We've tried five meal kit delivery services now. Our rankings: 1. Home Chef 2. Blue Apron 3. Plated 4. Home Fresh 5. Sun Basket

When my parents moved last month, they threw away the top tier from their wedding cake. It was still in their chest freezer in the basement. They got married in 1965.

They have a music subscription (including one that is just for playing music on the Echo), you can order/reorder things through the Echo very easily, having an Echo (as opposed to the Google version) means people who own it are much more likely to have Prime and be immersed in the Amazon ecosystem, etc.

I'm not sure just how much Alexa is actually listening (or at least paying attention). We've had her since they came out in 2014. We pre-ordered it so literally got one of the first released. The number of times we have had to say her name multiple times to get her to respond is ridiculous. When we have forgotten to say Alexa first and just said the command, she completely ignores it. So don't look at it. The only time we look at the app anymore is if she says she put a link in the Alexa app and we care enough to actually open it or if we are baffled by her response. Since it tells you what she thinks you said that can clear up the confusion. It also gives you the option to say whether she heard correctly or not and by telling her it actually makes her able to understand what you say better over time.

I finished 2017 with 173 books (plus 20 short stories/kids books). That's a total of 46,035 pages. As always I set my goal for this year at 52. When I hit that, I'll revise to 104. And then add as needed. My husband asked me to make note of how many books are in my to read file (as of 12/31/17). 523. On 1/1/12 I had 250 books in my to read file. On 1/1/16, I had just over 400 books. So in spite of reading a ton of books, I clearly "buy" (most are free) them faster than I read them. I've already finished my first book of 2018, God's Jury by Cullen Murphy. It's about the Inquisition. He meandered a lot and jumped from the past to the present and made connections between then and now. Some made sense, some didn't. The end just went in circles for a while. I would've preferred more about the Inquisitions. I pre-read it for Cameron for school. This year I am determined to finish Texas and Don Quixote. I started both of them in January last year. I haven't yet finished spelling TURQUOISE from December's birthstone. They are on my currently reading list. Currently Reading: Don Quixote (19% in 12 months lol) Exposed in Darkness by Heather Sunseri (E in turquoise) Intelligence Was My Line by Ralph W. Hauenstein (I in turquoise) The Lioness of Morocco by Julia Drosten (A to Z authors - I made it all the way through C in 2017) The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (reading to the boys at bedtime) Out of the Blue by Gretta Mulrooney (O in turquoise) A Question of Love by Isabel Wolff (Q in turquoise) Texas by James A. Michener (23% in 12 months!) True Stories of Crime from the District Attorney's Office by Arthur Train (T in turquoise) The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (pre-reading for Cameron and Fritz for school) Until We Collide by Charlotte Fallowfield (U in turquoise) Utopia by Thomas More (U in turquoise)

My parents live downstairs. They just moved into a wing of our house. Jamie's mom lives in Ireland (we're in Texas). My mom's extended family live in Maryland and my dad's in Virginia. My siblings live in Alaska and (soon to be) Nevada.

Growing up we always went to my great-grandparents' house on Christmas. My mom always went to her aunt and uncle's. Having Christmas at home as an adult has actually been weird and sad to me (we had no family nearby to invite us to a family Christmas thing).

Keep in mind there are multiple kinds of mesh and it's a specific kind that is horrible, scary stuff. I have a mesh sling holding up my bladder, but it's not that mesh (and not actually called mesh officially - I can't remember what it is called at the moment - but is generally referred to as mesh). The biggest predictor in surgical success is the doctor's experience. My surgeon specializes in pelvic floor surgery. I would find out how many they do a month and exactly what they are planning to do to you and why.

My brother is overall positive on there, but he's got some VERY negative reviews. Reading them, it is because the students were upset that he expected them to show up to class, actually complete the work, and expected them, as college students, to read the syllabus and know what was expected when. So I'd pay attention to what the reviews say. Honestly, those negatives people have said about my brother are positives to me (and other reviews list them as positives), but it does tell you he's not an easy instructor (and he definitely isn't) and even though to many linguistics sounds simple, it's not, and his classes are not easy A's (another thing he gets negative comments about - he's not an easy A). I'd do some more digging if the overwhelming negatives seem truly legit, while keeping in mind people are much more likely to write a negative review then a positive or middle of the road one.

I started taekwondo a few years ago when I was 35. I earned my first degree black belt a few months ago. I trained with lots of "older" women. Go for it!

20somethings who are currently attending college are mooching off their parents?!?!

We've gotten a whole bunch, but I also send out about 60 myself every year.

Long live the Oxford comma! (But you are both right.)

I'd take her to the doctor and get some blood tests. There has to be a reason and little kid germs is not likely for this many illnesses. (Admittedly I am a bit alarmist about stuff like this as my daughter has several chronic illnesses and getting sick constantly was one of the things that drove us to get diagnoses... which took forever because her blood work always looked good, but inside she really was a mess.)

I think you need more information. What exactly is making them uncomfortable? Is it just the stories themselves or is the pastor actually being graphic? If it's just the stories themselves, well, I'd tell them to suck it up. If the pastor is being graphic, that is completely not appropriate. I taught 12-13 year old girls in church for a while and there was one really awkward lesson where we were talking about Joseph and Potiphar's wife. We read the actual scripture verses and one of the girls was so upset because she had been taught that Potiphar's wife just wanted to kiss Joseph, but reading the verses she realized Potiphar's wife wanted much more than just kissing. It was awkward and uncomfortable and the girl was very shocked that the story was different from what she had previously thought. What the lesson was about was fleeing from evil and temptation so the story totally fit.

This is true. My babies used to wear just diapers a lot in MD and VA and people seriously would say I was a bad mom and my kids could be taken away (note: this was in the summer when it was hot). Here in San Antonio/Texas, people are just kind of chill. Last night we went a couple hours north to a walk-through Bethlehem thing. I totally forgot to bring our coats (we were in sweatshirts and long sleeve shirts) so it got kind of cold waiting in line for two hours in 47 degree weather. And my youngest was wearing sandals. Now, at home, I had told him to wear shoes and socks. My husband had told him to wear shoes and socks. We got out of the van in Burnet and he had on sandals. He said, "It's okay. I can handle it." The people in line behind us, an older couple, commented on his shoe choice. I shrugged and said we told him to wear shoes and socks and this is what he picked. They laughed and said something about kids being silly and we went on chatting about other stuff (because Texans are also incredibly friendly). I doubt it would've gone quite that way where I grew up. My cousin pretty much said I was lying about people in San Antonio calling sweatshirts and sweaters all sweaters. His proof is he's lived in Texas most of his life and never heard someone say that. He's always lived more north in Texas (plus Brownsville) and never in San Antonio. I find it odd, though, that he would indicate I made it up. I mean, what would even be the point of making something like that up? Especially when my own daughter has gotten so used to everyone else her age referring to sweatshirts as sweaters and started saying it as well. But then my cousin is rather... negative... about everything anyway so I guess I should've expected it.

I differentiate the same way people here have. Yarn vs. cloth seems pretty obvious to me. I will never call sweaters and sweatshirts all sweaters. I maintain they are two different things even if people from San Antonio call them all sweaters and look at you blankly if you say sweatshirt.

Last night my daughter was cold so she said she was going to get a sweater. She came back with a sweatshirt. When we moved to San Antonio four years ago, we noticed that sweaters and sweatshirts are both called sweaters here. In response to my post on FB a friend asked what the difference is. She is not from here so I wondered if calling them both the same thing is more widespread than just here. To you, what is a sweater and what is a sweatshirt? What is the difference between them?

As far as the mileage, they are correct. What if she lived 30 miles away? Not their problem. But, man, the red flags! She should just say no and run. My daughter is a part-time nanny and occasionally drives the kids around (nothing regular like picking up at school, though). The parents don't pay her anything special for that, but, instead, pay her a very high hourly rate (the same rate they always pay her whether the kids are at our house, their house, the park, or Chick-fil-A). The couple times she's watched them overnight, they pay extra. The dad not wanting to pay while she is there but the kids are sleeping is nuts. It's very common for people to get a baby-sitter while the kids are asleep and they still get paid. The kids might wake up, something might happen, etc. and there needs to be a responsible person there. They are being paid to be that responsible person. Wanting her to pay for utilities is insane. The room is being provided so that the parents can go off and do whatever they want whenever she is there. This is not a rent a room and then occasionally baby-sit situation. The fact that these red flags are showing up before she's started working for them and it really sounds like the dad simply wants free baby-sitting means this is not going to be a good situation. Run!

70-79 downstairs/68-82 upstairs (we have those thermostats that keep the temperature between two set points; we have two a/c units, one upstairs and one downstairs) during the day and 64-82 downstairs/66-77 upstairs at night. It's 72 downstairs currently and the heat hasn't run since early this morning. I live in San Antonio. Our high today was 66.

Cold turkey. Nothing with gluten comes in our house. Of course, we have three with Celiac so cross contamination would've been a stressful issue. Those without Celiac are welcome to eat whatever they want outside of the house.

Well, yes, of course. But I think you are thinking causes while I'm thinking the French had helped with the American Revolution and it was successful and so they knew they could do it, too. In other words, they were inspired to not keep taking it.

We have a pencil tree that's about the same size from front to back.

It didn't take long after we got married to start using separate sheets and blankets. I steal them because I'm always cold, he likes them to be much lighter than I do because he's always hot.

We got the first measurable snowfall in San Antonio in 22 years last night! It was amazing. Outside was filled with echoing screams of delight from children and adults alike. Our neighborhood is one of those where you just wave to each other and lots of people were out last night having a community snowball fight and just staring up at the sky grinning like crazy. Today it's going to be in the 50s and then after that in the 60s, but last night some memories were made that won't be forgotten.