I'm interested in the responses you get. We have one of the real estate agent combination lock boxes on the back door with a spare key, but some day maybe we will upgrade.

I've wondered that too as I ramp up my use of the Kenmore that I've been using off and on over the last 20 years. 🤞

I benefit from this forced practice too. In fact I don't care for the premium level because I can't seem to figure out how to keep the 5 heart limit. No live person would enjoy participating in the amount of repetitive practice I seem to require. 😀

I agree with pp about Duolingo. One thing it is missing for most languages is any formal grammar. If I wanted to really learn a language from scratch I would supplement with some grammar resource. Maybe a workbook like those Practice Makes Perfect books (are they available for lots of languages?), or a regular podcast containing a grammar portion, like Need in Slow <language>, whatever suits you. That is where you get explicit background on things like irregular verbs, reflexive verbs, common idioms, preposition usage, etc. Duo teaches those through exposure and repetition, but for me it is helpful to have them spelled out for me. If course just having those resources does not mean I use them regularly, as I should!

So you have any tips for studying multiple languages on Duolingo and keeping them straight? My brain starts to cross language boundaries when I study more than one language using the same platform (generally Duolingo).

I just finished this warm, squishy scarf. The yarn was a souvenir from a trip to Spain. I started making a shawl and then ran into trouble and put it aside for many *years*. Sigh. I recently resuscitated it, rediscovered the problem 🤦🏼‍♀️ and then knit it apart into this scarf which I'm going to love.

I've been using Duolingo for German. I'm considering a Jiveworld subscription to bring my Spanish out of hibernation. It is aimed at intermediate learners and uses stories from the podcast Radio Ambulante, which I listen to.

So amazing!

You remind me that I had to call the hospital and ask that either they fix her birthday on the birth certificate OR refund me the costs associated with day 1. 😄 They fixed the birth certificate.

It has been done! https://youtu.be/GjX2NT_XZCs?si=rU3MYp_7FRFDYUTO

We had a thing where a medicine was charged, but we never picked it up (the dosage had changed). It took 6 months for the charge to get taken off our deductible. As a result, a recurring charge for another family member blipped up one random month at the end of the summer. I spent so long on the phone trying to figure out what had happened. Finally understood on a 3-way call with insurance and pharmacy. The insurance rep was so, incredibly rude! I was so angry I called back and waited patiently until I got a supervisor and told her that 2 of the 3 reps I had spoken with that day were super helpful in getting to the bottom of my issue and thanked her. 😄 She was really surprised, but you know how it is, if I called and complained I wouldn't have gotten any real satisfaction. I figured she could read between the lines and investigate if she wanted.

Or maybe buy a cheap fabric and try out the pattern on that first, before you cut into your precious fabric.

We have decent insurance and I still totally agree with you about the morass that is insurance. 😝

For me a lot of it is the lack of conversation. If you have reasons and are open about things then I know you've thought about it. The reasons don't have to be incontrovertible or unchanging, just keep me in the loop.

I had to read this twice because it didn't make sense. I still don't get it. Your ds made the biggest mistake in the diy book and people are upset with you for reacting? They are being rude to you, probably out of embarrassment either from making the mistake or knowing that they would likely have made the same mistake. Please be as upset as you need and then, when you are done, move on and give them icy stares when they try to guilt you.

QFT! Before they suddenly moved 12 hours away, my in-laws would drive past our house (20 minutes from highway to us) on their way to a vacation spot, but would decline to stop by over night or for a meal or a meet up at a coffee shop, nothing. It was so strange.

Could one of those pseudo-shelves that hang from closet bars work out are they too bulky or too heavy? That way she could perhaps retrieve them and put them away without assistance.

I'm not comfortable returning gifts from other people (unless they were to explicitly mention it), but I don't have a problem putting an item aside and eventually moving it along to a happier home. Whatever they spent on the gift is a sunk cost and an intrinsic part of the gift and I try not to get hung up on that If it were consistently an expensive problem with DH I would figure out how to address it, but I've been lucky in that regard

How cute! I particularly love the dragon print.

If it were me, this would be fine if they acknowledged the disconnect up front, something like, "I know we said we would never fly over seas, but this opportunity just came up and *reason*." Bonus points if they also said, "we would love to tack on a visit to see you except *reason*" And then it would be nice if they said, "if this goes well, maybe we can arrange a visit to see you later," even if they are unlikely to follow through.

Funny, I've been slowly working through that series and this is the next in line for me. Won't make it this year, though.

Only if you count fog, apparently. Fine with me. Doesn't require anything from me except no driving and will probably clear itself up by mid-afternoon.

😲😖😝🤢 Trying to capture my reactions. Although the word "clamnog" is funny.

The assumption was ours, half-joking initially. I'm sure they have no intention for this. But I'm not confident that they are even using calculators like the one posted above. In the spring I will sit down with them in person and see what the numbers say. It may well be that I'm way overreacting, although I doubt that. I think he just doesn't know what he doesn't know. Again, hopefully I am way off base here. So, it is possible that he is thinking that buying a house will help adventure equity for retirement, but without considering that it is not fungible. He also may be thinking of my parents' retirement funds as easily available, like buried in the backyard. I don't think he has ill-will, or even greed just ... doesn't know. And I'll reiterate that I may be way off base, I don't talk to him much. There is evidence to support my concerns but people can change, and he could have. I'll watch and see what happens next.

This post is very much in line with my first pass thinking. I don't have that relationship with my brother, but I'm holding the outrage-with-a-smile in case an opportunity presents. Thanks for your commiseration.