We are out of town and ate lunch at a Sonic drive-in in Houston. We noticed a lot of people lining up at the strip center across the street. What was drawing everyone? There is a Verizon store there, so I googled new phone releases, nope. Is Chopotle giving away lunch? Folks are too mainstream to be waiting for a shelter. Some Job fair? Nothing listed, even on the Amizon job site. It’s adjacnt to Reliant field, are they lining up for football tickets?) nothing listed. Steady stream of people getting in and out of cars and moving up the line.
. We decided to face a mess of traffic to get across the street to see what the line up was for … last day of early voting!
My daughter had a great time in Lebanon with her big brother. She’s on the way back to school in Italy right now. 
I’m very proud of her for being so adventurous!
Wow, we finally were able to have our insurance agent help reduce our insurance premiums. We excluded coverage for sexual and physical abuse—we are NEVER alone with the patients and don’t touch them. That was $900/year. We also eliminated something about being sued by our employees—I’m the only employee and cannot imagine any scenario where I’d ever sue our small nonprofit. Our premium is now less than 1/2 of the >$4,000/yr it was and will still protect us as a board and for what our org does.
Are you happy in this modern world?
Can CC accounts be hacked?..
My sister and her family, who live in Virginia, are coming out here (California) for Christmas. Haven’t seen them in almost a year and a half. So excited!
Welcome to CC, NoCalParent.
Thanks! Have been lurking for the past 6 months and have gotten some really good insight into this whole college process. Am grateful for this site.
Today’s weather is an ugly wintry mix here in N. Va. Snow, ice, rain. So, as a wonderful treat, we have our first fire in our stove insert/fireplace. I wish you all could see it. It’s so soothing and warm.
Mean Girl was super nice at Mah Jongg today. A nice surprise!
My cousin’s teenage D was driving down the hill to school last week with her sister when they saw flames off in trees at the edge of town. She told the teachers who were outside what she had just seen. One teacher responded, “I guess we better evacuate.”
Four more students who did not have cars piled into the small car and they started driving - toward the fire. One of the other girls in the car had a little brother who was home alone that day. They got him, a dog, and a cat, wedged them in and headed for the evacuation area in Chico.
^^^^ 
Yesterday, after months of not having a printer despite efforts of several different on site repair folks in our living room, we finally had a printer delivered that works and us MUCH quieter than ours was before it died (sounded like s sick cow groaning).
I’m glad, since we have about $800-$1000 worth of printer ink plus they gave us an additional $800 in ink. Hopefully we won’t need to buy ink for a year or two or three.
We got a newer model than our broken printer. They discountinued selling new printers of this model so we were afraid they’d switch us from solid wax ink to laser with toner, which could cause breathing issues for us. Here’s hoping the printer lasts longer than the ink.
Today is World Prematurity Day. I’m celebrating my daughter who was born at 24 weeks, 1# 4 oz., and will graduate from college in 28 days. Survivor!
Cool to know @twoinanddone! I was a premie in 1961, maybe 8 weeks early. My father was told by the military doctor, “don’t even bother to name her, she won’t live half a day.” I’m still here, so is your daughter!
^^ My brother was a preemie in 1962 and had hyaline membrane, just like the Kennedy baby who died, but he weighed over 7 pounds, just couldn’t breathe very well. They had discovered surfactant to mature lungs. In your case, NorthernMom, girls have a much higher survival rate, as do minorities. Yes, the only place in the world it is bad to be a white male is the NICU.
Go girls!
S flew in from London and is currently visiting family in the Midwest. Got a lovely photo of him with my Mom (she is in assisted living) yesterday. He is staying at my MIL’s and will be home on Tuesday!
Finally made it Austin and am having a great trip. Last night, I was one of over 100,000 people at the UT-Iowa State football game, which UT won, 24-10. I sat next to my mom and we had the best time (Dad was using the free seats given to him for serving as chair of the Men’s Athletic Council for many years - I guess he will have those as long as he lives). Wow, the games have really changed since the mid-80! Lots of glitz and noise. One of the biggest TV screens in the world. Fireworks at the end. Lots of loud, electronic music. Kind of overwhelming! But the UT “Show Band of the Southwest” has changed very little. They still play the old standards, such as “Wabash Cannonball” and “Deep in the Heart of Texas” (during which they formed an outline of Texas with a heart in the middle). Last night, the alumni band, composed of 700 exes, joined the regular band on the field, to make up a band of about 1000 people! It was quite something.
My sister and I also sat down and talked to my parents about what the next few years look like. She and I were really nervous about the discussion, but it went great. We are fortunate that money is not a problem for them and they will be off the waiting list for a nice facility in about a year. They are fine meeting with the Aging Life Specialist I found last week. My mom has gotten very disorganized and is having trouble paying bills on time. So yesterday I started her on cleaning up her office. She worked about three hours straight and thanked me for helping her. She and my sister have both thanked me multiple times for coming down here. Today, I will take out my niece to lunch and then see BFF(since 8th grade). Then my sister is coming over to start working on a master plan to clean up Mom and Dad’s house (yikes). Tomorrow I will take out my uncle to lunch. I will go out with my nephew at some point, too. I’m really happy about all of this. It’s all a little out of my comfort zone, but I’m doing it!
@MaineLonghorn Your parents are very lucky to have two daughters that care enough to go to the lengths you are to make sure they are comfortable and well taken care of. Love the Aging Life Specialist idea, nice she is willing to meet with him/her. I work with many elders and am astounded sometimes by the lack of real efforts put forth by others, including family members, to help them in their old age. This is heartwarming. Kudos to you.