Philly suburbs (northwest of the city) here. It sounded like a huge truck was coming up the street. Then the house shook for a bit. After living in California most of my life, it was not a big deal (I lived in SF bay area and was there during Loma Prieta quake) but it was a bit freaky - I think only the second quake I've experienced in 17 years living in PA.

I have always only bought sheets in neutral colors so when, inevitably, a bottom sheet wears out before a corresponding top sheet, it doesn't really matter. Sheets are easily purchased open stock so I can buy new bottom sheets as needed. If the colors/fabric are not perfectly matched, no one sees it but my husband and me anyway.

Just jumping on the cake bandwagon - Costco cakes are delicious and they freeze beautifully if well-wrapped. Actually, same for all their bread products too. Their baguettes are the best. We get birthday cakes there for our family of 4, eat cake the first day, then I cut it into reasonable portions and freeze it. Then we can have cake on a whim. We love Costco but I have two within 20 minutes of my house. If you have good freezer space, their meat is always very good. If you have storage space for nonperishables, they have good prices (and sometimes sale/coupons) on kitchen basics (trash bags, foil, plastic wrap). Vitamins and supplements have good prices. I buy my contact solution (Clear Care) at a good price. Canned tomatoes, beans, flour, rice, are other things we buy.

@Heartstrings and @SHP I take your points about US people possibly, uh, misunderstanding the nuances in healthcare in different countries. Doesn't matter though. Whether people know it or not, whether they like it or not, the policies are different. And what if they were the same anyway? The woman said "after Easter." Maybe people think Easter comes earlier in the UK than in the US? (Rhetorical question.)

But so what? Are those of us in the US too stupid to understand that other countries have other policies? We can't understand what "I'll be back after Easter" means? She was supposed to consider the US health care situation and plan her communications accordingly? (I'm not trying to be snarky but really, the bolded makes no sense to me.)

I'd expect that if the adult child is interested in hearing about these people, they would ask. Also, I don't understand why the parent would limit these updates to times the adult child is visiting, rather than by phone/text/however they communicate. (I assume they communicate outside of these visits.) I can imagine it feels like a big information dump during the visits, when important updates could be given as they happen. I'm projecting here, but it reminds me of visits to my inlaws when they would spend hours giving up updates on people from my husband's past. It was torture to both of us.

We had lunch at Chick Fila A. 🤣 My husband was a student (grad school, second career sort of thing) and we had no money for fun stuff.

This is what I was thinking. I also wonder how much of the outrage is from people who didn't pay attention to football before TS was in the picture. I've seen some commentary about the way she has sparked interest in the game from new fans. I haven't researched this (and I'm not asking anyone to look it up for me), it was just a thought I had about it. Many years ago I happened to sit in on a nephew's sports practice (college) and heard the coach remarks afterward. I was stunned at his language and the brutal way he talked to the players. And this wasn't even a high-stakes sport; it was lacrosse. I said something to my nephew later and he shrugged it off, basically saying 'that's sports." My husband watched the game and he said it didn't seem crazily out of place. And he is not someone who was raised with anger; he has never yelled or raised his hand in anger himself (at least in my presence). But it's sports culture. Interesting cultural phenomenon: yesterday it was a storybook romance, today I see people are begging TS to note the red flags and walk.

It's always great to ask questions and this is for sure a good place for answers or at least opinions. I wonder though... if you might feel less apprehensive about the wedding if you weren't thinking about someone's potential attire faux pas, or who is or is not responding correctly to the invitation. Assuming, again, that you are not in charge of those people. Just thinking about my own anxiety and apprehension; when I start feeling that way about something, I try to take the attitude that if I have no control over whatever is bothering me, I'm not going to give it space in my brain. Of course you may be wired differently so feel free to ignore me. 💗

I've never gotten a call of any kind from my bank. We occasionally receive marketing materials via snail mail and email but even that's pretty rare. But we don't have large sums hanging around in a low interest account so maybe that's why.

Tux or not would depend on the dress code. If the is wedding formal/black tie then sure. If not, maybe the person will stand out oddly but he may not care. If it's someone's grandpa, probably no one will care anyway. But, if you are not in charge of the person, then I wouldn't concern myself with it. People are attending without being invited, or without responding that they will be there? Either way, it's rude. If someone told me they were going to to that, I'd let them know they are being rude, and then I'd not concern myself further (assuming they are adults and you are not in charge of them).

Is this what you're looking for? https://damndelicious.net/2013/11/04/beef-queso-dip/

Right. I mean, I wish people would wash their hands after using the bathroom, but for all I know they have hand sanitizer which they use before coming out of the stall. Which is not as good, but it's not nothing. And, people do gross/dirty things all the time. No way would I go on social media and blast that food truck. You have no idea what the cleanliness situation for food prep is.

No super bowl party here, and we are not fans anyway so won't be watching, but we declared tomorrow to be snack food day anyway. I think I'll hardboil some eggs for deviling. One of my favorite party snacks is Italian sausage bites - browned sausage links cut in small chunks, wrapped in puff pastry and baked. But honestly now most of my party food comes from Costco. Mini quiches and mozzarella sticks! Oh not from Costco but probably not what you are looking for: big bowls of buttered popcorn!

Daily we see blue jays, crows, various woodpeckers, chickadees, carolina wren, juncos, cardinals. Often but not daily - gold finches, red finches, robins, red tail hawk, cooper's hawk. Rarely in summer - hummingbirds! We are continually trying to improve our plantings to attract more. We also have birdfeeders and put out peanuts for the crows (but the squirrels often beat the crows to them). Egrets and pelicans! Would love to see those again. But they'll never visit my yard in SE PA!

I've done bullet journaling - based on Ryder Carroll's original concept - in the past, and it worked well. It did not include cute charts, color-coding, or art in any form. I think people sort of got away from the original concept by adding the artistic component - which is fine of course! - but I think a lot of what I see called bullet journaling now really is an offshoot of the original, which was meant to be quick and functional. This year I switched to using two notebooks: a dated planner in which I write appointments and record things I have actually done, so it's a bit of diary as well. At this stage of my life I have few things I need to plan but I do like to keep track of some things! I have a separate notebook that I use to record books read and quotes/notes from those, Bible study, writings from a journal prompt book, etc. There's a bit of overlap sometimes but it's working well for me, well, six weeks in! I actually do have some "art" in my bullet journal. When I have empty space left over on a page, I'll slap down a sticker! I've never gotten over my preteen-girl love of stickers! 💗

There are apps that can remind you (general you) to drink water, and then to track the consumption. Yes, it's easy to ignore app notifications. I fill up a 16-ounce glass in the morning, drink that, and then refill as needed. When I finish a glass, I add it to the tracker. Receiving a notification means I'm behind, so, I'll just finish the glass when I receive one, and pour a new glass. The app is helpful for me to be sure to get my 3 liters (advised by doc, I'm not telling anyone else to aim for this amount). If I go out, I'll take a water bottle. Because I need to pee a lot, I don't drink as much when I'm going to be out on a hike or long drive, but then I end up making it up at the end of the day. That's not ideal as it may set me up for getting up at night, but those are the tradeoffs. Most days I cut a lemon in half, squeeze some juice into my water, and leave the lemon in a small dish by my water glass. I refill as needed.

Mine leaks a little bit sometimes, usually when there's an uneven load and it's bashing around. At one point my husband took it apart and fixed some holes in the tub (?) Not sure if that's the right part name. My washer is very old. Before our beloved repair guy retired, he told me never ever to give up that washer because it was tons better than "all the computerized crap out there."

I'd probably throw it all away. The stuffies for sure. Around here they are not accepted anywhere that I've found anyway. I think wood and plastic things would probably be OK with a good cleaning and some time in the sun, but if there were any joints or areas that anything could "hide" I'd just toss it rather than donate.

I finished Barnaby Rudge (Charles Dickens) today. It is only my second book of the year! But it is a big one (600+ pages, 30+ hours audio) I'm also reading Les Miserables. Plus I started and abandoned at least 2 others! I partly listened, partly read. The narrator was Sean Barrett who was fabulous! Such a good book. It's based on a true occurrence (anti-Catholic riots in London in 1780) but has all the characters you expect from Dickens. And! A talking raven named Grip!

Mom sounds like she's poor at boundaries. Also, maybe, doesn't want her son to look like a bad guy. If my daughter and her boyfriend broke up, I'd be very tempted to contact him to tell him I'd miss him. But I wouldn't do it. When my son's gf broke up with him, he texted her mom to thank her for her kindness to him. She responded nicely to him, and that was that. It was all neutral, with no recriminations or explanations or anything like that.

I've done it it canned, cooked-from-dry, and soaked uncooked. Nope! However... your comment reminded me that a cookbook I have has the Goldie falafel recipe, and I may try that. Goldie is a Philadelphia restaurant and the book is Israeli Soul by Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook, who own Goldie and other restaurants including Dizengoff which has the best hummus. (Also Zahav which is a fine dining establishment that is out of my budget.) Anyway, I trust his recipes and now am not sure why I never tried this. End of Philadelphia food travelogue. Thanks!

I love mac and cheese, but I don't think of that as something for a small dinner party. Maybe I still think of it as kids' food? I mean, I'd be happy to be served it myself, so I don't know why I wouldn't think to serve it in the OP's situation. I'd go with a pasta dish with marinara or other meatless sauce. Or a vegetarian chili. Or this cabbage soup which is delicious: https://www.budgetbytes.com/can-eat-cabbage-soup/ ETA: this recipe is also delicious if all involved like and can eat shrimp: https://www.budgetbytes.com/one-pot-lemon-garlic-shrimp-and-rice/

If you like olives, look for the grilled olives. Chalkdiki variety (if that means anything to you; it didn't to me). Actually I've liked all their olives. Also - and I know people will disagree on this - I like their Falafel mix. It makes falafel very easy and convenient, and we like the taste better than any of my attempts at homemade. I know you said you don't buy much packaged/processed food, but though I'd toss this in the ring. Also, I'm just going to say that I'm so jealous of y'all who live where TJ's and Aldi can sell wine. Here in PA alcohol sales are pretty restricted, so only state wine & spirit stores and some groceries can carry it. 😪

Quoting myself here. My husband didn't remember when the house was built. And he said pretty much the same as @Harriet Vaneanyway, that it wouldn't really matter because people were using it for a long time.