Is the deal for the Vitamix 5200 at $299.99 a good deal? Or is this a price that shows up regularly? Vitamix 5200 Blender

I will now be stewing all day about whether or not to get this .... Thanks, I guess???

Wow I forgot this was today! Just ordered finger lights and LED glow glasses to hand out for Halloween. No clue if I could've found these cheaper somewhere else, but the convenience sold me.

The Way of the Rose: the Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary by Clark Strand and Perdita Finn. I figured out that author Sophie Strand's parents were also authors, saw that the library had a book they co-wrote, and impulsively requested it. Wow. It's just as weird as you'd think given the title. I felt like I was reading something from the 90s when I was in my Waldorf phase, and kept forgetting it's from 2019. They are NOT Catholic, not Christian, very eco-hippy conservation-minded, preaching the gospel of climate change. Also, they think everyone in the world should pray the Rosary, regardless of spiritual background and path. There were some lovely parts, and the end notes were interesting.

I remember hearing the same thing years ago. What I recall is they were saying that once you had CP yourself, the constant tiny exposures to kids who were shedding the virus because they had CP gave a little boost to your body "remembering" what to do with the virus (or something to that effect -- it's been years since I thought about this!). And therefor when CP was a pretty much constant factor in the environment there would be fewer cases of shingles in older adults. Vaxing all the kids means that when your body (that once had CP itself) does happen to see the virus again it's sort of "forgotten" that it knows how to deal with it, and POOF, you get round #2 in the form of shingles.

Theater Kid 1 (who does costuming instead of makeup) votes that you certainly can use it but it wouldn't stay on long -- so yes for a photoshoot, no for a performance Edited to add that she specified that the photoshoot would need to be "not sweaty" for it to work well. "Not even heat, sweat! Top Stick Brand would last a while and I think actually for wigs, but it is a bit expensive" Kid 2 (does a bit of everything - costumes, directs, acts) chimes in "Top stick is the almighty when it comes to wardrobe tape. It is toupee tape."

A friend with three kids (18yo and above) has recently been diagnosed as autistic. She instagrams about her journey through this as the mom. I have no idea if her kids are putting out stuff about being her kids. I suspect not.

The Tell-Fang Heart: A Paranormal Vampire Cozy Mystery: Vampire Pet Boutique Mysteries No. 2 by Elle Wren Burke. I think a boardie mentioned book 1 of this series a few months back as featuring a main character with a disability. It's a cute series, especially if you like dogs, cozy mysteries, and vampires that are on the warm-and-fuzzy spectrum.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. I'd seen a lot of chatter about this on Mastadon a while back, and finally got my turn on the library hold list. I really enjoyed it. Apparently it's coming to Netflix -- I saw the preview right after I read the bit in the book about everyone in the game-version of Trisolaris floating off into the sky, and the Netflix version looked like what I had imagined in my own head. I've heard the second book is sort of a slog, but I will take it on eventually. BTW, reading this right after reading about QAnon was amazing. The book opens with the Cultural Revolution, and ridding the 1960s version of China of elites and intellectuals -- those scenes seemed like QAnon fever dreams of what they'd like to do. But then we move on years later to a fricking HUGE conspiracy, and the need to convince everyone in the world that science is nonsense. Sci fi! Conspiracy! Cults! Weird physics discussions! So many of my favorite things, all in one place!!!

It seems regional to me. It's become more popular here in the past few years. I grew out the grey during Covid, and I noticed quite a few other women doing the same. Now that I'm grey I get compliments on my skin, which is sort of funny. I guess that means my face matches my hair, or possibly looks younger than my hair. OTOH, dh colors his hair. So do all the women in his family, including his mother who is nearly 90. I'm pretty sure they're all appalled by my grey hair, although they never say anything to me about it. A petty observation: My skin looks so much better than theirs.

Wow, I'd also forgotten that word. I used to love it, though, because it was so odd. Putting this on my list of Things to Do as I age into being a Disruptive Old Woman. I shall dye my hair a gaudy color, wear outrageous clothing, swat miscreants with an umbrella, and use the word "lavatory".

Codename Charming by Lucy Parker. @Kareni reviewed this a few weeks ago. Sweet and fluffy fun.

Trust the Plan:the Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy that Unhinged America by Will Sommer. Yikes. As I started reading I decided I needed to alternate this with something else so I didn't get too depressed. I randomly chose from the stack: The Four Agreements: a Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz. And what a bizarre combo that was -- Ruiz is really likes the metaphor that our words are magic, and we poison the world with the black magic of our negative words. Welp, that pretty much sums up QAnon. It was sort of eery to read the two books together. Other than that, Four Agreements was rambling and repetitive, and could've been an essay. But, whatever, good for the author for making this into an entire little industry of books and cards. Love the cover art. May conspiracy theory enthusiasts everywhere read it and take it to heart. I just got notified that 2 holds are in, including Codename Charming. Yay! I need a palate cleanser, and that's exactly what I expect from the book!

Reverse Meditation by Andrew Holecek. I have an author-crush on Holecek, and I think this is now my favorite book of his.

First, my mom was also huge on "just rest". When I was young I thought this was because she was desperate to have a break from me at nap time by any means possible, even when I was whining that I wasn't sleepy; but now I think she was on to something bigger. Second, these days you can use Youtube videos or (probably) apps to do Yoga Nidra or NSDR (Non Sleep Deep Rest), which is essentially that same thing. They'll talk you through relaxing, and then just floating around in that daydream or liminal, hypnogogic state for various periods of time, with or without a little "wake up!" at the end. Finally, I, too, spend time pondering what it means to "go to sleep." Boy howdy, I love thinking about those implications and experimenting with stages of consciousness .... Right before I read this thread I was listening to a podcast discussing meditation and conscious/aware sleep which is when the light of consciousness penetrates even beyond the dream state (as in lucid dreaming) into the state of sleep itself for perpetual mindfulness. All of which makes it more interesting to wake up in the night because it means I get to have a little adventure.

Pouring Concrete: a Zen Path to the Kingdom of God by Robert Harwood. I heard him on a podcast and thus gave him a try. Meh. The Power of Awe: Introducing the Scientifically Proven A.W.E. Method by Jake Eagle and Michael Amster. I heard the authors on the 10 percent Happier podcast, loved the concept (micro-dosing mindfulness), and decided to read the book even though the podcast pretty much told everything you need to know to do it. The first 40-50 percent of the book I really regretted that decision -- so very boring -- research and studies, Porges and polyvagal theory, blah blah blah. Then they delved into Perception Language, which I'd not heard of before, and I was absolutely fascinated. Loved the rest of the book. I will be proselytizing about A.W.E. (Attention, Wait, Exhale/Expand - takes about 15 - 30 seconds) for weeks to come.

We loved your museum - it was totally worth the price! OTOH, in DC we spent days and days doing free stuff. Top on my list of museums to pay for would've been the spy museum, but we never ran out of other things to do, so we never got to it.

The Madonna Secret: A Novel by Sophie Strand. Author took primary documents from first century Palestine -- "canonical, gnostic, and apocryphal," shook them up, and came up with a different viewpoint. Miriam tells us about her early life, especially the part with Yeshua. Trigger warning if you need Jesus to be portrayed as a bachelor rabbi who was Lord God. Also, the author never misses a chance to mention the 2000 crucified due to the uprising of Judas of Galilee about 30 years earlier (but she's never as graphic as, say, 2 Maccabees 7, which we Protestants are blissfully unaware of). I really liked parts of this; other parts I thought were sort of dumb. But it did make me think. Unwitting Mystic by Mary Reed. I randomly found this on my Kindle, having forgotten about it. Lovely book about some of the author's mystical experiences. Really a bad choice to read concurrently with the above novel as it highlighted how fraught and angsty the novelist's descriptions of otherworldly events sounded. This book probably makes more sense it you already read about NDEs and OOBEs and whatnot. I'm over here aligning it with what I've read about Simulation Theory. (Also, I've decided to start reporting in on some of the weirder books I read.)

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker. @Kareni mentioned the second book in this series in last month's thread. Very fluffy and sweet, which was exactly what I was looking for. Now to wait the 9 weeks until my hold on the next book comes in. I suspect you don't have to read these in order, by the way. Be Your Own Medical Intuitive: Healing Your Body and Soul by Tina M. Zion. I heard the author on a podcast, have a compulsion to read weird books about healing and metaphysics, and thus plunged in. Either this one was better than many of them, or I've developed my capacity to read this sort of thing (I'm fascinated by the metaphors people use to explain their experience, and how those metaphors relate to culture and perceived reality). On one hand, I now know how to DIY a soul retrieval, but on the other hand, I've never felt a need to do that.

I'm on team "I don't want moving fabric swishing over nipples due to sensitivity". My early-pregnancy-alert was when feeling AIR on my nipples was painful, and showers were fraught with dread of a drop of water banging into super-sensitive skin. OTOH, I'm also on team "why are y'all wearing shoes?", and the bottoms of my feet are probably way less sensitive than most people's simply due to their exposure to all sorts of surfaces every day. So I realize I probably could build up tolerance. But, meh, I wear crappy old bras that aren't really doing anything except protecting the nipples (very flat chested) and thus pretty comfy, so why bother.

Wow wow wow so often I see discussions about a spouse that snores but FINALLY a discussion about the spasms and jiggles! DH insists he needs a noise machine because of his delicate hearing, but, hello, I'm over here feeling like I'm surfing through a major earthquake and there doesn't seem to be some little machine I can plug in for relief. I'm noting all your suggestions. And mostly just feeling relieved to find so many other people who understand the issue!

I'm so sorry.

Wanted (Legacy of Magic Book #7) Cursed (Legacy of Magic Book #8) Both by Lindsay Buroker. Months ago someone here mentioned her Death Before Dragons series. I read through all of those whenever I needed something fluffy to read. I discovered the author was writing another series in the same world, featuring the characters from Death Before Dragons as background characters. It turned out to be ... not as much fun. Sort of a slog at times. Whiney. But I persevered. Wanted was the low point, and took me 2 months to get through. Cursed was way more fun (maybe it had more Val and Zav). Now the series is over and I'll probably be avoiding this genre for a while.

One of my pet peeves is praise music that focusses on "the name of Jesus" like it's a magic spell. For god's sake, if you want to reduce the New Testament to an incantation AT LEAST GET IT RIGHT. My favorite story about Catholic vs Evangelical Bible literacy: A few years back Dd was cast in a churchy-type production and was given the name "Jael" because it exists in the Bible. When I heard the name I was joking about her maybe pounding a tent stake through someone's head during the production. The Evangelical moms were totally blank, the Catholic moms laughed.

I can't tell you how intriguing this is. I feel like I need to read the book just to figure out what "the whole octopus thing" means. 🤣