Bastet

They'd have to be getting up there in kid years if they were conceived when the Concorde was still in use, but if that was the case, that might be the one time I found "name your kid after where she/he was conceived" a little bit funny on top of a lot tacky. Let me guess (I didn't watch; I rarely do, and certainly not with kids featured) -- the HHs have probably never set foot in either city? There is no logical, emotional, or other connection, and they just think they're cool and cosmopolitan naming twins after two major foreign cities?

Oh, watching The Round File, I just had a wonderful flashback to when I first watched this series, on DVD, and got to the gag reel for this season -- the details are a little fuzzy, but Kyra Sedgwick explained something basic* to Nina Foch (the homeowner, her last screen role), and Foch perfectly responded, basically, "Honey, I've been doing this for over 60 years; I know." Sedgwick immediately gave her props. *It might have been one of the times when a passing airplane ruined a take, and what Sedgwick did was explain to Foch why she was pausing. And, yay, we've entered the Dr. Morales era.

Is this a Ron Howard type thing, where they name the kids after where they were conceived?

The other day I had too many things in my hand and knew it but was hoping it would work out, and when I inevitably lost my grip and papers scattered, I said, "Oh, for heaven's sakes!" I don't normally say that; that was pure exposure to multiple episodes of Brenda per week. In Dumb Luck, I hope these bio-terrorism suits were constructed out of lighter (and breathable) material and just made to look like the real thing, or these poor actors deserved hazard pay. I knew right away that one pair of legs belonged to Brenda, not for the reason Flynn did, but because that skirt/dress and shoe combination was a giveaway.

That shit is crazy! I have relatives in Fresno (I'm in Los Angeles), and I will not go up to see them during fog season unless it's unavoidable. A friend of mine moved up there a couple of years ago, and I tried to prepare her for it, but it really defies description and must be experienced. Once she did, she (half-jokingly) asked her boss, "So, can we amend my contract to state I will be working from home on fog days?" Anyway, Bakersfield is someplace I drive through on the way to/from Fresno, and just from that I'm with you -- Sure, you can get a house for only $275k, but that's because it's Bakersfield; you could give me the house and toss in a $275k stipend and I'd say no thanks.

Lamb chops (my usual way - seasoned with fresh rosemary and garlic and broiled), but I have no idea on the vegetable. I often pair them with asparagus, but asparagus season is over. And it's not a great garden this year thanks to planting late and then having horrible heat, so my veggie selection isn't the greatest. I'm not even sure I have any squash to pick. I know I have some Brussels sprouts in the fridge, and maybe some broccoli. The salad will be a sad collection of what greens remain in the crisper, cucumber, avocado, and some ranch dressing I made last night. I really need to get to the market. Oh, balls; thinking about how many things I'm out of reminded me I am out of garlic. Garlic! I don't think I have ever been out of garlic before. Dammit, I knew I needed to grocery shop today rather than making do until Monday (I do not shop on the weekends). Okay, so I guess the lamb chops will be seasoned with fresh rosemary and granulated garlic.

Crap; I checked the "Where to Watch" on the channel's website, and I don't get it. Time to start lobbying Dish Network to carry it -- I need a Cold Case fix!

I think being the oldest sibling in a huge, poor family with shitty parents was a major factor in her motherly temperament -- she was always taking care of people. I don't like much of her music, but I love one of her duets with Kenny Rogers, Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight. I like the version he and Dolly Parton did together on the Real Love tour even more, but he and Dottie were great together.

But that's what they've always wanted, and put off for many years because of Elena - to live together in Japan again. If I'm remembering their story correctly, that's where they met, married, lived, and initially raised Elena; it's where her mom is from and where her dad's business is based. I have no idea what prenatal screening is like there, or remember their part of the "did you have the test?" discussion during season one or two, to know whether they went into this knowing they'd have a child with DS, but at some point they moved to (Dad's native country) Australia for better care and less cultural stigma and then at some other point to the U.S. They've had a commuter marriage all these years as a result, and I don't see anything wrong with them wanting to - if Elena, given her happiness in the group home, her dramatically-increased control over her mental health issues due to finally getting the medication and talk therapy she needs, and the family's resources to fly around the world to visit her/have her visit them, won't be unreasonably affected by it - live a life that still prioritizes Elena but doesn't completely revolve around her. It's an interesting question regarding any of them -- If they had the amnio and learned what was ahead or had access to but declined the test out of some "whatever the fetus's condition, I'm going forward" mindset, and thus knew their future child would or could need life-long care, what degree of responsibility does that confer? To make sure appropriate care is provided, certainly. But to physically provide that daily care? To pressure or even just ask any "typical" siblings to take over when the parent(s) can no longer do so? Where is the line drawn? There is no one answer, and it's one of the ways in which the story of Elena and her family interests me.

Like @peacheslatour, I blame Alanis.

Which is my point; it doesn't matter that what these scofflaws have negotiated away is the interest/penalties on what they initially failed to pay -- they don't pay when the tax bill comes due, continue not to pay during the early years when a payment plan could keep things reasonable for both parties, and then score some pennies on the dollar settlement because the government has a responsibility to get something rather than nothing, and these commercials celebrate them. The IRS is an easy target for myriad obvious reasons, but the government is tasked with taxing and spending for the general welfare. When someone, compounded by numerous someones doing the same, takes their share out of the national till and continues to evade the consequences of that year after year, it's an issue. A drop in the bucket compared to the situation caused by the horribly inequitable tax system we have to begin with, where the mega-rich and corporations have too many "legitimate" ways of not paying their share, certainly, and thus something I'm not going to do more than get my dander up at the commercials about, but an issue that renders the commercials tone deaf.

I liked hearing more about his grandparents, and find myself curious for even more. His grandma referenced raising Angel's brothers as well as him, and before that, their own kids (plural). So did one of their kids have several kids she (I think they said "she" in relation to Angel) can't properly care for and they took them all on, or did they wind up taking primary responsibility for the offspring of more than of their kids? Probably the former, but I'm curious. I was only paying partial attention, so this may have been addressed and I missed it, but how did Rachel meet Frank? Because he looks familiar, so I'm wondering if he was the guy she "met" (it was so clearly staged, but whatever) at that walk Rachel and her mom did. I don't know where else I would have seen him but on this show. I love that Rachel knows turning 35 makes her eligible to be president. How many "typical" people don't know that?! Clearly Cristina and Angel are getting much of their wedding comped, given all the name checking over the last couple of episodes, but, hey, good for them - far worse people have sold themselves for the same thing. I miss the first season of this show, when it was a proper documentary series. By now it does still occasionally teach us something about living with DS or raising someone who is, but it's just mostly manufactured crap that wouldn't happen without the show.

Oh, yes; that part of her storyline I liked. I didn't like her relationship with Carter (he was so boyish and she was so maternal that the vibe was all off), or think much about her one way or the other in general, but when I watched the first round of syndication on Pop, I took one look at Keaton and immediately remembered the, "If that baby dies, it will be my responsibility, but it will be your fault!" confrontation with Benton.

Yeah, those "get out of paying what you owe" commercials really get my goat, too. People make mistakes, rely on a spouse who turns out to be unreliable, have a really shitty year and don't pay in a panic then find themselves in a snowballed situation they don't know how to get out of, etc. and I'm all about setting up a reasonable payment plan so the back taxes and penalties can be paid over time without sending the person into a financial catastrophe that benefits absolutely no one, but that's not what the commercials are about. It's this gleeful litany of "I owe X, but am getting away with only paying 35% of X!" testimonials with zero context to make that seem just.

I disagree with both the "No cat should step paw outside unless it's in a catio!" and "No cat should spend their whole life imprisoned indoors!" hard-line stances that refuse to take individual circumstances into account. My approach has always been if the cat a) wants to go outside in the first place and b) can do so safely (e.g. someone is there to supervise or they're the rare type of cat who will actually stay in the yard), then getting some outdoor time is a bonus they should have. But if safe outdoor time is impossible, then too bad for Kitty - she/he can look out the window. Maddie and Baxter were indoor only the first several years I had them, because my condo had no outdoor space beyond a "patio" so tiny it wasn't worth going out on. Once we moved into this house with a yard, I gradually started letting them outside, supervised in the front yard and semi-supervised in the back yard (they would almost always stay put, but wanderlust hit every once in a while, so I never went more than half an hour without checking on them -- stunningly for cats, they would reliably come when called, so if they had hopped a wall, they came right back when I summoned them). No front yard time after dark, period, and every minute of any nighttime back yard excursions were supervised. Just in case. Riley is indoor only; she's too skittish to be trusted outside in any way other than with a harness and leash, and she objects to even wearing a collar, so the risk is too great -- indoors it is.

Oh, that Hall of Fame acceptance speech when she burst into tears about her mom not having lived to see it happen. <sob> It really is; she has a wonderful voice, and her music defies genre. I listen to Different Drum, Long Long Time, and her version of When Will I Be Loved a lot. And I love the Trio album with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. I saw her and Harris perform on the Western Wall tour.

They're up to about $50 now, or at least as of a few years ago when mine went out. I had a washer full of water and wet clothes on a Friday evening, with no agitation. Figuring it was the lid switch, I grabbed my multimeter to confirm, called the (fantastic) parts department manager at the local appliance repair shop, learned he indeed had the part and would wait for me even though he was minutes away from closing, ran and got it, and replaced the old switch - voila, clean clothes. It's one of the few remaining brick and mortar places to get parts, and I was thankful for it. Leaving the clothes to marinate in soapy water for several days while I waited for an online order to arrive would have been a first-world problem, yes, but it was very nice to just go grab the part and be done that same evening.

Yep. Liking or disliking someone is entirely personal, but A-List and such is based on how generally recognizable someone is, and what they're known for. I may not understand why someone has reached A- or B-List fame, given my impression of their skills and personality, but I can't declare them to actually be down on the D- (or Z-List) based on that; they may very well be on my shit list, but that's a separate ranking. Kristen Bell (whom I've only seen in the commercials with her husband, several of which amused me, but I have a general sense of her other credits) is not obscure, nor is she famous only for being famous (e.g. reality show star or heiress/celebrity offspring whose antics are covered by the tabloids and/or who'll turn up at the opening of an envelope), so she is, by definition, not D-List. Re. the other Kristen (or Kristin) being discussed, I couldn't pick Cavallari out of a line-up, but as a football fan, I've heard of her as Jay Cutler's wife, who shared the pathetic texts he sent her when he had to actually parent his kids while she was out of town. I have no opinion on her (unlike her husband, who I said from the beginning was a bad trade for the Bears, but who also gave me moments to think I was wrong), I just remember that amusing me.

My mind is boggled by some of the people who have a will rather than a trust, but intestate really gets my eyebrows climbing. Even if she just wanted things divided up equally among her kids the way they will be by law, she'd have made things quicker, much more immune to anyone contesting that division of assets (and, let's be real, people go crazy when there's far less money than her estate on the table), and more private with a trust or a will. I saw an article quoting her long-time entertainment lawyer saying he advised her for years to set up a trust; I'm curious why she declined (some simple sense of "I'll deal with that later" should give way to a diagnosis of a disease that rarely ends well).

Just like she'd kissed Doug when engaged to Tag (I think she'd slept with Doug earlier in their relationship, but this was somethings he did once they were truly committed), so she's apparently congenitally incapable of keeping her lips to herself when engaged to another. Just one of the many reasons I think Doug and Carol both suck donkey balls as romantic partners and thus spared humanity by getting together for good. For which she was rewarded by Jeanie shitting all over her when she filed suit, treating Kerry the same as Anspaugh et al. Now, yes, one can call this karma for the times Kerry doesn't treat people as they deserve to be treated, but she was great to Jeanie and Jeanie did not acknowledge that.

UTIs suck. Maddie went through a phase where she kept getting UTIs caused by e.coli (I don't know if she was getting turds stuck in her tailfeathers, or what). The time in between was close enough I wondered if, rather than discrete infections, it was a case of a few lingering bacteria each time, not enough to show up in the follow-up culture, which was always clear, but enough to slowly repopulate and ultimately cause another infection. I didn't want to subject her to those nasty Baytril pills longer than a regular course, but that bacteria is also sensitive to Convenia (the broad-spectrum antibiotic that can be given via an injection that lasts for about two weeks), so I gave her an injection every two weeks for six weeks, and she never had another UTI, thank goodness. Maddie was a very stoic cat, and her UTI symptoms were very subtle (except for the first one, where she'd had it so long without doing any of the usual things that would let me know she had one, that she just up and peed on the bed with me in it one morning, like, "Mom! The vet, please"), but having had them myself, I know she can't have been thrilled with them, so I was happy she didn't have to go through it again.

Heh. And, yay! I hope you get that nice, quiet axe murderer you've been hoping for. (Hell, as long as he doesn't, um, work from home, one axe murderer would have to be quieter than the clown car of people and dogs currently going on.)

Aw, the mom from Freaky Friday. And many other things, I know; she's an Oscar nominee and Tony winner. But I watched that movie quite a few times as a kid, so she's imprinted as Ellen Andrews to me.

Unless you are running a group home, you do not need 3,000 sq. feet. That is a ridiculously large house. If you want it, can afford it, and don't give a shit about your environmental footprint, mazel tov. But don't say you "need" it with a straight face. The worst was the Trophy Wife and Slave Sister episode in Aruba, where they "needed" I don't remember how many thousands of square feet to accommodate the kids' toys.

I agree; Rachel has something of a caregiver-type personality, but I think she'll quickly find she enjoys emotional nurturing, but the novelty of taking care of someone's practical needs wears off. While Steven and Sean's stint as roomies was very clearly just a one-off to get footage for the show, I wonder about Rachel and Megan. Because I think Rachel could, for real, live with a DS roommate and someone to help them both (like the guys had). And Megan would think she could, too. And Kris, well, Kris seems to know what her daughter is and isn't capable of, but also to deny it sometimes as an unrealistic extension of the "don't limit me" thing. If not for the show, I wonder if Rachel's parents would allow this.