Elsie

My last serious boyfriend, before my husband, was quite a bit older than I. A few years back I googled him and found out that he had passed away. I considered contacting his kids to offer my condolences, but never did.

I just found a few pictures of him in an old box of photos. I searched facebook & was able to find his daughter.

Would it be weird to reach out to her and offer to send her the pictures?

My last serious boyfriend, before my husband, was a good deal older than me. I googled him a few years back and found that he had died about 6 months before I was searching for him. At the time I considered contacting his kids to offer my condolences, but never did.

I was just looking through some old photos & found some pictures of him. I then looked up his kids on facebook & found his daughter.

Would it be weird to contact her and offer to send her the pictures?

I am 54 years old & have never had a problem getting a job. However in these times the only way to get a job is to apply on line and most of the companies I'm applying for require a "personality test". I think I have Asperbergers syndrome. It's not something that was recognized when I was in school and as an adult I have developed coping mechanisms.

If I were to be tested & have this diagnosed, would employers waive my taking this test?

We have a split level house, 1,700 sf, 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath. The garage is on the lower level along with the laundry room, a small bedroom, a full bathroom & a family room.

The upper level has a decent sized open concept living room, kitchen & 2 dining areas as well as a half bath with linen closet and a huge master bedroom with full bath and walk in closet.

We have lived her a year and have never used the lower level family room. It would be very easy to frame out a door and closet to make it a third bedroom. I would still furnish it as a den to give potential buyers the idea that it could be used at either.

I estimate the cost to be no more than $3,000, including labor. My question is, would this add value to the home if we were able to list it as a 3 bedroom, or would it not affect the value vs a 2 bedroom with living and family rooms?

We are considering buying a property with the sole purpose of renting to my stepdaughter, who is going through a divorce. We would be renting it to her without profit.

We are also planning on moving out of state within the next 3-5 years. We have already started actively looking for a home in that state and would like to be in a financial position to buy the right house without having to sell our current house, if needed.

My question is, will it affect our ability to qualify for a third home if the second home is technically a rental property?

I've posted several questions about traveling with my cats. My husband was transferred out of state for 2 months. I was going to go with him and bring my 2 cats. One is sick with lymphoma, the other is 16 years old. His company was supposed to rent us a 1 bedroom apartment, but failed to do so. They instead rented us a efficiency motel room that doesn't take cats. We were able to find a place that does take cats, so I thought the problem was solved. However, my husband arrived yesterday and said the place is tiny and very dark, like living in a cave. The cats would have no sunlight for 2 months. I'm now thinking it would be too traumatizing to bring the cats (18 hour car ride each way, living in a cave for 2 months).

A week ago, my mom told me she had a friend who is in a difficult living situation and suggested I leave the cats at home and let her friend live here while I'm gone. My first reaction was Hell no, but now I'm rethinking this.

The problem is the 16 year old is already exhibiting signs of depression since my husband left. My sick kitty is VERY attached to me, and I'm afraid that he will also get very depressed if I leave as well.

Just looking for advice on what I should do. I quit my job so I could be with my husband. I really want to be with him, but I'm so worried about my cats.

My husband is work is transferring him to another state for 2 months. The trip is just under 1,000 miles, one way (I plan to break it up and take 2 days, each way).

My cat was diagnosed with lymphoma 6 months ago. I was told he may live another 2-3 months w/a steroid treatment. Needless to say, he has responded well to the treatment. Last time I had him at the vet, the Dr. told me that one of the receptionist's cats had lymphoma & survived another year after diagnosis.

He has had several relapses, most recently about a week ago, where he was lethargic, vomiting and refusing food. Two days later he was fine, eating regularly & playful.

I do not want to cause him any further stress. He has never traveled in a car for any longer than the time it takes to get to the vet and back. I anticipate that he will be very traumatized by the trip and a new apartment. Additionally, we would be turning around 2 months later & doing the same thing all over again.

On the flip side, this cat is very much attached to me. He's very much like a dog: if I'm sitting he wants to be in my lap, if I go to another room, he follows me, even if it's just to go back to sleep. I feel it would be equally stressful to leave him with a friend or family member.

My vet is very vague in her advice, I'm for liability reasons.

So, my questions is, would it be kinder to have him put down before we leave, even if he's doing well? Or should I take him with us and hope for the best?

I know there are special considerations for property in Wisconsin, and I thought they had something to do with divorce and wives getting part of the family farm.

I can't remember if the law was to protect the husband from taking all or part of the family property?

or was it to protect the wife from losing out financially in a divorce where the assets are tied up in the family farm?

Any one know what I'm talking about and if so, can you clarify it for me?

My husband and I have great credit and a higher than average income. The last 2 times we have bought a house, we have called our bank to get pre-approval. Both times we were told that we should wait to start the lending process until we have found a property we were seriously interested in buying. The first time wasn't a big deal because we decided on new construction and we had time. The second time was a little frustrating, because we had less than 5 weeks to get the financing done.

We've always heard it's best to get pre-approved before you start shopping so you're in a better bargaining position. Why won't our bank let us get pre-approved?

I'm going to be traveling a long distance for a 2 month job reassignment. The trip will take 16-17 hours by car.

I have 2 cats, one 16 years old and good health, one 8 years old and suffering from Lymphoma. I plan to take them both to the vet before we go and possibly getting some kind of antianxiety medication for them.

First question: I am toying with the idea of getting a pack and play/portable play pen for them for the trip. I would of course still keep them in their carriers, but once once we are on the road I would like to let them out, but not have free run of the car. I was thinking I would have their food and water in there as well. Is this a good idea, or would it be better to leave them in their carriers for the entire trip?

Second question: Do you think it would be less stressful to make the trip in one day, or break it up into 2 days? I stayed in a hotel with them for a week last year when we were between residences. The older cat was fine; the younger hid under the bed for the first 3 days. My first thought was to try and do it all in one day, but to have a hotel in mind about half way that takes pets, just in case.

I actually have a couple questions about catnip:

1. How long does it stay effective in the toy? I bought one of those refillable toys and both of my cats went nuts for it, but within a few hours they didn't seem that interested anymore. Then the following day they played with them a little, but by the third day they weren't interested at all. Did the newness of it wear off? or did the effect of the nip wear off?

2. Is it ok to just leave the toys out for them to play with or should I remove the toys and only let them play with them while someone is around.

A co-worker told me she has a friend who is getting married. She has been getting emails from her about fundraising, and has not read them because she assumed they were for a charitable cause and didn't have the money to donate. After the 3rd or 4th email, she finally opened it to see what it was all about, and it's a "start up" website, raising money to pay for her wedding. Her rationale is that this wedding is for everyone who attends to have a good time.

How you handle this?

1. Donate and have a great time at the wedding, knowing you helped make this happen for them.

2. Donate, but adjust the amount you spend on your gift to them by the amount donated.

3. Ignore the solicitation and attend the wedding as planned.

4. Ignore it and boycott the wedding on the principle that this breaks all wedding etiquette and tradition.

We bought a townhouse using a Home Path Mortgage. My husband will be working out of state this summer for 2 months. The mortgage agreement states we cannot use the property as a rental unless we refinance to a conventional mortgage. Does that include a short term, temporary rental? We would be leaving all of our furniture and the majority of our personal belongings.

My cat was diagnosed with lymphoma in October. My vet recommended a steroid to help improve his quality of life, but it would only give him an extra month or two. It helped immensely and for a couple months he was back to his old self. In January the same vet told me that one of the receptionists had a cat with lymphoma that lived another year after diagnosis.

He is still eating and drinking on his own, he loses weight, but then gains it back and still comes to me for affection. However, he sleeps a lot and when he's not sleeping, he just sits on the floor on top of the heat register.

My dad passed away on December 1. One of the last things he said to me was about my kitty. He said "Don't wait too long". My dad had a chronic disease and was miserable. I know he was projecting his own feelings on my cat's illness and was telling me to not let him (my cat) suffer.

But how do I know when it's the right time? I know cats are very good at hiding their pain. How do I know if he's sleeping because he's just tired from fighting the disease or because he's not feeling good? I don't want him to suffer but I also don't want to euthanize him before it's time.

I've heard that your social security benefits are calculated on the last 2 years' income earned. If this is true, then (for example) if I had a full time job making $50K my entire life, then cut back to part time, making $25K the last few years, my benefits would be half what they would have been if I had kept working full time.

True or False?

They discontinue it every year in the late summer but I can't remember when they start carrying it again for the summer. I thought it was around this time last year, but it could have been in April.

We made a lot of donations of clothes and household items last year because we downsized from a huge house to a 2 bedroom condo. I made a list of everything we donated with the intention of estimating the value once we got settled into our new place. Of course, now that it's tax time, I can't find the receipt from the charity we donated to or the list of items we donated.

My husband says we can just deduct it and only need to worry about the receipt later, if we get audited. Is that true? I know I wouldn't have thrown it away on purpose, but in the move it's possible that it got thrown away accidentally.

Should we take the deduction and hope we find the receipt and list if we get audited?

After my dad passed away in December we found a brass candle holder we believe came from his church. We had seen him use it at Christmas time, decorated with greenery and topped with a pillar candle on his fireplace mantle. After he passed, we noticed an inscription on the brass. Apparently it was a memorial to a female parishioner who had died in a fire in the early 1900s.

My first inclination was to return it to the church, however I was able to work forward to one of her grandsons. Unfortunately he died in 1986 and I haven't been able to find out any more about his children.

I would like to write a story or have someone write a story and see if I can find the descendents of this woman to give the memorial to. I thought about the local newspaper, but I doubt anyone still lives in this area that would know anything about the family. The grandson died in another suburb at least 30 miles away from the city where the church is located.

I really don't want to do the "holding up a sign on facebook" thing. Is there another way to get a story to go viral to reach the maximum number of people who may be connected to this family?

If so, what's your opinion compared to Microsoft Office, particularly for word, powerpoint and excel?

Also, can I open and edit my current word documents? Or, can I open them and convert them to Open Office?

Thanks