praisedivinemercy

I'm moving to a mountain community with a population of less than 4,000.

So far everyone I've met is really nice, but I'm a bit awkward socially so I'd like some preparation.

If it helps I grew up in the suburbs where everyone pretty much kept to themselves.

I'm moving to a mountainous area where it snows, unlike most of California. I'm thinking about a second vehicle for snowy days and hauling rather than replace my newish Fiesta. I want to spend the minimal amount possible while having something that won't break down too much.

So I want to go to the beach alone and be able to just tie my key to my wetsuit. But it's an electronic key. Is there some way I can use a metal one?

I first noticed the sudden drop in fuel economy a month ago. I usually get 30 mpg and lately I'm getting around 24. I realized I needed to change the oil and attributed the problem to that (I was 1000 miles overdue) but the problem continued after the oil change. Then I looked for any drips and saw gas stains below the pressure relief hose on the gas tank.

I took it to the Ford Dealer yesterday and picked it up this evening after they found nothing. No leaks, good O2 sensor, good fuel pump. The car is only about 10 months old.

Any ideas?

My cats were previously on Innova Evo, but since it is more expensive and difficult to find, I switched to Blue Buffalo Wilderness High Protein food, which is sold at Petsmart. Am I losing anything in the change? Any other high protein foods you would suggest?

(Sorry I simply do not have the time and money to feed my cats a raw diet)

I have one of those large rubbermaid cat litter mats and it needs a thorough cleaning. I managing to beat out most of the loose litter but it has some poop in it. How do I get it clean?

Hi there, I'm the happy owner of two wonderful cats. One, Angel, has been with me for two years and is three. The other, Toby, showed up at the door one day and made himself part of our lives. Toby just got fixed yesterday. The vet says he's one to two years old.

Both cats are very sweet, but one will get aggressive with the other if I am giving attention to the other cat, and they compete for the "honor" of sleeping on my leg at night. How do I get them to share?

I live in California. The other day I found a ring among my things that belongs to someone I met at a convention. I promised to mail it to them but they live in England. I've never sent anything internationally before.

I was out walking the other day and saw this strange blue box sitting in the park:

http://i56.tinypic.com/mwpqad.jpg

I've never seen anything like it. Could anyone tell me what it is?

My cat developed a problem from her drinking bowl because she is allergic to plastic. It make her lower lip swell up.

Now the trouble is that I, her owner, am somewhat absent-minded, and in view of that her drinking bowl was a mini water cooler that only needed filling every week.

Can someone recommend another water dispenser not made of plastic? Preferably, one that does not break the bank. Are there special types of plastic that don't bother cats?

Note: I'm not bashing smaller communities or assisted living homes.

Some background:

Near me is a senior community called Laguna Woods (formerly Leisure World). It's so huge it's been declared a city, with its own city council, police, and fire station. All entrances are gated, and visitors have to have their friends call ahead to let them in each time they visit. I read recently that this is not an isolated phenomenon, and there are similar communities throughout the country.

I find the whole concept terribly offensive. Perhaps it is because I'm only 26, but I feel separating seniors from the rest the community services neither group.

I was raised by my grandparents, and I wish more people of my generation had the stabilizing influence of having the previous generation as an important part in their life. I've met kids who are actually afraid of seniors! Also, I've met so many sweet old ladies at church who seem terribly lonely and isolated. At the very least, both groups need to have the other as part of their daily landscape, otherwise we forget how to deal with each other.

The idea of a single apartment complex for seniors is a good one, but an entire city is going too far.

What are your thoughts?

I just have to rant somewhere and ask for help putting this into words for my friend. Also, any insight on what is wrong here?

Before you jump to conclusions, I've always tried to be a good houseguest by cleaning after myself and offering to help out. Also, my and my friend are in our 20s.

A friend of mine asked me a week ago to come have dinner with her mother and spend the night. We both lack adequate transportation, so staying over is a solution to which many in our circle have resorted. The plan was to have dinner, watch a movie, do an errand in the morning, and then she and mother would be visiting her sister's and her mother would drop me off by my house, which is a mile from there.

So after getting there by bus, we talked for a bit, and then her mother asked for a bit of help cleaning out the garage. I thought she just wanted help getting something heavy, but she had us digging through various dusty boxes for at least an hour. Nevermind I was in my favorite outfit and dress shoes for the dinner, I thought she really needed to find something. Turned out it was just some Christmas stuff! Also, they threw me some blankets out of the storage boxes to sleep with.

Then we a tiny meal for the three of us of two stuffed portabello mushrooms, a small bit of green beans, and some sliced tomatoes. I was hungry after, but there was nothing left!

OK, normal houseguest stuff I did I'm not complaining about: I prepared the tomatoes, set the table, and washed the dishes afterwards.

By this time, it was about 8:00. My friend takes some medicine at 6:00 that completely knocks her out at 10:00. We were barely able to watch a movie, and she doesn't remember some parts of it. The longer her mother delayed us, the less time we had. Her mother also interrupted us several times.

I changed the sheets on the collapsible bed/couch, and spent an uncomfortable night because it refused to lie down flat. I had to sleep on a diagonal to keep from rolling out of bed. Still I got up, got ready, had an again too small meal of two pieces of microwaved french toast. I folded my blanket (again, something I normally do). As I was waiting for my friend to be ready, her mom asked me to grab something, and after I got up placed piles of papers and magazines all over where I had been sitting. I had to move one of the piles to have room to sit down again! Finally we left and went out for the shopping errand. I got faint while we were out due to low blood sugar and couldn't focus on anything.

We got back several hours later at 2:00, and then my friend mentions how her mother was hassling her to clean, so I got assigned to clean the kitchen floor while she vacuumed the living room. Her mom wasn't home yet. I sighed and cleaned the floor and then settled down with a hand held game while she finished vacuuming. Then her mother came home, and started again on the garage. They both fully expected me to help out, but I was just done at that point. I just stared at them and couldn't move. It was 4:00, the time I had hoped to be home, and back out in time for 5:00 vigil mass at church, it being Halloween this Sunday. I was just done with it all, my brain wouldn't work.

So I walked out, telling my friend it all just seemed ridiculous and they should have politely asked me if I could help them clean the garage instead of inviting me to come over for dinner. Her answer was, "Oh she does this all the time." She promised to talk to her mom about it and walked me to the bus.

Should I be so angry at my friend for how she let her mother treat me? How she treated me? Did I do anything? I don't want to stop being friends, but in the future I'm not going to spend any more time than necessary at her house.

Also, I don't want to sound spoiled, but I wish I could explain that you are supposed to treat a guest like an actual guest, not an extra set of hands.

I'm going to a convention next month and I'm going to be sharing a room with a friend who is deaf. Now, the trouble is, we usually communicate online, I don't speak sign, and he doesn't lip read.

Since we are going to be close proximity for the weekend, I thought I'd ask for etiquette advice.

This afternoonI was at Target and a jar of canola oil knocked over and spilled all over the floor. I fell on my side and there's a pretty nasty red and purple bruise there on my upper thigh. It's about four inches by two inches. I'm a bit concerned because it's swollen, although it only really hurts when I put pressure on it. I have a lot of muscle there because I do karate. I'm absolutely certain that none of my bones were harmed. I walked around a lot after I fell.

Problem: It's night and it's rather chilly, I would rather not use ice. What would you do?

I'm making a jacket out of some silky material. The material is beautiful but rather thin, so I bought enough to use it for the lining as well. Will there be any problem with this? Any tips I should know?

Lately I've been dieting and developed a huge craving for protein. I usually don't eat much meat, just some chicken or fish a couple times a week or so. But suddenly I developed a huge craving for protein that chicken wouldn't satisfy. So, for the first time in 3-4 years, I bought a steak and made an entire meal out of it. I usually only eat beef every few months, and then just a little in take out, so I'm curious what nutrients would make me crave it so.

I exercise regularly, walk at least a mile per day, and had my karate class just before I went shopping last night.

I'm making a shirt based on a kimono. The pattern I'm using is Simplicity pattern 4134. I noticed that traditional kimono do not have a shoulder seam, so I attached the top and bottom together. There is another triangular portion that attaches to each side front which allows the garment to be wrapped around. I have plenty of width on the fabric to attach these pattern pieces together as well. Will this be a problem? Is the seam needed for structure? Any other complications I need to worry about?

The fabric I'm using is a soft, lightweight silk.

I'm setting up a new router (the old one died) and I found in my research that the signal does better if one uses a less crowded channel. I live in an apartment complex and can pick up nine other networks from my house, so this would be a big help.

But is there any way to test what channels my neighbors are using? I don't want to hack their wireless, just set up my router on the least busy channel.

I use a Mac with 10.4.11.

My friend said that he and other Mormons are not having any kind of service the weekend of Easter because there is some kind of conference on with their "prophet" this whole weekend. He says that he's just going to stay home and watch it online, and if he went, he would just be watching it with other people.

I find this incredibly strange. Even if the person he's watching has incredible authority and wisdom, what about worshiping God as a community? Church isn't just learning stuff, it's also about repentance, praise, and thanksgiving. Is he telling me just what the LDS church teaches?