Jules2307

I've flown southwest, Delta and Air Canada since my daughter was born 10 months ago and each of them made me show her birth certificate. My husband misplaced the birth certificate and my daughter and I almost had to miss our flight because they were not letting her through security until I showed her birth certificate. I think it depends on the agent working the desk at whatever moment you get there.

It's standard in the U.K. My cousin was born 30 years ago and her mother used nitrous oxide (or gas and air as they call it.) I asked about using it in the US and they won't do it.

My British family, who are now solidly upper middle class but grew up working class, refer to dinner (or supper but the evening meal either way) as tea. Just tea. High tea is a social gathering with tea, finger sandwiches, scones, jam and clotted cream.

I'm sorry but one of my absolute pet peeves is the deification of Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa was extremely privileged and despite her vow of poverty, carried those attitudes her entire life. The way she treated the Untouchables was deplorable. But she's sainted and the stifled woman who exerted a bit of influence on her own life by buying the car she wanted, is seen as a bad person.

I don't think we'll agree but part of my belief in Christina's version of events is what people said when they defended Joan. Take Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (her first husband). When he defended her, he insisted that she was too controlled to ever beat Christina. The way he described her, she seemed like a tightly wound individual. After their marriage was over, her career was failing, she was under immense pressure and she became (by all accounts) a serious alcoholic. As Joan said in Feud, she was in a very different place in her life when she adopted Christina and Christopher than when she adopted the twins.

For me, I believed Christina and still do. I'm not saying that the twins didn't have a different experience but even when people defended her, the person they described was a narcissistic control freak. That combined with her alcoholism and the way she always talked about Christina and Christopher, made me far more inclined to believe Christina. Helen Hayes publicly saying that she believed Christina helped as well. My Mother's Keeper was salacious but there was nowhere near the level of abuse that was in Mommie Dearest. Bette Davis just seemed like a sad, lonely alcoholic with abandonment issues. Joan Crawford came off as a manipulative abuser. The last difference is what happened to Christina and BD. Christina has been a child abuse advocate for decades, why would she waste her time and energy if she made it all up? BD became a zealot who speaks in tongue and still insists that her mother was possessed by Satan.

I think the being part black feeling is generational. My dad (who adamantly refuses to identify as Puerto Rican even though my grandmother was born there) seems to feel like the one drop rule still applies. For me, even though my grandmother was listed as mulatto on the 1930 census, I don't feel black because I didn't have the black experience growing up. Logically, I know that I'm part black but because I have fairly pale, white skin, I've never been treated or experienced life the way a person who is viewed as black has.

I find it interesting that according to her Twitter, Mariah has become a self identified feminist. She's now a Bernie supporting liberal. I wonder how that ties in to her desire for a polygamist lifestyle...

Yolanda has done plenty to offend having nothing to do with Lyme. She was probably joking about your mother. Well maybe not! Lyme is said to effect the brain and if it does this is it. The logic center. You're much kinder than I am. I just thought she was rude, attention seeking, narcissist. But I also tend to hate it when people try to out misery each other. Can't we just accept that all of these illnesses, be they physical or mental, suck? I think I've just discovered why I dislike Yolanda so much.

Honestly, that attitude of "you must agree with me or else you're a bad person" is what I've found in everyone who has "chronic Lyme disease." I responded on a People magazine article to someone who said that she didn't understand the hate Yolanda gets, she hasn't done anything to offend anyone. I said I was offended by her comparison to the AIDS crisis of the early 80s. I received a response from someone, who identified herself as having "chronic Lyme disease", telling me she felt sorry for the sick people in my life because I obviously treat them like shit. I said I'd be sure to tell my mom, who has Alzheimer's, that as I have her her bath that night. The only response I got was that my mom probably didn't have Alzheimer's because a lot of those symptoms can actually be Lyme.

I got the feeling that JJ just wanted to punish the defendant for abetting her daughter's behavior. If she hadn't gotten so aggressive with JJ in the beginning (with my favorite comeback on this show, "well, that's your opinion,), I think she would have been less inclined to read so much into the defendant pulling up next to the plaintiff. I was hoping she'd award the plaintiff the whole $5k, just to teach that awful woman a lesson.

I know I'm pregnant and easily emotional but the end of the first case, when the bullied girl was crying, broke my heart. You could see where the defendant's daughter got her bullying behavior from. I knkw this probably won't happen but I sincerely hope that the defendant watches this, gains a modicum of self awareness and sees what an awful person she's shaping to inflict on the world. But then again, she didn't get the hint when the school probably straight up told her that her daughter was a bully.

My office started stocking peanut butter M&Ms. They are divine. The salty sweet combination is killer.

I would bet money that LVP or Kyle has said something to Andy but what is he going to do? Fire the perpetual Lyme victim? And look terrible? Of course not. Yes, people get to miss group events but no one has missed as many as Yolanda and few people get to skip out of the reunion (blaming "brain fog"). Didn't Adrienne get fired for that? Yes, I've worked in a law office where different people get different bonuses but that's how it goes. If someone got a bonus and didn't show up, would I be irritated? Hell yes. I have never seen someone as blatantly manipulative as Yolanda. She can talk shit about whoever she wants but when it comes time to take it, there's brain fog or brain swelling or whatever blatantly fake symptom comes to her next. Lisa Rinna is a drama queen, no one disagrees with that but even a broken clock is right twice a day.

If you had a co-worker (because let's be honest, that's what these people are, not friends, with a few exceptions), who kept begging off of work by saying "I'm sick! I'm sick!" and threw a passive aggressive pity party every time you saw them ("Oh, you look so...well"), would you be pissed if you saw photos of them on Instagram doing other fun things? I doubt LVP wanted to go to Erika's dinner party but she did because she was contractually obligated. Yolanda gets out of contractual filming obligations by doing what she does best, manipulating everyone with her (possibly/probably fake) illness.

This is completely shallow but while Erika looks much younger without all the slap on, her eyebrows bug me when she does them herself. It's obvious that she's applying powder to them but the color is so off, it's all I can stare at. Also shallow but wtf did Brandi do to her face? She looked like her usual, overly Botoxed self in the scenes with Yolanda but she just looked like an entirely different person in her THs. I think she looks ridiculous normally but she looked like a caricature of a desperate to retain her youth former model. My husband walked in during her TH and asked me who that was. Thank you! I kept yelling at the screen that they're not muumuus. I'm going to be in my third trimester during the summer so I've started stocking up on caftans to wear around the house. I'd be mortified if someone thought they were muumuus.

It's a little pricy and the owner can be a bit nuts but if you can, try to get to Le Veau d'Or. It's on E. 60th, between Lexington and Park, right near the 59th Street Lexington Avenue stop on the N,Q,R. The ambiance is old school French/NY and the food is exactly what you'd want from a classic French restaurant. One piece of advice; make sure you know your exact reservation (date, time, number in your party.) The original owner was this incredibly sweet French man but he passed away a few years ago and his daughter took over. She can be lovely and charming but she's very old New York and doesn't suffer fools gladly.

I love Beacon and Cold Spring, we almost moved there last year. There's a craft beer bar called The Hop in Beacon that overlooks the cutest creek. It's a little fancy but the food is really good. In Cold Spring, I love the Depot. They have great comfort food and if it's a little chilly, you can sit by their gorgeous fireplace. There's also the Hudson Hill Cafe for brunch. It gets packed really quickly but the pancakes are to die for. There's a million good restaurants in London but if you like pubs, I recommend The Shaston Arms in Soho. They sell Badger beer from Dorset. I'm not a super beer drinker but I've never had a Badger beer that I didn't like. It's also right in the heart of the city. For food and ambiance, check out The Crusting Pipe (I think it's proper name may be Davy's Wine Bar) in Covent Garden. It's very touristy but they have amazing wine and cheese. The best part is you can listen to the students from the nearby music schools who perform by the courtyard for tips. It's a lovely, relaxing afternoon.

Love City Market. I lived in Burlington during college and that is the kind of co-op I still dream about.

We just watched this episode last night and I think they may be my least favorite couple I've seen on LOLIT. The feng shui thing was just so obnoxious. I get that having the proper feng shui is important to you, maybe you should share that with the interior designer working on the house? And then they blamed Jillian for not being able to do the mudroom, are you kidding me? I knew they were going to list it when the husband asked for the money back after the siding had to be replaced. You've lived in this house, most likely mortgage free, for decades and have done nothing to it. Every house requires some routine maintenance. Don't blame someone else when it comes back to bite you in the butt. Also, no matter how nice the new house is, it's not going to look like that once they move in their own furniture. Was it just me or was everything in that house super dated, furniture included?

Dawn is irritating (IMO) but definitely not the worst housewife ever, by a long shot. I don't think any of them are that bad. However, people like Dawn who always need to talk about themselves and think they're the arbiters of right and wrong drive me insane. That said, that also goes for Lauren and Ampika. I can't imagine ever comparing anyone's eggs to a frozen pizza, let alone a friend's! I really think that they just wanted to bring her down a peg and used the IVF to insinuate that Dawn is old. She's not old but these women are all so clearly youth obsessed (the lips, the clothes, the Botox), that it was a dig. Either way, keep your mouth shut and just nod. It's no one's place to determine how many kids you should or shouldn't have.

Thanks, I appreciate the good thoughts. I do sometimes fool her with ground chicken (I infinitely prefer ground poultry to ground beef) when I make chili. I love the quiche idea but my husband finds the texture odd. The other problem, that I failed to mention, is that since my mom's Alzheimer's really took hold, she has become so picky (and dramatic) about food. We'll go food shopping and I'll get vegetables and she'll start yelling at me that she can't eat any of it. Growing up, my mom and I ate mainly vegetables and only ate meat once or twice a week. I found a loaded baked potato soup recipe last night so I'm going to try it tonight. I've made it once before and remember liking it so we'll see if it passes the test. http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/02/baked-potato-soup.html

This episode really made me like Lauren's husband much more. He reminds me of my cousin's husband (also British), who is sort of the definition of a cheeky chap and likes to push your buttons. But when push comes to shove, he will be the most caring man and tell you what you need to hear. I liked getting to know the husbands better. Mark and Ashley must be saints to put up with such crazy (ex) wives. I still love Tanya and Magali but they're sort of it, for me. I think Lauren's a rude snob and Dawn is just bizarre. Leanne is just such a sycophant. I did find it hilarious that Wes Brown clearly has 0 interest in being on the show. Was I the only one who didn't quite believe Ampika when she said she was going to be her father's full time caregiver? I'm a caregiver for my mom with moderate Alzheimer's and it's hard work. Especially when you own your own business and have a child.

Just want to say how much I love this thread. You guys give me some great ideas when I'm planning my dinner menu for the week so thank you! Food is complicated around here. My mom, who has mid-stage Alzheimer's, refuses to eat chicken or turkey so my husband and I really miss poultry. When it was just us, I'd make chicken 3-4 times a week. My husband isn't a fan of any fish that doesn't have a shell so we're pretty much limited to beef, pork and lamb. I'm getting sort of sick of the same recipes so if anyone has any new recipes (I do try to keep them healthyish), send them my way! Tonight I'm making this: http://www.annies-eats.com/2008/08/31/pork-tenderloin-medallions-with-lemon-mustard-sauce/(it's pork with a lemon-mustard sauce). I make it pretty often but it's quick and always turns out well. I do usually swap medallions for chops (cheaper and easier) that I cook in a separate pan.

We do lentil soup for New Years Day. I grew up in an Italian neighborhood and everyone always ate lentil soup. My husband always had hot dogs so I combined the two and make Ina Garten's Lentil and Sausage Soup. It's pretty labor intensive but so, so good.