Bastet

That, and it's their jobs, educations, and kid, not yours. It's terrific that you help out, but providing daily daycare for 4-5 hours is beyond help, and that's before adding in your job and your role as caregiver to your mom. I'm sorry to hear about the situation you're in with your mom's health; I know it's exhausting, and at times frustrating, maddening, and/or frightening. And it's only going to get worse, so be sure to regularly re-evaluate what you are capable of handling. I hope you get some time to yourself soon; it's vital!

Assistant Chief (and then Chief). But, yeah - J.K. Simmons is made of win in everything, including those Farmers commercials.

The roller suitcase that fits in the overhead bin. That plus a purse (or sometimes a messenger bag) is all I take, so it's really easy to get around.

I, too, appreciate that they talk about those in addition to the obvious necessity to stop adding more companion animals to a world that already has more of them than there are homes for them -- spaying/neutering an animal, especially when done as early as is safe and healthy, reduces, if not damn near eliminates, the risk of several diseases/conditions. And I love that basically not an episode goes by without at least a mention of the spay/neuter policy; even if none of the animals showcased are unaltered, they'll include something like an establishing shot of someone (some random client whose story we won't follow) checking in and Jeff's daughter saying, "Okay, for continued care here, he'll have to be neutered."

I use unscented lotion because I wear perfume, and I don't want the two scents mingling, but this made me laugh in sympathy. Plus, apple sounds like a good smell for a lotion. @Sun-Bun, I'm glad you walked away with only minor injuries, but sorry you now have to go through the hassle of a lawsuit and getting a new car because someone was an idiot. Some accidents are caused by a nearly-unavoidable chain of events, or by mistakes any one of us could have made on a given day, and that's a frustrating, but understandable part of life. When it's caused by recklessness or even just "Really?" level of negligence, you get angry.

Riley is so regimented on what time of night she uses the box, I never have to worry about it, but Maddie and Baxter were like that. And then when it was all clean and filled with fresh litter, it was a race to see who could claim it for the inaugural pee. One time Maddie had peed in the old litter right before the cleaning, and I swear she was pissed (pun intended) to not have anything to deposit in the clean litter. My friend is having her place deep cleaned today, so her cat is going to be spending the day with me (out in my "cantina" - my game room/bar/what have you - though, so she and Riley will not have to deal with each other). It will be interesting to see how she does; she loathes getting in the carrier and the car, but she loves her Auntie Bastet and is a pretty chill cat at home, so I'm hoping she'll settle down and be okay for the day.

Unless something changed over the course of the show, yes, she lives in a group home. When her parents moved, she stopped coming over to visit regularly like she had been, because it bothered her to come to a different house. Hopefully that isn't much of an issue for her anymore, since so much else has improved. Yep; they have a commuter marriage, and Hiromi feels limited in her ability to go to him for extended periods of time because of Elena.

Oh, look another difficult labor necessitates veterinary help. The poor dog had to have a C-section previously. Not the last litter, mind you -- the one before that (of who knows how many). Stop breeding your dog, assholes! At least they finally spayed her, but damn. I really only got to see that one segment (plus part of someone who accidentally cut off the end of her dog's tail!), so hopefully when I watch my recording tomorrow there are less aggravating stories.

Maybe a trillion. The Thunder Rolls is the lone exception to my "I cannot fucking stand Garth Brooks" stance.

She used to. In the first season I was afraid she was going to pounce on every single man with DS in L.A. and ask him to be her boyfriend; thankfully, she only made it through two or three before her mom sat her down and had a great conversation with her about not being so needy and pushy. And she wanted Sean to be her boyfriend back in the beginning, too (he told her didn't want to date someone with DS -- and then promptly turned his gross "ladies man" sights on Megan, a couple of women at a DS convention, etc.).

Oh, I forgot one -- when tomatoes aren't in season and I want a brunch-type sandwich, I make one with avocado mashed with a little bit of mayo and diced red onion spread thick on each slice of bread and bacon slices in the middle. When I was a kid, I ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches (my version of PB&J, I guess - I liked jelly well enough, but I hated it with peanut butter, so my mom came up with this). It does not sound at all good now, but I should make one some day to see what I think.

When my next-door neighbors were having new flooring put in, I was standing in their backyard next to the toilet they'd removed from the back bathroom. We chuckled about standing around a toilet chatting, and my neighbor mentioned that they might as well get a new one while they were needing to reinstall anyway, because it runs for a few seconds intermittently just like yours (and like happens a good bit; they degrade over time, and a slow leak develops). I was gobsmacked, but nicely explained that toilets have very few parts, and it's easy to replace one - NOT the whole toilet - when a problem develops, and all they needed in this instance was a new flapper valve. They were going to go out and buy a new toilet instead of just the cheap part they needed!

I'm not excited about sandwiches in general (because I'm not excited about bread*), but I do love the occasional hot pastrami on rye at a local deli, and I eat quite a few BLTs during tomato season (toasted whole wheat [sourdough would be good, too, but since I don't eat much bread, I only keep one kind on hand], mayo, romaine lettuce, tomato, bacon) because they are simple but perfect. I also usually make a chicken salad sandwich (with tarragon - must have) out of some of the leftover breast meat when I roast a chicken. *For a basic lunch sandwich, I'll sometimes make a wrap using whole wheat lavash with turkey, provolone, lettuce, and a mayo/mashed avocado mix, or a pita pocket of some sort.

One of my favorites, too, for the performance and for Carole King's reactions throughout. I know it's mostly thought of for Freeway of Love, but I like that album because it has has an updated version of Sweet Bitter Love, which I, well, love (even more than her '60s recording of it), Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves, and Another Night.

Exactly; they're not one, they're two. If three of you are sharing a ride, the cost gets divided three ways. Instead of paying 1/3, you're expected to pay 1/2 and they each only pay 1/4? Hell, no. If they've opted to make all their finances joint, so that on their end it really isn't separate, that's on them; you don't have to pay more than you would had you hopped in a car with two unmarried friends. I've thankfully never had a couple try to pull that on me; cab fare, restaurant tabs, etc. get divided up by number of people, regardless of anyone's marital status.

She also got the help she needed with her mental health, when before the actions that were a result of her depression/anxiety got lumped in as being part of her DS. It's truly remarkable how far she and Hiromi have come in their relationship; in the beginning, I would have that Hiromi's attitude was too entrenched (given Elena's age, and being rooted in cultural norms) to change to this extent, but I am very glad to see I was wrong. I think Megan is going to be a difficult roommate and Cristina a difficult wife. But there's hope for Cristina to learn, practice, and grow. Megan, I'm not sure. Poor Rachel deserves better, that's for sure; if Cristina wasn't going to be living with Angel, I think she and Rachel would have been a much better roommate pairing. Did Cristina call Megan "the prettiest one" or something like that when handing out bridesmaid invitations -- right in front of Rachel and Elena?

She had, for many years. It was her turn, and he didn't acknowledge that until it was too late. Then the writers propped Mark up by having her cheat, which overshadowed the nuance that had come before.

I was glad Doug and Carol rode off into the sunset together, but not for the reasons their fans were happy; I thought they both sucked as romantic partners (including to each other), and was glad they paired off to spare anyone else getting involved with either one of them.

Since there are parents out there denying their children appropriate healthcare because of some "but if you just don't have sex, you won't get it" bullshit, I like those commercials.

I can't decide whether to be aghast they actually said it out loud - it's clear some parents feel that way, that those with kids to support are thus more entitled to pay, benefits, time off, etc. than those who didn't procreate, but not many say it directly to the person they're trying to screw over and ask that person to hand over money (!) - or "well, at least now you know who they are" relieved. I think I'll go with both.

I was going around the dial, got one look at Sean, and kept going, but nothing else was on so I've put this on as background noise.

Both. And neither one could act worth a damn, so if we saw the nieces in a reboot - which I don't think we would with any regularity; they were too on the nose in their replication of the Julia/Suzanne dynamic- they'd hopefully be recast.

Same here, since the ages were similar (Grace and Frankie are older than the "Girls" ever were [other than Sophia]) and that show - admittedly based only on hearing/reading about it and watching mere snippets - seemed a good illustration how women in their mid-50s to early-50s were presented/perceived differently than at the time of The Golden Girls. If GG were rebooted with characters the same age as the originals (early to mid fifties for the rest and early 80s for Sophia) it would be along the lines of Hot in Cleveland, but if it were rebooted with characters in their "golden years" now as the characters were then (kids long grown and gone with their own children, careers a mix of post-retirement or post-SAHM change and ongoing vocation, etc.), it would be with older characters -- early 70s on average. And that would be awesome.

I haven't seen that commercial, but I share your "Um, nope" reaction. A single carry-on is all the suitcase I ever take, whether I'm traveling for a week or a month. Now, if I was going to be staying in one hotel or rental home for a month, and just venturing out for day trips, I'd deal with wrestling additional luggage between the airport and hotel/rental and back in order to have more options with me, but that's not how I travel; I'm moving around every 5 days or so, and it's so much easier getting on and off trains and to/from hotels if I'm just pulling one carry-on with me. But a week? Sure, if you want to take more stuff for a short trip, go ahead, but it's impossible to pack enough stuff in a carry-on? Nope.

Everyone deserves to be able to say, "I need to be by myself" from time to time without having to leave their home. If you have a game room (bar, pool table, comfy couch and big TV, etc.), that provides a good option. It's a room that can be used by the whole family, but also a place where one person can unwind. Mom can claim it to go watch a game. Dad to catch up on his TV shows. The kid to play video games. That's great - it's an option other than your bedroom to shut the door and say, "Fend for yourselves for a few hours; I'm taking some Me Time." What's not great is labeling it a Man Cave and acting like only Husband/Father can use it, and that he'll be tucked away in there nightly while Wife/Mother does all the work.