the water.

Steph, if the ex is in a similar socioeconomic demographic and has similar tastes (architecture, restaurants, ratio of business to residential, etc.) that could narrow down the housing choices a bit. I remember moving into an apartment complex a few years after college, only to find my old college nemesis three buildings away. We were both doing the post-school semi-broke thing, with entry level jobs in humanities-friendly fields. In retrospect, the odds of living within half a mile of each other were probably not astronomical.

Steph, that's a helluva coincidence. IJS.

Stranger things have happened. According to Best Friend, when he told ex-wife that Tim lives in this neighborhood, she was very surprised. She may be a good actress, I don't know.

It's just...weird. I'm not sure how else I feel. I'm glad we know, so that we don't randomly run in to her and get a huge shock. But...yeah. I don't even know.

Why do cats go into empty (peopleless) rooms and wail?

Toke does that all the time. No frigging clue. It always makes me think she's injured or sick. She just does it and then strolls away.

It's just...weird. I'm not sure how else I feel. I'm glad we know, so that we don't randomly run in to her and get a huge shock. But...yeah. I don't even know.

Yeah, at least you're forewarned.

I think the cats do it for attention. But it always makes me think something's wrong. Gray Cat can *sob* like the most-saddest kitty evah.

My kitty Zorro is doing it right now AIFLoud.

Damn, Steph.

do you want soup or stewy chicken?

Stewy chicken.

Man, it has not been the best day. I need to call and argue with insurance, I found out today that in five days of overages I doubled my phone bill, and my sister just called crying because they are at the emergency vet. The Queen Bitch of their cat herd, who's 18, may be going into kidney failure. I mean, long life and all, but it's never easy. I kind of hope it's time, really. It's still sad, though - I think I had just graduated high school when we adopted her.

Blergh. I tried really hard to be productive tonight and not fuck about on the internets, and I still ran out of time to do even half of the things I wanted to.

Hah. Our foster cat will stand in the middle of the living room and meow like we're starving him to death and he hasn't had human contact in YEARS...because he can't figure out that we walked around the corner or something.

Never mind about the chicken, it's gone bad. That's the final failstraw for tonight, I'm taking half a Xanax and going to bed. ISTG, every time I think I have my life and finances going along fairly well, I fuck it up in a big way. I guess I'm still the James Emm Effing Bond of self-sabotage.