My brother was officiating our ceremony and my beloved little niece was our flower girl. She stalled at first, then saw her dad and ran the entire length of the aisle screaming "Daddeeeeeeeeeeeee!" She wrapped herself around his leg, smiled and waved at my groom, and held out the flag I'd made for her a little…

What does the kid think? God that must be confusing and tough.

I get discouraged reading about the children I've seen on foster websites in my city. The profiles are pretty frank about the challenges these kids are facing, from health to behavioral. But then I know a family who fostered then adopted a girl whose mother could no longer care for her. She made progress so quickly…

My husband and I have decided against birth children for similar reasons and I just got an IUD in my late 30s so we're pretty set on it. If we feel more of a desire to parent in the future, we are all about domestic adoption.

Seriously. I still have some Plan B left from my pre-IUD days when Planned Parenthood gave me several packs as a backup to my other BC. I was low-income at the time and they footed the bill (love PP!) for that and Nuvaring. I would happily donate it but that is probably illegal somehow. (I looked into donating several…

Teehee. Logic. The "darn tootin' I have a say" folks are immune to it.

Thanks! They were very old and had a very good life. I am finally starting to get over my kitty who died right after Christmas. The boy cat was a beast, but we still loved him. My girl was the sweetest. She was 18 or 19 and still spry until she suddenly was very sick. It's amazing how much we adore our little spider…

My 85-lb, heat-radiating golden retriever sleeps on TOP of my legs. Or rather he did until he learned that I will push and roll him every single time, so now he sleeps on top of my husband, who sleeps through just about everything. Problem solved!

I am always covered in spider and other insect bites because I do all the yard work. They itch but I'm still alive. Like, what does my man think they're going to do, jump off the walls and take him down like a pro wrestler? Shoot venom through invisible stretch fangs? Also, both of my longtime cats died within the…

I think it's just that they're stretchy and soft, so they don't snag or pull too tight. The downside is I can't really create as perfect a ponytail. They also don't tend to stay in when I'm doing a vigorous workout. But for pulling my hair back in a pinch, which is generally the case, they are perfect. I also use them…

Ribbon ties are a game changer. Regular rubber bands never quite fit my particular thickness of hair: twice around is too loose, three times is so tight it gives me a headache.

But I don't make tomorrow's dinner cut up tonight's for sport. They are already dead before any slicing and dicing.

While many chickens do live in horrifically grim conditions, most of us are not cheering on from the factory sidelines. And many of us who eat meat make an effort to purchase humanely raised animals.

Oregon. It's like Florida for crazy "free spirits" who like to kill things.

She's very opinionated, especially when it comes to matters of gender and race. I nearly always appreciate her point of view, but thought she was pretty off the mark in this case. I mean, every time I've, say, conquered a new ski run with my expert husband watching, he couldn't wait to race to the bottom to high five…

A friend criticized his decision to climb up after the competition to hug and congratulate Kacy, saying it was a typical guy move to not let her enjoy the spotlight. I thought he seemed so proud of her and supportive, though, and just couldn't wait another second.

It was such a rude awakening transitioning from a (relatively) cushy media job to a restaurant gig when I decided to go freelance. Before: paid sick days. After: someone seriously freaking out if you called in sick without a backup willing to cover. I spent at least one shift in a fever dream.

I visited an artsy friend in Vegas once, and we had a nice enough time. She had a gorgeous condo and we hit up an art show off the strip where I met some interesting people. But it was so hot and dry and, well, Vegas. I was looking for work at the time and she was introducing me around, but I really couldn't picture…

You may actually be right. I searched to try to find a screen grab of happy face and couldn't. It might not exist except in real life.

The only reason I was immediately certain this wasn't my husband was that I'm at home in Seattle right now and the house is still standing. He is terrified of spiders. Skiing down a vertical mountain face? No problem. Itty-bitty spider? Burn down the motherfucking house!