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.

This isn't a surprise. It never worked for me. I need the kind you have to sign for and show your ID.

We did that when we had a dog. We currently have 2 cats. We narrate their thoughts and we translate their meows. Two very different cats make it fun.

That's literally a year and a day after ds was born. I just told him he's older than Google and his jaw dropped.

No interest at all even if it was free. There are too many amazing museums and sights in DC that I wouldn't waste my time. I am, to use Rosie's word, an unsubscriber.

And a song - Backfield in Motion.

I'm currently working my way through a tin of olive oil I bought while in Greece in March. It came from a family owned olive company and I'll be sad when it's gone. I like California Olive Ranch for cooking and Gaea for salads and other non-cooked dishes. The reason for using two different brands? California Olive Ranch is pretty good and I don't want to "waste" the $20 a bottle olive oil on cooked dishes.

Without getting political I will say that I'd have little confidence in the value of any college degree coming from my state these days.

I haven't watched football in 20+ years but I used to be an avid fan. If I was to watch a game today either on tv or in person I'd have no trouble following it. I don't actually watch any sports but when I did I could follow basketball much easier in person than on tv. Baseball is 100% a bore on tv. A little better in person but not much. Watching a golf game is like watching grass grow. I'm not interested in tennis. I used to love to watch the Olympics but not so much anymore.

Oh, I forgot about my college P.E. teacher. I got my A.A. at a local community college before heading off to uni. P.E. was required. My two best friends and I took bowling for one reason and one reason only. The bowling alley was in Cocoa Beach. We all made sure we took early "serious" classes that day and scheduled bowling as our last class of the day. We'd wear our bathing suits under our clothes and go straight to the beach for the rest of the day after class. I'm terrible at bowling too. The teacher was very patient with me and tried to help me not throw constant gutter balls. I thought for sure I failed the class but she gave me a C. She said it was because she saw how hard I was trying and how much I was struggling. She was the only kind P.E. teacher I ever had but by then I already had developed a hatred of P.E.

That's just awful and my heart breaks for that family. I know that teacher will regret what they did for the rest of their life but they should still be held accountable. What they did was cruel. In Florida middle school kids (not sure about high school) can opt out of PE with a parent waiver. They have to either replace it with another approved elective or the parent has to state that the child will get the required amount of exercise (150 hours per week) on their own. Middle grandchild started middle school this year and opted out. He'll be taking marching band which is one of the approved replacements but he's also quite active. He rides his bike to school (not far but still) and rides it after school when he goes to friends' houses. He's outside often and very active. This. I was never good at sports and am poorly coordinated for such games. I can't hit or catch a ball to save my life. I miss the basket 90% of the time. I hate running. And I'm not competitive. All of those things mean that back when PE teachers assigned team captains and let those captains choose people, I was always among the last ones chosen. It was humiliating. I'm active and always have been but not in a sports kind of way. I walk, I hike, take bike rides, swim, do yoga, go to the gym and use the machines. I still hate running and as the joke goes I'll only run if a bear is chasing me. I wish there had been an opt out when I was in school. I still would have had plenty of active movement without the humiliation of being terrible at All The Sports. This too. Most of mine were horrible. I'm sure there are wonderful, understanding gym teachers but unfortunately many of us never met them.

That's what my mom told me. By that time breastfeeding was seen as done if you couldn't afford formula. She said when I was born they gave her a shot to dry up her milk (not sure what they used back then) without even asking her what she wanted to do. When my brother was born via c-section 5 years later they told her you can't breastfeed if you had a c-section.

A lot of Floridians (and maybe non-Floridians) know about saving and protecting manatees. Most probably don't know Jimmy Buffett was instrumental in both starting and leading the campaign. He helped start Save the Manatee. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2023/09/02/jimmy-buffett-save-the-manatee-club-florida-advocate/70751751007/