Hey folks, welcome to the new whine/general topic thread. Feel free to use this thread to discuss anything that is on your mind. Caregiving- related stuff, life after a loved one's death, your own emotional wellbeing. Whatever..........anything on your mind.
Thanks forum, for teaching me so much! And for many useful warnings!
Our moms, with their sudden nastiness, changes in mood and emotion, seek to control our emotions. They seek to decide when we’re angry, sad, worried.
They intentionally create a rollercoaster, to control our emotions.
Get off the rollercoaster.
Poodle:
Don’t change your personality. You’re not normally a worrier. Now you worry a lot, depending on how the caregiving rollercoaster is going. But unfortunately, this rollercoaster will probably keep going up and down.
This means your emotions will keep going up and down.
I never intended to be a doctor, or enter the medical field. I never wanted to be part of the stress of dealing with medical emergencies. And yet, that’s what we’re all doing, us caregivers, dealing with the high stress of the ups and downs of emergencies. We’ve embarked on a “medical career” without realizing it.
So I’m telling myself: allow yourself to be happy. You’re doing a great job caring for your uncle.
Don’t let your emotions depend on this rollercoaster. Take control of your emotions. Get off the rollercoaster.
Poodle, I’m not saying you should become un-feeling and un-caring. I think you know what I mean.
I help my elderly uncle. I think part of my addiction is because caregiving can get lonely, and here on the forum I feel we all understand each other.
But I think I need to watch out, because I don’t want to get too addicted.
For now, I continue with my addiction.
I was just trying to insert some humor in all this. In fact, I’m wrapped up in bed as I type. Nice cup of tea. My stress/worry thermometer told me to take another day off.
ff I had the seniors shot which is stronger than regular flu shots and more likely to cause side effects as it is a stronger stimulant to the immune system therefore more effective as a vaccine. This one hit me more than usual too yesterday but I feel fine today. I have to get my 3rd covid booster as well. I read yesterday that the 3rd one provides decent additional immunity but in the case of the 4th one the extra immunity is very short lived like a couple of weeks if I remember correctly. I expect to have some reaction to the 3rd booster but nothing bad. It's wise to plan a couple of down days after getting it.
Now I need to schedule for my 3rd covid booster shot. Now those shots will cause me to be very tired for a day. Sig-other had his shot last weekend and he was down for the count for 24 hours, then fine after that.
So, today I checked my stress/worry thermometer. And then I had the bad idea of weighing myself.
Moral of the story:
don’t weigh yourself at the same time as checking your stress/worry thermometer.
You’d check and see:
“Yup, 102.2 F (39 C) on the stress/worry thermometer. Just as I thought. I have to take the day off. Stay in bed. Wrapped up. My favorite movie. Cuddly things around me. Warm cup of tea.”
I looked up the antonym of “worry”. It’s tranquility, calmness.
I wonder when was the last time I felt tranquility. It’s been a while.
Full Moon
Speaking of cleaning, most of which I will leave for a cleaner after the furniture is moved out, I am very much enjoying the process of organizing what is left in the cupboards. The closets are pretty well done - and no moths thankfully.
I was thinking about this and realized that it is like classification in biology/zoology. Group like things by certain criteria. It's fun! Who would gave guessed and the results are rewarding! I still have to tackle the junk drawer which will not be so much fun. 😕
I know more than I ever wanted to about moth flies now. :O
Frequentflyer, I would definitely check your cat's bed. The majority of the flies we found were in two old cat beds we were storing in our closet. We were only seeing one or two a day until we removed them. Then they all started coming out. I figured if they liked cat beds and fur that I'd better keep an eye on the bed my cat uses now. Sure enough there they were. I think they'd started laying eggs or what ever it is the little buggers do. So off to the washer it went. In very hot water and a very hot dryer afterward. Apparently these things hate heat and cold.
Our place has never been cleaner. We did a deep cleaning and vacuuming of everything I could think of. My hubs thinks I'm paranoid but I don't want to live with bugs. I hate em. We're still waiting on moth traps from amazon and I'm gonna try to stay on top of keeping the cat fur at a minimum. Henrick is mad at me I think but it's either me or the bugs. I'm voting for me.
I could be wrong (as I often am lately), but I think I read in one of Glad's links that the moths (or was it other flies/bugs?) can originate from out of the sink drains.
Penn State Extension:
"Management
Control varies with the origin of the moth fly infestation. The most economical and sanitary way is to remove the organic material in which they breed. This requires cleaning sinks, drain pipes, and traps with a stiff wire brush or by steam. Several new products are now available that contain either bacteria or enzymes which breakdown the gelatinous scum in drains. They are applied as either a pour around the drain lip or injected as foam. Most pest management companies provide this as a service. To determine which drain is infested, place a jar over the outlet or tape a plastic bag over the opening of the overflow outlet. Check the container at intervals for adult flies."
gladimhere, thanks for the link. I have been lazy about dusting, and even vacuuming [becoming afraid of it like the cats do]. I will Swifter :)
A good, thorough grooming of the cat may be in order. I googled "cats get clothes moths"
https://www.themothguy.com/index.php/2019/06/19/3-reasons-cats-attract-carpet-moths/or
Would you please change your name to Gershwin? My spell check wants to correct you to thatl😁😁😏😏
But I am going to be careful bringing home anything from the vet or the grocery store cause I wonder if that's where they came from.
Haven't seen one today so far but I did kill a spider. I guess all our cleaning is bringing out any bugs from their hidie holes.
Golden, no damage to clothing but they have not entered the bedroom at all that I can see. We keep our bedroom door closed though. I had a few workout clothes in the closet where we originally saw these a**holes but they were fine. The two old cat beds were infested. We threw those out naively thinking that would solve the problem. We've spent the week cleaning everything. Afghans on our couches, of course our cats newer bed that he actually uses, under cushions etc. They seem to have been on all those things. We don't see any and then we disturb something and voila, there they are.
Glad, thx for the website references. I've checked a few of those out myself.
Send, I've read articles that say cedar doesn't work but it's worth a try and I did read about lavender as well. In the meantime I wait for the traps to arrive from amazon and kill them as I see them I guess. They are slow and easy to catch. We do have to be careful about spraying and so on cause of our kitty like you said.
This sort of thing stresses me out big time.
Cedarcide has a spray for the home and cedar granules, supposed to be non-toxic.
If there is carpet in the closet, you might need to take it up and replace with hard flooring. If you have vacuumed any up, be sure to empty fully and treat the vacuum inside.
Have you checked the other closets or any other places they may be hiding?
Take all the clothes to a dry cleaner to kill the eggs.
Put some special sceening cloth or mosquito netting across the door to the patio. Buy it online.
Much can be learned by reading some exterminator websites, or DIY pest control online.
With pets, we have to be very careful, and I know you know that.
Whatever you do, don't start naming them like I did with the squirrels. 😊
https://extension.psu.edu/moth-flies-in-the-home
Is that them? I would call an exterminator.
Or these?
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/take-part/identify-nature/common-insect-pest-species-in-homes/clothes-moths-identification-guide.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/19/revenge-of-the-clothes-moths-as-numbers-boom-can-they-be-stopped
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IG090
https://pestcontrolcanada.com/pantry-pests-2/clothes-moths/
https://terminix.ca/pest-library/clothes-moths/
One more
https://terminix.ca/pest-library/flies/
Again
https://martinspestcontrol.com/blog/clothes-moths/
gershun - the old way was using moth balls. Is there any damage to your clothing?