We stumbled onto this breed and we are sold for life. I swore I would never get a puppy (ours was an adult who needed a home— not a rescue, long story). Next one will be a puppy.

OMG she’s my dog’s twin! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one as cute as mine until now. Yours might actually be cuter— gasp!

Good lord. I really think this would shock a lot of the people I know. They’re aware our school is “really good” and that we’re “so blessed.” But I don’t think they wrap their head around something like what you’re describing.

All true but I can tell you our nurse still calls me at work when my kids are the least bit off (not just to let me know, but to ask me to come get them, even without a fever, etc.). But in fairness, not too many working moms at our school.

My kids’ elementary school has one. The kids go to her if they’re not feeling well, etc. And she does the lice stuff and whatnot. But my kids go to school in a massively affluent public school district that raises so much money from the parents, it’s almost more like a private school. We probably have a lot of stuff…

The other thing they are really into is policing young girls’ clothing. I know some people like that and it’s their favorite fucking topic— what girls at the middle school are wearing, and how they’re telling their little 3rd grader not to wear short shorts or tank tops. Ermagod midriff baring crop tops!!!! Sometimes…

I’m an in house attorney responsible for this kind of stuff at a company that’s generally pretty good on these issues— we already have to report to the federal government. But yea it takes time and the devil is in the details. This law will probably be fine for us, but there’s a new one in California that’s tougher,…

Not just that you need cash, but small bills, assuming you’re not Uber’ing 50 miles or something. It would seem weird to ask for change when you’re not paying cash. They really need to add it to the app— I think most people would be fine with tipping if it didn’t require needing the perfect amount of ones and/or…

We have both mosquitoes and window screens in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. Just fewer mosquitoes than most other places. If you don’t sit outside at night in the summer you’ll do fine. Go camping a few hours north and you better bring jungle strength DEET.

I think they just spray a bunch. That’s what I read they do in other countries that have bad dengue outbreaks— they keep track of the cases and then go out and spray. How you’re ever going to get rid of mosquitos totally is a mystery.

It’s semi-worthless anyway. I used to be on a parenting message board that had a lot of people who did NFP (actually some similar method they thought was better). They usually turned up pregnant at some point. It seemed much more useful for helping to get pregnant rather than as birth control. I also never appreciated…

I’ve been here in LA all my life and I’ve had my share of bites. I’m a mosquito magnet though. If I leave a window open at night in the summer (with a hole in the screen, which we have plenty of), or sit outside at night, I’ll get at least a couple bites.

I wouldn’t either, and I almost feel guilty that I already have two amazing preteens and a husband with a vasectomy. I remember how badly I wanted to have kids, and also how much we traveled around that time. We’re traveling again now, which is obviously a privilege on so many levels already. Honestly though, I would…

Thanks— that’s totally true! For now, we travel with our kids— Thailand in t minus 25 days. :)

I think people get really sold on the “soul mate” concept and expect to find this person who checks all of the boxes on their ridiculously long list. Instead of realizing that each of us could be compatible with zillions of people, and that it’s all a matter of degree.

Good for you! As a married 43 year old with two kids, I personally think it would be awesome to be 30 and unmarried and about to embark on a major adventure. You can be like me someday if you want, but I can’t go back and be like you. Enjoy and safe travels!

You’re so right— even in our small private group there wasn’t agreement. I was shocked to find out how conservative some of the moms are given that we live in a fairly urban So Cal area. This was a group of 11 year olds and many of the moms said they hadn’t yet told them where babies come from, and they kind of…

Agreed- this was last year, and her kid is a little younger than mine.

My 12 year old son is similar. What’s interesting is that we’re in a private sex ed group with a teacher, and so many of the parents were SO weirded out having to talk about wet dreams specifically. One of the moms was adamant that masturbation shouldn’t be discussed because they were “too young.” I was like, I hate…

You can totally explain without going into every detail— we totally did that. And at that age, they don’t really get that it’s “sex,” meaning they don’t connect it up with anything “sexy” they’ve ever seen. It’s purely medical. Mine kind of went, huh, that’s weird, and moved right along. They may have even forgotten a…