Scrappy,

utter bullshit.

Harking back to last night's conversation, I cannot imagine this is a landlady who could tolerate a dog without constantly being all up in your face about how many feet from the house before it pees, how many barks per week are allowed, etc. (Of course, that would open up the opportunity to also call and have the place soundproofed!)

She and her husband have a dog. (Or, at least, they did. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen the dog in a while, and I know that he was really old.) And there is no way that any dog I got could possibly make more noise than the dogs at the house next door. When I call someone on the phone while those dogs are barking, the person I'm talking to can hear them and asks, "When did you get a dog?"

I thought maybe she thought there was still one mouse inside and is hoping to catch and remove it.

This was what I thought she meant, too.

She responded. It's still my fault, but she's a bit more polite about it.

Joe's sister lived there from 1989 until 2005, and like us, had not so much as a single episode. Of course, she was notorious for over-wrapping all her food products.

You now have started managing the kitchen which is a great relief to me, but in the meantime, the open residual food attracted pests. I just want you to know that if you have any difficulty at all keeping the kitchen up, I will do it for you on a regular basis. Dick and I pulled the refrigerator out and found no holes or cracks; likewise the stove. I called him last night and he says that next week (I think Tuesday) he will not rely on the steel wool around the pipe under the sink but will convert it to that foam insulation (although I have always found steel wool excellent). We had an unopened can ready to go but could not find anywhere else to use it.

I too am horribly allergic to cats.

By the way (I just remembered this) the very first time I saw mouse droppings in that kitchen was pretty soon after I moved in, inside a cabinet where I hadn't put any food yet.

Good luck with the crazy landlady, Hil. Sorry moving is not a viable option.

I need a new mascara. I've worn this expensive Estee Lauder More Than Mascara three times and it's already clumpy. I don't like having to comb my eyelashes after I put on mascara. Also, I rub my eyes a lot, apparently, and I need a mascara that won't rub off under my eyes. If such a thing exists. I'm about to start buying the cheapest mascara on the drugstore rack, because I can't afford to keep buying expensive mascara that doesn't do what I need. Maybe I should just get my eyelashes dyed every month; it probably wouldn't be more expensive.

I think I might have a bad contact lense. Put in new ones this morning and the left one is fine but the right...so blurry. Everything is blurry and I can feel a headache starting. Didn't bother me until I got to work and staring at the four computer monitors of my work station but now starting to feel a headache coming on and I haven't even been here an hour yet. Booo. Pondering if it's worth it to use up all my breaks to go home and put in a new one.

Zen, I've had good luck with: [link]

Zen, Blinc might be your mascara. It doesn't smudge or smear. Water removable. If you get sweaty enough or cry too much, the tubes do pop off but cleanly. I use that on my lower and waterproof DiorShow on top. Blinc doesn't give me quite the lashes I want. But it's a great formulation. The waterproof DiorShow will slightly smudge on me. I think my pores exude makeup remover. To sum up, check out Blinc. It removes with warm water and pressure but resists everything else. So horrible allergies or crying will pop it off but even then it doesn't streak.

Where do you guys buy blinc? I looked around, but nobody seems to know what it is!

I check online for a place? Portland had a lot. But I know mom's bought it here.

At worst, online. But I'm trying really hard to buy as local as possible.

Blinc should be available at Sephora. checks website Yep, Sephora carries it in stores. Oooh, and there's a Blinc liquid liner. I may need to try that.