S05.E08: Dear Diary

[Whimsy]

Quote

Secrets are revealed when Katherine meets Greta’s parents. Maggie returns to unexpected changes at her workplace. Rome and Omar reluctantly come together to make an important decision.

Original airdate 3/29/23

[Snazzy Daisy]

A Million Little Things | 5x08 Promo "Dear Diary"

 

[CrystalBlue]

Did we know Greta's parents are Jewish?  Did Katherine?  Seems like Greta's parents are accepting of their daughters girlfriend/fiancee, so that's good.

Uh oh.  Maggie was right to be paranoid about her job!  As annoying as Maggie is, I don't like seeing her get screwed like this! 😡

[historylover820]

Doubt whether anyone cares, but I'll have to miss tonight. I'll watch at some point tomorrow on Hulu. But my ABC and its substations are down. Has been down for a week tomorrow. Pretty much the last thing I was able to watch was last week's episode.

[JayDub1987]

I know Maggie is annoying, but gah. Allison Miller is entirely too cute for me to dislike. Yep, I’m a shallow SOB. Knew that Colton was gonna screw her over. 

[JayDub1987]

Sorry Omar. If you’re not involved in the daily activities, you’re opinion really isn’t worth anything. Seen it, lived it. 

[JayDub1987]

Eddie, save the feeling guilty about what’s her name potentially being in trouble. Not sure if you know it or not, but Lieutenant Dan, you ain’t go no legs and that woman is the reason why. 

[ams1001]

8 minutes ago, JayDub1987 said:

Eddie, save the feeling guilty about what’s her name potentially being in trouble. Not sure if you know it or not, but Lieutenant Dan, you ain’t go no legs and that woman is the reason why. 

Sometimes reading comments is even more entertaining when you haven't watched the episode yet. 😄 (Lost track of time and realized about 10 minutes after it started so I decided to just watch on demand later.)

[JayDub1987]

2 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Sometimes reading comments is even more entertaining when you haven't watched the episode yet. 😄 (Lost track of time and realized about 10 minutes after it started so I decided to just watch on demand later.)

Haha! Glad I can entertain. I do feel bad about my triple post. Never tried to use this site on a phone and I made it way harder than I needed to. 

[ams1001]

18 minutes ago, JayDub1987 said:

Haha! Glad I can entertain. I do feel bad about my triple post. Never tried to use this site on a phone and I made it way harder than I needed to. 

lol...I couldn't sleep the other night so I was posting at 2 in the morning on my phone, then I tried to fix some weird line breaks in something I pasted from wikipedia, and after three attempts I gave up. Then it looked mostly normal on my computer the next day. 🙄

Omar's Rome's brother, right? I saw the name in your other comment and was like, "who?" Then I thought the name was vaguely familiar but when was the last time we saw him or heard anything about him? 

[txhorns79]

So the Professor was angry about Eddie mysteriously being added to her class, but instead of dealing with the issue immediately, she waited 3 months until she actually saw Eddie speaking with his registrar friend to do anything about it. 

I still really don't like the Rome puts his father in assisted living storyline.  I realize Walter didn't initially want to have an aide with him, but it seems like he would be a lot more open to that now, if the alternative was assisted living.  Also, unless they plan on renting on Walter's house for closer to 8 or 9,000 a month, there's no way they are going to be making enough to afford assisted living for him.  A nice assisted living facility is very expensive, and they are not usually covered by any kind of insurance. 

I just rolled my eyes through the Maggie storyline.  Of course her boss was always planning on screwing her over, etc., but I'm glad it resolved exceptionally quickly.  Also, I laughed that Gary was attending an insurance convention, given I think we've maybe seen him engage in actual employment once during the entire five seasons of the show. 

[KaveDweller]

I had totally forgotten Rome had a brother, even though Walter just referred to him last week. Maybe Rome did too? Cause otherwise he really should have told him he wanted to put their dad in assisted living and was considering selling the home. Even if he isn't there, Omar is his son too. It wasn't clear if Rome really had tried to tell him or not.

Bold of Nicole to tell the professor what she did to Eddie. I guess she really didn't want to lose her job. Nice of the professor to not just apologize and keep Nicole's secret, but give Eddie another chance at this presentation.

Speaking of presentations, you would think Eddie, a former musician who played in front of crowds, would not get nervous doing a small class presentation. But I guess the professor messed with his head.

Greta's parent drama seemed forced. They couldn't just have them be nice people who liked Katherine? They have to have them have a late in life divorce? I guess if you spend your life thinking your parents have a great marriage, that would be tough, even at Greta's age. 

Maggie was right that Inez should have listed to her about the pacifier. She was wrong about most other things, but at least she apologized to Dr. Jessica when she realized her mistake. I guess she and Jessica will be splitting the hosting salary? 

[Frisky Wig]

Tia Inez’s baby voice was awful. 
 

The height difference between Colton and Dr Jessica when she was trying to talk to him about the stupid supplement was distracting. 

[CrystalBlue]

6 hours ago, historylover820 said:

Doubt whether anyone cares, but I'll have to miss tonight. I'll watch at some point tomorrow on Hulu. But my ABC and its substations are down. Has been down for a week tomorrow. Pretty much the last thing I was able to watch was last week's episode.

I watch on Hulu all the time.

[Leeds]

2 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I

Maggie was right that Inez should have listed to her about the pacifier. She was wrong about most other things, but at least she apologized to Dr. Jessica when she realized her mistake. I guess she and Jessica will be splitting the hosting salary? 

Given this show's grasp on reality, they'll probably both get a raise because they're providing twice their former value.

1 hour ago, Frisky Wig said:

Tia Inez’s baby voice was awful. 
 

I wish I could heart this 1,000 times.  Ugh x 1,000 too.

[Brian Cronin]

Okay, so what, exactly, was Dr. Jessica's plan? She insisted that she was going to give Maggie the show back when she was ready to return and then...what? She told Gary she was exploring a new job opportunity, but that new job opportunity was to be a temporary radio host? That doesn't seem too well thought out, no? 

[Notabug]

5 hours ago, Brian Cronin said:

Okay, so what, exactly, was Dr. Jessica's plan? She insisted that she was going to give Maggie the show back when she was ready to return and then...what? She told Gary she was exploring a new job opportunity, but that new job opportunity was to be a temporary radio host? That doesn't seem too well thought out, no? 

The whole storyline is so messed up and nonsensical, like so much on this show.  Dr Jessica left private practice in order to take a temporary job as a radio host?  Why wouldn't she have simply found someone to fill in at her practice until she returned?  Unless she was lying all along and knew it was a permanent thing.  As far as she and Maggie job-sharing, that would mean a substantial pay cut for both. For that matter, Maggie, going from on-the-air 5 days a week to once a week would've probably gotten a big salary cut anyway.  I get that Maggie, since she's now living with Gary, might be able to handle that, but what about Dr. Jessica?  How was she able to decide to job-share on the spot without doing some calculating?  Also, what about health insurance and other benefits. Maggie and Gary are not married, part-time jobs don't usually provide benefits.  He can put the baby on his plan, but Maggie is going to have to go to the insurance marketplace and buy insurance out of pocket which can be pretty expensive but she cannot afford to be without it with her medical history.  Of course, with his current medical situation, they ought to consider marriage anyway, to allow her full access to his finances as well as to guarantee her participation in any decisions should he not be able to make them himself. As a bonus, she'd probably be eligible for his plan.

 

10 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I still really don't like the Rome puts his father in assisted living storyline.  I realize Walter didn't initially want to have an aide with him, but it seems like he would be a lot more open to that now, if the alternative was assisted living.  Also, unless they plan on renting on Walter's house for closer to 8 or 9,000 a month, there's no way they are going to be making enough to afford assisted living for him.  A nice assisted living facility is very expensive, and they are not usually covered by any kind of insurance

I was confused as well.  Didn't they just a couple of episodes ago say that his dad would need to sell the house in order to afford care?  Rome teaches at a private school, Regina has a food truck and gives away more food than she sells; it is still a mystery how they manage to maintain their own standard of living considering that, over the course of the show, they've invested a bundle into various failing businesses for Regina and Rome has taken a job that undoubtedly pays a fraction of what his former employment provided; I don't see them having a lot left over for dad's care.

They also kept saying he needed assisted living.  If he cannot be left alone, that is not assisted living, it is memory care and far more expensive.  In assisted living, he'd be able to come and go as he pleased and would still have his own private space with a private kitchen and bath, etc.  He seemingly now needs to be someplace where he cannot leave the premises by himself and where he isn't able to cook by himself, etc.  Not to mention has things set up to help him be as independent as possible as his memory fails.  That's memory care and there is no way his house, beautiful though it is, could be rented for anywhere near what would be needed to pay for that.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Notabug

[marceline]

My eyes almost rolled out of my head when Maggie and Jessica claimed they would shop their show around to other radio stations in Boston. I'm sorry but no. Once any other station found out that Jessica crapped all over one of her sponsors no radio station would touch them.

I really enjoyed Gary's absence.

[ams1001]

6 minutes ago, marceline said:

My eyes almost rolled out of my head when Maggie and Jessica claimed they would shop their show around to other radio stations in Boston. I'm sorry but no. Once any other station found out that Jessica crapped all over one of her sponsors no radio station would touch them.

I really enjoyed Gary's absence.

Can they even do that? They'd at least have to make it a different show somehow, probably. I used to listen to a podcast that was produced by a public radio station, and a few months after covid started the station had to make some cuts, which included the podcast being cancelled and the host laid off. But the station still owns the podcast property and wouldn't let him keep it, even though they're almost certainly not going to do anything with it in the future. (He had to revamp the show with a new name, and ended up joining a podcast network where the creators own their own stuff so he won't have to worry about being in that position again.)

Not that call-in advice shows are anything unique, but I assume the station still owns theirs (and I'd bet this boss would have no problem making legal issues for them if they tried to take it elsewhere).

Speaking of podcasts, does Maggie still have hers? Or did she stop doing it when she started the radio show?

[Cosmocrush]

I can dismiss most money issues on TV shows because it's TV (anyone remember the apartment on Friends?)  But uneven timelines for different characters in the same episode is harder to dismiss.  Like,  how is it that 12 weeks have passed for Maggie, but Eddie's class is still going on?  I don't think you can drop a class on what would be finals week.   Katherine said it was July,  but in Eddie's world it's still spring semester.   Also, Charlie's one month visit has tripled with no end in sight.   Katherine is out of town but Theo is not with Eddie.   It's like the writers aren't even pretending to try.     

 

 

[ams1001]

Okay, watching now. How old is this baby supposed to be that he's just now doing his first smile? I googled and found "A baby's first social smile usually appears by the end of their second month." Timeline issues (as mentioned above) aside, Maggie's just gone back to work which would make him 12 weeks.

Edited March 30, 2023 by ams1001

[Suzn]

28 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Okay, watching now. How old is this baby supposed to be that he's just now doing his first smile? I googled and found "A baby's first social smile usually appears by the end of their second month."

 

Last week Gary was making baby food.  The baby is months too young for solid foods.

[ams1001]

For what it's worth, my brother used pacifiers and I refused them (they can't take your thumb away!). We both needed braces. (Partly from sucking my thumb, but I also didn't have enough room in my jaw for my teeth to straighten out so they were super-crowded, and I had to have four pulled before I even got my braces on, and later my wisdom teeth, so I actually only have 24 teeth now.) Not using a pacifier is no guarantee the kid won't need braces.

Besides, kid doesn't even have teeth yet. They can use it for now and work on weaning him off it when he gets a little older if they're that concerned. Not all kids use a pacifier into toddlerhood. (And if he replaces it by sucking his thumb, well, not much you can do about that...)

(My coworker's son has Invisalign; her daughter had regular braces. She said she wishes she had done the regular ones for her son, too, because they're less expensive and he'd probably be done by now.)

Edited March 31, 2023 by ams1001

[Lethallyfab]

I tried my hardest and legitimately couldn’t think of anything rhyming with “Dr Jessica,” so I guess the “In the Room With…” title stays.

Also, it is absolutely laughable that both Maggie - who lost a good chunk of her advertisers from her abortion story (I’m still not sure why her station manager rather than Maggie herself had to take the fall on that?) - and Dr Jessica - who lost a ton of advertisers by flat-out calling one of their products b.s. on the air - would think that they had the bargaining power to call the shots when it came to how they control the airwaves.  

Also, you’re going to shop your show elsewhere?  Yeah, it’s called a non-compete clause and this station would *definitely* have one.

If you’re so opposed to having Aunt Inez watch the baby, why not call any of your half-dozen obscenely codependent friends who will drop whatever they’re doing to help you out.

I genuinely thought Greta’s parents were going to announce that they were in an open marriage, so I’m glad that crisis was averted.  As far as I can tell/remember, this is the first time Greta has been written as Jewish.

I detected flirty vibes between the professor and Eddie as well, so I guess we’ve got a love triangle heading into the home stretch.

[ams1001]

They need to stop with the baby voices. Please for the love of my already-frayed sanity.

[KaveDweller]

5 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Can they even do that? They'd at least have to make it a different show somehow, probably. I used to listen to a podcast that was produced by a public radio station, and a few months after covid started the station had to make some cuts, which included the podcast being cancelled and the host laid off. But the station still owns the podcast property and wouldn't let him keep it, even though they're almost certainly not going to do anything with it in the future. (He had to revamp the show with a new name, and ended up joining a podcast network where the creators own their own stuff so he won't have to worry about being in that position again.)

Not that call-in advice shows are anything unique, but I assume the station still owns theirs (and I'd bet this boss would have no problem making legal issues for them if they tried to take it elsewhere).

Speaking of podcasts, does Maggie still have hers? Or did she stop doing it when she started the radio show?

They probably couldn't use the same name of the show, but I know there have been radio hosts in my area that left one station and popped up on another. But it would depend on the exact contracts.  

I think Maggie stopped the podcast when she got the radio show.

[CrystalBlue]

All excellent observations above on how real life works versus the alternate Boston universe that is AMLT.

Maybe Maggie and Gary will wise up by the end of the series and get married and throw baby talking Aunt Inez out.

[historylover820]

Finally watched.

For once, I didn't hate Maggie. She admitted she was wrong, she apologized. But I did shake my head at "Now we're co-hosts!" Pretty sure it's not that easy.

Gary being at an insurance conference made me laugh and laugh and laugh. Gary has a job. (Although, I also work in insurance, and I'm only in the office two days a week.)

As a former admin at a University, I can vouch: you can drop the last week of class. You can. It's going to go on your transcript as a drop, and you will not be getting any money back. In some cases, it may also count against your GPA, so it's not advisable. But you can drop a class in its last week. But, then again, this timeline is so screwy that I have no idea when in the semester it's supposed to be. And I spent 9 years as an admin, dealing with the three semesters (fall, spring, and summer). Plus, years of college, since I have my master's and took summer classes. And I have absolutely no clue anymore about Eddie's class. Is it a half semester? Full semester? Summer? Two-part class? (Scratch that last one. There's no way).

But, yeah, weird that the professor is just now pitching a fit at Eddie being in her class. If she was this adamant, she would have started demanding answers during that first week. Three months later is stupid. Even if she would have just happened to stumble on Eddie and Nicole having a meal together. But, yeah, Eddie may not be aware, but Nicole certainly should have known -- probably not a good idea for them to be seen as so buddy-buddy while she's at work. She absolutely would have been called in to HR and the Dean's office. Staff members at a college or university should never hang out with students while on the job. I have a friend who was returning to school while I was an admin, and she took a lot of classes that offered in my department. Occasionally, she'd stop by the office, say hi, chat for a few minutes. But, I never snuck her into a full lab or a full class (which wouldn't have been a big deal), and we sure didn't eat lunch together at my desk. Because that would have been so frowned upon.

Also, agree with the above -- Mom says as a baby, I hated pacifiers. She says I would take them out of my mouth and throw them across the room. I also didn't suck my thumb. I still went through three years of braces due to a hideous overbite and a gap in my two front teeth that I could put my tongue through. I had a freakin' cage put in the bottom of my mouth, with spikes poking out that would cut up the bottom of my tongue if it ventured to go to my top teeth. Which was also an issue because, according to my orthodontist, my tongue is too big for my mouth, and it had to go someplace. My orthodontist also couldn't completely correct my teeth problem, and he said that the only way my problem could be totally fixed was to break my jaw and rewire it. My parents drew the line at that.

Having said that, obviously, a pacifier isn't the culprit for some of us needing to have braces!

Count me in on someone who thinks Tia Inez's baby voice is super annoying.

Not a lot to say about the Rome storyline. I'm also not sure how merely renting the house will be able to keep Walter in assisted living.

[Leeds]

11 hours ago, Lethallyfab said:

I tried my hardest and legitimately couldn’t think of anything rhyming with “Dr Jessica,” so I guess the “In the Room With…” title stays.

 

If they get a show with an Australian network, they could rhyme Jessica with brassica.  (Just throwing out another ludicrous storyline for the produces/writers to run with.)

Did anyone else notice that Delila seems to have visited Katherine's hair massacrer dresser before she turned back up?

[Snazzy Daisy]

There are only 2 things that I like in this episode - Rome’s childish fight with Omar and his vigorous nighttime skincare routine.

Beautiful skin requires commitment y’all. 😆

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by SnazzyDaisy

[Cosmocrush]

5 hours ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

There are only 2 things that I like in this episode - Rome’s childish fight with Omar and his vigorous nighttime skincare routine.

Oh, I liked that too!  Especially the childish fight with Omar featuring the exact same moves my younger brother and I used to do to one another as kids:  pinned down  spit finger and "why are you slapping yourself" haha.  

Thanks @historylover820 for the info on class drops.  It's been a lifetime since I was an undergraduate. 

[ams1001]

12 hours ago, Leeds said:

Did anyone else notice that Delila seems to have visited Katherine's hair massacrer dresser before she turned back up?

Delilah always had a terrible mop on her head...

[tennisgurl]

I'm glad I wasn't the only person tilting their head at Maggie and Dr. Jessica threatening to "shop their show elsewhere" like that's an actual option. Beyond them presumably signing contracts, who would want to hire people who just keep pissing off their sponsors and co-workers? At least Dr. Jessica had ethical reasons, Maggie cut into someone else's airtime, presumably pissed off their sponsors, just because she thinks the weather report is less important than her generic advice show. I'm also surprised that Dr. Jessica is so down to co-host with Maggie considering how quick she and Gary have been to lay into her about things she had no control over. 

If Maggie doesn't want to rely on auntie Inez, she cant call one of her co-dependent weirdos? Its not like any of them go to work, they have plenty of time to babysit. Also, Gary has a job for the first time in five seasons!

Greta and Katherine continue to have zero chemistry, but I did feel rather bad for Greta. Thinking that your parents have the perfect marriage only to realize they don't would be rough, even as an adult. It also really hits you how fast they're going, their engaged now and Katherine has never even met her future in-laws as an adult. 

Eddie and the professor had some vibes, but he's also getting more and more vibes with Nicole, making this a really weird love triangle. Who will Eddie go with, his teacher, or the woman who paralyzed him? 

The best part was definitely Rome and his brothers fight, that was so hilariously petty and very sibling. 

[Suzn]

59 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Delilah always had a terrible mop on her head...

They have serious problems with the women's hair on this show.  Delilah always had the weed-whacker hairdo, but now Katherine joined her with a scraggly mullet and Greta's hair still scares me.  Maggie goes in a different direction with silly pigtails.

I know better than to expect realism in finances on a tv show, but I don't see how renting out Rome's dad's house is going to cover his expenses in assisted living.  I don't know what the rent might run or what assisted living costs, but  I would guess that the gap would run quite a few thousand a month.  it would seem to be better to sell the house and get enough that could possibly last the rest of his life.  I don't know what the point is of "keeping the house in the family" and if it is rented out, no one is going to get any personal use or pleasure from it.  

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, Suzn said:

I don't know what the point is of "keeping the house in the family" and if it is rented out, no one is going to get any personal use or pleasure from it.  

Plus they have to deal with the hassles of being landlords and the risk of bad tenants who end up destroying the place.

[Madding crowd]

Greta’s parents seem like lovely people but I don’t think we need new characters this close to the end. I was surprised to see Aunt Inez as babysitter; I would think they would have a nanny already set up. 
In regard to Dr. Jessica: Radio, TV and magazine therapists never talk about medications with listeners.

 I just don’t believe she would even discuss the supplements. I also have never heard a supplement mention depression; that would be a set up for a law suit. They may say mood management or mood enhancement but they would never suggest themselves as a depression drug. 

Eddie should complain to the Dean that he is being treated unfairly in his class. Regardless of how he got in he should be treated fairly. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Madding crowd

[smartymarty]

17 hours ago, Suzn said:

I don't know what the point is of "keeping the house in the family" and if it is rented out, no one is going to get any personal use or pleasure from it.  

And what family? Rome has an apartment, and Omar lives in Florida. Neither has kids. That was a strange reason to rent rather than sell. And yeah, no way renting will cover the cost of assisted living -- it might cover the cost of an aide during Regina and Rome's working hours, though. Not sure what Regina's working hours are, though.

 

18 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I'm glad I wasn't the only person tilting their head at Maggie and Dr. Jessica threatening to "shop their show elsewhere" like that's an actual option.

Also, how many talk radio stations are there in Boston (or are they all on AM, that nobody listens to anymore)? And as someone else pointed out, likely they signed non-competes. Or should have. I suppose the writers would say that Colson's fear of that threat means that he forgot to have them sign non-competes.

[Clanstarling]

On 3/29/2023 at 8:41 PM, txhorns79 said:

I still really don't like the Rome puts his father in assisted living storyline.  I realize Walter didn't initially want to have an aide with him, but it seems like he would be a lot more open to that now, if the alternative was assisted living.  Also, unless they plan on renting on Walter's house for closer to 8 or 9,000 a month, there's no way they are going to be making enough to afford assisted living for him.  A nice assisted living facility is very expensive, and they are not usually covered by any kind of insurance.

I have no problem with Walter going into assisted living, but I do agree that rent just isn't going to cover a really good facility (and given Walter's illness, it would have to be a memory care unit so he can't go off wandering on his own). My father was in one, and ten years ago it cost 4K a month (plus incidentals - hair cuts, visiting dentist, etc.)

On 3/29/2023 at 8:57 PM, KaveDweller said:

Speaking of presentations, you would think Eddie, a former musician who played in front of crowds, would not get nervous doing a small class presentation. But I guess the professor messed with his head.

There's a big difference between going out on stage with a guitar (usually drunk) and singing songs you know by heart as part of a band and being the entire focus of a small group of people - especially when one grading you sits up front giving you the stinkeye.

On 3/30/2023 at 6:59 AM, Notabug said:

The whole storyline is so messed up and nonsensical, like so much on this show.  Dr Jessica left private practice in order to take a temporary job as a radio host?  Why wouldn't she have simply found someone to fill in at her practice until she returned?

I was going to ask if she did leave her practice, but then I remembered that she ended her sessions with Gary. But did the show explicitly say she was ending her practice entirely? Because she certainly could have taken fewer clients and scheduled around them around the shows. If she did that, it would still make sense to end Gary's therapy, given she was taking over Maggie's slot.

23 hours ago, Cosmocrush said:

Oh, I liked that too!  Especially the childish fight with Omar featuring the exact same moves my younger brother and I used to do to one another as kids:  pinned down  spit finger and "why are you slapping yourself" haha.  

Thanks @historylover820 for the info on class drops.  It's been a lifetime since I was an undergraduate. 

For once, the show got some sibling dynmics right! It was pretty entertaining and realistic.

20 hours ago, Suzn said:

I know better than to expect realism in finances on a tv show, but I don't see how renting out Rome's dad's house is going to cover his expenses in assisted living.  I don't know what the rent might run or what assisted living costs, but  I would guess that the gap would run quite a few thousand a month.  it would seem to be better to sell the house and get enough that could possibly last the rest of his life.  I don't know what the point is of "keeping the house in the family" and if it is rented out, no one is going to get any personal use or pleasure from it.  

If you rent out the house, you don't lose the equity. Houses in that area tend to appreciate, so it's still an investment. It will also be available to sell if they need more money, and when Walter passes, it will be there as an inheritance. (But yes, the gap between rental and facility costs would be there in real life, but not in A Million Little Things Land)

One "solution" I thought of was for them to move into the house where there'd be room for them and pay an aide from the rental money they save. Or if they own it, rent it out instead of the house and put off assisted living.

We never used pacifiers, as we figured our children couldn't lose them, and their thumbs were always available. Neither needed dental work. But then our kids didn't suck their thumbs much in any case.

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Clanstarling

[Suzn]

2 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

If you rent out the house, you don't lose the equity. Houses in that area tend to appreciate, so it's still an investment. It will also be available to sell if they need more money, and when Walter passes, it will be there as an inheritance. (But yes, the gap between rental and facility costs would be there in real life, but not in A Million Little Things Land)

One "solution" I thought of was for them to move into the house where there'd be room for them and pay an aide from the rental money they save. Or if they own it, rent it out instead of the house and put off assisted living.

 

That's the only excuse I can think of to rent rather than sell. They preserve the equity to inherit, but unfortunately the rent would not cover the month cost for assisted living and an aide is probably a short term solution.

Edited April 1, 2023 by Suzn

[hoosiergirl]

The professor basically admitted that she treated Eddie differently because of his disability. She should get reported to the Dean or HR or whoever handles discrimination complaints. I liked the Omar/Rome resolution. If we can end the show with Walter being somewhat  happy in his nursing home, that would be super. I don’t want him to die. 😭

Maybe if Dr. Jessica goes by Jess her show title could be “A therapy sesh with Dr. Jess”. 

I thought maybe the secret Greta’s parents were keeping was that the dad molested her which would give Katherine some conflict over how to act around them. I didn’t really care that they’re getting divorced. 

[KaveDweller]

9 hours ago, Suzn said:

That's the only excuse I can think of to rent rather than sell. They preserve the equity to inherit, but unfortunately the rent would not cover the month cost for assisted living and an aide is probably a short term solution.

Also, if they are renting they still need to pay maintenance costs on the house and property taxes. So you can't even put all the money from rent into the assisted living.

I think the reason to rent out was just they didn't think Walter would agree to sell and were trying to keep him happy.

[desertflower]

There was something familiar about Greta’s mom but I couldn’t figure it out and had to look it up. JoBeth Williams! Poltergeist and The Big Chill! Haven’t seen her in awhile. I always liked her. 

I actually liked Rome’s storyline this week, the fight with his brother was cute and I liked Jay Pharoah’s quick impression of their dad. 

Did Katherine’s hair look even worse this week or was it just me? Can’t wait until Delilah comes back and we get both their awful haircuts in the same scene. (Insert eye roll here.)

 

[Cosmocrush]

1 hour ago, desertflower said:

There was something familiar about Greta’s mom but I couldn’t figure it out and had to look it up. JoBeth Williams! Poltergeist and The Big Chill! Haven’t seen her in awhile. I always liked her. 

Thank you!!! I was trying to figure that out as well.  

[debraran]

On 3/30/2023 at 1:06 PM, ams1001 said:

For what it's worth, my brother used pacifiers and I refused them (they can't take your thumb away!). We both needed braces. (Partly from sucking my thumb, but I also didn't have enough room in my jaw for my teeth to straighten out so they were super-crowded, and I had to have four pulled before I even got my braces on, and later my wisdom teeth, so I actually only have 24 teeth now.) Not using a pacifier is no guarantee the kid won't need braces.

Besides, kid doesn't even have teeth yet. They can use it for now and work on weaning him off it when he gets a little older if they're that concerned. Not all kids use a pacifier into toddlerhood. (And if he replaces it by sucking his thumb, well, not much you can do about that...)

(My coworker's son has Invisalign; her daughter had regular braces. She said she wishes she had done the regular ones for her son, too, because they're less expensive and he'd probably be done by now.)

My kids all used pacifiers, pediatrician said they didn't cause teeth issues, thumb did. Never had any. It soothed and they gave it up before it became an issue. I thought she was a bit over the top with that and very insecure. Did she read up on most things or winging it? I hope they have her calm down a bit.

12 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Also, if they are renting they still need to pay maintenance costs on the house and property taxes. So you can't even put all the money from rent into the assisted living.

I think the reason to rent out was just they didn't think Walter would agree to sell and were trying to keep him happy.

I was thinking this because we looked into it for my mom but figured it was TV and they could say anything. Sadly even selling the house and if he lived a long time, it wouldn't be enough and they do kick people out when they can't pay. It's sad but some when parent is at their worst can't pay for the "good" nursing facility anymore. Really you need to set these things up 5 years or more ahead of time.

[Suzn]

1 hour ago, debraran said:

I was thinking this because we looked into it for my mom but figured it was TV and they could say anything. Sadly even selling the house and if he lived a long time, it wouldn't be enough and they do kick people out when they can't pay. It's sad but some when parent is at their worst can't pay for the "good" nursing facility anymore. Really you need to set these things up 5 years or more ahead of time.

Because I always think about practical reality, I am curious about the cost of good assisted living and what the house would be likely to sell for.  Anybody know either of those?

[Clanstarling]

22 minutes ago, Suzn said:

Because I always think about practical reality, I am curious about the cost of good assisted living and what the house would be likely to sell for.  Anybody know either of those?

My father's care (not in a fancy assisted living but in a group home locked memory care facility) was 4K a month ten years ago. I imagine it costs more now.  I am unfamiliar with Boston real estate, but I imagine it's a pretty penny.

[TVForever]

On 3/29/2023 at 11:57 PM, KaveDweller said:

 

Speaking of presentations, you would think Eddie, a former musician who played in front of crowds, would not get nervous doing a small class presentation. But I guess the professor messed with his head.

 

I've actually read interviews with performers over the years (most memorable being one with Bette Midler, of all people) where they admit to varying degrees of stage fright, even after years of performing. My own take on a case like this would be that performing in a concert setting where you can't really see most of the crowd probably would be less intimidating than presenting in a small group like a classroom, where you can see every single face looking at you. Even moreso when you know that your professor is angling for your failure.

[debraran]

It varies and believe me so does the care. The ones doctor's and affluent people go to are very costly. Some are 4000 now and just "ok" if you keep an eye on them. I read District of Columbia and Rhode Island are both close to $7,000 a month.

What is the average monthly cost for assisted living in Massachusetts?The average cost of assisted living in Massachusetts is $5,300 per month. (not 2023)Some sites say memory care is added cost.

I can't see what the rent on that pretend house would be but even 4000 is too much. You also have to count on having the rental income and the fixes the older home will need. i assume they can raise the rent because they did in my mom's senior apartment (not assisted living) but I don't know rules in every state.

My sisters unknowingly had my mom take a lower cost insurance and the next year they "adjusted her rent" to include her huge windfall (sarcasm)

 

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by debraran

[Suzn]

1 hour ago, debraran said:

I can't see what the rent on that pretend house would be but even 4000 is too much. You also have to count on having the rental income and the fixes the older home will need. i assume they can raise the rent because they did in my mom's senior apartment (not assisted living) but I don't know rules in every state.

What would the house likely sell for?  It appeared to be a nice but modest middle class house.  Of course it's location would matter, but we don't get a clue about that.

I was looking for sale prices of houses and don't know the area, so can't evaluate that but find a 2 bedroom house selling for 722,400 and another 2 bedroom selling for 1,572,000.  At 5,300 assisted living cost, the first would last about 11 and a half years and the other would last about 24 and a half years.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Suzn

[debraran]

45 minutes ago, Suzn said:

What would the house likely sell for?  It appeared to be a nice but modest middle class house.  Of course it's location would matter, but we don't get a clue about that.

I was looking for sale prices of houses and don't know the area, so can't evaluate that but find a 2 bedroom house selling for 722,400 and another 2 bedroom selling for 1,572,000.  At 5,300 assisted living cost, the first would last about 11 and a half years and the other would last about 24 and a half years.

Wow, where are you looking? In CT, modest homes in nicer areas are 300-600,000, with million dollar homes only being in very affluent areas of Fairfield etc. If sold, they would have a lump to grow in certain funds. Scary to have possible rental income the way they are saying. After doing that for a few years and knowing others, it not all it's cracked up to be.