I live in a very cold climate and the local housing stock, ours included (130yo), tends to be very old. Houses are cold. They just are and there is not a whole lot that can be done about it. Even if heating costs were no object, my house will simply not hold above a certain temp. During the coldest months, even with the furnace running 24/7, 72 degrees is not a thing. We have modern windows (not everyone does) but short of stripping down to studs and replacing the now-dust newspaper "insulation," it is what it is. We set our thermostat to 62/50 (day/night) and depending on the outdoor temps/wind speed, that can mean that some parts of the house are much colder. It is an adjustment every year but we get used to it. It is routine here to wear hats, light scarves, longjohns, wristwarmers, and wool socks/slippers indoors all winter. I will bump the heat to 66 for an hour or two if I get super uncomfortable and I will attempt to heat the house at a higher temp when we host any houseguests that are willing to brave our winters. We have a few family members that cannot visit us in the winter because they require indoor temps that exceed what is possible in our home. I do feel for anyone that has a condition that makes this miserable and/or dangerous, but I somewhat agree that most people can, and probably should, learn to adapt to fluctuating indoor temps when facing the threat of climate change and fuel shortages. I actually have pretty severe Raynaud's, so I do understand. It takes an extra degree of care to maintain functioning hands and feet. But still quite doable. On the flip side, kids raised here, including my own, will run about with bare feet and princess dresses and not think anything of it.

My throw-it-together soup is 16 ounces of canned tomato, half a small onion, one carrot, one celery stalk, S&P, a sprinkle of basil and 1/2 cup half-n-half. Either Vitamix until hot or use a normal blender and heat after blending. This serves two. Scale up as needed. If I am missing the carrot and/or celery, no worries....I might add celery flakes. Same with half-n-half....sub in regular milk, non-dairy milk, a half block of silken tofu, or go without.

That would be a treat in my house. I don't do canned tomatoes soup (why is it SWEET?!?), but like others, I can make it just as quickly in my Vitamix with pantry staples. And the only bread we ever have in the house is 100% whole grain and homemade, so nearly a meal on its own. If I have veggies, salad, or fruit on hand, I would add it as a side but if not, no worries for a "sometimes meal."

In case anyone is wondering, they *do* still make salad spinners with drain holes: https://www.amazon.com/spinner-lettuce-draining-capacity-Essential/dp/B0B4NRB2KZ/ref=asc_df_B0B4NRB2KZ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=619306654220&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9587399604199603794&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9017741&hvtargid=pla-1823380169207&th=1 This is pretty much the one I have. Apparently everyone hates these but I do like mine.

Am I the only one flabbergasted that RVs ever come with fireplaces?!?! Lol! Do they burn real wood? Or is it propane? We are on our second, tiny, cheap, and ancient used pop-up, so I can't give any advice. But now I want a fireplace. Or even a heater!

I just watched that video and I now remember the most important reason I still have my really crappy spinner! The base of mine is not a bowl. It has big drain holes on the bottom and sits up on short feet. It also has a water hole in the lid. I can run water directly into the spinner as it is spinning and it drains out the bottom holes. The downside for most people, I think, is this mean you must use it in the sink, which can be a pain if your sink is not empty. But I always keep my sink empty, so this is not a problem. And I wash a lot of REALLY dirty greens. Our CSA grows in sand as do many other local growers so I often run my greens through the spinner before the initial soak to get the bulk of the sand out. This would never work with a closed bowl. Even if I skipped the initial run, I would have to soak, spin, and empty multiple times to get everything clean whereas now, I can just run the tap through the spinner until I don't see any grit exiting the spinner. Anyone know of currently available spinners that are like this? I have not seen one, which is why I have not given up my current spinner....which is really terrible in every other way.

I actually know someone with a large CSA that does this! They have a cheap washing machine just for this purpose. I have the cheapest, flimsiest, most difficult-to-use garbage spinner than I bought for $10 about 20 years ago. I use it daily! I really REALLY should upgrade but this one happens to fit in a really handy space in my kitchen and it is all plastic, which I prefer to the glass bowl options. It is easier to see if the greens are still expelling any grit on the white background of plastic rather than the clear glass bowl. Any spinner is better than no spinner. I am completely baffled as to what people do without one. Whenever one of those "what 10 items could you get by with as a complete kitchen" games comes up, the spinner is on my list. I take it with me when we go camping, if that is any indication of how strongly I feel about them!

I would likely drive/walk the kid to school. I can see from previous posts why that might be a bad idea, but I'm guessing I would not have thought of that and just gotten the job done. Calling the police or even the school would not even occur to me. But again, this is *in my area.* While I don't know most of my neighbors personally, we do tend to look out for each other. My own child was approached and helped by neighbor/strangers and I have done the same. I have put bandaids on cuts, helped retrieve balls from behind fences, put air in a bike tire, and walked a lost toddler around until I found their house with no second thoughts. I was also the kid that was in this situation so many times that I cannot even imagine what would have happened if someone called the police every time. I did get on the bus after my parents left for work, starting at age 8. I did come home to an empty house at the same age and sometimes I even forgot my key and ended up sipping hot cocoa at some neighbor's kitchen table for a half hour until my mom came home. If I missed the bus, in either direction, it was up to me to ask a classmate's parent or whoever was available to give me a ride. I once was even driven home by the principal! And most of the neighbors were all in the same boat. My mom drove neighbor kids to school that had missed the bus after their parents had left for work. No one even thought to mention it to the parents. Not that I don't understand that times and standards have changed. I would not leave a kid to wait for a bus alone at that age now. If I didn't have to anyway...... But I am also privileged enough to never have to resort to that. And I certainly would not judge someone who did. I guess after reading this all, I would pause before driving the kid. I would probably try calling the school or trying to figure out how to contact a parent. But that would not have been my first instinct if coming across the situation cold. And it makes me sad that it has come to this.

My dd spent at least 3 hours daily on music. It was a big factor in continuing to homeschool through high school....allowing time and space for this. Lessons (multiple instruments), rehearsals, her own practice, performances, recording sessions, etc..... We struggled with this question as well. I could easily have indicated significant credit on the transcript and still have justification for ECs. In the end, I decided to count only one credit to tick off the "fine art" requirement that some colleges are looking for and left the rest as EC. She did not need the credits and I did not want to look like I was padding her GPA. Same with PE. Again, dd was deeply involved in her sport and fitness in general. In this case, I left it all as EC and I did an old school PE class one year where I assigned tracking of her activities, assessment, reporting, reading, and other health-related assignments for the official credit, leaving the sport itself as pure EC. Again, she did not need the credit and I did not want to "pad." Ironically, it was this course that she slacked in, resulting in one of only two Bs in high school. In both cases, I would have considered a different route had she planned to pursue music school or any sport/fitness-related degree program. As a college student she is still deeply involved in music and significantly so in her sport, but neither have anything to do with the degree program she is pursuing so I think it was the right decision.

Basically, when the bike lane ends the road is going from a two-lane (in that direction) to a one-lane from a car standpoint. As others have said, where the bike lane exists, cars can pass freely. When it stops, cars can only pass as though they were passing another car. Bikes may continue to ride on the shoulder, but they do not have to. They can legally ride in the middle of the single lane if they so choose. Even if they are in the shoulder, a car should not pass unless the opposing lane is free. I can see how it doesn't seem to make a difference when there is a wide shoulder and all bikers seem to stay on it, but there is a legal distinction should there be a collision. That said, no one in my area has any idea about any bike rules and smart bikers understand that they have to protect themselves from people who don't know the laws. I do a lot of road biking and have seen it all, unfortunately. And, yes, I do follow all of the driving laws while on a bike.

Lol! A/C in the UP is not a thing.....

We had to give up after the first one. I swear I spent more time trying to find a seat than dd did on the class all year. After that fiasco that involved long distance travel and selling my soul to the devil, we decided AP was not for us. Dd did take more AP classes but did not test. We opted to lean toward DE instead, which worked well. There are regions on the country, including mine, where it is essentially impossible for homeschoolers to test at any cost.

That solves one life question for me - "Does that bead thing work for anyone, ever?" My cats would have none of it. We have tried it several times over the years with several cats. Everyone I know that has a cat has never had this work. So, at least I now know it *can* work!

I followed this very closely when Serial was first released and then listened to several spin-off podcasts. It has been awhile so I cannot remember all of the details but I know that I mostly felt walking away from all of it was that he was likely innocent, there had never been enough credible proof to call him guilty within a reasonable doubt, and that many MANY mistakes were made from the time of his arrest all the way up to now. I may have to go back and review.

I got the pfizer yesterday at 2pm. I have some mild arm pain but if I had fever or anything else, it must have happened in the night. I feel pretty normal as of right now. One thing that did happen was that about one hour after getting the shot I had a very strong nauseated feeling. So much so that I thought I might throw up. It lasted for about an hour then went away. I have a stomach of steel and this was a very odd feeling for me. I had not eaten anything out of the ordinary. Nothing like that happened the other three times. So, who knows?

I hate this too! My dd was in a group for years that was coached by people sensitive to this. They chose arbitrary things to line up to.....middle name alphabetical order, odd versus even birthdates (the day, not the age), birth months, dog lover vs. cat lover, etc..... And, yes, sometimes age as the group spanned ages 12-18 and sometimes having a varied mix of age was important to make the game work well. In this day, there are enough way for kids to be bullied. Why make it an adult-sanctioned event?

The pain is real! Dd was on a travel sports team for years so we were often feeding pizza to large groups of kids in places that had high prices. In an effort to save money, I once calculated the cost per square inch of the available sizes so we could choose the size that was the best deal....which on that day was *not* the largest size as everyone assumed. The other parents did not understand that "maths" could be used in pizza decisions and I spent the rest of my time in that group as "the math nerd." Never again. I make all of my math-induced pizza decisions privately now.

And also, I love love LOVE this appliance! I resisted for years because I am reluctant to add "gadgets" to my smallish kitchen. But this has been a game changer! We have never had a microwave so I was firing up the whole oven for every leftover reheat. Never again.

I just use the roasting pan on the bottom setting to catch anything from the mesh basket. I use mine 3+ times a day and find that the pan cleans up just fine if I clean it right after cooking. Much easier than cleaning the mesh basket itself!

I get mine later this week. Dh got his last night. He woke with a mild fever and a very sore arm.....which is pretty much how the other three went. I had milder side effects in the past so hoping that trend continues as I have some highly physical tasks the next day.

Meh. I'd leave it unless there is a compelling reason to remove it. Like if the person sleeping in there is having allergy issues that could be from the carpet. I don't really care what is under my carpet. I am not eating off of it. And if the pad has damaged the flooring underneath, that ship has sailed. It's not like a year or two or 10 will matter at this point. I have 20+ yo carpet in three bedrooms and while I would love to replace it or see if there is nicer flooring under it, I have more pressing home needs.

This! We don't have allergy issues but and friend and I thought we would go all Susie-Homemaker one year and do "real" gingerbread houses with "the kids." I say "the kids" because between us we have 4 but we also included 3 others kids. We pre-made the pieces which was WAY more work than I thought possible. It took us two nights and countless bottles of wine. Then the day of the assembly was pure chaos. 7 kids in a tiny dining room, completely jacked up on candy, try to use frosting to make the houses. Even the oldest at the time (10ish) could not handle it. They kept falling apart. Or one kid would bump into another's. Tears all around. At some point we had the dads step in because we were DONE. We were hiding in my car with locked doors and more wine. All of the houses looked like drunk cats made them. The dads eventually stumbled out of the house looking like they just returned from war. And despite all of this, those kids, all on their late teens now, claim it was the best day ever! That said, I make a lot of stuff routinely that have been listed in this thread. Crackers, granola, pesto, potato salad, shepherds pie..... I generally have a lot of patience and cooking just takes a long time in my world.

Us too! I have a 23yo IKEA couch and chair that has had a ROUGH life full of pets, kids, and parties and it is still just fine somehow. We had just bought our first house and were strapped for cash so got it as a temporary solution until we could buy something "better." It looks good, it's comfortable, I can throw the slip covers in the wash any time they get dirty, and I could even buy new slip covers if I wanted a different color. We even had an epic cat pee incident with the couch* and I assumed it was a goner for sure. But I took the entire cushions to the laundromat and they cleaned up completely. I was a little disappointed TBH. And since I have had them my entire adult life, I cannot even compare to other brands as I have not had any other brands. All that to say that apparently cost and quality do not necessarily correlate. *Always make sure the cat door to the basement that contains the litter boxes is functioning properly BEFORE you go on vacation......

Yep. We have a trust set up with a named custodian. The funds can be accessed, with permission from the custodian, immediately but the funds do not get released fully until age 30. So the custodian can allocate funds for education or other necessities but (hopefully) prevents blowing all the money foolishly.

Yes, we did. But, our "toxic person" would very likely do everything possible to overturn that directive, so mostly "plan A" was to not both die. We named very close friends and made them aware that they would likely have a legal battle on their hands. They understood and agreed to fight should it come to that. Luckily we made it past the finish line but we still have someone else named to manage the trust should we both pass.