On their website they're listed as Knife Edge Dressmakers. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Gingher's left handed sewing scissors (knife edge dressmaker's I now know lol). I've had cheaper left handed sewing scissors in the past but these are only true left handed scissors I've had. They're the best!

There's a fungus that's killing off palm trees in Florida. The fungus is native but had been mostly in South Florida. In recent years it made its way up the peninsula and even across the panhandle. It affects both planted landscape palms and palms in the wild. There have also been accounts of it in GA and SC. Until recently (more on that below) there was no way to test for it. There's no known preventative and no cure. Also, since the fungus lives in the soil you can't plant another palm tree where one was killed by ganoderma. Other trees aren't affected. A year or so ago researchers at the University of Florida found a way to test for it but it's not cheap and you have to drill into the tree for a sample. For the most part you don't know if your tree has ganoderma until it's too late, not that you can do anything about it if you know early. The danger in not knowing is that it kills the bottom portion of the tree and in a storm these diseased trees can easily fall over. In my are it's hit mostly queen palms. They're non-native and ugly but used by developers and cities/counties to line medians because they're cheap. There's one road in my area that was hit particularly hard. As you drive down it you see little piles from where they removed the diseased trees. Other trees in that median are starting to look like they might have it too. For the tl;dr version of the article below just read the bullet point summary at the top. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP100

I don't think it's socially required but I think in the work world there's a combination of misogyny and ageism making women feel the need to stay younger looking. As was mentioned upthread men seem to feel that thinning hair/balding is something they need to hide. In the non work world where I reside, at least in my area, it's anything goes you do you. Same here. My maternal grandmother had beautiful silver hair. When my mom decided to go gray it came in coarse, scraggly, and yellowish. She was sorry she stopped coloring it and was never able to get the gray to "take" color again. I seem to have her gray rather than my grandma's. I have it professionally done because I like the result and don't want to deal with doing it at home. It's as close to my natural brown as I can get but with some added blonde highlights to blend the gray. I've talked to my stylist and when I'm finally ready to go all gray she'll help my hair make the transition. This describes my social circle as well as the wider attitudes in my area. I don't always wear makeup but some friends do. I have one close friend who gets gel nails (fingers and toes) regularly, gets her hair dyed, and always wears makeup. Another does none of that. Several others like me are somewhere in between. I get my hair colored regularly, sometimes I wear my contacts, my fingernails are filed short and neat and never polished but I often get a pedicure (sandals/open toe shoes year round make painted toenails fun), and sometimes I wear makeup. All of us do these things not because of misogyny or ageism (and not to fight those things in the case of one who does none of the above). We do it or don't because we like to, we know we're privileged to be able to afford it, and because makes *us* feel good. We don't do it for anyone else.

I made this last night and it was pretty good. I used heavy cream because I had some left from another recent recipe. I'd make it again but with half and half. I always have half and half on hand for my coffee so I don't see a need to buy heavy cream just for this recipe. I served it with a simple lettuce salad with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and grated parmesan. It was quick and easy though it took me longer than the recipe says, for two reasons. She used precooked chicken sausage but mine was uncooked. I had to cook it first. I also didn't have a jar of sauce so I made a marinara. Even with the extra time and work that I added it was still easy. https://www.nourish-and-fete.com/italian-chicken-sausage-pasta/ I make this quite often. We all like it and it's another (almost) one pot meal. I say almost because I serve it over orzo so another pot is needed to cook the pasta. If you are low carb it would be filling enough without pasta or you could serve it with cauliflower rice. https://www.cookingclassy.com/healthy-lemon-parmesan-chicken-and-veggies-cooking-classy/

I remember watching The Man From U.N.C.L.E. as a kid. Though he was probably active I didn't hear of him again until he showed up on NCIS.

I'm also older than dirt but completely forgot about that word. I remember now.

Anyone else besides the OP and I have a bunch of recipes they want to try and several new recipe sites bookmarked? 😍

I do something similar and add arugula near the end (to wilt it like spinach).

I've also enjoyed dishes from Olive Tomato, another Mediterranean food blog.

Yep. I can remember 3 of my childhood phone numbers plus the number of my high school best friend's parents house yet I'm constantly having to look up my passwords.

I said earlier in the thread that I don't watch football but I used to and have no trouble following it. On Saturday I met a group of friends for lunch at a sort of waterfront, sort of sports friendly restaurant. We were seated in the back of the place with one side of our table against a wall. I was seated opposite the wall and a tv was above me. I looked up and noticed my alma mater (FSU) was playing Boston College. Every now and then I'd glance up mostly to look at the score rather than the action. Oh, they're tied. Uh-oh, BC is ahead. Oh, we must have scored because now we're ahead. Go 'Noles! After we left the restaurant I forgot all about the game. It wasn't until yesterday that I looked up the final score out of curiosity. FSU won but just barely.

I think it's a combination of regional and cultural. Those kids will be fine imo.

We sometimes give experience gifts to our adult children even if we don't go with them. Recent gifts were a one year family zoo membership for dss and the grandkids, and a bioluminescence kayak tour for ds (2 tickets so he can take his girlfriend).

Oh my goodness that sweet face! I still don't know how I'd feel about adopting her if I had children at home but as empty nesters? Or adult children at home? Yes, I'd take her. She melted my heart and I haven't even seen her in person.

"I turned the faucet on for the cat". We've all said it actually. One of our cats will only drink from the bathroom faucet. Either bathroom. We tried several types of pet fountains and she turns her nose up at them. She won't drink from a water bowl. The problem is that it's easy to turn on the faucet then not wait for her to finish drinking. We've left it running to often so now we tell at least one other person in the house in case we forget to turn it off.

Yes! It takes all my willpower not to bring another pet home, be it a cat or dog. We currently have 2 cats and we want to travel now that dh is retired. One cat is 15 and diabetic. Fortunately my niece and/or her 15yo daughter are able to take care of her but sometimes I worry if we go away for too long will she still be alive when we get home. My brother and I are the same when it comes to getting pets. I once had a diabetic dog, now I have the cat. He has a 3-legged cat along with 2 other cats, one he rescued from a dumpster near where he was working. I blame our mom lol. One of us was always bringing a puppy or kitten home and her mantra was always "We'll only keep it until we can find a good home for it." Of course our home ended up being the good home.

Yep. When I went away to college most of my new college friends and I tended to do things that our new found freedom allowed, things that wouldn't be allowed at home. However, the only one who went overboard was the pastor's daughter. Unlike the rest of us, she had trouble self regulating because everything was regulated for her externally up until then. We knew when and how to reel ourselves back in but she didn't.

Without kids in the house I might. With kids, no. For one thing a 12 yo dog wouldn't be much of a playmate for children. Then there's your concern about how many years the dog has left and how the kids will take her death. When it comes time for us get a dog (after we do some retirement traveling) I plan to find an older dog. Even then I'm not sure if I'd want a 12 year old dog unless it really tugs at my heart strings. My niece volunteered at a shelter when she was a teenager and the older dogs and cats rarely got adopted. When she moved out on her own she went there and asked to adopt the oldest cat they had. He lived for 5 years after she brought him home and was a sweetheart. There are some times when adopting an older pet is a good idea. I don't think that time is when you have children.

Ours is a GE which we've had for 3.5 years and are happy with it. The filtered water dispenser is inside which can be an issue if you have a lot of people opening the refrigerator often to fill water cups. We all use large water bottles even at home so it's not a problem for us. The filter is inside at the top and doesn't really take up a significant amount of space. French doors, bottom drawer freezer, ice maker inside. The only issue we've had with the ice maker is I don't think the sensor is sensitive enough and it can overfill with ice if we don't keep an eye on it. Not a deal breaker for us. Dss and ddil had a Samsung and had the same issue people here posted about. The one type of refrigerator I had only once and never want again is a side by side. There was never enough room in either the freezer or refrigerator. I hate side by side. This is ours. We had to get a specific size to fit in the built in spot but it comes smaller and larger. https://www.geappliances.com/appliance/GE-ENERGY-STAR-27-0-Cu-Ft-Fingerprint-Resistant-French-Door-Refrigerator-GNE27JYMFS

The studies (mostly one from 2015) discuss long term and frequent use of anticholinergic medications, including meds for overactive bladder or incontinence not just allergy drugs. I take Benadryl on those days when I can't stop sneezing and my eyes itch so badly I want to scratch them out. I don't take it regularly and never more than one dose on the days I take it. Mostly I just take Zyrtec daily. It doesn't make me drowsy. Claritin and Allegra are useless for me. I recently started allergy shots and sometimes my reaction at the injection site is so uncomfortable that oral Benadryl is the only thing that calms it down (yes, they diluted that particular vial but I still get a reaction). Topical anti-itch creams don't do anything for it.

I'll keep that in mind. I don't need it often. Usually my symptoms are hay fever type controlled by generic Zyrtec, or if it's really bad then I take generic Benadryl. Our insurance pays for $60 per quarter for OTC meds through a health Visa card. Costco isn't on the list where we can use the card but if I use up my $60 and need sudafed before the new quarter I'll go to Costco. Huh. We definitely have to show ID here. The few times one of us had a procedure requiring oxycodone we had to show ID regardless of who picked up the rx. Also, when I was taking it for chronic back pain before my surgery I had to see the doctor monthly and randomly pee in a cup. It could be different in different states. Florida became an oxy pill mill state at one point so our regs probably were made more strict as a result.