I haven't posted on any forum on GW for a long time, but this one really got to me. Not in a bad way... it just did. My cat has peed for forever...off and on. Let's see. Got him in 1995 (my roommate got his sibling). Pee'ed everywhere (beds, chairs, carpet). Moved out in 1996. Pee'ed everywhere (cats outside the window). 1997-2000. Lived in a place with no cats outside. No peeing anywhere but the box. 2000-2003. Another place with no cats. No peeing. 2003-2004- Moved to a place with cats outside. He started to pee again. Husband threatened to kill one of us! LOL. Actually not so funny. I cried almost everyday. 2004-Saw the vet, linked the history, and my cat is on prozac as of about 2 years ago. No problems since. My problem (not MY problem...my cats problem...LOL) was territoriality. Don't discount the drugs in certain situations. It's best to be open-minded. It worked for my cat. I was considering giving him away or euthanasia...didn't want to do either. This problem had seriously affected my home life, which is why I was thinking about serious solutions. I'm glad I still have my cat. I adopted him, so he became my responsibility, and I don't take that lightly. Talk to your vet. And good luck from someone who sympathizes.

I would also close the bedroom door so she can't get in there. My cat has never once gone outside the litterbox. When she was little we had a small box. As she got bigger we had to go to a mortar pan because she likes to dig a lot. DH cleans it out at least once a day. We use scoopable litter now, but when she was little and we used regular litter, he would scoop the solids daily and toss the entire thing once a week. Where is the litter box located? Does the house have multiple levels? How old is she? When my kitty was little we would put her in an empty bedroom (no bed). She had food, water and a pan in there. As she got bigger we put the food and water in the kitchen and put the pan near the stairs to the basement. Finally, we moved the pan to the basement.

Hmm, well that complicates things. I guess you could just refuse to be the driver until you and DH feel she has addressed her poor grades/attitude. If BM doesn't like it, well I guess SD could always go green and hoof it, or not not be able to participate in all these activities. When my DS started driving (same insurance issues here as in most areas) the deal was this 1. Grades and schoolwork had to be kept up to standards. 2. DS had to work and earn enough money to pay for his gas, ins & maintenence for his vehicle. 3. Any tickets would be be paid for by him and if it happened more than once the car would be gone. He did in fact get 2 speeding tickets within 3 months of each other and I took his car away and sold it. He was mortified to have to ride the bus for the next year. I was terrified he would get himself killed or kill someone else. Now he is a very good driver, but I don't think I slept that first year. Everyone thought I was so extreme, but I don't regret being that harsh at all. My youngest SS we had to force to get his license at 17 because he would have been perfectly happy to have a chauffer forever, it really got ridiculous! (not the same SS we've had all the issues with) Back to your SD, what would happen if you just step back from this and let your Dh deal with it? That way it's not your problem and you won't have that frustration. Also it may be a really good learning experience for her to not have you to taxi her around. JMHO, just doesn't seem fair that this has ended up being your problem. The girl has two able bodied parents. Maybe you can choose to "go green" for a while? Hugs, ~Cat

Oh, that is very interesting! I never imagined that it would be a pectin thing. I was going to can them for use in smoothies, so they would get blendered up anyway. So I guess I wouldn't mind the mush :-). The problem I'm having is that I am completely out of freezer space. Every freezer is packed so tightly I have to strap them shut. It's been a very productive year so far! That's why I am canning things that I would normally freeze, like peaches. I did up the peaches today. I ended up doing four different variations: hot pack, cold pack, a mix of the two, and nuked in the microwave. Everything other than the straight up hot pack I canned for the raw pack length of time, just to be sure. And I labeled them with the different processes, so when I eat them I can see how they turned out. Also some jars I took off pretty much all the skins, and others I took off 3/4 or 1/2. It's very time-consuming removing the skins. The best method I found was to cut the peaches in halves or quarters, nuke them, and then peel them. I sure appreciate your helpful info, for both of these.