You are so right! 😄

Okay guys, thank you. I appreciate the help. Deleting now.

I think this is exactly how dd feels. Thank you for spelling it out for me. Thank you, yes. You're right. And thank you so much for not quoting!

N/m

It's so sad. I feel awful for her at the same time I get mad because I'm feeling manipulated.

Auntie absolutely expects thanks. She is loving, but has a very rigid understanding of etiquette. There's never intentional hurtfulness, but a great deal of criticism of people who don't meet her expectations. This starts getting into why she can be difficult. I mean, obviously people should thank others for presents, but the criticism can be constant. Sometimes I think she loves to give presents mostly because it's the only way she can compel a relationship. Eta: However, I can absolutely send brief thanks myself.

N/m

N/m

N/m

This might be just what we need. Thank you!

N/m

I don't think I'd be confident with anything less than a PCR test either. Hope she turns out to be fine!

Agreeing that good (even very good) antique and vintage furniture is a bargain. Around here we can find high quality handmade cherry, black walnut, and mahogany furniture for a fraction of its original cost, and about the same cost or cheaper than modern stuff with particle board. And, bonus: no need to feel guilty about more tropical deforestation!

Yep.

Yeah, that explains it, then. Musing a bit more... A good, up-to-the-moment definition of "pandering" might include indulging and exploiting your constituents' life-threatening delusions, contrary to all expert opinion and advice.

My guess would be scoring political points with the anti-mask crowd. He must think they're an important demographic. What I can't get over is how self-defeating this strategy is, over the long term. As you point out, they are literally endangering the lives of their own supporters (not to mention everyone else in the region).

If it were at 8:30, with reasonable organization and adult supervision, I'd be okay with the idea, but I'd still warn my dd. Nobody here would like that kind of surprise, and everybody has plans for timing schoolwork and other responsibilities. Dropping a bomb in the middle of those plans would not go over well. Keeping people (me!) up all night would not go over well. Dd would be justifiably furious if I let people surprise her in the middle of the night. I suspect this kind of prank is more fun for the ones planning it than for the newbies/victims.

I mean... Education level was apparently self-reported here. So, I'm not sure how much I trust the information.

Yep, here too. And then you add the brown sugar! I honestly increase quantities of ingredients like these if my main purpose is to introduce a recipe featuring, say, cabbage. I can always gradually decrease them once people decide they like it.

For the beet haters, have you tried them in a sweet and sour sauce, like Harvard beets? And for cabbage, blaukraut was transformative for me. You can find a wide range of recipes online, but basically, start by cutting up and lightly sauteing a good chunk of bacon with some brown sugar, before adding chopped onions and tart apples, and then sliced red cabbage. At some point some vinegar and salt go in also... do find a recipe, don't just go by this. I use one from Mimi Sheraton's The German Cookbook, which may or may not be authentic, but does taste awfully good. I've branched out from blaukraut to other cabbage recipes she includes, using things like caraway seeds. I basically decided that I wanted to learn to like cabbage, and a German cookbook seemed like the most likely way to do that. For kale, try chopping a good sized onion and several cloves of garlic. Saute (covered) in a big skillet with one of the little bottles of white wine that comes in a four-pack: the ones I have on hand are chardonnay. Once the onion starts to get a bit soft, add a bag of frozen kale, and a can of cannellini beans. Season with about a teaspoon of salt and a few shakes of red pepper flakes. I've gone from barely tolerating greens to really enjoying this. (Eta: the original recipe for this includes a pound of Italian sausage, which is scrumptious, but for ordinary use I leave it out because it adds so much fat.)

@TexasProud I hope she feels better soon.

Ugh. They've had so much trouble. How awful.

Here's one case: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/vaccine-mandate-nurses-virginia-covid/2021/08/13/493c906a-fad3-11eb-9c0e-97e29906a970_story.html I'm not sure if this article is open access, like WaPo's Covid information generally is. It's worth reading. The protesting nurses have the usual mixture of hesitation about a new vaccine, misinformation from Facebook, and encouragement from a particular political corner. They're apparently ready to lose their jobs in order to avoid complying with a vaccine mandate.

Virginia