Ovaries definitely continue to make hormones even after menopause, but at a lower level. I did a lot of reading when I had my 20 lb ovarian cyst and had to have a hysterectomy. I was very glad to be able to keep one ovary.

I totally get that this is an untenable situation, but I find myself feeling sorry for this young man who truly has nowhere to go and no resources and is being told "you don't have to go home (because you don't have one) but you can't stay here."

It's really hard to maintain adequate following distances on the interstates, though, because when I'm leaving 7 car lengths in front of me, people are constantly nipping into my following distance because they see it as "plenty of room for me." It drives me crazy.

I love this!!!!

This is especially relevant because the expectations in K-3 are so incredibly developmentally inappropriate, in terms of sitting and writing and reading. I was student teaching in a first grade class, and I was literally speechless at the expectations. “Oh, you have put forth tons of effort and finished writing numbers from 1-100? No, you absolutely cannot play or read a book or draw! How dare you ask that! You are to keep writing 1-100 over and over until the time is over!” Or, “You’re not finished with your spelling because every line drawing on the paper hasn’t been colored “correctly.”

I’m probably a 2.5. In the city, I am a “pretty close to the speed limit” driver but on the interstate, I go 5-7 miles (and occasionally up to ten if passing) over the speed limit. I try hard to both maintain lots of space between me and other vehicles and also to minimize changing lanes. My husband doesn’t like driving on interstates or highways at all, but on long trips he’s recently started being able to drive some, if he takes medication. But I honestly prefer to do most of the driving because he keeps driving SO SLOWLY. I pointed out at one point on our trip (when not in bumper to bumper traffic dictating low speeds) that he was 15-20 miles below the speed limit and that that might not really be safe. But I try hard not to critique his driving.

My radiation safety officer husband has said this is 100% true.

Wow. That is appalling. I didn't realize all of those things.

I DO think eclipses are mind blowing and I find them full of awe and transcendence. I love them. I have traveled more than 24 hours for them round trip twice now. But not everyone does, and that's okay. Niagara Falls was "water obeying the laws of physics; can we go back to the hotel now" for my family. I didn't post on this thread because I figured this thread wasn't for me. I understand people being annoyed by tourists or constant media hype and jacked up gas prices, too. How you are affected by eclipses is not exactly a moral stance. We're all different.

Okay, so if the kid is as sick as it sounds, why the heck was he considered competent to stand trial and was sentenced to prison? A floridly psychotic teenager should not be charged as an adult.

If they don't smell bad, at least two weeks.

We buy a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, milk from a local dairy, and pasture raised eggs. Other than that: 1) La Croix. I am a major addict. 2) Dr. Bronner’s soap. It’s so much better than the generic. 3) Hello Fresh twice a week. Reduces mental load. We also buy some convenience things: shredded cheese, capri suns and Luna bars for my kid’s lunch, sweet tea for the kids, beer for my husband, microwave bowls of Mac and cheese for college student’s dorm room, Jif peanut butter. Every once in awhile we buy lentiful bowls, which are amazing. We definitely could economize more on groceries, and our food budget went up a good bit when I committed to eating more produce.

I actually disagree with getaway drivers being held responsible too. I don’t like them. I don’t think the parents are good people. But I think convicting parents for the actions of their kids when there was no law at the time for safe storage is a cop out and holding parents responsible is a way for us to feel virtuous and like justice is being served but not actually having to do anything to promote responsible gun ownership. I think it’s a dangerous precedent and a way to avoid the hard work of governing and changing laws to protect society.

I really feel like it's shaky legally to sentence parents to prison for what their minor children do, especially when the minor was tried and sentenced as an adult. I don't feel like our legal system can have it both ways. Either children are charged as adults and considered as responsible for their actions (and honestly, I feel strongly that kids should NOT be charged as adults, but it's the system we've got) OR parents are responsible for the actions of their minor children. I don't think it should be able to be both. I definitely think these parents are guilty of incredibly poor judgment, but I also think this is an unjust sentence of them, given what the laws were in Michigan at the time. NOW it would be reasonable, because a safe storage law has been passed, but at the time, there hadn't been. And I believe there's a difference between poor parenting and poor judgment and criminal behavior.