Per Kidlet: ‘Sure there is! It just requires scrunching down so you’re a little bit shorter. You know... by about a head.’

Gah, the hostility that can arise when some point of knowledge comes up is just... baffling to me. Case in point: my mom and I were watching a documentary this weekend and they mentioned the whole ‘civilization begins in Sumer’ thing and she pointed out that with organized government arising there, we should deliver…

Etsy? You can find all sorts of stuff there that you can customize like crazy for everybody’s interests. Otherwise you can always do gift certificates to their favorite places - not overly original, but (speaking as a bridesmaid who’s been given the cutesy matchy shit once too often) definitely appreciated.

When he started his job and needed black pants, Kidlet had to get a few pairs from the women’s rack, since he has long-ass legs and a tiny waist, and the men’s pants just didn’t fit right. He has since learned the pain of being in the Tiny/No Pocket Zone. Maybe we need to start requiring designers to wear their own…

I think we came from the same family. Although I was the picky sister, while my brother ate whatever didn’t eat him first. Thankfully, my son’s taken after his uncle instead of his mother in that regard. I’ve had a lot of similar boundaries for Kidlet and all his life I consistently heard how ‘amazingly well-behaved’…

Their commitment to pricing is what I absolutely love about Costco. I can’t eat the hot dogs anymore, but I’m addicted to those $5 chickens. We get one every week, break it down, and I use the meat for quesadillas for lunch all week long. There was a piece in the newspaper this past winter about the price of chicken…

I checked in with my mom on this, as she’s an alcoholic who’s been sober for close to 40 years now. And she said to tell him you’ve mentioned this to him before, that you realize that he doesn’t think it’s the issue you believe it is, and ask him to go with you to an open Al-Anon meeting. She says for you absolutely…

Yay, Catalina update! I’m so glad she’s doing so well - and don’t worry too much about the apnea spells. Kidlet had them all through his time in the NICU (possibly at home afterwards, but no monitors to yell at me) and he came through great. And it’s a good thing they’re doing the RSV in the hospital. Ask your ped…

From your lips to The Whatever From High Atop The Thing’s ears! Maybe if they really start chomping, they’ll choke

Tell me about it! The worst is when people see me in the little ridey cart at the supermarket or my wheelchair and ask outright why I’m using them since ‘you look healthy to me’. After a good three years of dealing with this shit, I’ve now gotten to the point where I shoot back ‘sorry, my doctor doesn’t agree with…

Exactly, which is why my SSD was approved on the first time through - something that’s apparently almost unheard of. But there’s reality, which you and I and most other thinking people are grounded in, and there’s Republicanism, which those like my father subscribe to. Reality says that I can’t work until I can sit…

Oh, I’m sure they have them, but they probably think that chronic pain and mental illness really aren’t that serious and those suffering from them are ‘just being overdramatic’ or some such. They only really see sickness and disability when it’s unmistakable and visibly right in their face, and even then, they like to…

“The future belongs to hearts even more than it does to minds. Love, that is the only thing that can occupy and fill eternity. In the infinite, the inexhaustible is requisite.

Seconding the Leverage nomination - it’s smart, well-written, and funny as hell. There’s also The Librarians, from the same creators, The Vampire Diaries (slow start in the first season, but stick with it and it gets awesome), and The Originals. Not sure if you’ve seen these, but for older shows I can recommend Sons…

Happy early birthday! I’m 41, and my thirties were the start of a truly amazing time in my life. The forties have (so far) been even better. As several people have mentioned, the not-giving-a-fuck starts shortly after the thirtieth birthday and just keeps going from there. I am now officially the mid-life lady that…

No clue, but if you find out, please let me know! I’ve been grey for somewhere around 2-3 years now, and I’d love to not be.

Kidlet may be getting summer work study! He’s waiting to find out, and at the very worst, it will mean BK for three more months until he starts the fall quarter, but either way, work study!! This could give him some actual office experience, which I know he really, really wants so he can go looking for that better job…

Exactly! This could end up being about so much more than sexual orientation and gender identity. Mixed race couple? Sorry, we don’t believe in that. Single parent? Absolutely not. Anyone of another faith need not apply, of course. And when it comes to the children, all those standards will definitely be in place, but…

Five months and two days, although I’m not convinced that we aren’t occupying some little pocket of a dimension where that equals at least twenty years in real time.

I’m very glad that you’re healthy and hope that you stay that way. But there are a lot of us that aren’t. Medicaid paid for my hip surgery in March, like it’s paying for my physical therapy and the meds I need to keep from being at a level 8+ pain every single day. It paid for my son’s stay in the NICU when he was…