Another layered idea--chicken enchilada casserole--yum.

Ok--I will be the dissenter. I think the can is normal for pineapple. I've googled around, and Quora and Reddit agree with me 🙂 (I know this doesn't help for now, but in the future you don't need to throw away)

You are very brave, Murphy 101. Last time we visited family in Asia they had a durian party, with various varieties of durian (like apples have honeycrisp, golden delicious, etc). They thought it was wonderful, but I could barely get a bite down to be polite. The signs on public transport say no smoking, eating, playing music, and no durian allowed. (It's aromatic even uncut...)

I've been thinking about this on and off, and thought that I really hadn't stopped buying anything--and then today I saw a sale on Pringles for $1.99 and realized I haven't bought them in a long time. My "buy" price for them has been to buy when they were advertised for $1.25 or less. Wonder if they'll ever get back down to that or if we'll be eating Aldi tortilla chips forever... 🙂

Our (about 150-200 person) evangelical congregation does not accept prayer requests for the prayer list for/about congregations members that do not originate with that person or have explicit consent from them to be put on the list.

As the mom of a young adult who has carried an epi-pen since age 2 for nut allergy, and as a school nurse, I can tell you there is a wide range of comfort on this subject from don't eat nuts to all surfaces must be wiped down, all kids must wash hand after eating and everything in between. Most kids don't react to peanut oil, as it is highly processed, and the protein that causes the allergy is denatured, or not present, or something. My kid eats at Chik-Fi-A, and eats "may contains" if it's a factory produced item--like cookies that don't contain nuts, but might be made in a facility or on shared equipment. It's a risk we're willing to take, and figure the odds are really low of actual contamination. On the other hand, she wouldn't have a donut that is not pre-packaged if the donut shop/bakery had lots of nuts flying around (ie not mass produced). Only once in 18 years have we had a production related cross contamination issue, with a mini PB cup (instead of a fudge cup) that snuck into a Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream half gallon from the grocery store. She spit it out, took benadryl for hives, and it didn't progress past that, thankfully. She is fine (cautious) with others eating PB around her as long as hands are wiped, or if I eat my Culvers custard with Reese's with a spoon. We are a bit more careful if we are far from medical care, but in our everyday life and many places we travel, we are within 5-20 minutes of EMS or a hospital.

The Morton Arboretum near Chicago had a troll exhibit a few years ago by the same artist. It was very cool and kind of interactive--like the kids could get in the troll's cooking pot, or be "held" between it's fingers and eaten. We loved it! I'm attaching a link to a blog (not mine, but her kids sure are cute!) that has some cool photos. https://neverdonewithfun.com/2018/09/14/morton-arboretum-troll-hunt-how-to-with-kids/

Re the prep--I've had various kinds (I think I've had 5 scopes), and get really nauseous no matter what the prep meds are. My MD started prescribing Zofran (anti-nausea medication) and that has been soooo helpful. Last year I had the Su-tab prep (the tablet, followed by lots of water) and thought I could do it without the Zofran, but I still needed it. With the nausea under control, my biggest dislike is being allowed only clear liquids the day before. I get hungry and jealous of the food eaters!

If doing everything to get that scholarship is really important to the student, I'd try to find the answer to the superscore question and base off of that answer. But generally speaking, to retake to gain one point--would NOT. Better to focus one's time/effort on essays grades and the like, I believe.

Ha! I JUST found an bag of Wilhelmina Peppermints (the first photo) in my pantry and have been passing them to my kids (and me) before the sermon the last two weeks. The King peppermints (second photo) are thinner and can be broken in quarters (by Dad, who has the strong fingers), thus potentially extending the longevity of their enjoyment if one takes a short break between pieces. No peppermint I've ever had has ever lasted as long as the sermon. If one holds it in a cheek pocket you might get close... For background, my parents grew up in the Netherlands, sucking peppermints weekly during services, but all my life I (and my kids) only partake when someone has brought them back from the Netherlands or a trip to the Dutch store in West Michigan :-).

Mine has lived on my dresser for the last 35 years. It has ticket stubs, some love letters :), and extra jewelry.

20+ years ago, my in-laws gave us a loan--I think it was actually written up as a 2nd mortgage document, to pay off a large chunk of principal. At the time, my FIL, an attorney, said they needed to charge us interest to make everything legal. They charged us the very minimum, which was considerable less than our first mortgage's interest. At minimum I'd do a google search about it if you don't have a real estate attorney to consult with. I second the caution about buying a house if one won't be staying long--there are a lot of costs in the buying and selling, maintenance, etc.

Wow--that is such a long and interesting piece--great job being so dedicated. I played piano for 6 years and never got as good as you are, Spencer. Keep up the good work!!

Is one antihistamine supposedly better than another for cat allergies? My allergic dc is going into a living situation with a cat and I don't know which one to get her (Claritin vs Zyrtec vs Allegra). We've bought the air filter as well.

In the large public school where I work, many girls carry their lunches in the Lululemon shopping bags they got when they bought their leggings. So they have the backpack and the lunch bag they carry around all day. And their jackets if it's cold. (They do not use lockers either...) I'm not sure what they have packed inside it (bento type boxes, thermos, baggie with sandwich?)

Gentle and Lowly, by Dane Orland. (Hope the link works) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086GWZ6CY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 I've started it and like it very much. Lots of reviews on Amazon.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/06/30/1108615724/positive-test-isolation "At the end the day, if you're still testing positive but you feel fine and are symptom-free, the decision to go out in the world comes down to context. If you're going to spend time with people who are high-risk, think twice, says Landon. "If you are thinking about going to the nursing home to visit your grandmother, this is not the time to do it," she says. But if there's something essential you need to do, don't feel trapped in your house. Go do it but keep your mask on, she adds." --I've read several places that any detectable virus is unlikely to be infectious after 10 days. The above article plays it conservative.

The above link is great, (@alisoncooks) CDC calculator above recommends isolating days 0-5, with day 0 being the first day of symptoms. Strict masking when around others for days 6-10, as long as there was no fever by day 5. On Day 11 can go back to life as usual. Stricter guidelines include staying isolated until one has a negative Antigen test, or through day 5, whichever is later. (So I personally isolated through Day 9, as I still had a positive home (antigen) test that morning. If I tested negative on Day 3, I would still stay isolated through day 5, and out on day 6) As a nurse, I recommend using the stricter guidelines if one is going to be around any high risk people, or those who have trips/important events coming up, etc.--otherwise I'd use the CDC guidelines.

I love a dark bedroom. Wish I would have known about these before I bought and hung the regular ball/rod kind. My curtains are great, but so much light leaks around the sides and top!

Some (about 400) private colleges participate in a "Tuition Exchange" consortium of sorts. If your husband works at a member school, it might be a benefit. It seems that these schools have a certain number of spots and one's kid can apply for one of those spots. They are not guaranteed, and it seems to help if your kid is a good stats student in securing one, and many cast their net wide, hoping to get a TE spot. There's a website https://www.tuitionexchange.org/, and I also learned a lot about the process from the College Confidential chat boards about it.

I know you have all kinds of family dynamics going on here that I don't understand, so I won't weigh in on your making the cake or not. For a family gathering in MY family, as long as there was another sweet my dd could enjoy, I wouldn't think twice about you making a special cake with nuts for those who could have it. To answer your question on what precautions I ask other people to take, for my multiple nut/peanut allergic child. I TELL them she is allergic to nuts. 1) I ask them to put any items that contain nuts on a separate plate/platter than other food my daughter might take, and let us know what's what 2) I ask them to think about cross contamination from cooking serving--eg--my kid is first through the line, so I know the serving tongs haven't been used on the peanut butter cookies, and then on the (non-nut containing) choc chip cookie plate. If they ask if I'd rather they not serve PB cookies I say "yes, I'd rather you not". If they ask if they can serve cake with almonds, eaten with a fork, we'd have no problem with it. 3) When she was under 7/8 I asked parents to watch for messy peanut butter eaters and have kids wash hands after eating to avoid contact allergy. Since then, she keeps an eye on what kids around her are eating and is fine advocating for herself. This has been an issue about three times in 10 years. 4) She ALWAYS carries benadryl and two epipens. She has never had to use the epi-pen. 5) For bday cakes/goodies I told host I was fine with cake if they were reasonably sure there was small chance of cross contamination. Making a cake from a mix in my kitchen, with a spatula/bowl that has been through the dishwasher, and PButter in my cabinet--miniscule, miniscule risk of cross contamination. Grocery store mass-producing cakes seem safer than small bakery. For fudge or cupcakes from a fudge store at Mackinaw Island, we'll pass. I respect other parents' choice to make different decisions, but this has worked well for my dd since the age of 18 months.

This is my pre-Covid knowledge, but for Field/Shedd/Adler you can park in their paid lots, or at Soldier Field (also $$). There is/was a block's worth of street meter parking between Shedd and the planetarium, but I never got that unless I got there about 30 mins before the museum opened. Art Institute has Millenium or Grant Park public underground parking garages that I've never heard of being full, though I suppose it could happen. I have most often used the app SpotHero, and just walked farther to my destination to save $. The app will tell you how far the SpotHero spot is from your destination. Science and Industry also has a garage. We have gone on a free day and it was full, and we had to street park SOO far away. And then send hubby back at the 2 hour point to feed the meter... I think that was before I discovered SpotHero. I used to hate going downtown because parking was so stressful to me, so SpotHero has been great. Re public transit: buses are really the only convenient way to the Museum Campus (tho their might be a water taxi in summer). From most of the suburbs Metra is the train to take downtown, but Union and Northwestern Stations are quite far from the tourist destinations/museums (except the Sears/Willis tower). Also $$ for multiple people--parking is cheaper. It's been ages since I've taken the "L", which is the city train. There are parking lots at the Skokie Swift station in suburb of Skokie, and the Howard station (far north city), and maybe Linden, the northern most stop in the suburb of Wilmette. We walk a ton so we don't have to repark the car when we're downtown. You definitely have to drive/take a bus from downtown to MSI, which is on the south side. (Edit: Also, the Bristol Ren Faire is my dd18's happy place. She just sent in an audition to work there this summer!)

We have the same living situation as you, and also we also don't own a dog due to me not wanting to do it all and inconvenience of travel. We fostered a dog for 4-5 months during Covid, when everybody was home. It was a good experience, but our dog was not easy. My husband only agreed to have her since we needed new carpet and paint anyway. She peed in the house 9 times (even though taken out every two hours during day) and had a habit of rubbing against our walls. We never wanted to take her collar off since she appeared to want to be an escape artist, so we have long black scratches/scuffs from the collar 18 inches from the floor on every wall in our house! She was very reactive to other dogs when we were out on walks, which we worked on a lot. She was never very affectionate, though she would tolerate our petting most of the time. OTOH, there were positives. She got each of us out of the house for a long daily walk, we learned a lot, and she was a great distraction during the mid-isolation stage of Covid. Each of us (except husband) really developed an affection for her and wanted her to be happy. We really enjoyed seeing how much progress she made in being crate trained, learning to be a (not terrible) walker, learning basic commands. If we had a yard we might have kept her. There were several failed "visits" with potential adoptive families, and it turned out that the family that did adopt her returned her to the shelter after she had an altercation with their other dog (so sad!). The shelter did not tell us about the return until she'd been back for a couple weeks. Due to upcoming travel then, we couldn't take her back, and despite us asking, we never were able to find out who the family was she ended up with.

Since you say it won't be warm yet, you might be going earlier than May, but the Chicago Architecture Foundation offers a special bridge tour with dates starting in May: https://www.architecture.org/tours/detail/chicago-s-moveable-bridges/ It's been years, but I've been on the CAF boat tour and a skyscraper walking tour, both of which were excellent if you are actually interested in architecture. The Wendella cruises as above are cheaper, and great for the typical person or if kids are along, but for architecture buffs the CAF tours can't be beat. What else I love in the city--Millenium Park, which is right next the the Art Institute and the Cultural Center. It has the iconic Bean (Cloudgate), an interesting fountain/pool area (not sure when the water gets turned on), and a fantastic playground. I do love the Field Museum, the Shedd, and Museum of Science and Industry. The latter has a great exhibit with a German U-boat if you are interested in WW2 history. If you're only in town for a weekend you'll really have to pick and choose what you do!

There is SO MUCH to do! I did some research, and then surveyed my two teen girls on what they would like to do. We liked the nighttime monument tour by bus. Also took bus out to Mount Vernon, and bought tram tour for Arlington. A highlight for me was getting to watch (part of) a Supreme Court argument. Not sure they are still doing that, and we got in line (in the cold!) at about 5am. Saw most of the mall museums. IMO Air and Space out by Dulles is better, but harder to get too--we had done that on a previous trip so didn't try. The (newish) Bible Museum just off the mall was a surprise hit--it had interesting "experiential" exhibits, a rabbi talking about translation errors that interested us. We did not go to the Cathedral because it was harder to get to on public transport, which is all we used, except Uber which we used for airport transport.