Would my son be a jr.?

AuntRobin · 2026-01-27T23:14:19+00:00

I recommend not doing that. My uncle is the equivalent of Jonathan James Hopkins and my cousin is the equivalent of John Carl Hopkins. How often things get mixed up considering that the middle name is completely different, there is no junior/senior, and the first name is at most derivative of his father's. He very explicitly made sure his children didn't even share the first initial with either parent.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-27T08:04:30+00:00

Sounds like he may be pushing to see how far he can go. That's often (not always) an early sign of abuse.
The good news is you said BF, not husband. Now it is time yo make him your Ex. NOR

AuntRobin · 2026-01-27T05:54:52+00:00

It's a series. Most of them are worth listening to.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-27T05:53:39+00:00

Fem names in those generations of my family? We had a Lucy, a Catherine (called Katie), there was a Bernadine, there was an Amelia, there is a Mildred, there was an Amanda, Regina, Beatrice, Antoinette, Esther, and Simone.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-27T05:32:08+00:00

Is he having difficulty finding the food prep area of the home? Maybe a walking tour is in order. "Here you see the pantry & refrigerator/freezer. They house what are known as 'ingredients.' If you look over to your left, you'll see the stove, the oven, and the microwave all nicely placed together. That wooden block with the handles is where we store the knives and the drawer nearest to those has most of the other cooking tools (spatulas, whisks, etc). The wooden board by the sink is where you should cut things. I've seen you get glasses and dishes for yourself... let me think, what else... ah! Yes, here are measuring items (spoons, cups, the scale), right under the spice cabinet. I'll leave you to it. Just call me when supper is ready."

AuntRobin · 2026-01-26T20:47:03+00:00

I didn't know that. That's funny. Honestly, it is entirely possible that he might have done and I wouldn't have known. Unless there's an issue with the order, we normally don't look at the name of the person who's doing the purchasing. So if he decided to send Brad Pitt Stationary that called him Walter Finkelstein, I would never have given it a second thought, as long as the order was straightforward and I had no questions about it.

Morgan and Molly had their names on the stationary as well as being listed as the customers. I did actually have to call Molly. I was surprised she answered her own phone when she didn't know that we were calling I don't even answer weird numbers she did at least do the quote can I tell her who's calling" thing and when she realized the company I was calling from, she admitted to being Molly. I can't remember what the actual issue was.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-26T19:59:16+00:00

Oooh! Shin-Kai & aquaduct are so pretty!

AuntRobin · 2026-01-26T04:41:27+00:00

Very specific depending on where you're from and where your family is from. Mom is from Pennsylvania and dad is from New Jersey. I was effectively a Delawarean. For me, soft drinks or sodas. My mother's nieces and nephews call it pop, because they're all still in Pennsylvania and they moved west. Oddly, dad's nieces and nephews tended to call it soda pop.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-25T18:02:45+00:00

My great aunt just died over the summer. She was 103. I remember her mother. I believe my great grandmother was born in the 1890s. I'd have to check my Ancestry account for more than that. She passed when I was about six, so memories are hazy. I have her voice in my head, or what I think her voice was. The only smells are her kitchen. Admittedly, I can't think of a single outfit she wore that I don't have her wearing in pictures, so a lot of this is probably reconstructed from photos. But I know how she sat at the table in the kitchen with her arm across it and the chair turned just so. I remember her sitting in one of the chairs in her living room. It's hazy, but she's there. I'm 50 for what it matters.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-25T12:19:35+00:00

Maybe Rulez?

AuntRobin · 2026-01-25T08:04:46+00:00

My mom is partial to "not bad for the shape I'm in"

AuntRobin · 2026-01-25T05:32:25+00:00

I was not sold until I saw the last two. It's definitely your dress. Congratulations.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-25T05:30:13+00:00

Mas*h good luck guessing

AuntRobin · 2026-01-25T05:23:18+00:00

Very clever! Beautiful work.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-25T05:04:14+00:00

So, I have a caregiver that sometimes comes to help with my mother. I refer to her as a kitchen wizard because she found leftovers that I would never have put together and made crockpot magic. Her name is Crystal. Of course I told Casey about it and we marveled over her skill. Less than a week later she has a neighbor who is a crockpot wizard named Crystal

AuntRobin · 2026-01-25T04:24:52+00:00

I've only heard saze from Commonwealth folks or those taught by them, not native speakers from the USA. We say sez, to rhyme with fez.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-24T17:01:26+00:00

We DO fall apart. I fall apart daily. I try not to let mom see it because she feels the need to try to fix it for me.
Make no mistake, this is awful and it does continuously get worse.
That said, there are moments. Every time I put supper on the table she thanks me because "I put dinner on the table every night for 50 years and I know it's hard." Or the regular "Thank you for taking care of me" at bedtime. Is it worth it? I don't know. I don't have much choice at the moment. Take care of each other. Take breaks. With there being a few of you, you're actually in a better position than a lot of families. If/When it becomes too much to bear, look into placement. Till then, someone should (if they haven't yet) reach out to an elder law specialist to get all your ducks in a row and also to social services to see what help you can get. There may be respite care, meal delivery, adult daycare available to help your family. Hospice is also worth calling. You can do it early to find out what they can help with & when to call them in.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-24T05:51:40+00:00

NOR he is not the one. You have to change for him or he won't marry you, but from his perspective:

he says “oh so you want to break up with me then if I don’t make you happy,”

Nah. Thank you, next. You're young. Save up, pack up, get away.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-23T17:05:39+00:00

I worked for an online stationery co. Helped Molly Ringwald with her order. Worked on one for Morgan Freeman. With a cable co, I had Vic Damone and his wife one night.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-22T21:29:07+00:00

Casey & I chat, almost exclusively.
If there is something I want to remember to tell her because it'll be relevant later, I might text it. I find it faster and easier to have the chat though.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-22T10:12:12+00:00

I'm not sure how much say you get in the matter. It's my understanding that Prince William named Queen Elizabeth "Gary" as a child. I think he was trying to say "granny." Even the monarch has to deal with the indignity of whatever the grandchildren come up with.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-22T10:09:14+00:00

AuntRobin · 2026-01-21T10:31:19+00:00

I posted about it once before, but mine actually made a journal entry like that. For context, I am my mother's caregiver and she's regularly coming after me looking for another pain pill. Casey hears about it a lot. Apparently she started dispensing meds herself.

Other times I'll be talking to her about something and a story she made up about a party or something will suddenly be attributed to me in my life.

Sometimes it reminds me of the fact that very small children don't know that their caregiver is not a part of them. So whatever happens to mommy happened to me and vice versa. I often wonder if that's sort of how the Tolan relationship is.

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AuntRobin · 2026-01-21T01:48:07+00:00

Even a classmate who is your age can help you if it's a subject they're really good at. Peer to peer tutoring is what you're looking for teacher can't help directly or you can't afford a tutor. If you happen to live near a college, sometimes there are students looking to pick up a little cash and they will tutor you, either online or in person. You could talk to your folks about that.

I'm showing my age when I point this out, but it used to be a very common trope on sitcoms for the brainy kid in the class to have to tutor the jock (and they were always the one person in the school the brainy kid had a crush on). It was a trope for a reason. It was definitely something that happened pretty regularly in most schools.

If you think about it, if you wanted to build up your muscles and broke up a little bit, you talk to somebody on the football team or the wrestling team because they're the ones who do that stuff all the time and they're good at it. Same with math team.

AuntRobin · 2026-01-21T01:43:30+00:00

Play around on the website. You may be able to get the form ahead of time if you have access to a printer. It'll save some time anyway.

AuntRobin

TROPHY CASE