For accute things, yes absolutely. For chronic illness? No not always. Chronic illness especially in females is barely ever even taken seriously and often women are told it's in their head. I have a lot of respect for the medical community and the good they do but this is a large and gaping hole. Those who suffer are so desperate that they dive in deep and learn a lot about the illness and things that can help.

Could you show me what you use for bins?

Oh for sure I've read the book by his son and there are a lot of differences both in the book from real life and the show form the book. But those kinds of things never bother me. I love seeing a character come to life and I feel they did a pretty good job with Siegfried. Have you seen episode 2 of season 4? It's where the secretary gets hired and it had me rolling and that's what made me really wonder about him. I don't know a lot about things like ADHD but my son was diagnosed a couple years ago in his early 20s and I've started to consider if I am as well so I'm noticing things a lot both in media and in my life. I think I thought a lot of things were normal that maybe aren't so much. Anyways loved your post. Fun discussion!

Ah good question. My assumption was they left them items in the blue baskets and then transferred to the car/bags but I could certainly be wrong.

I have done almost exclusively Walmart pick up for years. I was doing it before the pandemic. It saves me so much time and more importantly, energy. I hate how wasteful they are with bags however and just recently they've added an option to bring reusable ones to be packed at pick up. Has anyone tried it? Does it take forever? Do things get smooshed etc? I would like to be more environmentally friendly and the bags is my only real complaint with pick up but there is no possible way for me to go back to doing my own shopping. Are there specific bags that work well or maybe baskets? I couldn't carry super heavy/full baskets but my kids are home most of the time. Thanks!

Do you have a chronic illness? Are you in near or actual constant pain? I ask because living like this is enough to make one near crazy with desperation. And the truth is that the standard medical system has little to no good answers and most get little to no relief in my experience. I grew up with a chronically ill mom who was open to alternatives and I am now chronically ill myself. I am willing to try many things and honestly a brief stint with a less than ideal diet is really minor in the grand scheme of things. And honestly, I don't believe there is only one correct diet. Different people with different genetics and different needs can have success with varied diets. I disagree with your statement that gluten is bad so even that isn't a said and done thing.

Oh my goodness this is the best show ever right? Also I have read and listened to the books and I'm pretty sure they are my favorite of all time as well. I mean I love a lot of books but these are way up there on my favorites. Anyone feel like arm chair diagnosing Siegfried? He is such a fun character and I wonder if he is neurodivergent. Thoughts?

Cast iron has been ok on my glass top. I've tried so many other things and it's the only thing that really works and with the added benefit of it getting iron into the food (and I am always deficient).

You are past this now it seems but I have kids with horrible stomachs and water is the absolute worst for recovery. Something with something in it is much better. Lemonade, Gatorade, soda even although I tried not to do that too much, popsicles. Anything with some sugar/calories. Water is more likely to just come back up immediately.

So it's not something I really notice in day to day activities. Short interactions etc. But living with the families for 5 days? Yeah it was really clear. I had seen glimpses of the behavior and such but it wasn't as stark as when we were together 24/7. But I'm glad to know it's not completely universal. Although I do know that. It's not every family or every kid. Just a trend I'm seeing that is very difficult to be around.

Yeah you described this really well.

I have kids ages 9-26. I am currently associating more with moms who have kids in the 3-13 range for my younger set to have friends. Something*definitely* changed around 13 years ago in parenting. I have never seen anything like what I'm seeing now. Absolutely no discipline. Children who throw knock down sobbing hysterical FITS and then are given what they wanted. I spent a few days at a cabin with two moms who's oldest kids are 13ish and I said never again. I'm not expecting kids to be perfect. I'm one of the most relaxed parents around. I expect kids to act like kids and yeah maybe throw a fit here and there but I absolutely held my ground when I told them no or whatever. These younger moms are much more concerned with feelings but not in a healthy way. And it isn't enjoyable to be around their kids. They do not think they have to listen to any instructions just as you say.

But using a "kids" phone allows them to communicate with their friends etc without the dangers of the open Internet. And most people aren't restricting ALL access to the Internet ever. That would be beyond silly. But just because they have a school Chromebook does not mean that a smart phone doesn't have additional dangers because it does.

Exactly. And just because one device is available it doesn't mean we give up completely. There are still ways to guide and help our kids and I absolutely positively am NOT concerned about them fitting in.

Whoa since when do we make crucial parenting decisions based on what other kids will think? Or anyone for that matter. There are still options not the least of which is having a router with filters or using a program like bark. No one has to throw their kids out to the wolves because everyone else is.

And this right here is precisely why we start with other options. Right now it's gabb and that has worked really well for us for 4+ years. We may switch our almost 16 year old to troomi for a bit more freedom but especially maps when he gets his license. These phones are set up in such a way that there isn't any way to get around the controls. Op: your daughter it sounds like is in public school. She will absolutely be able to quickly find out how to get around parental controls *especially* because you don't know how to use the phone yourself. I highly encourage you to consider a kids phone unless you aren't at all concerned about what shee accesses online or social media. My older kids are 21-27. Apple parent controls were NOT enough. We have deep regrets and have changed how we handle technology with our younger set.

While phone overuse is certainly a problem there are also a lot of tools on smart phones that you may find save you time and/or energy.

We are happy with gabb but it's not a smart phone. It functions closer to one for texting capabilities etc and has a camera etc. But my kids are homeschooled so don't have that school issue. That really makes me mad honestly. If you want an option that will probably be better for adding the school needs I would suggest troomi. Lots of people say apple has the best parental controls but I did not find that to be true. We are happier with a phone that's not much more than a phone.

Two of my favorites I did at Thanksgiving Chilli dip Two cans chilli 1 brick cream cheese 1 cup salsa 1-2 cups cheese Warm in crockpot and serve with tortilla chips Raspberry jalapeno Block of cream cheese covered with raspberry jalapeno jam. You can sometimes find it in the grocery store but I made it this year. Serve with pretzel chips or other salty crackers

We do swedish meatballs. They take some time but mostly in the morning. Then mashed potatoes and gravy and ham and cheese potatoes and rolls etc

We were given The Act of Marriage when we were engaged and it was very helpful. It's from a Christian perspective. We waited for our wedding night and had limited knitty gritty knowledge so appreciated what we learned. Not sure if that's what you were looking for or not. I love the idea of some pre paid for counseling .

We like so many but some that aren't often talked about are One Christmas Eve The Christmas kiss My Christmas love Hitched for the holidays A holiday engagement We watch them all November and December and enjoy lots of simple Hallmark ones that get made fun of. But we like them 😉

When my kids ask various things relating to this or movies or whatever I just remind them that these are people's imaginations 😉

I noticed when reading it this year that one reindeer is named "Donder". Everyone writes/says Donner. Also one year reading the Grinch I realized it's in black and white primarily. So is the cover. He's not green in the book 😲

I make enchiladas with almost every kind of leftover meat I have. Granted I've never cooked lamb so I don't know if that would work. My other option for beef roast is stew.