One of my siblings lives there and they sent out a family wide text right away. They had heard all the sirens, then helicopters, and knew something had happened. One of their adult children is on the medical staff at the hospital patients were taken to. I talked with my sibling last night and they were all very shaken. “You know it can happen anywhere but you never think about it happening in your own small town,” was said many times during our call.

That has been my experience, too. I do love their quality. And their bib overalls are the best thing ever for gardening. But the sizes can be wonky. One xL tank top was too small across my chest, the other was way too big. But their quality is great and the items are durable.

I hate that, too. My kid and I have food allergies, I have numerous autoimmune issues and DH has cancer. We do not eat processed foods and are very careful about eating food others have made. Thankfully, we have some good food pantries in the area so I always donate food gifts we won’t eat. (Only packaged food items, NOT handmade food gifts, as they wont accept those.) I do hate the idea of donating “junk” type foods, but also know that some people do like or need those foods. Food pantries are often wiped out after the holidays, so I take this time to sort and clean my pantry and stop by the store to pick up some more groceries and household items to donate. I used to regularly volunteer at one of our local food pantries. Older citizens generally love small jam/jelly sets, fancy teas or cocoas, things that are not generally donated but elevate their lives.

I donated a dining room table and some chairs to a second hand store today. Full pickup load of stuff GONE from my house.

I am closing a large portion of my business at the end of January, so I need to do some major purging of inventory. I want to work on college kid’s room but they are overwhelmed at the thought so I will wait until they are back to school. I have their blessing to purge heavily. I am needing to purge books and clothes, esp socks which I think multiply on me.

My DH and I have had that issue our entire marriage. Pre-internet, I found a lovely necklace I wanted. I drew a map to where it was located in the store, included a detailed sketch and the sku number. He swears he took the paper to the store with him, yet the necklace he bought me was totally opposite, including different color metal, etc. He knows I like bigger pieces of jewelry (I am larger on top…) yet he is forever giving me tiny, tiny necklaces. We try to do the “buy our own gift” thing, then he still buys me something that leaves me questioning, How??? Last year, he gave me a huge gift card then didn’t like what I spent it on. (Kitchen item I wanted - wheatgrass juicer - he felt it was too practical.) He really is a great person.

Hits: T-shirts from Life is Good, grocery store gift cards and candy for the college kid. No misses.

I am so sorry. I completely understand your disappointment. I live across the US as my family of origin and no one ever comes to visit, even when “in the area” for business or driving past to see their in-law’s family. It hurts. Hugs.

My dad, sister and I all got contacts when I was 11 or 12. We would line up in the bathroom (long counter) and put them in together and take them out together, until my sister and I got used to them. I am in mid 50s now and can’t imagine not wearing them. My child, now young adult, has zero interest in. As a non-contact wearing parent, I would find a really good independent eye doctor and trust them. (Over the years, I have had issues with chain eye places so that does cloud my opinion.)

Southern US - have been in a drought for the past few years with two summers of record heat and two winters of short but brutal record setting cold snaps. I still have peppers setting fruit in the garden.

That cupcake tree is super adorable! I just decorated cupcakes like that for my child’s graduation and was surprised at how (relatively) easy it was to do that look. We always have something different for Christmas dessert. This year is key lime pie and individual cheesecakes.

I normally do celebrate the solstice but am still in a post-graduation hangover. No alcohol involved, just extreme exhaustion. My child graduated from college on Monday and we ended up with a houseful of family and friends. I cooked several meals for 12 people. I loved every moment of it, but it has left me with bone crushing fatigue. Yesterday was also chilly and rainy, which didn’t help. Oh! I did sort my seeds and pulled out tomato and pepper seeds, as I will be starting those soon. That likely isn’t a good way to mark the start of winter, by looking ahead to summer. LOL Today I do hope to get out in nature.

I have never seen or heard of that, but the initial description (short exam table) made me think of the exam tables in my spouse’s urology oncologist’s office. They are so comically short!!!

I gifted some cash to my son last Christmas, but decided to go boring and just tucked the bills inside other gifts for him to find. I was really wanted to do origami or folded inside a candy sampler box, like this: https://lifeasmom.com/creative-fun-valentine-to-give-its-better-than-a-box-of-chocolates/

I am really feeling this and have tried to start a post a few times. Our child, homeschooled from start to finish, is graduating from college next week and all of my spouse’s family is coming in for the ceremony. None of my family is. The lack of my family is glaringly obvious and very painful to me. Add in, we lost a young member of our extended family in October, unexpected and in horrific circumstances. The loss is still too fresh, emotions are still raw. It has been a hard year, with my spouse’s cancer diagnosis and treatments, and in many ways, I just want to sleep until 2024 and start fresh in a new year. But first we celebrate our college grad! And while I won’t have family here, I have two wonderful friends that are coming to celebrate with us.

It didn’t make me sleepy, but I was recently prescribed this for hives and it made my hives so much worse, which worsened my anxiety.

Not technically, but I own a small business and could easily pull together a dozen quick gifts from my inventory if need be.

Awesome. Congratulations to your niece.

Exactly. Years ago, when I was a journalist, I had to cover a symposium related to preventing child abuse. This was 30+ years ago but the statistic then was that the majority of child abuse happened due to colic and potty training and that educating new parents on expectations and solutions/assistance to both of those issues led to a reduction in abuse. When we started homeschooling nearly 20 years ago, a school teacher relative protested, telling us that homeschooling was just a cover for abuse. I researched statistics at that point and found that the majority of abuse occurred around 2-3 years of age. Around that same time, we had a local case where a 2 year old boy was abused/killed because he soiled his pants. At two! We didn’t even attempt to potty train our boy at 2 because he wasn’t verbal enough to tell us when he needed to go. I have been reading the Post’s articles on homeschooling and while I generally love the Post, their coverage of homeschooling has been horrible. In fact, this article (which I read not ten minutes before coming here) had a statistic that research from one state showed that 8 of the 17 cases of abuse were homeschool families. That isn’t even half of the cases! Yet! How awful! Eight out of the 17! I am not making light of the 8 cases. But that statistic doesn’t prove what they think it does. Considering homeschooling and private schools are overall a very small percentage of the total amount of children in education systems around the states, that means that 9 of those cases were children (most likely) IN the public school system - or not yet school age. Yet, as quoted above, we don’t talk about safety nets for children from birth to kindergarten age.

I am so sorry. (Hugs) Wishing your DH to find a new job swiftly.

I am thankful that immunotherapy is working its magic on my DH’s cancer. I am thankful for good friends and family that have been with us through this journey, especially one friend whose DH also has cancer and is not doing well. I feel awful for them. I am so thankful that my child, born premature after suffering a stroke, is graduating from college in a few weeks. It has taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears and therapies to get them to this point and I am very thankful for SWB and the WTM books and community. Homeschooling this child was brutal at times, but it allowed them to develop and learn at their own pace. I am very thankful that my 2 year old nephew recently sailed through an all day surgery for a life-altering surgery and that he lives in a time and place where this surgery was possible.

I tried so hard to find one but I ended up with a heat rash within a few days of testing out a new one. Lume, mentioned above: I couldn’t get past the smell of it.

Palo Duro Canyon in the panhandle of Texas is really nice, as is Enchanted Rock in the Texas hill country. Both have great hiking trails and are beautiful, really nice camping options. Neither have fishing options that I know of. Southern Oklahoma - Arbuckle mountains area - is suppose to be nice, though I have never stayed there.

I sell vintage items at a local market and on Etsy. It is interesting, to me, the things that sell better at one or the other. Example: I cannot give away vintage cookbooks at the antique market, while they are always one of my best sellers on Etsy. I love doing this, though it is not a huge money maker. It is fun (to me) and I love finding new homes for items and keeping said items out of the landfill. You have to be 100% honest about the quality of the items you are selling, esp if there is any old house smells, mold or mothballs smells. Some items I lump together, like x number of vintage sewing patterns in same size and same era. I have a dear friend that also sells vintage. She researches value of everything! I don’t, because you have to price to sell and move quantity. That doesn’t mean I lowball all prices, but after a while you can gauge demand and typical pricing.

My mom walked out and left us when I was a teenager. I never understood that. Then I went through peri menopause and, while I still couldn’t make sense of her leaving us, I understood it. My mom would have been around peri menopause age when she left. When I was going through it, I remember telling my spouse and doctor that my skin always hurt, like it hurt to be in my skin and that angered me. I think it does help to think of peri menopause as the reverse of puberty, when hormones are raging and there aren’t enough words to express all the angst.