We moved not so long ago that we still get asked to "show around" when people come over. For the last two months we have had to close off DD's room and bathroom when people come, and I never even offer to "show around" because it is awkward to pass over those rooms. We had a smack down the other day where I told DD I was tired of her holding the house hostage with her mess! UGH!!

Don't you know that YOUR stuff is "stuff" and OTHER people's stuff is "sh!t"... Thank you, George Carlin... ;)

Every place around here is like that. Makes it very difficult.

:crying: Gosh what a sweetie you have.... Poor guy! And what a great employee he must be to be getting so much support from his co-workers. Hang in there. It's scary, but you are lucky to have the severance. You will get through it!

I love books about viruses and virus hunting. Not death in particular, but some find it morbid. We also have a ton of books about airline disasters, shipwrecks, arctic expeditions, etc. Mark of the Grizzly - about real life grizzly attacks - very interesting!

:iagree: Ultimately a teen needs to learn that as the driver they are responsible for everything that happens in/with that car, no matter who else is involved. Friend #2 should pony up, but the responsibility is still on friend #1. ETA, Whoa, just read your update. Friend #1 is way out of line and needs a lesson in personal responsibility.

He is a beauty!

I donated mine, but it was very dated and I was not emotionally attached to it. Just a thought though, sometimes just the existence of a dress "in the family" puts quite a bit of pressure on daughters. You might say you are okay with daughter not wearing it, but daughter might still feel like she will disappoint you if she doesn't. Some daughters might think it's the coolest thing ever, but some might feel really anguished over wanting their own dress and not wanting to disappoint mom. I remember when I donated mine thinking, well, at least there won't be any pressure on DD to wear a dress she might not like. You know your daughters best of course, but it's just a thought!

And....another reason to be glad we homeschool here....

Does Gel-Gloss make the floor slippery?

I have seen it regularly but it goes against every grammatical bone in my body.

We did this last year, the buying/selling at the same time. We closed on both the same day, moved Uhaul from old house to new. Thank god we had a good realtor though, as I thought it was like a finely orchestrated performance in which everything had to go exactly as planned, which it fortunately did. Seriously, if one little thing had fallen through, we would have been toast. NEVER AGAIN.

This thread reminds me of Sandra Lee's Semi Homeade recipes. I need to go check those out again!

Try adding a package of brown gravy mix mixed in 1/2 cup water, then boiling the whole thing together.... Mine is YUM with that!

Pour over whatever examples please?? I love diced tomatoes. I think they are a great add-in to doctor anything.

I am a bookkeeper for a reasonably small company with 17 people covered. They have probably a pretty representative mix of single, employee/spouse, and full family. I have been watching the health insurance costs start to become a real strain on them. It's insane. The monthly bill is over $20,000. MONTHLY. Here is what the bill is like: Employee Only $701 Employee Spouse $1400 Family $2259 I would guess most of the employees feel the same as you though, that "it's not too bad" because they pay something similar to you. The owner is a great guy. I have seen him take cuts in his own pay when times were lean, rather than lay off or cut benefits. But he make have to start making some tough choices soon.

Tsuga, I get what you are saying now. I see it more as a problem with the costs themselves though, that has been allowed to continue because it has been "invisible" to a certain extent. Your point is correct that it is an unsustainable system.

Yes. I am without insurance for the first time in years, because I can't afford it, and I am terrified. I agree with you here and that is why I think we should have a universal coverage that everyone pays into. This experiment with having everyone required to have coverage but no way to control costs, shows that the only way to GET everyone coverage affordably is to have a system that can negotiate costs enough to keep the costs down.

?? We had a catastrophic plan for the last 5 years or so that was affordable ($300/month for our family of three, deductible of $10,000). That plan jumped to $800 per month, which we cannot afford. So I don't agree with your statement.

And they wouldn't be making jokes about having to take their nitroglycerine tablets...

Of course, the cigarettes are not helping, but even if she quits, she will still be very sick. (quote got wonky) This is what I was thinking. FWIW, I am a rabid anti-smoker (who never smoked). But I don't think coming down on her will help her quit. Maybe you could mention that if she wants to try to quit you would be happy to be her support person.

I didn't mean to start a debate about leggings. My opinion is, whatever you think about them, lining up old men to critique women wearing them is creepy, inappropriate, and not going to accomplish anything except to make people's skin crawl.

My parents are both in their 80s. My dad is in okay shape, my mom has started with dementia. I am very close to my parents and every time I talk to them or get to go see them I think about the day coming inevitably when they will both be gone. I dread it. :grouphug:

Yes, that is what was creepy to me also.

Four foot tall fence is not high enough to contain a rottweiler if he decides to go over.