Adopt one! Or forty!

There are a couple of orange tabby barn kittens. These are house kitties, though.

They do all have back stories. Some of them have truly heartwrenching backstories. I didn't want to name them or give away their details for fear of influencing the vote. Almost all of them have been named by my husband, who has a ... unique... sense of humour.

There are more than these. :)

This is just for fun and kittens. I hope the attachments work. Please just vote for your favourite kitten. You can only vote for one and there is no "other option." The winning kitten gets a prize! ETA: These pictures are owned by me and are of my own kittens.

Serious time. IME, your better mousers are the unaltered females. Your worst mousers are the unaltered males. Tom cats have a reputation for a reason and OMG are those buggers lazy! That said, please spay and neuter any cats you get. They, and you, will be happier. Although everyone says kittens are adorable, it is, IME, nigh on impossible to find homes for homeless kittens. It breaks my heart. But back to your mousing problem. For best results you want to be able to have the cat be an indoor-outdoor cat. The mice need to be controlled BEFORE they get in your house which means kitties need to patrol outside of it. I don't know your living/neighbourhood situation, so I don't know how possible that is for you. If it isn't, at least make sure kitties can go in every part of the house easily -- basement, attic, etc. If you end up with kitties that like to bring you dead mice, try not to freak out on them. They are just concerned for you. If they bring you dead prey, it's because they think you're an incompetent cat who can't feed itself and they're trying to help you. It's pretty much as high up on the chain of cat love signs that you can get. "Here. Eat something, you pathetic non-cat. I'd rather you not die." So sweet. :001_wub:

Totally off-topic, but... This is so funny I laughed out loud because, literally, if you replaced Other People's Dogs with Other People's Children, I could have posted this almost word for word right down to having two big filthy 'paw' prints on a white outfit at a xmas gathering. Except, I had to pay for my own dry cleaning.

If we're really supposed to be honest then....Most animals I've ever met are better than most people I've ever met, so I'm siding with the puppies and saying yes. I think you're pretty crappy to make a stink about some puppies. If this is a JAWM thread, then... oh my yes, of course report the puppies, you amazing citizen and saint, you.

Yes. You need 10. I'll be right there.

I use tripadvisor extensively. I am always very suspicious, though, of any place that has only 5-star reviews. There is a restaurant local to me that only has 5-star reviews, but they also have a lot of family and if you look at the reviewer names, that's mostly them. It's not hard to stack reviews in your favour if you have enough people to submit them. FWIW, the restaurant in question is not somewhere I would choose to eat. I've been there, but it's stodgy old-fashioned fare that I could cook better and cheaper at home myself, were I so inclined to eat that. The service has always been known as crusty, too, so there's that. When I am looking at reviews, in addition to looking for type of food, quality of service, value for money, etc., I am also conscious of the dates on the reviews. I will look at the most recent ones as reflections of current quality. I don't normally consider any reviews more than 6 months old. Restaurants, especially, do change hands and I wouldn't assume reviews from a year, two years, or more were talking about the same staff, cooks or management. With hotels, I look for reviews that note when renos occurred and then read only reviews current to the renos. That makes a big difference in hotel reviews, IMO. I also really appreciate when an establishment takes the time to respond to reviewers. To me, that says more than the reviews themselves. A place that is conscientious and responding to concerns or problems is a place that, to me, wants to do well, acknowledges that there is always room for improvement, and is truly committed to making guests/clients happy. Then, there are the places that respond to reviews with nothing but trash talk. That says a lot, too, about a lack of professionalism and to me, is a sure indicator of a place I'd never want to give my $$.

I could get a really nice whole bedroom from IKEA for $2K. I couldn't justify spending that on one bed. That just wouldn't jive with my budget realities. YMMV of course.

No. That's usually people looking for suggestions on what to cook. I like planning meals, cooking meals, sharing recipes and talking about food. I don't find that annoying. After all, those posters aren't whinging at *me* to cook for them.

I don't remember about ages so much, but it's always been a goal to teach him how to do things for himself -- clean room, do chores, make a few meals. Eventually, he would just do those things on his own without being asked (too much -- the clean room is still a white whale. lol!)

For me, I find it annoying for a few reasons. ​- I menu plan and the menu is posted on the corkboard in the kitchen. - The other 3 people living in this house are adults who could make a meal themselves. - I work full-time which requires lots of travel and often long hours of paperwork at home. The very last thing I need is to be nagged at 5:00 because 3 other adults are hungry, and as if I don't work enough, I need to jump up and go fix supper because they're either too lazy to do it themselves, or they are too picky to settle for what they would be able to come up with themselves. - I will not stand for whinging. Period.

I don't think you need to worry about looking like a tourist. Those countries are used to tourists from all over. If you don't want to be spotted as an obviously American tourist, then I will second the recommendation to refrain from wearing anything with logos, any kind of runners (sneakers or whatever you call that type of athletic shoe), and t-shirt and denim. You'll want good walking shoes, but try to find something leather and good quality. IMO, the best functional shoes are German shoes. The best trendy/stylish/dressy shoes are Italian shoes. That's just a personal opinion, though I am a bit of a shoe fan. It sounds like a wonderful trip. I hope you have a great time!

I don't take any prescription meds at present, but have when needed. I do drink wine occasionally, but my bigger problem is my addiction to Diet Pepsi.

^^ This. 1000-fold. This.

Yes, but it's not really just about disagreeing with Susan. She's intellectually tough enough to handle disagreement and certainly confident enough that she doesn't need a chorus of sycophants. What Ham attempted to do, though, was commandeer the homeschooling conference circuit industry by shutting it down to any options that weren't him through bullying, intimidation and out-right lying. He's a manipulator, a cheat and an egregious example of intellectual vapidity in all regards. If anyone wants to hang their hat with that ilk, then yes, I do think they are equally as bereft of intelligence and sanity as Ham himself.

Wow. That's massive. Thanks for sharing. It wouldn't have been on my radar at all normally. I have really complicated feelings seeing that. My dad was in the US Navy -- served on the Ranger, Saratoga and Independence. It's indelible in my mind the times we waited for his return and saw those ships come in. Very bittersweet memories.

Can I suggest something? Before you compare other people's budgets, it would be a good idea to track your own grocery expenses for at least a full month (or more). Keep receipts and note what you buy. You may find some expenditures that you didn't realize, or that could be cut or reduced straight away. You can then start looking at how you might source your most common grocery purchases for less, or look at replacing brand names with cheaper brands, or even look at changing your diet to accommodate lower cost foods, or... other strategies that fit your needs and resources better. I've seen lots of these grocery budget expenses throughout the many years I've been on here, and it's rarely helpful to compare what people all across the country are spending per month per family for a few reasons: 1) the varying definitions of "groceries" -- some people include only food, other may include anything bought at a store that week. 2) family preferences and lifestyles vary widely -- some families may not want or be able to eat what another family buys 3) cost of goods varies widely from one place to another. $100 in NYC will not buy you the same amount of groceries as in Wichita. 4) these threads tend to become a pissing contest of who can be most frugally draconian, and a shame-fest upon those who spend more or have special needs or are unable to reduce costs, etc.

Why would it? That does follow economically speaking. There are no studies yet on the current basic income pilots, but almost everywhere that there is some kind of universal health care, costs are remarkably lower (even adjusting for the exchange rate) than in the US. As to basic income, there is a bit of research on a program done in MB in the 1970's. It doesn't directly address costs of goods, but it does discuss some of the outcomes and benefits. Here's a brief read on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincome Edited to fix link

I think it could be done well and save the government a lot of money while allowing people to meet their basic needs adequately. If everyone were guaranteed a minimum income, then people wouldn't feel that they would make less if they worked. They could only make more, and if they make some money on their own, they are still going to have at least that minimum amount. It would drastically reduce the number of social assistance staff a government would need to have. Everyone from 18 to death could have it. You could entirely eliminate Social Security and other government pension plans and replace them with the guaranteed income. Students could go to school without having to take as many loans to pay for living expenses. And, there are many other possible benefits. My dh and I have discussed how such a thing could be implemented. It's one of our frequent discussions. Of course, we'd like to see it in our country everywhere. And, here, we have the added advantage of universal health coverage. It's a bit of a dream, to be honest, but it's a good one, and I do wish it could gain some more momentum. I am encouraged by what Finland and Ontario are trying, of course. I will curiously await the outcomes of those. It took one brave government in SK to give their citizens universal health care, and then the rest of the country followed suit. Maybe one brave government in ON can blaze that trail for all of us? A girl can still dream, eh?

There is a way to strike balance. For example, payments to states could be made based on need instead of population. All populations would pay federal income tax, but those wealthier states who can more readily support their needs wouldn't get as much, while poorer states would get equalizing payments so that they, too, can meet their population's needs. Here, they call it transfer payments. Each province gets to decide how to use fed money, plus their own revenues to meet the needs of their population. I, particularly, like this way of doing government business because in effect, it's an application, albeit a mild one, of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" that has a proven track record of success. Granted, it's not perfect, but it works rather well overall.

Here, those kind of people can have their money managed in conjunction with their case worker so that needs don't fall through the crack (hopefully). I think that's a separate issue, though, and not related to a systemic view of people as being out to cheat the system. That lens is very damaging to people, and costly to governments. ETA: that these things are exceptions to the norm, and a system that is out to target the exceptions ends up hurting the vast majority who just need help.

I think it's a matter of perspective. In the US, it seems that there is a lot of complaint about abuses, but few stats to back up significant abuses. Yet, the complaints persist if even a very small number of abuses occur amongst the hundreds of thousands who are honest. It's a counterproductive mindset to be approaching social assistance with the perspective that people are going to rip off the system. The more positive and productive approach is to cast the net broader with the support needed to help them out of the cycle of poverty instead of presuming them criminals before they've even applied for help.