Need to bitch for a minute (or 5)

[DotAndBuzz]

1) FIL is coming up on friday.  MIL, as of tonight, is not.  No idea why, but I'm 95% certain she'll decide friday morning to come on up.  Yay.  H told me we are not to cook anything at all that weekend, because she won't want us to.  Um, no.  I don't mind accommodating guests' diet requests/preferences, but I'm getting really sick of being expected to get take-out for 3 days straight when they visit (half of which she decides to just not order anything for herself anyways because she doesn't feel like eating).  I don't plan fancy dinners that take half a day to prepare.  I make her recipe for chili, grill burgers, make sandwiches, etc.  I don't mind getting pizza one night, but if I want to cook, dammit, I should be able to cook in my own house.  Oh, and speaking of pizza - the one and only topping she will eat on a pizza is the one that I absolutely hate.  We mesh well.  Fun times!

2) My cats.  I kind of hate them right now.  gretchenindisguise - pay attention to this and re-read this post whenever you want to get a cat.  One, or both, of them has started peeing on the living room carpet.  AGAIN.  This happens in every fucking house we live in.  They always pee wherever the girls' play room ends up being.   It is disgusting.  And I'm not putting a litter box where my kids play.  Not happening.  Their food is downstairs, along w/ the litter boxes (which I scoop/clean at least once a day), so they have to go down there.  They go up and down stairs all day, so it isn't that they can't do it.  They are never around the girls because they avoid them when the girls are awake.  Every time this happens we end up taking them to the vet, and $500 later come home with a blood tests and labs that reveal the diagnosis of old-ish, but healthy, asshole cats.  We had the carpets cleaned yesterday and it didn't make a damn bit of difference, so we're going to tear them out (which was part of our plan, just not at this particular time). 

H just set up a motion activated webcam to figure out who is the culprit, and we'll decide what to do from there.  I honestly don't know what we're going to do when we figure it out.  Yes, this makes me a terrible cat owner, and no, I'll never get any other ones.  I might just rip out the carpet myself tomorrow and let it be plywood because I'm so pist at this point.

3) My family room valences.  I posted about it on H&G, but I'm irritated and frustrated. Swanky local design place quoted me X price.  Calico Corners quoted me X+$500, for the same damn thing, but with fabric that is literally 1/3 of the price as Local place (had them quote cheaper fabric because I thought it would be, well, cheaper), AND that is with a 20% discount.  I don't want to pay either one of the prices, but I have a feeling CC is trying to scam me, because there's no way that the labor costs can be that much different between the 2.  I don't even love either fabric I had quoted, but the fabric I actually wanted has been discontinued and is pretty much impossible to find online or in person.  FWP right here.

[shananagins]

I'm sorry your cats are assholes. Mine are too. I understand. If you can rip out the carpets do it. We just put in laminate floors because one of my asshole cats was peeing on the carpets. I added a new litter box and started using cat attract litter and so far they haven't peed on the floor.

[HiC]

Animals are just gross...sorry. (No flames because I am a big animal lover....and they just are!) I hope you figure it out.

Run far away from Calico Corners. Wait, you'll find something or somebody to make what you want at a reasonable price. You can wait, no rush....

You ILs sound delightful, not! Do what you want, it's your house.

[gretchenindisguise]

these are the types of stories I wanted to hear. See - cats are assholes.

Also - eat what you want to eat. Your ILs can decide whether to eat with you or order in.

And screw CC. Go local. Ask around for other local places to get another quote from.

[tdk2]

Ugh.

I have an emergency. You should come stay with me for the weekend. W or w/o the girls, your choice. Bring wine

[TrickyBob]

I'd lay down good money to bet that your cats view your girls as a threat to them/annoyance and them peeing in the play room is their way of saying "this is OURS". And that's their revenge/territory claim. Sometimes cats don't handle little kids too well, even if they are nice to them.

ETA: Or a cat might pick one person to dislike. My male cat revenge poops to my Dad. My cat HATES him. 

[DotAndBuzz]

The crazy thing is, around here it is almost a joke about what is called the "Town Name Effect." People actually call it that, and are SO SO SO into going local, but the local places are always substantially higher than a chain. And I get why, but it isn't like a 5% difference we're talking about. It is a well known fact that local places around here charge more, simply because people love going local. So I looked at a chain for a quote because I thought it would be an actual price difference in my favor, like everything else has been up to this point. Not so much. But I still don't love anything except the discontinued fabric, so here I sit with ugly brackets on my walls. Boo.

[birdistheword]

Sorry about all the shittiness (and...pissiness?)

Post a swatch of the fabric you love and I will search for something similar!

[DotAndBuzz]

Sept 11, 2013 21:17:49 GMT -5 TrickyBob said:

I'd lay down good money to bet that your cats view your girls as a threat to them/annoyance and them peeing in the play room is their way of saying "this is OURS". And that's their revenge/territory claim. Sometimes cats don't handle little kids too well, even if they are nice to them.

ETA: Or a cat might pick one person to dislike. My male cat revenge poops to my Dad. My cat HATES him. 

I've kind of suspected this, and if this is the case, then we have a big big problem. 

[alzi]

I haven't heard about Calico Corners since Mall Madness!

[TrickyBob]

Sept 11, 2013 21:20:22 GMT -5 DotAndBuzz said:

Sept 11, 2013 21:17:49 GMT -5 TrickyBob said:

I'd lay down good money to bet that your cats view your girls as a threat to them/annoyance and them peeing in the play room is their way of saying "this is OURS". And that's their revenge/territory claim. Sometimes cats don't handle little kids too well, even if they are nice to them.

ETA: Or a cat might pick one person to dislike. My male cat revenge poops to my Dad. My cat HATES him. 

I've kind of suspected this, and if this is the case, then we have a big big problem. 

Are the cats nice to the kids? If the cats are nice to the kids, then it's a matter of keeping them out of the play room. Sometimes the animal grows out of as the kid gets older. Sometimes the cat never changes. 

Take a diaper and cut some tail holes.  

[DotAndBuzz]

Sept 11, 2013 21:19:28 GMT -5 birdistheword said:

Sorry about all the shittiness (and...pissiness?)

Post a swatch of the fabric you love and I will search for something similar!

Discontinued fabric I want - Waverly Floating Petals in Harvest:



Fabric I had quoted from Local place, and would probably use if push came to shove (Robert Allen, Hand Knotted):



Calico Corners quote (Swavelle (?) Shantay Mandarin):



I think I'll need like 14 yards. 

[birdistheword]

Sept 11, 2013 21:26:56 GMT -5 DotAndBuzz said:

Sept 11, 2013 21:19:28 GMT -5 birdistheword said:

Sorry about all the shittiness (and...pissiness?)

Post a swatch of the fabric you love and I will search for something similar!

Discontinued fabric I want - Waverly Floating Petals in Harvest:



Fabric I had quoted from Local place, and would probably use if push came to shove (Robert Allen, Hand Knotted):



Calico Corners quote (Swavelle (?) Shantay Mandarin):



I think I'll need like 14 yards. 

Have you ever used Spoonflower? You could recreate something like this yourself and then have it shipped to you. It's a little more expensive, but it's an awesome site.

[DotAndBuzz]

I had no idea something like this existed. you might be my new best friend. I was actually telling H that finally knew what i would create on a Project Runway make your own print challenge.

*runs off to see if I can not completely fail at this website*

THANK YOU!!!!

[birdistheword]

Sept 11, 2013 21:36:48 GMT -5 DotAndBuzz said:

I had no idea something like this existed. you might be my new best friend. I was actually telling H that finally knew what i would create on a Project Runway make your own print challenge.

*runs off to see if I can not completely fail at this website*

THANK YOU!!!!

You are welcome! I am pretty good with Photoshop and I can make a design for you to upload if needed. Let me know!

[DotAndBuzz]

I'm shopping on there now, and have zero skills in photoshop or design, but can envision exactly what I want. But for serious, I may be PMing you in the next day or so.

[birdistheword]

I'll be on the lookout for a PM