Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[kristen111]

8 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

It's not you, @kristen111; it's part of general world chaos.

-·=» 𝕡𝕙𝕠𝕥𝕠 𝕠𝕗 𝕕𝕒𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕖𝕣'𝕤 𝕜𝕚𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕘𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 «=·-

And the non-TV threads here are a bit discombobulated. 

But this *is* the thread where you shared the story of your cousin.

However, under:

• Everything Else,
  there is also this 48-page thread:
  • Family Ties: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

I see there are also 2 Pet Peeves threads.🙄 
One Pet Peeves thread is under Everything Else,
the other Pet Peeves thread is under Health & Wellness,
which I guess is supposed to be different than the Health and Wellness Chit-Chat: Your Primary Care Topic.🙃

BTW, the Health & Wellness board is weirdly positioned at the top of the Everything Else page — so not quite a subcategory — seemingly more of a detour. 

But considering that this was all set up by unpaid volunteers, it's really not too bad.

This [dis]organization reminds me of librarians who were using the Dewey Decimal System choosing to classify Computer Science books under General Works instead of under Science.
Noticing this in the early 1990s, I thought: Huh?

Similarly and equally frustrating, in the Library of Congress Classification System, books on Women's Studies have their own area of the library in the HQs, but, as one librarian points out to library users here, that is an imperfect system at best:

 

Come again ?  …..        only kidding. 👍
 

 

[PRgal]

Little guy had a playdate with a friend from school today and they spent an hour in his backyard digging/hunting for insects.  Just how long does this phase last?  Parents of boys, please help!

 

Note:  Neither are allowed to bring their specimen indoors.

Edited March 18 by PRgal

[Bastet]

10 minutes ago, PRgal said:

Little guy had a playdate with a friend from school today and they spent an hour in his backyard digging/hunting for insects.  Just how long does this phase last?  Parents of boys, please help!

It's not just boys, it's kids who like bugs or just find it interesting what all is in the dirt once you start digging.  A couple of friends and I (all girls) used to do that when we were probably around five or six.  I don't think it lasted all that long, because once you've found at least one of everything there is to find, there's other interesting stuff to move onto. 

[Salacious Kitty]

Is anyone else having problems with the screen on this site? It's all wonky on both devices ! use. 

Edited March 18 by Salacious Kitty

[chitowngirl]

1 minute ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Is anyone else having problems with the screen on this site? It's all winky on both devices ! use. 

Yes!

[JustHereForFood]

Same.

[Salacious Kitty]

I tried taking a screenshot to add to my bug report, but it wouldn't upload. I hope someone is around to fix this. 

@CM-CrispMtAir

@cm-soupsipper

Edited March 18 by Salacious Kitty

[JustHereForFood]

[shapeshifter]

10 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I tried taking a screenshot to add to my bug report, but it wouldn't upload. I hope someone is around to fix this. 

@CM-CrispMtAir

@cm-soupsipper

 

9 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

Working on reporting…

[SoMuchTV]

18 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I tried taking a screenshot to add to my bug report, but it wouldn't upload. I hope someone is around to fix this. 

@CM-CrispMtAir

@cm-soupsipper

Same here. Did you go ahead and report without the screenshot? 

I’ll add that I’m on an iPhone, using safari. Everyone else?

ETA: same issue with Chrome and FIrefox (on iPhone).  There is also an issue on my desktop (Win11/Firefox) - skinny columns, icon repeating -  but it's not quite as bad (probably because there's more space to work with).

Edited March 18 by SoMuchTV

[chitowngirl]

iPad, Safari

[Salacious Kitty]

Yes, I went ahead and submitted a bug report w/o the screenshot. I figured that was better than nothing.

Android/Chrome

Edited March 18 by Salacious Kitty

[SoMuchTV]

7 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Yes, I went ahead and submitted a bug report w/o the screenshot. I figured that was better than nothing.

Android/Chrome

Thanks - hopefully the cm's you tagged will see the examples here.

[shapeshifter]

I submitted one too. 
Probably a bunch of users too.

Anywho, here's what it will look like if it's approved. 
Regardless, any other platforms or browsers to add? Like Chromebook or Windows PC?
I should probably add OSs too. 

  

 

 

Note the "Your content will need to be approved by a moderator":

 

 

Edited March 18 by shapeshifter

[Bastet]

This same wonkiness (technical term) has appeared before, and then disappeared pretty quickly.

[Salacious Kitty]

5 minutes ago, Bastet said:

This same wonkiness (technical term) has appeared before, and then disappeared pretty quickly.

But back then, they had a dedicated tech person to fix stuff. This is the first snafu under the new management. 

[shapeshifter]

10 minutes ago, Bastet said:

This same wonkiness (technical term) has appeared before, and then disappeared pretty quickly.

Recently? Or…?

(Sorry. My short-to-intermediate-term memory ain't what it used to be.)

 

Arrrgh. Cannot get the duplicate of my second image to go away in the post above.

Edited March 18 by shapeshifter

[SoMuchTV]

18 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Regardless, any other platforms or browsers to add? Like Chromebook or Windows PC?
I should probably add OSs too. 

I edited my post above - also an issue for me in desktop/Win11/firefox. Not as extreme as on the small screen, but not “normal”. 

[Anela]

I’m seeing double avatars now.  I remember people mentioning that a few months ago. 

[shapeshifter]

New bug thread is live:

Pages not loading full screen

(and can be posted to)

 

16 minutes ago, Anela said:

I’m seeing double avatars now.  I remember people mentioning that a few months ago. 

If it was mid-January, I might have missed it when my grandbaby was being born.

Edited March 18 by shapeshifter

[Salacious Kitty]

Mods are aware of the problem.

[isalicat]

2 hours ago, PRgal said:

Little guy had a playdate with a friend from school today and they spent an hour in his backyard digging/hunting for insects.  Just how long does this phase last?  Parents of boys, please help!

 

Note:  Neither are allowed to bring their specimen indoors.

That is awesome! Maybe one or both of them is headed for a life in a natural science discipline. You should get them some illustrated insect books from the library or at least take them to an appropriate website after they come inside and clean up. The best way to learn about stuff is (a) because you are actually interested and (b) right now. My kid had an ant farm for a little (very little) while for some school project; I had to keep a white rat (I named Pumpernickel) for several months for some school science thing. Encourage inquisitive young brains by doing: it works!

Go mom!

[shapeshifter]

11 hours ago, PRgal said:

Little guy had a playdate with a friend from school today and they spent an hour in his backyard digging/hunting for insects.  Just how long does this phase last?  Parents of boys, please help!

Note:  Neither are allowed to bring their specimen indoors.

11 hours ago, Bastet said:

It's not just boys, it's kids who like bugs or just find it interesting what all is in the dirt once you start digging.  A couple of friends and I (all girls) used to do that when we were probably around five or six.  I don't think it lasted all that long, because once you've found at least one of everything there is to find, there's other interesting stuff to move onto. 

Yes. Thank you.

Maybe because we moved to new environments every couple of years, I was still exploring the natural world when I was 10. 

9 hours ago, isalicat said:

That is awesome! Maybe one or both of them is headed for a life in a natural science discipline. You should get them some illustrated insect books from the library or at least take them to an appropriate website after they come inside and clean up. The best way to learn about stuff is (a) because you are actually interested and (b) right now. My kid had an ant farm for a little (very little) while for some school project; I had to keep a white rat (I named Pumpernickel) for several months for some school science thing. Encourage inquisitive young brains by doing: it works!

Go mom!

Yes, but, @PRgal, no live rats or ants in the house are necessary to encourage studying the life sciences. Learning about the reproductive parts of flowers can be a beautiful introduction to reproduction in general. 

Edited March 18 by shapeshifter

[Yeah No]

7 hours ago, Bastet said:

It's not just boys, it's kids who like bugs or just find it interesting what all is in the dirt once you start digging.  A couple of friends and I (all girls) used to do that when we were probably around five or six.  I don't think it lasted all that long, because once you've found at least one of everything there is to find, there's other interesting stuff to move onto. 

Being what we used to call a "tomboy" I went through that phase but once puberty hit I somehow got all girlified and bugs suddenly became "icky", and I don't even know why.  More of the boys I knew never got to that stage and were still fascinated by bugs, buying ant farms, even dismembering bugs just to see how that worked!  My husband was just talking about this the other day.  He's convinced it's a guy thing.  I really don't know.

Although I am constantly amazed at how men in general don't shy away from killing and getting rid of pests of all kinds.  My husband is one.  My father was also the big pest dispatcher.  He got rid of everything including disgusting water bugs and bats, the latter of which he scared out of our apartment with bright lights.  Same for my male friends.  Sometimes it astounds me at how easily they approach this.  Meanwhile my women friends and I want to be out of the room when our husbands/male SO's do this stuff.  Same for my mother and she was no delicate flower, LOL.

I grew up in NYC which is full of pests and I still have PTSD over having to deal with roaches.  I don't think they affected my husband the same way and his parents were building superintendents so he saw his share of pests.

I once called my father to come over and get rid of a huge disgusting water bug in my bathtub.  My husband was away at the time.  He dutifully drove over from the other side of the Bronx to do it.  I miss my Dad.

Edited March 18 by Yeah No
typo.

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, Yeah No said:

…He's convinced it's a guy thing.  I really don't know.

Although I am constantly amazed at how men in general don't shy away from killing and getting rid of pests of all kinds.… 

Women can rise to the occasion of being Pest Removers too.
Spiders, waterbugs (house centipedes), bats, mice and Jerusalem crickets (potato bugs), oh my! 👀

Mom and Dad were married 67 years, but it was Mom who would use the Swiffer to go after the geckos and Giant House spiders and Cane spiders. Dad did the cooking. 

Now my Swiffer is always at the ready!🕷️
Those spideys never see it coming.

[Yeah No]

16 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Women can rise to the occasion of being Pest Removers too.
Spiders, waterbugs (house centipedes), bats, mice and Jerusalem crickets (potato bugs), oh my! 👀

Mom and Dad were married 67 years, but it was Mom who would use the Swiffer to go after the geckos and Giant House spiders and Cane spiders. Dad did the cooking. 

Now my Swiffer is always at the ready!🕷️
Those spideys never see it coming.

Oh I can do it, and I've had to but the level of disgust and sadness in the pit of my gut is on a level I've never personally witnessed from a man, at least not a younger man.  My husband is getting there in his older age and I feel his pain.  He admits this is not something he felt as much when younger.  I don't really want to theorize as to why, although of this is an "in general" thing and might be based on how we are socialized as well as some innate tendencies. 

Stuff like this is studied in psychology and I remember reading about studies that noticed tendencies based on gender but there's no consensus on why that's the case.  I remember reading about studies where very young boys and girls were given a choice of toys to play with and most boys naturally chose the more destructive toys while girls chose the less destructive, but given that I was a "tomboy" that wasn't my experience and I was actually more likely to want to play with boys' toys than girls'.  I do find those studies interesting, though, and think there is something very generally true about their findings.  Just what that something is no one really knows.

[JustHereForFood]

I am a vegetarian and usually get very upset at the idea of animals being killed, but for some reason this empathy doesn't extend to insect, spiders and the like. I have no moral issue with killing spiders or mosquitoes, I just need to overcome a bit of fear. I mean, when they are in what I consider "my space", I don't go out of my way to kill them outside in their natural habitat.

On the other hand, I can't stand it when people talk about killing fish, chicken or other farm animals. I had one colleague who had horror stories about how she was forced to learn how to kill chicken as a child and I almost started crying right there. I think she saw it as fairly normal thing for a girl to learn, but then again, she had other stories about child abuse that she seemed to consider no big deal.

[Yeah No]

Just now, JustHereForFood said:

I am a vegetarian and usually get very upset at the idea of animals being killed, but for some reason this empathy doesn't extend to insect, spiders and the like. I have no moral issue with killing spiders or mosquitoes, I just need to overcome a bit of fear. I mean, when they are in what I consider "my space", I don't go out of my way to kill them outside in their natural habitat.

On the other hand, I can't stand it when people talk about killing fish, chicken or other farm animals. I had one colleague who had horror stories about how she was forced to learn how to kill chicken as a child and I almost started crying right there. I think she saw it as fairly normal thing for a girl to learn, but then again, she had other stories about child abuse that she seemed to consider no big deal.

I have to admit, I love chickens.  My day camp had chickens and I was always in the coop playing with them.  And they're smarter than we think.  Unfortunately I also love how they taste and I once tried being a vegetarian but my body revolted.  It seems that I have a tendency towards anemia and no amount of iron supplementation was enough without meat in my diet.  I felt sick and had to go back to eating meat, which I think I would have anyway because I just was miserable not eating it.  I know some people's bodies are better able to handle a no-meat diet.  I hope the great chicken God in the sky will forgive me.  I think about the scenes in the TV show "Alone" where the survivalists kill fish and animals and thank them for their sacrifice.  

I don't think I could ever handle killing a chicken or any animal other than an insect.  The thought of it is horrible so I admit I put it out of my mind.  If I was ever in a survival situation I probably would have to get over that but it would be traumatic for me.

Of course I always see that scene from "Family Guy" in my head where the jury of chickens finds Peter Griffin "Bacaw", LOL.

[supposebly]

This clip tells me most of what I need to know about gendered behavior in children and how it develops. It's mostly adults who impose it at a very early age as soon as they know they're looking at a girl or a boy. You see it in small things like the stranger who will tell a mother on the street how pretty their girl baby or toddler is while they would not say that if they're told it's a boy. Even those of us who try are often trapped in our own gendered world and behavior.

It happens so early we don't even remember it happened. And as adults it's so ingrained that we barely notice doing it. We talk differently to them and we treat them differently in so many little things. Even us tomboys become aware eventually that we're not "appropriate" and change behavior to some degree. I do hope the discussion about gender continues, so the next generation of parents will have an increasing awareness. 

 

[Yeah No]

4 minutes ago, supposebly said:

This clip tells me most of what I need to know about gendered behavior in children and how it develops. It's mostly adults who impose it at a very early age as soon as they know they're looking at a girl or a boy. You see it in small things like the stranger who will tell a mother on the street how pretty their girl baby or toddler is while they would not say that if they're told it's a boy. Even those of us who try are often trapped in our own gendered world and behavior.

It happens so early we don't even remember it happened. And as adults it's so ingrained that we barely notice doing it. We talk differently to them and we treat them differently in so many little things. Even us tomboys become aware eventually that we're not "appropriate" and change behavior to some degree. I do hope the discussion about gender continues, so the next generation of parents will have an increasing awareness. 

That's very interesting.  I do remember the studies I read about claiming they chose children as young as possible to try to factor out the environmental effect as much as they could, but it seems like you can't get there early enough for that.  I haven't watched the video but I will later, thanks!

Interestingly I seemed to naturally gravitate to boys' toys and clothes as a kid even though my mom originally dressed me in girls' clothing.  She never discouraged me, though, and perhaps that made the difference.  She celebrated my choices.  And for a mom in the 1960s and '70s that was truly amazing.  I miss my Mom!

[kristen111]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Women can rise to the occasion of being Pest Removers too.
Spiders, waterbugs (house centipedes), bats, mice and Jerusalem crickets (potato bugs), oh my! 👀

Mom and Dad were married 67 years, but it was Mom who would use the Swiffer to go after the geckos and Giant House spiders and Cane spiders. Dad did the cooking. 

Now my Swiffer is always at the ready!🕷️
Those spideys never see it coming.

67 years is something.  Bet Dad was easy going.  My parents were married very long too.  Mom was the boss and a dynamo.  Had three kids, worked full time and took care of things.  She was only sorry she didn’t learn how to drive.  Dad taught us three girls how to drive.  Illegally, lol.

[Yeah No]

51 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

That's very interesting.  I do remember the studies I read about claiming they chose children as young as possible to try to factor out the environmental effect as much as they could, but it seems like you can't get there early enough for that.  I haven't watched the video but I will later, thanks!

Interestingly I seemed to naturally gravitate to boys' toys and clothes as a kid even though my mom originally dressed me in girls' clothing.  She never discouraged me, though, and perhaps that made the difference.  She celebrated my choices.  And for a mom in the 1960s and '70s that was truly amazing.  I miss my Mom!

Replying to myself here.  I do think there's a popular conception today that if a woman chooses traditionally "feminine" things such as appearance or behavior it must be coming from social conditioning and not anything innate.  But that contradicts the other popular conception that relates to sexual and gender preference.  Most people see those preferences and any behavior coming out of them as not chosen or conditioned to be so, but coming out of something innate about the person.  And we are especially down with that when it comes to people with non-traditional preferences.  I think both nature and nurture play a role in most things about humans, it's just where those things play a role and in whom.   As with most things it probably depends upon the person.  I'm sure that many women raised by wolves in a vacuum would still choose more traditionally feminine activities and clothing, etc., and it may or may not come from any sort of social conditioning.  And it may be true of the majority of women.  We just don't have any conclusive evidence to show that.  Just something to think about.

[JustHereForFood]

What's interesting is that what we assign as masculine or feminine can be completely arbitrary. For example, blue as "boy" color and pink as "girl" color is only few decades old. Blue used to be considered feminine color and pink and red manly.

[JustHereForFood]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

Replying to myself here.  I do think there's a popular conception today that if a woman chooses traditionally "feminine" things such as appearance or behavior it must be coming from social conditioning and not anything innate.  But that contradicts the other popular conception that relates to sexual and gender preference.  Most people see those preferences and any behavior coming out of them as not chosen or conditioned to be so, but coming out of something innate about the person.  

I've noticed something similar recently about people who seem unable to accept  that some other people (mostly women) might have different ways to express themselves and might choose to do things that they themselves see as repressing. A woman wants to shave her legs? Must be conditioned by society. She wants to lose a bit of weight? Must be conditioned by diet culture.

Sure, some are, and some of these trends or what to call them can be damaging, but not everyone is the same and not everyone does everything they do because of them. As long as the person in question doesn't harm themselves by that behavior, who cares? Do I really want to shave my legs for myself because I feel better that way, or is it a result of hearing everywhere growing up that women should shave their legs? Counterpoint: If I don't, do I really not want to do it or am I just pressured by a trend that claims it's empowering and feminists shouldn't shave their legs, that seems to pop up every couple of years? I don't know and honestly, don't really care. I will shave them when I feel like it and have enough time to do so, or if I plan to wear something that shows them in summer (I hate summer and hot weather and prefer to wear long trousers anyway, so that is only a few times per year). Why not just let everyone do whatever they want. Over-analysing everything others are doing sometimes makes me think that people have way too much free time.

[shapeshifter]

18 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

What's interesting is that what we assign as masculine or feminine can be completely arbitrary. For example, blue as "boy" color and pink as "girl" color is only few decades old. Blue used to be considered feminine color and pink and red manly.

When I was in 1st grade in 1959-60 (age 6), the teacher asked each child to name their favorite color.
Due to alphabetical seating, I was last.
I sat there and heard all the boys say "blue" and all the girls say "red."
Blue was the color of my birthstone, blue was my mother's favorite color, blue was my favorite color, I had no brothers, I was the youngest in the class, and I had been taught that lying was a terrible thing to do. 
So I said "blue."

I don't recall any repercussions, but I do still have that memory when many others are long gone. 

That same teacher also explained to me patiently why the book I brought to share was not okay: Little Black Sambo. (I had thought it was about tigers turning into pancakes.) 
So she probably wasn't expecting the red-blue gender division?
I like to imagine she was hoping we would offer up a rainbow of colors, perhaps including the names from the Crayola Crayon sets of that time: crayola.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Crayola_64_colors

[peacheslatour]

Please try to remember that spiders are our friends.

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, JustHereForFood said:

I've noticed something similar recently about people who seem unable to accept  that some other people (mostly women) might have different ways to express themselves and might choose to do things that they themselves see as repressing. A woman wants to shave her legs? Must be conditioned by society. She wants to lose a bit of weight? Must be conditioned by diet culture.

Sure, some are, and some of these trends or what to call them can be damaging, but not everyone is the same and not everyone does everything they do because of them. As long as the person in question doesn't harm themselves by that behavior, who cares? Do I really want to shave my legs for myself because I feel better that way, or is it a result of hearing everywhere growing up that women should shave their legs? Counterpoint: If I don't, do I really not want to do it or am I just pressured by a trend that claims it's empowering and feminists shouldn't shave their legs, that seems to pop up every couple of years? I don't know and honestly, don't really care. I will shave them when I feel like it and have enough time to do so, or if I plan to wear something that shows them in summer (I hate summer and hot weather and prefer to wear long trousers anyway, so that is only a few times per year). Why not just let everyone do whatever they want. Over-analysing everything others are doing sometimes makes me think that people have way too much free time.

I'm SO TIRED of this whole "diet culture" thing.  So I limit ultra-processed foods.  Yeah, I've been "conditioned" by "diet culture."  No, hon, I was raised on more traditional, home cooked meals.  Read Little House.  How did THEY eat?  The only thing I could think of that might border on "ultra-processed" would be the salted meat they ate in the winter (is it weird that I remember what the Ingallses ate even though the last time I read a Little House book was in the 90s?  Yes, the books were an influence on my growing up.  I think I learned a lot about pioneer life from Ms. Ingalls Wilder)!  But that's also a very old way of processing food.  

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, supposebly said:

It happens so early we don't even remember it happened. And as adults it's so ingrained that we barely notice doing it. We talk differently to them and we treat them differently in so many little things. Even us tomboys become aware eventually that we're not "appropriate" and change behavior to some degree. I do hope the discussion about gender continues, so the next generation of parents will have an increasing awareness. 

Forget What to Expect When You're Expecting, I think all parents-to-be should be handed a copy of Lise Eliot's Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps -- And What We Can Do About It as soon as the line shows up on the pregnancy test.

[Browncoat]

16 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I was still exploring the natural world when I was 10. 

I am still exploring the natural world now!  And I'm way more than 10.  

Blue has always been my favorite color -- I don't like pink at all.  I really hate that genders have been assigned to colors.  Don't get me started on gender reveal parties.

[Quof]

Oh, I'll get you started on gender (genital) reveals...Mommy tells the world her baby is a disappointment before it is even born

[Browncoat]

28 minutes ago, Quof said:

Oh, I'll get you started on gender (genital) reveals...Mommy tells the world her baby is a disappointment before it is even born

Maybe the mom will get lucky and the baby girl will identify as a boy.  

Let's go back to the days before people were able to find out the genitals of their babies before the babies are born.  Let the genders of all the babies be a surprise!

[JustHereForFood]

The only acceptable gender reveal party is if a person tells people their gender themselves. But please, without causing any wildfire, there is enough of those already.

[peacheslatour]

13 hours ago, Browncoat said:

Maybe the mom will get lucky and the baby girl will identify as a boy.  

Let's go back to the days before people were able to find out the genitals of their babies before the babies are born.  Let the genders of all the babies be a surprise!

We never wanted to know our son's gender. When people would ask my DH what he wanted he always answered "A pony!"

Edited March 19 by peacheslatour

[Annber03]

My mom said that the doctor predicted that both my sister and I were going to be boys. 

Yeah, not so much :p. 

[Yeah No]

21 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

When I was in 1st grade in 1959-60 (age 6), the teacher asked each child to name their favorite color.
Due to alphabetical seating, I was last.
I sat there and heard all the boys say "blue" and all the girls say "red."
Blue was the color of my birthstone, blue was my mother's favorite color, blue was my favorite color, I had no brothers, I was the youngest in the class, and I had been taught that lying was a terrible thing to do. 
So I said "blue."

I don't recall any repercussions, but I do still have that memory when many others are long gone. 

That same teacher also explained to me patiently why the book I brought to share was not okay: Little Black Sambo. (I had thought it was about tigers turning into pancakes.) 
So she probably wasn't expecting the red-blue gender division?
I like to imagine she was hoping we would offer up a rainbow of colors, perhaps including the names from the Crayola Crayon sets of that time: crayola.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Crayola_64_colors

That's interesting!  If you asked me my favorite color as a kid, I would have said "red" but that was because I genuinely loved the color and really had no idea that red was associated with females (I even saved a handwritten essay from school listing my favorite things with red as my favorite).  Back then I would have associated pink with females, but I always detested pink. 

Interestingly when I was 10 years old I was tired of white apartment walls and wanted to paint my room a nice shade of light blue, so my Dad and I painted it the color of my choice together.  I went out with my Mom to buy a comforter, which was a 1960's modern floral in shades of light blue to match.  I did choose rather feminine, frilly white "Priscilla" curtains to go with it, though.  It's no wonder I never fit in with the kids in my neighborhood.  I never fit neatly into anyone's "boxes".  Conformity was big with these kids.  At least in high school we were all a bunch of "square pegs" and accepted each others' quirks.

[Love2dance]

Interesting topic! Just popping over here from Small Talk, since we are concerned it might be shut down. 
 

[Ohiopirate02]

21 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Please try to remember that spiders are our friends.

Yes, they eat other bugs.  I allow the spiders who hang out on my bathroom ceiling to continue hanging out on my bathroom ceiling.  Now if one is hanging out a bit lower in the shower/tub when I need to use it, then it's a different story.  

[stewedsquash]

I have a glass/piece of paper rule for spiders. I thought everyone knew that if you kill a spider instead of relocating it that there are hundreds more coming for you.

#spiderpack’spact

[peacheslatour]

38 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Yes, they eat other bugs.  I allow the spiders who hang out on my bathroom ceiling to continue hanging out on my bathroom ceiling.  Now if one is hanging out a bit lower in the shower/tub when I need to use it, then it's a different story.  

I just grab the middle of the strand of web and move them to a more convenient spot. I like them.

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, stewedsquash said:

I have a glass/piece of paper rule for spiders. I thought everyone knew that if you kill a spider instead of relocating it that there are hundreds more coming for you.

#spiderpack’spact

My ex-boss and her boss liked to chant: "Leave a spider alive and you will thrive."

And I used to do the glass/piece of paper thing for spiders and other bugs.

But spiders seem to like to nip me in my sleep, and I react with an itchy bump, similar to a flea bite.
Plus I have chronic eczema, which the bites just exacerbate. 
So in my home it's the Swiffer.

The rest of you feel free to do what you want with spiders in your homes.