I am there with you. I keep look for ceramic or stainless with lids. Of course, we can't microwave stainless, but I am pretty terrible about bumping glass around. I need durable!

Sadly, I know that you care, and the church cares, but he does not and the court will not give two figs about it. They really don't. All you can do is follow your own conscience and religious beliefs for yourself, and as the kids get older answer their questions honestly about your own beliefs and life, and then gingerly avoid those of their dad because they really do need to take that up with him. It won't go well for you to be seen bad mouthing him on matters of faith. It sucks right now. It is infuriating. But you cannot make it better, and you sure as neck can make it worse. This is the absolute sucky end of co-parenting with a self centered prick like your ex. My sister in law had this in every way with my jackass of a brother. She kept her tongue in check, and now in adulthood, all three of her sons have very good relationships with their mom, and have nothing to do with their dad as they eventually realized what a lying bastard he really is. Many, many, many hugs.

Here tornado warnings last at most half an hour, but most of the time shorter than that. Those things move so darn fast. So in your case, we would split and some to to the bathroom, some to closets, added nd the pups to their crates in the most protected spots we can find with a light weight blanket over them for protection from debris. In school, we lined an interior hallway. Agreeing with Texas that second story is a no no.

This is how we would handle it if the breakage isn't malicious. Our kids all make bizarrely less money than Mark and I. That said, families can run the range on expectations. If the family culture is he should pay, I would be inclined to treat it like the Kelly Blue Book on the car. What is the fair market resale value of such a fridge in good shape? Charge that, and then pick up the difference for a replacement. I would not be comfortable with full replacement price.

That is so look cute!!!

This. The manufactured labor shortage here is just employers wanting to work a skeleton crew of abused individuals and nothing more. They put hiring signs in their windows to make people think they are trying to find help. The application is online, and no one EVER hears from these employers for an interview. The local McD's has been hiring for, well, forever it seems. $12.50 an hour. I know a bunch of high school graduates who kept applying and re-applying all summer long and never could get the owner or manager to call back. Meanwhile, the people who are working there keep reporting their utter exhaustion, the verbal abuse, the schedules that come out on Sunday night for Monday with no time to prepare for the fact that they just got off shift and desperately need to sleep and take care of life, but have to be back at work at 4 am to get the store going for 6 am drive through, and always being juggled in such a way that they work 1 hr short in every work week of being full time so benefits do not have to be paid. Walmart, Kan Rock, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Tractor Supply, and many others in the area play this game. Oddly, one of the best local places to work in terms of being treated right and being able to get on full-time with benefits is AutoZone and Advanced Auto. So my guess is their corporate policies are more humane and dictated in stone to the local shops. Kybota and John Deere also do better. Those last two require diesel mechanic and large machinery mechanic degrees some of which are two year programs and some are four year, so with a low number of people here pursuing post-high school education at that level, they probably do have a labor shortage problem. Corporations increasingly spread their filthy, evil, human rights abuses all over the land, and nothing is being done about it. I really don't know how things are going to shake out for this country, but I can say I am not remotely optimistic at this point.

Police. They will take him to school and the school can call the mom's emergency number. In today's climate, I simply would not put that child in my car, but instead just watch and wait for police to arrive. I would also be concerned about a child who thought it was okay to get in the car with your sister. She could have been Hannibal Lecter for all he knew. I would use the non emergency number and emphasize that a female officer is needed if possible and no guns and sirens are necessary. nOT a crime, just a child the school forgot. The reality is if the child is that young and mom left, she has probably still run afoul of the law. Tough situation for sure. But IF, she could get a hold of the school and IF they would send the bus back, that would be less traumatic for the child. Still, as a stranger, I would not put that child in my car under these circumstances.

The main fees, if there is going to be a burial, are not the casket and flowers. The gravesite, crypt, opening and closing of the grave, transportation, and headstone often far outweigh the flowers and casket by a bunch. We spent $50 for one arrangement of flowers for my dad's funeral because so many folks send flowers, even employers and coworkers will send flowers. The casket was a low end one at less than $1000. But the crypt, plus the grave site at $750, plus opening and closing the grave, plus transportation 4 miles to the cemetery was terribly expensive -in the the many thousands - and that did not include then the casket, embalming (my mom chose not to do a direct burial which would have saved money because one grandson in the military could not get home that fast), storage until the funeral, pastor's fee, church fees, to say nothing of the simple luncheon. We wanted to pare way back because she really could not afford to pay for all of this, but she wouldn't listen. Those prices have gone up a lot in the last five years. She spent $7500 five years ago, and judging by prices I have seen advertised, that would be $11,000-15,000 now. Cremation is $1500 at the crematorium closest to us, and does include the return of the ashes to the family in an inexpensive container. The headstone, very simple, was also around $1000. I do think some regions might be cheaper due to competition. We are remote enough that there are only four funeral homes to service the entire county, and they have their own set territories and cemeteries they service so they do not compete with one another which of course means they can set very high prices, and people are at their mercy if they choose to do a traditional funeral.

This is insane! 💔 I truly believe that though it will hurt the country hard in the short term, we need to have railroaders go on strike, train for other jobs and quit, bring the railroad tycoons to their knees. This is a matter of fighting for the soul of the nation. Are we going to be a nation of narcissists who want what we want when we want it regardless of the fact that worker abuse, practical slavery is allowed to flourish? Or are we going to stand for what is morally right and break the backs of the system, of the oligarchs who continue to oppress the people in order to further accumulate unfathomable wealth? This is fast turning into a need for an economic revolution even if the pain in the here and now will be significant. What kind of world are we leaving to our children?????

I am so sorry for your loss, It takes and TexasProud. 💓💓💓 Just so everyone can get an idea of the costs involved regionally, I am going to give some local pricing. Cremation - $1499. This is direct cremation. No service, and the ashes returned to the family in a cheap, no frills container. Direct burial without embalming, cheapest casket available, private graveside service with no meal/hall afterward - $7500. It does not include a gravesite nor a head stone/marker. This pricing is really hurting local funeral homes, and I think they are going to have to think about this because the recession/depression/inflation/housing/pandemic mess is really hurting families so if the family member did not prepay a funeral, and the deceased did not leave behind and estate that can pay, families are really having a hard time. I played the piano for a memorial service last week in which the family actually could not come up with money for cremation or burial. They chose not to take custody of the body, and the state will inter the deceased in a paper's grave. The memorial service was private, and held in a small chapel that only cost $250 to rent. They went to a local diner for lunch, about 20 people total. We are rural so U of MI, CMU, etc. will not take body donations due to the cost of transportation now. They crypt for anyone being buried is $2000 alone, opening and closing the grave $1500 or more depending on the cemetary. $1000 per gravesite for the township cemetary. Churches have started charging rent for the use of their facilities for funerals and memorial services for families who do not attend the church even if the deceased was a member. I assume this is just because the cost of utilities, winter heat here getting pretty crazy and predicted to get much worse, means they are cutting back on how much anything but the church and pastor's office is open during the week. The local Presbyterian church announced their plan for fall/winter/spring is keeping all of the zones except the church offices at 62° M-F, and then turning up the heat Saturday afternoon to get it up to 68° by Sunday morning. So even members have to pay to rent the facility for wedding and funerals in order to pay for heat for these events. So though it seems to be just mind boggling to pay $10,000 for even a simple, simple funeral and burial, it is what families face now. No condemnation for sure! But that leaves everyone with relatives not leaving behind an estate or prepaid funeral big enough and cash flow positive enough to pay for it scrambling to decide what to do. I feel so badly for families these days. I also know that since funeral services have to be paid for at the time of service, but most life insurance policies have not paid out that quickly and estates just simply are not settled quickly, it usually means that someone in the family has to produce their own credit card with a high limit to pay for everything. Then they hope the executor of the estate reimburses them. In this situation, we have heard from several friends who have gone through this that the family member who is executor has often refused to accept that burden sticking a sibling, cousin, etc. with it, and then refused to reimburse that person because the deceased did not have their estate documents set up in such a way that it specifically outlined paying for the funeral/burial/cremation. Unfortunately, due to the costs of setting up wills and trusts with estate planners and lawyers a lot of local folks use online, download and print documents, have them notarized and filed, but unfortunately really do not know enough about what they are doing or how to plan properly. It becomes a real mess. This discussion makes me realize even more how much Mark and I need to take the burden off our kids by making sure things are taken care of in an airtight manner. Our nephew is the executor of our estate as currently planned. He is really good at this stuff. But, we have decided that it might be too much pressure, and if something happened in the near future, he would face tremendous back lash from our elderly mothers for adhering to our plans because that is not "traditional". He has no attachment or relationship with my mother in law so he could easily weather that storm, however he is very close to my mom, and it would be a nightmare. So we have decided to switch to a non-family, non-friend, no connection to the mothers person whom we trust. It is all just so tough. I do wish there were more inexpensive options. This is just such a huge burden for families. So many people die without an estate with enough money/assets to reimburse the costs, and many families do not have credit cards with $10,000+ on them that they can afford to run up and then male payments on. Funeral luncheons themselves must be crazy expensive with how much food as increased.

Just in case it helps to know the region: Great Lakes. Aug. 2021 Aug. 2022 Butter - 2.99 lb. 4.99lb Shredded cheddar - 2.79 8oz. 3.99 Einkorn All purpose flour - 32.99 10lbs 39.99 Eggs. - large per dozen 1.99. 2.99 sometimes 3.99 Cream Cheese - $2.79 8 oz brick name brand 3.99 same brand The biggest thing I have noticed is that especially with anything in a box or bag, and all the cleaners, the prices haven't gotten much worse, but the amount/size has gone down.

We need to do some changes. We bought the second house, we will be inheriting his mom's house when she dies, and since we will sell his mom's house, we have to get that money into the trust. We want dd and hubby to inherit the mountain home which they currently live in, and spread the cash among our sons, however, we would also like to have a college savings fund for our grandsons and need to get that going. I need to stop being so busy and call the lawyer.

I could. I was trying to think of ways to kind of make the gift pretty, and was also wondering if a paper bag would allow them to go soft quickly. I was thinking maybe the wax from beeswax paper sheets might be more protective. But people could just transfer them to a sealed container at home. I was feeling festive and trying to go the extra mile. Neighbor relations in town, in the neighborhood have pretty well been destroyed due to covid because 3/4 of the town kept partying like nothing was happening, and 1/4 of the town (including us) were really making an effort, and everyone took up sides. Nothing has ever been the same. Diplomacy through apples! 😀 But, I can just give them away in a paper bag, you are right.

They look beautiful!

This! My youngest went to school in the U.P. 15 degrees out and people are wearing shorts and hoodies. Come spring, sweatpants! I cannot understand this at all.

Very true. In my auntie's case there was no reason to be around him. He was not going to help, he expected her to do everything, her health was waning and she had to go back to work just to escape his constant criticism, and he literally gave her no incentive to be with him. Two years after she went back to work, she filed for divorce. He was stunned. His own sons said things like, "We always wondered why mom didn't do it sooner. You really are a jackass to her." She got half his pension, but gave him the house no strings attached, moved into a tiny apartment that she liked because it would be so simple to take care of, and enjoys being free of the constant derision. I can totally understand that. Women do not exist to be mules for men, even if the men think it should be so.

Another update: 17 quarts of dehydrated apples later, and I am so ready to be done. There are no good apples left on the tree that I can reach from the step ladder that Mark is comfortable letting me use. Due to my bad ankle, he doesn't like for me to get too far off the ground because it had been known to spasm and collapse without notice (left ankle, not my driving side). So I said that IF he found time to get the tall ladder out and could find a way to safely lean it against the trunk inside the tree without causing damage AND he could find time to climb it and get the top apples down, then I would process them. I am hoping his work schedule is such that he doesn't make it. However, I took a quart of apple chips to a couple of elderly ladies in town. I cut a piece of cute fabric from my scrap bag using linking sheers, laid it over the mouth of the jar, put the lid and ring on, and tied a bow around it. Man, they acted like this was the best thing they have ever received! I think it is because they are lonely, however, I will say these apples are super, duper tasty and I did sprinkle them with a little bit of cinnamon sugar after soaking them in lemon juice water. So they are yummy, and that got me to thinking that there are several lonely widows and widowers in town that might like to have some. The thing is, I don't want to part with a lot of canning jars. So I think I need to switch to cellophane bags, but that makes me twitch because I know they will end up in the landfill. Does anyone know if apple chips will keep if I were to use a stapler and make wax paper bags, and then insert the bags into a cloth bag? I have so many unused fat quarters of quilt fabric that I thought I could make a cute gift bag and tie with fabric ribbon left over from other projects. I do have silica gel packs so I could put one inside each wax paper bag. I am back now to dehydrating cherry tomatoes. My largest cherry tomato plant seems to have suddenly entered the marathon with the apple tree. It can never win that race, but I give it props for giving its personal best regardless! 😂 I am not watering it anymore because I really am ready for it to die off so I can pull plants and get compost and mulch in the beds for winter. LOL, don't talk to me about the tomatillos. They are blooming again!!! 😱 Apparently they have zero idea that though Michigan is having a lovely autumn, Old Man Winter will kick in with just about no notice and kick its behind. I think I am going to have to pull the plants even with baby tomatillos on them because there isn't enough time left for them to grow and ripen. We will have our first frosts in a couple of weeks! Total, there are about 56 pints of green beans on the shelves, 17 quarts of dried apples, 3 quarts and counting of dried cherry tomatoes, 56 quarts of Roma tomatoes, on my pantry shelves, and 20 heads of broccoli in the freezer. I did not grow all of the romas, green beans, nor the broccoli (eight heads of broccoli are mine). I and to buy some Romas in order to have enough to fill out the last load of the canned with the stragglers I had left before those plants stopped producing, the green beans are from my mom's garden, and the other 12 heads of broccoli from my favorite farm store/stand. My seeds are ordered to next year, and we are doubling food production here and at Shangri La in Alabama. We have the fruit trees and plants on order from a local nursery there, and they are supposed to be ready for dd and I to pick up on Oct. 15. 4 raspberry canes/plants, two peach trees, one self pollinating nectarine, two more blueberry plants, and some oregano plants for a front bed that needs to have an old set of bushes ripped out. Mark is going to build three raised beds for her in October when he is visiting. I want to learn to grow Brussels sprouts. We do love them roasted, and I have been able to successfully use frozen sprouts by letting them thaw, removing the leave and taking the core out since it holds so much moisture, and then putting down really well with cheese cloth. They do crisp up. So now I want to see if I can grow them.

Yes. And my reaction was so bad by the time my appointment was up (his office was next to an empty field filled with ragweed and Goldenrod - two plants that grow symbiotically so many people assume they are allergic to goldenrod and not ragweed), that he was afraid for me to drive home since I had an hour drive. Ended up with an injection of epinephrine and having to lay down in the office for an hour before hr would let me go home. Until that time, I had not known that environmental allergies could get that life threatening. I had thought it was only food allergies like seafood and nuts. Also, after twenty years on allegra, my body went bananas and developed anaphylactic shock level allergy to my own stupid allergy medication. Ended up in the ER for that and more epinephrine. Nothing over the counter works now very well so I am stuck with benadryl. But because my insurance claims my allergies are seasonal, I am not eligible for allergy shots, no amount of misery withstanding. Sigh. I thought about paying out of pocket, however if I do have a problem and get sent of the ER from the doctor's office, they don't have to pay that bill either. I don't want us in financial peril from trying to treat seasonal allergies. So I suffer through most days, like this morning when I would like to claw my itching nose right off my face, and my head is pounding. I use Benadryl when I can afford to be a lump of lethargy on the couch. But today I have to take my mother to a doctor's appointment, therefore, I just have to be miserable so I can at least be alert. My GP doesn't give a crap. And no, in my area, there aren't a lot of options for GP's. Over the years I have tried a lot of them with no better result than any others. I have also timed the office calls. Even for a full, annual physical, none lasted more than five minutes, and the average is 2.5. Not really worth my time and deductible money to pay for that. At any rate, one of my biggest issues is pollen overwhelm. So I don't test positive on a skin test for a lot of specific pollen other than ragweed. But, if numerous grass and tree pollens are blowing around all at once, whammo! There does not seem to be any kind of efficient test for this. I am guessing, for you Regentrude, this may be the issue. I also have a mold allergy, but that one doesn't bother me too much since it isn't common here unless we have torrential downpours and everything is wet for days or if I enter a building with a lot of mold. Since our home as well as my mother and mother in law's are just fine and most commercial buildings are not moldy, it is usually not an issue.

That chaos is a whole lot of adorableness!

Agreed. Here it seems like the kids have all had measles. My mom re!embers when her fifth grade class came down with measles. She said for two years, she and her classmates were constantly sick with everything under the sun. No immunity at all, and this is the same phenomenon being reported by local teachers who are willing to speak up against the covid is no big deal people. Tons and tons of absences the past year and half from kids who had covid.

My vote is affair. He is setting her up to get rid of her and try to denigrate to the point of no self esteem so she will accept a low ball offer just to get away from him. This is how my brother treated his first wife when he was on his third affair and last affair before she divorced him. He thought he would get away with it, but she was smart enough to get a good lawyer. My brother was not amused when I rooted for his wife and not him. I have only known one person to ever have such a huge personality change without other glaring medical symptoms going with it simultaneously. But I have known four men who acted EXACTLY like this when having affairs and setting up their wives for divorces and hoping to fleece them financially. Bottom line is she cannot force him to get medically evaluated, but she sure can snoop around his activities and have a P.I. check out their finances, see where the money trail leads. And regardless of the cause, she doesn't have to subject herself to this misery. She should tell him to take a hike, or she should literally ignore him, refuse to do anything for him, get a job so she has some money that is secure, and then put a lawyer on retainer. In general, retirement can be a rough transition. People need to have plans in place. My aunt went back to work because she couldn't stand having my uncle around 24/7. He turned into this clingy, child like monster who demanded so much constant attention that it exhausted her. He refused to find a hobby, do volunteer work, join a club, etc. In the case of a woman here in town that I know well, she also went back to work. She found that they are just not compatible for that level of companionship. People change over time. She started a second career (her first isn't an option since she took 20 years off for homeschooling). Mark has worked long, long hours our entire marriage. We are actually, very much best friends though. So I know I am lucky in that regard. Still, we will have a transition to make. We plan on making a really big road trip to areas of the US we have never been immediately after he retires. When we get back, he is going to hang up his shingle for cabinetry work - and I am beginning a 2nd career in aerospace education and will have rocket teams to mentor, events to coordinate. I might teach piano again as well or take up some paid accompanying. This way for several years we are not in each other's hair 24 hours a day.

Ahhhh, well I can totally understand wanting to be there under these circumstances. LOL, I think I would be very, deeply, concerned with staring at my mashed potatoes through dinner!!

Okay, sil1 is such a narcissistic B that I really wish everyone would tell her where to go and when to get there. Good on you for not fixing it. Grandpa needs to take a stand against that woman. Other sil, ya, I get how she feels, and why she sent her hubby to the rescue. I get the wanting to go to family dinner today. Switzerland is a good idea. However, I would not have attended. Thankfully, I am taking another engineering class ad well as a physics class that is kicking my tushy. "I am so sorry. I need to study today and can't spare the time!" That would be my easy out avoiding the drama. Hugs! She is a pie e of the wrong kind of work. But you did nothing wrong, and I am sure the 12 year olds enjoyed themselves. Grandpa seems like such a sweet, long suffering man.

Unfortunately it goes state by state. Here there is NO requirement to provide proof for religious waiver. Tons of folks get them even though their religious group does not actively preach a religious reason to avoid all vaccines. We have schools here in Michigan where the childhood vaccination rates for "required" vaccines have dropped very badly. My niece is Wiccan, and there is no actual Wiccan belief against vaccines preached within her group. She uses it as an excuse to not vaccinate. My great nieces have even had to get stitches for cutting their feet on metal outside when she lived next to a junkyard, and she would not allow them to have a tetanus shot in the E.R. Perfectly legal. So some areas have not only already experienced a significant drop, they are also likely to see it get worse. We have numerous counties in which waivers are 16-17% of the student body, and within those counties, specific school buildings (mostly elementary) in which the vax rate is 65% or below. I guess they think Polio is a walk in the park or something. Sigh.

Yes. And that is why this film should be watched and discussed by every science student in a film or ethics class. And though Jurassic World, the first one, was not a great film, it still highlighted very strongly what happens when something that is alive and has the means to hurt folks, is treated like a machine and in humanely without regard for morality and ethics. So they may as well toss that one into class too.