In MI, I’ve never heard of tenants not paying for heat / electric / water. So yes. We pay for all our utilities. This house is from 1954, and the registers are not the kind that can be closed off. Basically, I’ve just been clever about furniture placement (bookcases against exterior walls, places where you spend a…

A fan blowing upstairs doesn’t help because the upstairs is poorly insulated. And the upstairs bedroom is my home office, so it’s not quite the same. It would be nice to not have to wear fingerless gloves at my computer.

I don’t know if there is a way to make it “cool” to them right away, but my mom always made it feel like a secret, special thing to know a language other people did not. We could talk about “girl stuff” in front of my dad without him knowing, or we could talk in front of my friends. I guess treating it like a family…

But that’s not always an option. My heat system is forced air for a two story house. The main floor is usually comfortable, but the upper floor is always at least 12 degrees fahrenheit colder in winter. There is only one heat register upstairs in the bedroom, none in the bathroom or hallway. There are no ways to…

I’m not in dire straits anymore, but I understand. As a student, I went without heat for a while, and I’d never do it again if I could avoid it. It’s scary to live on that edge. I’m sorry.

Absolutely landlords have no incentive to insulate.

A really normal maneuver for people with ataxia, or other shaky conditions.

In the 1970s in rural Indiana, I think she was ahead of her time! :)

I really think it can be, if you just show enthusiasm for the parts important to you that you love.

I really liked your story. My mom was adopted from her bio Finnish Sami family to an American family at 9. She got in touch with her bio family and siblings as a teen, so her native languages were really lost in that time. She worked hard to recover them and pass them down to me.

I would like to add that my mom teaching me Finnish and Sami was probably the biggest push to my career, unknowingly, as a linguist. Being trilingual gave me a huge advantage. I would strongly recommend people teach their kids any language they know, because it is so useful. It also shapes the way we think about…

It’s interesting that you say that because I’m a linguist who works in accent elimination, primarily with East Asian professionals. It’s hard, but it can be done (and is usually pricey for one-on-one coaching).

“It was very convenient for us because it’s not a common language so we could always speak secretly in public (almost as if we were speaking in code).”

My mom is a Finnish citizen and I’m a dual Finnish-US citizen. She got me interested in Finnish stuff through children’s books, songs, and recipes when I was young. I always liked helping her make pulla bread for Yule and stuff like that. Now I always make pulla in my own house. Telling stories about the people…

Thanks for your strong recommendation. I’m going to check it out!

My Christmas tree is the same one from my childhood. My parents bought it in 1994, and it is still in very good shape.

So are people not moisturizing their eyelids? Are they using separate eye cream? It seems bizarre to me

I guarantee that is an underestimate of homeless veterans in this country as well. The VA doesn’t consider you homeless unless you are literally on the streets. If you are couch surfing between friends and family, they give you no assistance.

I’m not mad at you. I’m sorry. I am frustrated. And this time of year is particularly irritating and sensitive to Sami.

You seem to think I’m someone who is not familiar with the internet. I am. This person was still insulting, and you can apologize for them all that you want. They haven’t.