My sister is having to check over my niece's homework until school's back in. They get assignments where they have to write a paragraph (5th grade) and my sister is horrified to see how my niece writes--it's all texting abbreviations. I bet this is so common these days and I feel bad for all the teachers having to get them to write actual words.

My ex has borderline personality disorder. When I started dating again, I was insanely picky. I have severe anxiety, ptsd, ocd, and depression, all treated with cbt and medication. I spent YEARS trying to help a mentally ill, abusive man who refused to get help. He used my own mental health against me to gaslight me. When he was FINALLY diagnosed, he blamed me and refused treatment. I still can't believe I wasted so much time with that prick. There seems to be a narrative these days that gives a pass to bad behavior if it's done due to mental illness, which is unfortunate. If a man is mentally ill it's not your job to rehab him! I don't care if that sounds cold. Run!

It's been 6 months since you've seen your grandkids. Even before this pandemic, you weren't exactly coming for visits. You post pictures about how much you miss your grandkids but can go off with whatever new guy you are dating. I invite you over for my birthday so you aren't excluded and I want you to spend time with my kids. You asked me if your bf could come. Um. No? We barely see you, I don't need to have you there trying to play happy family with some guy who will be gone by this year when you ought to be with the kids. The dinner isn't a way to introduce me to this guy, I don't want to meet another. I want you to be with the kids, laugh with me and spend time with us. Now I'm the bad guy because I said no. Ok. You can come or not, it's your choice. I hope I could see you but I don't think it's healthy for my kids for you introduce your new BF as "Grandpa" like the last time.

So...my dad told me yesterday that he started dating a woman about a month ago and things are starting to get serious. It sounds like she is very sweet and going to be a good companion for him now that Mom's gone. She wanted him to find someone else after she died and I don't feel bad that he met someone, but it's a little weird. However...she is my dad's age and that's all I care about. I just didn't want him dating someone my age. I haven't met her yet, but I hope she's cool and that I might get a new stepmom to get to know.

I went to the dentist for my checkup and they said my teeth had very minimal plaque and buildup and that I probably do something crazy with my oral hygiene to keep it that way. Nope, I don't eat a lot of sugar. That's it. And I eat a lot of prebiotics and fiber so I have good flora. Plaque is made by bad bacteria in your mouth so if you have a good flora, you don't get issues with it.

Words cannot express how badly I don't want to be here today. I'm over this. There has to be an online company I can work for. I haven't even met half my clients. There's got to be a way to do this full time from home. I could set up an actual office. Have hours. I am just so over being ignored by management. Can't even get them on the fucking phone. Emails don't get answered. But if I mess something up? Boy howdy, they know exactly where to find me! Fuck this noise. I'm a human being. I deserve better.

I am SO sick of my goddamn cat peeing on the couches. He does it every so often and I don't know exactly what triggers it, but I think maybe it happens when birds and mice get too close to the windows and make him get all territorial. He's neutered, so that's not causing it. I use the Feliway spray and I can't tell if that's a good or bad thing, because it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I had a bunch of green onions that were going bad. I would normally toss it, but I've really loving the process of watching veggies grow. So put them in a jar of water. Now I'm getting new green onions. I can still see the old wilted leaves. I love this contrast. Effin' love nature.

I am surrounded by diehard conservatives, first of all. My mom alternately believes COVID is a conspiracy to introduce socialism and/or that I am using it to avoid her crazy ass. (Option 2 isn't far off, tbh.) But she sent me this video of a self proclaimed doctor saying stuff about how zinc and hydroxychloroquine are a guaranteed treatment, masks are useless and socialist based, and we should treat COVID like any other illness. I had many issues, but the biggest one being that he said he has a 100% success rate. He then goes on to say that of his 75 patients, only 30 got tested for COVID and he believes over half of those were false positives... So that in itself is a huge contradiction. I badly want to express my thoughts on the video, but I also don't want to start a battle I know will just end in ugliness from her. So I won't. But I'll get it off my chest by posting it here. Lol.

OP with the 3yo DGD and 25yo DS who was being lazy with her potty training. Well, he's back working again finally and DIL is staying home with DGD. They just absolutely do not want her in daycare. (Are daycares even open??) DS is much happier now that he's working and DIL is much happier now that she can be home with the little one. I know DIL will be more diligent with the potty training, too. They are both struggling with her toddler tantrums though. I don't get it. I've seen her have meltdowns (and they're BAD sometimes), but they're so infrequent when she's visiting. She just seems to behave better for me than she does for her parents. I don't remember if my kids were like this. Any parents of toddlers or grandparents of toddlers want to weigh in? Is this normal?