I was JUST saying something silmilar this morning about ds16. He's a very good kid, no trouble at all and does great in school (As & Bs) but DAMN. The other day I asked him to get me the jug of white vinegar off the kitchen counter. Comes back and says it's not there. Okay, I could have moved it. I found it - on the kitchen counter. When washing cars, I told him where I'd put the rags outside, and NOT to use the super soft ones for washing. Before heading out, he asked where the rags were. Later I see him washing with the soft ones. When putting things away, I told him where to put stuff. "Stand at the top of the basement steps and look straight ahead at the wall across from you. They go on those shelves." Later I found them somewhere else. Is it a boy thing? He's always been like this.

My dream last night- there were a few people in my kitchen, a little girl and a shirtless good looking guy, and a big white fluffy dog. And they were doing something. They were moving and doing something -I don't know what- but they stopped in mid-doing something, and turned and looked at me. And it was weird, it occurred to me that this was MY dream, and I was supposed to 'direct' them or something. And I didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. I had it a second ago, and now I can't remember or think of it. I was dumbfounded. And the guy leaned against the wall, the girl sat in a chair. Like actors on a break. Then I woke up.

Took my DH to the meeting with the builder. Up until now, I had been going by myself. He gave me the budget I had to work with, and since this one is more expensive, I had cut a lot of our wishlist items. My DH walks into the meeting and is like, "Oh, this extra? Worth it. Good, add it. Oh, yeah, that one too." And we're $5k over the number he gave me initially. But we're both happy with the inside and outside. Plus, I get a real wood burning fireplace, to boot. Not the exact kitchen I wanted. It's a galley, I wanted a corner. But all in all, I think it will be good. Still bigger than I have now, and will be brand new, in any colors I want. I'm happy. Crossing my fingers. Everything should start rolling in the next 2 weeks, and then 12 weeks after that, we'll actually break ground.

Maybe 3% of all abortions occur after 20 weeks. It's telling that THIS is the focal point of the abortion debate. Anyone who truly cares about reducing abortion numbers should be out fighting tooth and nail to get improved birth control access for women, improved sex education for young people and against domestic violence, since these are some of the key areas we can reduce abortions to tiny numbers. But of course most of them prefer to call women dirty sluts who can't keep their legs closed. The pro life movement is misogynist, and so are most pro-lifers. The ones who are not are pretty deluded about the movement as a whole. It's part of a larger goal to put women "back where they belong", barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

My brother threw a hissy fit tonight because my mom told him she didn’t hear him run the water after he put his dishes in the sink and he’d better rinse his dishes right that moment. The wood floors creak whenever anyone walks and we all know he was headed out of the kitchen without rinsing his dishes... like always. He’s 37 and she has enabled him a lot all his life, she still does with a lot of things. But she seems to be determined to get him into the habit of rinsing his dishes any time he puts something in the sink. Though I think she should focus more on teaching him how to cook... or do his own laundry... or budget properly so he can take care of himself when she dies. I’m fairly certain she expects me to take care of him and I have no intention to become my big brothers new mommy.

Many people have boundaries when it comes to donating, especially when it comes to time. I no longer donate my time to the local soup kitchen because I got tired of being harassed by homeless drunks. Sure, many of them were sweet but a few of them were inappropriate and downright threatening. I still donate food, but I'm not going back there. A person's reasons for donating (or not) are nobody's business. A lot of organizations have even modified how they accept donations to the specific ways people want to give. Hell, even the AHA changed their CPR guidelines because good Samaritans don't want to perform mouth to mouth (30 immediate chest compressions). If you feel so passionately about this, work with your local organizations to make it easier for people to donate.

When someone who's passed wants to communicate with me, it happens through thoughts or visions that will make sense to me or the person I'm telling - a name, nickname, initials, a song, maybe their favorite perfume or flower or their smell. I may see them in a hospital bed or watching their SO doing laundry. As far as ghosts, I have seen a Confederate soldier, a little boy in my last apartment, a woman walking down the road, a younger man crossing the street, a man in my backyard and a woman standing behind me in the kitchen of my new (old) house. I used to go to an antiques store that had two little kid spirits that would turn the lights off, tug at your clothes and ride the rocking horse. That's also where I saw the soldier; you would hear his boots on the floors and he would slam the front door if you didn't close it all the way :)

The place was called Kooks Burritos. From one of the articles: "A Portland burrito eatery has shut down after the two white women who ran it were criticized for making food from a culture that wasn’t theirs." The girls were interviewed for the paper. They said how they talked to the women making them, but couldn't really get information about the *technique* of making tortillas - not the recipe, mind you, the technique, as in how long to toss and refrigerate them. So they peeked in kitchen windows and watched. ("It’s a Mexican tradition to place the “tortilla lady” at a street side window where her techniques can be observed.") After this hit the papers, they were accused of "stealing" the recipes and ALSO of cultural appropriation and "cultural theft." The backlash was so bad they had to close. The earrings and hairstyles thing are also two articles that I recently read on a legitimate news website.

I think chicken smells bad, too. I love making a whole chicken in the crock pot, but preparing it makes me gag. If my husband is around, I make him do all the fat trimming. Otherwise, I use kitchen scissors because it gets the job done quickly.

Omg, so much zucchini. SO. MUCH. Zucchini brownies, zucchini bread, zucchini boats, zucchini in soup, fried zucchini with cheese, zucchini in meatloaf, spiralized zucchini zoodles. I pick it, use it, or give it away, and it just keeps growing and growing in my garden. I didn't even plant it, either! It's a voluntary from last year! I even called the local food pantry and soup kitchen to see if they wanted any, but they said that they're also loaded with the stuff. On the bright side, I'm pooping more.