You would think so, but my Goodwill definitely sells bras, and I’ve seen other thrift shops selling underwear. And honestly, it’s a mental ick for me, but i figure that realistically, once you wash and dry something, it’s clean whether it is underwear or a pair of jeans. So I’ve donated clean toddler underwear that was not very worn to a local non-chain thrift shop, because underwear is expensive, proportional to the amount of fabric used, and some families may not be able to afford to be as picky as me.

Sometimes a “whole family” celebration on the actual day of the holiday just can’t happen. In my family, we try to prioritize when everyone can make it over calendar day, and my parents are super accommodating and flexible, unlike some of my extended in-law family and my siblings’ in-laws. It makes things so much easier. So my parents haven’t had all of us at Thanksgiving for years. We just do our Thanksgiving on Friday or Saturday. Do what works best for the majority, and make sure everyone knows they are welcome even if they don’t make it. Try to keep things low stress and still give Navy boy some of the homey things he’s been missing. But in the end remember it isn’t specific foods or a calendar date that really matters, it’s family.

This weekend I took a break from some projects requiring precision to do some stress relief sewing that required no precision. I made a crumb block of some teeny tiny scraps and made it into a potholder. Bonus, I also got motivated to color sort and organize my scraps.

I thrift shop a lot, and I’m fine with clothes (wash them as soon as I get home) and shoes off they aren’t too worn. I wouldn’t buy underwear or a bra (or a swimsuit) at a thrift store. I wouldn’t buy mattresses or upholstered furniture. Sometimes the Goodwill here has food items. Even unopened, I won’t buy those. i don’t like the idea of getting a coffee maker used because who knows what the reservoir is like inside, could be all moldy and impossible to get clean. Same for humidifier. I won’t buy makeup used. I’ve seen it at garage sales, but no.

I understand your friend’s viewpoint entirely. Once, when I badly needed it, I was served the best latte of my life by a young man. If I had not already been married, and a lot too old for him, I think I would have proposed on the spot!

My kids are all public schooled now, and once in awhile I despair, because I did not graduate from a challenging high school program, but it was decent and the emphasis was on academics. I graduated salutatorian in a small class and found college classes at a small liberal arts class challenging, but not terrible. There was definitely a step up in expectations, though. i can’t believe how unprepared my kids are going to be for college if college hasn’t changed. I learned all high school math: geometry, algebra, trig and pre-calc without a calculator. My kids know how to put in the numbers on a graphing calculator, but not how to think it through and do it on paper. Geometry was very loosey goosey as far as graphing anything out by hand went - the teacher didn’t even care if they used a straight edge or not. Don’t get me started on writing or Spanish. The lack of grammar instruction is really sad, as is the lack of requiring simple things like capitalization and spelling. If you don’t teach English grammar, than I guess teaching verb conjugation in Spanish would be an exercise v in futility. Maybe that’s why they don’t teach it at all. And the endless retaking of tests and redoing assignments for a better grade, teachers who take late papers that their own policies say should be a zero already. i have to be hands off. If I go down there griping at the school, it accomplishes nothing. Ask me how I know. I’ve let teachers know that I’m fine with my child flunking if they aren’t putting the effort I’m. They need to be accountable. But I think college will be an eye opening experience for them.

Pennies. We do not need these.

My DD started on a full size acoustic at age 10. It looked huge, but she wasn’t bothered by it. I, on the other hand, play the ukulele, and guitars seem terribly unwieldy. I would want a parlor guitar or smaller if I were taking it up myself. my kids learned in person from my DH’s grandpa and I think in person is probably better, but there are a lot of free resources for beginner guitar out there. I think Justinguitar.com is mostly free, though things have changed some I looked at it last. I think it is better to go with a site or YouTube channel that has a well-thought out progression of lessons than just random YouTube tutorials. I tried YouTube tutorials at first with ukulele, and there’s so much out there but without a good progression I skipped around and didn’t get a good handle on anything. I ended up going with a book instead. Many now have videos that go along with the book, and that’sa feature I appreciate. More have audio only , which is helpful but not as much, for me. The Ukulele for Dummies is well-regarded, though I don’t know anything about Guitar for Dummies. I also like the Complete Idiots Guide for Ukulele, though again can’t say whether the guitar version is good.

I wear hoodies, either Womens a size or two up, or a Mens. I always wear a tee or tank underneath. In the winter it’s a flannel or a hoodie and jeans everyday for casual wear. I love them, and I use the hood part sometimes outside to keep the wind out of my ears.

You laugh, but I bought one for my niece last Christmas and ever since I’ve been tempted. I would only wear it around the house, though.

Now, my kids are all in public school and I am not working outside the home, so I can read whenever, though I usually don’t because I feel like I’m “wasting time”. I’m mostly in the habit of reading after the kids go to bed, plus carrying books around when I’m going somewhere like the dentist or laundromat where I know I’ll be waiting. I’ll take books on car trips, because I can read in the car for limited amounts of time before it makes me feel sick. The actual majority of my reading is audiobooks, though, which I listen to while I’m at the gym, cleaning, or taking walks.

Sorry, I have the actual cookbook, so I was just looking for a linkable copy. It has 3 c. of broth, of which you use 2 T to sauté the onions (I don’t; I use olive oil). edit: 3 c, not 2 c. of broth

I got it out of The China Study Cookbook. It’s all vegan recipes, but the soup section has a lot of recipes that my decidedly not-vegetarian family enjoys.

I have been making this three bean soup a lot this year. Quick three bean soup It’s easy and quick. It’s a vegan recipe if you make it as written, but also good with chicken broth and cheese. I also add about a teaspoon of cumin to the spices listed. I eyeball it, it could be anywhere between 1/2 and 1 tsp. eta: it’s also fairly flexible so far as exactly what veggies you put in. I just toss in whatever I need to use up. It’s good with butternut squash.

I highly recommend doing some YouTube research on all of the pets you mention, just to see what kind of daily care each requires, what kind of pen/cage, etc. Watching cute pet videos makes both my youngest DS and I prone to desperately wanting new pets, but watching those videos about what really having them is like usually cures us. i have had rabbits, as a child. We kept them outdoors in hutches with wire mesh floors, so that all the poop and pee fell through. That way they weren’t super high maintenance, but they also aren’t super cuddly and fun. They sometimes bite and sometimes kick and scratch if picked up wrong. I mean, I liked them, but not as much as our dog or cats. They’re not smart or affectionate, but they are very cute. My niece has a hedgehog. She likes it, but I don’t know why. You have to be very careful petting it, and it doesn’t really like anyone, just tolerates her the best because she feeds it. And I think they are nocturnal, so most of the time during the day it is sleeping.

I love the little biographies of each bear!

Have you tried Alegria shoes? I have a pair I really like, both comfy and decently cute. https://www.alegriashoeshop.com eta: i think this is the shoe I have https://www.alegriashoeshop.com/Alegria-Paloma-Oiled-Black-p/pal-7414.htm

That request seems to cross a line, to me. It’s definitely odd. I mean if you didn’t mind giving her some, then whatever, but if you’re uncomfortable with it at all, don’t, and don’t give it another moment’s thought.

I finished the quilt! I really love how both sides have turned out, which is great because my younger son’s will have many of the same backing fabrics. I used a lot of scraps for the front, some from projects nearly twenty years ago. Even the backing pieces were mostly leftovers from projects or things I bought but didn’t use (for years). I only had to buy batting, the gray sashing, and one and a third yards of blues for the half-square triangles on the front side. Oh, and the binding is purchased. I could have made it but decided to save myself the trouble. This is the biggest quilt I’ve quilted on my home machine. The quilt as you go method I used had some drawbacks, but I do really like that I could do it all on my home machine with a minimum of wrangling large wads of fabric around my machine. But by the end it was still a lot of bulk to work with.

@Dmmetler also your diorama reminded me of the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death created by Frances Glessner Lee in the 1940s. They were created as forensic training tools, and though some of the parts of the dioramas were created by a paid carpenter (Frances was a very wealthy woman) she also used lots of household items to make the miniatures. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/home-where-corpse-frances-glessner-lees-miniature-dollhouse-crime-scenes-180965204/ i read a book about them awhile back, and it was fascinating. Also interesting that she was homeschooled (in a very “wealthy scion of late 18th/early 19th century industry” way, by tutors).

So cute! I love tiny things.

I was going to, but I forgot. What I did is put a piece of masking tape on each block, numbered with the row/column: 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, etc. When I start to put them together I’ll lay out a couple of rows at a time and make sure all the stickers are properly oriented, and check it against my original design diagram before sewing. I figure it’sa lot of double checking but a stitch in time saves unpicking nine,

Ha ha, well, it hasn’t worked until I’m finished! I did just spend a ridiculous amount of time arranging blocks, flipping them over, arranging the back, then rearranging the front just a bit more. Now I have to figure out a way to pick them up and put them away, while still maintaining the ability to reproduce the arrangement. 🤔

And I forgot this quilt is reversible, so the other side looks like this: And actually now he is more excited about this side ( it is not a surprise quilt, just a surprise that it will be presented on his birthday). Makes me wonder why I bothered with piecing the other side! But actually the other side is like my ideal quilt, lots of dark blue and bright colors, so I enjoyed it regardless.