I've never had a problem kneading with my Kitchen Aid. In their defense they clearly state that 2 minutes of mixing with the dough hook is equivalent to 10-12 minutes of kneading by hand. I think it's disingenuous of America's Test Kitchen to have left that out of their review.

Yes DS9 was so good but Babylon 5 is even better. Star Trek TOS is so sexist. Yes, I know it was the 60s and I know it was actually ahead of its time in many ways but too many episodes are just about Captain Kirk/William Shatner and the women who can't resist him. (blech) Well, 80's women's fashion was full of shoulder pads so that cancels out the fun clothes. OTOH, the 70s was truly the fashion nightmare decade. The only pie I like is key lime. I don't like birthday cake or cupcakes. Give me key lime pie or cheesecake. Also, New York cheesecake is the only cheesecake. Yay! Someone else who appreciates Babylon 5! The 3 original Star Wars movies will always be 1, 2, and 3 to me. I don't care what George Lucas calls them. They're 1. 2. 3.

Ugh. I hate any of those blanket statements. When I first started teaching kids with learning disabilities one (not very accepted) school of thought was that everyone has a learning disability. Most of us have learned coping strategies and the rest are labeled LD and given an IEP. No, that's not how it works. Everyone is a bit ADHD. My son would like to tell you what it's really like to have ADHD Everyone has some OCD. People with OCD hate when others joke about "being a bit OCD". We all have some anxiety. While we might all feel anxious at times and not in a good way, being anxious and having anxiety are not the same thing. So now we're all a bit autistic? Please. And I'm sorry for the Autism community for having to deal with such a nonsense statement.

We've finally been having some cool mornings. I took my coffee and Kindle out on the screen porch and read for a while. Now I've been on hold with a doctor's office for 14 minutes. I've been trying to contact them for 2 weeks and finally got through to someone who immediately put me on hold. I needed that early stress reducer!

I just had a flashback to our homeschool days and Usborne books. Ds with his raging ADHD loved all those boxes everywhere while they drove me crazy. I only used them because the style worked well for him. Sorry to be grumpy towards Hive members but this is after all the Be Grumpy thread. 🙂 I would like to get rid of the idea that ebooks aren't "real" books. Same with audio books. It's the author's words that matter not the medium used to convey them. There are times I prefer physical books (especially cooking, gardening, and crafting books), times I prefer ebooks, and times I prefer audio books. All are books and all are "real".

It looks like we have to wait. Goodreads isn't showing the stats for 2023 year in books yet. If it is I can't find it. I didn't realize this was a zombie thread at first and went to GR to find mine for this year. I can only find 2022. Then I noticed I actually responded in this thread. I think we'll be able to get this year's stats in December.

We'll only get about 50% here.

She thought her cats would sleep cuddled with her every night. Instead as cats will do, they choose sleep in weird places on random items. As for my comment above the meme I made it because I realized I post a fair number of cat memes in this thread.

Tips - I agree we should just pay a living wage so tips are unnecessary. Single use plastics I hate Daylight Saving Time and wish we'd get rid of it. OTOH, where I live it doesn't get dark as early in winter so I do understand those who prefer we keep DST in place of Standard Time. And while I much prefer we just keep Standard Time year round I'll take one or the other. Just stop making us change twice a year.

I've had it done several times. I have dental anxiety as well as a mouth condition that makes dental work extra painful. I get a numbing shot but the dentist also prescribes valium for me to take before the procedure. If your dh is fine with dental work I'd have him still ask for numbing as it can be painful when they get to the worst plaque areas. I've had the mouthwash too. It can have a graying effect on your teeth though so I hated using it. I can't use an electric toothbrush because it's too painful* but I do use a water pic in addition to regular flossing and brushing. *I have oral lichen planus in case anyone wants to look it up. It's not fun, there's no cure, and very little treatment options. "Experts" still can't agree on whether or not it's an autoimmune disease.

I've had Moderna for every vaccine and booster. I only had a mild tiredness from the 2nd vaccine (not booster but at the start when you had to have 2 shots spaced out). Ds had Pfizer at the beginning and was out of it for about 48 hours after the 1st one. Reactions just seem to be different for everyone regardless of brand. None of us in this household have had reactions to the boosters or the current vaccine. As far as Moderna vs. Pfizer vs. Novavax for the current one, all our pharmacies in the area say they have no control over what gets sent to them and that they don't know what they'll be sent until it arrives. Hence, my reasons for Moderna for the boosters and the latest vax. It's what they had when and where I was able to go get it.

Yes I have cats. And I have many, many cat memes. I love the NPS employee who writes these.

The bolded is especially important. Dh went to his PCP for a neck issue and his doctor sent him to physical therapy. Fortunately in his case the PT said she wouldn't work on him without knowing what the issue was. As it turned out he did need surgery and therapy exercises would have actually made things worse. I'm not saying that's your issue but many doctors will want to send you to PT without first identifying the problem. I'd recommend requesting imaging before anything else.

I love that book and it's definitely worth reading/recommending. I agree with you though that this is one of those rare cases of the movie being better. That doesn't mean the book isn't good - it's lovely. The movie is even lovelier.

The Count of Monte Cristo is definitely worth a read. I love both The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. East of Eden is more character driven which might be your best choice between the two. I love Wives and Daughters! North and South is also very good but I prefer the former. Another classic author worth reading is Anthony Trollope, specifically The Way We Live Now. Many of his other books belong to a series but for his stand alones I'd choose this one.

We just have a small round table (seats 4) that literally just has some fall placemats and a napkin holder. We have dh's grandmother's gate leg table we used to have in the dining room at our old house. Now I just keep the sides down and use it mostly for seasonal decorations. If we have big number of people for a meal I open it up and we use it for dining. The second photo is of a niche at the end of our breakfast bar which I also decorate seasonally. Both are about to get spooky upgrades. Oh, and the kleenex box is always there because allergies are a year round thing in Florida.

Oh my goodness I don't know how I missed this post. I only saw it when Katie @ktgrok quoted it. I love it! That's me too. Dh and I often take our Kindles when we go out to eat. Not for a nice dinner of course but just casual restaurants. It's often too noisy to have a conversation so we read. I always remember reading while eating. I was that kid who would read the back of the cereal box if there was nothing else available. I listen to audio books while doing all of those things. I do take my phone into the shower and listen too. It's a water resistant, moisture resistant phone and there's a shelf in our shower far enough away from the shower head that I don't have to worry about it getting splashed even if it wasn't water resistant.

I read on my Kindle Paperwhite so it's much easier than holding a book. I usually lie on my back but will occasionally turn over and read on my stomach.

I haven't been to a wedding in ages but as far as I know it's not a thing here. I've heard them going off the night of high school graduation so I guess that's now a thing. People do random fireworks around here. Apparently any reason is a good reason to set them off. Also, people don't just set them off the nights of the two big US fireworks holidays but they start well before. Fourth of July is Tuesday? Great, let's start setting off fireworks the Thursday before. I love official fireworks displays but the people setting them off randomly is annoying. In Florida we have NEW Smyrna Beach. It was actually settled by Greeks from what was then Ottoman Smyrna, Crete, and Mani though that original colony failed. The town founder's wife was the daughter of a merchant from actual Smyrna.

I read on and off all day. I read almost exclusively in my Kindle Paperwhite and almost always borrow ebooks (and occasionally physical copies) from the library. I rarely buy books anymore. My main reading time is morning and bedtime. Since dh retired nearly 2 years ago we sit on our screen porch and read in the morning for about an hour while we have our coffee. I also read for about half an hour before bed. Throughout the day whenever I have a bit of down time I read. Sometimes I waste time online which digs into my reading time but mostly I spend my down time reading. Reading is like breathing to me so I never consider reading a waste of time, even if I'm sometimes reading fluff/twaddle. I also listen to audiobooks from Libby. I used to have more listening time before we moved when I spent a fair amount of time in the car. Now I mostly listen while cooking, gardening, or doing housework.