Lots of love!

Wood. I have been concerned about plastics breaking off into the food as the boards get pitted and scratched. I didn't enjoy the sound of cutting on glass. I season my boards with beeswax oil.

I have been trying to declutter, thin the herd. It had not caught on with dh yet. I need him to catch this communicable disease! 😁

I had a crisis, but it wasn't so much related to mid life as year 48 being a year that my very sick, but resistant-to-help/bull headed father tried to kill my mom and himself, failed, and all of the massive fallout of that. Mark was beyond amazing during that time. It was so freaking hard. I had BARELY recovered- using that term loosely - from the car accident and our eldest son was just walking again when the world crashed. I would not have made it without Mark, and he walked through fire with me because he had to carry me. With his support, I have kind of reinvented myself. I have and am pursuing new things like my deep interest in Aerospace engineering. I have a university rocket team that calls me for consultations, and I love that. I am back to doing some music performance. There aren't a lot of opportunities for that, but occasionally I dust off an evening gown and play for an audience, and it is lovely. He and I are traveling, and I am also solo traveling. As I type this, I am in Baltimore with my niece after attending QuiltCon with her. My inner circle changed drastically, narrowed significantly, and that has been a huge blessing because I was swallowing a lot of crap in order to not rock the boat with several persons. It is so freeing to have that anvil off my chest. I deconstructed from my faith, and for me, that might be the very best journey. My faith was, for me, very destructive and anxiety causing. So it was absolutely a crisis. But not the stereotypical kind. It had a devastating catalyst, a living hell, and I am just profoundly lucky, blessed, fortunate, whatever you want to call it, to have come out the other side in a really good place. Here's hoping no covid. We N95 masked at the above event, but who knows if that is enough. Both of us really needed to not only get together but have some fun, be around some humans beyond our inner circle. Fingers crossed we won't end up regretting that.

I wish I could convince people not to watch he movie now that it is available for streaming. My mom says the people.in her church still think he is a hero. They aren't following the investigations and the cases against him.

As for moving north. Animals are migrating north, in the northern hemisphere, at a rate of 10-30 miles per year due to climate change. Much of the south and southwest will be uninhabitable in the future. Summers like the last one in which folks had 3rd degree burns from touching their cars will be the norm, and last for months not just weeks. So whether we northerners like it or not, southerners will be invading in droves even if they hate winter. The problem we have is politicians and public policy advisors here are ignoring this, and doing nothing to prepare so we may not have anything for y'all when you arrive. Sad to say. You might end up housed in stadiums and convention centers. The Great Lakes Area, North Dakota, etc. just are not bring honest about this. Maine and Vermont might be more practical about this as well, however, even where the powers that be are thinking about it, they aren't acting fast enough. I tried to copy and paste some links, but my sad, cracked screen kindle is not copying properly. If you google Michigan and Climate Haven, you will find many articles.

Thank you. Had I adjusted my behavior to norms in order to not be the target at school, I would have given up my musical pursuits, the hours per day I spent practicing the piano since this was considered "abnormal and nerdy", and pursued being a mean girl. I am glad I was strong enough to keep going. I don't think at all that what the OP's child said was a huge deal in the grand scheme of thing at all, and the school will makes itself a little nuts if they attempt to police all the interactions. I also think blaming the victim is just wrong. Teach kids to focus on themselves, and not everyone else. Frankly, it isn't any student's job to force anyone else to conform to a social "norm".

Yes. And when we watched "Boys in the Boat", the video of the tow-able bleacher seating on the train that traveled down the tracks along the lake was just amazing. What a great idea! I would love something like that. Innovative and efficient. We have lost a lot in the pursuit of run away profits. What is best for the public in general, what would make for a higher quality of life is just not in the equation. Our little town has narrow roads, a main trunk county road between two major state highways, shoulders of only 12" on each side, no sidewalks. Kids do not ride bikes. It is too dangerous. The semis and fully loaded beet trucks fly through town at 55+ miles per hour even though the speed limit is 35. We have had numerous accidents because of them. Yet police refuse to patrol the area and crack down on this, and the township cannot afford rumble strips, widening of roads, sidewalks, nor speed bumps which would make everything safer. We hope to move somewhere safer in terms of infrastructure, road and community construction in the future.

Michigan really is gorgeous. And yes, for now, one contends with winter, but with climate change the winters are becoming milder. It is a state that will weather climate change much much better than anywhere further south in the US. Minnesota and Maine would be my other choices, even northern Wisconsin. Maine has always had a hold on me. Outside the US, French Riviera (my sister lives there), Denmark (my husband's heritage is Danish, very Danish) and Scotland would be my choices.

Would a collapsible utility wagon with soft sizes be more practical? Just trying to think of options.

This is such a spot on statement. We assisted all four of kids with their college bills so they would only have small, federal student loans. One could say we afforded it I guess. But it wasn't affordable. I was penny pinching at the grocery store, and eventually took on a Fine Arts job to get us through it all. It was not affordable, and we weren't anything in the ballpark of "rich". It was something we chose to do, and to prioritize even if it was difficult. I don't judge my neighbor who absolutely loves plants, landscaping, you name it. Her yard is her everything. She takes tremendous joy in it. I would never choose to spend that kind of money on plants and landscaping, and rocks, and all the things. But that is all good. Everyone is different. And why live life without any joy? There just isn't a lot of point in accumulating money for the express sake of living in misery. Traveling, quilting, and sewing makes me happy so I prioritize those things. Going to France to see her youngest daughter and darling son in law, makes mom happy so she lives frugally so she can enjoy that. It's all good.

This is very wise. It is just not cheap at all getting them I to their first digs, their first really reliable car for full time employment, all of the things required to set up a household. Most kids these days are doing that long before they marry, so they don't have bridal showers and wedding gifts to help, and so many have federal student loans or worse. FAFSA is a mess, and if Dd ends up applying to schools with the CSS profile, it can be a disaster. It definitely must be considered, how the savings will negatively affect financial aid, and tax liability. I do know that you can withdraw from 401K for education expenses without penalty. So beefing up retirement savings might be a good idea.

I follow a bunch of NASA blogs. I don't have a particular favorite. Favorite book last year was Hail Mary, fiction. That is unusual for me because I normally gravitate to non-fiction. Favorite purchase? LOL, 24 wood palettes, heat treated but no chemicals, for $1 each. Mark made raised beds out of them, and now we have another $24. I thoroughly enjoyed verbally abusing tomato plants to try to get them to grow. 😅 I don't think I have any really good life hacks. Hmmmmmm...must think. Biggest financial regret was the purchase of this current house which we will take a total financial bath on, going into the hole big time when we leave. To make life easier, I hired a driver for some of my mother in law's medical appointments. She has a bazillion, and relies exclusively on me. It made for a major upheavel of my life, and she won't let me go into any of these appointments with her despite the fact she has lost 75% of her hearing. So I was just sitting for hours and hours every week in doctor and hospital parking lots. I now pay my mom to do some of the driving as well as two retired ladies who live near her. I still do some, but easily less than a 1/3 of it now, and all the ladies appreciate the extra cash. Highpoint of last year was three weddings of honorary daughters. I provided music for two of them, and decorations for two of them. Mark was the father of the bride in two due to absent fathers for our girls. We gained three wonderful in laws, a daughter in law, and two son in laws, well, not traditionally, but by "adoption". So now we kind of need a castle so when they all converge on us for Christmas and what not, I can manage to house and feed the lot of them. It has turned into quite a houseful! Oh, and we also for to attend our dil's (eldest son's wife) college graduation.

Life is too short to sweat the small stuff. Enjoy!

I think you should just ask her if she would mind if you tossed a lawn chair out on her lawn or in the drive so you could soak up the sun and read. She probably won't mind at all. I say go do it!

I don't have a lot of advice because we have never traveled overseas with a young child. But if you are going to Paris, I can honestly say that the city seemed that it would be difficult to navigate with strollers and wheelchairs. There were stairs, terribly crowded sidewalks, and uneven curbs everywhere. I think France does have an issue with accessibility. Even the osteopath my mom sees in Antibes (Southern France) has steps down into her office, and no handicap ramp. So if you are headed to France, I wonder if a stroller would be useful anywhere accept parks and museums which seem to be modernized. Could your dh use a back carrier to allow your little one to have regular breaks from walking?

Rosie, I think we had the same grandmother! That woman was flirting well into her 80s like she was Liz Taylor!🤣

Genuinely, yes, that is the response. It is just mind boggling.

Yes, it is going to be crazy. We mapped a way from the Alabama house over to the NWA rental all side roads and away from traffic jams. We are arriving 3 days early to just not have issues, get groceries, hunker down. We will be in a house that is quite remote, no light pollution no traffic. We are not leaving after the eclipse is over. We are spending the night there, and hoping that a lot of folks will have headed towards home the previous afternoon and evening so hopefully we can begin the drive back to Michigan on Tuesday, but I have to admit that I am worried about Tuesday traffic, especially in the morning.

Here too. Our head librarian is just the most lovely human salt of the earth. She has been called pesos because of anatomical books in the library, demon for having books comparing religious beliefs all written at a tween level, and Harry Potter books. No joke. Harry Potter books and a Usborne Book of human anatomy, and out come the insults and allegations. It is gross, sick, twisted, all the bad things!

We give a cash gift, and have been known to do something like "gift of service". Mark often does our youngest ds's car oil change as part of his birthday present. It saves DS money and time, and he isn't allowed to change his oil in the apartment parking lot.

My sister moved to France to complete her master's degree. It was 1/4th the cost of that degree here including the cost of living in a quad dorm with a kitchen so she could cook her own food.

I feel that way too. We did not encounter this until we moved back to this part of the state to be near elderly parents..we had lived in other parts of Michigan, Indianapolis, Portland Oregon, Newburg, Oregon, Titusville, Fla, and I went to college at Oberlin, so that part of Ohio, and never encountered the rude, judgey, in your face behavior that the locals here have in spades. It is so jolting. But, I think part of it is that her church is big, the pastor is influential, and it is IBLP/Gothard adjacent with practices that 100% meet the criteria of a cult. When a cult has that much influence around a community, I think it greatly affects the dynamics of the surrounding culture. Even mainstream churches like the UMC, USA Pres, have to send their leadership out here to bring their churches in line, literally discipline them at times, because they veer towards the behavior of her church. I know why she doesn't leave. The last of the friends she still has in the world are there in her widow support group. She is very attached, and she is 80 which is just an awful time in life to become isolated because you gave up on your people group. That bunch of nuts though really worry me! The children's Sunday School classes have a policy that every single Sunday, children as young as 3 nuts be reminded that they had sinned that week, and they might die in their sleep and go to hell unless they prayed right now for god to forgive them for all their sins that week and promise to try harder to do better. Little kids. And they give them coloring pages based on Dante's Inferno. I consider it VERY abusive. So ya. The day we leave this crazy hole, and move away for good, will be the day I leap for joy! It wears on me constantly trying to counter those messages, and deal with the neighbors.

That's frightening. No. One does not appoint themselves, judge, jury, and executioner!

Wow! That is a huge hold. They should be required to post a sign about that. Our favorite gas station has a sign that the average hold is $50 unless the cost of the fill exceeds that. So sure, big tank pick up truck might have a $75 hold. $200 is just wrong.