When I was 5-6 I found a fully grown, dark-grey Tabby tomcat frozen in the doorway to one of our outbuildings. It was standing on all fours, eyes wide open. After that, I became a childhood cat lady, feeding and protecting any stray cat that came on to our property. They really do keep you warm and don't eat that…

God yes. I spent 17 hours in class or studying today. I switched from teaching English to Nursing, so I'm out of my depth. PUPPIES!!!!! I demand kittens, now. To the YouTube-mobile!

Ah, dentists. Unfortunately, I had to pay up front at a recent visit. I didn't know what their price was for crowns so I couldn't figure out the 40% I was responsible for. They charged me $200 out of pocket for 4 crowns. After a week, pointed out to my dentist that my EOB showed my share as $100 in network. They have…

Actually it's Todd Akin. I'm from Missouri and relished voting for the unpopular, but not insane, Sen. Claire McCaskill. I was so embarrassed that he continued to run.

When I was in 1st grade in 1992, we choose careers we would like to grow up to do. Among the coloring pages was a strong-looking female tennis player. I picked her because she was the only active female picture of the choices (all the others were holding items like books, stethoscopes, paintbrushes).

I grew up in Central Missouri, too (Highway 50 ring a bell?). I never encountered a scorpion once or heard of anyone seeing one. Snakes, possums, raccoons, and the occasional armadillo, sure.

I am in an RN program now. I was considering getting a Master's Degree and becoming a nurse midwife. I will use the correct terminology because I don't want 1) women to be ashamed of the words and 2) so that people don't look down on nurses. My fellow students in an anatomy class still called the entire area a…

I have a $30 laser printer from a Craigslist user. My father-in-law has one, too. Much more convenient and cost-effective than ink. When the toner runs dry, I will Freecycle it.

Actually, she made good points throughout. How is it "dissing" someone when she points out the ophthalmologist representative that volunteered to be the expert on the medical aspect of the bill. Instead of perhaps asking an OBGYN to testify and provide an opinion. Or someone from the American Congress of Obstetricians…

It makes no sense the way that he has it.

It's strange, but I thought the farmers in our area were rich because they owned expensive machines and animals. In my current town, a locally-owned toy store almost went out of business, but the locals loaned them several thousand dollars to keep it open.

Too true! I grew up food insecure with a collapsed roof and two large holes (3 and 5 feet in diameter) in our floors. I could brag that I lived in a two-story house, but no one knew because the front part of the house looked okay. My friends held it against me and were angry that I wouldn't invite them over. I claimed…

I live in a poor neighborhood that my college classmates call "Cotton-hood" instead of Cottonwood. So racist. Rent's cheap, though.

I lived in the country and basically collected stray cats. They only lived to be 3-4 years on average because they were mainly outdoor cats and we lived 50 feet from a major highway.

Wow, we had such a similar situation (no water heater or laundry machines). I would take a piece of metal attached to a power cord and drop it into a five gallon bucket of water throughout my school years. I melted a lot of buckets, but we lived on an old farm and had a lot. My hair would freeze, so I wouldn't wash…

Except that before you are born you are already treated differently. You want a boy? Eat asparagus. A diet change affects the fetus, also. Better play Einstein to and talk to the "Baby Bump." Avoid caffeine, smoking, drinking, etc. for the fetus' health... I doubt lower socioeconomic people have the time or know about…

Agreed. It seems "unfair" that the woman receives two rings, but the man only receives a wedding ring. Before we got engaged, my husband and I talked about it and it seemed wasteful because we didn't have the extra money and I dislike wearing cumbersome jewelry (AKA a solitaire). People asked to see the ring when I…

It may be a volunteer army, but most people do not volunteer to deploy. The only way I could attend college without crushing debt was to join the Army. My parents had so much debt I went hungry every day of my childhood. It wasn't much of a choice for me. Not everyone has your privilege.