My roommate was a math major and I know she did proofs because she'd talk about it to me. I only took Calculus 1, 2, & 3 and then Differential Equations so maybe it was taught at a higher math level than I was at. My mom got her engineering degree from Johns Hopkins in the 70's and I don't think she did proofs then either but she didn't take that much math because her degree was in Industrial Engineering.

I think Regentrude's answer is probably the best. That said I'll offer up my anecdotal experience. I took calculus in high school and then again in college. I went to Texas A&M and when I was there it was ranked #3 nationwide for civil engineering, which is what my degree is in. I have never done a proof in my life.

Been there and done that. It happened to my DH at 8 am and he went through the day just as normal as can be until we got DD in bed. Then he asked me what he should do with his severance check. :mellow: Okay. How did you keep this a secret for 12 hours?!?! Had it been happening to me I would have been text messaging people while I was in the meeting with HR! It was a blessing in disguise. 1. Everything that Lanny says DO. 2. Figure out if he wants to do something different. My DH had been talking about wanting to start his own business for a long time. The first thing I said to him when he told me he was laid off was, "I guess now you're self employed." This is the time to make a change. 3. Cut expenses. Cable - gone. Eating out - nope. Christmas on a strict budget - yep.

That's exactly what DH and I say also. I'm hoping to be one of the first dead in a nuclear war/alien invasion/zombie attack. I have no interest in sleeping in vans, spending my day fighting the undead, and eating only tuna for weeks on end. Than again I'm one of those sissies that either has the a/c or the heat on. There is no day when one of the other is not needed. Really civilization is better off without me contaminating the gene pool with my Un-survivorish genes. Unless it skips a generation. My dad at 66 will be one of the survivors with a backpack full of tuna and a machete.

n/a

What would I do with it? I would do option C. Leave it alone until I have pre-teen granddaughters and then pull it out. I have this incredibly wonderful memory of being at my grandmother's house when my sisters, cousin, and I found a box in the attic. We pulled it out and it was my grandmother's wedding dress. We all put it on and had such an amazing time looking through pictures and oohing and aahing together. It was just wonderful. I wouldn't hold onto it with the idea that a future daughter or granddaughter could wear it. At 11 I was the same size my grandmother was when she got married. My daughter is taller at 11 than I am now. My wedding dress or my grandmother's wedding dress wouldn't have been able to have been altered to fit the next generation or two. You can't add six sizes to a dress.

I am so sorry. That sounds miserable. I hope you get good news from the doctor tomorrow.

Robin - I love the non-fiction Bingo. Since I'm unlikely to get time to read 25 books as is this month I'm going to count a reread as one of my books. It is absolutely how our grandmothers entertained. Delightfully fun glimpse into life in the past. Great tips on throwing parties too. Some are useful and some are absurd for our modern days. Would anyone like to come over and listen to the fight on the radio with DH and I? :lol:

Yay. One vote for Kansas City. I second this vote. I will also add that we have some awesome restaurants and doing a tour of BBQ is a fun activity for the whole family.

It's weird to be the one with the favored child too. Believe me, we wish thing would go better for all the other children too. :ph34r: "Hey guys. Did you see what Aunt and Uncle Plays-Favorites got for Junior? A Wii! How cool!" said one clueless kid to an "unfavored" cousin at a recent holiday. Awkward and uncomfortable silence follows for all adults. Should we not invite Aunt and Uncle to the party knowing that ignored my cousin's kids party? Ugh. I'm sorry your family is jerks.

Rose and idnib - ((HUGS)) It seems like our poor little BaW group is having so many hardships right now.

That is one of the read alouds that DD and I both remember in such great detail. It's funny how somethings just get wonderfully embedded in your mind and other books I'll read halfway through before I start thinking ... "Have I read this before?" We are reading The House of Sixty Fathers right now and it's lovely also. Has your family already read it?

Oh that sounds just lovely! I just requested it from my library. Thank you.

Heather - I am so sorry you are going through all that. ((HUGS))

Thank you! I didn't know that was possible. I'm going to try it. I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds it icky. What happy times! Yay! Follow this link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1262044867?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

Well, this is awkward. I just finished reading Take Off Your Pants! Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing by Liibbie Hawker. I didn't like it. I thought it was overly complicated in parts and too simple in other parts. The author uses her own books as good examples of writing which came off as a little pretentious. Overall I think there's a lot of other better books out there on outlining. I didn't hate it but I try to rate books honestly to help others know if this is a book they wanted to read. I went to Goodreads to add my review and read a few of the other two and three star reviews and then I read their comments. Eek. The author has replied to some of the comments aggressively and defensively. I have never seen that done before. It feels like bullying because I don't want to get into a detailed discussion with the author on how my review is wrong and it's a great system.

And now for something different ... I have a Mercedes station wagon that I love. It has tons of great cargo room. Drives like a car. Is built like a tank. It's all wheel drive. Is as good as new at 150k miles. My station wagon has cured me of my minivan and SUV lust. I don't how they ever went out of style!

I need a friend like that. I'm the fool in the liquor store grabbing the bottle with the most attractive label and hoping it's good.

How cool! In the 90's (wow - was it really that long ago?) I read all her books but then something changed and I was less interested in the later ones. I would love to see her in person though. I hope you have a splendid time.

Ellie - I think your dinner parties sound lovely and I suspect you and I are much in the same mind for hostessing parties. Feel free to sit me by whomever you like. DH too. We are both able to carry on a conversation with a brick wall so go ahead and seat us next to the shy or the introverted. :) I will be even more bizarre/old fashioned and bring you either flowers or wine as a small hostess gift. I will not expect you to serve the wine with dinner because I understand that you might have your own beverages planned and the wine wouldn't go well with that plan. *Amy* Vice-President of the Traditional Entertaining Club

Yes! This. I would be put out if someone ignored my seating suggestions that I likely spent a great deal of time over as a hostess. I might have a great reason for sitting Mrs. We-Are-Joined-At-The-Hip next to Mr. Very-Shy. Maybe they are both interested in gardening and I'm hoping he has fun at my dinner party also. I want to sit Mr. We-Are-Joined-At-The-Hip next to someone in a similar business field so they can network. Dinner parties aren't "date night". They're dinner parties. Then again I'm pretty old fashioned now that I'm almost 35.

Whew. An unexpected hiatus. Now I'm back. DH's work has been crazy which leaves me with a 40 hour a week WAH job and a high energy toddler. I need a nap! That is splendid. DS is 1/2 of a cops and robber duo for Halloween and I was struggling to figure out a way to make a mask for him. Felt! Wonderful. Thank you for the inspiration. In Cold Blood is one of those books where I can't say I enjoyed it but I'm glad I read it. It was a fast read too. After reading it you'll have to look up the controversy surrounding it. That's as interesting as the book itself.

I loved Piers Anthony as a kid. I read his books until the covers fell off. I recently reread one as an adult and I remember still seeing the charm in it but I noticed other things that I didn't as a kid. Report back on what you think. If you want to jump in and read The Man in the Brown Suit I think you still have time! I think Sandy and Rose are done but we're waiting on one more ... I can't remember who though!

Finished Dodger by Terry Pratchett and I enjoyed it as much as DH did. We were the only ones in our book club that did though. They complained about weak plot and one -dimensional characters and I get that but I so dearly loved the setting that I didn't care. When I was reading that book I was Victorian London. This was one of our first read alouds. I plan to reread it with DS when he gets old enough. I wonder if it will lose some of it's charm on a second reading? "Like" meant ((HUGS)). That sounds so scary. I'm glad he's doing better now. My house is still full of relatives BUT I downloaded the audiobook earlier today. Hoping I can get started on it tonight. Based on the good reviews here my IRL book club chose The Martian for this month. I'll report back with their reviews and mine!

Heather - I am delighted to hear that everything sounds positive. What good news! I can't imagine the stress your family must have been under. ((HUGS))