u/ReineDesRenards

School called us and said they had a student who wasn't getting along with the host mom, so could we take her in? We did. Spoke with her, it sounded like the last host mom was treating her like a slave barking orders at her and getting mad if she didn't come over to do a chore within 10 seconds. Felt sorry for her, so I just said "I would be doing the communal chores regardless so all I ask is you clean up after yourself and leave things as you found them." Simple enough, I thought. Well apparently it doesn't matter how I ask, it doesn't get done.

"Hey, I can see you're busy. No rush, but sometime before you go to sleep can you put away ___ and clean up where you were?" She said "sure" but didn't do so.

Escalated to "hey, can you please clean up ___ in the next half hour? It's looking quite messy" no change.

Escalated to "hey, your stuff has been all through the lounge the past couple of days and is looking quite messy. It's really bothering me. Can you please tidy up as soon as you leave that part of the house? It stresses me out when it looks messy like this as we also have the airbnb and it should look tidy for that." Still no change.

Had a word with her about how I didn't study 3 university degrees to become a full time cleaner, and I would appreciate being able to relax after work as I always have, but I haven't been able to for 5 weeks because I now spend a lot of time asking her to tidy up after herself and sometimes have to clean it myself in order to use the kitchen (e.g. need to use the sink, but she leaves dirty dishes). Her response "but adults are supposed to clean up after kids. My parents always do things for me." I said,"Maybe at your house, but in this house, we all clean up after ourselves."

Spoke to the school who had a word with her. Stressed the importance of following that one rule. No change. Have now arranged for her to go elsewhere because living with her stresses me out. She was upset and said "i feel really anxious about the cleaning. I try really hard but it's all so stressful". This confused me as how is 20 minutes per day cleaning up after yourself a huge ask?

Anyway, I was catering everything to her e.g "what would you like for dinner? I could make (5 options)".

Do you think she'll get a shock when she goes to the next host family? Most people in my area expect students to help with dishes and unstacking dishwasher. Literally all we asked her was to tidy up after herself - no helping with anything we were doing before she moved in.

We live in New Zealand - near zero risk for outdoor predators so he is an indoor/outdoor cat with a microchip catdoor (we keep him indoors when sun goes down so he's less likely to be run over). He usually is playful for a little bit then lies in his bed until we go to sleep. Right now he is grooming himself more than usual. I noticed he started licking, biting and trying to eat his blanket. This is completely new behavior. He also has been acting a bit more crazy than usual - trying to claw at the wooden frame of my bedroom windows (jumping up and hanging on with his front paws) so I will let him in from outside, more zoomies and playfully attacking my foot.

Extra note - my husband usually is around him 24/7 as we both WFH but husband is away for 3 weeks on a work trip. Could the behavior just be stress regardinh my husband being away or boredom? Does this warrant an emergency vet appointment? Or should I wait 9 hours until the vet opens?

I have confiscated the blanket (obviously) but he also tried doing the same with another blanket so have now removed anything I am worried he might eat.

Also, he's slightly on the chunky side (not underfed) and eats plenty of kitten biscuits and tinned food - i don't believe this would be caused by insufficient food/nutrients.

Hey! Newbie here, I only recently got into sewing but I am obsessed! Splurged and got myself a janome m7 (will eventually do quilting but would like to mostly sew clothes and figured the extra throat space would be helpful), have bought a bunch of fabrics, cutting mat, rotary cutter, shears etc. as well as a bunch of calico to practice patterns before I adjust them (if needed) and use my "good" fabrics.

I have an overlocker and have been trying to use that as much as possible on edges so it looks nicer. I've been forcing myself to press things before sewing to get a more polished look, and have been learning random bits here and there but I don't really have a plan other than "try this pattern and look up stuff i don't know".

I was wondering if there are any resources on the order of things to learn? I was thinking perhaps I start with pockets - start with easier ones and practice those until perfection, then move on to more complex pockets, then buttons and buttonholes etc.

All my existing knowledge is random patches of stuff I've seen on YouTube or read in books but I feel like there's so much stuff I don't know. I'm getting really into couture books by Claire Shaeffer but obviously that's leagues above my level of experience at this point.

Any resources or advice would be greatly appreciated! Especially ones on tailoring or couture "polished" looks. I'm very happy to just sit down and practice each thing 50 times if I have to. I just really want to get better at this!

Hey! Newbie here, I only recently got into sewing but I am obsessed! Splurged and got myself a janome m7 (want to eventually do quilting but would like to start with clothes first), have bought a bunch of fabrics, cutting mat, rotary cutter, shears etc. as well as a bunch of calico to practice patterns before I adjust them (if needed) and use my "good" fabrics.

I have an overlocker and have been trying to use that as much as possible on edges so it looks nicer. I've been forcing myself to press things before sewing to get a more polished look, and have been learning random bits here and there but I don't really have a plan other than "try this pattern and look up stuff i don't know".

I was wondering if there are any resources on the order of things to learn? I was thinking perhaps I start with pockets - start with easier ones and practice those until perfection, then move on to more complex pockets, then buttons and buttonholes etc.

All my existing knowledge is random patches of stuff I've seen on YouTube or read in books but I feel like there's so much stuff I don't know. I'm getting really into couture books by Claire Shaeffer but obviously that's leagues above my level of experience.

Any resources or advice would be greatly appreciated! Especially ones on tailoring or couture "polished" looks. I'm very happy to just sit down and practice each thing 50 times if I have to. I just really want to get better at this!

I do crochet and stupidly left some yarn out (Temu acrylic brand in case relevant). Kitten seems to have eaten 1-2cm of it (chewed through it, but yarn otherwise wasn't moved).

History: he was an underweight stray we adopted - was 2kg at estimated 14-16 weeks of age. Has had 1 vaccine, got flea and worm treatment 3 weeks ago. Only has been indoors while we wait for him to have his second vaccine.

He has a history of always having hard poos and always in the litterbox until this morning - he had diarrhea overnight on the bathroom floor despite litterbox being cleaned last night.

Note: I have recently changed his diet - started mixing in small amounts of water with his wet food as I read it helps with hydration/kidney. I usually give him bottled water, but I was lazy last night and gave him tap water (rain water which goes through filters) - not sure if the change in water source has contributed to this or if it is the yarn.

I bought pet insurance 20 days ago when we adopted him but the policy states it only kicks in after 21 days. Can I wait one more day or does he need to urgently go to the vet?