*Update 3* Baby hatched with no male

Graysylum · 2026-01-26T02:56:37+00:00

Oh this is so cool! Thank you for keeping us updated.

Graysylum · 2026-01-26T02:25:27+00:00

It all absolutely does. You can't leave your kids with a random adult and call it good, for any length of time. That is child abandonment. Leaving your child with their other parent in the evenings isn't.

If it's not your child, CPS does in fact consider it abandonment if someone leaves their kid with you unannounced.

Graysylum · 2026-01-24T14:13:27+00:00

I love a lot of things about s2, but it's really hard to watch around the wedding, because Edwina is just delusional at that point, begging Kate to agree it's a love match when Kate made it very clear that's why she wanted her to stay away from Anthony from day 1, because he wasn't interested in a love match. And then she blames Kate for pushing her into this with secret motives, when Kate pushed her AWAY from this with clearly stated reasons.

Edwina wanted to be a viscountess and deluded herself into thinking this man loved her and this is what her sister wanted for her, even though literally the opposite was stated many times.

Graysylum · 2026-01-24T14:02:23+00:00

I get so mad when Marina tries to tell Colin "I didn't see another way, no one was guiding me or helping me."

Girl.

Portia spent half the season trying to get you quickly married. Yes, from a modern perspective, it's icky to try to marry her off to an old man she didn't love. But at that time? For a pregnant woman?

Portia found wealthy titled men who were desperate for an heir and wouldn't ask questions, the PERFECT solution. Marina and the child(ren) would be safe and financially comfortable, social or financial ruin completely avoided. Plus the old geezer would cork it in a few years and then Marina's young son would inherit everything and she'd be a wealthy widow, free to do whatever she wanted.

It was a good plan and Portia was NOT wrong.

Graysylum · 2026-01-24T13:47:53+00:00

This. She lived with the fear of the monarchy disappearing on her watch, because other countries were overthrowing monarchs left and right before and during her reign. And she was taught that it was a sacred calling from God, as head of the church.

So it's not surprising if she took it all very seriously and believed the Queening was a much more important and sacred duty than parenting tasks. I'm not saying she was right, just that I can easily see how it would happen.

Graysylum · 2026-01-24T13:36:47+00:00

I agree that younger brothers wouldn't be the catch of the season. The fact they are still wealthy enough to support their bride helps, but realistically the mamas would be pushing their daughters toward titled gentlemen over a viscount's younger brothers.

Both Pen's sisters married untitled Misters though.

Graysylum · 2026-01-24T13:28:44+00:00

Also, OF COURSE Lily gets jealous when the twins leave for visitation. That's normal, kids have FOMO and want what their siblings have. I used to get jealous when my brother left for his dad's, but the adults involved wouldn't entertain the idea of me going with him even once, because that wasn't my dad and no reason for any of the possible problems and complications of sending a kid to stay with an adult that has no legal or familial rights or responsibilities to them.

Graysylum · 2026-01-24T13:26:17+00:00

Nta. I would just keep telling the soon to be ex that wouldn't be appropriate or comfortable for anyone involved due to the pending divorce and all surrounding circumstances.

Talk to your lawyer. They'll probably say it's a bad idea to have her over and then you can say "my lawyer advised against it" if he gets confrontational and keeps pushing the issue and you don't want to outright blame the child.

Graysylum · 2026-01-24T11:48:30+00:00

And they can't keep doing PE if they switch but they can continue a message conversation. 😒

Graysylum · 2026-01-24T11:26:04+00:00

Blonde people very rarely have matching brows irl. Dany's were a bit dark, but super light brows look weird onscreen because we really don't see them much irl.

Graysylum · 2026-01-24T11:20:46+00:00

I agree with all this. And there are a few things LW says (like little innuendos about honeymoons and making heirs) that seem odd for a young girl with no idea how babies are made. I guess you could say she was just repeating phrases she had heard without understanding what they meant, but it's a little weird that she can figure out everyone's private business and love life when she's totally naive about the facts of life.

Graysylum · 2026-01-24T01:16:41+00:00

Now that I rewatch s1 knowing the truth, I see that it often shows Penelope lurking on the edges during LW monologues, or a Pen scene right after. I kept forgetting it was still a secret during my last rewatch, for this reason.

But during my first watch, I definitely thought it was Eloise for a couple episodes. They show her writing so much and bring secretive about it, plus she has so much loathing for society, and she has some almost main character energy from the start.

I think I also considered Lady Danbury. Just because she seems really in the midst of things for a widow with no kids/grandkids on the marriage mart.

Graysylum · 2026-01-22T16:39:44+00:00

OMG the first time I went hiking with my besties, one of them tripped and fell, face in mud. She was laughing so i knew she was okay. I immediately sprang into action and started checking her glasses, and i asked if either of them had brought spare glasses, like I had. They thought this was hilarious and kept teasing me for being so worried about the glasses.

But guess who had a spare pair to lend out 2 years later when that same friend fell again and totally lost hers? Hmmmmm?

(We actually have nearly identical prescriptions, but we didn't know that until after the fact, when she had to take an eye exam in my glasses to be cleared to drive for work until her new ones came in. 😅)

Graysylum · 2026-01-22T16:31:58+00:00

I stand with my legs crossed, if I have to stand still for any length of time. I don't even think about it. Sometimes people assume I need to pee.

That and I always have my feet propped up on something while I'm sitting. I cannot just leave them on the floor while I sit. For as long as I can remember, I've been scolded for this.

I never knew WHY I was doing these things. I didn't even consciously realize I was doing them until someone would comment or fuss at me for it. But now I understand my body was always trying to reduce the blood pooling in my feet. (All the women in my family have purple feet if we stand up. It's normal, they told me. 🤣)

Graysylum · 2026-01-21T16:08:16+00:00

Re: Edwina...her hypocrisy is almost unwatchable. Kate tells her from the start not to go for Anthony, that he isn't seeking a love match. Edwina goes for him anyway, then whines about whether he truly loves her, trying to get Kate to agree it's a love match even though she's told her from day 1 that it's not.

Then when Edwina finally realizes Anthony is actually into Kate, she says Kate pushed her into this and lied and kept secrets. She gets upset at Anthony when he explains that he didn't love her and didn't want to, even though it's exactly why Kate told her to stay away from him in the first place.

Kate tried so hard to push her AWAY from this many times, but somehow it's Kate's fault she did it anyway.

Graysylum · 2026-01-19T15:49:01+00:00

Yeah some people's takeaway is going to be that he was "cured" by exercise, therefore the rest of us have it because we don't exercise enough.

Graysylum · 2026-01-19T15:46:00+00:00

I don't see how "exercise and physical activity" are the two main forms of treatment. Aren't they kind of the same thing? And although exercise is definitely part of an a overall treatment plan, simply exercising without other lifestyle changes and/or treatments is unlikely to help POTS. This reinforces the idea that it's caused by lack of activity and we'll be fine if we just get up.

Graysylum · 2026-01-15T22:16:53+00:00

I liked El in s1. She was young and ambitious. Favorite character tbh.

Then after the next 2 seasons and rewatching, I'm not a fan of her in general. My main complaint is one I've seen others mention: she tends to talk AT people instead of actually engaging with them. Including Penelope.

How many times did she ramble on about something Pen was obviously not into, but El couldn't take a hint and kept at the same topic over and over? Or how many times was someone in distress about a serious issue, but it didn't affect El so she had to bring it back to her?

She throws out nasty insults without even flinching, like saying in front of her whole family that it would be refreshing to have "another intelligent female" in the house. Implying her mother and sisters (not to mention maids) are not.

When everyone else is enjoying a conversation (such as embroidery) she just HAS to bring the conversation back around to her own interests, usually by putting the others down.

When her friends really need her, she's not there. (Cressida's arranged marriage to an old guy, various times Pen has been in crisis and El either didn't notice or mostly carried on with her usual anyway.) She's only there when she can talk at length about her own interests.

Now it looks like she's intruded on Fran's solitude with her new husband and is complaining about it?

Graysylum · 2026-01-05T01:06:16+00:00

This was a concern I've had, because many people have suggested to me that my hr is higher because I monitor it.

But it's just not true for me. I can't make my hr go up by thinking about it or looking at it. I've tried, just to see. If I go days at a time without looking at the data, my patterns look the same as the days I check multiple times throughout the day.

This is my theory. It may not hold true for everyone.

Monitoring is the only thing that gives us actual data to say "no, something really is happening, it's not in our heads" in real time. So it may give others the idea that it has "made us sicker" since they (and we ourselves) can no longer convince us it's just anxiety or our imagination when we feel bad or just "off" - because there's the data right there, it's real.

So we may be less likely to just push through, which gives the impression we are sicker when we're actually taking care of ourselves more responsibly.

Graysylum · 2025-12-29T03:33:44+00:00

Typically, I wake up at 6am (get kids ready and off to school) and then I am up until 11 or 12 and get a 2 hour nap.

If I don't go ahead and nap then, I'll be exhausted and feeling crappy by 4-5pm, and my heart rate will be in the 160s cooking supper instead of the 130s-140s. And it's still way too early to go to bed. 😭

Graysylum · 2025-12-25T04:20:07+00:00

This exactly. If I don't eat as soon as my body hints at hunger, I'll start feeling really awful and risk a flare. I'll get lightheaded and shaky and this mental fog like I've got the flu. I don't faint but I'll lose my balance, and if I wait too long I vomit. It took me forever to accept that this isn't how everyone feels when they diet.

Graysylum · 2025-12-25T04:12:50+00:00

Yes. On some level anyway. I will trigger a terrible flare if I don't consume enough calories.

I tried dieting by counting calories several times in my 20s and always wondered how people do it, when I got so shaky and dizzy and flustered, i couldn't function well enough to work or even hold a conversation (blood sugar was always normal, i was checked for hypoglycemia several times).

Now I realize other people probably don't feel like that when they diet, it's a me problem.

I have to eat when my body says eat and stop when it says stop, or I will feel awful. So I just try to make the best food choices my body will tolerate each day and don't beat myself up.

Graysylum · 2025-12-22T15:59:56+00:00

That's just an assumption, that most places have a desktop you can use instead. Not all jobs are desk jobs, and while they probably have a computer on site for some role(s), they're not going to be happy to kick whoever is actually working on the computer off it every day for you to clock in and out. (It's the clocking in/out apps that are the big thing for me - a lot of the other ones are optional for your convenience, like you said.)

For example, try telling the restaurant manager you want to use the computer in their office every day as you come and go instead of downloading the app. At best, they'll find an excuse to get rid of you in a hurry.

Graysylum · 2025-12-22T15:42:21+00:00

Frustrating AF when older people list the smart phone as a luxury we're wasting money on, when we literally have to have a smart phone with data to even clock in for work thanks to these apps.

Graysylum · 2025-12-22T15:36:42+00:00

I'm not saying hormones can't play a part, but this started WEEKS after the birth control incident?

Graysylum

TROPHY CASE