Or one could use one of these, even though they make you look at them and don't look as jazzy.

Two of my cats are Maine Coon mix litter mates. One is 14 lbs, the other around 11 and skinny. Lots and lots of shedding. I have had to do a lot of appropriate lap time training <g>. The third is a rescue who is still a little wild, but at least he is smaller. He loves walking on the keyboard, but is sensible…

Do not give them ideas.

My tall (and getting large) son has. But he is one of those "why don't I just eat all my calories once a day" types. I have spent most of his life trying to train him elsewise.

Difference in quality and quantity. You talk about having that greeting demonstrated among everyone, which is going to help the child see it as normal.

Yes, absolutely. And there is a world of difference between "cajole," which assumes the child has some choice, and "force," in which the child does not. Forcing frequently leads to the sort of creepiness we continue to hear about, because the creeps know the child has been trained not to refuse and not to complain.

Having had shingles, that is a horrifying thought (getting chicken pox again)!

Nope. Wrong. When I was young, there was no vaccine for most childhood illnesses (when the polio vaccine first became available, my mother fought for me to be the first in line). I got the DPT vaccine also as soon as it was available. My mother lost her older brother to Diphtheria.

That actually makes a lot of sense to me. I have a horrible ear/miserable auditory memory. My normal speaking voice is highly modulated, to the point where I have accidentally turned off other peoples' tone-based answering machines. I had one friend specifically ask me to speak with less modulation so I would stop…

It is misogynistic because 1) it comes with other language that is generally threatening and deeply gendered and 2) because in our culture, one of the worst insults from or to a male is anything female. Note every men's or boys' sports team ever with a male coach yelling "come on, ladies" to get team members to work…

The only proper cooked oyster prep is simple oyster stew. Can be made with some of those behemoths that are a bit too tame for raw. Plain milk, butter, and a gentle simmer and you have oyster bliss second only to a big plate of raw ones.

Agree entirely about the matching names. Doing genealogy research where every generation and every family in town names their kids William, George, John, Ann, or Elizabeth. Impossible.

Also, avoid getting cutesy by giving a formal sounding first name and using the name you plan to call the kid as the middle name. Did…

I had an old-fashioned saline implant (reconstruction) replaced under local. Couple of valium, local numbing (not as much needed after a mastectomy), in the doc's office. Lots easier on both my nerves and my system than general anesthesia, though the fight with the insurance company over paying for the much less…

My mother used to make baked apples with Trappist wine jellies.

Christopher Walken started out as a broadway hoofer, so, yeah, expect him to be able to dance <g>. But love the dance off.

My son and I are both like that with a genetic condition that means joint and muscle pain just about all the time (but not in the "take something for that" range), but if either of us gets a cut, we have to stop and inspect and talk about it. I worked through my chemo, but will stay home with a cold.

You have clearly not spent time at 5th and Mission, even during the day. In the middle of the night, this would not be unusual at all. Including the bus driver's response.

I do hope you are having kidney tests regularly. There is such a thing as too much protein and beyond excreting it, it can damage your kidneys. It takes a while, but your kidneys are really important.

If it helps, anastrazole is available very inexpensively as a generic. It is used as a preventive for those of us who have already had surgery/chemo/radiation and while it is annoying, the side effects are pretty minimal, considering cancer treatment/hormone stuff. Since this would be, in effect, an on-label usage,…

When I was doing archery (only a 35lb recurve), I was very slight and a lot shorter than Geena Davis. While stringing it was difficult, I did not have difficulty accurately pulling it.