I feel like Antonio Banderas out acts anyone he is in a scene with. He's so good!

I voted no help. She did buy some bottles to tide us over when we got out of the hospital, as I had been planning on nursing and that didn't happen, so we hadn't planned for that. She was pretty busy with her own life. I tried to call her for help a couple of times (when the baby threw up all over herself and other things, and I had to clean up and give the baby a bath and launder things all at the same time), but her answer was always no. Then she would relent and come over, after I had already sucked it up and done what needed to be done. She was great at rejection! Dh was wonderful and helpful, though. And we figured it out. I hope my dd will let me and dh be her nannies when she has babies. We shall see.

I was eleven in the mid-80s. Breakfast: Cereal (generic Rice Krispies or generic puffed wheat) with a spoonful of sugar and skim milk. Lunch: Whatever the cafeteria served at school. Meat, veg, roll, potato. Dinner: Plain baked chicken breast, baked potato, canned green veg like spinach or peas. Snacks were apples or saltine crackers. We got one bag of chips for the family each week. I got to choose that every other week. My brother picked Doritos. I picked generic cheese puffs or pretzels.

No, I wouldn't.

I homeschooled an only. She did attend kinder, 1st, 2nd, and 8th at a private school. You will definitely have to create and prioritize some social time. We had her in ballet from age 3 until school age. We were very active at church, on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and all the special kid events. A couple of years, I put her in a "latchkey" program at a private child care from 3:30 to 5:30pm for the social part. Junior high was hard. High school was hard. We did it (except for 8th grade), but social opportunities got harder. She has done very well in college and is on her way to grad school. She does kind of wish she went to school for at least high school for the social aspect plus the realization that she is pretty smart compared to other people (at home there's no one to compare yourself to, and you only see your own academic struggles, so she didn't realize she was so good at "school."). She absolutely thrived at college. Best wishes in your journey!

I have no advice except pay attention to your mama gut. ((hugs))

Do it!! It's so freeing! We downsized a couple years ago, and the only things I regret getting rid of were two books and a giant canvas mural that dd painted during covid. So I bought those two books from Amazon, and I had a picture of the mural printed on a much smaller canvas that I hang on my wall. Worth it!!

Actually, this may be true! I am 50 and don't have any face wrinkles. I'm fat, too, though so that might also be it.

Lol I was a child in the woods. Very shaded most of the time. And I was probably out in the mornings and evenings. I honestly don't remember humidity in Missouri in the same way that I understand humidity along the Gulf of Mexico. I am guessing they are very different beasts.

Thanks. I know, 71 and humid doesn't sound too bad. It was in the 90 percent humidity range, though, to be fair. And no wind. That is rare for here. I guess I am just longing for days of old and who I used to be, in a place I used to live. Yes, I do think I "should" be outside. You are correct. Perhaps not a great idea. I have asthma, and humidity doesn't always agree with me. Our summers are miserable. The rest of the year is quite nice often, but just lately it's been so humid. I'm sure we're between fronts. It's not always this bad. I do end up acclimating during the summer. But not this winter. I want to say it's been more humid than usual. Usually our winters are pretty dry. Maybe that's why I'm feeling this way. And dd is about to fly the nest, 8 hours north, to a more arid environment with seasons, which sounds heavenly. And we are stuck here for a myriad of reasons. Thanks, everybody.

When I was a child, I lived in Missouri and was outside all the time, no matter the season. I hiked and played and rode bikes and climbed trees and grew marigolds. I am struggling, as an adult who is approaching an empty nest and who now lives in an apartment, to figure out how to be outside, in a very humid climate. For instance, it is currently 71 and extremely humid and no wind. I thought about going for a walk, but it feels gross, humidity-wise. I could sit outside and have my coffee, I guess. That's grownup. I miss hiking and forests and seasons and hills, but South Texas has none of that. I don't expect that we will move. I don't like gardening. I'm not a beach person, except for staring at the water, which I can do from my living room. I guess I could drive 25 minutes to the beach and walk on it? It's usually windy. I'm not a runner. I don't know. I would like to be outside, but not outside here. Should we go camping more? Is that my solution?

Does your insurance have a nurse line you can call? I once fell down some stairs on vacation and hurt my ankle. I called them, and they asked me questions, and we determined that it was sprained, and I didn't need an x-ray.

Hobby Lobby?

So I also come from a family culture where it can be hurtful to not stay with family. However, at some point somebody started getting a hotel, and although it was initially shocking, now nobody minds. You can do it! Also, I never make my adult age daughter go anywhere she doesn't want. She's an adult and entitled to her choices. Relatives will deal with it however they choose. We are not responsible for their feelings. Boundaries! You are allowed to have them. 🙂

This year, the various family members are getting the following for my 82 year old father in assisted living: Monogrammed (with First initial and last name) bath towels, Monogrammed blanket, a world map to track the travels of relatives, and a state map with highways to discuss routes and locations of cities within driving distance, and a magnifying page to use with the state map. HTH

I would not serve alcohol. I would have something interesting for the unhappy (with the dynamic) people to do. Or let them not attend, even.

I always thought the elf phrase was figurative rather than literal. Now I have to check my copy and ponder.

To answer your question, I would choose vintage antique that isn't matchy matchy. My dh is exactly like yours and wants everything to match. (Although realistically I just have cheap stuff. But if I had the budget for it, vintage for sure.). I remember when dh needed a new nightstand lamp, and he wanted me to get the same, very masculine-looking lamp. No way. I love my cream-colored basket lamp with the flowery lamp shade.

I agree with HomeAgain. We have not seen that at my dd's school, either. Kids that got A's worked very hard and knew the material well. Yes, they do grades differently now than in the olden days of my college years, where homework is graded now and counts as part of the grade. I don't think that's bad necessarily. It helps to ensure homework gets completed and material gets learned. Still, there is a wide range of grades in her classes. She was initially a Nursing major, and then a Pre-Allied Health major, if that is relevant to the discussion. A B+ is in no way a failure. There are literal F's in every class, generally.

I'm just going to throw this out there: We and my parents were gifted with digital frames. We hated them. The constant rotation of pictures was, I don't know, like it hit a sensory button with all of us or something. My little brother now has my late parent's frame, and it lives face down on his end table. We threw ours out when we moved. Maybe if there is a way to freeze a frame or something, it would be better? I don't know. Just know that it's possible it's one of those gifts that not everybody loves.

I believe we moved. Also there was a tropical storm. And my elderly parents were very sick. I think I made her a cookie cake with balloons on it. It was not a great year.

Do you order your groceries online and do curbside pickup? Check the grocery store website. I'll bet they have some of that stuff. Headgear and socks for sure. Then you can just pick it up with your groceries.

Oh, I did include card games into that. I have some game shelves.

Oh! I found it! Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas.

Okay, Hive, I am looking for a romance novel. The heroine was a rich girl, grew up, married a man who abused her and threw her out one night where she stayed on the porch with no shoes. He locked the door. She called her brother to pick her up. He told her she needed to hear that it wasn't her fault. The hero of the book is the handsome boy from the trailer park from the same town as the rich girl. He's now made himself a success. The formerly rich girl is now in therapy and her therapist told her that even if she were in a stadium full of people, she would have attracted the abusive guy. (I mean, prior to therapy). I probably read it in the 90s or early 2000s. Any ideas?