Yes, I loved it too and miss it still, even though I'm in my last few months of homeschooling!

I've been thinking about this thread all day, because I think I know what the OP meant, and know a few people like that, but I couldn't exactly describe them in a useful way. So, about the undyed hair and lack of makeup. It's not that, by itself. It's the... defiant or disdainful attitude about it that I see and that makes me cringe a little. As far as I'm concerned, it's fine to let one's hair grow grey naturally, and fine not to wear makeup. It's a problem when someone doing it as a sort of "statement" that only authentic women are brave enough to go against the cultural trend of dying hair and wearing makeup. Or sneering at women wearing high heels when real woman are brave enough to wear birkenstocks. Who cares what people wear? I dye my hair. I don't expect that anyone who pays attention to my appearance is fooled that it is natural. Of course most people don't pay attention to my appearance, right? :-) I'm not doing it to fool anyone; I do it to make myself feel better about my appearance. I do it for myself. So it irks me when some woman talks about "embracing her gray" like it makes her way cooler than those of us who aren't ready to do that. It's just a personal choice. Same with makeup. I tend not to wear makeup because I simply run out of time most days. I do wear some occasionally. it's not a statement either way. I don't look at someone and think she's inauthentic because she wears it, or authentic because she doesn't. But, the fake-authentic women show disdain for it. Sort of like people who show disdain for Superbowl watchers. I'm not a football fan and don't watch it. So what if other people do? Why post on facebook that they're immersed in a good book rather than watching a stupid football game? That's not the same as the OP was talking about, I know, but seeing that post reminded me of this thread. Or the person I know who goes on and on about "environmental justice" while living in a 3,000+ square foot house (which she wants to add on to because her family of 4 is squished) and driving a huge vehicle that gets probably 15 mpg. Because, you know, she's cool because she always carries reusable grocery bags.

I put it in meusli, which I eat with kefir. It's mixed with other things so I've never had a problem with it swelling. That sounds more like chia seeds to me. Also use it when I bake whole wheat bread; when I bake I sub 1 cup of "stuff" for 1 cup of flour. "Stuff" is a mix of various things we like. Some oatmeal, maybe, or wheat germ, or cracked wheat... or a combination of things. Probably a tablespoon or two of flax meal mixed in with the other stuff. Oh, and I use it ground up! Not whole. I just buy the bag of ground seeds and keep it in the freezer.

Do your state parks have cabins to rent? We've had some great (cheap) vacations that way here in PA. I know some other states have similar accommodations but don't know about MO.

We used ABF U-Pack when we moved from Oregon to Pennsylvania. We had left some stuff behind (thinking we'd be going back) and later friends used ABF to ship those items to us. No complaints, just high praise for them. Customer services was awesome, held my hand every step of the way. I had also checked out Pods - no comparison in customer service or price.

Yes, this is true for us too. When my son wanted to quit Boy Scouts, I was devastated. I had really wanted him to get to Eagle Scout. But, he was just done for a variety of good reasons. but, we said he had to find something else to do. He went to the local firehouse and volunteered. (In our area, most of the fire stations are staffed completely by volunteers.) It was a great decision for him.

Yes, I know what you mean, and I know a few women like this. They are not people I am close to.

I've learned that having specific rules about things like this doesn't work. Or, I should say, didn't work for us. In theory, I wouldn't let a kid quit in the middle of something where people depended on them. Soccer, for example. Except, when the kid hated it so much and was not good enough compared to the others, so they didn't benefit the team anyway. That happened with one of my kids the third year of playing. That was the first middle school year, which is the year it got a lot more competitive. In elementary school, it was fun, social, exercise. Then suddenly, it was serious. When it started getting stressful, we quit. In that case, since no one was depending on the child, it didn't really matter anyway. I made my daughter stick with piano way too long, because I listened to people who warned me she'd regret quitting when she was an adult. I should have trusted my kid more than strangers who didn't even know her. She may regret it - who knows? - but she will know why she quit. As far as finishing out something we paid for... another thing I agree with in theory. However, if the activity isn't working, it isn't working. The money has been paid whether the kid finishes the activity or not. If it's torture for the kid, saying "well, we paid good money for that, you have to stay" doesn't make sense. There is also a cost in time, transportation, and (possibly) relationship with the child to consider. That said... we didn't have our kids in a ton of activities. Swimming, a couple years of soccer or baseball, art classes, some other things I can't remember. I don't like being busy and nothing is within walking distance of us!

My father grew very sensitive to noise as he aged. Just couldn't stand it the sounds of dogs barking in the neighborhood, kids playing/yelling... and I am getting close to the same way. Right now I am mostly struggling with the sounds of people eating. Not sloppy, ill-mannered eating, just normal eating. I have had to leave the table at times. Another thing that drives me nuts is when my daughter is doing a facial or some other skin care thing and she turns the water in the bathroom on and off, over and over again... So, yeah.

I don't exactly get it either, as in - I don't have a love of football. I know a lot of people who do. My in-laws live for their alma mater's football games. But, that said, it's just a sport a lot of people happen to like. It can be exciting to watch. People enjoy figuring out the strategy before a play is executed. People like watching the physical effort and skill required to play well. If people played (or grew to enjoy watching) in high school and/or college, they will likely carry that love on in their life. For a lot of people, there are good memories involved with football. Anyway, I do think Ali is right. Fewer kids are signing up for it. Soccer is becoming much more popular in my area. I won't miss football. I am sad that the popularity of baseball is waning, though. :-/ ETA: re: my inlaws' love of the sport - we figured out one day that one of the ways our family (my husband, myself, and kids) disappointed them is... my son was never on a football teams, and my daughter was never a cheerleader. Now that's some sports love for ya. :-)

I spent my 29th birthday barhopping with friends. Along the way we picked up some chicken salad at a Chinese restaurant. We ate some of it in one of the bars, and then the leftovers ended up in my car. The next morning when I woke up, I was craving more of that chicken salad. So, I got it out of the car and ate it. It was March so it wasn't hot in the car overnight, but it was California (Bay Area) so not real cold either, probably...

Check in every hour so we know you're OK! :-) (I'm pretty sure you'll be OK.)

The point is that some people want to do that. They enjoy it. Some people can't relax at home and have to get away to be able to sit and read. At home, there is always some chore that needs to be done and some people can't shut that out to do something enjoyable like reading or napping. I have spent many happy hours reading in beautiful surroundings away from home. A particular memory is sitting with my brand-new husband, on a private balcony at a beautiful hotel overlooking a river, with forest and mountains behind, reading. Yeah, we were both reading. On our honeymoon. Doesn't mean we didn't do other things as well. :-) We had a wonderful trip but part of that was having some down time to do something we each enjoyed before we knew each other. But we have never been people who have to see everything there is to see in any place we visit. We take a slow pace, see what we think are the most important things, and understand we can never see it all. It suits us.

During my high school years, I hadn't planned on getting married. I didn't date and didn't see any opportunities for meeting anyone. But I ended up marrying very stupidly (first boyfriend) at age 22 and was divorced within about 2 years (no kids). After that I knew I would not marry again and wouldn't have kids. I focused my attention on work and my nieces and nephews. At age 37 I met my husband, married him at 39, and had 2 kids, at 41 and 42. I worked all that time - over 20 years working till I quit to have my first child. We planned that I'd go back to work after that, because it was what everyone did, but we didn't really have the financial need then and I didn't want to leave my kids. My husband didn't like any of the daycare situations we saw, so... I stayed home. Later on homeschooling came up and so we ended up doing that. I would LOVE to be a housewife when my homeschooling gig is over. I will be 61 when my 2nd child graduates from high school. Time to retire, as far as I'm concerned. However, I'm not sure that will work out financially. My husband did a mid-life career change (which included 4 years of grad school) that has not worked out well for us. Between using savings for school, the economic downturn the year we moved, losing money on the house we sold, and our current home value still not recovered... there is a good chance that I will need to find some kind of work. I find the thought depressing and frightening, to be honest. I have not worked in so long and I feel completely unskilled. And, it is not what I'd pictured. Honestly, my husband loves having a personal assistant (that's my joke, not what he calls me) because other than meal planning, I like running the home. I'd like to put in a garden, etc. But, not sure how that's going to work out. I guess I have till June to figure something out.

Sometimes it feels like all the cool kids love traveling so I should love traveling too, because who doesn't want to be one of the cool kids? And sometimes there's sort of, I don't know, a pride in people's voices when they talk about how they love travel, as if it's some kind of virtue. I'm sick of traveling. I used to travel for work, when I was single and kidless. Man that was fun. Not so much, anymore. Maybe I'll want to again someday. If not, oh well.

LOL, such a fun conversation. I've decided that dinner out is not what I want anyway. I want to go out to a bar and listen to music. So that is my new project: finding some local places (don't want to go into Philly if I don't have to) that have musicians. I've never noticed any around here but I've never looked, either. My husband agrees, so that's good. (But he does like to go out for nice dinner and I can't stand spending a lot of money on that, so there's still a small disagreement there.)

Well, we had a specific time window and a specific area, so we were kinda tied to a limited number of places. Like, $14 burgers or McD's. HOWEVER! He had to call it off for tonight. Too much work. We'll reschedule and then we ought to be able to hit 5 Guys (I've never been) or Red Robin which has a $10 burger. Another reason I'm happy: I have to drive home since we were meeting up. (I have to drop my kid off at a class and we have to leave before he can get out of work.) That meant no wine for me. Of course I don't know if 5 Guys or Red Robin have wine anyway, but that's OK. If I have to eat at a nice place, I want wine. :lol: :lol: If it's more casual, water will do. Yeah, I know that makes zero sense.

I could be happy eating very simply. It's these other people that I live with. But we have been down this road before, recently!

This is somewhat tongue-in-cheek) I know we have a lot of threads that include lamenting about meal planning, cooking, etc. This is sort of one of those, but with an addition... My husband wants to go out to dinner tonight and I just don't want to. I used to love to eat out. Now, it just seems to be a waste of money for food I could cook at home. I get that when eating in a restaurant, we are paying for convenience and not having to plan, cook, clean, etc. I do get that. But I'm craving a burger. I'm perusing menus of likely places. I don't need a giant $14 burger, on a "brioche bun" no less. I'd be happy with a Wendy's burger off their value menu. On a regular hamburger bun! Less food but less $$$ too. Gah, I am hard to please, aren't I? :lol: :lol: :lol: I will be nice when we get to the restaurant, I promise.

abba12 related her experiences with this in posts 52, 55, and 58.

Partly, it depends on what people are used to and what is familiar to them. In my area there is a fair population of Amish and Mennonites, so it's not unusual to see women going about with their hair covered. In general, no big deal. There are fewer Muslim women in hijab to be seen, but there are some, and mostly it's still no big deal. But this is a pretty diverse area. But, there will always be people who think anything out of the ordinary or out of their personal experience is weird and possibly wrong. Some people don't like any religion and find any outward sign of someone's faith distasteful. Some dislike one religion or the other, so will think covering is fine for one group but not OK for the other. Some people, for example, think that Christianity as a whole is oppressive to women, so seeing someone with her head covered will reinforce that idea in their minds. I assume that in the US, most women who wear head coverings are doing it because they choose to.

There is a social group for Instant Pot users: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/forum/356-instant-pot-wtmers/ People have posted recipes, tips, etc. People are happy to answer questions. It does help to know what kind of foods you like! :-)

I've never seen warnings on packaging here in the US, but I've read enough articles about contamination from washing poultry that I never do it. I can't even imagine trying to wash ground meat.

I'm sorry you heard that story and that it has given you doubts about your grandfather. I can think of a few reasons he might have 'stood over' her to write the letter, beside what Anne suggested (which I also think is a good possibility). Maybe she just wanted help wording it. It could be a difficult letter to write in any circumstance. Maybe she wanted him there for moral support. Or, sure, maybe he was overbearing and wanted to make sure the letter got written. You'll never know. What you do know is that your grandfather was a great guy. So leave it at that.

I don't, for two reasons. 1. It is the opposite of my own faith. Like Maize said, no to reincarnation, yes to resurrection. 2. I have personally known some people who believed in it. Every one of them was "off kilter" in multiple ways. I actually typed another word that was a better descriptor but could have been offensive. Please note that I am not implying that every person everywhere who believes in reincarnation is "off;" I am relating my own experience only.