She sounds just like my mom! :lol: Except that she would add "guess what I made/bought/did just isn't good enough for you." Then you say something supplicating and she brushes it off with "oh, no, I was only joking." All you can do is take a deep breath, smile, and carry on. There's not much you can do to resolve their insecurities.

I was a good and serious student, did lots of extracurriculars, and generally had a good time, but I'd go back and tell myself to open up a bit more, make more friends, get over my shyness. And I would not make plans to major in STEM. I was pretty good at math and science, but not as good as with other things. I chose STEM because it was challenging to me, and to prove that I was a strong woman, and make my somewhat feminist parents happy. That really bit me in the backside in college, because I had neither the passion, nor the skills, nor the personality for it!

I'm type A and according to the diet should be vegetarian. Never mind that I felt like I was at death's door when I had a low-meat but otherwise healthy diet, and felt better very soon after adding animal products. :001_huh: Or that I needed to eat red meat twice a day during pregnancy to keep from getting dangerously anemic (plant sources didn't cut it). :glare: So...I'm not really buying it.

I said weekly. I encounter incidental, unthinking rudeness all the time - like someone who needs to see my driver's license and says "Wow, your hair looked so nice in this picture!" and going on and on about it, or asking really intrusive questions. I see flat-out, society-must-be-coming-to-an-end rudeness about once a month.

We moved from a HCOL to LCOL area last year, about 800 miles. It cost several thousand dollars, and included a full pack/unpack, shipping two cars, renting a minivan, and a few nights in hotels. DH's company paid for it, so I don't remember the exact cost. Even if we had paid for it all ourselves, it would have been worth it to move to the LCOL area, since his salary remained the same and we can save so much more money now. I've never looked back. :001_smile: A couple of things to think consider, just off the top of my head, are flights to the new area to find housing, how you're going to move your vehicles (if I could do it over again I'd sell my cars, given their age and the cost of shipping), hotels and meals during the transition, costs of car registration, insurance, and licenses (that can really add up!), cost of incidentals for the new place (drapes, furniture that fits the rooms, rugs, shower curtains, cleaning supplies, appliances that don't come with the place, whatever), not to mention the costs of buying/selling homes.

Those pictures look just like the house I grew up in. I feel a little panicky looking at some of them! I'm not a minimalist by any means, but I do my best to curb the clutter and think twice before buying stuff. I can't really relax when my environment looks like that. In my parents' defense, I can understand why they had so much clutter. They both grew up relatively poor, with parents who'd had a really tough time in the depression (near starvation at times). They learned that you must save every little thing, or else! Then they became financially successful and could afford to buy tons and tons of carp, and they refused to toss any of it. It gives them a sense of security, even if the vast majority of it is broken and useless. They should at least try to get an organization system in place, though!

My husband and his father both stopped growing in their early to mid-20s.

Thanks!

Hello! I've been lurking here long enough to know about teA and bOOks and kilt vs tunic debates. I even witnessed the unfolding of the great Cupcake Kerfuffle. :lol: I decided to finally come out of lurkdome, even though my son is still in diapers and a few years away from homeschooling. I live in North Carolina with my husband, toddler, and three cats, and I'm focussing on self-education right now. Since the Hive knows everything, I was also wondering if you could help me out with something. My friend is 95% finished with writing a novel, and one of his characters might need a name change, for various reasons. The character is a modern-day English woman in her late 20s or early 30s. It's very important to the plot that her first name sound aristocratic (not just upper-middle class). I'm having trouble thinking of names that fit all those criteria because I'm not familiar with British name trends and connotations. We'd really appreciate any ideas. Thanks!