Thanks so much. It has been stressful and emotional for sure. I’m ready for changes to happen.

Our biggest fear up to this point is that if we did call CPS, and they did not remove the kids from the home, we’ve just played our best hand and it didn’t do anything. And then my sister and their dad would cut off any communication, so we wouldn’t know if anything happened or got worse.

Yeah, that’s our biggest concern is wanting them to go with one of us.

Thank you. I’ll be getting together with everyone tomorrow to devise a game plan.

Thanks. I appreciate the advice.

Does anyone here work with CPS or have any past experience dealing with them? I’m facing a particularly rough situation with my formerly drug-addicted sister (who might be using again...we’re not sure), her deadbeat common law husband that she wants to leave, and my two poor sweet nephews.

Thanks! I do think there is a big difference between blogging about a specific niche you’re knowledgeable of, and trying to be an “influencer”. I vow to never become a part of the obnoxious gaggle of chicks at every event I go to who all band together to take photos of each other.

Her pink eye is making me nervous, but it matches her sweatshirt.

Ugh, bloggers have become my least favorite group of people, and I am in the process of launching a baking blog because I really like to bake shit. But this a problem across multiple industries. As a baker, I get requests all the time for baked goods in exchange for ‘exposure’, which means my Instagram handle gets…

It’s definitely one of my pet peeves as well. This feels too much like the first time it happened with my best friend our freshman year of high school. And it’s just unacceptable for 30-somethings to not know how to be more balanced in a relationship than a 14 year old.

Love hoarding is a good term for it. I don’t know that she left him for the guy; I think she would have left the husband eventually anyway, but she rushed the decision because of this guy waiting in the wings, rather than attempting to fix anything with her husband.

The vulnerability is definitely a factor. Thank you for the extremely thoughtful response. It helps to have different perspectives to consider.

Ugh, it’s so hard not to say anything. I hope your situation with your friend works out, too.

Thanks. Heavy sigh.

I’m in desperate need of friendship advice.

If any man had gotten up on that stage and said something as simple as, “sexual assault and harassment are wrong and need to stop,” there would have been a snarky headline from Jez 36 seconds later that read, Thanks for the Very Brave Stance, Captain Obvious.

One of my fave diners makes a hash with sweet potatoes, crumbled sausage, poblano peppers, and tops it with a fried egg and some type of cheese...monterey jack maybe? It’s fucking tasty.

It’s just not the holidays without days and days of crying. My father was estranged before passing away, my mom and two of my siblings converted to be Jehovah’s Witnesses when I was 14 and don’t celebrate any holidays, and my sister is currently going through a messy divorce and her kids are with her husband’s family.…

This. My first thought when I heard that there was a GoFundMe was, “WHY?” Why would anyone see a video of a middle school child crying about bullying and think that the answer to the problem is donating money? What does the money solve? Just why?

Skincare recommendations needed! I’m an incredibly low maintenance person when it comes to my beauty routine. I let my hair air dry every day, my makeup routine is minimal, and at the age of 32, my daily skincare routine looks a lot like it did when I was in college. I wash in the morning and at night with Cetaphil,…