I ordered a box of 12 cheapo Christmas lights. Every friggin’ strand cane with its own little remote! One remote operates all of them. What a waste…
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Life always looks better in the morning. A very long, but good day driving to see S. Then an hour to sell his car and another hour back. Dinner at their place. Awesome, but now I’m flat out exhausted and we have 40 min to find and check into out downtown hotel. And H decides I have to drive. Im fine driving in traffic, I don’t care for the dark and traffic, but I’m managing ok until we go underground and the GPS stops working. Had H been driving, I could have figured it out while we drove. But no, he is 110% useless with directions and maps. I think a drunk driver would have done better, but somehow I made it. Get out and have to use valet parking - irritating, but just get me in bed. I don’t care.
Get the suitcases out to find that I gave S H’s suitcase. I have his! (We brought a bunch of his stuff from home) H starts fussing at me. In my defense, I ALWAYS pack S’ suitcase on top, but H packed the car (for the first time ever!!)and both are gray and it was dark. But still argh! We were so crabby I apologized to the front desk guy. But I was doubly mad that I picked this hotel for him!!! It’s a rock and roll themed hotel with your own record player and vinal records you get from the desk. He was having none of it.
Fast forward to this morning. Much better. He’s happily playing his records and drinking coffee. There’s an awesome target a block away and he has a new toothbrush. I had all the toiletries other than that and his razor so it will work itself out. But sheesh. We were a pair last night. Good thing I got separate beds or one of us might not be standing. Merry Xmas!
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Great that I figured out yesterday that I’d gotten one real gift for H. Stocking stuffers won’t do. Made it to home despot & found a couple of things to save the holiday.
Today we’re talking about gifts for the offspring and partners & I came to the realization that one major gift is actually something #2D & BF are giving to #1D & SIL; it’s not at all from H & I. Switched a couple of things from stockings to gift & trips to a cocktail bar and restaurant for gift cards and I think we’re done.
My retiree brain is toast.
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When I asked you this morning if you’d ever ordered the car accessory/safety device we’d talked about several times (because you insisted on making the final selection), I did not expect to hear that it was gift wrapped and under the tree as my Christmas present. Guess I will do some online shopping for myself after Christmas.
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Anyone want to take bets on how many (if any) Christmas presents I get??
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I really don’t miss the stress and exhausting effort of creating the magic for a houseful of folks for the holidays – the shopping, the decorating, the baking, cooking, and cleaning. But I sure miss the magic.
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18 year old son and DH have both approached me separately today asking for “help” wrapping a gift.
This was of course after I’ve finished the wrapping a couple days ago, discarded unused boxes and nicely put away the paper and gift tags, etc.
So I can’t just tell them where to find the supplies bc they will destroy my nicely organized area.
I shouldn’t care. But I am irritated.
(And yes, I hated group projects in high school and college for similar reasons!!!)
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My HS senior son is really an amazing, caring kid and I’m going to miss him so much when he goes to college next year. Sometimes I worry he is too passive but then this weekend he:
Realized I wasn’t getting any Christmas gifts (I never do), so he bought me a gift and gave my husband a list of things to buy me. (I found out from my husband who bought everything through my Amazon account 
)
Recognized I was having a panic attack in a really crushing NYC crowd (a completely unfamiliar setting for both of us) and somehow got me, my SIL, and niece (who both also turned out to be panicking) out of the crowd to an open spot.
Volunteered to do all the Christmas present wrapping (giving up all his free time today) because he enjoys it and I don’t.
I think he is going to turn out okay! 
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Dang it! H tested positive for Covid this morning. I’m negative right now, but my head & throat tell me my turn is up next. Now S will stay home for the holiday (because D & GD were exposed last night when they were over), and we won’t get to hang with our awesome GD (or her wonderful parents) today.
“Regardless of the name you give your celebrations this year, please make sure that you take time to honor the light. The primary light is the light that you yourself uniquely offer the world.” - Depak Chopra
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Recycle Coach email–your recycle pickup is WEDNESDAY not Tuesday this week.
Town website–your recycle pickup is WEDNESDAY not Tuesday this week.
Tuesday morning–Oh look, there’s the recycle truck!
Grrrr!
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Happiness, pride, and relief, upon seeing our kids devour the books we gave them for Christmas.
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Dear Well-Intended Friend Of My Sister’s,
Stop pushing so hard for DH & I to take our family of 4 to an expensive vacation to Europe. I know that you meant well, but you wouldn’t stop pushing it on me when we were all hanging out together at my sister’s house on Christmas Eve. We have college to pay for for our 2 children. We can swing it, but it means that things like trips to Europe are not going to be happening for us until BOTH kids are out of college.
I’m going to give you some leeway on this, though, because you don’t have kids, have tons of disposable income between you & your DH, and you pay peanuts for airfare since you work for an airline.
I get it…travel is a passion of yours. That’s cool. But I have other obligations that trump travel abroad right now.
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Email I just received:
"We are writing to you today about an upcoming change to your Prime Video experience. Starting January 29, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements. This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership. We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month* that you can sign up for [here.]
Prime is a very compelling value."
Sigh.
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Spitting mad at the ex (S24’s father) and trying not to lose it in front of S24.
2 months ago school had “financial aid night” and both the ex and new wife attended (first college related activity they’ve even been involved in). As we’re leaving, ex mentioned that he hasn’t filed his 2022 taxes. 
Soon after that, we sit down to go over finances. I find out that the ex and new wife have no money whatever saved (because all the savings went to their wedding this past May). And I quote “I just don’t see it being possible to come up with anything to contribute for his college.” I asked if maybe he could help more in later years even if he couldn’t do it right away, and he basically said it wasn’t going to happen.
It’s not like he hasn’t known this was coming for 18 years. It’s not like our divorce paperwork doesn’t specifically say we’re each responsible for half of a “reasonable” amount, because it says that very clearly (I understand not having much, but openly admitting that he has no plans to contribute a single cent?!).
So…I asked my ex if he could at least just file the taxes so that we could use his financials for the FAFSA for first year (we share 50/50 custody but he makes about half of what I make, and 2022 didn’t include the new wife yet - so it would save us a bunch of money). I figured if he’s not contributing directly, at least maybe he could help out that way. He essentially refused because it is “easier” to just wait until 2023 tax season and do them both together. I’ve explained the fact that it would likely impact S24’s eligibility for additional financial aid but he is adamant on this.
Then I find out that after the wedding they had started saving again - not for S24’s college fund, but so that the ex could have his vasectomy reversed and they could have a kid of their own. What really gutted me was that they actually TOLD S24 all of that.
I am shocked and disgusted and so disappointed. I am so, SO bummed for my son, who is also feeling understandably let down but tries to down play it. Ugh!
Thanks for letting me vent 
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Someone on a financial forum I read is wondering how to reduce their $700,000 annual tax bill. I am going to say it here, since everyone IRL knows that there’s no way I would ever face this dilemma … I would gladly pay $700k in taxes, because it would mean that I have more money than I need.
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Argh! We came home last night from our trip and noticed all of our clocks were blinking. We obviously lost power at some point. We had some rain on Tuesday, but nothing major. And just now, H called. We lost power again. No wind, no rain, no ice, so extreme or even mildly cold temps, nada… I get so tired of these random power outages.
This summer I made a new friend, who I thought I’d know for years and years. A very strong bond; we just clicked–funny, smart, and we had a similar perspective about the world.
This fall, she was diagnosed with cancer, and today I found out she passed away two days after Christmas.
Just so sad and angry. Can’t use the word i want to use to address cancer, but you can probably fill it in.
I have a 20 something who just joined my team. He asked a more senior person on the team if he should ask me how he is doing because he didn’t feel like he was doing that well. The senior person asked him if I’ve yelled at him? The 20 something said no. The senior person said, “you are fine if she hasn’t yelled at you. You would know if you weren’t doing well.”
I do think young people expect to get constant feedback on how well they are doing. My generation just assume by having a job means we are doing well.
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Madonna is just sad. I knew her once upon a time, and I think it’s a shame that a woman who was once such a free spirit seems stuck in her past.
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