My salmon burger recipe says to mince the salmon with a knife, which is what I do. I tried doing it in the food processor, and it wasn't as good. It is this one. It is excellent.

I happened upon Red Notice in a bookstore earlier this summer when I was traveling and needed something to read on the plane. As soon as I finished it, I ordered his second book. They are my go-to recommendations now; I keep thinking of people to text, "Have you read this? You really must." His story is such a fabulous introduction to (microcosm of?) Russian corruption.

Yes, but the lifetime gift tax exclusion, which is assessed at death, determines whether the amount is ultimately taxed. I am a tax attorney; I am not making this up. Dave Ramsey has a good explanation here. The fact is that until you get into tens-of-millions of dollars in your estate, the gift tax implications are nonexistent.

I will add that what we did for my daughter who will be in grad school for 3 years and hopes to then stay in the same area is buy her a small condo where she can live with a roommate. We will pay the mortgage and modest HOA fees while she is in school. Her roommate pays her rent, and they split utilities. At the end of 3 years, she can take over the mortgage and stay there, or we will sell it, and she can have any equity to put towards her own down payment somewhere. Even if we have no equity at the end of 3 years, it is cheaper than an apartment. With the roommate, our net monthly cost is about half what a 1 BR apartment would be, and her roommate is getting a very good deal. When we first proposed this option, she was not super excited, but as she's watched her fellow new college grads come back and try to find, qualify for and afford apartments, she's become much more appreciative. As for constant maintenance, it's not bad. With a condo, she is not responsible for any exterior maintenance. I do take care of stuff that breaks. In fact, just yesterday I replaced a leaking toilet inlet thingy. Just call me Plumber Mom. And we put in some much-needed insulation. But we live close, so that helps.

I would not charge interest. You do not need to worry about gift taxes unless you expect your estate to be in the many-millions (currently $16 each) in value. Even then, the value of the interest would fall under the annual gift tax exemption (meaning it never counts against the lifetime limit) because you and your husband get an allowance to each of your kiddo and her husband, so you give your daughter $16K, and your SIL $16K, and your husband does the same, and you're up to $64K/year in interest. I get you on the cost of renting. People who haven't rented from big apartment complexes lately have no idea how they work these days. I certainly didn't before my daughter rented from one her last 2 years of college, but the fees added to base rent were insane and never-ending.

Yes. I also have a gas dryer, gas hot water and gas heat. I am not getting rid of any of them. If I lived somewhere without natural gas, I would still have a propane-fueled stove. I agree with not putting all of my energy eggs in one basket. But I also believe in good natural ventilation.

I have no suggestions, but I want to come. That sounds very fun.

You can get a magnesium lotion that is pretty effective and a lot easier to use than Epsom salts.

Good question, and I don't know. It might be that we were on the edge of a tier. Hmmm. I do know that the potential savings is one of the things that gets me out of bed in the mornings! Not THE thing, you know, but ONE of the things I think about as the bed tries to pull me back into it. My goal is to lose 10 pounds by Christmas. I think I'm on pace.

This is so dumb because I know it's not something many people can do, but my office (I have a small law firm) just moved, and our new building has a free gym on the premises. I've been going 4 times/week before work and doing a 12-3-30 workout on the treadmill. Of course I shower at the gym before going upstairs to my office, and my water and gas bills are down. I can't believe **my** 4 showers/week are affecting our water and gas usage. I do not take long showers, and I do a lot of laundry--you would think my 4 would be proverbial drops in the bucket! Both went down when my son left for college (hh went from 5 to 4), but even cutting my showers/week in half is saving about $12/month. When my office moved, I was able to drop a few little subscriptions and such that I had to pay when I shared space with a different firm, which saved me about $100/month. And my new office is exactly half the distance (and probably a third of the drive time) from my old one, so I feel like I never fill up my car any more. Speaking of, gas was 3.04 at Sam's Saturday. It is 3.25 at the closest QT. (Atlanta suburb.) Prices inside Sam's, however, were not great. There are not nearly as many bargains as there used to be.

Let's be clear that you said "millions of homes," which does not even pass the smell test and is easily disprovable. I doubt you have an evil plan, but if you are going to be bizarrely combative, you need to be called out on your made-up statistics.

Not true. 471,000 homes in the U.S. do not have indoor plumbing, and I would hazard a guess that a good chunk of those are intentionally so, i.e., focused, intentional off-grid homesteaders.

Okay, that's a fine jacket, but one of the terms in the title is "party coat." Who searches etsy for "party coat," sees that one and thinks, "Yep!"

We had our small'ish 1972-era closet "done" several years ago by theContainer Store, using Elfa with wood accents. At the time, I thought it was the vainest, most frivolous, most materialistic thing ever, but I love it every single time I step in. It's not nearly as nice as yours will be, but it brings me so much joy. It's something I never knew I needed, ya' know? I'm always glad we spent the money on it, and I am sure you will be as well.

Last weekend, my husband and I were having dinner in a restaurant that was full of HOCO groups, and I thought the same thing--that the girls did not look comfortable in their dresses and that they were all wearing the same dress. Sure, it was in slightly different colors, but--it was the same dress: short (so short the girls kept pulling them down every time they moved; how they were going to dance or get in or out of cars was a mystery to me), sparkly, body-con, and mostly strapless. And their hair was all the same as well--long, flat-ironed and then curled on a curling iron. The boys' attire, on the other hand, was all over the place, so that was progress.

I have also discovered so much stuff by smelling it when no one else did. I should have been one of those cancer-sniffing dogs. Not that I've ever smelled cancer, but I do wonder if, subconsciously, I am sometimes picking up off smells when I can't put my finger on what is wrong. I like that explanation better than that I just take irrational dislikes to people and places. (And boy was I fun when I was pregnant and had super pregnant woman sense of smell.) But anyway--glad the problem was found and is a relatively easy fix.

I am reminded of a Judith Martin (Miss Manners) line, "It is always a comfort to know that so many things one can't afford to do anyway are vulgar."

Completely understandable reaction. So many of their big beginnings are our small endings.

Awww, I'm so sorry. You are right; that sucks. What do you tell your kids when this happens, though? That, in the long run, you will look back and think this was the best thing that could have happened to you. I very much hope (and believe) that this will be true for you. That doesn't change the fact that, in the short run, this hurts. FWIW, (gross generalization alert ahead) my observation in professional settings is that women can be so much harder on other women than they are on men or than men are on women or that men are on men. Women seem to project onto other women, to fill in what they don't see right in front of their faces. That your supervisor mentioned that you don't want full-time anyway may mean she's doing that. I hope your next position, whether there or elsewhere, is perfect for you.

Isn't it good that her growth plates are 3 years younger? And by "good," I mean that it is more likely that she will eventually hit her full natural height. If she were going to go through early puberty and stop growing early, that would show up as growth plates measuring older than her actual age. Is she Caucasian? Are the growth charts still based on Caucasian norms? When I was in the process of adopting a Chinese baby (many, many years ago), that was one of the things mentioned a lot, i.e., that Asian growth charts would look very different.

I have asked the police (sheriff, actually) for safety checks before; they're used to it, and it is part of their duties. I regularly read the sheriff's log from this small town to which I want to move, as it is posted in their online newspaper, and their officers do this sort of thing all the time. They check on pets, open windows, flashing lights, weird noises, vehicles. It's fascinating, really, and I find it kind of sweet that people are watching out for their neighbors.

Mike Rowe Works, Mike Rowe's foundation, provides tons of scholarship money for kids (and adults--lots of adults) entering the trades. I follow him on social media, and he begs people to apply. So, if he ends up in something that requires fees or tuition, he should investigate that as an option to pay for it.

I just received our electric bill, and our consumption dropped 40% from September '21. It's been a hot September, so it's not like this one was cool and last year's was not. In early July, we blew in some leftover insulation to top off what was in the attic but was probably a little settled--it was in the house when we bought it 20 years ago. We haven't done anything else to decrease our consumption, so I attribute most of it to the additional insulation. We intended to just blow some into my daughter's condo (it made a difference there immediately) and had a couple of bags left over, so we blew them into our attic rather than return them (It was cost-neutral to us, as returning them would mean we had to pay to rent the blowing machine; if we kept them, the machine rental was free.) We spent about $500 on insulation, and between her condo and our house, I think we will recoup that in a few months. Blowing insulation into an attic is surprisingly easy. My husband fed the machine, and I blew it in. It was a half-day project, and sweaty (because July) but not hard. I've never looked forward to getting an electric bill before, but seeing the fruits of my labor has been quite rewarding. Some utility companies offer rebates for adding insulation. Ours does not, but that would have made it pay off even sooner. Anyway, if you're looking for some nearly-instant gratification and have a hot upstairs, I highly recommend checking out your insulation.

This is a long shot, I know, but can anyone recommend an online aptitude or career interest survey or test that can be taken in Spanish? I love love love Youscience, and its results and recommendations have been dead-on for my 2 who have taken it, but I don't think it is available in anything but English. The student in question speaks English well, but his reading comprehension in Spanish is much higher than his English reading comprehension. I do not mind paying, so it need not be free. Thanks!

Are you paid by the hour? If you got the same salary (or whatever) you got last year, but with fewer hours, would that be enough? I ask because it opens up the option to be paid the same amount, actually work the number of hours you want to work, and "work remotely" for the additional hours. During the remote hours, you could essentially be on call without really devoting your full (or any) time and attention to the job. One of my very first bosses, when I was working an on-campus job in college, explained that part of what I was being paid for was to occupy the office in case anyone needed something, so it was okay not to do anything. I had complained about not being fully engaged for the entirety of my shift and was looking for other tasks to do, so my intentions (like yours) were good. As I got older and had more work experience, I recognized that he was right. My then-employer was paying for my capacity, not necessarily for actual work. I know that leaning out or quiet quitting are all the buzz words right now, but there has always been a place for someone who can occupy a job but do it in fewer hours than the job allows.