You’re right- we are saying the same thing, but I disagree that in my case there was confusion. In 1970’s Atlanta I didn’t have that many Catholic boys at my school. So after we’d spent a couple of years as friends we knew we were already halfway to finding a spouse- we liked each other as friends and we were Catholic. So we tried dating to see if we’d fall in love. I don’t see it as confusion but rather as an experiment. But you’re right that we’re saying the same thing- sometimes friendship progresses to dating. But no matter what, I don’t think that is worse than just dating someone you barely know, which is a pretty common way high school age kids start dating.

True. In my case we dated for 2-3 weeks and went back to being friends. I don’t think there was confusion. We were really good friends and wanted to see if taking the next step would work. Dh is my best friend. We started as friends- we had mutual friends and were friends for a few years before we fell in love. Sometimes good friendships progress to romance and sometimes it’s better to just remain friends.

Most of my close friends in junior high and high school were guys. We had a lot in common and they didn’t bring drama like teen girls did. I did end up dating a couple but both times we mutually agreed friendship was better and we stayed friends for years after high school. For a few years my best guy friend and I were teased about being a couple but we just ignored it. Ds has a best friend who is a girl. Through the years sometimes he had a crush on her and sometimes she’s had a crush on him but through it lol they’ve remained friends.

I find lotrimin works well but I put it on when I get ready for bed. Wash the area, dry well, and apply lotion. It heals well overnight because there’s no rubbing or sweating going on. ‘When I tried putting it on during the day I just got sweaty and it didn’t help.

Taco bar, baked potato bar, stuff like that. I prefer taco bar because even vegans can participate. Meat in crock pot, beans in crock pot or served room temp. Lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, salsa, etc. can be added individually and you can assign people something to bring. Meat eaters can eat it all, vegans can eat all but meat, cheese, sour cream. Gluten free can eat everything but tortillas, though you can do corn tortillas. Just check labels - beans made from scratch won’t have gluten or meat, and make taco seasoning from scratch to avoid gluten, and check corn tortilla ingredients for gluten or animal products. Sandwiches might be difficult. Gluten free bread, fillings for vegans, etc. ETA: sorry, I misunderstood that you can’t do prep in advance at home.

I’m so sorry!

Dh watched the video w me and laughed and laughed. And didn’t recognize that he’s Left Brain.

I had swept downstairs yesterday and was going to vac up the tiny leftover piles. Dh offered to do that (honestly, I already did the hard part, sweeping the entire downstairs, but ok) and I told him I was also going to vac behind our dresser mirror as I noticed cobwebs back there. He said he’d do it so I left to clean the bathroom. Later I looked and the cobwebs were untouched. I asked dh what he thought I meant and he said mirror but thought I meant there was another pile by the mirror. I showed him what I meant and 24 hours later he hasn’t done it. It’s back on my to do list. I am so detail oriented and he THINKS he is detail oriented but is so NOT. That combo is why I do not send him to the grocery store alone. Ever.

It has definitely changed as we have entered new seasons. Before kids we mostly hung w work friends, then when we had young kids our friends were the parents of our kids’ friends. (sometimes they were our friends and later our kids became friends, and sometimes the other way round) But the weird thing then was we usually either liked the husband or the wife but rarely both. When our kids became teens we branched out, and now that the kids are all adults we mostly gravitate to couples we like. Dh and I have individual friends but we almost exclusively socialize w other couples. I do very few girls’ night out things compared to when our kids were younger and I needed that escape. ‘Still don’t like a lot of people. The most we usually do is three couples.

I’ll be the odd vote and say I’d make three pounds of meat. since you usually have two servings left when you use two pounds, I think three pounds is going to be plenty. Plus you’ll have salad and garlic bread. But if you want leftovers for lunch you can make four pounds and for sure have enough for that. Disclaimer: When we have guests I don’t want to run out of food but don’t want too much left. It’s kind of like at the end of the potluck you don’t want your dish to be the one only half eaten. ‘That sauce sounds delicious!!

The oldest thing in my freezer is blueberries from my sister’s bushes. Two summers old. ‘I recently cleaned out my inlaws’ chest freezer and tossed steaks and other quality cuts of beef. Well, they were quality when they obtained them back when they split a cow with dh’s uncle. Uncle passed away in 1997 so they were probably a few years older than that.

When we moved to northern Illinois I lamented to a new friend that I missed BBQ (we’d moved here from Atlanta). She was like come to dinner next week and I’ll make bbq for you. I was pretty excited. showed up and found out that around here bbq is what we call sloppy joes.

I can tell you what I would do- I’d go see my physician’s assistant. I rarely go to the doc but if I wasn’t feeling sinus pressure before the event, I’d be checking it out to see what I could do to keep it from progressing into an infection. My face swells like crazy when I get a sinus infection so I try to be proactive. I wouldn’t be worried about a deadly bacteria like you mentioned above, but any infection that close to eyes and brain is not something to ignore. Hope you feel better soon!

I brought two daughters into this marriage and some friends who have known me for years don’t know that dh isn’t the girls’ bio dad. We don’t hide it, it’s just not a topic that comes up. My girls call both dh and their father ‘dad’. My middle dd has a much closer relationship with dh than she has with me. I don’t think it’s that unusual to love these bonus kids as much as a bio one. It’s worth considering that dss might be eating to cope with his feelings. Don’t assume because he seems happy that he is happy. People often hide their true feelings and hide what they[re really going through because confronting their feelings is more than they are ready to face. Think about how after people commit suicide their friends or family say they had no idea the person was struggling. I’m NOT saying your dss is suicidal. nope. Not at all. I’m saying that he might be struggling but not even realize how much his emotions are impacting his diet. and the rest of his life, too. I’m just suggesting that it might be more complicated than simple willpower over diet.

Graduation. Hands down. And I suspect you’ll actually be able to attend both. I’m a big fan of giving a new family privacy the day they welcome a child, especially their first.

I would get a second estimate for the maintenance. That sounds excessive unless the third item you listed is unusually expensive, Is it a Honda and you’re taking it to a dealer? I know their routine maintenance costs are high.

This was a pediatric neurologist and the referring doc said he would have experience w migraines. Dd is just frustrated because his only advice was Tylenol.

Congrats! She’s a cutie!!

We’d keep the car for sure. What you describe is not even close to bringing it to ‘replace it’ level.

The line 27 SE deduction just means you don’t pay taxes on that amount. That’s very different than a credit, which would even the playing field.

After Mom passed away we ran across some little notebooks where she jotted down some thoughts. They mean the world to us because it’s her words. Some of it is heartbreaking because she was looking back on her childhood (her parents were immigrants and poor and also favored her brother) and her early marriage (she got pregnant at 16 and she and Dad married and made it work but it was tough). But there were also wonderful entries- after a family gathering or after seeing her grandkids or something. I say all that as background as to why I keep my bullet journals. I use one leuchtturm journal a year and it’s filled with gratitude pages, struggles, quotes I currently enjoy, drawings, and documentation of daily stuff. It has my spending logs, monthly pages, books read, movies seen, etc. Maybe one day my kids or grandkids will want to read through them. If not they can toss them. But I want them to have the chance to know what’s going on inside my head. I wish mom had written even more.

If you skip the bun you probably won’t offend the host. Much easier than skipping the vegan burger. I don’t mind eating vegan but I’d rather have a grilled portobello or an assortment of grilled veggies on a bun instead of a vegan burger. ‘Dh would eat the bun and skip the vegan burger.g

You’re right- just a quick correction solves the problem.

She’s wearing a name tag, right? does she have a name that could work for either a guy or Girl? Dd works at Starbucks and someone there has the same problem- she looks neutral so I think maybe people think calling a girl a boy is less offensive than calling a boy a girl. who knows why. Anyway, if someone calls her sir while asking for something she turns around and looks behind her as if the customer was talking to someone behind her. Then she says oh you were talking to me. sorry-I’m a girl and didn’t realize you meant me. I’m not explaining it well but I’ve seen her do it a few times and she does it so effortlessly that it’s not awkward at all and doesn’t embarrass the customer. if the person is a regular I’d make the effort to correct them. Most regulars have favorite baristas and know them by name and many baristas know their regular customers by name, too. But if it’s mostly casual customers...don’t sweat it- they are probably just not paying attention.

We had the same problem. Dad woke up one day and couldn’t remember how to make coffee or turn on the washing machine. The neurologist did an MRI and said nothing was wrong and said no need to see Dad again. A neuropsychologist is different. They look at behavior, emotion, cognitive issues AND brain function. Our experience w neurologists is if they can’t ‘find’ something wrong they are stumped. Dear grandson (age 5) has awful migraines. Neurologist said he can’t find a reason and told dd to give him Tylenol.