Im hosting a movie night for my neighborhood. The attendees are all women in their 30s-50s. Lots of us have only sons, so we are looking for girly movies (something my boys probably wouldn’t really want to watch). I was thinking My Best Friends Wedding. I haven’t seen it in forever and I just heard a song that reminded me of it. Or Father of the Bride? I haven’t watched many movies so I’m sure there are good ones I have never seen or heard of.

I love thinking about goals. Unfortunately I don’t always love accomplishing them. My April goals are pretty boring- spring clean the house, make sure we have enough food and medicine stocked for a week, and finish taxes.

Thank you for linking that!

Yes I think whatever it is is causing real suffering. I wonder if they have studied anything more with the mass psychogenic illness. Like were the incidents more likely within a week of a briefing. Was it in friend groups? I can understand that happening in Havana when people were hearing about it regularly. But several of them seem to be one random person in Vienna or Vietnam. The other weird thing to me is if it is the Russians why they would target a random diplomat’s wife doing laundry. And she has actual physical symptoms that required surgery so it isn’t psychogenic. Maybe hers is just a coincidence?

Has anyone read the new super long article about Havana syndrome/ anomalous health events? Or watched the 60 minutes episode? I don’t know what to think. I had pretty much decided there was nothing to it, because I don’t like to think of myself as a conspiracy type person and I believed the intelligence assessment and doctors who studied it. But this article did persuade me a little. The article didn’t address the scientific plausibility of such a weapon, which seems like a significant issue. Also, I would think most diplomats/CIA have worked on Russia stuff at some point in their careers, so the fact that everyone targeted had Russia in common wasn’t too convincing. I think the part that convinced me the most was the people promoting the article- they are knowledgeable and not prone to writing outlandish things. Has anyone else followed this story?

Have so much fun! You sound prepared. I usually make sure to have passport, phone, and charger and anything else I forget I can buy or borrow.

I associate “should have known what you were getting into” with my army reserve wife days. I hated when people said that to me- because I absolutely did not know what I was getting into. Dh was in the reserves and 9/11 hadnt happened at the beginning. I especially hated it when he deployed and I was pregnant and had ds2. Maybe I should have known, but I don’t think you can really understand the military until you have lived it. And those post 9/11 years used the reserves much more than had been used in any recent history. I don’t think anyone would really know what they are getting into marrying a royal.

Some of these I still need to learn! I have never sewn anything in my life. I also don’t really know much about a car- changing a tire or jumping it, but I do think I know the warning lights now (or at least how to google what it is). I have four boys between the ages of 12-17. They are all in a weird mix of very independent and helpless. My 3 older kids could be left home alone for a week and would manage fine as long as money was no issue (I’m sure they would Uber eats half of their meals). They can take care of themselves, but it wouldn’t be the way I would like. They all make their own haircut appointments, buy their own clothes, take public transport or ride their bike places, walk to the grocery store and make easy meals. My 14yr old and 15yr olds regularly babysit. I can’t think of the things they can’t do right now, but they regularly don’t know how to do simple things. ETA: my 14yr old just went to get his laundry out of the dryer and said they were still wet. I asked if he had cleaned out the vent because my clothes are always dry after the dryer cycle. He said he did then told me he pulled them out of the washer early (during the spin cycle) because he wanted to go to bed early. So I’m sure he put a full load of soaked clothes in the dryer. He has been doing his own laundry for 2 years. So he mostly has basic laundry skills but also still learning.

Great job to your dd! So interesting that his wife forgot about his diabetes. A couple of years ago my son collapsed on the baseball field. When I called 911 the operator asked if he had any known medical issues and I said no. She then went on to ask if he had allergies, epilepsy, diabetes. I am ashamed to admit I yelled “I said he has no medical condition quit asking me about medical conditions.” She kind of just ignored me and kept asking questions. I guess it makes sense that people may forget important things in an emergency. (My son was totally fine. It turned out he had gotten hit in the neck with a ball and I guess where it hit him caused his blood pressure to drop and he fainted.)

We just left Rome and witnessed 3 people get their wallets stolen (one guy got his back). I felt very safe there, but absolutely they have tons of pickpockets there. It is a real issue. All 3 times were at the termini metro station. My husband kept our money/ids in a crossbody bag under his clothes. I told my kids to keep their hand on their phones in the metro. Once when I was in the metro I had just gotten on and a police officer on the outside pointed to teen girls and gave me a gesture to keep an eye on them.

Aww. Very cute! I have a son turning 12 this weekend. My friend invited me to go to the zoo on February 28th of 2012 and I said no because I was worried the walking would send me into labor haha.

We are going around and around about this. Our top choice is Minneapolis, but we have to be in a big city. I think some other places in Minnesota and Michigan would be nice. Sometimes I look at the map of the US and just feel overwhelmed because the places I would want to live aren’t affordable. I asked this question awhile ago and some people did warn me that Minneapolis maybe isn’t too welcoming to newcomers. ETA: outside the US maybe Austria? I’ve only visited but I have several friends who lived there and it seems lovely. Or Portugal sounds nice too.

I’m just trying to organize our medicine drawer and then one area of the pantry. I have book club tonight and have to make dessert for that.

I decided to organize our medicines today and I am having trouble deciding what to do. Do you throw away expired medicine? It seems the consensus is that medicine works much longer than its expiration date. I have some from 2016 which I am embarrassed to admit has come with us for three moves. Which brings me to my next question, do you keep a fully stocked medicine cabinet or do you just go buy things when you need it? Im considering throwing everything away that expired in 2022 or earlier and then just stocking the stuff we use regularly (not replacing things that expired 8 years ago). But I feel like Covid made me want to always have stuff stocked.

3 of my brother in laws were there. One was very near the shooting. Thankfully they are all ok.