This is absolutely horrifying and I love it so much

That’s fair, it’s kind of a niche group but lemmy would be the place to find us vegan/leftist/nerds lol. You were right about my description, American currently on the East Coast. I would love if we could upgrade to a completely secular system that includes psychological/emotional evaluation as well as financial application as well but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. I would love to adopt, but seeing as I’m unwilling to conform to Christian/heteronormativity standards I doubt I would get approved. It’s maybe a point of contention, which might be why I’ve never brought it up. I’m a damn good mom, but I’m not a “Republican Mother.”

Okay, this is a strange question. There are a lot of moving parts involved in adoption which is, in my experience, universally accepted as noble, regardless of their political leaning and ethical eating choices. As a “so far left ya get your guns back” leftist and vegan, I presume that I fall into this category lol. There are some pretty glaring barriers to adoption for me: most adoption agencies are extremely selective, expensive and run by (mostly Christian groups.) Yes, there are children in foster care that you could potentially be able to adopt eventually. But there’s no certainty for anyone because the want to “reunite” biological families. But if you’re a gay witch, get fucked. Anecdotally, the people that I know that have adopted are religious nut jobs who treat their adopted children like domestic slaves while spoiling their “real” (their words, not mine 🤮) kids.

It took me a minute, all I saw was that sand lion from Aladdin lol but dayummmm bats is draggin’ a wagon

Why yes! So I found myself in a similar position a few months back, I have 2 big boys (18 and 20 pounds) and while I had three boxes, they would only use one and pee on each other’s spot so it would always be wet and you know that goes. Anyway, I mulled it over for a long time because they are pricey, they have generally mixed reviews and my cats are large and in charge. Well, I was wine shopping and Costco had a really good price on the litter bot brand, it had a whole set and extras and I was like imma treat myself. The litterbox was always my chore and if I didn’t clean it out twice a day the house would absolutely stink, I tried all kinds of powders, air fresheners and it would just not help. Okay the litter bot has been an absolute game changer. Mine doesn’t separate poop/pee it just all clumps and dumps into a bottom tray. I have been using less litter (now I use a fancy clumping grass based litter because my boys are spoiled and mustn’t have clay) and as long as I keep the bottom tray under control, I don’t even think about it. I didn’t realize how much of a mental load the littlebox was until it wasn’t. It did take my younger cat a little while to adjust but now he uses it just fine. My partner read that if you stop cleaning the backup box they will eventually get grossed out into using the scary robot one, and it worked lol. They have a lot of budget ones too, and if you have 4 cats you’ll probably want at least 2, but I can’t sing enough praises about it. It’s definitely a splurchase I’m glad I indulged in. Hope that helps! 🤗✨😻😻

I just finished your article and wow! I’m definitely going to save it and share it the next time I come across another one of those viral problems. It was incredibly thorough and well researched, you clearly put a lot of energy and effort into it and it blew me away. It was really refreshing to see someone articulate themselves so passionately with supporting research. I look forward to reading more of your work!! 👏

Seconding the pho, I would even say a hot pot restaurant since you guys can make your own soups which can take some of the pressure off the conversation since you’re actively cooking and the experience will be memorable. 🤩✨

Hmmm never thought about a grandkitties account, good idea!

Thank you! 🥰

Thank you so much! ❤️🙏

❤️✨ and now for the airing of grievances!!

LOL one of the cats would find them first 😂

When the chimney sweep came to fix the fireplace he said my house looked like a beer commercial, it’s the highest praise. I’m a little extra with the holiday ✨ magic ✨

Thank you so much, I updated the post to include a link to the original desperate begging and add special thanks. I’m just so happy I couldn’t wait to update you guys. 💖✨

YES! You beautiful and helpful lemmings saved Christmas!! Love you all soooo much

I am so sorry that you’re going through this, the lack of support from your family just breaks my heart. As another commenter posted, I also thought you were a woman because, well, frankly that’s how the medical industry treats women. Don’t let these dismissive doctors gaslight you into believing you’re fine, you live in your body and know when something is wrong. You deserve to be heard and deserve to receive proper treatment. My advice for you would be to take a supportive person with you, if that’s not an option then take a list of all your symptoms and try to keep it is as “factual” as possible with information like dates, severity of symptom (ex 1-5 range) duration and any as possible, since you’ve taken anti-anxiety medication it’s going to be a bit of an uphill battle since 90% of doctors will immediately dismiss your concerns as anxiety 😤. So when that happens, counter with, my emotional state is stable I’m here for physical issues that are distressing and deeply impacting my quality of life. Ask questions, I have already worked on my anxiety and pursued treatment, it’s not that, this is what I have tried , it has not eased my symptoms so what else can be? What do I do if the symptoms get worse during a flare up? What kind of treatments should I pursue? Can you please update my chart to include the treatments I have pursued? And as hard as it can be be straightforward, something like, I understand you are busy, I feel like you are not listening me as a patient, can you provide me a clear plan to address this or can you refer me to someone who can?

Oh wow! I’ll definitely save this in case the target lights don’t work, thank you so much!

This is so clever! I have never heard of doing this, you guys I’m feeling so hopeful right now!! 🤩🤗

I’m going to give the Target lights a try! They are a little more pricey but hella cheaper than a new tree and then I’ll have plenty of lights to replace for a couple years. I’ll keep you posted! Thank you so, so much for your help 🤗

I added a picture and I tried searching AliExpress via the app but it’s only showing me trees and I don’t want another tree lol