General chatter while we wait (and commentary on the "pull out method")

[shaescott]

Dobs the ad thing hasn’t happened to me.
Re: OA, oh boy
Glad you got the contract, but sorry about the tight budget.

Gigs you’re so sweet, I think a few years ago you guys said the Disney princess thing, back when J was on here all the time. Too bad I’m too tall to play any Disney character I’d have the right face for. They have to be within a certain height range so they’re similar to each other, apparently. Although I don’t think I’d want to play a Disney princess in the Florida or California heat. Thanks for reminding me about the ticker, I now have one!
Sorry about the loss of free babysitting. I’m sure that’s frustrating when you’re already burnt out.

 

[Flueky88]

Dobby how was Thor? I will most likely wait until I can stream it but excited to see it eventually.

I hope that you get that stipend and quickly! As for OA, I think if you are happy with a fwb then that's fine as long as you're both on the same page.

Oh and hope face lift goes well for your mom.

Gigs hope you MIL recovers quickly. It's definitely understandable to miss having MIL babysit so DH and/or you can have kid free time. It's hard not getting a break. Sorry your mom hasn't moved closer.

I feel you on the weight loss. I'm thinking mine is related to stress, not exercising as much and not tracking my food. I'll be satisfied with maintaining this month though. Thank you, it has been a lot of work to get where I am and still want to keep going but just at a hard point in my life with work.

Oh and yes the beef was a nice score after the sticker shock. I am definitely spending less at the store without having to buy beef.

Pretty, it'll be laproscopic so he said to be careful with bending, lifting, twisting, etc. for 2 weeks. So I won't be down for the count too long. My dad is going to travel and stay with us so he can help out on the weekends while DH is at work.

AFM the huge project at work is going well. I have worked 9 to 10 hours plus it's a 30 minute drive one way so they feel like long days. So yeah, hanging in there, just tired.

 

[WinterBub]

Beautiful pictures, Shae! Love the flowers, and your venue is stunning. I am 100% behind the choice to lock in the location and the date! I don't know what it is, but weddings tend to bring out family drama... Good on you for putting your foot down, and i am glad that your OH backed you up with his mom. Have you heard the expression "leave and cleave"? It's a really good thing for the two of you to stick together, and decide what you want about big decisions. Advice and input from family is good- but you are now becoming a new little family, and you two are each other's family above all else. My Mom also gave the advice that I manage my family, he manages his- glad that your OH did just that on this issue!

Good luck with the surgery, flueky. I'm sorry that you've been having issues, but at least I guess that confirms that you're on the right track with your treatment plan. What's recovery going to be like? How long will you get off work to recuperate?

Your Zoe is beautiful, pretty! Love the look on her face with Alex holding her how are you recovering? I doubt I'll get a tummy tuck whenever I'm done having babies, but I wonder if I'll need something to fix the diastasis issue I've got. It isn't too bad, but no telling how it will turn out if I have another! Glad that you're loving life as a mom of 3.

Thank you for the pep talk, giggle! im still scared about the whole thing, but ultimately feel I would really regret not trying. Will navigate any issues and decisions as and when they come up! I don't want to go through a twin pregnancy, but on the other hand, would definitely be done after that! The doctor said I wasn't a good candidate to transfer two embryos, so would only have twins if one embryo took and split. I'm sorry that you're feeling burnt out Life seems to come at us extra hard sometimes- I hope things calm down for you shortly and you'll have some more time for yourself. And I'm so frustrated on your behalf on the weight loss. I've hit a real plateau, but I realize I'm not moving downwards because I'm eating too much/not active enough. And I wish I could help you with the babysitter issue- we haven't worked that out yet, either. I hope your MIL will recover from her treatment well. Good that phase one went well for her

I hope all goes well for your Mom with her surgery, Dobby. And I am glad it sounds like you're in a good spot with OA. I appreciate his honesty about where he is at and what he can commit to. You never know, things may come together in a more serious way down the line. And I do believe that that will happen if it is meant to! Maybe for right now, the set up you have is what you both need: you're busy with A, and your life and he is busy with his. You can be each other's reprieve from the real world at the moment

AFM- the CB monitor was dead on again. Can't recommend that enough for either TTC or avoiding. Plan is to go ahead with the egg retrieval in August or September (depending on dates of this cycle and the next one). So, nervous and excited.

Other than that, we went to see OH's family over July 4th (out of state) and the whole trip was pretty unpleasant. To cut a long story short: OH has a younger sister and a younger brother and his parents have always massively favored his sister. It's really bizarre and not at all discrete. This has been an issue a few times in the past where she basically is really horrible, but we're all expected to accommodate her. She did a few really pointedly nasty things to me/us over a number of years, and we were expected to just take it on the chin. Cut to now: she has a little LO who is a year older than our LO, and now this whole dynamic is feeding into a new generation. MIL dotes on that grandson, and expects us and our (younger) LO to do whatever works for SIL and her family, even when there is some sort of clash between the kids, and the cousin is clearly in the wrong. It's just really frustrating, and makes it really unpleasant to be there. I don't expect our LO to be given any more consideration than his cousin, but it would be nice if they at least pretended to regard and consider them equally. It also would be easier to take if SIL was a benevolent golden child, but she uses her power to be mean, so it's just totally inexplicable as to why she's given preference over OH and his brother who are both really lovely!

On more happy news: my BFF from high school is pregnant with her first so excited for her- she had a lot of trouble finding the right man, and so happy that it seems like she found him and is having the family she has been wishing for for a long time!

 

[DobbyForever]

Ahhh Gigs that was such a great idea about the wedding ticker! Shae, I am not crying! Who is cutting onions in here?!

Fluek Thor was good. I liked it the second time because I had spaced out on a couple key places/noticed more little details. I had originally planned to stream it b/c I don’t like Natalie Portman but I’m glad I saw it now. I only go to matinees to offset the crazy prices and I rarely splurge for imax or 3D anymore. Good to hear the project is going well and the recovery on the surgery will be relatively smooth and quick. That’s great! Sorry about the long days. Do you do this every day M-F?

Winter that’s so awesome the monitor is giving you such good insight. Time sure is flying! Very interesting about the single embryo recommendation. Twins are cool but it’s easy to say that as a sibling LOL. That’s such lovely news a about your bff on both fronts! So sorry to hear about the family drama. That’s so frustrating especially when it comes to grandkids.

Thank you all! Depending on when her surgery is over I may try to pop by. I imagine my brother and stepdad will be all over it though. Otherwise I’ll have to check on her two days later.

and yeah idk I did ask him what today was about. He said just to DTD but then later said it was because he can’t see me next weekend to give me what I want every year: don’t need candles or cake…. Just birthday seggs and he did NOT disappoint. Usually we’re very vanilla. But let’s just say, Gigs would be proud . But it was still really nice because even though there was rope and a blindfold involved, he was as gentle as ever with me. This is a man who takes no pleasure in hurting me at all. We had a misstep at one point, and I cannot tell you how quickly he pulled me into a hug and comforted me and went to untie me/stop. And he washed my hair in the shower and we just kept each other laughing. And he has these new photos on his fridge. Him and his daughter in a photo booth making silly faces. So I wouldn’t really say I’m happy about the fwb because every time I see him/talk to him it just highlights all of the things that I love about him. And as I was pining lol he did pull me into a hug and kissed my forehead and said no final looks because this isn’t the last time I’ll be over. I have to stay grounded in the reality that he knows I want to be with him, and (good intentions or not) he’s not asking. So I’ll keep looking but I heard something the other day that is so true, every heartbreak leads you to learn more about what you want and your boundaries. But the hard part is that the higher your standards are, the lonelier you will be.

 

[DobbyForever]

Sorry but yes I am happy in the sense that I don’t have the energy for another hot girl summer lol and who better than to do consenting adult things with than someone you trust

also random while I was scrolling reels lol Shae I know you said your venue is very strict on the boozing but haha I just saw a great video of “first versus last drink” at weddings haha. Everyone’s got such great phones now, I’m sure they could do it themselves and send it to you for giggles haha

ETA idk if someone said this but honestly omg what if you had like selfie video prompts scattered throughout the reception hall where people can do y videos while you’re taking your photos post ceremonies and upload them to like a Google drive or send them to someone. Like iMovie is so easy, I know it would be the same quality as a professional videographer but I always love those wedding videos where they have interviews with the wedding party the day of or guests. Like I made a video montage of well wishes from friends and fam when I did that backyard graduation for them. Just had people send me 30-60 second clips, added some transitions and titles in between, plopped in a song quietly in the background. Easy peasy

 

[DobbyForever]

Mom’s facelift went well. I haven’t seen her. Evidently, we were not as careful as I thought post blindfold mishap and now I have BV so I was at the gyn dealing with that. Tenant moved out yesterday so hoping tomorrow after speech I can pop on while I grab keys to go take some measurements after speech.

the gyn wasn’t my usual doctor since it was an urgent booking and she wanted to give me an oral antibiotic for a week but I couldn’t drink. And then I looked really sad and told her it’s silly but it’s my birthday this weekend and most of my plans involve cocktails and wine so she gave me the gel instead she said by Sunday I can drink since the treatment is done but the pamphlet said I can drink after three days so guess which one I’m going by.

side note definitely going overboard on A’s party lol but also feels like not. Like how did I spend so much on so little?!

 

[WinterBub]

Glad to hear that your Mom's operation went well, Dobby! Can she see what she will look like already? Or does it take a while to settle down before she can see? I hope she's happy with the end result.

Sorry about the BV. I thought that was just an imbalance type thing(?) Not sure I'm following what you meant by not being careful enough? Lol at the antibiotic and drinking discussion. I kind of don't get why they don't offer the gel first anyway... I mean any oral antibiotic has the potential to mess up your stomach etc. Blah- anyway, hope it clears up quickly!

And why not push the boat out for A's party? That inflation is probably eating into how far your $$$ is going. You can always supplement with some themed stuff and some non themed stuff mixed in. Hope it is all coming together for you/as you wanted it to!

 

[DobbyForever]

Yeah the gyn said it’s just because the pH was off. But honestly…. She didn’t really seem to know what she was saying. When she looked externally, she was like oh that’s definitely fungal. Then she checked internally and said definitely some sort of infection because the discharge was TMI green. But then slide and said it was odd because the slide was completely clean. No yeast infection. No fungus. So that’s when she said well must be bacterial! And I’m like you seem very unsure here but I do agree it doesn’t look or smell like a YI so hit me with antibiotics. Long story short, someone hit the wrong target once. And let’s just say one target is not as clean as the other target by default but idk probably unrelated as not the first time that’s happened though I did think in the moment I should go have him wash first but I wasn’t thinking

I’m not sure if my mom has seen herself. I think so. She said I wouldn’t want to see her. She is totally wrapped up and has ice packs all over her face so I couldn’t see anything. Not even her eyes really. But I had A in the car so I just popped in and out to say hi while I grabbed the key. I think we definitely need to skip visit this weekend though. She’s clearly in pain and it would freak A out to see her like that.

the tenants left the unit in piss poor condition and with my mom in her condition I’m going to have to do a lot of ask forgiveness not permission. I told my brother do not give that deposit back. The damage is insane! The carpet is destroyed. Two doors have damage. The walls have nails and pins and decals and paint damage. The yard is trashed. The ceiling fans have years of dust on them. I was hoping to do some light cleaning and move in next week but damn! I might go tomorrow and see if I can pull the carpet up myself and pull the weeds. Trying ti order stuff now with Prime and Target day.

I’d actually say the party being expensive is my own fault LMFAO. The pony was a huge expense, $720 to rent the pony and petting zoo plus a travel fee since they’re coming from another county. The catering for food is $250 (cheap for Palo Alto), doing 2 dozen bundtinis in lieu of a cake since A hates cake and I love bundtinis $50ish, then I had to custom order allergen cupcakes for $36 from a local bakery. Only two in the either county can make them and they both charge $36 for 6 custom cupcakes. Then I blew a ton of money on Etsy then got 2 posters and a 2x6 printed at Walmart. Then favors and some supplies at party city where I decided why not get a piñata…. I still need to swing by the family run party store to order the balloons. I want a huge 5 and/or a balloon arch. Then last thing are Costco snacks and drinks and party favors for his classmates. My budget was originally 2000-2500 because those are the extra jobs I took this year. But that was for both this party and a short vacation. But since I’m no longer going on vacation, it’s just all party money now. I’m still under budget. At 1600 right now, and my mom did offer to help with the costs but she already bought his expensive bike and is starting an education account for A so I probably won’t take her money.

 

[WinterBub]

Can I please be your child? I never had a party that fancy A is a lucky boy

Logged on and have to run, but wanted to say: Make sure you take pictures of any damage to the house before you clean it up. If you try to keep their deposit, there will be pushback!

 

[DobbyForever]

I parent with guilt I’m overcompensating because I want him to look back in 20 years and think wow I was so loved not I can’t believe my dad sucks. He’s not getting another lavish party til 10 though I did get my balloon arch ordered! I’m so excited. Another waste of money but I’ve ALWAYS wanted a balloon arch and nobody got me one first. World. Problems.

checked on my mom. She’s doing ok. She’s a little wobbly and my brother isn’t doing a good job taking care of her. She’s really upset, she has to beg him to help her. She fell yesterday and almost fell today. Her bandages come off tomorrow.

also was able to get the contractor out to survey the land at my new unit. He’s moving fast since my stepdad uses him for all his rentals, so hopefully he can get things squared away asap so I can show my unit and get my lease signed asap.

also srsly I love Etsy

and been fighting all day with A’s ABA as they cancelled his sessions today and tomorrow since his BT tested positive and he’s not vaccinated. I blew a gasket. The CDC does say unvaxxed kids should quarantine five days, but our county office of ed, state department of health, and county department of health all say no symptoms = no quarantine regardless of vaccination status. So we’ll see but his school has made it clear they need him to have BT support and momma is trying to see a movie and get her nails done as an early birthday treat to me esp since I don’t have childcare support this weekend with my mom out of commission

 

[DobbyForever]

Oh and yeah I did a walkthrough video documenting the state of the rooms and getting close ups of major issues. The trouble with the deposit is that it was paid to my stepdad. But per the divorce (not final), my mom owns the duplex. The other issue is typically my stepdad applies the deposit to last month’s rent. Covid no fault law forgives like one month rent I think and this guy missed two. But I think it also covers moving expenses. So it’s iffy. And since I’m using my stepdad’s contractor, he’s probably gonna send the bill to my stepdad anyway in lieu of my mom. And I’m just trying to stay out of the middle of everything lol. Just make the place habitable for my son please

 

[shaescott]

Dobs I’m not sure how they do slides at a gyno appt like that, but it’s possible they aren’t looking close enough to see bacteria, just fungus? Fungus is much bigger I’m pretty sure (apologies to my microbiology professor that I didn’t retain much). Green discharge is pretty classic BV so I’d agree with her assessment, if there’s no fungus on the slide and you have green discharge, BV it is. Probably E. Coli considering that slip up, or some other enteric bacteria.

I echo Winter, can I be your child? my birthday parties were like at a bowling alley or Chuck E. Cheese, which I’m sure isn’t cheap, but I sure hope my mom didn’t drop $2k on it… I’m hoping to have a little army of Shae babies so they’re gonna get a party with pizza and cake and balloons, I can string up some streamers. I remember I went to a birthday party in like first grade and we played twister on her living room floor. It was a fun party. When I got older it went from all my classmates to just a few friends and we’d go to six flags every year. All that being said, it’s totally awesome that you can afford to go all out for his party. I hope he has a really great time! Is the sea shanty medley mentioned in the picture you posted the song that goes “soon may the wellerman come to bring us sugar and tea and rum….. take our leave and go” I don’t know most of the words lol.

AFM last night I had aggressively sexual dreams and I woke up and was like “if my ovulation test isn’t positive I’m gonna lose my shit” and surprise surprise, it was positive I don’t think I’ve ever had it this bad, SO brought up one of his coworkers/friends and this guy has gorgeous eyes and my brain went straight to the gutter because my body is like GIVE ME A BABY!!!! Actually that happened about a week ago as well but it was on a camping trip with SO and his best friend, and it was due to a gummy containing 10 mg of a certain plant substance, and I was lying down to sleep and having repentance worthy thoughts in the darkness. I think my uterus might be getting annoyed at me. However we just signed the venue contract for our wedding June 10th of next year, so I really can’t be getting pregnant right now.

 

[DobbyForever]

Shae LOL the hormones are so real. It's amazing how you don't even really think about it or notice it until you start tracking. But I do get exceptionally rowdy even though I'm on the combo pill. Usually right in the middle of my second week, would be primo fertile days if I was ovulating. Not sure what that's about.

Yeah I didn't ask a lot of questions, When it comes to medicine, I do a lot of smile and nodding. I do think the treatment is working. I am only slightly itchy in a much smaller area so whatever the root def seems bacterial.

Yes LOL it's that sea shanty. He overheard it one day as I was scrolling reels. I went straight past it because I didn't want him to hear it, but he heard the first few beats and made me go back. He's obsessed with it. He has to listen to it every day. I feel bad because of the rum reference, but he's so darn cute when he sings it.

Chuck E Cheeeese oh man the days! I just saw a reel about it and how it's a child casino with a rat as a mascot lol. Those sound like awesome parties! And honestly I love the twister memory! The best and most memorable parties really don't have to be crazy. It can be a sleepover watching "Spice World" or a beach day or a bbq in the park. It's the people and love you remember. Not the frills.

That's more my usual speed. Hit me with your $300 birthday party package, done deal. Or forget that and honestly let's just go out to dinner with the immediate fam and have cake hahha. Part of this is also just the whole I always thought for his 5th birthday we'd go to Disneyland. And we just can't with where he's at. He's made a lot of progress just not Disneyland level yet. He is excited though. He keeps saying birthday party! Birthday party!

Can I really afford it? Or am I just writing checks future Dobby has to pay This is definitely a sitting on my credit card for a few months situation. Since August bills are going to hit hard and I'm out a paycheck until September 30th, I'm hanging on to all available cash until my paycheck. We just got the vote to ratify our agreement, and the union president confirmed that I should expect retro pay of 4.5% and the stipend of 3.25% (after the 4% salary increase). It's just a matter of how quickly that gets paid out. I've never seen districts pay it out right away or all at once, usually it was in the agreement when they would do their partial payments. Worst case, there's always my tax return come Feb.

I just hope he grows up and appreciates it vs becomes entitled. Like I'm entitled and I didn't understand the value of a dollar until I got my first retail/real job (here comes the privilege) at 21. But I kind of want that for Aiden. Like I want him to appreciate that I work hard and hustle, but I don't want him to truly understand the weight of paying bills until he's early to mid 20s.

 

[shaescott]

Dobs the writing checks future me has to pay for is so me with the wedding I mean, not yet, I’ve been able to pay from my checking for everything so far, but when the food and drink bill rolls around I might need a bit of a loan from my parents since they don’t take credit cards, only check or cash.

I definitely didn’t understand the value of a dollar until I got my first job at 17 in retail. Now I get it lol. I was very privileged to have a relaxed childhood but got the appropriate wake up call near adulthood before I actually had bills to pay. I think that’s a good way to do it. Kids shouldn’t have to worry about money.

Don’t feel bad about the sea shanty, it’s super catchy and there’s much worse things he could be singing, I bet it’s super cute too.

 

[Flueky88]

Winter I think the "worst" will be a few days but I will I will have to careful for 2 weeks. I have sx on Thursday and probably return to work Tuesday since I don't have a physical job. Will just have to play it by ear.

Omg hard to believe your egg retrieval is getting so close!! I am so excited for you

Sorry for the crappy holiday. It is really a shame when parents/grandparents pick favorites. Oh but on a more positive note, so happy for your friend does she live close?

Dobby glad to hear Thor was good. Yes the long days are M to F but we have potential even on the weekends. I know we have to work the last weekend of the month but I'm hoping it's the only weekend for me.

Sorry about BV. I am so prone to it when I'm pregnant. I had to have DH stop finishing inside when preggo because that seems to be my trigger. The sperm and other fluid seems to mess with my pH balance.

Is your mom doing better? Is it because of side effects of pain meds she is falling?

The etsy/Encanto sign is really cool!


Shae I love the ticker



AFM still just plugging along but our cutover is going well. 2 more weeks until go live!

I have been better about working out and have lost more weight. Down to 162

I have been having more symptoms from my stones. So hoping things hold out until my surgery date. I suppose I need to call HR and ask if I need to apply for medical leave. Just been trying to take care of everything else.

DH got rear ended Monday. He is okay, just some whiplash. Girls weren't with him thankfully. Car insurance company giving us money to replace car seats. He went by yesterday to get some estimates but no numbers yet. The one place said they are pretty sure he needs a new frame and most insurance will total it out if it needs a new frame. We have mixed feelings on repair vs total out. He just paid it off this year and wanted to have money to go towards out projects or a tractor so a vehicle payment wouldn't be good. On another note if it's repaired the value is lowered when traded in.

 

[DobbyForever]

Shae that’s really awesome! Any chance to start putting money away little bit in month for the food bill? If you do end up getting a loan from your families, nothing wrong with that. Especially if that’s the only expense you want away without paying off. That’d be awesome!

Flueky I am so sorry! Hopefully no residual pain or lingering issues. I’m glad he’s ok so far and the girls weren’t in the car. That’s a tough call to repair vs new car, especially in your particular situation. If it’s that bad, may be worth contacting a personal injury attorney. Find one that works on contingency. That’s what my stepdad does. He doesn’t charge any fees, just takes a percentage of your settlement. Being rear ended is almost always, if not always, the person who rear ended the other’s fault. If they totaled your car and if hubs ends up needing any physical therapy, you could have a pretty good chunk of change due to you from that. You and your insurance company are not liable for this. It’s the other person and their insurance.

yeah I’m a bit worried. She was leaning more towards it being a sperm/ph thing. And the solution to that would be exactly that… and that may or may not be my favorite part so

that’s so amazing!!!! Huge congrats on the continued progress! Especially with so much going on at work. Major kudos!

i think it’s from the meds. She’s complained/my brother has also said she’s having dysphoria instead of euphoria from the codeine. And it’s enhancing her tinnitus. So she’s pretty miserable right now. And she’s not happy with her facelift because she didn’t really voice what she wanted but also turned down some of his suggestions that would have addressed the things she’s upset about now. Idk I think she’ll get over it.

 

[shaescott]

Fluekss yikes I’m glad your DH is okay!

Dobs sorry to hear your mom isn’t happy. I’m terrified to have any permanent modifications on my body like tattoos or cosmetic surgery because what if I hate it? I think I’m gonna stick to Kim Kardashian’s statement many years ago “you wouldn’t put a bumper sticker on a Bentley”

AFM I just applied for an L&D job at a different hospital. We all found out the new grad hires from the past 2 months are getting paid $4-6 an hour more than us, and we’re PISSED. I have a retention bonus contract so if I leave I’ll have to pay back $4k… but this place is offering sign on bonuses, and lots of places will pay off your retention contract losses when they hire you. Anyway, if I get the job, I’ll have a path to becoming a CNM, which would be super cool.

 

[DobbyForever]

Haha that’s funny about the bumper sticker. Agreed it’s not something to go about lightly. I think tattoos are easier than plastic surgery. I know on tv they have all this fancy equipment to show you what you’ll look like roughly but I don’t think that actually happens Irl. At least with tattoos usually they sketch it out first and get approval before starting. But then there’s how will it age and change as your body changes.

that’s really exciting about the job! Any idea when they may follow up? That’s so frustrating to hear about that kind of difference in pay. I’ll keep my FXed! How do you feel about potentially working in L&D while WTT?

AFM it’s my birthday and true to form nobody cares my mom is still out of it, stepdad is in LA for a funeral, Med school bro went back to Ohio, my bestie offered to hang out but she’s broke so I’d have to pay for her and I’m broke/I’m just generally not in the mood to carry her financially. I’ve done it in the past because she’s in a. Erg different financial lane than me and I didn’t want to sacrifice what I wanted to do but didn’t want to put her out. But idk not here for it this year. My other bestie broke off our friendship because I uninvited her to A’s party because of her behavior last time she was here. I told her it’s just because I’m serving alcohol at the party, and she has repeatedly had issues getting drunk around A/her kids. And I told her if it happens one more time, I’m not having her around A if there’s alcohol. Especially since I have other families coming. And I told her she hasn’t been respecting my drinking boundaries lately in general. I was clear that I didn’t want to end our friendship just that we needed better boundaries. She decided we didn’t need to be friends. And the other is sick and slightly worried it’s Covid so can’t hang out with them. OA has his daughter. I have one brother left standing but yeah. No plans. Everything I want to do, A can’t do or id be stressed out managing him on my own.

 

[DobbyForever]

Also just my usual birthday depression because the whole last day I saw my dad alive. Add in that I should be on labor watch right now. I’m turning 33 and single with no prospects, coming to terms with the idea that A may very well end up being my only child. The move is stalled because the floors have to be fixed. Sigh. My anxiety has been really bad the last few days.

 

[WinterBub]

Amazing that you've hit 162, flueky! You've blown past me!! I'm stuck around 165. Congrats!!! And wishing you lots of luck for a straight forward surgery and recovery. Hopefully you will notice a real difference when it is done and everything has settled down. Thank you for the crappy holiday comiseration. I know it sounds like childish whining on my part, but it is just so grating. TBH, I'm thinking of never staying at their house again. We can go visit, but I'm all done with being stuck at the house if that's how it is going to be.

And no, sadly- my bestie doesn't live close not even in the US! I wanted to put a collection of little baby things together for her of stuff that's from the US. Any ideas of things to put in there? My first thought was Carter's baby PJs

Glad that your DH is ok, though sorry for having to work out what to do with the car. I hope the right answer becomes clear in the next couple of days

Good for you, Shae! I hope you get the new job, because that sounds like an amazing career path! And that's total nonsense about the pay difference. I'd be looking to go, too. Nice to be in a very in demand career- make that work for you!!!

Sorry that your mom isn't happy, dobby. That's my big fear with plastic surgery! Hopefully as she starts to recover more, the results will be closer to what she wanted.

And happy birthday!! I'm sorry that you're not feeling loved and valued today. I know that you are. if it's any consolation- I haven't had a big birthday celebration or anything where people made a fuss since I turned 18. I think that's just the way it goes for adults. I was surprised that my OH was kind of bummed about his last milestone bday. We had cake, gifts, his parents sent gifts... But he just felt like nobody made a big deal of it. And that's totally out of character for him! I think especially once you have a child, their bday/events take the place of yours, too. In any case... Happy birthday! And don't let the way a single day unfolds make you feel a certain way about how your friends and family feel about you. You are loved!!