My dad’s ex robbed him blind in court, then showed up at the house while he was gone to just take whatever else she wanted. My dad’s friend happened to stop by to drop something at the house for him while she was loading all the art in the place into a truck. Luckily, his friend (a burly, intimidating woman who never…

It was...rough. The whole situation has led to some odd, sometimes painful family dynamics that we’re still sorting through 18 years later.

I had my baby at 16, and suffered pretty heavily with PPD. I was extremely lucky that my parents were willing and able to support both of us, but that didn’t mean that having a baby halfway through high school—a baby I didn’t know I was carrying until my water broke in the middle of the night and who was delivered by…

Oh good, I was hoping she wasn’t an actual local.

I understand that reference!

And this is why our old rice cooker is going to college with our daughter in the fall. It has a steamer insert and everything.

My last boss had a policy of not hiring anyone under 18 for the kitchen because she didn’t want to “deal with teenagers”. Then, for some inexplicable reason, she went behind my back and hired a 17-y-o high schooler to my department. That girl tried so damn hard, but she had no business in a commercial kitchen. She…

Last summer I read The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman. She really digs into some of the appalling treatment of both animal and human performers in early 20th century circuses. It’s fiction, but her research is solid and heartbreaking.

A kid my daughter used to go to school with is having a baby and just posted umpteen billion pictures from their “Pompoms or Shoulder Pads?” gender reveal party. ‘Cause mom is a cheerleader and dad plays football. I think they did the box full of balloons gag. They’re only 18, and I’m glad they’re excited and all, but…

My stomach and vagina both clenched tight at that image. Thanks.

My husband tried to change a bathroom faucet and we ended up having to replace 6’ of pipe inside the wall. Fuck plumbing.

I hope you’ve bought him some tampons, he’s sure to be bleeding out his wherever any minute now.

Freya forever!

My mom clipped frilly pink bows in the tiny bit of fuzz on my baby head because people thought I was a boy. As soon as I was able to, I was ripping those fuckers off as fast as she put them on. She eventually gave up and decided it wasn’t our problem if people assumed I was a boy. My point here is that kids as young…

When I had my daughter they gave her a little pink knitted hat. It was cute and all, but internally I was rolling my eyes a bit. Not half an hour later, I puked cranberry juice all over it. The nurse laughed and said “ok, mama doesn’t like the pink hat, let’s get something else”. She came back with an adorable hat in…

I’m glad I came across your comments, because I was feeling a little...lost here. I just finished watching the first episode, and I didn’t think it was horribly violent. Certainly “torture porn” is a complete exaggeration. The things done to these women were horrible, don’t get me wrong, but not the violence shown.…

Yes! My husband is one of my very best friends, and it really helps. We both have active friendships outside of our relationship, which I think is important, too. We also look for ways to involve each other in our individual interests to at least some extent, which has been a lot of fun. I almost never played video…

My husband loves gaming, but you bet your ass if I walk in the room wearing nothing but a wink and a smile, I’ve got his attention. Even if sometimes he just takes a break from his game and goes back to it after, we’re still humping like bunnies on a regular basis 12 years in.

My husband has taken to getting up early on weekends, but the kid and I like to sleep in. Perfect time for him to get in a few hours of uninterrupted gaming on the big tv in the living room. He streams his PC games from the office computer or fires up the Xbox, we get to lounge around in bed as long as we want.

“Maybe if you put in even more emotional labor, you can make yourself more interesting to him than his games!”