What is your underlying fear that will happen if you and your sister don’t agree on a given subject? It sounds like you are willing to entertain the idea that it’s ok if you and your sister dont agree, but you are more concerned about how your niece perceives you. How strong and healthy is that relationship if she cant accept that sometimes adults disagree with each other and yet can still have healthy and loving relationships? Like, what pattern is there in your family history that “shut up and get along” is your normal? Did you have an overbearing parent and another who just shut up and got along?

Who views you as “making trouble”? Is this someone other than your sister and her immediate family? “Shut up and get along” patterns dont tend to be healthy ones.

Fwiw, as another genealogist, please share where he worked, his hobbies, any long-lived in areas, and anything that makes him sound like a real person. I agree that a well written obituary is a treasure.

First, my condolences on the passing of your father. Second, death and grief does bring up a lot of emotions for everyone, even if a death is expected and even if the passing is a blessing (not saying either was the case for your father—just that a death, any death, is a time where emotions tend to swirl). Third, given what you shared here, I’d publish it as is. It sounds authentic to you, obituaries are written for the living, and it sounds like you are ready to weather any blowback from your sister. Some people write formal obituaries. Some people write funny ones. For others, telling unvarnished truth about a terrible relative is cathartic. Neither anecdote you share sounds embarrassing, though it may be not what another individual would write.

Buckling down on school today…will try to do a bit of cleaning as well. Otherwise it’s just the usual meals, dishes, laundry, and kid taxi service.

I grew two pumpkins last year. The amount of space they require in my tiny garden has me not planting them again this year. I have seen people trellis the vine but trellises are also $$$.

One bit I’ve realized is that the window to travel and do things often closes quite abruptly and once it’s gone, it’s gone. You may be able to do different things, but if you have deep longings to do things…do them now. There is no guarantee of later.

Also, there is carpet on the floor in these rooms and it’s freaking my little germaphobe heart. I totally welcome microbes and healthy bacteria in other parts of my life but scapel should = sterile, right? At least give me the illusion of that by running a HEPA air scrubber and having clean tile floors.

The cornea specialist is running an hour behind, and we still havent seen the dr. Last time he was three hours behind. I get that they are like an ER dr for eye patients, but I wish they would run a separate emergency clinic so they can run their patient load on time. Like *this* is why I cant have a FT job. I would have clients sitting in *my* office while I wait in *his*. Also, every other patient seems to be 80+. Super awkward for my teen. They are listening to the dr narrate a surgical procedure he’s doing and explaining he doesnt have tissue glue so he’s suturing. Like, ew.

Thanks for clarifying! Any cocoa product seems to be crazy expensive these days. Futures for May delivery are at $10,000/metric ton!!

I’d be inclined to A&D—but I value flexibility and time to travel at this point.

Fwiw, having done Paxlovid one round (and I do fit the high risk parameters), I dont know that I would do it again. The GI side effects were tolerable but all it really seemed to do was push out how long it took for covid to really “hit”. As soon as the viral suppression ended, it took a couple of days and then I became really ill (nebulizer treatments around the clock to keep my 02 up, still came close to needing to be on oxygen support). I am on a med that lowers TNFa and IL-6….supposedly makes me less likely to have super severe covid. I was told with my last appointment that I have best coverage days 15-45 post vax to avoid disease and up to day 90 to reduce severity. I still mask everywhere indoors, but try to time any travel around boosters or vice versa. I think I still fall under the every 4 months guidelines…but got boosted last late November and probably wont again until September-November.

The blocks are around 360g in Aus.? $6AUD is $3.97USD. They are $2.75USD for the 99g bar at the store near me.

Good morning! I am slammed today—dh is going to hold down the fort while I run kids to the dentist, eye dr, and everywhere in between for the next 12 hours.

Thai Lime and Chili cashews from Trader Joe's: https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/thai-lime-and-chili-cashews-060389 fresh berries in winter salmon

Exactly.

This. My great-grandparents talked of card parties with different couples all taking turns hosting or popping popcorn and listening to the wireless with friends. Today's version is popping popcorn before watching Netflix with friends or cracking a bottle with friends before you play board games or hang out over discord. The "kids these days" that I live with and see in my kids' friend circles don't regularly go to the movie theaters or go shopping at the mall or eat out in restaurants. They are too broke and too busy with school or work, and are exhausted when they finally have down time.

so.much.laundry Y'all. I get that my family can't rewear clothes right now during peak pollening due to allergy issues, but I feel like so much of my life revolves around laundry. I am so, so glad that I am not stirring a vat of clothes with boiling water and can just push buttons on a machine that does most of the work.

🙋‍♀️ Like many sporting events, concerts, and other large gatherings…I am quite happy to watch online from the comfort of my home.

By about 5th grade here most parents don’t pay for daycare. Parents might sign their kids up for a few summer daycamps, but not all do. We’re glad to be out of TX. Schools here don’t fundraise or make you pay for fieldtrips or have a heavy gift-giving culture. Kids are bussed home even if they stay for extra curriculars. I do acknowledge that where you live has a huge impact on how expensive public school is. TX’s high property taxes and sales taxes were still cheaper than income + property here on the west coast.

I am seriously blessed to live where I am right now. I very much remember winters where the only fresh fruit in the grocery store were bananas, granny smith apples, red delicious apples, and oranges. Winter veg were potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage and beets. Everything else was canned or frozen. I'm so glad to live in a better world.

Congrats @ScoutTN! ✅breakfast ✅dishes ✅laundry ✅planner: sketch out the week, plan meals finances ✅order a birthday present & have it shipped schedule dr appts--partially done! My primary care dr has no appointments open until late September. 😞 Having to call for a work-in for a few months from now. Crazy. ✅schedule academic eval for homeschool life insurance stuff school with Youngest more continuing ed hours for me drop off thing for kid4 supper help ds by sitting with him while he finishes up presentation (I plan to read a book to help pass the time.)

I think the concern is that if infection becomes widespread in cattle, it will jump to swine fairly rapidly. Humans are (to make a cannibal joke) remarkably like long pig. Widespread swine disease will make it much easier to jump to and spread among humans. I remember 2009. At the local children’s hospital, kids were sometimes 3 to a room, or on oxygen on cots lining the hallway. Oncology was on strict lockdown—my kid didnt see some of her siblings for weeks on end because only parents were allowed in, and I lived on floor while dh tended the rest. They shut down the playroom and we were stuck in tiny hospital rooms. It was like covid lockdowns, but the oncology families were the only ones in N95s when we were discharged. We spent much of 2009 in our own personal lockdown due to swine flu and a local sustained outbreak of ev68 and dd’s cancer treatment.

I’ve never understood why avocado toast got such a bad rap. There are times of the year when avocados are 3/$1–and an avocado smashed on a piece of bread = breakfast for under $.50. Even at $1/avocado, it’s a healthy breakfast. A box of Cinnamon Toast crunch cereal has 8 servings in it and costs $6.49 at my local grocery store. Add in the cost of milk, and it’s cheaper to have avocado toast. I’m super sick of the media calling us profiligrate for wanting safe housing, healthy food, and adequate healthcare. The fingers should be pointed at billionaires who dont pay proportionate taxes and toxic corporations and the politicians who are in the pockets of billionaires and corporations.

I got roped into helping ds buckle down to work on his homework, so I am calling it a day on my personal to-do list. The Reader—you seem to be living my ideal day. It’s been several years since I’ve been able to quilt regularly. Enjoy!!