I've actually been looking at the Cuisenarts so that's good to know!

I'm a Disney Travel agent! PM me if there's anything I can do to help!

I have to replace my coffee maker. If I try to brew over 4 cups, the grounds overflow out of the filter. It's just a cheapo Black & Decker my daughter gave me after I got rid of my espresso machine. I'm looking for a good, basic drip pot. I love using a pour over, but it's just impractical when I have people over. I thought I'd like a machine that would grind beans then drip, but I really don't want to spend a bunch of money right now. I get great local coffee that's always freshly roasted though, and I hate having to get it all ground there at once. I CAN grind in my Blendtec, but I know it's not ideal. I'm open to suggestions for regular drip pots that are fairly inexpensive but work well, OR drip pots with grinders that won't break the bank. Thanks!

Typical in my area (I’m in Louisiana), but I have to say, it was NOT typical when I was in WA state. There was some of that when I would go to TJs, but nothing like that in other stores, and in some of the businesses, people were what I would consider downright rude, making it seem like you were bothering them as opposed to wanting to help you. Around here you might know someone’s life story by the time you’re finished checking out a cart full of groceries. ?

I’m gonna ask my husband which one we used. We just did a remodel of our entire house, and painted everything in it. Our neighbor is a professional painter, so we went off his recommendation.

Thank you all for the advice. I haven’t seen a doctor yet because I don’t have an ENT and it’s really hard to get in anywhere on a Friday, especially if you aren’t a patient. My GP couldn’t see me. I haven’t really had much more pain; I’ve had a little pressure that seems to come and go. I’m gonna try to find an ENT tomorrow that I can see in the next couple days - just not sure the GP will do enough, and our urgent care is a waste of time. It was pretty unreal how far it went up there. Those little blasters have some serious pressure.

Hmmm the one I saw said up to 9 days to show symptoms. Now, while I’m sure there are plenty of things (bacteria-wise) that can be in pool water, I must admit that I’m totally a water prude. I am not inclined to swim in water where I cannot see the bottom (well, at least since adulthood). Pools or the gulf on a good day.

Well, apparently you start showing symptoms within 1-9 days with the amoeba (yeah, I had to look it up). I’m not miserable at this point - just some sinus pressure on that side up around my eyes. I just didn’t know at what point I should be concerned or worried. I don’t usually have a lot of issues with my sinuses, so not really sure what to watch for that would go from annoying to concerning.

Pool water, though it had rained so it wasn’t super heavily chlorinated (although it definitely HAD been properly chlorinated prior to the rain). I AM in the south (Louisiana), although I do realize more of the bacteria and the amoeba are found in rivers/lakes. Honestly I guess I was just more concerned about some random bacteria getting that far up into my sinuses and causing a sinus infection than something that was weirdly rare, like the amoeba (although I’m sure my paranoid brain will take me there).

Swimming on the 4th at my brother’s and having a water blaster fight with my nieces and grandson. My niece (8, and fairly small) shot me in the face and basically straight up my nose and all up into my sinuses. I felt like the water was surrounding my right eyeball, ear, etc. It pretty much only went up the right side. I didn’t get out immediately because I was just kinda regrouping. It burned like the dickens (as water does when it plunges up your nose). I did get out and blow my nose, but didn’t want to seem overly dramatic because I know she didn’t mean it to happen and didn’t want to make her feel terrible about it. I hadn’t really thought about it much again, but I’m having some sinus pressure on that side today, and wonder how concerned I should be about something like some random bacteria causing a horrid infection or something. How worried would you be, and WWYD?

We made our drive from WA to Louisiana starting last Thursday. We had a slight detour in Texas to bring the baby to meet his great grandma, so we didn’t get home until Tuesday. It was a LONG trip, but mostly uneventful, considering we had a 3 week old, 2 boston terriers, and a jam-packed vehicle with a jam-packed roof bag on top. We wound up just taking the absolute shortest route we could, so we left Bremerton, WA, drove to Caldwell, ID (right outside of Boise - if I did it again I’d stay IN Boise because there was absolutely NOTHING in Caldwell). From Caldwell we went to Moab, UT (which we absolutely LOVED). From Moab we went to Tucumcari (again, nothing much there, but we knew the La Quinta was nice and clean from our last trip). From Tucumcari we drove to Waco, Texas (actually on this leg, going through Austin would’ve been the absolute quickest, but I couldn’t make myself do anymore 2 lane highways, so I opted for taking the interstate through Amarillo instead). From Waco we had just a few hours to my daughter’s grandma’s and we visited a while then stayed with my niece nearby in Katy (her grandma has a tiny place with no room for guests, and was having hip replacement surgery the next morning, which is the main reason we stopped to see her). From Katy we drove on home. I appreciate all the input regarding the drive. I had several options, but ultimately I just sucked it up and chose the quickest one, (it was also the one with the most evenly placed stops). I highly recommend Moab if you’ve never been - it was a super cool place, and I wish we would’ve been able to do some stuff there! I am SO glad for us to be back in Louisiana safe and sound, even if it is ridiculously hot (I miss that WA weather).

Thank you! I think that’s what I’m struggling with though - traveling through so many desolate areas, I can’t find stops that are the right distance; we’re either stuck with a day that’s too short, or one that’s way too long (or a very questionable overnight stop).

None?

What if I want to put in a starting and ending point, and then put it how many miles I want to drive daily (or hours). Is there a website where I could do this and it would tell me the cities/towns where I need to stop?

I sent you a PM

Thank you all. So good to hear about successful VBACs afterward. I mean I had a c-section and VBACs, including a homebirth, but my c-section was for different reasons. Knowing what we know, we will definitely be on top of that in any subsequent pregnancies so she could work with the positioning changes ahead of time.

I’ll be in Bremerton 2 more weeks. I’d love to meet some fellow boardies, and can easily take the ferry over to Seattle, drive to Tacoma/Puyallup, etc. I also have a dear friend in the Bellevue/Issaquah area as well, so that’s another option. Let me know if any of you would like to try and meet up, and when.

I’m bumping this because our road trip is getting closer and I need to really nail down our stops. I’m hoping for ideas regarding areas where we’d lose cellular service for long periods, areas that are really safe to stop, and routes that are the least desolate. Due to traveling with a very new baby, we will be stopping a LOT, and I want to be sure we have places we can do that safely and easily. Thanks again!

Last Tuesday, May 22nd, my youngest daughter gave birth to my newest (#6) grandbaby! His presentation was asynclitic, and she just would not progress past about 5. Pitocin was negatively affecting him, so she had to have a c-section. She was 11 days past her due date. We knew he was posterior, but did not know he was asynclitic. Had she known ahead of time, there may have been additional things she could do to get him to engage, but we are grateful he is here and he (and she) are both healthy! He weighed in at 7-11, dropped to 6-15 by Friday, and today, at his first weigh-in since leaving the hospital, was back to 7-10! We knew he was nursing plenty, and getting enough based on the volumes of wet/poo diapers, but my daughter felt very relieved and thankful he had such a good gain. All weights were done completely naked, so we know they were accurate. This is my daughter that has had multiple early losses, and a lot of ladies on this forum prayed for her early in this pregnancy. I’m beyond thrilled for her that he is here safe and sound (and he is oh so beautiful)!! Just wanted to share!

Thanks for the suggestions. I hadn’t heard great things about the Albuquerque La Quintas, but maybe they have improved. I’ll map this and see what it looks like as far as breaking up our days.

SJ, we have AT&T.

It just seems like Lubbock is a good bit more than 8 hours from Moab. We are traveling with an infant and I just can't commit to anything more than an 8 hour day. We are planning 4 nights on the road, and 5 days of driving.

Doing as you said in the above post, what would be a good place to stay that's about an 8-9 hour drive upon leaving Moab? We pretty much have to be in a La Quinta because we are traveling with dogs, and preferably one that's on the clean side.

I’m thinking of this: Bremerton to Boise Boise to Moab Moab to Tucumcari, NM Tucumcari to Waco Waco to home Can someone give me some input on this versus this: Bremerton to Missoula and then down through WY, CO, NM, TX (which is how we went up last summer, but we’ll be stopping more - probably 8ish hour days), so I haven’t figured out exactly the places we would stay doing that route. I’m just looking for the route that has the least long stretches of nothingness (I know all will have plenty of nothingness, but I’d like to know if I have to stop I can find a place, or at least be in a safe area), and the least loss of cellular service. Any input would be helpful.

Bumping this to see if anyone else has input.