It's also NOT true that the vaccine is unsafe. It's NOT true that it's causing a rash of deaths. It's NOT true that it's causing an epidemic of permanent injuries to young girls across the globe. Our society is wigged out by the idea that people have sex at all. That it's not only a normal human thing, but that humans have sex even when they aren't trying to procreate. The biggest ick factors however, seem to be the ideas that our children and our parents (and even our grandparents) have/had sex and like it. It's not helpful especially when it comes to our children. We're much more able to teach them and protect them when we pull our heads out of the sand. Protecting them against certain types of cancer is not giving them carte blanche to just go sexually wild any more than getting them a tetanus shot is telling them to go play with rusty nails. This isn't about sex. It's about CANCER. I often wonder if people would act this way if there was a vaccine to prevent colon cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, leukemia (blood cancer), bone cancer, or any other type of cancer. Anti-vaxers will be anti-vax regardless of the vaccine but the HPV vaccine turns even some vaccine proponents against it. It truly doesn't make sense to me. Science has found a way to prevent at least some types of cancer. The fact that this cancer-causing virus is transmitted (mostly) sexually shouldn't even come into play. SCIENCE HAS FOUND A WAY TO PREVENT SOME TYPES OF CANCER! Yes, I yelled. Because I think this should be a reason for celebration and a reason for continued funding of cancer vaccine research. Not a reason to say "Lalalala I can't hear you."

I got hooked on Season 1 quickly, but just couldn't get into Season 2.

About 2 years ago - I don't remember what boosters they were but at a well visit my doctor named some suggested boosters for my age group and I opted to get all of the recommended ones.

This is why I reserved the right to check, and did a few times at first. Where we part ways is that I have a boy. He had a phone and was allowed to text. Few teens use facebook. Facebook is for old people. Note that old can mean someone in their twenties. Old people in their twenties also post stupid things that can become evidence. This sounds pretty much how we handled things. I checked ds' texts at first because I knew it would be easy for him to say something stupid and not realize the consequences. After a while it became a privacy issue. It's tricky balancing your teen's privacy and your right/need to make sure they aren't doing anything that can come back and hurt them. By 15 he knew I had the right to check his phone but I rarely did unless he gave me reason to suspect a need (which he did once or twice and it turned out to be nothing). Eventually it felt like checking his texts was like eavesdropping on his conversations. I stopped even the threat of checking by the time he was 16.

People - Why can't they find a way to prevent cancer? Medical science - Here you are people. Here's a way to prevent several types of cancer. People - But...but....SEX! NO!

Ds had his. His doctor said it wasn't necessary as young as the CDC recommends (which I think is 11 or 12?) unless you know or strongly suspect sexual activity. We waited until he was 14. The doctor also said many insurance companies won't cover it after age 18 because they assume the person (male or female) is already sexually active and therefore could have contracted HPV. Just something to think about for those who say they'll put it off and let the child/adult child decide.

You wanton woman, you!

Mix up your seasonings by adding dill or basil, or you could make it creamy. You could drop the pasta all together and use rice or a wild rice mix. Of course it wouldn't be chicken noodle soup then, but it would be different.

Most of the time, yes. Not this year.

Our city has themed Christmas parades and one year the theme was Christmas at the movies. Ds was in Cub Scouts at the time and his pack did A Christmas Story for their float. They won for best children's float. Of course we all said they won a Major Award. :laugh:

I don't have the laundry book but I do have Home Comforts by that author.

I like this one, and it's so easy. You can add nuts if you want to.

I agree with a lot of the authors/series already mentioned. James Patterson - when he was still writing his own books Stephanie Plum series - I truly laughed out loud when reading the first few. By around six or seven I was getting tired of her and thought she needed to grow up. The last one I read was #10 and I really didn't even like it. Also - Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series turned too dark for my liking Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone series - a book for every letter of the alphabet and even Grafton admitted she was tired as she reached the end Tom Clancy until he got too technical in his exposition I also think my reading tastes changed over the years. I used to like Stephen King but now I don't care for the genre at all so I don't know if I can say it's his writing I don't like. I just don't like to read horror anymore.

I recently listened to the first Cadfael book on audio and will add my vote for that series. I'm just discovering Sharon Kay Penman. She has a mystery series set in the Middle Ages as well as an historical fiction series about the various Plantagenet kings and queens.

Exactly. Theoretically you could vote on election day then get hit by a car or die of a heart attack as soon as you walk out of the polling place. Your vote hasn't been counted yet since they don't start until the polls close, but it should still be included in the count. An early voter's vote is no different if they die before the polls close.

I mailed mine yesterday and ds asked me to drop his in the mail too. Dh mailed his earlier this week. We used to take ds with us when he was younger and I think that's what made him want to go to his polling location to vote once he became eligible. It didn't take him long to realize it's more convenient to vote by mail. He voted at his polling place 3 times (last Nov., March primary, August primary) then signed up for mail-in. In this, his first presidential election, he voted by mail.

Yes, my state has had early voting for years. I used to love going to the polls on election day but after the first time I voted early I realized how much easier it is. Some years I voted early and some years I voted on election day. Then when my state started allowing vote by mail even if you aren't absentee I didn't go for it at first. I started voting by mail a few years ago and now I love it.

I'm so very sorry for your loss. :grouphug:

Yes. No kids under 17 Yes

Dh used to love his job but so many things have changed. From people retiring to a new company taking over the contract he says it's just not the same. I fear he's just coasting until he can retire in another 2 years. I don't mean he doesn't do his best, but he just doesn't enjoy it like he used to. He occasionally gets pumped when all goes well with a launch (there's so much involved that a rocket can launch successfully but you never hear of all the problems leading up to it). Those times though, are few and far between. I loved my job until the end, but I did what I always dreamed of doing for as long as I could remember - I was a teacher. That's all I ever remember wanting to "grow up to be". My intent was to go back once ds started school, but he was only 6 months old when we started considering homeschool.

I've been thinking of doing the same with my great grandmother's silver. There's no one in the family who wants it and I see no reason for me to hold on to it when we never use it anyway.

I finished Homegoing. I loved it though I felt the ending was a little flat. I get that there was symbolism there, but for such a sweeping multi-generational family saga I wanted more. I still would highly recommend it. You all did it again. I started reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I've had it for a while but never read it. I was disappointed with The Haunting of Hill House when I read it a few years ago so I wasn't in a hurry to read another Shirley Jackson. I'll give this one a try though. I started the final Last Policeman book, World of Trouble and am listening to A Morbid Taste for Bones (thanks to aggieamy). Other than that, nothing new. Still plugging along with my Plantaganet books, both fictional and non-fiction.

Ds turned 19 last month and will likely be at home at least until he finishes community college. He asked for a computer game that's coming out in November. Other than that, I'm not sure. He likes to wear knitted hats like the singer from Twenty One Pilots, so I might knit him another one (I've made several in different colors and he loves them). I'm not sure what else we'll get him. Maybe a new set of gaming headphones. Stocking stuffers will probably be gift cards, guitar strings and/or picks, and maybe some beef jerky. I can never go wrong with a band tee shirt from a classic rock 70s or 80s band. ETA: I just checked his Amazon wish list. He added a few things in September but it looks like he needs to update the list a bit. I'm going to remind him to do that.

Wow, that's a lot. Florida tends to go amendment crazy, amending the state constitution rather than just making new laws. There are 4 amendments and one local referendum (a 1/2 cent tax to clean up our lagoon) on this year's ballot.

Done. But... Atheism doesn't belong under religious affiliation. It would have been nice if the "how was this poll?" questions were less goofy.