One of my friends gets into the situation where people have her fix their computers. She is good at it, likes to do it , but it can eat her weekend. And a lot of people drop by 'desperate' . My suggestion was that she tell people that it might be awhile before she can look at the computer - a week ten day, etc, and that it will be longer to actually fix it.

Maybe with animals, it is simple - you just want to meet them first. the reason - to give you time to think of all the reasons you can 't do it. Too many other jobs, difficult pet, difficult commute, and it gives you time to remember all the right questions , where are the paper towels, what it the preferred liter , preferred foods, who is friendly , who will hide. ect.

I think even when helping people out in non -pet situations - you might want to think what are the reasons not to help some one. Not that you won't help but so you know why you might not want to . I have to go the other way sometimes. - remember the good reasons to do something...

Ever since K-Bug moved out her room has become the pilot room (pile it here, pile it there). Today I decided to tackle the mess and I have it sorted now, just need to put things away and I feel a migraine coming on. Not cool man. I still need to hit up the farmers market, go grocery shopping, and vacuum the rest of the house.

I could prob be ok skipping the farmers market and vacuuming but there is no food in the house.

I really wish I knew where this constant anxiety was coming from. It's probably not terribly healthy.

I kinda feel like the bridge from Peter Gabriel's "I Have The Touch":

Pull my chin, stroke my hair, scratch my nose, hug my knees
Try drink, food, cigarette, tension will not ease
I tap my fingers, fold my arms, breathe in deep, cross my legs
Shrug my shoulders, stretch my back - but nothing seems to please

I think if you're under stress for a long time, your body/mind can adopt anxiety as a default mode. I'm not sure about the best ways of addressing it. I mean, Xanax worked for me when I was stressed about my dad's health, but that's not necessarily the best route for everyone.

Sean, do you have the time and opportunity to do some kind of physical exercise?

I get the "general anxieties" often enough that my best remedy is a long walk with some really good music in my ears. U2 used to be my default, but I also really like the Blues. seems kind of counter intuitive, but I like the groove. Funk works too.

Yeah, I will likely go for a walk later today (I've already been for one brief one this morning). I do walk quite a bit, not owning a car, but I can always exercise more. Starting tomorrow, I'll be getting plenty of physical labor for the next week or so, so hopefully that will help as well.

Sean, I hope the activity helps. I know it does for me. (Clean something! Preferrably something high and difficult to reach!)

bonny, you've gotten such good advice. For me, the sticking point wasn't how people I denied my help would manage as much as the hit to my self image as a helper person. That can take some adjustment.

Epic! You're the only other person I've known with a cat named Ember! Is she a tortie? Ours was, bright orange stripes shining through dense black, it's how she got her name. She had the loveliest pansy face, dark velvet black nose and streaks of gold on cheeks and between her eyes. Dumb as dirt, but sweet and beautiful.

Ginger, I have no good advice on rat eradication, except I do prefer traps to poison--at least you can find and dispose of the carcass in a trap, where the poisoned go and die in some inaccessable cranny and smell, until they don't.

But if they're sugar ants, I can recommend Ant Terro. It's a primitive bait, but my mom and dad used it for decades, I've used it too, and it's always worked. It's pretty neat and tidy, too, and there usually are no ant Mirandas to sweep up. You put a bit of it on a cotton ball in a soda or milk bottle cap, somewhere observable but out of the way. It will soon be heaving with ants tearing off bits of the cotton to take home to share. Maybe for a day or two. And then, nothing. It doesn't smell, it's not toxic to breathe, and if you don't have climb-y pets, they won't get into it.

If you can't find it locally, Amazon carries it.

All my sympathies. There should be wee signs we could post, small enough for varmints to read: "No camping. No foraging. Area posted and patroled. Keep Out."