Pooty Pootwell

I swear there was a way to purchase items to send to a neighbor. I'm not talking about the free gifts. Didn't there used to be a button for "send" in addition to the "buy" button beside decorations?

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here!

I just bought a minimal amount of FarmVille cash so I could purchase and send a couple of things to my husband's farm for Christmas, but now I can't figure out how to do it. Help!

I'm very, VERY bored, so I'm creating this survey to pass the time. Hopefully your answers will entertain me so the rest of my day goes fast! (Yay weekend!)

1. Funniest thing you've seen online recently

2. What your parents would have named you if you were born the opposite sex

3. What you would name a garden gnome

4. Last thing you ate

5. The character on "The Office" you are most like

6. Something you keep putting off that you need to get done

7. The TV show you would describe as your guiltiest pleasure

8. Something you hope someone gets you for Christmas

9. What you like most about weddings

10. Most embarrassing thing you've done today

11. Worst birthday gift you've received

12. Most mind-numbing activity

13. Family member you wish weren't related to you

14. Movie character you most identify with

15. The most child-like thing you've done recently

I'm trying to fill out my daughter's baby book, and there's a space to list the current fashion trends. She was born near the end of March this year, so you don't have to think back too far. I really appreciate your help!

Mom's sweet, don't get me wrong, but she calls me ALL THE TIME. This isn't something she just started doing, but now that I'm married and we're expecting our first child, her frequent calls are just becoming too much. It's not that I don't want to talk to her, it's just that (1) I don't have the time to talk as often as she wants, (2) when I do answer the phone, I don't want to be on the line for an hour, (3) she never has anything to tell me - she just wants to chat about nothing. When we're out for an evening, I'll sometimes come home to 3-4 hang ups on the answering machine and when I check the caller ID, they're all from her. She doesn't leave a message (because there's no reason for her call), but when I finally reach her, she's like "I've been trying to call you for days! Where have you been?" Just this week she even called me at work for no particular reason - just to see if I was okay. I don't want to upset her by outright telling her that she calls too much and I don't want to talk to her if she doesn't have anything to say. If I have news for her about the baby or something, I'd call and tell her, but I'm not up for talking for an hour every night about absolutely nothing. Suggestions?

... that I don't want her to come to an event?

Here's what happens... Every year my husband's parents run this big bingo afternoon at their church. My husband and I really enjoy going. Then one year, my husband's parents asked if my parents wanted to come. So they did. My parents complain about everything. Mom doesn't pay attention and is really only there to spend time with me. (Which she is able to do many other times, so I don't understand why she feels the need to come to an event like this.) Point is, I know she's not having a good time, and she ruins my time by making me focus on her and not actually play bingo. So this year, my husband's parents asked me to pass along the bingo invite to my parents. So to be polite, I sent her a short email with the date and telling her to contact my father-in-law if they want to go. Immediately I get the response, "Are you going?" I am going, and I know she wouldn't go if I wasn't there, but how do I say, "Yes, I'm going, but I really don't want you to come if you're going to not pay attention and drive me nuts like you do every other year."

This whole situation sounds silly, but I really don't want to be rude to my mom. Any non-snarky advice is appreciated.

For our Nissan Sentra, my husband is convinced that he can't buy oil or air filters from just any manufacturer, and that they need to come from the Nissan dealership. I think this is a big waste of money. We used to have a Ford Focus, and he was comfortable buying Motorcraft filters because Motorcraft is owned by Ford. Is there a manufacturer that specializes in Nissan parts in the same way Motorcraft does for Ford?

One of our cats has recently lost a good deal of weight (about 2 lbs.). At our last vet appointment about two weeks ago, the doctor said she had a very normal exam, with the exception of the weight loss. She now refuses to eat dry food (which she has eaten for years). We have another vet appointment in a couple weeks to check her weight status, but she's still not eating. We tried wet food, but she eats so slowly and is very skittish (both traits she exhibited before the weight loss began); so even if we give her the strong-smelling wet food, she eats so slowly that she doesn't get much down before the slightest noise scares her and she runs from the room. We tried shutting her off in a room with the wet food, but even then she doesn't eat much.

What makes the situation all the more confusing is that she begs to be fed, but will turn her nose up and run away or only nibble. She is also still very active, friendly, etc. so she doesn't exhibit any other sickness symptoms - she just won't eat! Help!

I've been employed for close to five years at my current job. It's at a very small business. My employer has known I've been pregnant for several months. When I recently spoke to them about maternity leave and my return to work schedule, I tried to discuss with them a work from home schedule (1-2 days a week) for after my maternity leave, I received "we'll really have to think about this" as an answer. Note too that my job is pretty much answering emails - something I could very easily do in any setting.

Having this up in the air has really got me concerned. Based on past experience, I have a strong feeling that I'm not going to get an answer either way for quite some time, and I need to start planning now.

So, with this major dissapointment from my employer (and my generally unhappy opinion of my current job) I've decided to start looking for a new one. I went to the employment website for a large local employer and went to fill out their online application. This application requires me to fill out the name of my current supervisor and his/her contact information and notes that they have the right to contact them during the application review process. Since I'm still employed at my current job - and may very well keep it if I'm allowed to work from home - I don't feel comfortable sharing this information. I don't want to tell my current employer I'm looking for a job elsewhere, and at the same time, I don't want to avoid applying for any jobs at this new potential employer. What do you think I should do?

If you can post a clip of it, I'd appreciate it.

Currently, I love the NFL fantasy football commercial. Apparently they had a similar one in 2007, but I'm partial to the 2008 version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJrcQnMUfsM

At a bakery, I saw a sign that said "Order your New Year's pretzel today!" What the heck is a New Year's pretzel? Pork and sauerkraut I've heard of, but a pretzel? Is this an ethnic tradition or a local one? (The bakery is in Pittsburgh, PA.)

I tried to make hard candy the other night and the highest I could get the mixture to reach on the stove top was around 240 degrees. I had the lid on and used a candy thermometer and everything, but it just wouldn't seem to get much hotter. Consequently, the hard candy turned out more like taffy. Does it need to be left on the stove for hours to reach 300? I suggested putting it in the oven to my husband, and he says an oven's heat is a different kid of heat (exothermic?). I'm no master in the kitchen, so any suggestions you have are appreciated?

Our new GPS has a female voice. Our car itself also has a female voice (for the Bluetooth phone function), and her name is Layla.

These could be things you typically use on your bank's website, or things you wish they had.

And conversely, is there anything you typically see on bank sites that you think is useless?

I greatly appreciate your feedback!

Recently I have had some very intense emotional highs and lows. I tend to get enraged very easily. For example, some idiot rich woman parked her stupid car in front of my driveway this morning so I couldn't get to work. My husband called the police to tow her car. About a half hour into waiting for the police, I see a woman casually walking to her car. I go out to tell her not to park in front of my house, and that because of her, I'm late to work. She acted as if she could care less and pretty much ignored me. She "thought we could make it out" of the garage. That was all she had to say. She continued eating her morning muffin and drived away. This drives me crazy! I am thoroughly upset at someone wasting my time. It took me a good hour to calm down, and I'm still pretty miffed about it.

Then this weekend at Panera, this guy jumped the line to ask for more coffee, I had to wait while the girl behind the counter ground fresh coffee beans and made new coffee - and then stood by the coffee machine while the coffee brewed so she could pour him the first cup. Am I invisible? Even the manager walked by me 3-4 times and ignored my flailing arms trying to attract attention.

And last month, my boss at work said something condescending to me (which I've taken with a grain of salt when she's done this in the past), but that time I dished it right back.

In times like these I get so upset that I actually do see red. I'd like to think that it's because I'm pregnant that I've been feeling this way, but then I think, I'd have this reaction regardless. But can I really discern that in my current (pregnant) state? Does anyone else get really peeved by stuff like this? Am I normal?

My great-grandparents bought a piano for my grandmother and her siblings. It's a basic, upright piano - nothing fancy. When I was a child, I used to try to play the piano when visited my great-grandmother, so she gave it to my parents so that I could learn on it. I played until I was about junior high age, and then it just sat in my parents' house. When my husband and I moved into our first home a few years ago, I wanted the piano so that maybe our future children would want to learn on it.

The problem now is, the piano has not been tuned in at least 20 years, and I know it's not cheap to give it the upkeep it needs. Also, now that we're expecting our first child, I'm more concerned with space in our home rather than the possibility of he/she growing up and wanting to play. One part of me says that I should be practical, and just get rid of it. The other part of me says that it's been in the family for years, and I shouldn't just give it up. What do you think?

I'm trying to make a list of around popular 50 artists (painters, sculptors, etc.) from any time period (classic to modern). The types of names I want are those that are rather well-known, so if someone makes a reference to him/her in conversation, most people would know who they mean. The names I've been able to come up with so far are: Monet, Van Gogh, Khalo, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, Dali, Matisse, Klee, Chagall, Picasso, Renoir, Rousseau, Toulouse-Lautrec, Warhol, Rockwell, Seurat, Munch, and Rembrandt.

P.S. I'm not a student asking for help on an assignment. This sounds weird, but my husband wants to be on Jeopardy, and I'm trying to help him study for the categories he thinks he won't do well on. :)

This may sound like a weird question, but my husband & I were at the Hockey Hall of Fame over the weekend, and they had the Stanley Cup on display. You could walk right up to it, touch it, get your picture with it, etc. My husband believes it must not be the real thing if they let just anyone touch it. I assumed it was real. Who's right here?

... what is the name of the main character's cat? She says it for one brief second in one of the previews.

Thanks!

He played in the late 70s or early 80s. We're pretty sure he wore the number 16, and he played in the outfield. We think his last name starts with the letter M. Any ideas?