Oh my gosh, they are GORGEOUS!!!!

THANK YOU, Scarlett! I read the post originally on my phone, and well, that clearly doesn't work out well always.

Someone close to me is a former assistant DA. He left to take a job as an Assistant County Attorney. It's been six years, and he is now the County Attorney (appointed by the Board of Supervisors). This has been a nice change, as he now manages several people, although I think he might miss the courtroom. For someone like your husband who's always been one of the good guys, I can't see going into criminal defense working out for him. I've been both sides as a legal secretary (including 3 years in the child sex assault unit in the DA's office), and if you believe in the good side, the only motivator for defense work is money. It doesn't sound like that's your husband's priority. It doesn't make up for the lost sleep.

I wish I had a governor that I was proud of!

I saw an ad but not a video. I'm intrigued!

Free paper doll cutouts, along with outfits! My kids loved these from K through middle school as an occasional activity. I would print out only B&W, and they would color everything, gluestick the clothes onto the dolls, and then glue to dolls to popsicle sticks. https://makingfriends.com/paper-doll-friends/

What a fantastic opportunity!!! I remember hearing about CLS many years ago here; my dd applied twice but was not accepted. Congratulations to your girl!!

Yay, congratulations on getting called for an interview! I work for a county government. It is only possible to apply online via an application, and you can submit a cover letter and resume in addition. I've had the privilege of reviewing applications for two different job postings. The person who gave me that duty only printed out the applications--no cover letter, no resume. Those were not considered, not seen at any point during the application/interview/hiring process. I think it's crazy, but no one asked for my opinion.

I just wake up with a headache! But I know inflammation is very common. That sounds painful for you too.

I'm basically a keto person; I kind of hate to say that though! I definitely stick to low carb, healthy fat. I don't do ANY fake or alternative sweetener ever; for many, it can trigger an insulin response similar to real sugar. If I want something sweet, I eat berries (a good, lower carb fruit) with homemade whipped cream. (And yes, I ate sugar over Christmas--and Valentine's Day!)

We were pretty relaxed homeschoolers; I called it funschooling, even in high school. My kids worried they would not be able to keep up with college level work once they were around other students. These same kids took outside science classes and did some dual enrollment. Then they worried that a 4 year college would be harder than their DE classes. Colleges were welcoming. I think it's key to remember that they see applicants from very different kinds of high schools, and those students go on to be competetive in college. I had one admittance counselor from a school with 20,000 students call me to suggest my oldest take an additional math class to be more competitive--he said he knew we could swing that as homeschoolers, that public school students wouldn't have had that option so late in the application process. My oldest ended up graduating magna cum laude. The younger was offered a full tuition scholarship at a nearby university. He chose to go somewhere else and is also graduating this spring magna cum laude.

Waze. I began using it in 2012. I can safely say I'm a huge fan.

Last spring, I read The Obesity Code by Jason Fung, and it has changed my life. I wasn't obese. I began eating low carb-HEALTHY fat. I cut out all snacking and eat no fake sweeteners, and I don't consider "net carbs." I started following an "intermittant fasting" protocol (whatever--basically, I mostly skipped breakfast every day, not difficult). I focused on eating healthy FAT, keeping up my calorie intake, and not overdoing the protein. I eat a LOT of butter, coconut oil, heavy whipping cream, and decent meat, along with vegetables. By eating this way and doing no exercise (let's be real here), I lost 25 pounds (5 more than my goal) and three pants sizes. I'm within 3 pounds of what I weighed before I got pregnant 25 years ago. I just got my new bloodwork back this month. My good cholesterol rose more than 25 percent. My bad cholesterol stayed the same. My dr. told me I could stop my high blood pressure meds. I'm still waiting on my A1C test results. I am currently reading The Great Cholesterol Myth by Bowden. It sounds similar to the cholesterol book mentioned by Suzanne. The Great Cholesterol Myth has been helpful in explaining what about cholesterol is bad and why the current standard medical approach is ineffective and does not make you healthier.

I've only had one, so I don't know how much what I did affected it. Two days before my appt., I ate only liquid or very soft food (think soup, mashed potatoes, etc.). The night before, as instructed, I used Miralax with Gatorade for prep. I hate Gatorade, so I thought it was be awful, but it wasn't. And I couldn't tell the Miralax was in it. It was helpful that my appt was early in the morning. When it was all done, I asked my husband to fix me pancakes and bacon for lunch. Hilarious because I NEVER eat pancakes, I don't really like them, but they seemed like a warm and safe way to get my body going again. The whole experience was a piece of cake for me; in fact, after I had mine, my husband scheduled his, which he'd put off for several years until that point.

I lost 25 lbs and 3 pants sizes last year, and there was no way I could maintain my professional wardrobe. We have two higher end secondhand clothing stores here, and I've replaced most of my clothing at one of those stores. The selection is smaller than Goodwill, but it's much easier to go through, and I've ended up with Calvin Klein, Evan Picone, and The Loft dress slacks, for example, all for $12 or less. i wasn't in a time crunch and was able to replace over several months. How fun for your daughter!

529? I believe so. I don't know if rules vary between 529 plans. She wouldn't be eligible for federal/state aid at this point, but 529 funds can be used. This might be a financial strategy, depending on how much is in the 529. If you use that money now, you won't be using it down the road, possibly making her eligible for more financial aid when she is a college student after high school graduation.

The hot breakfast sausage was awful; I found it inedible. I should have gone with my gut on that! And I like so many of her old recipes! My mom used to make lasagna with cottage cheese instead of ricotta becuase of the cost. Ricotta seems more price-friendly these days. I never considered the difference in lasagna, but an earlier poster was right, the ricotta can get dried out. Thank you for your post--I've been looking at lasagna recipes ever since, and I'm figuring out when I can make it between Christmas and New Year's!

AH, got it by googling panoramic prints and ordered a bunch. Hopefully they'll be halfway decent!!!

Thank you, I will look at amazon and etsy. It's just a selfie from my phone, but it's in wide angle to fit more than one person. I did find a slightly oversized option on Shutterfly (??), but it cut off my dog's nose, instead of cutting off the top of the sky. That's still better than cutting off the sides of my kids! Unfortunately, I can't order a larger size and cut it myself at home, ordering with all that white space is not an option.

Where can I order prints that aren't in usual sizes? I have a great pic of me and my kids on Thanksgiving, and the actual size is more like 4x7. Where can I get this printed without having it auto crop down to 4x6? Thank you!

Your county land records might be online. It will vary greatly by locality. In addition to also contacting the court for land recordings, I'd contact my local genealogical society or local library to get suggestions or further info.

That's so sweet! I remember those first two years when my oldest would come home, how I'd go to sleep and wake up feeling like all was right, everyone was under the same roof! I hope that I've come to terms with this new stage of life instead of just become immune to those feelings now--being immune would make me sad! ❤️

Another vote for Yelp. I don't think it's ever let me down!

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Not sure what we'll do yet, but I know we won't be stopping anywhere completely deserted! I'm considering changing at Reagan, but I'm also thinking maybe we'll just take the blue all the way down even though I wanted to avoid that.

I'll be in Washington DC with my daughter in a few weeks at CapitalOne Arena for a late Saturday night event. We're staying at the end of the Blue line in Springfield. On the way out of the city, I would prefer to take the Yellow line and transfer to the Blue, because it's 15 mins. faster than taking the Red line from Chinatown and then taking the Blue line all the way down. My question: What is the best place to transfer from the Yellow to the Blue late at night (around midnight)? Last time, we switched at the Pentagon, and it was waaaay too freaky being the only people at the completely deserted station waiting for 20 minutes! Thank you.