when I was first married to my husband I did not get along with my MIL she couldn't ever remember my name Mary how hard is that I wondered. she always wanted me to invite her to our home, I said its ok to just drop in, I didn't care I wanted her to feel welcome. Then my hubby had to be her care taker many years later and she seemed more friendly towards me. I wondered if she thought we would put her in an institution. No we didn't she was in a senior facility where we visited her every day. we went to every event they had with her and our son and his family did too. Our grand children knew their great grandmother. But I knew she thought she was stupid. Though she was not. We never said that word to her even though we had to repeat things over and over and over to her. I made sure that she had cards to send to her family on their birthdays or other events. I addressed her holiday cards when she said she could not,I made sure that we included photos of her so that they could see. Our daughter in law styled her hair every week. On occasion she would get a package or a card or letter. No one else in her family wanted to help her. Or come to see her. They always wanted to know what we were doing for her and making sure that WE were not stealing any of her money which wasn't much but went to her care. She had Alzheimers which is a horrible disease, as my mom had it too and you hate to see a loved one suffer through all the changes in their minds. My mom was a much different person than she had been. Mean comes to my mind. But still she was loved. We would laugh with her and sing oh how they loved to sing some of the old ballads. I learned so much from both of our mothers during this time. And my husband who is now my care giver. Strong women and husband. Keep venting if you have too we are all here to listen and help. Mary.

It looks like I'm going to be the first one to own up to letting my pets ruin my financial future. I don't know why other people do it, but I do it because I love & adore my pets & I don't love money. I also choose to have monthly donations to "doctors without borders" & "greenpeace" deducted from my bank account, because I also love other people of all nationalities, & the planet, & I don't love money. I have a very reasonable annual income, but I drive a second hand car, wear mostly second hand or chain store clothing, & have mostly second hand furniture. I don't have organized holidays away from home, don't drink, gamble, smoke or go out to entertainment activites. Why? Because I love the things I can do with my money if I don't waste it on meaningless crap. My three teenagers DO love meaningless crap in the forms of surf label clothing, going out, i-pods, laptops, & mind blowing expensive sneakers. (o.k., I do use the macintosh laptop a fair bit) And I fund all this silliness because I love & adore my kids & it seems to give them a lot of meaningful pleasure. No, I'm not some dried up old lesbian or an old maid who wouldn't know how to have a good time if I won ten billion dollars. In my 20's I earned & spent a lot of money & lived the "champagne & caviar" materialistic lifestyle. Yes, it can be fun. But for me, it was hollow. I'm happily married to a man who also values the simple things in life. Canoeing on a remote river at sunset, throwing a stick on a lonely beach for our nine dogs, riding through the bush at sunrise, these are the things that make my life worthwhile. Things that don't cost money, because the more you consume, the less you live. Our nine dogs provide more than friendship & company for me. They are my THERAPY every single day. They're my mates, & I willingly undertake the challenge to love them as much as they love me. It's a big challenge, because they would die for me without a second thought. Am I serious? Yes. Am I mad? Probably. But you only get as much love as you give in this world, & I make a point of loving everything that I can. The dogs are by far the easiest & the reciprocity is a joy.

When I worked in restaurants I too saw firsthand how much worse the womens' restrooms were than the mens. I worked overnight at a restaurant and it wasn't overly busy. We'd clean the restrooms (as best we could) a couple times. The one time, I walked out and asked if we had a shovel and the cook asked what for, and I replied for cleaning the women's room! It really was disgusting. The waterless handcleaners are a misnomer. They're a sanitizer, not truly a cleaner. They're made to sanitize clean(er) hands. They don't wash dirt off and aren't intended to. They're not a substitute for washing your hands. I think the main reasons people don't flush are they don't flush at home (and that is disgusting too) and secondly, I know I don't like to touch the fixtures in public restrooms. Re: Effective Complaining Yes, you should talk to someone who has some say and speaking to a manager or assistant is far better than yelling at a cashier, stock clerk, or the like. However, that's not always the best either. You could send an email or a call to someone about it. But face facts, a Walmart manager has a lot more on his/her mind than if a person thinks the bathroom is dirty. They don't have tons of extra time and each time a customer demands to talk to them stops them from doing things they need to do. These people are overworked, underpaid and don't quite have the omnipotence that many people think they have. And when someone lays out the "customer is always right" malarchy, it brightens the day albeit in a frustrating way. The service desk can be a good option too, but it does depend on the store and who tends the desk. I am amused by some of the comments. Threatening to not shop at a store does NOTHING for your credibility. Especially in a Walmart or in a place that specializes in low-life clientele. The gas stations I managed had people who pulled these stunts and I just chuckled to myself. I'll NEVER come back here again!!!! Well, I hope not, but I know better. Cheap people are cheap and won't spend more to go somewhere else. That's a fact of life. Lecturing that it "reflects" on them, well, again not very effective. Trying to treat a store manager like a 5 year old won't get you very far. When I see these comments and when I'd get some of this treatment when I was in retail, I could sure when people never worked in retail. And usually could guess their employment! Those kinds of comments are best left for letters/emails/phone calls to a corporate office. Want a far more effective manner of complaining? Put yourself in their shoes for a minute or two. UNDERSTAND what they go through. Then when you confront them say something like "I know you have a lot to do and are really busy, just thought I'd let you know the bathroom is in really bad shape. Someone really made a mess in there and it needs some attention." I can virtually guarantee you that you'll get a far better result with something like that than saying I'm throwing a temper tantrum and you have a cartful of stuff to put away now because I'm a spoiled brat! Think about it, how would you respond to the two options? As said, people are pigs.

most of the ends that are waxed ,have splits in it..they are hard to see until you screw ipe down ,then they show.. so, cut them off and anchorseal new end.. you may still get splits.. wax is hard to get off but i got most off..i used OXY-DECK from lowes and i used HAND SANDING 60 grit.. dont ask me why but hand sanding the wax really took most of it off.. my deck looks real good and no wax marks..stain has hard time sticking to wax..make sure you put anchorseal on right away and only on END,put it on thick also or boards will split.. others here dont use it at all..again, i am no expert, many here are ,only giving you what worked for me..