In addition to the great advice I’m seeing here, I’d say, “Doing something hard for a limited amount of time makes it bearable.” My parents were the sort who retired from the jobs they started as teens, for whom nothing was short-term. In my 20s when I had to pick up a second and third job to break even, I went…

We used to wrap my stepson into conversations about money, taxes, insurance, vehicle ownership, etc whenever possible when he was a teen. We tried to keep it light and informative, not lectures, just “Hey, you’re going to have to deal with this someday. Want to see what a paycheck looks like? Want to see what it…

This is huge, especially if you’re a certain type of person who is always curious, ambitious, optimistic... but perhaps not entirely realistic. Like me. I have the remains of countless projects in my craft closet, but at least they’re organized and I try to use them in any new venture. A friend of mine was similar…

Barely related tangent: my spouse of almost 11 years and I agreed this weekend that if we had a party for our 20th wedding anniversary, we’d just have appetizers (his requirement) and cake (mine). It was a second marriage for both of us, so we eloped, and out of all the wedding hullabaloo we realize that those are the…

I quit my job at a major Internet company in 2004, bought a fifth wheel trailer and a Ford F-250 (Lariat, turbo diesel, crew cab, extended bed... oh how I miss that truck), and hit the road for what turned out to be a year of travel. Since I wanted to do freelance work and open WiFi and other options were scarce, I…

I got the fast track to menopause at 40 (thanks, cancer!) and frankly, it helped solidify the mixed feelings I’d always had into relief. I’ve got a couple of terrific nephews to spoil, but while friends my age are hip deep in parent drama, we’re building our retirement savings, going out on weeknights, sleeping as…

Growing up GenX, the transition from “men pay ALL the time” to “of course we’ll split the check” has been awkward for the last 30 years of my life! It seems like I’m constantly adjusting based on the person and situation. So, I’ve set my own rules:

My dad did onion skin egg dying for years. Rubbed with oil, they looked like polished wood. Frankly, I think we all preferred his “masculine” Easter eggs to the bland pastel ones.

Kind of useless if you’ve got hips. The size of men’s shirts I need to buy to stretch over my hips look like football jerseys without padding.

I hear you, but I live for an empire waist! My shape is like an hourglass-ish pear — G-cup bust but small back, straight down through a narrow waist, then hips/apron (from weight loss and gravity) that are high and wide; my circumference increases 15" immediately below my waist. If I wear something snug at my natural…

Sure, the Mr. and I have a fairly Heinleinesque approach to marriage, so we’re not the norm, but the assumptions in those rules are infuriating.

My brother and his wife set up one of those for last year’s wedding and my mom was nearly apoplectic with discomfort. However, I listen to the Awesome Etiquette podcast from the Emily Post Institute, and they discussed this a few weeks ago. Honeyfunds are totally acceptable, American etiquette-wise, according to them.

Emma Thompson, Helen Mirren, Judy Dench, Tilda Swinton — these women slay me. I aspire so hard.

I really wish I knew. It’s possible to change their opinions one at a time, but then that person has to be awfully strong (or remain silent). My parents are GOP regulars but anti-Trump and find they have to bite their tongues everywhere, from neighborhood gatherings to their chiropractic appointments. It’s hurting…

I have Amy Daczyczn and Thomas Stanley to thank for much of my financial stability. Though I grew up in a frugal family that lived comfortably on the borderline between poverty and lower-middle class, I stumbled into the Internet industry in the 90s and found myself — at age 28 — earning more than my parents had…

But this just isn’t true. At most, it’s a tiny part of the story.

Adding lemon juice will cut the risk of kidney stones even more, too: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4265710/ Something I need to keep reminding myself, because I’m prone to kidney stones, HATE sour tastes, but won’t add sugar. Ugh.

I’m a female F1 fan (though I can speak beginning rally and LeMans and intermediate NASCAR). Wow, can I relate to so much of this! Thank you for sharing.

I saw Trainspotting in the theater with a friend who was dead from his new heroin addiction two years later (drug related heart attack). When we saw the movie he was drinking too much and sometimes doing coke; while heroin certainly wasn’t glamorized in the film, it made his brilliant and always curious mind consider,…

Yes! That said, I have a couple of plus-sized bikinis from Simply Be that are freakin’ gorgeous and flattering (I’m a 42G and their underwire bikini tops are better than most of my bras)... when I’m willing to wear them in the middle of nowhere in a kayak or just around my husband. See, I’ve got a secondary problem:…