There was a second adult and between them they were lost for 2 hours? Yeah, that’s nuts. Even if second adult is just there to supervise kids, at some point they should have had a discussion about ‘being lost’. I hope you can get someone to listen to you.

I’m sorry you lost your kitty. Hugs.

Side sleeper wearing noise cancelling earbuds, listening to a podcast that has a host with a calm voice. Ceiling fan always on. Dh falls asleep w tv on and it ruins my ability to sleep well, which is why I do the podcast. Timer is set so my podcast ends a few minutes after the tv goes off. So when I wake up and it’s dark, I take my earbuds out. Doesn’t interrupt my sleep now. Considering an eye mask because the tv light still bothers me. After having interrupted sleep for years due to kids, I absolutely have earned quality sleep now they’re grown and flown.

Praying for you guys.

Hugs. I’m sorry. When we were worried day and night and our cat was behaving like you mentioned, it was time. Definitely time for him, though it happened fast enough that we weren’t emotionally ready. Your plan to call the vet tomorrow sounds reasonable. I doubt your kitty will poop, it even if it happens, it’s not enough to reconsider. Quality of life appears to be low. ‘I’m sorry.

It just feels weird- for a few years Covid tamped down our gatherings and now that’s not an issue but we still aren’t getting together. Not even my sister, who lives 6 doors down! I asked if she wanted to come spend the day w us and she declined. Sigh. My other sister is my dad’s caretaker and doesn’t want to ‘do’ Easter. Family is so weird.

My biggest caution is to carefully check into insurance. Our move was flawless, and not a thing was broken. But I’ve had SO many friends, and last year my sister had a devil of a time collecting when movers broke things. They paid something like 60 cents per pound for damage, nowhere near the cost. They damaged so many antiques my sister had and it was awful. There are reputable companies out there, with good insurance. But be sure to verify. Sometimes people book through a broker and the folks who actually do the move sell crummy insurance with high deductibles. Also make sure the quote is firm. I’ve had friends and family members hire movers and once things are on the truck they’re told it weighs a lot more than expected and they have to pay a lot more than was quoted. At that point they have your stuff, so they have the control. I’m not saying movers are not honest- I’m just suggesting that you check carefully to be sure you know what you’re paying for.

Thanks- It worked this time. Please keep us updated if you don’t have enough items as it gets closer. I can do another order, just want to see what else is sent so you can let us know what you are most in need of.

I added to my cart but doesn’t show me where to ship. usually when a I do this it shows it’s shipping to the registry owner, but I don’t see the address. Can someone tell me what I’m missing here? All it shows are options to ship to recipients I have used in the past.

I agree w the Amazon wishlist idea- and if you do create one, I’d love the link so I can send you something.

You’ve been busy! Will pray for your mom’s health. You’ve been missed!

Do you think he’s going to be willing to walk away from a house that is half his? I would probably plan to find a way for you and your sister to buy out his interest in the house, and then you can deed it in a way that when one of you passes the other automatically owns the house. Is that joint tenants with rights of survivorship, perhaps?

I made a small crossbody last year and only carry essentials. Two things that might seem odd but that I cannot live without are: a small measuring tape- we do a lot of home improvements, antiquing, etc. and I need that. I also use it to photograph fabric so I can tell the scale of a print. Second: I built in a small pocket to hold some toilet paper folded up in case I need it in a public bathroom. That has been handy! I’ve started carrying cash too. Some places won’t take cash but other places charge a fee to use a card, so I use cash there. Also use mostly cash in quilt shops and antique stores because cc fees can be a burden to small businesses.

I did ours by hand until dh retired. Now it’s easier to use software. The first year he retired we had some complicated issues and hired a CPA to do the taxes. When we picked them up, he didn;t go over them with us and that irritated me. When I got home I went through the one for our new state and discovered he had way overestimated how much we owed- like by a couple thousand. I called him and he said he knew he had and that the state would figure out how much we owed and refund it to us. Yeah, we paid like $800 for tax prep that year and it made me pretty mad. He didn’t even try! I’m sure we just found a crappy tax prep guy, but it’s easier to do them myself than to risk paying for another crap job.

Some celebrities stage photo ops in hopes that the paps will leave them alone otherwise. I’ve heard that is more common when paps want pics of celeb kids. But yeah, there are others who tip off paps all the time and are doing it to increase their exposure. Justin and Hailey Bieber are often criticized for tipping off the paps but he appears to be genuinely bothered that they are constantly outside where he lives. That has to be hard. Catherine clearly works hard for her family and charities and it has to be awful to have constant scrutiny.

I am grandma, and our grands have two other grandmas that they also call Grandma. When they need clarification, we’re Grandma Last Name (like when we’re all together). The added kicker is they also called their great grandmas ‘grandma’. Super creative, right? I would have liked to have been called Oma which is what I called mine, but I was in my 40’s when I became a grandma and Oma seemed like an old lady name.

I wonder if the Dec 28 ambulance trip was Kate having a medical issue related to, say, crohns. And once they got that crisis handled they scheduled surgery for mid January. That’s almost exactly what happened to our son in law. Took him several months to recover. And before surgery he was losing weight like crazy and people thought he had an eating disorder, which he doesn’t. So that’s what I’m going with, though I do wish it was something less serious like Kate is growing out bangs. The decades long policy of ‘don’t complain, don’t explain’ only works if you stick to both parts. Releasing a doctored image and trying to pass it off as a recent photo only hurt the situation.

We got our first lockers in 7th grade and our home room teacher showed us how to work the combination locks. The paper they gave us also showed it. Two people shared a locker and between the class instruction and our friends, we figured it out. Some faster than others, of course. Nobody really expected us to master it on the first try and I know teachers had to help kids for weeks. I’m almost 63 and still friends with my 7th grade locker buddy. I loved sharing a locker, and we often stashed things in friends’ lockers that were close to a class. 5 minutes between classes, but we had ten minute breaks twice a day so that worked out well for locker visits. I think it taught me a lot about thinking ahead- which books I needed to bring to which class, which books I needed to take home to study, etc.

Our grandkids in high school have no lockers. They were removed. It’s super annoying to have to drag around everything all day, especially clothes for after school sports practice.

Thanks for that info! I live in Georgia and the leaves are just starting to come out in my area so I assumed (incorrectly) that the climate there was weeks behind us.

I can believe she edited it, but did she edit the grass and leaves also? It reads more like an early fall photo than an early spring one.

Dh uses Ally and there are no fees. My household account is a credit Union and because we’re over 55 there’s no minimum, no fees, and we get free checks. Bonus: every year they distribute dividends to members and it’s been at least $800/year for the past 5 years.

Gosh I didn’t know that was a thing! It is ridiculous.

I don’t generally enjoy surprises and I really dislike the expectation that I should come up with surprises. A few weeks ago I thought dh would enjoy seeing The Doo Wop Project. I saw they were performing nearby and good tickets were reasonably priced. I asked if he wanted to go. He did and we enjoyed it, but on the way out said it would have been better if I’d surprised him with it. WHY??? We’re in our 60’s, dude. Not a lot of surprises left in this old lady. To be fair, I have a lot of burnout from decades of mental load, so I’m more crabby about this kind of thing than I should be.

Definitely do the math on the meal plan. Two of our kids went to schools where the meal plan worked out to be MORE expensive than buying three meals a day without a plan. But do have a discussion on how much you’ll pay for food- will you cover coffee and snacks at the on campus Starbucks? A kid might say hey I’m not getting lunch in the dining hall for $10 so I can buy a coffee and cake pop for the same price. Stuff like that adds up quickly and is worth discussing in advance. I love that you’re already planning to refresh a self defense course. I live where recently within a week there were two campus incidents against women- one was a girl held at gunpoint for her phone and the other girl was murdered while out for a run. Campus security is so important.