My alumni group (we were a “Lean In” book club thing, but are now just a group of alumni of the same women’s’ college) and we are doing a ‘shower the shelter’ thing this weekend - I have two boxes of pads and a half dozen packages of wet wipes in my car to take to them. My period is a misery - I go through a half…

Totally agree with this one - my partner had a copy she was given when she got married out of high school, and I had a copy I bought myself three decades later, when I got tired of cooking the same things over and over. When we got married, we included both copies in our active cookbook shelf, and I LOVE it - in fact,…

Real grillers use pellet grills, burning real wood. Accept no substitutes!!

I’ve read several excellent ones - ok, actually, I’ve listened to them. Audio versions of memoirs read by the authors are totally worth it, in many cases - and especially when the memoir is focused on the end of an era, a specific journey, etc. The ‘this is my life’ for someone who is 25 and got famous for something…

My elderly mother in law is staying with us (going on two weeks, with another two weeks to go.... argh!). She thinks anything ‘fancy’ isn’t acceptable - things like wheat bread, fresh vegetables, anything with a spice that isn’t ancient pepper dust (she bought a two pound box of it a decade ago, I kid you not, and has…

Had my resume updated and on a couple of job boards recently - and got no fewer than five “excellent opportunities for someone with your background” e-mails, all from insurance companies wanting me to go into sales. Every time I replied “if this is for sales, I’m not interested, but otherwise I’d love to talk to you”…

When my sister went through training at British Airways, they learned it as “Mickey’s Corporate Office”. I will always remember it that way.

I hit the chronic condition jackpot - psoriasis, PCOS, narcolepsy. I’ve been on every medication they can come up with for the symptoms of all three that AREN’T actually cures for those conditions - it took them five years of persistence to get the PCOS diagnosis, psoriasis took me three, and narcolepsy took fifteen…

Thankfully, she’s not on much pain meds at the moment - and we just know to give her a dose of Reglan when we give her a pain pill. I’ll have to ask her doc about the other one - she’s on a lot of stuff, so I always have to run things past them, even OTC stuff, since you never know what’s going to interact. Even the…

My favorite call from working at AOL, doing late shift tech support? The guy who called in about something unrelated (adding another screen name or something basic) and being told that he would have called earlier, but his computer only works at night.

My partner has this as well - hers is acquired, from having been on TPN for over three months due to a bowel rupture and associated issues from cancer/chemo. It’s rough - thankfully, she can take the Reglan but only when it’s necessary, since she’s started developing the facial twitches, so we have to modify her diet…

We try to do this at the holidays, too - this year, we went to Waffle House on Christmas Eve, and tipped all the staff in the place $20 each. Cost to us? About $100. The smiles on their faces? Priceless.

I have now acquired three small soft side cooler style lunch boxes. I won’t leave ANYTHING in the office fridge, because I have had so many things stolen.

I’m married to an MCC (the ‘Gay Church’) minister. She and I have been known to tip 40% if we are out somewhere on Sunday to counteract the crazy - and if she still had a congregation, she’d be reminding them to do the same. The pastor at our church does remind others of that when they go out as a group after church,…

My parents used to manage a small restaurant for what had to be the dumbest restaurant owners in the known universe. One of their quirks (ok, signs of insanity) was that they had family recipes for things that included ingredients that no one would expect - fennel in large quantities in the chicken salad, tarragon in…

I too had super long hair - and found it everywhere, even woven into the lint trap on the dryer, in armpits and buttcracks and once inside a pair of brand new socks I had thrown into the laundry bag but hadn't worn. I cut two feet off it, and its gotten slightly better, but as I remind my partner, one hair is four…

As a proud 2001 grad of Brenau University (another small womens college in the South), I am saddened to hear this. Brenau has retained its womens residential college and high school, while adding online/evening and weekend schools. I'm grateful for the unique experiences I had at Brenau, and so glad that new students…

I lost a sweet poodle (about a year and a half old) to hemolytic anemia. We fed her Beneful and Iams small breed. Her brother, who we have had to feed human food most of his life (he's tiny, doesn't like most kibble, and is a bit of a princeling) never got sick, and remains the healthiest dog we know. He will only eat…

If I could recommend this twice I would. Highlight of my morning.