Added to my TBR list - thank you. I enjoyed The Power of Habit earlier this year, and I have seen Rubin's books but never read them. I also read Superhuman by Habit and thought is was quite good if you can accept that it is absolutely bloglike. I'm not sure it is worth $4.99 though - I read it for free when I had Kindle Unlimited.

I call my mom or a friend. I forgot that one! But I like talking on the phone :)

Mostly I read, walk, or run errands :) But I also work on studying foreign languages. If you have a smart phone, there are some great apps (Duolingo, Memrise, Clozemaster). I could also crochet, but I don't.

Thanks for bringing her to our attention, Loesje. I read the wikipedia article about her, and was saddened to read that she died from breast cancer at age 48. I had breast cancer when I was 41 (almost 12 years ago), so I always notice that and always grieve for women who die from the disease at such a young age.

I got my IP on Black Friday last year from Amazon. I just checked my order and I paid $68.95.

Would you consider an Instant Pot (IP)? When my slow cooker died, I joined the IP cult :) I don’t know if they have a white one, though.

I did quit after the first one. All I can remember now is being kinda bored and wondering what the fuss was about.

You guys are making me think I should give Pullman another chance. I read The Golden Compass 15-ish years ago, and didn't like it enough to go on. But I did enjoy his Grimm book.

Hey, I almost forgot to post this! I went to the Northern MD / Southern PA WTM meetup last week. It was so much fun!! Here is the picture if you want to see us: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/654148-picture-from-the-wtm-meetup/

If you no longer want to read ruminations on what happened in last week's thread, I will leave blank spaces so you can easily move on. Scroll down for further ruminations. ETA: I am also adding lots of blank spaces after my ruminations to make it easier for you to avoid them. I only hopped onto these threads in January. I get that stuff happened here before that, and that I can't really understand all of it because I didn't live it. But I was left bewildered by the end of last week. Robin, if there are unwritten guidelines about how you want the thread to operate, those are still not clear to me. Perhaps I am just dense. If there are guidelines that you can articulate, then maybe you could write them up and cut-and-paste them into the beginning of each thread. Otherwise, I am of the mindset that as long as I follow the general rules of the Chat Board then I am following the rules of the BaW threads, too. I'm not planning to leave. I have reaped a lot of benefits from these threads, and made new friends. Hopefully, I have contributed something useful as well. I want to keep talking to the people that are here. But I would also like to talk with the bookish people who have decided that this is no longer the right outlet for their thoughts. And I want to hear about books that might be too controversial for these threads (ETA, not sure where that line is either, to be honest). Feel free to PM me and let me know about other venues for the bookish conversations that don't suit these weekly threads. Edited for an attempt a clarity. As usual.

Yes, absolutely yes, to the bolded. I have said this countless times! I do remind them that, for now, there is still a high probability that someone from my generation is reading their resumes and college application essays.

The only time hats bother me is if you are sitting in front of me at the theater. I am short. One of the older ladies in my world (think of her as my aunt in her late 70s) is insistent that men and boys remove their hats if we meet at a restaurant. I am talking about a very casual restaurant. I have told my sons about her feelings, and of course they remove their hats in her home. But the way she barks at them to remove their hats seems rude to me, and I told them that I am fine with them dealing with it however they choose to do so.

I recently started having a problem with my right foot. The guy at the running store suggested that it might be Morton's Neuroma, and I think he might be right. He set me up with the right running shoes, and my foot doesn't hurt as long as I wear those shoes. But I don't want to wear running shoes all the time! For that matter, I am usually barefoot in my home and am annoyed at having to wear running shoes all darn day. I am hoping someone here has a suggestion for buying non-exercise shoes or maybe inserts of some kind. I know zero about inserts.

Aw, that is very kind of you. Clothing has always been a realm of insecurity for me.

I just ordered my first-ever Stitch Fix :) I actually know someone IRL who works there as a stylist so I requested her. My wardrobe is really in bad shape and I hate clothes shopping so I am excited!

I’ve never been able to post pictures here. No wonder - it is complicated! I’m saving your instructions - maybe I will try again sometime. Thanks for all the time you put into both organizing the event and posting the photo.

That seems more reasonable.

Dawn, he has it now, it just took longer than expected!

I read my first Agatha Christie book this year, too. I read Murder on the Orient Express. I'm not much of a mystery reader, but I needed one for a bingo square and took it as an opportunity to read a new-to-me classic.

I am curious how long it normally takes for the actual college diploma to be sent to the student. It took almost five months for my son to receive his diploma in the mail. There were no particular issues - no academic or financial holds or anything like that. It was just a slow process, and I was wondering if that is the norm or not.

Safe travels, mama25angels. Maize, hope everyone in your house recovers quickly. happysmileylady, blah on tooth pain and dental bills. This has been a bad, bad year here also for dental bills. I have had a VERY busy week. Sort of a recovery day for me, if you can count doing lots and lots of math as recovering. Tonight, DH and I will watch the finale of Stranger Things (Season 1), and I am looking forward to that :)

Can you send me a PM? I tried to send you one but can't for some reason. First, I will see if the original poster wants the referral :) ETA, even without referrals you can get 10 percent by registering on their site with your email.

Here is a link to the movie poster we talked about: https://www.popchartlab.com/collections/gift-guides-tv-film-fanatics/products/100-essential-films-scratch-off-chart If this sort of thing appeals, be sure to look at the ones in the Bookworm section. There is even one for sentence diagramming! https://www.popchartlab.com/collections/gift-guides-bookworms I do not take credit for finding these, by the way. I saw them on another thread :)

This and that: I interpreted Stacia's bowing out as bowing out of the conversation. Woodland Mist, I have missed "seeing" you around! Robin, I hope your building project proceeds smoothly. The film poster arrived, and it is very pretty. I had not anticipated that it would look so pretty - initiating the scratching-off is going to feel like defiling it.

I had SO MUCH FUN this afternoon!!!! It was great to meet all of you :)