Have you seen it? Was it as clever as The Village and Signs and The Sixth Sense? I love M Night but I can't take another debacle like The Happening.

I'm thinking they base their inventory orders on what's selling. So, you gals are keeping the demand high, right?

😘😘😘 Sounds like perfect labor to me!

Congrats and just so you know...five cartons would have gone into my buggy.

Is she the one that told him she was signing his death warrant?

If you live in the right place, you can plant it in the yard. My mom had a lovely poinsettia hedge along the fence until a freak freeze year.

Well, you aren't obligated to buy off the registry... Send them the gift you can choose with joy and then get on with enjoying yourself!

The best leaders know how to empower others. If a home schooling parent isn't doing that, well, I don't know what s/he's doing.

I understand this. I feel like I am oh-so-near to the point where my daily agenda will not be dictated by the needs of parents or children. I just want a few years to be productive in an area of my own interest for a while, know what I mean? I'd like to do that in good health. Twenty years of that would make me happy, then I'd hope for a few more with good mobility. But I also want to be mentally fit. That, honestly, is my larger concern.

I'm guessing your schedule will be more regular? That's got to make things easier on your family. Prayers for you, MedicMom, for the details tonall fall into place, that compassion and victory will outweigh the challenges of this job, that you will have a sense of satisfaction from your work and that the changes will quickly become the new normal.

Of course there is no excuse - but statistically speaking, I'm pretty sure an abusive upbringing does often result in abusive practices as an adult. If one has not developed a concept of what is societally normal - or in fact, has an extremely skewed set of personal norms as a result of upbringing - I can see how that would contribute. Yes, these people with the kids (I can't call them parents😡), should face consequences. I just think it's important for us to examine the root causes in an effort to prevent such atrocities in the future. The growing tragedy in all this is that the chain of abuse was likely long term, generational. It so hurts my heart to see this level of brokenness.

I agree 100% that Umbridge is the worst. DH and I use movie character names to refer to certain people who make our children's lives difficult but we don't want to call out by name. We had a Delores Umbridge a few years ago when an administrator was hired for the co-op we were in. She was sweet to your face, yet manipulative and self-serving. Enrollment plummeted. This season a new person has emerged at an extracurricular. She's now referred to as Jenny, because like the lyrics to Jenny Lind's fabulous aria in The Greatest Showman, no matter what we do...it will never be enough. We have had to set boundaries on our participation - we pay our share, show up and participate, both parents serve a reasonable amount of hours - but we have established a pretty firm "enough" line in the sand, for the health & sanity of our own family. There are lots of other examples (not all negative!) My kids have likened me to the mom in A Christmas Story, which doesn't upset me in the least. In fact I may be rather flattered by it.

Friends & Family - be able to answer how two characters are related or how they met.

So glad you asked this question. I am now decided for sure to go back to a desktop. We've all been laptop users for years, but I've been thinking of returning to a desktop for a while, for a few reasons. First is ergonomics. My posture is better with a desk/standing desk situation than as a slumped-on-the-couch user. I also feel more productive as a writer when using a "real" (old style?) keyboard. Plus as others have mentioned, I need a bigger screen. And that I am able to put the keyboard and screen at separate, appropriate heights will help prevent eye strain and text neck. It also has to do with intentionality. I want to create a setting for tasks that involve computer use. I am working on putting technology use in its proper place rather than letting it spill over into every area of my life. I am also reverting back to the carrying a book along mentality as opposed to planning to read on my phone or jump on social media at any down moment. I believe using a desktop will help me as I work in being an intentional user versus a default browser. It's largely a time and habit management thing for me.

Yes! I got the same vibe. Like she is working on capitalizing on the whole affair. Seriously, though, she reports that she was abused as a child herself, so if that's true it has implications for her sister's behavior.

We used to do a thorough scalp run down with listerine for funky hair problems.

Well I can guess what you might be serving next Christmas dinner!

Seriously, sometimes when dishes/ingredients tend to be splashy & messy, I find things stay neater when I use a pot a little deeper than I actually need. So maybe you could use it in that way. (But maybe you are already a neat cook - I try, but definitely leave evidence!)

Well then I am in good company! Someday I might get one but for now, every time I consider it I find myself thinking, but that's the same cost as a piano lesson....😆

Had a pedicure.

Really big batch of jambalaya!

Yep, we were told to stay on the resort, especially since we were traveling as two young women (before I was married). One day we went to a local market and they watched us carefully. Another evening my friend was feeling adventurous and talked me into going to a local bar. We were aggressively entertained by a couple of Dutchmen. We had to just leave the place. Years later when Natalie Holloway disappeared, it was a cold slap of a memory.

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity! Glad to know you're not feeling anything of consequence. My app is obviously not the top of the line for earthquake detection, but as I check radar each morning and when thunderstorms are brewing, I've gotten used to the little red markers indicating quakes. The western and South Pacific are always busy, with occasional markers near Alaska and western SA, but this afternoon there was that whole line of red dots. Made me wonder.

Are you feeling earthquakes? My wether radar app shows earthquake activity and there are pins all up and down the west coast of South America and up into Mexico. Just curious if they are sizeable enough to be significant (showing upper 4's and a low 5 or two).

Yes on the hand washing. I have never been shy about asking folks to wash their hands before handling my new babies and I always make a point of doing so before holding any other's newborn.