There are laws against this if the home is listed with a licensed realtor. The reason is because for decades white people wouldn't sell their houses to people of color, gay people, anyone they were against living in their former home or the neighborhood. So it falls under anti-discrimination laws. Realtors don't have the option of singling someone out to not be shown the house unless other laws, like public health laws related to covid, trump the discrimination laws, and in that circumstance it isn't discrimination because showings are barred regardless of who the potential buyer is. The reality is the creepy person has not been convicted of a crime, has no restraining order against, etc. and so the laws are in stalker's favor, not the home owner. But, due to covid, it might be possible to say NO in person showings, video tour and pictures only because that is not discrimination since it is a rule placed on all potential buyers. Normally these are as-is sales and in times past meant not getting top dollar for the home, but these days the market is so nuts it might not matter at all.

She has never wanted to be with people outside of her narrow range of both acceptable beliefs, as well as economic status, and age range. She keeps her bubble tight, even before covid. I do think covid isolation has had a very negative impact on already there, but previously controlled, character traits.

Right. Case in point. Mother in law is getting exceptionally bratty about HOW the yard work is done. Mark told her if she offends the lawn company and they won't come back, she better figure out something else because he and I are NOT going to be responsible and get snarled at because we didn't have the time to weed whack the 3 acre wood line behind her place, etc. She has to pay for it, and be able to keep a decent business relationship with the workers. She is all kinds of demanding. And we found out from the neurologist and psyche eval that we fought to get that this isn't dementia. She just actually thinks she is entitled to work her son to death to have things just so, her way. Ugh. He gave her an earful the other day. It is terrible when you have to treat your own mother like a wayward preschooler!

Tuition and fees for the University of Michigan will be $25,000 this coming academic year. This does not include books and supplies much less housing and food, health insurance which students may or may not have based on their parents' employment. Their eligibility for any aid is based on their parents' income and assets even if their parents are nor contributing one red cent to their educations. $100,000+ over four years without the costs of just being alive. Anyone who says students can work their way through college is just truly ignorant. At our closest community college, tuition without fees and books is $550 per credit hour, books total an average of $750 per semester, and the costs to commute at today's used car prices plus insurance is staggering, not to mention that Michigan doesn't regulate community colleges like some states do so transferring after two years "to save money" is a joke because nearly all of the classes will transfer only as electives. Community college is literally a financial scam in this state. It is just one of many, many issues Gen Z faces as they try to get ahead. And of course most parents could not save that kind of money to dole out for higher education when tuition outpaced wages by 500% and health costs became so crazy inflated with high premiums, high deductibles. The middle class is shrinking, and it is going to be damn tough for a lot of young people to become middle class. I don't think the present economic model of the U.S. is sustainable. We cannot do anything with issues outside of our control. We seek to do what we can for them because we love them so much. For us, that meant helping with college bills as much as we could, and buying the multi-generational home so they have a comfortable place to live as long as they need it near a metropolis with tons of employment options, reasonable cost of living. Beyond that, we try to plan so we are not a financial burden to them when we face our elder years. That is about all we can do unless the whole family can pack up and move to other countries, but immigration is tight in most areas of the world where it would be amenable to live a financially stable life with access to good medical care.

The realtor who worked for us when we bought our Alabama house last July said she has not had to do an open house in over a year. Homes are just selling that fast, and often by people who haven't even seen them in person, just video. Our daughter made an appointment to be shown the house we bought, and did a video of it. We made an offer a couple of hours later. If the house is in a decent neighborhood, decent school district, and doesn't have glaring, pricey problems with it, your friend might sell it inside of a week to a client of her realtor without having to do too much advertising. I really hope that is the case!

I don't think it can be stopped without a restraining order. It is a he said/she said type thing until the court says it isn't. Since real estate laws do not allow discrimination, this person is within rights to tour the house. What might be for the best is if friend stages the house. This means purging, and then renting a storage unit, putting all personal stuff, furniture, every picture, you name it, into the storage unit. Friend then lives out of a go bag until the house sells, and keeps meals super simple so the boxes of kitchen supplies can be tossed into the car before each showing along with the go bag. This makes the house very impersonal, and doesn't look like friend is even living in it full time. It also makes it easier to paint if necessary, and often times easier to sell. By eliminating personal stuff, it may make less incentive for stalker to try to hide a message in the house to whatever other creepy thing the person is tempted to do. One thing friend can do is instruct realtor to never give out any personal information, no chat fines if this person comes around. Meet the letter of the law. Show the house, smile, thank them for looking, end appointment. If friend has someone to stay with, that would be extra great because then the house could be left locked up and in the care of the realtor. Friend could simply be gone.

This happened here with the two mothers who have insisted on aging in place in homes with large yards and requiring tons of maintenance help. We were wearing ourselves out, and it got to the place that we did not spend any time with them, just doing the work. They have yard people coming now, and a house keeper once per week provided by the county center for aging. We have cautioned them that soon they will have to make some hard choices because even with that help, Mark and I are very stressed. I need to go back into the work place, and he has not retired yet. He cannot take care of three houses at once nor can I. I think my mom is going to relent, sell her place, and start going back and forth between France, and our Alabama home since Dd and hubby are very close with her, and happy to have her with them. We will probably have to force the issue with mother in law who is just getting all kinds of problematic for Mark. His brother is coming up in a couple of months to try to get her to understand her situation better since she isn't listening to us. We will downsize from the multi generational home if none of our adult kids need it after the grandmothers are gone. So it is possible that in our 70's-80's, we will be in a retirement condo with zero yard work and very little maintenance to think about.

We bought a retirement home this past summer in the area we intend to land when dh retires in 4 years. Our daughter and her family are living in it right now. It is big. We have been concerned for a while that we needed a multi-generational home. We know that in so many areas housing has outpaced wages by an unreal amount and this is going to make it very hard on our adult sons to get their heads above water. There are a ton of job opportunities for all of them in that area. So if they need a place to crash, they have it. Dd and hubby are saving money for a down payment on a place of their own. I have my mom who may eventually need to live with us too. Her house is crap, a dump and she doesn't have enough money to make all the necessary repairs. And totally fixed, the house would still not be worth the cost of that investment. She cannot afford rent, but is also not anywhere close to needing a nursing home, so we took that into consideration as well. We have 3300 sq ft on the main floor all handicap accessible, and 680 ish square ft in the finished, walk out basement which currently functions as "the bachelor pad" for our adult sons when we are all there for the holidays. There are four bedrooms and three baths up, and when we are done remodeling, a full bath for the bachelor pad. We also have plans to eek out one more bedroom downstairs. We don't expect to downsize for 15 years or so, but it could be never if it is still functioning as a multi-generational home, and adult kids are able to help us when we need assistance caring for the house and grounds. I always thought we would downsize and have no yard work after retirement, but it isn't working out that way.

Lewis was not exactly a puppy in this picture with our middle boy, but we will always think of him as our puppy.

Nearly all the locals I talk to thought sanctions would be an immediate end to the war, and a month in are now writing emails to Senators Stabenow and Peters demanding that the US use no more resources to fight "someone else's war" or even provide humanitarian aid because "not our circus, not our monkeys". It is all over social media here in my region. I doubt this is the only place with people who thought/think this. It hurts my heart to hear this crap, but what can I say? The comments sections following editorials at ABC news and other outlets would not lead one to believe that Americans have the appetite to see this through. Twenty years of war in Afghanistan only for the people to be back to square one - see today's announcement that the Taliban will not allow girls to attend school beyond sixth grade - and trillions of dollars down the tubes so Afghani people still end up living under tyranny with mind boggling human rights abuses has not exactly produced an electorate inclined to get into another boondoggle even if they feel bad for Ukrainians. My fear is that if this goes on for more than another month, the majority who support Ukraine will suddenly change their tune and with midterms coming up and politicians caring more about re-election than doing what is right, Ukraine will be left high and dry by this country. Bill is a hell of a lot more optimistic than I am. For one thing, we really don't know exactly what is going on with Putin and his troops. Getting information from Ukrainian forces is not going to be accurate since they need to exaggerate their achievements as well as the condition of Russian troops in order to keep morale up. Same for the other side. Most of what is I have seen reported in the news quotes "Ukrainian Forces", " Ukrainian Military ", or an unidentified "US Defense official". Hmmmm....some flunky in the mail room at the Pentagon or an actual person in the know? That is anyone's guess. So I am not being taken in by the reports when actual facts, not speculation is verified by more than one source that are not Ukrainian officials or observers, or US State Department and Pentagon officials willing to be named. I would love to believe Bill is right! However, I am not convinced, and my heart is aching for the Ukrainian people. I just read an article about how some organizations are receiving clothing for refugees from the US and a bunch of it is just utter rags, total junk, and are having to haul it to animal shelters to be used for bedding. Americans donating sh#t. Sigh.

This is spot on.

Sadly, though I think we also need to consider that if he loses, or if backed into a corner with major concessions the only way out, he is just unstable and narcissistic enough to consider the use of a short range, tactical nuke or meltdown one of the reactors he has seized. He does not appear to give 5c for the lives of his own, and has no morals about how many non-Russians he takes down just so long as he can kill Ukrainians with impunity. There was so much optimism about how quick it would end because sanctions. We are a month in, and he is revenge bombing Mariupol into oblivion. There was so much optimism that there were certain things Russian foot soldiers would never do, and yet they did them in spades. There was so much optimism that his generals, his field officers, would not engage in x, y, z because either we counted on them to have some individual morals or the fact that they might have relatives, fellow Russians in these cities, and in exchange for that optimism hospitals, maternity wards, a theater full of children were bombed, humanitarian corridors shelled, and reports indicate Ukrainians are being deported to places unknown rumored to be concentration camps. War crime, after war crime, after war crime. He does not care that their economy has been crippled. He does not care who starves. He is pure evil. So I don't think "staying out of it" militarily is any guarantee that Europe won't be dealing with radiation in the near future. And every single time we send more weapons, more aid, more anything, we risk that in his mind, this is enough for him to escalate to something even more frightening. I really, deeply wish that someone would find a way to slip a bomb between his sheets as well as take out his entire inner circle of generals and strategists. I have no idea who might fill the power vacuum, but in a weakened state, the newbie might be more amenable to negotiation and withdrawl.

I wonder if we couldn't have the states go to buying them for the health department and make it like other vaccines available to the public there, and practitioners and pharmacies buying them and billing insurance. I cannot imagine insurance NOT paying for them since they greatly lower the chances of racking up tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical care when someone has a bad case. Hopefully some sort of decent, equitable system will shake out. It is in the nation's best interests to keep vaccines readily available without out of pocket expense or on some sort of sliding scale by income with copay no higher than $20 and maybe always free for kids at the health department even if other service providers are charging a co-pay. Who knows though. It is difficult for me to have much optimism about our political system.

We have that too. Unfortunately, my nephew and his wife are two such jerks. 😠

I agree. We don't need other countries trying to take advantage of the fact that Biden is down, unable to take meetings, or worse, hospitalized.

I think orange. I think this because Monday we went to the Orange and purchased a hot water heater for the Alabama house. (We are currently here enjoying the view and until the rain hit, the weather.) Dh installed it Monday night and discovered it was a lemon - all the seals are junk, water spewed everywhere. He had to wait until morning to call the orange who said "Call the Rheam people", and that was after being on hold for an hour with the orange and then snarled at for daring to call. After an hour on hold with the Rheam, and sending pictures of the crappy seals, he was told to take it back to the Orange with the email printed out declaring the thing as manufacturer defective. So, an hour at the customer service desk (there were NO other customers in front of him), and they told him they would give him a replacement but they would not retrieve it for him. Mark had to go hunt it down, and before it was over with, ended up in the employee only warehouse part of the store with a person who had no idea what he was looking for, then managed to find a hand cart to get it out. Managers walked past and did not even care that a customer was back there. So I would bet money on the Orange. Sadly, prior to this incident, we have purchased a lot for the Bama house from this Orange and have had good service. The issue has always been the Orange up home in Michigan, and we have a lot of stories about that one. Now this. It is making me think lowly of Tangerine Managers.

That really scares me. Michigan just upped food assistance for folks in the program $95 a month for the next three months. I am glad they did that, but I wish it was more. Folks I know that are heavily reliant on the assistance plus the food bank, which has been having trouble staying stocked, may be in some serious hurt before th big community garden is producing. There is a church, 11 miles from us, that has a two acre plot that it ploughs and irrigates. Families can sign up for a nice size garden plot for free, and the church provides seeds plus pepper and tomato seedlings. They also put in another acre with squash, sweet corn, cucumbers, and tomatoes which they give away free as they ripen, and routinely take them to the senior, subsidized retirement apartments knowing that many of the residents aren't in physical condition to garden. It is a good three months or more before anything but spring greens and strawberries will be ready.

This is beautiful! I am sad for you! 😥

Quit. Just do it. This kind of level to stress can make a person ill.

She doesn't want to go, you have concerns, that to me adds up to a know. That said, in my experience with service trips, teens rarely have a skill set valuable enough to be worth the trip, effort, money, etc. and often the organizers spend far more time keeping the flock of teens organized than getting anything done. So I am not a fan. I think your gut is sending you an important message.

I love the name Finn! Aaron comes to mind. I like Ainslee and Alana for a girl.

Agreed. Our tax code is rather ridiculous in its complexity, and heavily manipulated. It really should be much simpler. I am sorry some of you are experiencing tax shock.

Too accurate!

When we lived in Danville, Indiana I very much appreciated the standard time permanence, no changing. My circadian rhythm was happier.

I feel like this is incomplete without some random size screws and a handful of nails that are so short there is nothing that the only thing they could connect is a piece of paper and a sheet of balsa wood.