Thank you for your response! It’s so, so hard. I’m a new stay at home mom, and my husband works in finance. This is all in the beginning stages, so I still have tons of research to do. My husband says if we can make it work, he’d be up for it. It’s just figuring out HOW to do it. I feel like Canada in terms of lifestyle adaptation, location and ease of coming back home to see family, etc is easiest. Netherlands is somewhere I’ve been, love, and all things considered is still very familiar feeling. We’re in Texas (ugh…) so I’m definitely open to other places as well.
Oh, and I have my first therapy appointment scheduled for tomorrow. I’ve definitely had serious fear in going anywhere with my little one any mass shootings since they’ve been born, but between Buffalo and Uvalde, it’s pushed me over the edge.
Raising kids in the U.S. gets harder every single year. ((jmc325))
Your first steps to consider emigrating include checking out what qualifications you have to do so. When Trump was elected, I investigated Canada and I had a 2-year window where i would still have enough points to be young enough to emigrate there. I'm too old now unless i win the lotto or find a specialty job they value there. Since i specialize in U.S. employment law and HR policy, I'm not really in demand there unless i found a Canadian company with ties across U.S. and Canada and I'd do the U.S. region.
I don't know anything about the Netherlands.
I do know Italy is the easiest European country to emigrate to, but not necessarily for work. I'd have to investigate that further. I was looking for retirement purposes. Sadly, they are behind most other EU nations on LGBTQ rights so I don't think i want to end up there unless they get more progressive.
Editing to add - if your fear of safety is escalating to where you are leaving public spaces in fear, you might seek therapy. I'm NOT saying your gut is wrong or you are wrong for those feelings. You just might be able to work out some coping mechanisms for the near future with help of a therapist.
The current state of our country has me feeling physically sick. I’m just so terrified. I literally ran out of the mall the other day because someone, by himself and acting what I found to be strange, gave me an odd feeling.
Has anyone successfully left and moved out of the country? Am I ridiculous for wanting to do this? I’m married and have a young child (not yet in school). I want to leave. My husband has a wonderful job, we own a house, have a dog, all of our family lives within 30 minutes…. But I can’t do it. None of that is worth this. I know there are no guarantees of safety anywhere, but chances are better elsewhere.
If you could move anywhere to have a chance of a better life away from the politics of the USA where would you go? Would you do it? Or am I just overthinking and things will eventually be better here.
If anyone has left the states for any other country (especially Canada or the Netherlands ) I’d love to hear how you did it.
I just hit 12 years at my job. I've had the itch to leave for several years, but the last few months there have been changes that I just don't think I can overlook anymore. I work in the criminal justice field and my H keeps telling me to get into teaching, but I honestly have no desire to. I have emotional ties to my current job which makes the idea of leaving really difficult, but I just don't think it's meant for me anymore. I have no clue what to do if I didn't do this though. I feel so lost and conflicted, blah!
Who knows if it's true or not, but I saw an article earlier saying Trump's people are going back and deleting all of his old tweets where he says immigrants are "invading" since the shooter used the same terminology in his manifesto.
The day my mom and dad were involved in a deadly accident abroad. I won't go into specifics because the accident made worldwide news. I was on my honeymoon and saw news of the accident on the tv while in our hotel hobby. My H and I spent the next several hours trying to contact my sisters back in the states and figure out where my parents were. After a few hours we found out that my parents were involved and injured. My husband and I spent the next several hours at the airport waiting for the next flight out to the city where my parents were. My dad survived his injuries, but we lost my mom 4 days later. She was in the ICU, sedated, but her injuries were too much to overcome. What I wouldn't give to talk to her and hug her one last time... It's my wedding anniversary on Friday and then the anniversary of my mom's passing right after. It's awful and still haunts me to this day. There has been no justice for the victims or accountability for those responsible and it's 6 years this month.
We recently bought a house and I had quite the list from Wayfair of things I wanted to purchase. We did buy an area rug back in April, but luckily hadn't pulled the trigger on anything else. Now it's back to the drawing board because I refuse to shop there and I hope others will do the same.
Good on those employees for standing up for what is right!
Has anyone been keeping up with the Wayfair walkout? Apparently over 500 employees signed a petition after learning that Wayfair is profiting off of selling beds to the camps where the children are being held at our borders. The CEO responded back basically saying thanks for your concern, but no thanks, we will keep selling beds. Because of that response employees will be walking out tomorrow. The hashtag is starting to gain some traction on Twitter.
Normally a lurker but we also just built a home in south alabama so similar humidity issues. Our builder installed a whole house dehumidifier that we did not even discuss or know was going to be installed. We had never heard of it. Our builder explained that when he does spray foam insulation, he also installs a whole house dehumidifier because it's easier for it to get trapped inside due to the spray foam. Do you have that type of insulation? If so, I'd definitely be asking for him to install the unit at his cost. This might be a lesson he needs to learn for future builds.
We have the spray foam too. The builder mentioned a few things that made my H think that this is something that's becoming an ongoing issue with others in our neighborhood. How have your humidity levels been with the whole house dehumidifier? Does it stay on all the time with the AC or automatically kick on when needed? Have your humidity levels been in the normal range? I need to do research on how they even function.
The builder did mention maybe installing one for us, but that was just initial talk, they haven't even come to check anything out yet. I don't want this lingering on for forever, so we've been staying on them about it as best as we can.
Where is the window humidity? If it is between the glass pants that I'd whole separate issue (and you end all new windows) then if it is inside the house.
My concern is that there is either water intrusion into your house that is contributing to excess moisture (through your roof, foundation, or basement), or that your air conditioner isn’t properly scaled to your house. Simply installing a dehumidifier isn’t going to solve either of those problems.
This was my first thought... it sounds like the A/C unit doesn't have sufficient capacity to pull enough moisture out of the air.
We don't have basement, but I'm with you on this. It's exactly why I worry about them installing a dehumidifier. It almost feels like it's just a bandaid to another issue. We had some really crazy rains last week and we noticed what may be a water leak on a guest bedroom windowpane. We couldn't tell where the water is coming from, all we see is what looks like a large water spot on the windowpane. I feel like maybe the windows aren't completely sealed, causing that water leak, condensation between the double paned windows, and now high humidity.
It's all a guessing game though, I seriously have no fling clue. We had an inspector come out and check during each phase of the building process and nothing seemingly related to this was red flagged during those walk throughs.
Our house is just under 3,000 sq ft. and we have 2 AC units- one for upstairs, one for downstairs.
Has your thermostat been calibrated? Sometimes it's just reading wrong, although you're saying you feel sticky, so it may be moot. Is the thermostat near a bathroom? Where is your air handler located (attic/closet)?
The HVAC people should be able to tell you what the issue is, but a dehumidifier isn't a bad idea.
We've had them come out twice already! Albeit, that was during the winter when we felt like the heater wasn't sufficiently heating the house. They're coming out tomorrow, so I'm sure they'll do it again. Both thermostats are by bathrooms, but they are the guest bathrooms that really don't get used as it's just me, H and our dog living there. Our air handler is in the attic.
Also, it wouldn’t hurt to buy a few cheap ($5) digital thermometer/hygrometer thingies and place them around your house do double-check the humidity in different locations. It’s possible your thermostat is wrong, or is just pulling from one spot in the house.
Unfortunately, I think it's more than just the thermostat being wrong, but grabbing some of those thingies and placing them around the house is a good idea, if anything just to hopefully narrow down where the higher humidity spots are. Thanks!
Hmm. I am not sure what about a specific way a house is built would increase humidity, but I don't know much about this stuff. I will say we have a whole house de humidifier which basically means the AC runs beyond the set temperature to bring the humidity level down. Have you tried turning the AC to a lower temp and see if that has any effect?
What is the outside humidity rate?
We have two AC units and been running them consistently between 68-70 degrees, so we try to keep the house cool. Current humidity level outside is 56%. I just checked our thermostat from the app and the upstairs humidity is at 70% and the downstairs humidity is at 69%. When we left for work this morning we left both dehumidifiers running upstairs.
My husband and I recently built a house and been living in it the last 8 months. As the outside temperatures have crept up, so have the humidity levels inside of our house. We know that 40-60% is the normal range, and our thermostat was reading anywhere between 70-90%. We live in Houston, so we know the outside climate will cause us to be on the higher end of humidity levels, but where we are now puts us beyond the normal range. The air in our house feels sticky, thick and damp. We have double paned windows and now you can barely see out of them as they're full of condensation. We spoke to the builder and he alluded that others in our neighborhood have been experiencing the same. To give some relief, yesterday we started running 2 portable dehumidifiers that we purchased, moving them between the upstairs and downstairs every few hours.
The HVAC people are coming out to our house to take a look tomorrow and we will stay on top of the builder, but being a first time home owner with no experience my H and I feel lost. The builder said if they can't find the root of the issue then installing a whole house dehumidifier (at their cost) would be the route to take. Overall our home building experience was good... 8 month in and we're STILL waiting for a few minor things to be taken care of and my H and I have been more than patient. All the back and forth trying to get those minor things done has made me start to lose trust in the builder, especially with dealing with something more serious like humidity issues. This is a very reputable, well known builder so maybe my expectations are just too high?? My husband doesn't share this concern.
We have a smart thermostat, so checking the humidity levels is super easy; I started noticing them creeping up at the beginning of May, but only mentioned to my husband that I was starting to get concerned last week. The thermostat and portable dehumidifiers are reading the humidity at different levels (the thermostat has it higher, but even where the portable dehumidifier reads is out of normal range).
I would really appreciate anyone who can offer advice or insight. This is not how I envisioned new home ownership being... especially with a brand new house that is only a few months old!
Don't be nervous about the intro class at all! They're going to explain the reformer to you and you'll do some beginner/introductory exercises. I stayed with the level 1 classes for a few months and recently moved to level 1.5. I don't know when I'll get the courage to start trying level 2. I like Club Pilates because it truly is for all levels, it's not intimidating at all compared to other places I've been.
If you sign up soon after attending the intro class, they'll offer discounted prices. I was doing the 8 classes for $90ish/month, but after 3 months the discount ended and I now pay $150/month for 8 classes. It's definitely pricy, but all pilates studios in my area are similar in price.
This local to me- I heard on the radio this morning that the ex-fiancé was seen on video leaving their apartment carrying a laundry basket with a black trash bag inside of it on May 3rd. His car was recently found with the laundry basket and a gas tank inside of the trunk. Also, they recently found traces of blood inside the apartment. Absolutely horrific; that poor, sweet little girl.
It's so hard watching our pups get older. I'm in the same boat- 14 year old, 45 lb. mutt with various health issues, one being arthritis in his back legs and hips. A few months ago we moved into a 2 story house with hardwood floors. My dog hated being picked up, but we knew after seeing him try the stairs a handful of times, there was just no way. After picking him up and carrying him up/down the stairs he's gotten 100% used to it. We also put baby gates to keep him from being able to access the stairs when we aren't home. It's definitely annoying for us to carry him up/down the stairs, but he wouldn't sleep well downstairs by himself and honestly, we wouldn't either knowing he's down there alone. Our house is open concept, so we put big area rugs in our living and dining rooms and then various runners throughout. When we noticed his arthritis getting worse our vet said putting rugs on our hardwoods would be a game changer for him and it really has been (she also said absolutely no running and no climbing stairs). Regarding medication he's on 2 different forms of pain medicine; we go ahead and give it to him daily (not as needed). He also takes a daily joint supplement and I just ordered him some CBD oil. My husband and I have also discussed acupuncture, but haven't committed to anything yet. When we first moved and saw much trouble he was having I was so worried, but honestly here we are 6 months later and he's doing great. We have been really diligent about monitoring his arthritis and making things as comfortable as possible and I think it's paying off.
Edited to add: our family dog was 15 years old when we put him down. His arthritis was manageable for a good while, but when it came to him having incontinence, it was time. It was almost as if we were having care of an elderly human and it was a lot of work. Looking back, we waited too long, but of course it's so hard to say goodbye. After going through that we our family dog, I promised myself as hard as it was, I would never let my feelings of sadness to lose a pet become more important than their quality of life. I learned a lot during that time and am trying to not make the same mistakes twice.
I lost my mom really suddenly nearly 6 years ago. This morning I was trying to figure something out and felt confused by the whole thing (women's health related). My husband called me to say good morning and I just unexpectedly started crying, probably not what he was expecting during a quick phone chat.
Not having a mom to call for advice/questions is really hard. It seems like new things pop up all the time where I really need her and it's just a constant reminder of how much I miss her.
My dog has been experiencing weird stomach symptoms for the last 2 weeks or so, took him to the vet. Blood work came back and he has high phosphorus levels. Late last night, got an email from Chewy staying that dog food I’ve purchased has excessive levels of Vitamin D. After some googling all my dog’s symptoms are there, including high phosphorus levels.
Tried calling our vet, but they’re closed today because they’re located in Deer Park... near the area of the ITC storage tank fires in Houston. Even though the fires are out, Benzene was detected in the air and Deer Park is under a shelter in place. Now getting ready to drive my dog to the emergency vet on the other side of town.
I’m so incredibly frustrated- between the fires and dog food recall (not to mention I became horrible ill with food poisioning last month), I have to ask myself where’s the integrity? Too much craziness happening!
My husband and I recently became first time home owners and I feel like we're over our heads... It's so hard to keep the house clean, we're trying to (slowly) buy furniture, but everything is so expensive, the yard is already full of weeds, the construction of the other new houses on our street is driving me insane. I could go on and on.
I know I should just be grateful for having this new, beautiful house and everything will work itself out, but sometimes I just really miss the simplicity of apartment life, ugh!
Ok, I realize I may sound like a crazy dog lady, but hear me out.
I have a senior pup (about 40 lbs) who is experiencing arthritis in his hips. He was officially diagnosed a year ago, but I think it's entering that "next stage". He sees his vet regularly and is on pain meds, but I was researching other things I could do to provide him more comfort and acupuncture/massages came out as an option.
It seems like his arthritis is getting worse, he moans when we pet him on his lower back and I know the cooler weather isn't helping (we're in Houston, so thankfully it's not freezing). We also just bought a 2 story house, but we've been carrying him up/down the stairs. Breaking his habit of jumping off the bed has been tough though...
Has anyone had their pup do this? Is it worth it? My husband isn't into the idea, but if it will help give him a little relief (on top of the meds) then I'm willing to give it a shot.
Some guy on Fox News said it was totes fine to shoot tear gas at these folks because it is “natural” enough that you could “put it on your nachos and eat it.”
Tomi Lahren says seeing this was the “highlight of her Thanksgiving weekend.”
Another MAGA with a blue check mark on Twitter says of the photo above of kids fleeing tear gas “I think I just found my Christmas card photo.”
How did these people become so bankrupt and vile? What the hell is wrong with us (humans in general)?
My jaw hit the floor reading this. Absolutely disgusting.
I just bought these shoes from Macy's to wear to my niece's baptism over the weekend. I wore them straight out of the box and they were so comfortable and cute! I got a lot of compliments all day long.
Beto is an exciting candidate. I give the man a lot of credit, he's out there working his butt off. I went to the Houston rally a few weeks ago and people are really amped. I've noticed that the crowds at his rallies and townhalls have only gotten bigger since then. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he can get the job done in November. I helped my little sister change her voter registration information after she moved back to Houston just to make sure she can get out and vote. We need to encourage everyone to get out to the polls if we're going to pull of a win.
My husband and I are building a house in Clear Lake and we were happily surprised to see several Beto signs. I grabbed one of my own at the rally and can't wait to put it in our front yard when we close next week. I work in the Bellaire area and seen 2 houses with Cruz signs, I can't help but laugh everytime I drive by. Whoever said people won't put signs, but will vote for Cruz come election day is so right. My brother in law openly admitted that he doesn't like Cruz, but still plans on voting for him
My husband and I are going through this right now. We were told that our new build would be done end of June/ beginning of July and now we're being told October. We had already notified our apartment that we were not renewing our lease, but fortunately they hadn't leased out our unit yet. We're currently paying an arm and a leg doing month to month.
We're building in Houston and with hurricane Harvey, they were having hard time finding people to work on the house. It sucks, but it's a part of the home building process. I hope your sister and her family figure it all out soon.
When my rescue first got home I seriously thought there was something wrong with him as he never, ever barked. During one of our check-ups the vet told us that once he felt completely comfortable and could "be himself" in his new home he'd start barking. Lo and behold several months later he finally let out his first bark. Give it time!