Made up my name in 2008 for an online game. I wanted a call sign that sounded mysterious, and evoked someone who could fight well and take care of herself (Hawk) but had a feminine bent (Moon). My previous screen name for pretty much everything up to that point was UFO Kermit (made when AOL had a 10-character limit, oh those were the days!) and everyone always assumed I was male, which caused some awkward chats. So, I wanted to definitely avoid that, and Moon seemed to do the trick. I have one other name online now, but most places I stick to Moonhawk, or Moonhaawk. My avatar is a photo I took of a rare book from the 1400s, a versal M, and it made me happy. There was also a gorgeous E, which would be my real name's initial, but I thought that would confusing. All of the little grey lines on the right side are lines of text, the M is fairly large in real life.

My parents were not thrilled when I told them about #3 and #4. How they act now though, you'd think more grandchildren was all their idea, lol. My mom is bracing herself for #5, since I've said we'll have more once it's financially viable (even though this is at least a year in the future, she is already trying to come to terms with it, lol). One sister is jealous (she wanted lots of kids but her husband wouldn't have more than 2). My other sister thinks that having more than 2 is the height of parental neglect and hung up on me when I called to tell her about #4, LOL. I didn't let any of this ruin my own excitement though. Having another baby, another child and getting to see a whole new person from the beginning: all of the things every baby does to look forwad to, all of the quirks each individual has to discover. They'll either come around eventually to see how much joy the new baby is, or they don't. The things you listed as dampers on their thrill seem petty when put next to a WHOLE NEW LIFE and should be treated as such. If you guys would be excited to have another baby, everything else is small potatoes 🙂

I know! Then after reading it, all I can hope is that the bird in question is not a raven lol.

Thankfully for me that's not a requirement : P

Looking through just tracks now, I'm trying to stick to more fun fast stuff. : Jailhouse Rock Chantilly Lace Johnny B Goode, Chuck Berry La Bamba, Ritchie Valens Shout!, Isley Brothers I have to stop the house is in mutiny, lol

My "50's Dance Party!" CD has these songs I recommend: At The Hop, Danny & The Juniors Stagger Lee, Lloyd Price Maybe not after listening to lyrics lol Lucille, Lilttle Richard Come Go With Me, Vikings Do you wanna dance, Bobby Sherman Yakety Yak, Coasters Red River Rock, Johnny And the Hurricanes Lilttle Darlin', The Diamonds Tiger, Fabian Same CD also has these songs that would be fun but maybe not the stereotypical "dance party" flavor: Honeycomb, Rodgers Western Movies, The Olympics Party Doll. Buddy Knox Thanks for this post!! Love my afternoon music selection now. (DH is not as thrilled, LOL)

Dont' have real experience with an estate sale, but have been indirectly involved in cleaning out my grandmother's house after her death in November. One thing if you are doing an estate sale with an outside person and there are items of greater value, give an expected price to the estate seller and let them know that certain parts of the collection may be more valuable. A person walking in to do the sale and does not know old records, for example, may say just $1 each and be happy to be rid of them, while some of the records might be worth much more in value; same with books for first editions, hard to find copies, etc. This probably is more true the more niche the area is: I have no knowledge of ceramic angels and would say $2 each, but it was not the correct amount when we did a little digging on the particular figurines. I don't know if estate sales people do this already (I would think yes?) but if she isn't taking inventory then I'm more inclined to believe that more valuable items may go unnoticed.

We decided we want to travel in an RV across the US with the kids. We've sold our house and are working towards this goal. It's slower progress than we hoped but we're treating it like an adventure. But really, even if we never make it, I'm happy with my life right now.

Hey Scrap! Same weather here, it's beautifully overcast and threatening to start the storms soon, really looking forward to it. I drove over the river earlier this week and it was really running (and it's normally dry), it will be exciting to see it after the weekend. Breakfast was a bagel from Starbucks. I'm camped here for the day until close, supposedly making progress on the business but I've hit a wall, and am trying to find a way around. Kids have the weekends booked through at least March, so the plan is just to survive 🙂

With smaller/expensive things, if I am putting it down but not where I consider it belongs, I usually put it on a higher shelf that way kids don't take it and it can't be knocked down easily. The problem being it I put stuff higher than I can actually see. Any chance you put it on a shelf above eye level? Sorry it's still missing, hope it comes back soon

Get a second pair of eyes. If I am looking too long for something, I have been know to miss it in an "obvious, already checked there don't waste your time" spot. Also, look with your hands and your eyes. Touch the piles of books, pick them up, put them back. Not just look at the top of the pile, it could be on a lower ledge of a book or blending into a cover or fallen behind, etc.

"The same place as last time" I'd never gone before. 😕 lol

Lol, I tried to think of a different last name for a minute, but Gere just fit so well, and I figured if I was giving Anna a boring last name like Smith, she may as well marry a movie star 😉

Oh the other issue is: I know my friend's last name, but not necessarily the soon-to-be spouse's. Around the time of my marriage, My kinda uncommon first+last name combo was on another registry, getting married to a man with a similar name as my husband (think Darin and Dan). For my side of guests, not having my husband's last name on the invitation may have started calls. But again, it really depends on the audience receiving the invitation, and if they like the design, then that's that. It just might generate a few "What's his last name again?" calls. Maybe it could fit on the RSVP? "[ ] I plan to attend Anna Smith's and Richard Gere's wedding". Though I guess they have to send that back, so not as helpful...

I've received one invitation like this. I'm not a real fan but understand it is both a statement of independence from family as well as setting the tone for a more informal wedding, not as traditional. Last names are a useful practical thing to have, for rsvp, getting the correct registry, writing a check, addressing a card and updating an address book, etc. But assuming it's a small wedding and everyone who was invited is told to expect a invitation, it shouldn't be a real problem.

The weird thing is that 2 of the calls literally ended themselves: "Hi, This is Amber from--"*click*. So I don't even know if I'm mad about my expired car warranty or the IRS about to arrest me! lol

I'm registered on the DND list but the number of calls has been picking up since around October. At first it was all election related and I thought it would go down afterwards (I know election calls aren't spam), but instead it's just slowly kept increasing from maybe 1-3 calls a day to now a minimum of 5, and today has hit the high of 9, with another 5 hours of expected call time. So so so annoying. Normally I'd just ignore and wait for it to go to VM, but today I'm waiting for some call backs so I'm answering each call because they all show local numbers. End vent. BLARGGHGHGH Okay, now end vent. lol

Drama comes from my 10yo. She can snap off one of her brothers' heads just for them asking to pass the eraser, lol. She's always had the tendency, and we've worked on coping and positive thoughts and stating calm, but, well, some people are just easier to set off, lol. We are just making VDay cards for the home school group and a banner, but nothing else really planned. Lunch was sandwiches, good but I really have been wanting Mexican.

I had thought about that but figured since I was switching platform anyway (desktop version to online), I should see if there's a better option since the last time I looked, a lot can change in 10 years. I do have self employment income so TurboTax for me would be $80 or so I think. It does look like there are other online options that can do the same, and for much less.

We used HomeBudget. It's $5 one time (or at least it used to be), and another $5 if you get it for another TYPE of device (ie if you want it both on phone and computer, you have to pay $10; but you can just buy one or the other). You can track your real money and accounts or just set up a spending budget. It hooks up to banks if you want but I've always had issues with that (and in every app I tried, I just have bad luck I think, or credit unions aren't as dependable on their side compared to a big name bank). It was one of the most customizeable options I found and was easy to use. Stopped using it about 8 months ago when I started teaching kids how to budget --moved to paper to make it easier for everyone involved-- but I still like HomeBudget and will return probably, once I'm ready for kids to be more tech-savvy with the budget.

I've used Turbo Tax since 2009 I think. This year they no longer support my OS, and I can't upgrade my computer for various reasons. So, I need to find a new tax program. Someone has recommended FreeTaxUSA online, but I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with it or another program that works well. My tax situation does not require an accountant, and my budget prefers smaller priced items 🙂 Does anyone have a DIY tax program they like that isn't Turbo Tax?

I've got two that stack on each other: 1. If I see my water glass is empty, I have to refill it. 2. Each time I refill my water I do some simple back/shoulder stretches and eye stretches. I do a lot of sitting at the computer and I'll always forget to stop every X minutes to stretch and relax, so at least this way I'm doing it consistently throughout the day.

I think though that the needle of what the "particular sort of smell that indicates the need for a bath" IS does change between cultures. Many cultures have a different standard and a different leniency for what can be acceptable. Even different professions probably have different standards. We may all agree that smell C means you need a bath but smell D could be acceptable in some areas. One of my history teacher's favorite stories was talking about his trips to rural area of Europe. He got on a bus and was bowled over by the smell of the people on the bus. They, meanwhile, tried to stay away from him because his perfumy soap smell was overpowering and gross to them. (This was confirmed by his frank discussion with a few other passengers, not his assumption.) I've noticed since we stopped using perfumed soaps and switched to more natural cleaners, my already-sensitive sense of over-perfume has gotten easier to trigger. I'm sure that what now smells normal to me is not what's normal to someone who uses multiple products with scents. I wonder how they perceive me: I'm washed, my clothes are clean, but I don't have the typical markers of "clean" that they are used to. I'm sure some people don't like scentless body odor.

DH does this with people he doesn't know. He's trying so hard to hold up his side of the conversation, but he can't think fast enough to ANSWER a question, only fast enough to THINK OF a question. The only way he's going to keep a conversation going is asking questions, or a miracle of one of the questions you ask him being something he talks about easily. So, music, typography, business/work ethics, and general thought process and philosophy. But then he has the opposite problem on not being able to stop talking easily and forgetting to ask questions. eta: but, he doesn't actually CALL anyone because of this precise reason (or friends, because he's past that stage of conversing with them). So I guess she's doing what she feels like she should do (reach out to friends) but is lost after step 1. So yeah that's difficult to deal with and I'm sorry you're put in that type of conversation. 😕

Great to see you Scrap, enjoy your visit! AZ has been feeling a little less sunshiney, now I know why 😉 Going well, not half as much school as I'd like but still a ton of learning, so that's still on track, yes?