I suspect that in some twisted way, it has to do with vague memories of polio. At one time, it was thought that polio, which was horribly widespread, was passed via swimming pools. “Undesirables” were strongly discouraged from community pools, especially people with melanin. There was never any sort of evidence that…

THANK you! Glad I’m not the only who feels that way!

Thanks! He’s a rotten, amazing, wonderful, silly beast. :)

Agreed. With my first, they did an epistiotomy. With my second, they thought it would be OK not to do one. Guess what? I tore the OTHER way. It was...not good. All healed now (in fact, it’s Thing Two’s birthday today, he’s NINE!), but the healing process was not fun.

Thank you! I’d never seen that site before! :D

“One person, of course, has asked exactly how you would explain something like this to your child if they saw these people out and about...”

I love that story. I totally don’t care if it’s true or not. Love that story.

Kinda reminds me of a short jay of some kind....

Well, unless they’re lactose intolerant, and can’t eat gluten. At that point, they should seriously consider the fries! (I consider all of the above!)

HOLY CATS, HOW COULD I HAVE NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE BEFORE????? I love Gamera!!!!

I have some Clovis points, and pottery beads and sculptures that my grandma helped excavate from the bottom of a lake in Mexico. The beads and little sculptures are probably pre-Columbian. There’s also some Native American things (like a stone anchor) from the Washington coast. I honestly don’t know what to do with…

When I was a kid, my mom worked in a nursing home that housed a number of patients, many of whom weren't there just because they were elderly- there was a guy who'd become shell-shocked at the age of 16, during WWI, when he was conscripted into the Polish Army. There were a couple of people who'd lived through the…

Thank you! :)

Yes! It's kinda trashy, but I absolutely *LOVE* MGD chilled to exactly that point- especially on a hot summer day! You can speed the process up (like, say, if you have one of those I-need-four-of-these-STAT days) by wrapping the bottle in a wet paper towel, then sticking it in the freezer. So. Good.

Ah, they're not doing Architect series sets- yet- but they want to! I'm guessing you're seeing 'em because the Architect sets are higher-end than what my two twerps tend to get. :)

They do? My kids buy a crap-ton of Lego sets...never seen one of these!

Yes!!! All I could do was feel dizzy and scream "NO NO NO NO NO NO (ad nauseum)!" all the way down the page....

Thank you! That was a wonderful read, and about the single brightest spot in my day! :)

Oh, I curtsy to you, sir or madame! You win! :D

*Giggle* We live in the Mountain Zone. It was OK- he actually nodded off early! XD