Yes. I am currently enrolled at UMass Amherst, through their University Without Walls program, which has been going since 1971. My degree program is "officially" University Without Walls, but my concentration is in community social health - heavy on public health, sociology, and psychology. For here, I plan to continue with a dual master's at another (proper) school. I am very pleased with the program so far, and my advisor, Karen, is awesome.

So, Debbi, how did it go?

No. Sweaters should not be hung, thus there is no perfect sweater hanger.

This is a communication issue, I think, which is compounded by everyone grieving and approaching the first family holiday without your mom. Here's what I'm seeing, and you can obviously take it for what it's worth. You say nobody talks about how they're feeling in your family. I am going to propose that your dad, approaching the first family holiday without your mom, would like to fill the gigantic void at the table with someone who has also been there, with whom he has, what? 50 years of history? He's grieving, he knows you're grieving, and because he feels awkward about speaking freely (because that is your family norm), he just sort of drops a bomb about the invitation. You and your sister are assuming this is a romantic relationship because nobody speaks freely. Two stopovers to visit with someone you've known more than half your life, when you've suddenly found your life changed in a very significant way, is not necessarily so. Maybe K is weathering the same "first holiday" - whether because her spouse died in the same time frame, or perhaps because her children are unavailable this year for the first time. Yes, I think you should speak with your dad, but I think you should speak to him and find out how he's doing, "get to know" K, and leave it at that. I can't imagine making him feel more awkward by suggesting he's being rude is going to help. Perhaps he's not so much oblivious about others' grief as desperate to not have glaring reminders of loss at the table. Would your sister normally be ok with guests, or is this something that wouldn't be done? I think everyone needs to communicate, so you can all stop assuming about one another's feelings, coming to your own conclusions, and feeling resentful about something that might not even be reality.

I would, too, though chili powder is sort of an integral component to chili, so it would be different. Not bad, just not chili. Cumin would help it along to the tex-mex place, if you have that.

Induction requires that the pots are conductive. The ceramic won't work on them. If you have induction, you know because you bought it on purpose and you've paid several times what a plain, radiant cooktop costs. Also, the surface stays cool on induction cooktops.

I find that girls' L or XL are the same as ladies' XS/S (and sometimes M) but shorter. Those often work better for me in unstructured bottoms and they're less expensive than finding petites.

Yup, me too. Except I am the one who cut contact, the final time being about 5 years ago. I'm over the "what might have been" thing. It was hard to embrace reality, but there it is. You know?

That's very true. My (near) daily-drive standard is my 15 year old Jeep. Nowadays, it seems like, with the exception of sports cars, standards are special order. I'm 42. My first car was a '74 MG (3 speed). Then I had a Ford of some sort (4 speed), a Hyudai (5 speed), then the Jeep. After that we've been doing the car seats/ too many car seats thing in vehicles that only come in auto. It sucks.

I acquired one "simple" one with just a line of rhinestones along a metal band at Ulta. Otherwise, I've found them on Etsy. Search "sparkly headband" there. :D

I use it for things I need on the move, for creating web forms for things like field trip RSVPs (for our homeschool group) and class/payroll tracking (at work), and for other shared/collaborative documents. I also like that, when I'm at work, I can print documents from Drive to my home computer. (Personal documents, I mean)

I have a collection of sparkly headbands because that is about as close to a tiara as a middle-aged, non-royal woman in the rural mid-Atlantic can get without looking like a loon. I get compliments on them all the time. From men of all ages... It's a little funny to have a 60-something, burly, biker-looking dude say he likes my sparkly headband. They might think I'm a loon for other reasons, though. In fact, I think I'm wearing one in my avatar.

I have cork that is 8 years old with three kids and a dog, in the kitchen that is our most frequently used entrance, which means perpetual sand tracking. It needs to be re-sealed (because we're idiots and didn't seal it after it was put in) but has held up really well. I was convinced of its durability when I found an "ask the handyman" site that discussed a 100+ year old cork floor in a cathedral that was still going strong. I figure if it can stand up to a century of public use with dress shoes, my family isn't really much of a threat.

We bought a '98 V70 wagon with 112,000 miles on it 10 years ago. It's still going. Pre-Ford Volvos go forever. I can't speak to the integrity of them after Ford bought them, but those are the newer ones, anyway, so there may not be enough age/mileage on them to make a call.

This, along with regular cleaning to remove the fungus growing gunk in the holes.

That was our experience as well. She's a 00-1 depending on cut.

It's the gnomes. They steal socks and odd bits of paper, and like to nest under my 12 year old's bed. You're not wearing them, are you? Is someone else? Did you remove the security tags? Maybe they've upgraded them to homing devices.

Tom Cruise is still making movies? Who knew.

I have no idea what the market is or what prices are good, but a word of warning: KitchenAid mixers are not the workhorses they used to be. Whirlpool bought the brand several years ago from Hobart and they are now made very cheaply, with plastic motor parts. If you're going to invest several hundred dollars in a stand mixer, make sure you do your homework.

We're in town, but in a rural area. There are maybe 2500 people in town. In a drive to grab something at the grocery store, I can easily pass more than a dozen adults out walking or biking errands. Depending on the time of day, during the week there are always office people out in our 3-block downtown area, walking to the bank, post office, courthouse, etc. Morning, evening, and weekends we have the fitness runner/biker/walkers out. Ironically, this is not a very health-conscious area. A lot of people just don't drive. (Or, in the case of office workers, driving errands would actually make the walk further.)

Banana bread pudding!

:svengo: yeah, those are both gotta-be-there-but-less-is-more flavors.

Buy new pants that fit with your body shape? Honestly, I have told so many first time moms not to try to wear their old jeans when they're back to pre-pregnancy weight. Their body shape has changed and they just don't fit the same. I think the same applies here.

My kids eat cereal. Not every day, but it's almost always here as an option. We have a tradition of letting the boys pick "crappy cereal" and pop-tarts for their birthday breakfast (started when we were away for their birthday and the store literally did not have any other festive breakfast options, like pastry). They mostly pick Lucky Charms. It seems they don't care for the other crappy cereals. Lol.

Try corporate customer service (as opposed to the appliance repair folks). They have much more power.