My wife had to open the windows to let some heat out. This is why we can't afford to start a college fund.

It doesn't get much more Midwestern than this

So who has the stogies and bad joke books?

I finally have a purely hypothetical answer to a question that's been gnawing at me for a couple years. Why is there a plunger outside on my back deck?

Well, what if a squirrel got itself stuck trying to crawl under your chain link fence, died and went unnoticed until it started to smell? Let's say at the time this squirrel was discovered, something had eaten it's face off down to the skull. A blunt handled instrument like a plunger for prodding said decaying, putrid squirrel out of the fence could really come in handy. That's at least until you start trying to put some muscle behind trying to release it. You're trying not to look straight at it because stuff is oozing out of it when, suddenly, its tail brushes against the skin on the top of your foot, because you're of course wearing sandals. That footwear choice was made during a simpler time when the only thing on your to do list was running the garbage and recycling out to the cans in the alley. Your senses being already heightened, the reaction you have to the tickling on your foot causes you to jerk the plunger in a manner which you would not otherwise have done. This movement severs the squirrel's exposed skull from the rest of its corpse. It is in this moment that you question the futility of your existence, poke the skull into the bag with the rest of the squirrel, run it out to the city garbage can, and finally return the plunger to its natural habitat on the deck where it will lie in wait until it is again called upon to provide assistance in some future ghastly task.

Again, this is purely hypothetical.

Howdy. Let's chat.

My wife thinks I'm insane but, what experience do you have with baby monitors and what steps did you take with commercial products to make sure they weren't vulnerable like most IoT garbage out there?

and how long has it been there?

im a soon to be dad and was looking through those apps and was disturbed by how much some of them cost or require subscription for features. this looks simple and easy enough to start out with when the time comes. hopefully it helps someone else too.

It's on Netflix. I read the description and decided to watch it anyway so I deserve this deeply disturbed and uncomfortable feeling I'm sitting with right now.

Has anyone else seen it?

and on wednesday, she woke up with a 103 fever that's still lingering. and it starts....

Just a heads up, if you're looking to have children in Ohio. If you and your spouse work at the same place, your company can give you a shared FMLA pool, rather than two separate pools. Not sure if this is a common rule, across the country. And obviously your company can give you more as they see fit.

The company my wife and I work lets us take 2 weeks off with no approval needed, which is what I'll do, and I'm giving my wife the 12 weeks of FMLA. I only have 2 weeks vacation time, so if I took any more, I'd start eating my cash.

I let my Sam's club membership expire and signed up for Costco instead.

You see, my 4 year old refuses to potty train and mommy refuses to let me force the issue. Sam's club sells size 7 diapers in their house brand. Costco does not. We've got about a dozen diapers left.

The ball is in your court mommy. What's your next nove?

What's everyone doing for father's day tomorrow? Usually I have big plans (museums, boats, etc) but this year for whatever reason I haven't been able to settle on anything. Any good suggestions in the Western Chicago suburbs? Kids are 4 and 2 and I want to involve them somehow. Thanks!

my daughter is 4 and this is very true to life for me.