blondie

My mother-in-law was admitted to the hospital on Friday night due to a kidney infection. Once she was started on treatment for the infection, she seemed to be getting better very quickly and everything seemed fine when the family visited her last night (Saturday). Then this morning (Sunday), somebody from the hospital called and said that her pH level is too low and that she has acidosis. They're treating her with oxygen and a BiPAP (not sure if I spelled that right) machine. I've spent all day today doing research on the internet to learn about acidosis, and based on what I've read, I'm assuming that she has acute respiratory acidosis. My question is this -- does the treatment really work well, and how long does it take to work? I love this lady and I want her to get better -- very quickly, if at all possible.

I was invited to a wedding and I don't know what to do about a gift. I don't even know the bride or groom (the groom is the son of a coworker). I've never even met the bride and I've only met the groom once a few years ago. Since both the bride and groom are complete strangers to me, I don't know what's the proper etiquette for gift-giving, or if it's even required that I give a gift. They aren't registered anywhere, so I can't refer to a gift registry for ideas. I've never been invited to a wedding of strangers before, so I don't have any past experience to draw from. Do I get a gift or not? How much should I spend?

I live in an apartment and two days ago, while I was outside sweeping my balcony, I noticed a swarm of bees on the side of the building. Some of them were swarming around outside and some were going into a vent in the wall. Since I'm terrified of bees (I've been stung before and had an allergic reaction), I immediately called the property manager and she called an exterminator. While waiting for the exterminator to show up, I talked to one of my neighbors who lives in the same building and she told me that she'd seen bees inside her apartment just a couple of hours before. So I'm assuming that the vent that the bees were entering leads inside of the apartments in the building. The exterminator arrived within the hour and when I spoke with him, he told me that he'd spray some type of "fog" that would kill them. But he told me that it would take three to five days before they'd be gone! Since then, I've talked to a coworker who once had a bee problem and she told me that her problem was eradicated within a few hours! I've also done some research and found out that even if all the bees are killed, there will be problems in the future with other bee swarms being drawn to that same area if the honeycomb (assuming these are honeybees) isn't removed. The exterminator didn't mention anything to me about doing any kind of follow-up to remove any honeycombs. I'm just wondering if the exterminator didn't do a good job because the problem wasn't taken care of within a few hours and because I don't think he's planning any follow-up treatment. Or is my landlord being too cheap to pay for a thorough job? I need to know if I should complain to the property manager -- or what I should do.

I have a 2000 Nissan Maxima with 98,000 miles on it. It drives really nice, smoothly and noise-free on level ground and when turning, but whenever there's any bump (even a small bump) in the road, I hear a rattling/thumping sound coming from the driver's side front end. I'm not a mechanic so I have no idea what could cause this. Somebody told me it could be the shocks, but the front end of the car doesn't bounce. I also don't think it's the cv joints because those were just replaced one year ago and I was told that if those go bad, there will be a clicking sound when turning (which my car doesn't do). If somebody could give me a clue as to what the problem is -- and approximately what it would cost to fix it -- I'd really appreciate it. I'd like to have some kind of idea of what to expect when I take it to a mechanic so that I don't get ripped off. Mechanic shops in my area really try to upsell services, especially to people (like me) who don't have much knowledge about cars, so I want to appear like I know what I'm talking about when I take my car in for service. Any help that anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated.

I have a 2000 Nissan Maxima with 98,000 miles on it. It drives really nice and smoothly on level ground, but whenever there's any bump (even a small bump) in the road, I hear a rattling/thumping sound coming from the front end. It sounds like it's by the left front tire, and it's scaring me. I keep thinking the tire is loose and will fall off when I'm driving. Somebody told me it could be the shocks, but the front end of the car doesn't bounce. If somebody could give me a clue as to what the problem is -- and approximately what it would cost to fix it -- I'd really appreciate it.

I'm having a problem with my computer. In order to do my work (I work at home via internet), I have to download my work assignments. Lately, the work is downloading SOOO slowly and it's taking a big chunk of my time that could be spent actually working and getting stuff done. Instead, I'm spending what seems like forever just sitting and staring at the monitor, waiting for downloads to complete. I have high-speed internet with a cable modem, but lately, it's acting like dial-up service. I've also noticed that when I look at videos on the internet, the videos play only for a couple of seconds and then pause for a few seconds, and then resume playing for only a couple of seconds and then pause again, and this continues throughout the entire video clip. In all other ways, my computer seems to be behaving normally. Could the problem be with my cable modem (do I need a new one?) or could it be an issue with my computer? I don't know whether to call the cable company for service or if I should call a computer repair technician for service. Can anyone give me a clue as to what's wrong and what I should do about it? PLEASE!

The kitten in the video is adorable, but in my opinion, the most interesting part is the writing at the end of the video. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-0UeE2uBPU

This is a HUGE bit of news! It's especially important for the people in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California to know about this. Declawing of cats is becoming ILLEGAL! Of course, I realize that people who have cats and live in those cities can just go to neighboring cities to have their cats declawed, but at least it's now illegal somewhere in the US! And at least it will be more difficult for residents of those cities to have the procedure done since they'll now have to drive to a vet's office farther away. So, what do you all think?

I tried to ask this question a few hours ago, but got nothing but stupid and irrelevant answers, so I'm trying again. Maybe the time of the day I asked was when all the intelligent people weren't on their computers. So, here goes one more try:

My three-year old kitty, Cookie, has been very healthy all her life and I've always fed her high-quality food. She's never been sick even once. However, she very suddenly got really sick a few days ago and I took her to a 24-hour emergency pet hospital. They kept her for a few days and while she was there, they determined that she had pancreatitis. They treated her for it and she got much better, to my relief. When I picked her up yesterday, the doctor talked to me and told me that she'll have to be on a special prescription-only diet for the rest of her life. I've done some research on the internet, though, and some of what I've read has led me to believe that with an acute case of pancreatitis, a special diet is required only for a couple of weeks. I want to do what's best for her, but I'm just not sure if that prescription diet is really necessary for the rest of her life, and since it's pretty expensive, I don't want to spend the extra money unless I have to -- of course I will if it means that she really does need it. I just wonder if anyone here has had experience with this and can offer some insight.

My three-year old kitty, Cookie, has been very healthy all her life and I've always fed her high-quality food. She's never been sick even once. However, she very suddenly got really sick a few days ago and I took her to a 24-hour emergency pet hospital. They kept her for a few days and while she was there, they determined that she had pancreatitis. They treated her for it and she got much better, to my relief. When I picked her up yesterday, the doctor talked to me and told me that she'll have to be on a special prescription-only diet for the rest of her life. I've done some research on the internet, though, and some of what I've read has led me to believe that with an acute case of pancreatitis, a special diet is required only for a couple of weeks. I want to do what's best for her, but I'm just not sure if that prescription diet is really necessary for the rest of her life, and since it's pretty expensive, I don't want to spend the extra money unless I have to -- of course I will if it means that she really does need it. I just wonder if anyone here has had experience with this and can offer some insight.

I asked this question earlier, but I didn't get any helpful answers, so I'm going to try again. I'm self-employed and I make pretty good money, but when lenders look at my tax returns, they look at the net income after deductions -- not gross income, like they'd do for people who aren't self-employed. Because I'm self-employed and work at home, I take tax deductions for almost all of my household expenses, so my income looks deceptively low on my tax returns -- too low to get a decent home loan.

So what do I do? Are there any options for me in getting a loan? Are there any lenders who have loans specially tailored for self-employed people (such as no income verification or bank statement loans)? If anyone knows of any, please let me know how to find them, or give me some links so that I can check them out on the internet.

Just for clarification -- I am NOT looking for a loan that's geared towards people with bad credit. My credit is in the good to excellent range. It's only my income that appears to be too low for a loan (simply because of tax deductions).

I'm self-employed and make pretty good money and my three credit scores are all above 700 (average 760). I currently pay $1,500 rent per month, so obviously, I can afford a mortgage payment (including property taxes and insurance) that's equal to my monthly rent payment. But I was shocked when I applied for a mortgage loan and was told the amount that I qualify for -- it's WAY less than what I thought I'd qualify for and the amount I actually qualify for can't buy anything decent in my area of the country (southern California). It turns out that my only problem is that I'm self-employed and work at home, so I take a lot of tax deductions for business expenses and even household expenses (phone, utilities, car and rent), and when all is said and done, lenders think that I don't make enough money to qualify for a mortgage loan. It seems really unfair that they look at net income for self-employed people, but they look at gross income for everyone else who has the same (or even more) monthly expenses than I do.

So what am I to do now? Are there any options for me? Getting a co-borrower is out of the question, since I'm single and nobody in my family is financially able to help. Are there any mortgage lenders that understand self-employment income? If anyone knows of any lenders that have loan programs for self-employed people, PLEASE let me know.

This is specifically directed to people in southern California (Los Angeles county, to be exact). Are you aware that as of October 1st (tomorrow), it will be ILLEGAL not to have your pets registered and spayed or neutered? Evidently, there are just WAY too many strays and all the animal shelters are having to euthanize animals at an alarming rate just to make room for new strays coming in, so finally, the county decided to do something about it. For anyone who doesn't get their pets registered and spayed or neutered, there will be a fine (I'm not sure how much, though). I'm wondering if there are any other areas of the country that are cracking down like LA County is. Does anyone know?

I'm just wondering. Is there a reason that some people who claim to be animal lovers just criticize people rather than offering viable solutions to problems or intelligent answers to questions? It seems to me that if someone really loves animals, they'd want to help people who are having problems with their pets and offer suggestions and solutions rather than just criticizing. Sometimes, if someone is given a solution, that might just save an animal from being abandoned, taken to a shelter or mistreated. In my opinion, just criticizing serves no GOOD purpose whatsoever -- it doesn't offer any solution to help the animal and it just makes the pet owner mad. Sorry for getting on my soapbox, but after reading so many answers, I was just wondering about this. Any ideas or comments?

Last week, I took my kitty to the vet for her annual exam and vaccinations. After sitting in the waiting room for a bit, we got called back to what appeared to be an exam room. After a couple of minutes, a vet assistant came in and took my kitty from me and left me alone in the room. A little bit later, the doctor came into the room, gave my kitty to me and told me she was fine. He had apparently examined her and given her the shots in some other room, without me being present. I had a couple of questions and he did take time with me to answer my questions, which was nice. But it kind of surprised me that I wasn't allowed to be present during the exam. I used to be a veterinary assistant and we always allowed pet owners to be present for the exams. So I was just wondering -- is this something that all vets do now, and is there a reason for it -- or am I the only person who thinks it's strange? After all, if I wasn't there to actually witness the exam and vaccinations, how can I know for sure that the exam and shots were actually done?

I know that products like Pine-Sol and Lysol shouldn't be used if there are cats in the home, but I don't know what IS safe to use. It seems that every product I look at in the store says "Keep out of reach of children and pets," so I'm stumped. Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

It's a pretty new computer so I don't think any of the hardware has gone bad. What could be wrong? Does anyone know?

I need to know the name of the piece that Mozart wrote that the children's song "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" comes from. Does anyone know?

I'd block the sender's fax numbers, but I never know the sender's fax numbers because they're not listed at the top of the faxes. I can't report them to anyone because without an identifying fax number, I don't know where they're coming from. It's getting really out of hand and I need to know what to do about it. Any suggestions?

I'm working at home as a medical transcriptionist, but one of my doctors is closing his practice in a couple weeks. So I find myself in the position of having to find other work to replace the work that I've been doing for him. I have 15 years experience and I've been told by many of the doctors with whom I've worked that I'm the best there is. But I'm having a terrible time finding the work I desperately need right now. So far, all of the job web sites I've been to have been of no help -- they only advertise really low-paying jobs that require the transcriptionist to work at their office instead of at home. I'm feeling really frustrated right now and would appreciate any help that anyone can give me. Thanks so much.