Yup. The legacy of slavery has obviously cut more deeply into the US, but we are a lot more aware of it than Europeans, whose ancestors benefitted from it. They seriously think that because there very few slaves in their countries (which had enough super poor people to exploit instead), they had nothing to do with it.…

Seriously! I was lucky that my office was somewhat flexible about when I came in and we had great benefits, but if I ever hear the words “monitoring hours” again, I will probably burst into tears.

It seems to come up most when both parents are expected to return to full-time work within weeks of birth since parental leave is still viewed as a luxury in the US. 

From the Brides article, it seems like the original poster would have found some other reason to hate on the vegan guest for sticking out, even if she’d eaten steak the whole weekend.

Yup. I was invited to a Thanksgiving whereI was told not to bring anything as the only non-vegetarian item would be the turkey. Unless you count various cuts of pork, sausage, chicken broth, or lard in everything else. Multiple uses of lard. So I got to sit there, getting tutted at my newly-minted step-relatives while…

Switching to a macrobiotic diet due to cancer has long been a thing. I believe it is vegetarian minus dairy and plus some fish. Opting for a vegan diet doesn’t sound that far off to me. I’m not sure if it is a health thing or it is easier on a body going through chemo/radiation. I’m sorry to hear about your dad’s…

She seems like a wonderful person who just wants to share info on wonderful food, so I’m glad to hear that it’s true. 

By the way, Andrea Nguyen has written a great book on dumplings. There are great recipes but you’ll also learn a lot about technique. Also, I’ve learned that I’ll never use pre-made dumpling skins again. The dumpling skin recipes are pretty easy and the results are so much more delicious and easier to wrap a lot of…

Yes! When I bought a stroller for our first kiddo, I really thought we were getting something that would be great all around. It was great at some things for some period of time, but I would have loved to get specific strollers to fit more specific needs. I’m about to have my 2nd kid and had been holding off on…

Your Oma and my Oma sound very similar. Except that my Oma might very well be the origin of the phrase “there’s no pleasing some people.” The only allowed restaurants were a “Chinese” buffet and Olive Garden and even those would elicit a litany of complaints and having to give the server their tip in secret. She’d…

They held all of his property by some mutual agreement and then went through it to toss things they had a personal issue with, not items he’d abandoned. Also, his email offering to have moved the stuff indicates they never said, “Hey get your stuff out of here.”

All those people want to make their money and plenty of them probably are in the same circle of thoughtlessness.

Blocks of decent parm are expensive!

It doesn’t look like he’s ever gone to jail. He ended up cited for trespass. Still, the point remains that mental health treatment in jails and prisons is inadequate, when it is present at all. However, even when you can mandate treatment it can only be as effective as the person getting treated is willing to work on. 

I hope part of that fund can go towards giving them mental health support. If a family member or acquaintance had done this, it would have been a complete breech of trust. For a stranger to have done it out of their own issues can turn the entire outside world into a terrifying place where anything can happen at any…

I managed to slog all the way through Life of Pi because my colleague (who later went on to rave endlessly about other books I didn’t like) assured me it was about tog et really good. Glad to find someone else who felt the same way. 

Nothing particularly absurd. I used to live next door to Nicholas Cage and he was always surly. I don’t know if it was because his first marriage was ending around then but I wanted to shout, “I didn’t ask you for anything. I live here!”

I used to live near him but only saw him once. It was about a million degrees outside with humidity dripping off the walls. The type of weather that turns you into a sweat monster in moments. He breezed past the restaurant I was in, wearing a suit and looking like he had just stepped out of a photo shoot on a balmy…

My friend was the same year in high school with his daughter and played on the basketball team. He’d go to games and was always gracious about people wanting autographs etc if she wasn’t on the court. For the most part, people were also pretty nice about not bothering him when she was. 

Thank you so much for this warning! I was excited for the documentary and saving it for after I have a baby in a few weeks. Clearly, this is not something an incredibly hormonal person,  cuddling an incredibly fragile tiny person should be watching.