Our Easter dinner is going to be a quickish lunch between regular church and a service at a nursing home. Some people are coming but I don't know how many - probably between 6 and 12. Ham Spinach and feta quiche Potato salad This asparagus recipe from the Splendid Table Fruit Carrot Cake

I think that is a good point. Particularly when I hear it described as a practice marriage proposal.

Have any of your kids experienced this? It seems to me to be a newish phenomenon but maybe it's just because I'm just now hearing about my kid's proms.. For those who don't know, it's an invitation to the prom that is made publicly and inventively. Like, the prom equivalent to a marriage proposal at a football game with the words up on the jumbo-tron. My daughter has heard about it a lot from her schooled friends. She says they have all hated it. It sounds horrid to me. One mom I know, who thinks it's all very cute and sweet, likened it to a practice marriage proposal. Yikes! Why is there so much pressure on kids in this way? I never went to a prom but when I was in high school (so very long ago) a prom invitation was a private matter. What do you think? Cute and sweet, or way too much pressure?

You've received a lot of good suggestions. Just one thing: if a spiral ham is not available, or too expensive, just buy a cheap ham from the grocery store. Ours has them for 77 cents a pound now. Get the ingredients to follow the recipe for "Monte's ham" from the New York Times. Or, do your own glaze, or skip the glaze altogether. (Note the size of the ham; I always use a half ham, and use much less glaze.) It's cheap, and in my experience, just as good as a more expensive ham. Costco used to have some great au gratin potatoes in the refrigerator section. I haven't bought them in a couple of years so am not sure if they are still around. I'd do that or another easy potato recipe, and some asparagus. I'm having a lunch for a bunch of people between our regular church service and one at a nursing home. That ham, potato salad made the day before, and asparagus (still deciding between a couple of recipes, but it will be at room temp) are the basics of my menu.

I know someone who at age 60 married husband #3 or 4, in a huge white wedding gown, full veil, etc. I admit to a moment of "huh?" when I saw the photos, but got over it pretty quickly. She looked beautiful! When I married the first time, I wore a rust-red polyester dress from the Sears catalog. 2nd time around, I wore an off-white wedding dress. :-)

I learned something recently about adding coffee to chocolate cake recipes. For a long time, my son said he didn't like it when we added coffee/espresso powder to cakes. We thought he was just being picky, as all the recipes say that you can't taste the coffee. Then, another friend mentioned that she hated it when people added coffee to chocolate baked goods. Then I read something that gave me a 'duh' moment: for people who like coffee, the flavor is not particularly noticeable, but the taste of the cake is better. For people who don't like coffee, though, the taste may be discernible, and not in a good way. (I can't find it now; it may have been a comment on a recipe.) Of course YMMV and all that, but I have stopped adding coffee all the time. One of my kids is very happy about that. I guess when I don't want him to eat the cake, I'll add the coffee. I imagine there are plenty of people who don't like coffee but like it added to chocolate recipes, but it's not as universal as I'd thought.

This reminded me. Once, instead of broiling the chicken, we grilled it. That made it even better.

Mom's Chocolate Cake from Food & Wine magazine.

I would wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, not foil. If your cling wrap doesn't cling... I think you need to buy a better brand; I've had no trouble with stretch-tite which I get at Costco. I've never made pineapple upside down cake but I refrigerate cakes made with fresh fruit within 2 days after baking.

I thought the call came in after you were already up, after you'd posted about the calls at midnight and 4am.

Did you do a google search on the numbers? Or you could just call them, though I wouldn't recommend that.

This is a common scam call. We get it a several times a year. I just hang up on them. My husband likes to play along a bit. I'm not sure what can be done. I think there are "do not call" registries but we haven't been bothered enough to look into it.

Did your caller ID pick up the phone numbers? If I get a call from a number I don't recognize, and there is no message, I'll google the number. Most often it's a spam call. But we have in the past gotten calls that were wrong numbers (drunk people) late at night or very early in the morning. Most people in that situation would hang up when the answering machine kicked in. What makes you think some company or organization is targeting you? That seems unlikely.

Resigning by text seems very iffy to me. I would advise my kids not to resign by text unless that's the company culture. I am thinking about the places they, as young adults, work now. No way would it lead to a good reference for the future if they resigned in such a casual manner. The moving announcement - I'd withhold judgment on that. I don't think I'd like to learn that one of my kids was moving via text. I would hope there would be some conversation such that I would know if they were even thinking about moving. Maybe if it was part of an ongoing conversation, a text once the decision has been made would be OK. I think that's family culture and communication style. I can also see that with military families it would be different; everyone knows they are going to be moving and when it happens the only news is the location. At least, that's how it's happened in my experience (with nieces and nephews in the service).

Our experience was the same. We kept avoiding it out of worry for side effects. I wish we had not waited so long to try it. I agree too that the acne itself can cause depression and moodiness due to the embarrassment. Also cystic acne can be painful. Acne on back and shoulders can make sleeping difficult as it presses against the bed or pillows. That said, the effects are not always lasting; my kid's acne is coming back. He doesn't want to to take accutane again if he can help it. But he said it's mainly because of the monthly blood draws, not any side effects.

Well, when I say my kids can call or text anytime, I expect them to use common sense and not send me puppy photos (we like dogs better than cats) at 2am if they know my phone is set to receive texts from them in case of emergency (like "mom get me out of here" as described upthread). I'm sure things will change as they grow older, move away, etc. It's not like we will do things the same way forever.

You don't see a difference between texting friends, acquaintances, coworkers, neighbors... and texting mom and dad? I actually am not teaching my kids that texting after, say, 9pm is rude, though that's generally the standard I go by unless I know otherwise. I teach them that for my generation, hours between 9am and 9am are considered off limits for phone calls, so if they need to get in touch with someone they don't know well, or an older person (granny), they should abide by that guideline. Otherwise, they need to work that out with their people. As for me, they are and always will be welcome to call, text, knock on my door... any time they want or need to. Communications have changed so much since I became an adult. I don't presume to know how the current generation of young adults wants to handle this sort of thing. I am not only pre-texting, I am pre-cellphone. Geez, I am even pre-cordless phone. I know how to use the technology that is available to me, but I'm not going to try to dictate current etiquette.

Yes. Since you were in on the planning and made the reservation, you can't with any credibility say "we have other plans." I'd go by myself, and have the rest of the family meet up later. I wouldn't lie about them being sick; I'd be honest about the food restrictions (only if asked why they aren't there) and then enjoy what you can of the brunch. Then, go on and do what was planned after. I hope you have a good time!

It's very hard for us to get rid of books. I've actually regretted some untimely decluttering, and had to rebuy books. Even sadder: books I found I needed/wanted but could not rebuy as they were out of print and just... gone. So I'm very careful. We get rid of ratty books, novels no one is going to reread, specialized nonfiction books for which the interest is gone for sure, and books used for homeschooling that are outgrown. I still have some books read (or intended to be read) for high school that I'm keeping because it might be needed or desired for college work. And this may be wishful thinking, but there are books I hope to read in my as-yet-hypothetical retirement. So what if I've had them for 30 years and haven't cracked the spine yet? I've been busy. :-) I'm very sentimental about books; my husband is worse (he also suffers from "we may need it someday" mentality), and my kids are getting to be bad too. So it's a struggle.

My daughter and I were talking about this today. She could think of a few emergencies in which she would text rather than call. Some have already come up, but not sure about this one; I've read the whole thread but may have missed something: At a party or other gathering, wanting to be picked up NOW but not wanting anyone to know she is asking to be picked up. Since everyone is already texting, it wouldn't be weird. But calling would and could compromise safety. Aren't some police forces talking about a text equivalent of a 911 call? (I'm not asking anyone to google that for me. Just came to mind as I'm typing this.)

I'm not picking on you when I say: If someone is having an emergency, I don't want them to have to stop and think how best to contact me. My kids know we have a landline, but if they're in trouble that's not what they're going to think of first for getting in touch with me. But also, fewer and fewer people have landlines. I may be the only one left in my circle of friends/acquaintances who has one. No one uses it except my MIL, and solicitors. I'd get rid of it but I don't have agreement on that from the spousal unit, so we have it. There really is no one perfect, easy solution that fits everyone's situation. (Oh, except, that the old fogies (myself included) need to evolve and learn how to use our damn phones, or find a teen to do it for us.) :lol: :lol:

Well that I would not know. I have as good a chance of getting a reply to an email as to a text, regardless of the age of the person. To me, that indicates that email is not dead, at least in my circles. I sometimes have rather lengthy announcements to send to groups, and they are much easier to do via email than text. I get the same level of response from young and old alike.

No kidding. So condescending!

I am not disagreeing with you but this makes no sense to me. Pretty much everyone I know (my own teens, college students I am involved with, my kids' friends, etc, as well as older adults) have texting and email apps on their phones, with notifications. When email or text arrives, it's on their screen. They can ignore it, of course, just as they can ignore a text or a phone message. So in my world, people may prefer texting but they also see their email just as easily as they will see a text. Obviously ymmv and all that. But it is not universal that people don't use email anymore.

I think somewhere calling got mixed in. I got caught up in it myself. I would not anticipate texts in a true emergency. Hospital or cops are not going to text to tell me my kid has been in an accident. I have received texts of a rather urgent nature from time to time, from the phone of my kid's friend, when my kid's phone was not working. But if I had not responded they would have called.