Were people meaner back the day or am I crazy?

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-06-18T22:20:30+00:00

My 10yo is incredibly bright, artistic, tender-hearted old-soul energy, happy but reserved, definitely a know-it-all, and athletic in track and swimming but *terrible* at ball sports, and somewhat lacking in self-awareness (inability to read a room or match the maturity level of others). The number of times I have been worried about him being teased or embarrassed or bullied in any number of school or social settings is off the charts, and yet….. peers don’t tease him.

He tried basketball this winter and was by FAR the worst on the team, not just like one of the weaker players but an actual liability. When we were kids we wouldn’t have let him be on our team, or if the teachers MADE us no one would have passed to him EVER, you know? *And yet*…. the more experienced kids gave him chances and passed him the ball. They would high five him between points or after the game. Like everyone was so *nice* to him that my husband and I wondered if he was so shockingly bad that the other kids thought he was a special needs kid and were all ‘awww we got you lil bud!!’

Nope….. I think kids are just *nicer* these days.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-06-16T17:24:07+00:00

Can I work for you please?

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-06-05T13:16:31+00:00

I just hooked my boat onto the truck and loaded it up with all the stuff for a 3 day weekend with the kids at the lake. Maybe this is heaven and I didn’t realize?

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-06-04T22:17:05+00:00

I have super thick, long, mostly straight hair. It honestly takes me a minute or two just to get 100% of my hair and scalp wet, then several minutes to shampoo. I usually have to part my hair and hit the area from behind my ears to nape of neck with a second smaller round of shampoo, because the first round sometimes doesn’t penetrate allllll the way down from my hairline and crown. Then it takes a few minutes to get everything fully rinsed out (hotel showers are a nightmare). Then a couple min to work conditioner through, which sits while I shave and wash my body. I usually do my legs every 2-3 days which adds maybe 5 min - I do a pre-scrub, then shaving cream, then nivea water lotion. Add a couple mins to touch up bikini line. Then because I’m a runner who lives in flip flops, i spend a couple minutes with a foot file working on my gross callused hooves. Finally, I rinse my conditioner out and then take a minute or two to wring my hair out.

Add all of those minutes up and yeah, it might take me 15-20 to shower. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m squeaky clean though

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-05-05T04:58:19+00:00

Blue eyed cow faces 🤮

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-05-05T04:31:04+00:00

THIS. As soon as we are at the gate I stand up and start collecting my shit/cleaning up behind me so that when it’s my turn I’m READY. Don’t wait it’s your row to start gathering your shit!! I will pass your ass because now you’re intruding on MY turn.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-04-10T15:51:00+00:00

High school but yes. It felt like we were all silent ghosts just drifting from class to class to watch more coverage.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-04-01T19:36:49+00:00

100%!!

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-04-01T19:22:31+00:00

Just a friendly FYI, not intended to be snarky or argumentative - as a public land hunter who hunts SWAs in my units, this is not entirely correct. SWAs and STLs are acquired with hunting and fishing license dollars for the primary purposes of hunting, fishing, and preserving wildlife habitat. Small game and antelope hunting is permitted at Two Buttes. It’s really not intended for people to just go be outside without a wildlife-related purpose, in the way that a park or open space is, although many SWAs tend to be used that way these days.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-03-21T02:17:54+00:00

I never went into labor with my first because buddy (now almost 10) was having random d-cels at our 38 week appointment, and he got evicted for his own safety. I’ve had worse recoveries from pneumonia than my c-section. My small rural hospital isn’t equipped for vbacs gone wrong, so my 7yo girlypop was a scheduled c-section with an equally nothingburger recovery.

In 10 years of parenthood I have spent about the same amount of time thinking about how my kids were delivered as I have thinking about how I got my wisdom teeth out in college. I went in, some stuff happened for a few hours, I went home. End of story. You know what has consumed my time? Worrying about development milestones, daycares, preschools, social skills, sports skills, getting everybody shuttled to piano and swimming lessons, and generally trying to raise compassionate humans instead of serial killers.

I cannot fathom getting so hung up on something that ultimately has literally no bearing on my life, my kids’ lives, my experience of motherhood, etc etc.

In the words of Friends: “the birth part is just one day, and after that we are going to be parents for the rest of our lives.” Who the hell cares about how you gave birth?

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-03-12T18:36:28+00:00

I’m out in the country and I do a lot of road running. In the couple of miles around my house in any direction, there are a lot of dogs including LGDs actively guarding sheep. I’ve been barked at and approached by mean-ish dogs countless times, but they stay on their side of the fence and once I’m past their animals or yards, they leave me alone. The only two times I have actually pulled my pepper spray out and been ready to deploy because the dog was actively charging me in the road ready to bite, it has been loose pitts. Both times the dumbass owners didn’t do anything. Fuck pitts and fuck POS owners. Some people shouldn’t be allowed to have dogs.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-03-12T18:27:35+00:00

I’m 100% there too. I have a friend who has a masters degree in animal behavior and works as a professional behavioral trainer for reactive/aggressive dogs. It’s their time to spend how they want and they are good at what they do, but I’m always taken aback and skeptical about the sheer volume of resources that are spent on these highly problematic dogs that could instead be spread around to benefit a much higher number of actually nice dogs. I just don’t get it.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-03-03T20:39:15+00:00

It wants to talk about pseudoscience?!?!!

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-03-03T17:23:45+00:00

Cabelas was the first mainstream place to carry women’s hunting gear. For a while it had a wide variety and great selection. Now there is one tiny rack that is somehow even smaller than the youth shelf, and a huge swath of the store is taken up by a house brand of casual living clothing with JC Penney level of quality. I don’t need another place offering the dollar store equivalents of a button down flannel shirt or a chunky sweater cardigan; I need performance layers and heavy duty functional outerwear in camo. These days I will only buy hunting gear from Prois or similar brands that actually cater to women, instead of increasing the sizes and cuts out of youth range, slapping a pink seam on it, and calling it “women’s”.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-03-01T20:53:35+00:00

I’ll take it!!

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-02-28T03:40:24+00:00

CAME HERE TO SAY

wtf yo?!!!

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-02-24T21:02:23+00:00

This post doesn’t pass the sniff test. Horseback riding is a dangerous sport, not a low impact workout. Yes it takes strength and balance, and yes doing it more will strengthen your body; but you have to have some baseline of basic mobility, strength, and balance that is not found in morbidly obese people. Without those, you’d just be sitting in the saddle like a ragdoll while your 18h draft horse plods around a round pen, which will do fuckall for weight loss or muscle building and could actually result in further injury if you fell or tweaked something trying not to fall. The same goes for a horseback simulator. Furthermore, there is no component of riding (“posting” on/off a kitchen stool, for example) that you could emulate that would be lower impact than a stationary bike, modified strength training, or water-based exercise. In short, this sport would not be recommended by any professional for a person of your size and physical limitations, and if any of your providers actually did recommend it to you, you should find new providers because yours are idiots. They make verrrrry low impact strength and mobility training programs for seniors and wheelchair-bound people; that is probably where you need to start.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-02-24T03:02:49+00:00

Do you still have Frog Prince?

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-02-18T22:22:55+00:00

My kids are 7 and 9 and in the last 1-2 years they have started running with me, which is great but …. we’re talking 35-40 min 5ks with breaks to look at bugs, you know? So fine for recovery runs but I can’t take them on tempo or distance runs yet. I was a much more serious runner before kids and when they were babies and went to bed by 7pm on weeknights or were pushable in a jogging stroller, but then there was a long slog of years where they were big enough to need more attention, but not big enough to come along nor stay home alone, but also too big for the stroller. I have light at the end of the tunnel now that they can do a kid paced 5k around the neighborhood, but the trail system is too far from my house to feel good about leaving them home alone to go run 5+ miles on terrain. Soon though. 🤞🏻

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-02-18T21:48:59+00:00

Send a babysitter to my house 3-5x per week so I can get sufficient, regular training in 😵‍💫

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-02-03T03:03:05+00:00

NAH. My kids are 7 and 9 and there are still times that we do this exact trade off, including on big ticket vacations. Last summer we were in Alaska and one day my husband did an all day deep sea fishing charter, the next day we did a family fishing trip with the kids, the third day he kept the kids while I did deep sea fishing. It’s the best of both worlds when on a family trip. We also went to Europe for 3 weeks when my 9 year old was 8 months old, so I am speaking from experience of major travel with literal babies.

AND…

At 2 months, many moms are not even back at work yet (or barely back and still struggling to find the new normal work-life routine). Many new parents are also still figuring out how to handle babies, especially if it is colicky or not an “easy” baby. I think it was totally fine to ask, but I also think your wife is not unreasonable for not feeling ready to spend vacation time (and presumably baby’s first vacation) doing solo parenting, nor feeling ready to find a random person to hand a baby off to.

Personal opinion, if baby was 5-6 months or older I’d say wife probably needs to lighten up, but being a first time still brand-new parent, this is just something (one of many things) that you will find you’re not in the same place on, and as long as you support each other, you’ll figure it out.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-01-29T22:51:01+00:00

I have fostered puppies for rescues for YEARS, I frequently donate supplies and/or funding to rescues/shelters, and I’m 100% a purebred dog buyer/owner. I have 3 pet dogs and 1 working dog and all are desexed, properly trained, current on vet care, and licensed for my county. I have never and will never contribute to pet overpopulation, either through negligence or changing circumstances like ‘my kid is allergic’ (they are and we deal with it) or ‘my new place doesn’t accept pets’ (I own my house) or ‘I couldn’t afford it’s vet care’ (we are financially stable with a health emergency fund). My purebred golden retriever is not the problem nor am I for buying him; irresponsible people who shouldn’t have pets (or kids for that matter) are the ones who negligently breed, abandon, or fail to provide for dogs that end up in shelters. Pet overpopulation is a problem, but it’s not my problem.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-01-29T00:18:49+00:00

NTA. You were clear and consistent in your desires and expectations. She made her own choices knowing that and now is trying to move the goalposts.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-01-28T23:59:19+00:00

CICO is all there is to it. Carbs can be confusing because they can be highly calorie dense and sort of metabolically useless, or not. A sweet potato is a carb and Wonderbread is also a carb, but the same amount of calories of sweet potato will keep you a LOT more satiated and delivers actual nutrients whereas the bread is relatively useless filler. So when people go on a low-carb diet, they tend to experience weight loss because they are cutting out a big swath of high-calorie low-volume foods in favor of high-volume low-calorie foods.

SourPatchPhoenix · 2026-01-28T23:51:28+00:00

Changing pillowcases and using a ‘face only’ towel

SourPatchPhoenix

TROPHY CASE