u/Due_Awareness6639

Hi! I'm a 2026 November bride and my sister recently got married in December. Yesterday she and I both attended a wedding for her friend/classmate. They are both starting grad school together at the same college in a couple weeks. They have been friends during the program and the bride invited her and her husband, but her husband was unable to go so I went for moral support.

The bride (21) asked my sister (26) to do her hair for the wedding and had her do 3 bridal hair trials before the wedding during both of their 2 week summer break. Their program is intense and has extremely little downtime. She spent a lot of time and effort researching how to make the bride's thin hair look thick, bought supplies like a donut bun, pageant worthy hairspray, anti frizz products, as well as bringing along her supply bag with everything else she has just in case. Each trial she spent a couple of hours at the bride's house doing her hair. The bride asked if she would do her bridesmaids' hair as well (6 bridesmaids) but she said she didn't feel like there is enough time to do everyone and that it would be best if she does not do that.

Also, for context, the venue is 1.5 hours away from my sister's house and the start time for getting ready was set for 2:30pm so she left at noon to get there on time. Also yes I know 2:30 is an insane time for everyone to start getting ready (makeup was going to be done after hair by each girl themselves including bride). The ceremony was at 6pm.

So we get there, and she starts doing the bride's hair, it takes about 2 hours and then she says "okay girls, everyone pick out a hairstyle on pinterest for (my sister) to do, Mom you're included in this!" My sister has an extremely hard time saying no. She's a people pleaser. So she did everyone's hair. Thankfully they all curled their own hair (besides the bride) so she was just tasked with doing half ups and updos. Surprisingly she finished in time and we had some time to kill while they took pictures so we had to sit in the car and wait (there was nowhere else and they were being rude towards us, like I shouldn't have been there and my sister is just a wedding vendor??)

We left the wedding early right after dinner/cake. It was just awkward. She placed us at a small table with a family that kept asking us repeatedly how we knew them.

Now today, I'm wondering how my sister will get reimbursed for her time. She has always been the type that refuses to put a price on her work - haircuts, hair dying, bleaching, hairstyles, literally anything, they are all just a side gig since she can't really work due to her program. I think she thinks putting a number to things like $20 for a haircut or whatever is in a way, "stepping on people's toes." She wants the girl to send whatever she thinks is right (but I think the girl might send $0-50). In my opinion, if you don't set a price, it's confusing to know how much to pay.

I sent her a text this morning showing her research I did for professionals in the area. They charge anywhere from $75-150 per person with no change to the bridal cost, and trials cost the same. The numbers I came up with were:

$75 for bride hair day of
$75 for 3 trials total
$50 for each bridesmaid + her mom (x7)
total: $500

I felt this is relatively fair because she said the bride was on a tight budget and thus why she chose her, but they never discussed pricing or made a contract or got anything in writing whatsoever, so it needs to be on the low side because otherwise she can just never talk to her again (and alienate her at school - I got slight mean girl vibes personally). My sister has been repeatedly taken advantage of in similar situations throughout her life and I just really want to help her. Does this sound fair?? Does anyone have thoughts on this? I'm really worried for her that they all think my sister did this as a kindness thing for free. It took up 10 hours of our day yesterday including driving and then 6 hours total for trials.

Hello! I recently adopted a cat that seemed fine at the cat cafe where we adopted her. When we brought her home, she was very stressed and hid underneath the bed for almost 2 days before finally coming out. I had her separated from my cat for an entire week before trying to introduce them, but within that week, she started sneezing and had all the signs of an upper respiratory infection as well as thick drainage coming out of her right eye. She had to take breaks while eating so she could breathe and I could hear her congestion through her nose. The infection progressed really quickly so I took her to the vet where they put her on prednisolone (injection) and antibiotics (liquid mixed into her wet food) for a week. She seemed fine by day 7 so day 8 I let her roam the house and meet my other cat who has never had any health issues. Within another two days, she was showing signs of being sick again, so now looking back I think the prednisolone was suppressing symptoms and then wore off. I quarantined her again and took her to the vet where they did another round of treatment, a stronger antibiotic and then another prednisolone injection. But then a week later, my other cat started showing mild similar symptoms. Some eye discharge and sneezing that went away after a few days on its own. The second treatment made my new cat better. But then a few weeks later, she started showing signs of an ear infection. They swabbed her and it showed tons of bacteria so they put an ointment in her ears in office, said it should last 30 days and make her feel better in a few days, and that has not worked. My other cat has a mild bacterial infection in her ears as well that they swabbed for and gave me ear drops to administer at home. I have been using these ear drops on both cats but wiping the tip of the bottle with an alcohol wipe between cats.

Now both cats (who both went to the vet last week) are sneezing occasionally although not often (maybe 1-2x per day). I have had to take both cats to the vet a total of 5 times in the last 40 days so I'm concerned that this is my new normal. I asked my vet if they thought the new cat may have feline herpes and she said "maybe" but that the test is pricey so we could just treat her like she does.

I just got pet insurance on the new cat but not my first cat (I'm considering adding her too). My question is, does this fit feline herpesvirus? Is this normal? Do I need to take them to the vet with each flare up or just watch them at home and see if they seem to get bad like the first instance with the congestion I could hear? It seems like taking them to the vet causes flare ups so I think best course may be avoiding the vet if I can? I'm not sure how to help them at home besides running our humidifier and paying close attention. Both cats still play and have the zoomies and are eating and drinking frequently. No hiding or any other concerning signs.

The vet bills have been costing $150 each time so I am a bit stressed. Any advice is greatly appreciated!