Last summer I had an orb weaver spider living on my front porch, and I got a pre-run web in my face EVERY MORNING AT 5 AM for weeks. :shudder:

Yup. The last car I had without power windows, which require the key in the ignition to work, was the 1984 VW Jetta I drove in college. That one just required a screwdriver and a box full of replacement window cranks, since there was something wrong with the windows and the crank handles used to snap off about once…

YES. I did not even realize these things existed until I moved from the northeast to the south and attended my first Baptist wedding - every person in the county is invited and the reception is held in the church hall with no booze, very limited food (often nothing but cake and punch) and no dancing. Sometimes as a…

I actually had almost the same experience while working at an Eddie Bauer. The customer remarked that I looked tired, and told her that I was, since I'd been there since open. She told me I should've gone to college, and I explained that I'd just graduated. She asked what I majored in, and I told her German, and…

I attended a wedding this past fall where the bride had...let's see... an engagement party, a shower in her hometown, a shower in her husband's hometown, a shower with her church people and a shower with her current group of friends. She also had a "stock the bar party" to which recipients were asked to bring…

I thought those were interesting, too. I also noticed that the doctor referenced in the complaint doesn't appear to have actually examined her. The "signed letter" (which is not a sworn affidavit) includes the words "based on the pictures I saw."

No party to a lawsuit can dismiss a case; only the judge has the power to enter an order dismissing a case.

This quote is from a homily given in a Roman Catholic chapel, directed to a bunch of Roman Catholic people who were specifically invited to hear him speak. So it seems reasonable to me that he'd be assuming that the people he's speaking to in this instance are Roman Catholic. It's like complaining that the keynote…

I think people are missing what he meant because this is a transcription of a homily, so you don't get his inflection, which was probably important. My guess is that his inflection changed to make clear that everything starting with "It's better" was a quote from those terrible anti-child people leading us all…

I said this in another reply as well, but I think people are missing what he meant because this is a transcription of a homily, so you don't get his inflection, which was probably important. My guess is that his inflection changed to make clear that everything starting with "It's better" was a quote from those…

I think it's confusing when written out, but since it was part of his homily, my guess is that his inflection changed to make clear that everything starting with "It's better" was a quote from those terrible anti-child people leading us all down the path to hell and country homes. I imagine it was intended (and…

Vanity sizing is terrible, and Loft is one of the absolute worst offenders. Over the weekend, I unearthed a purple suede skirt I'd bought in college in 1990 or '91, never wore and have been apparently carting around for over twenty years. According to the tag, it was a size 7/8. Just for fun, I tried it on and it…

It IS outdoors on school property - it's at the school's football stadium.

You know where you can find Air Heads? At the canteen at the baseball field where my kid's Little League team plays. You know how I know this? Because two weeks ago, after he played a particularly good game, he gazed pleadingly at me and asked if he could PLEASE, OH PLEASE MOMMY, PLEASE have a snack from the…

The age of consent varies from state to state, but it's actually sixteen in the majority of states (34 out of 50, I think). A number of other states use 17, and the remaining 10 or so have it set at 18.

That's my sister's first name and she has always complained about that! And for the love all that's holy, don't call her AlexandRIA or she will lose her mind.

I have an unusual first name and a really crazy last name. All through school, and at any doctor's office, I could tell they were looking for me because they'd squint at the paper a couple of times, go "Miss...uh...uh...erm...Is there a... ah... Jacklyn?" My first name is not, in fact, Jacklyn, but that's the most…

I lived in NYC for years and couldn't have imagined ever wanting to live anywhere else. Then I moved to SC for my husband's job, and I love it. Completely different than NYC, obviously, but lots of great things, including the weather, the pace and the cost of living. That said, NYC is the only place in that region…

My husband is a neuroscientist who primarily studies the effects of stress on the brain (mostly in a diabetic model, but more recently in connection with depressive illness). Short answer is that acute stress can be beneficial, but chronic stress is extremely damaging. Ultimately, any short-term benefits realized are…

I am also the parent of a second grader, and while his school doesn't use Common Core, he is also being taught math this way. I can *already* see it paying off in the way he solves math problems (in his head!) using these techniques, rather than relying on having had to memorize multiplication tables, etc. He had to…