I should have added... I had had those lidless pyrex dishes knocking around the house for a long time... till I finally decided to look for lids. And they were all there! It was such an exciting day when they arrived! :-)

You order new lids from Amazon. :-)

That is a beautiful thing.

We are fond of Art: Over 2,500 Works from Cave to Contemporary. (link to Amazon) ETA: Do you have access to a good library system where you can check books out before purchasing? (Or instead of purchasing?)

I don't use the ignore feature, but how on earth is it censorship? It's a tool for managing your interactions with people on the board.

It depends on how much stuff you have. IIRC, our coast-to-coast move in 2007 cost about $10,000. We moved a LOT of stuff. I think we used more than one trailer. Not two full trailers, but one and part of one. So, it's hard to know if that quote is high or not.

Even though I don't think that's true, think about how people are picturing this situation. We all have a different picture in our heads. I'm picturing a guy in his 70s or older, putting a hand on her arm or shoulder in a fatherly way. Not a huge deal to me. Someone else compared to it a guy grabbing her breast in a bar, and someone else to a guy grabbing her from behind on the street. The real picture is somewhere in between, no doubt. But of course it is never inappropriate to feel uncomfortable. How could that be? But there may be inappropriate responses. Yelling "back off!" might be one if the guy is just standing there, not keeping her from walking away. The OP said she was "freaking out inside" and I'm having a hard time squaring that with the picture in my head. If I was that nervous in such a situation, I would look into self defense or assertiveness training, as others have suggested. Nothing wrong with learning how to feel stronger and less vulnerable. And (this bit is not related to the post I'm quoting), once again: the man did not say that he was safe. He said that the store they were in was safe, but other stores in other areas are not. Big difference and I don't know why people are bringing up Ted Bundy telling women he was safe when that wasn't in the OP at all. This thread is like a big game of telephone. No doubt I'll be found to be contributing to that in some way.

I don't remember anyone suggesting screaming! Yeah, I think that would be over the top in a public place like a grocery store. Out in a dark parking lot... that would be different. I guess it could also depend on how/where they were touching me. Hand on arm or shoulder, not restraining? That's outside my personal space comfort zone, but not scary. Condescending and annoying behavior, yes. If a person was persistent in trying to talk to me and followed me around the store, I'd be nervous, and would take steps to ensure they didn't see me get in my car. If young kids were with me, I'd keep them close.

You can maintain your "polite woman" status while moving away, saying "thanks for your concern" in a neutral tone, and walking away without letting him continue talking. Being polite doesn't mean letting people annoy you.

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.)