Thanks for speaking up! I just learned my next-door neighbor has had Lyme, and is currently in something like remission (?) and trying to tackle a lot of projects that were on hold while she was too wiped out. Other than Kathleen Hanna that was the most I'd heard about it ever, and it was really interesting to learn. You are not a monster; however, ticks are.
I like to bring plum wine to a host--sweet and a bit out of the ordinary. You can drink it on the spot or save it for some future meal.
Toasts, I've exhausted each avenue I've come to trying to get IntenseDebate to help me update this account (all I really want is to unhook it from Wordpress. It was my mistake to set it up that way, but I assumed it would be easily fixed. Nay, nay!). If anyone knows how to fix this, or how to contact ID without the email going to WP instead, or knows Nomi from Sense8 and can ask her to just hack in and shut it down, it would be a great kindness.
...if you're lucky enough not to fill it in 45 minutes on an average heavy day. That was an expensive lesson learned.
I'm an hour north of there and only this morning saw that six of the students were Irish. Was too sad and .50 short of what I'd need to buy the paper, but the front page was both respectful and somber. These things happen with some regularity, but it never seems to lead to better building and maintenance practices.
Oh, I almost scrolled right past this because I think of him so firmly and fixedly as "William," not an actual man but a repository of genius sandwiched between paper covers, ever ready to help me get out of my own way. What a beautiful tribute.
No personal experience with this, but several friends have told me over the years that the extraordinary relief at not having to raise a child with no money/an unstable relationship/while unhoused vastly outweighed the afterangst. Horror stories make headlines but so often are disconnected from the quieter reality. Best wishes to you going forward.
Re: narcissism, can anyone recommend useful books that are less for diagnosing others and more about turning one's own focus outward? It's a delicate thing when one spends literally 90-plus percent of her time alone to suddenly remember there's a world out there, but without those skills the world will remain pretty annoyed by said loner.
There were some very nice people at the one I briefly worked at, but the culture overall was soap opera/garbage farm. I was devastated when they laid me off, but also relieved.
I don't have dumpster access or food bank hookups where I am now, but SOMEONE does, because on a walk the other day I found two cans of beans and one of string beans that were unmolested, and some sadly ruined pasta, oats and powdered milk. Would have taken them all despite having insufficient space to store them. :P ETA: I think a lot of the advice re: clean eating is common sense repackaged as new age hoodoo to make money for the people doing the repackaging. Would definitely hit dumpstered lettuce with some soap and water before eating.
I do this until my stomach starts crying, then shift to bulgur and black beans with canned tomatoes (this week) or bulgur and chickpeas with tomatoes and curry spices (next week). Then yes, back to the lentils.
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Heather S. 
Thingamajig