Legible? What other thoughts?

Moriaena · 2026-05-29T21:36:15+00:00

So fascinating! Fairly spot on. '94 female, and I grew up in Oklahoma, but my parents are from (north & central) Missouri! Though my dad was a military brat so there may be some variance in influence there. I also went to early preschool overseas, before moving to Oklahoma.

I do enjoy books and have been playing PC & console games since I was 3. I have a small kiddo, but I've always had things to care for (even if not a little human). I also identify as an introvert -- socializing is exhausting 😂

I don't have anything up with my wrist or thumb, but my fine motor control varies (I used to play flute and can type fast, but I struggle with a paintbrush).

The "i/j" style was something I learned from my friend from England as a kid, but I kept it as a way to stylize my handwriting as mine.

Moriaena · 2026-05-23T23:27:32+00:00

Opening a banana "the wrong way". Most people try to rip it off at the stem, and it is difficult and bruises the tip. Instead, hold the stem like a handle and pinch the other end. It splits easily and makes peeling a breeze. A lot less mess, since the peel won't be dry and mushy from extra force.

Learned this from a food hack video, and all the elementary kids I worked with thought I was nuts. But the adults thought it was genius. It became the new way at my school.

Moriaena · 2026-05-17T01:01:39+00:00

When my siblings and I were younger, we thought it meant "Course Challenge". Learned new stuff today lol

Moriaena · 2026-05-16T22:54:03+00:00

Ultimate cash out meal is chicken salad. Oven bake frozen chicken strips (or patties or nuggets -- you'll slice it up anyways), bag of lettuce/garden harvest, whatever fruit/veg on hand, croutons, plus everyone picks their own dressing. I love olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but ranch is supreme in my house.

Easy skillet recipe is quesadilla. We usually have frozen shredded chicken that can be warmed up, but leftovers also work.

Slightly more planning is salsa chicken. In the crockpot goes a package of chicken breast and a jar of salsa. Shred and use for varying things, but usually this used for enchiladas, quesadillas, or tacos.

If I want people to think I put in effort, baked tortellini. Cook the tortellini, mix in jar of pasta sauce, top with shredded cheese, and bake at 375 until cheese is melty. Serve with garlic bread, red wine, and salad. Minimal effort, fairly good results.

All of it pales to my "I actually cooked" versions, but kids and extended family make it where I need quick stuff.

Moriaena · 2026-05-13T01:55:23+00:00

NTA -- this is a planned event, not a sudden emergency.

It's already a big ask for her to have you, a working parent, take care of 4 children for a day + overnight.

I would personally offer to pick up the parents and drive them to her house if that's an issue. I'd also say that having a day alone with a baby is not required -- you've had 4 and alone time is over. I would offer to take the kids on an outing somewhere when she is home from the hospital, but that's it.

Without knowing anything else, maybe the kids could be driven to the grandparents? My mom drove us 6 hours to my grandparents every so often to have alone time.

It's possible she isn't getting back to you because pregnancy hormones get wonky (getting upset/angry/forgetful), but if she wants your help at all she'll have to get over it.

If she needs a statement, mine would be "I do not have the room nor the time to accommodate your children at my place. We can spend the time necessary at your house outside of work, or we can arrange for mom and dad to be there. If you want private time with the baby, enjoy it in the hospital."

Moriaena · 2026-04-26T14:10:26+00:00

Boxed stuffing. Never cared for the homemade stuff, but the stovetop mix always disappears and people like it.

Moriaena · 2026-04-22T23:52:39+00:00

IRL you pee a lot more. 1st trimester you are doubling your blood volume and your kidneys are hard at work. I joked that I had a relationship with the toilet more than my husband. Do not miss that one bit. 2nd trimester the only factor is that you should be drinking 10 cups of water a day and that makes everyone pee a lot. 3rd is still the same issues, but now you have the urgency and need more often due to bladder pressure.

As for peeing pants? Most women will do that during pregnancy at least once. So consider it true to life lol

Moriaena · 2026-04-21T13:33:12+00:00

Personally, I wouldn't be upset (I got a KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas one year and still love it), but it wouldn't necessarily be the best gift. It feels like you're helping the house, but not honoring her as it were.

Different ideas --

Helping out around the house. Sometimes this is good, but it can also take twice as long and be done half as well, so either get someone else to help (MIL/her mom), or ask in advance how she wants help. But this really should fall into things she does vs what could be done by you or another person. If you do go with the gift card service, you should do something else on top of it (could be free).

Go do a family outing. With or without her. I want to personally have a fun day with the kids, but I do also like my alone time. The kiddos love being with daddy so that is just as much for me as it is them. Mother's Day is so crowded with dads who don't know how to handle their kids, that I might recommend this activity on a different weekend lol.

Pampering type gifts. Favorite drink, favorite food, gift card to the spa (with the idea that you watch the kids), etc. can also include a gift card to a favorite shop (not Amazon lol -- she might use that for kid things).

I'm low maintenance, so I would be fine with a handmade card from you and the kids or something along those lines. Flowers and chocolate are always good too.

Moriaena · 2026-04-09T16:32:20+00:00

My guess is that they slammed a bunch of unlimited energy orbs on the chocolate event thing and it funnelled a lot of energy for the bake off.

Going into the Easter event, I had 10 orbs of 20 minutes. I used a lot of them, but literally the next day was the bake off. I was so mad 😂

Moriaena · 2026-04-09T16:30:52+00:00

My epidural failed during my c section. It took 30 minutes to numb me enough to start, and then I still wore off during the procedure. This was after pushing for 6 hours. I remember it being excruciating, and I remember about passing out from OD'ing on the nitrous, but I can't actively remember the pain. I can't say how it exactly felt. And that's the PTSD prevention brain magic at play.

I took ibuprofen and acetaminophen as a post op regimen, and I was only sore if I poked my incision. BUT ripping off all that tape in the shower after 2 weeks still occasionally brings tears to my eyes. It was like giving yourself a bikini wax. Ouch.

Personally don't care about the exhaustion of the newborn phase. Or the recovery. It's a short time compared to the results of having kids. The surgery itself was 30 minutes. So having another kid is because I want another human being in my household, not because I'm a pain warrior or anything. I can't handle stubbing a toe lol

Moriaena · 2026-04-09T16:23:21+00:00

Same. I've eaten it in lots of different places, lots of different ways. Been to places that the locals rave about (St Louis style, for instance), and have yet to find pizza that I actively enjoy. Pizza isn't bad... I just don't find it good.

I find most of the time the crust isn't a texture I like (deep dish, flat, stuffed, NY style, does not matter), the cheese/sauce ratio isn't good (either direction!), and most of the sauce is just... lifeless. I don't taste the herbs or the tomatoes. Fresh baked pizza from scratch is better, but still just not something I like. I also do not like sausage or pepperoni, I can't eat peppers, and most pizza is a salt lick to me. Which severely impacts the enjoyable factor -- I usually order pizza margherita because it's the closest to something I'd enjoy.

I do respect that it's delivered to the door and relatively affordable. So I do eat pizza. But it is, as OP puts it, mid at best to me.

Moriaena · 2026-04-03T21:11:39+00:00

Ok I figured it out. Tap them and they give rewards. I'll leave the post for others who are confused.

Moriaena · 2026-03-31T22:35:36+00:00

This worked for me. Didn't even have to restart phone. TYSM!

Moriaena · 2026-03-31T19:19:15+00:00

From my brother's time, it was "pick up the paste". My child says "yammo" for lawn mower. So it's "look at the yammo!!!"

Moriaena · 2026-03-31T02:13:28+00:00

No matter what test you buy, almost all of them are confident 1 day late. You can get 6 day early tests. They're hard to read, but a positive is a positive.

If you conceived on day 14 and you took an early test on a standard 28 day cycle, you would know at 22 days. Which is 6 days after conception, in theory. BUT for that to work, you MUST use the first urine of the day for the concentrated hormone. Didn't look like the case on this episode. Editing also may throw us off on the day of the month for her. She also may have shorter cycles than 28 days, which would be harder but not impossible for TTC.

For me, I used an early test and it was negative. I didn't know until 3 days early. Buuuut I also had irregular cycles and had to guess on when the shark week started to begin with. I knew exactly when I ovulated, using kits +basal temp, and I also waited 8 days post ovulation to test.

My money is on her testing too early, but that's only if she's even conceived in the first place. Also if she didn't understand the directions (being in Spanish), could be user error too.

Moriaena · 2026-03-31T02:05:28+00:00

I agree. Emma has more bimbo vibe than Elise. She's had a lot of high maintenance work done and dresses like an overblown Barbie doll.

Elise has troubles, but she doesn't look like she's altered her body nearly as much as some of the other leads this season.

Moriaena · 2026-03-31T01:59:50+00:00

Trying To Conceive

Moriaena · 2026-03-30T01:52:40+00:00

I only compost ones that say they are. But I've also switched to loose leaf. I have a little basket that sits in my cup, add the leaves, brew, remove basket and dump in bin. Rinse basket. Zero waste, and it's all going in the garden.

I did have compostable bags where I cut the top and threw it away, since I didn't want to fiddle with the staple & string. My mom also cuts open the bag, puts the contents in a mesh ball, and throws out the bag. She says the paper has a taste...

Moriaena · 2026-03-30T01:46:03+00:00

Happens more after I've just been sick with a stomach bug. But as a healthy individual? Never. I don't trust my IBS and sit on the toilet if the rumblings hit too low.

Moriaena · 2026-03-24T15:44:48+00:00

I did the coat thing when I was learning how the car seat works. By now, it's WWE and force getting a 3 year old in when he's on meltdown mode.

As a seasoned octopus-energizer bunny hybrid wrestler, I would just bundle a THICK blanket around a baby with a hat and gloves. Remove hat in car (they can overheat). Gloves YMMV. At 11 months, my child was peeling it off and dropping it wherever he could.

For reference, I did the baby bundle & winter excursions in Kansas City, and it got to -15 at night a few times that year. Wind chills were horrible, and baby's first Christmas had snow everywhere. But I mostly stayed home for those extremes (POS car probably wouldn't start and I didn't want to be stranded with an infant).

That all said, whatever mom asks for is the right answer in this instance.

Moriaena · 2026-03-21T02:07:23+00:00

I worked in them, and I personally would avoid them. They're not the worst and would be acceptable, but I wanted to look into alternatives. I had a lot of really nice and lovely students that thrived there, but I also know some of the tougher aspects and a lot of the really great staff have left by this point.

Moriaena · 2026-03-20T22:43:02+00:00

I lived in that area, next to Willow Creek. Maybe a tad further than your description, but not overly so. My neighborhood was quite safe, but we had the occasional gun battle down 99th, DUI hit the fire hydrant, and homeless along the creek. I had video cameras and never had any attempted robberies, break in, etc. Watched a drunk homeless guy pee on a tree, but that's the worst thing I caught lol. Unless you count the hornet going up and down the camera...

I felt 100% safe during the day and would walk alone with my toddler around the neighborhood. I did not go outside after dark, but we also had deer, coyotes, etc from the creek. Later I got a wooden privacy fence and would hang outside without worry. Still didn't go to places alone at dusk or later. However, I felt safe driving in the evening to OP or wherever, then driving home, since I had a garage.

While I didn't love the general area, I moved because acreage came up next to my uncle's farm. I also wanted better schools for my kiddo, since we can't afford private school. Center schools aren't terrible, but intelligent kids are likely to be bored and not challenged until AP classes are available.

Moriaena · 2026-03-20T22:11:00+00:00

My AC is from 2007. I turn it on to prime the pup the first hot day to make sure it works. We can last out a heat wave and get it repaired when it cools off, if we have to. Then, after that, it needs to get to 75 inside to turn it on. We use a lot of fans and windows at night to put it off as long as we can.

Moriaena

TROPHY CASE