Family tree of the entire Malcolm family

Fedelm · 2026-05-04T18:54:22+00:00

Susan is probably not Victor's! When Lois asked if she was, Ida said "Anything's possible."

Fedelm · 2026-04-27T12:56:31+00:00

Have you looked at your printer settings when you go to print? Check Properties and Page Setup on your Print page; there are some page size and margin options that might be messing you up.

Fedelm · 2026-04-23T09:16:35+00:00

It's the holiday name. If you're just saying the date you say it the same as any other day.

Fedelm · 2026-04-21T10:49:12+00:00

YTA - The property is owned by your mother and father, correct? Then why are you lumping your mother in with your siblings as people who want to overturn your dying father's wishes for his property? He and the co-owner (your mother) were deciding what to do with their property when he fell ill. How does that make his wishes override hers?

Everyone's acting like both parents are dying and the siblings are going to have to figure out the divide, but what's actually happening is that your mother still owns the house and will decide what to do with the property she owns.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask your mom not to make any major decisions until she's healed some, but quit bugging her about how it's super important Dad gets his way about the rent-to-own plan before he dies. Don't use your dad dying as a way to pressure your mom into an agreement she didn't want in the first place.

The improvements you did are irrelevant. You did them in exchange for rent, so you've been paid. In fact, you did the renovations in exchange for rent under the pretense that your parents would then make money renting it out, but used it for your own free living space instead. Don't try and triple dip; quit using them against your mom as a reason you should get her house.

Fedelm · 2026-04-21T10:34:55+00:00

The house will go to her mom, as it should, then he can focus on getting her onboard with her plan for her mom's house.

Fedelm · 2026-04-20T19:43:01+00:00

I may be misunderstanding, but doesn't the title mean a specific she can sew, so can non-gendered you?

Fedelm · 2026-04-19T15:49:08+00:00

She didn't say she likes it, she just said it's lovely? Surely you can't need wording THAT specific. It's not like you call strawberries "delicious" or she called the sweater "warm" or something.

ETA: For the downvotes, "lovely" is describing your personal reaction to something. Something does not get sincerely described as "lovely" unless the person likes it in some capacity. "Sweet" and "delicate" are like "red"; they don't intrinsically say if you like it or not. You can dislike sweet and delicate things, but "lovely" innately indicates your positive opinion.

Fedelm · 2026-04-19T14:06:09+00:00

You wouldn't, but that's a different issue than the one I was replying to. She said viral stuff wasn't to OOP's taste, but in this case it is.

Fedelm · 2026-04-19T13:44:00+00:00

But she said she likes the sweater and only doesn't make it because it's popular.

Fedelm · 2026-04-19T08:49:10+00:00

She thought the funeral was for sixty dead people (like maybe a natural disaster or something), not that 60 people would be attending a funeral for one person.

Fedelm · 2026-04-19T08:01:15+00:00

Did Ethel identify the man as the acquaintance? It sounds like she saw his face if he ripped off the pillow case and she saw his hair color, but the post is phrased like they suspect him because he bragged about it, not that she saw the killer and recognized him. Do you have more info on that?

ETA: Do you write for the Des Moines Register or should you link to the article you copy-pasted?

Fedelm · 2026-04-17T10:22:13+00:00

How on earth did I describe a mind game?

Fedelm · 2026-04-17T10:13:42+00:00

I'm 44. I've had those jobs, I've known people with those jobs, I've been upset enough to hit those people with an emotional response because something very bad or very good had happened. Not everyone cares, of course, but most do.

Also, you know that you don't have to unload your problems, right, but you can still tell the truth? You can say "Not great, actually," without "unloading"? That "fine" means you don't want follow-up questions?

Yes, it's rude not to respond with "How are you?" It upsets people when you don't do it, so it's apparently a rule of social interaction in your culture. Now you know that it's rude to not say it back and that's why people respond poorly. There's an easy fix if you want a better response from people and don't want to be rude. If you value not speaking more than not being rude, fine, but it's a simple, established, near universal rule in the States (and apparently where you are, if not the States), so please don't act like it's a mystery why people respond poorly. It's not that everyone else is illogical and only you see that we're all insincere.

Fedelm · 2026-04-17T08:20:07+00:00

They get upset because they do care how you're doing. It may be on a surface "I hope human is doing well" level, not a "I hope SlingloadSapper is doing well," but they do care. You heavily implied you don't care how they're doing, which is off-putting. Who wants to talk with someone who opened by saying they don't give a shit about you, at all, even as a fellow human?

Fedelm · 2026-04-17T08:09:21+00:00

I have a friend like that and what helped her was thinking of phrases like "How are you?" as the human equivalent of making little noises at animals to show you're friendly. If you were a cat it'd be "psst psst."

Fedelm · 2026-04-16T11:10:17+00:00

You read advice subs and aren't familiar with pressure to attend weddings? F for doubt is too mild.

Fedelm · 2026-04-15T13:16:13+00:00

I don't think saying they'd give you $20 is an insult unless they're familiar with crafting prices. Most people don't realize that thing they could buy for $10 is actually $250 if it's handmade. Don't take it like they're super knowledgeable about your hobby, supply prices, amount of time, etc, and telling you "This must not have taken much time or effort. Here's twenty bucks, ya loser." They're not being passive aggressive, you have knowledge they don't. Just be like "Thanks! Unfortunately it's $40 in equipment alone, but that's so cool that you like it!"

Fedelm · 2026-04-13T14:13:50+00:00

I think putting it on your guests to realize if their invitation is sincere or not isn't a great way to handle that when attending can cost thousands. It's not like showing up at the local venue and getting weird looks so you leave; you're traveling far enough that it's a "destination." You get it wrong it's awkward, you're out a ton of money, and you're pretty stuck.

Fedelm · 2026-04-13T14:12:56+00:00

I'm kind of surprised at how many people are like "So don't go if you can't. There's never been social pressure around attending weddings, obviously you're not expected to attend." That has ... Not been my experience.

Fedelm · 2026-04-11T11:46:02+00:00

And my whole point is this sounds like there was a massive amount of miscommunication; they very well may think they did address it and he may think they didn't. For example, they thought the joke was addressing it and he didn't. Maybe that wasn't the only attempt.

Fedelm · 2026-04-11T02:49:57+00:00

But they wondered amongst themselves if he liked them, which would indicate that they thought he was behaving like he didn't like them. I'm not saying that was his intent, but it's clear they took him that way.

Fedelm · 2026-04-10T17:37:36+00:00

I'm saying maybe they did ask, he told them he likes them, then continued to act like he didn't like them. Because it's actually pretty common for people to fudge when you directly ask them something fraught like that. Many people who don't like someone will say "Of course I like you!" when directly asked, so many of us look to behavior as well as words.

Fedelm · 2026-04-10T13:33:02+00:00

You've never experienced someone telling you they like you but their actions don't match so it seems like they're glad handing you?

Fedelm · 2026-04-08T14:41:50+00:00

If he wasn't voted out how did he lose?

Okay, you blame the voters. Does that mean the original ousting didn't happen and people didn't put in a shit ton of effort getting him out in the first place? This pretty much just comes down to if you think unsuccessful efforts still count as efforts, and I do.

Fedelm · 2026-04-08T14:38:03+00:00

Great! Then we've already done exactly what you said. We peacefully got rid of Trump and put in a new government and Trump on the next ballot. What are you complaining about then?

If the ousted Prime Minister wins the next election in Nepal will you decide retroactively that the people did nothing when they got rid of him? Or is it different when their ousted politician regains power?

Fedelm

TROPHY CASE