Ugh Zen, that's so hard! It sounds like that girl is screaming for limits. Mom needs to come up with some.

Alas, the furminator pulls too much on the hair that's still attached, so he doesn't like it much. I use a slicker brush that does a very good job.

Dustbuster.

Oof, Zen and juliebird. Sorry for the suckiness.

My sinuses also hate me, so I slept in this morning and have been diligently working from home this afternoon. I was only gone for three days, and yet everyone needed something from me in those three days.

I need to express interest in this internal posting in Dublin and then look for external jobs later.

Aww, bummer. I emailed yesterday seeing if you wanted to grab dessert. Next time!

Since it was my home email, I didn't see it until too late last night to do anything. Did you not get my response?

All this stuff by the convention center was blooming. I'm also an asthmatic, with a hard trigger for perfume/cologne, so I was primed by the flowers into a slow moving asthma attack that lasted all afternoon, trapped in a windowless, ventless room with wafting clouds of scent.

OMG, this sounds miserable.

Yikes, Zen & Julie, those both are hard, complicated, crappy situations. Good luck negotiating.

Burrell, there are no more limits to be set. I don't even know what that would mean in this situation. Her tablet has been impounded and that makes no difference to her behavior. She doesn't have a car, they don't eat out, she doesn't go out with friends. All she does is surf the internet. There's nothing else to do but ground her from the internet and refuse to let her friend come over for the weekend, which her mom has done. Now we're both waiting to see what the kid does in retaliation. She destroys things and then she's very very sorry but nothing changes.

They live way out in the country, on grandma's property, to take care of grandma. (Who is quite healthy, she's just a drunk.) Grandma built them a house where they live rent free, the cost is being grandma's servant. Neither the kid nor my friend really have anything in their lives but work/school, the internet, and taking care of grandma. I think part of the problem is the kid is bored but my friend sees no way out.

It sounds like you've got a good guess there, Zen, with the boredom. There's a reason rural teenagers statistically do more drugs, drinking, and sexing than their urban counterparts. I hope your friend can figure something out.

Juliebird, I think your frustration is valid. What happens if you sit down with your parents (not in the middle of a crisis or a fight) and lay that out for them? It often seems like parents tend to the Troubled Child and the other kid(s) get the shaft.

and it doubly sucks for those that do pick up poop, because you're constantly getting dirty looks for having a dog.

I always feel like I get approving looks for picking up poops. That could just be projection/wishful thinking on my part, though.

I think what she meant is that the non poop pickers make the poop pickers look bad - not that anyone is actively getting dirty looks when we pick up poop.

I remember walking around my gramps old neighborhood and the whole place smelled of dogshit. It took me a bit to realize that it wasn't unpicked-up-poop, but the pear trees.

I think what she meant is that the non poop pickers make the poop pickers look bad - not that anyone is actively getting dirty looks when we pick up poop.

Oh, duh. I totally read that wrong, and wondered what kind of neighborhood SA is living in! Yeah, your way makes MUCH more sense! Kato approves.