Our flock is currently molting and not producing eggs, so for baking last week I had to actually buy eggs for the first time in a very long time. I forgot to look at the regular grocery store, but Sam's Club only had the large cases of eggs (6 dozen?) or they had a very small pallet out of 18 count Egglands Best eggs. No other options, so I picked up the EB's for $7 because I certainly didn't need 6 dozen eggs. I always get the brown free range eggs when I have to buy eggs, so it was strange to be cracking plain ole' white eggs and thinking that they were more the most expensive eggs I'd bought in recent memory.

Mine did not rise this morning. No one seemed to mind. DS asked to take a few back home with him, and they're his favorite so they were still edible, but they were definitely not right. I hardly ever bake these days, so I wonder if my yeast was dead.

Yep! We have both memberships as well. Unless I am specifically needing something that only Costco carries, I will choose to shop at Sam's everytime, simply because of the app.

In my strange circle of people I know, the people who are complaining about stores utilizing self-checkouts are the same people who will short waitstaff on their tips if something was amiss that didn't actually warrant a reduction in tip. Personally, I love self-check. Scan-and-go is even better! My favorite place to shop is Sam's Club because I can shop with my phone in hand and scan everything as I go, cutting out a lot of time waiting in a checkout line.

Oh, and to answer the original question. Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha. Which didn't even come back this year. It used to be a limited time fall drink and I would get so annoyed at how short the season was for it before they rolled out the peppermint, so I got it a LOT when it was available.

I guarantee that your visits to that drive thru are the highlights of their day! The greatest gift I have received from my job in fast food is the connection I've made with so many fabulous people that I never knew before I worked at CFA. I could tell some amazing stories! I can't even tell you what it meant to me the first time one of those guests asked for me to come to the window and then promptly handed me a tray loaded with homemade cookies and other treats. Take them something! A plate of cookies (from a bakery or homemade- they won't care!), a small box of chocolates, a bag of chex mix, etc. If you do family Christmas cards, take them one- especially if it has your dog on it. I promise they are the biggest fans of your dog as well as you. 🙂

I have not, but I'm positive it has made the rounds at work. Some people have gotten wiped out by it for a good week plus. Some people had the swollen glands/tonsils and lost voice with minor cold symptoms. Everyone had the sore throat- a couple of us were positive it was strep until everyone started getting tested. All tested negative for covid, and the ones who were diagnosed were simply told they had a virus and that it needed to run its course. One 40+ adult actually had her tonsils removed because of it.

Oh, I am so sorry to hear this. Praying for you and your family for the days ahead of you.

I adore Michael Hobbes on Maintenance Phase, and I was excited to give this new one a listen. I enjoyed the conversation over the first episode- I can't wait to see where they are headed with it. https://lithub.com/recommended-listening-if-books-could-kill-a-podcast-about-terrible-airport-books/

We hire as young as 14 years old with a work permit. The hours are restricted and there are some tasks they cannot until they turn 16 do per the state of Wisconsin, but around here fast food and grocery will hire at 14.

Click on the Question Mark icon for Help. In the search bar that comes up, type in Contact Microsoft. It will will up a few options on how to get support, but at the bottom of that it says "Still need help?" and there are two greyed boxes. Select YES. It's supposed to send something to MS where they will then reach out to you soon. Not sure if it actually works, as I didn't want to click yes since I don't actually need help or contact.

I still have a hotmail account and somehow it's become the one I share most often. It's definitely the worst at deciding what should be junk, what should be real, and what you've blocked a dozen times. The help is self-help, but if you go into the help menu and search for contact microsoft, it gives you the option at the bottom where it asks if you still need help, and if you click yes, they are supposed to e-mail you and reach out. If it's really bothersome, I would find the time to sit and open and read some of those e-mails, because you never know which one is going to reply all with the original e-mail attached, and maybe there is a way to use the information from that original e-mail to get the whole situation resolved. When I was looking for a solution to your problem, I was surprised to discover that my hotmail account had me subscribed to over 500 e-mail addresses. This totally explains why I keep sending messages to junk but they still keep coming to my inbox. And if all else fails, I just delete the entire junk folder without looking at it.

Dance mom here, with a DD who is wrapping up her degree for teaching dance, as well as a DS who is about to start teaching dance himself. Every dance mom watches what looks like "the lack of progress" in class week to week and year to year. Watching videos from class or watching class you see all the kids goofing around and then trying to learn a silly dance during class and it just doesn't seem like the time is being well spent. But what you don't see is that the cute little dance they just did was reinforcing the transition for the feet from first to second position. (As an example.) A good dance studio uses the dance instruction time to build on what they also learn in technique- it just doesn't always seem to be that way. I remember one year being so frustrated with one of DS's ballet classes because he was obviously talented but they just kept learning little dances all year long to "show the parents" and I thought they should be focusing more on technique. But at the end of the year, all the sudden I saw the recital dance, and I saw that little movement from meet the parents night. Then I saw that second movement from the Halloween dance, and the partnering from the Christmas dance and the light bulb went on. All that time, all those things that seemed like silliness to me were slowly building the body to do the movement fluidly and correctly. The age of the teachers should not be an issue, and I don't understand why that is an issue for you. If the dance school has a curriculum they follow, who better to tackle a class full of squirrely eight year olds than a pair of high school students? It's a great experience for the students to learn from and also gives the young dancers something special. They watch those big girls later on in the recitals and see their beautiful dancing and realize that those are their teachers on stage! It's a special thing that really helps the culture of a studio- the younger dancers looking up to the older dancers and the older dancers encouraging and supporting the younger dancers. I have to run, but wanted to add that if you're looking for work on leaps and turns, you want a competition school. They offer specific leaps and turns classes that you don't even need to be a part of a competition team to take.

Ah! I just ordered- thank you for sharing!

I'm having my home cleaned for the first time ever. There will be two people coming every two weeks, spending a total of 5 hours cleaning (so 2 1/2 hours per person). They have my list of rooms that I would like cleaned, as well as a bonus list of items should they finish and have time left on the clock. They will be here Monday morning while I'm at work. I'm super geeked out about coming home from work Monday to a nice clean house. What I don't know is if this is something that I should tip for? Will they be expecting a tip?

Ravin! I'm happy to read the positive update and hope you are all doing well! It's so nice to see you pop in. 🙂

Wow, six weeks is insane! I am the scheduler at my restaurant- keeping the schedules of 150+ people straight is quite the job, and I can't tell you how many kids cannot manage to get time off requests in with the 2 week policy. I can't imagine 6! I most cases I am always kind and will grant those "Oops, I forgot about a band concert that is required..." requests. But 6 weeks?

I love him!

We made it a non-event and allowed both kids to determine their own attendance around when they turned 16, but it wasn't a hard and fast cutoff or anything. I just dropped DD off for her senior year at college and she still attends church with us when she's home. When DS was 16 he asked to go to church with his girlfriend at the time. When they broke up he started going to a different church pretty much every week because he was making the rounds with all his friends and their churches. I found it very sweet and encouraged it. He doesn't go to church now, but he's living on his own so he's going to do whatever he wants anyway.

Yep. Most days I love my job post-homeschooling. It gives me something to get up for and go do every day and I love all the people I work with. But..... Sigh. I will say, that last spring I decided to go back to school and finish my degree that I started before kids. Then over the summer I decided it wasn't enough, so now I'm going to school full time (while still working full time) and I'm finding the actual schoolwork weirdly satisfying. I really am enjoying learning something new, meeting the deadlines, using my brain for something new I guess. I'm considering a third degree once this one is finished. Mid-life is no joke though. One day I feel great like I'm making the right choices, and the next day I think my life sucks and I regret some of the decisions I've made to get here. I feel like I'm in a state of re-invention that is never going to end. Covid did not help these feelings at all. All the sudden, all the things that I've been holding as important all these years were suddenly important to everyone else. Things like home cooking, baking, canning, gardening, homeschooling, reading for fun, board gaming, etc. All these things that other people kind of poo-pooed and brushed off when they were important to me were now important to them. And while they were all learning how to make sourdough or discovering Nourishing Traditions and Settlers of Catan, I was working 65 hours a week trying to keep the doors of my restaurant open. I do feel a little better knowing that I'm not the only one struggling with this era of life. I'm not taking aging well or gracefully and am going to continue fighting it. In two weeks I have an appointment for my first ever tattoo, and it's going to be a big one. It might turn into a sleeve when all is said and done.

Long time lurker, first time poster to this thread. I can't wait to see what happens Monday! Your reasonings for leaving are so solid and well-thought out. Your boss's response to you when he well knows what's in that folder in front of him is definitely encouraging. I don't know which way to hope for, but I hope you can be at peace with the results.

Well, when my teenage son asked about getting his ears pierced, not only did I say yes, I booked a group appointment and invited a few of his friends. We all went and got something pierced. I got my nose done, he got both earlobes, others in the group got nose, cartilage and second holes in the earlobes. It was so fun! A few months later when he turned 18 he decided he wanted his nose pierced, so off we went with girlfriend and he got his nose pierced while girlfriend and I both got cartilage piercings. Definitely find a good tattoo and piercing place. Also, I work at a fairly conservative company, and while they haven't come around to allowing neon colored hair on employees yet, they have relaxed their stance on piercings. Males and females are both allowed multiple ear piercings as long as the jewelry stays simple, small studs/shapes that can't get caught on things and prevent a safety hazard (no hoops, etc.).

The biggest adjustment for me is when one comes back. DS moved out completely, but DD is in college and moving back and forth. Who knows if/when she'll ever actually move out. I immensely enjoy the quiet when she's gone. DH and I stopped cooking for the most part. We kind of do our own things, but when there's another person there asking what's for dinner... It's kind of annoying at times. I like eating what I want when I want, and I really like watching what I want when I want. Honestly, I was ready for her to go back weeks ago, and I was a little dismayed when I found out school doesn't start until Labor Day. I planned ahead for the empty nest season by preparing to throw myself into work, and it takes a staff of 150 to replace my two at home.

Fiji. WTM meetup in Fiji? https://matangiisland.com/fiji-accommodation-treehouse/ Pretty sure we can't drive all the way there, but 😝, a drive to the nearest major airport would be a great beginning.

I get it. We had neighbors several years ago who we thought were good neighbors. We'd look out for each other's homes when one was gone, our kids babysat and dog-sat for them. After being neighbors for 4 years, we decided to try to get to know them better and got together once to go out for after dinner drinks. We had a great time! I'm super introverted, so I was so proud of myself for taking this step with them. Less than a month later he lost his job and was offered a different one in a very different part of the state. We were quite sad about it until they asked us if we'd be interested in buying their house. Great house, we said yes, and then spent the summer in a super rocky relationship trying to buy their house. By the end we all signed the paperwork but were definitely NOT friends. We were glad we weren't still neighbors when we found out just how not great of people they actually were.