I had two terrible toddlers, but once they were kids they were cool. Two who I guess will get a midlife crisis, because they never caused trouble as kids or teens. The rest I got when they were teens or older and while not all of them (bio or other) were academic superstars or high performing athletes or anything, they were all reasonable and interesting and diverse people by teenage years.

I don’t remember my mom being motherly, and asked her about it once. She said “I don’t like kids.” I said"but you have so many kids!" And her reply?

“Well, I like you all now, I knew you would grow up, kids don’t stay kids, they grow into people.”

Good on you, live your life on your terms!

Oh my God I would never want to BE a kid again, it was a nightmare. But my kids say they enjoyed it ok, and weren’t as uncomfortable as I was. Maybe it skips a generation.

My mom said once that if everyone waited until their life was perfect to have a kid, that was the end of humanity. There is never a perfect time.

Kids for me. They have improved my life more than anything else. Having the first two pushed me to go back to school and get a real job. I got more when my ex & I split and I married a guy with kids; we have a staggering number between us, most were teens or older when we got together and they are all close now, so they have a network of family to help and socialize with. The youngest is almost done with high school so we are in the final stretch of having them at home. The Thanksgiving feast here is insane, so many people, chaotic and fun.

Now - having said all that, I always knew I wanted kids, not necessarily to birth them but to raise them. Babies are adorable , little kids blistering cute, teenagers so much fun and occasionally helpful, and then they grow up and are actual people. It is work I find fulfilling and it helps the world to have educated, sensible, open-minded people. Most of my kids don’t want kids themselves and that’s fine! Everyone has their own life to live.

So for me, kids. For you, whatever you want, I don’t think it’s essential to become an adult and don’t think it’s the only way to get a family either.

Just so many calories and simple carbs, not enough vitamins. Two of the household are bulking though, teenager and 20 year old trying to get bigger.

So I guess a better way to think about it is calorie dense, not unhealthy if your body needs that much energy.

Water with electrolytes? I got unflavored electrolyte drops for times I fast, and for my kid who has to do band camp in the summer here. You can get flavored ones too, I don’t like them. Dilute them more than the bottle says to, sometimes a splash of lemon.

Topo Chico and orange juice is great, if you are just looking for something that tastes good.

Ask your doctor if it’s safe for you to take creatine, that certainly helps muscles retain water.

I hate ketchup as a sauce or spread, don’t mind it as an ingredient but it’s way too fucking sweet to put on anything.

Mayonnaise for sandwiches, with mustard or horseradish.

Hot sauce for eggs, beans or French fries (chips) . The salsa yucateca if I want hot without sour, Tabasco if I want sour; hot chili garlic paste if I want flavor bomb.

Most of my Kindle books are checked out from our library system, and if they are missing one book in a series or don’t have something available I can request and results have been pretty good.

There is a LOT of content for the Kindle at the library and I’m in Florida, can’t imagine we lead in this.

Amazon keeps pushing the Kindle unlimited but I can’t see the value yet. You like it?

Just made some yesterday at the request of my kids. Boil the pasta and grate a bunch of cheese, mix of whatever you have, hopefully some is sharp. Pour the pasta out into a colander (actually mine was half cauliflower, also at request of the kids). Put a whole stick of butter (had 1lb dry pasta plus a lot of cauliflower) in the pot and back on medium heat. Into melted butter put flour to make a light roux. Once that is ready, add milk slowly, whisking continuously until you have a sauce like for biscuits and gravy. Then add the cheese, let it all melt, keep stirring but with wooden spoon; stir in some mustard and any other seasonings you want, then the pasta.

Into buttered dish, topping (I used bread crumbs, shredded cheese works, crushed potato chips also work, or any combination of these) bake at 400f or so until the top is golden.

So good, not healthy even with cauliflower.

And lot size in football fields, a 1500 square foot 3 bed 2 bath on 1/4 of a football field.

I miss the non-porn nudes threads, Normalnudes and NakedProgress, the ones with an “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything” policy where people of all body types could show their shape and/or their fitness progress.

This hasn’t happened for me in the last 35 years, but if I am, say, on vacation? I like to read books, exercise, eat at restaurants.

If you are feeling isolated, it’s really good to go get coffee at the same place everyday. We tend to discount the value of weak social connections, but they are the glue that holds humanity together.

Glad to meet you, Mr. Morningstar and I guess you’d be an authority on this. I agree, consciousness is the universe experiencing itself. And no, I don’t need a favor, thanks!

I am in sports now, we are international but employ consultants for international tax stuff. It’s way too complicated. Our internal tax department does do some of the financial planning, yes, tax minimizing schemes as you say, working with the legal department. They also do some general reconciling of the tax liability accounts, sales tax and VAT on merch, that part is accounting but the planning stuff is more like legal work than finance.

I don’t think it needs one, and no idea if you mean existence of everything, or a single human life. But for my single human life my goal is to enjoy being physically embodied while I am, experience things using this body and its built-in equipment. All the things that will be impossible to do once dead, all the stuff you couldn’t do before you were born. See things, move, dance, read, fuck, eat, hurt, feel everything. Think about things. Now while I am alive in a body that can do all that stuff.

I am an accountant and cannot even begin to count the number of people who asked me to do their taxes. I do not do tax accounting, never have, it’s a whole separate department where I work, and at every job I’ve worked. I’m not sure the tax people even think of themselves as accountants.

I think probably yes; there are lovely housewares and glassware being made now, bottles for wines and liquors are not standard and some are really pretty, also a lot of the kitchen appliances currently have pretty nice design.

Wouldn’t you know that, then?

And if the therapy aligns with their physical gender? No treatment for a girl who goes through puberty too young? Nothing for a girl of 17 who is worried because she hadn’t started “developing” or gotten her period? Nothing for a boy who isn’t going through male puberty, or starts it at 5? Intersex kids who are mis-assigned at birth and panic as adolescents?

Yes the therapies are not without risk, but doing nothing is also not without risk. The only reason doctors will prescribe puberty blockers is if the kids are suffering, otherwise the “care” that is getting outlawed is counseling. I have a trans kid and the doctor prescribed counseling but they can’t get it because the clinics aren’t allowed to “treat” the transgendered now.