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mellifera33

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Posts posted by mellifera33

  1. Well, this won't get me the parent of the year award, but I think we do our (neurotypical) children a disservice when we are patient with behavior like you describe. A natural consequence of such behavior, at least in our house, is that the person on the receiving end gets angry.

    Yeah, I have been known to tell my 9 y/o that I am much older than he is, have much more experience being an asshat than he does, and am better at it than he is, so he had better think about it before he plays that game. :D

    • Like 7
  2. The old KMart location around here is now split into a Hobby Lobby and an Asian Supermarket. I thought all the KMart stores were closed already. That was after being vacant for a bit.

     

    The last time I shopped at KMart was 2004 and I needed inexpensive furniture for my son's room and a smaller kitchen table. The store was rundown and the cashiers were high.

     

    The last time I shopped at Sears was when we bought appliances right before we closed on our first house on 2007. The salesman was a jerk and the delivery people damaged our brand new floor by dragging a refrigerator across it without a pad.

     

    Oh wait, I did run into sears not too long ago to get a lands end belt for my son.

     

    Is Lands End going to die too?

    The crummier strip malls in Pierce county are still anchored by Kmarts. Our local store stares a strip with biglots and is across from the Goodwill, a dollar store, and Dialysis 'R' Us.

    • Like 1
  3. I must just have a soft spot in my heart for Kmart, because its flaws don't bother me. Maybe I'm nostalgic for the days when my parents would take us and threaten us with Trax shoes, bought on a blue light special, sure to earn us the scorn of our Nike-wearing schoolmates. Our local Kmart was next to the Bi-Lo supermarket, where you could buy generic products in a plain white box with "WHEAT CEREAL" or "RICE" printed in black letters. My grandparents even drank "BEER." Ah, the good old days. 

    • Like 2
  4. When I was in college it was common for students to sneak small pets into the dorms. One friend of a friend had a hedgehog. It was a cute little thing, but didn't like crowds. Like large, drunken parties. I asked to hold it, and it did fine for a while, then bit me. I had enough alcohol in me that I didn't really feel it, but I do remember declaring happily, with blood spurting out of my hand, "I can't believe I was just bitten by a hedgehog! A hedgehog bit me!" and then cracking up while the poor sober hedgehog owner bandaged up my hand. 

    • Like 2
  5.  

     

     

    I don't know how much a possibility this is for knitters as opposed to seamstresses, but deconstructing already existing clothing and turning it into something new seems a very good environmental choice.

     

    There are lots of people who search thrift stores for cheap cashmere sweaters and unravel and reuse the yarn. It is a cheap way to get some expensive fibers. 

    • Like 7
  6. A local park has a set of life-size "Lincoln logs"--5ish inch diameter logs in about four foot lengths, with notches cut at both ends. It's probably horribly unsafe and a lawsuit waiting to happen, but my kids sure have fun building little cabins for themselves. 

  7. Apple and cheese salad. It's apples, cheddar cheese, raisins and mayonnaise. Also, my extended family is all pretty sure that you make the gravy to put over your turkey, not your mashed potatoes, because those are going to be topped with the chicken soup that contains homemade egg noodles that have been brightened with yellow food coloring.

     

    Ah, the noodles-over-mashed potatoes dish. My grandparents served this every time we visited, until my little brother blurted out "Grandma, my mom hates noodles and potatoes!" My mom was mortified. 

     

    I don't get the stuffing love. It's soggy bread. Yuck. 

     

    I almost forgot--for years, the go-to alternate dessert in my family was a mess of crust, green jello pistachio pudding, and cool whip. My dad called it "that green shit." As in, "hon, are you making that green shit for dessert this year?" He ate it happily tho. 

    • Like 2
  8. We have a little pre-lighted tabletop tree. It takes about 20 minutes to set it up and place ornaments. Then I spend another 20-30 minutes switching out the regular knickknacks for the Christmas knickknacks. And I guess I should count thinking up activities for the Advent calendar--the kids use the crafts they make each day for their own decorating. 

  9. Well, our well water was full of manganese (??) and iron. I didn't know this, made broth one day and that turned black. Talk about a rude intro to country life :)

    The biggest issue was the arsenic, which is naturally occurring. My neighbors did nothing about that (??) but we installed a $$ system that requires maintenance. We've since moved and even more complicated system here.

    This is ironic because city water comes from a reservoir next door. Difference of course is ground water vs accumulated surface water. I take the country life any day, though it's one more thing to worry about (but I worried about water, and air, in the city so this is fine).

     

    Our city water is full of manganese. All of our porcelain fixtures have a lovely orange buildup. I'd still rather have city water than a well. My mom is in charge of the well for her subdivision and has to test the water every day and is always on the phone with the utilities division for some reason or another. 

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  10. We are currently house hunting, and have decided to cross houses with septic systems off the list. I am sure that they are fine, since they are the norm in many areas, but I have had experience with too many failing/failed systems to be comfortable with one now. One of the issues here is that lots are tending to get smaller and smaller, and if the primary drainfield fails and there isn't room for a secondary drainfield, then you're looking at an aboveground system and....yuck. I also have lovely childhood memories of a neighbor child playing in a "puddle" in the street then showing up at our doorstep, and the "puddle" was actually the runoff from a full septic tank/failed drainfield and...yuck. 

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