I don’t bust it out very often, but when I do, it works — Black and Decker Scum Buster http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-S…

Oh I hope not for the poor girl. I’m prone to Coxsackie’s, and it sucks. Also, there’s pretty much nothing they can do for you. I went to a Chinese practitioner — don’t know if the acupuncture/teas helped, or just made me feel better. Worst pain ever.

Oy, the being plain part — I had a number of men in my earlier life who really liked me, we had a spark, but who were not, alas, attracted to me and while they never said it (except for one of them), it killed the deal. And broke my heart, several times. MrPorcupine and I met late in life, late enough that the whole…

Being Catholic didn’t help. Tried to find someone to end her 4th pregnancy, but bailed when the “office” was so filthy. Minute Roe v Wade passed she grabbed me by the wrist and told me if I “got in trouble” to come to her and she’d take care of it. I was about 14, and no one had even been interested in kissing me yet.…

Yes, just ask my grandmother (born 1911) about having to stay married to a drunk, not inheriting your father’s company because you’re a girl, not being allowed to compete at your sport (polo in her case) because you’re a girl, getting pregnant twice more than you’d like to have because there’s no birth control or…

Wow. I lived through the 70s/80s and these ... well, these are just. Just.

I’m with you there — only missed voting for Mondale because we didn’t know that you couldn’t just show up at the Embassy on voting day (study abroad year). I also got a lovely letter from Harry Blackmun after Clinton’s first victory — I wrote to thank him for hanging in there to protect a woman’s right to choose. You…

I just love voting. Even though even though ... also, I live in a small town, so we have a rather festive atmosphere at the polling place ...

Try a guided trip? You’d be with a group, but for a first trip, that’s probably a good thing ...

Oh lordy yes. It’s no fun having your cervix slammed by an anaconda. No fun at all.

Why not? One of my most formative memories is my mom taking me to the polling place, but she wouldn’t let me come in the booth with her, because the secret ballot is a sacred thing! I still remember her legs and shoes under the curtain.

You made my die-hard Pats fan nearly spit coffee all over the covers this morning when this came up on my tablet.

It is the Macbeth in my head against which all others are measured. That said — this looks FABULOUS!!!

Lunch most days. Some kind of grain (bulghur, freekeh, farro, brown rice) + greens + crunch/cucumber, pickled carrots, red onion + hardboiled egg + feta + olives. Vinaigrette.

I was going to say it doesn’t sound like riding was her sport. Weeping? In the ring? (I can hear my fearsome grandmother snorting from the Beyond).

That’s hilarious —- and completely mortifying! (I grew up at horse shows.)

I did insist on seeing my grown-up brother after his car crash for just that reason. Since we never saw the younger one, I just needed to make sure it was him. I got to the door of the room in the funeral home but I couldn’t actually go inside. It was him. And he was really dead. But there was no reason to put…

Of two minds here. When my youngest brother died (cancer, 1972, he was 2), my mother thought that having a real funeral with a body was “just too sad.” We had a memorial service and I guess there was a burial because he’s parked outside the family mausoleum, but my brother and I, who were 6 and 8 at the time, weren’t…

The “man bag” episodes live on in hilarity in our household.

I got charged by a bull moose last fall. TERRIFYING. Especially as he rolled my 5-month puppy over with his hooves. Luckily, he was happy just to have terrified us both, and didn’t kill either of us.