A medical degree in her sixties? Yay, go you, Mom!

Yes! In my case, the thugs maybe got eighty bucks worth of copper for their efforts, and yet I have spent upwards of ten grand repairing the damage, and there is still more to do. They destroyed. They opened up a pipe in the basement, ripped off the valve, and the water company had to come over and shut it off. The…

Exactly. I work too hard for what I have, and following a recent break-in with a lot of expensive damage done to my home, I am about out of sympathy. I deserve to live peacefully and keep my nice things. I don’t bother anyone, I help out wherever possible, and I would like my person and my property to be left alone.

I have scads of nieces, and have given all of them favorite childhood books of mine for birthdays and such. Harriet The Spy, Blue Willow, and the Beverly Cleary books are among the ones I give as gifts.

The description of leftover nights!

I love that book so much! It made me feel better about myself when I was a skinny, awkward, late-bloomer.

Thanks a bunch! Now all I can think about is pho. I just had it for the first time a few months ago, (I live in Flyover Land), and it was delicious. I know what I’m getting for lunch tomorrow!

I’m so sorry for your loss. I dated a guy who’d lost his baby son to SIDS. He blamed himself, as it had been his “turn” to get up with the baby and feed him his bottle, and Chad died sometime after he put him back in his crib. As a result, he was very attached to, and doted on, his two teenaged daughters.

I have also heard that, about modern diapers wicking away wetness so efficiently that kids don’t feel the sensation.

So true! I only used cloth diapers on the first one, and only briefly, but I bought cloth with all three to use as burp cloths, emergency spill wipers, to wipe dirty little faces, etc.

That’s awesome that your daughter trained so early! I have heard that girls are, in general, easier than boys to train, but 15 months is just amazing. (Supposedly, I trained early like that, but if so, it’s perfectly in keeping with my OCD about bodily cleanliness. I guess that started young for me.)

Carpet is gross anywhere, but in a bathroom or surrounding a tub...I just can't.

I hate carpet. Hate. My parents used to have carpet in one of their bathrooms, unfortunately the one my little brothers all used, and it was gross. One year, with their permission, I couldn’t stand it any longer, and ripped it out myself. I bought some inexpensive linoleum tiles, and put them in myself.

My absolute favorite movie ever, of all time.

What we are witnessing here is Peak Seventies.

I cannot stand “wrong place at the wrong time.” No, an innocent person is right where they are supposed to be. It’s the other way around!

I used to respect and admire Manning, but he lost me when he teamed up with Papa “I’m going to fire half my employees if Obamacare passes” John. Nothing now really surprises me about his conduct or character. I still like Eli, though. Hopefully nothing bad about him ever comes out.

I know, right? I’m horrified at myself that I found her looks so off putting at first. ( I try to maintain the most open and accepting of hearts, but we all, except maybe the Pope and the Dalai Lama, have that little internal jerk who thinks mean thoughts.) But, Ang was just a good human being, someone it would have…

Aww fuck. Mob Wives is an occasional guilty pleasure of mine, and I love Big Ang. I didn’t even realize she was sick. This sucks. I will miss her raspy voice and her hilarious asides.

I agree, I love the back stories. Leanne’s was probably the most surprising and interesting to me.