We never reverse the fan blades. Tried it and found that it didn’t help. We will be dusting them off, though, and buying some new smoke detectors since the ones we’ve got are at best estimate 15 year old and way past their prime. Costco here we come.

Tamales are a Christmas tradition, too. Last year we got a big bag of plain (unfilled) tamales from Hugo’s Tacos in LA for our holiday dinner, with several possible fillings on the side. Worked perfectly for both the vegetarians and the carnivores in the family. (No, they don’t use lard.)

OK, that does it, I’m getting lunch delivered from Kopan Ramen.

I have a gravy boat but can’t remember the last time we used it. Nice bowl + small ladle works fine.

Maybe we just got lucky all those years.

I did not know how necessary turkey lifters were until I tried to lever a turkey out of a roasting pan with spatulas. You will only use the lifters once or maybe twice a year but you will be glad you bought them.

We put gravy in bowls and use a small ladle to serve it.

I will keep that in mind, thanks!

Our kids are just about exactly three years apart, by design. And their birthdays are in the first half of the year so they wouldn’t get caught by school cutoff dates (as I and my oldest brother were).

We have four cats. Their dishes are all in a line in the kitchen. Four for canned food and three for dry food. Don’t have space or inclination to do fancy feeding plans.

We leave them alone when we find them outside. They rarely come inside. Just didn’t want to take the risk of being bitten.

We still put the bigger spiders outside. The two times we got a black widow in the house, though, it got a quick smush.

Los Angeles Metro is offering free bus and train rides on election day.

My mom was born in France, where nobody cared if she drank wine as a little girl. It’s like smoking (which she also started at about age 14). If you get started early it’s almost impossible to stop.

I bought a refurb mid-2012 Air for $500 a couple years ago. It’s given me no trouble and I’m still using it. I wouldn’t buy another one, but as long as this one keeps working I don’t need to.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. How many generations of people dropped all the old razor blades down the wall?

“action figure” and “spray tan” are as old as I am. Who knew?

Written like a person who has a self cleaning oven.

But....  but.....  my favorite game is Neko Atsume!  :)

My granddaughter is 5 and regularly kicks my butt at Mario Kart on the 2DS.