RBWells

Replace with what?

We have a pride flag & an American flag. And sometimes a Jolly Roger. I agree, you cannot let the conservatives define themselves as the real Americans. I am here, I'm from here, wanting a better America is patriotic.

The jesuit school by my work does ring them at least thrice a day. They are kinda nice though. I agree nobody needs public alarms now we have clocks in our pockets though.

ETA: they ring hourly. I checked today.

Our library did a "big book club" thing where they made infinite e-reader copies available, and I thought hmm, I'll give it a try and wow I did like it. Later my penultimate kid read it, not knowing I had, and recommended it as one of the best books she'd ever read.

It was fantastical and strange, I can imagine not liking it but wow I sure did, and so did my kid.

Life of Pi is the one people seem to like that I hate. I want my 2 hours back, feel it was wasted.

I read the first part, it's great. Sarah is a good friend, lol.

Some written stuff I love, erotica, stories. Video no, I've not found much I like at all.

My feet are narrow so I do this sometimes, to get a better fit in width, so they 'stick' and don't just slide out the front. If your feet are wide don't do it. And yes there is more tolerance in sandals.

Mine fought like banshees when they were young but are so close and friendly as adults. I didn't do anything to make any of it happen as far as I can tell. I never understood why they fought so much, and they are so funny and love each other so much now.

Maybe some enjoy flammable? My lunatic ex took an old Christmas tree out to the backyard and set fire to it because he wanted to see how fast they burn. He nearly did burn down the house, that was a BIG fire, very tall fire. But if you have a big enough space, or broke it down to burn more slowly and reasonably? Fuel.

We get a real one from our neighbor, he does yardwork & sod most of the year but at Christmas he gets some trees to sell from some guy he knows in N Carolina and they are always amazing all of them. Yes it costs a lot, we have a large family who come for Christmas and it's nice, I categorize the expense as entertaining.

When I was poor, I would just make a "tree" each year out of something. One year the coat rack, one year on the wall in construction paper, one year I found a inflatable one like a beach ball, one year my ex cut the top off a bush & hedged it into a cone - that went on for almost 20 years, always something different. My kids didn't mind at all, nobody ever said "you need a tree" only "cool". You don't need a tree. Don't feel obligated at all.

At work I have a wee artificial one.

For me, cast iron are by far my most used pans. You know how flannel starts out sort of awful but gets better and better as it gets older? That's cast iron. Starts out sticky PITA but over time becomes satisfying satiny nonstick surface. I've always used them a lot so that's how my cooking style evolved.

We also have one steel pan we call the Stick pan, sometimes you want food to stick so you can deglaze. My kids use it for potsticker dumplings, and they like it also because it's lighter, cast iron is heavy. And of course a rice and pasta pot, those are steel.

I don't buy "nonstick" pans, they don't last and I'm not convinced they are safe.

No, my kids call me mom and yes I'd think it kinda rude if they first named me.

But

My step-kids call me by my first name, and my kids call my husband by his first name, and that is fine with both of us somehow.

When kids are small here, they usually call adults Mr. or Ms. First Name. Older kids to teachers Mr. or Ms. Last Name, but my kids friends who are older still called me Ms. First Name. Not much Sir and Ma'am anymore but I still hear it sometimes.