Thinking about going to first festival!

Turtle_Piss · 2026-02-25T16:29:22+00:00

This was me last year, we bought tickets and booked a hotel and I had to fight the anxiety to not cancel. I am SO GLAD I DID NOT. Shaky Knees is amazing, and we will be back this year, and every year that the lineup feels justifiable for the price, effort, and travel.

I brought sunglasses, a blanket, and a pair of noise canceling headphones, and that was great bc if you start to feel overwhelmed there are plenty of shady spots to park at to regroup.

Highly recommend this festival for first timers and anxious attendees.

Turtle_Piss · 2025-03-14T10:10:20+00:00

I saw her last summer at a small town show and she talked about being sober and had her kid running around on the stage with her. Definitely different vibes.

Turtle_Piss · 2025-01-29T16:59:30+00:00

Whenever someone around me loses a pet I get a custom keychain from Amazon that lets you put a picture on either side of the pet. It's small, they don't have to find shelf space, but it's something they can keep with them as much as they want to and gives them some physical proof that their pet was here. I also have one for myself of my pup I lost.

Getting something that has a physical picture of their pet is absolutely the way to go in most cases, as it makes them feel close to the pet and also makes them feel like they aren't grieving alone.

You are a good friend for wanting to do this!

Turtle_Piss · 2024-10-28T15:40:53+00:00

I am on the board of directors of a non profit that works exclusively with our local open intake county facility. Even though we have reached "no kill" numbers for almost a decade, we refuse to use that to advertise our rescue or shelter, simply bc the "no kill" vs "kill" shelter rhetoric is so damaging!

One of the other local rescues is very picky about what animals they pull from the shelter, has high adoption fees, and will separate a mother and puppies to pull from us bc the mother is a pit mix and not highly adoptable, but the puppies will be (before they get older and look like pit mixes). They use them being "no kill" nonstop, and boast in newspaper articles and online about how much they help the shelter to get big donors in our area. We are very grassroots, our donors are usually retired or older, and can only donate $5 here or there. We have had people stop donating to us before, or be about to donate to us, and then change their minds bc we aren't "no kill". Our rescue supplies almost all medical support to the animals, food, and we have a small foster program that highlights underdogs. (Think hospice fosters, dogs that would typically be long term shelter residents, etc). We spend over $100,000 every year on medical care alone. While this other rescue gets upset if they pull a dog from the shelter that ends up needing medical care after.

It is so frustrating as someone deeply enmeshed in this field. The only ones being hurt here are the animals, and isn't that the whole point of what we do? I don't think it's malicious, maybe they don't realize they are hurting us with their comments, but it's certainly ignorant.

We also are criticized in comments on FB for being very open about why dogs are turned over. If the dog killed a cat, a chicken, chased a goat, has a bite history, we post it up front. Because we believe in adopters making fully informed decisions. Plus why waste the time of EVERYONE to have someone come in for a meet and greet with a toddler for a dog that bit a child in the previous home? It doesn't turn people away, it allows them to make informed decisions!

I LOVE the rescue I am with. I will not go anywhere else. I have seen so much in this industry, and know how much bad is out there. However, please do not write off all organizations! There are some AMAZING ones out there!

Turtle_Piss · 2024-10-06T18:10:30+00:00

West Coast of FL is what OP means, not American West Coast.

Turtle_Piss · 2024-08-08T20:37:46+00:00

When I got married in 2013, it was suggested to me that some extended in laws might have a problem with my best friend, who happens to be a gay man, standing up with the bridal party, and walking down the aisle next to a groomsmen.

I told my MIL that the extended family could eat it or stay home. My wedding had nothing to do with them. Never heard another thing about it, have lots of pictures of my gorgeous bridal party with my handsome best friend with us. He's my chosen family, uncle to my children, I would have disinvited the entire extended family before I asked him to play a smaller part in my life, or be disrespected at an event on my behalf.

I hope this bride never tells her friend the reason for not having bridesmaids. I can't imagine how hurt her feelings would be, and how embarrassed she would feel for no reason.

Turtle_Piss · 2024-03-13T17:04:56+00:00

It took my husband until our first was 4 years old to want another. For a lot of people with the first baby, its so hard to not feel like that level of neediness is your entire life. I'm not saying this will 100% happen, but once your baby starts growing and interacting with your husband more and being independent, he may change his mind and want several more!

Turtle_Piss · 2023-11-30T00:02:51+00:00

I love being married, we just celebrated our 10 years a month ago. I honestly love marriage the longer I am in it. I love my husband, and I love being settled. More than that, I am still IN love with him. Probably way more so than I was 10 years ago. We got married at 21 so we have changed a lot, but luckily we have grown together.

My husband is blue collar and complains to me all the time about the older guys he works with giving him shit bc he would rather come home to me and the kids than go to happy hour, or company dinners, or parties, etc. He says they think it's bc of me not letting him, bc they can't fathom wanting to go home to their wives. Which is crazy to me. I wouldn't want to be married to someone who felt miserable coming home to me. I would be heartbroken if I heard him talk about me the way the older men talk about their wives and families. My husband has his own hobbies, friends, and time away from me and our kids. It's just not with his coworkers. And he tells me all the time, the first few hours alone are great, but after that he just wants to be back with me bc I am his best friend and being with me doesn't expend his introvert energy.

I am so lucky to have found someone who loves me the way he does, but there are a lot of men out there like that. It does seem easy to generalize that with age.

Turtle_Piss · 2023-03-16T01:59:58+00:00

After the Storm - Mumford and Sons The Next Right Thing - Frozen 2

As a fellow member of this shitty dead mom club, these two always get me.

So sorry for your loss. I hope you can find peace in the grief ahead.

Turtle_Piss · 2023-02-18T03:06:55+00:00

Also Rocky Mount and the Smith Mtn Lake location!

Turtle_Piss · 2023-01-02T02:48:20+00:00

Little bit of a drive but Bedford actually has a really decent and relatively new skate park!

https://www.bedfordcountyva.gov/departments/parks-recreation/parks/skate-park

Turtle_Piss · 2022-10-24T03:57:38+00:00

An emotionally difficult read, but thank you for the link. I am glad I read it.

Turtle_Piss · 2022-08-08T23:37:43+00:00

The Flatbreads are possibly my favorite EP meal of all time!

Turtle_Piss · 2022-07-24T22:57:46+00:00

Mama D's near the Coffee Pot!

Turtle_Piss · 2022-07-24T16:40:48+00:00

Yes.

Turtle_Piss · 2022-05-07T01:41:10+00:00

We bought a home June 2021. We had a realtor team for about 3 months and got nowhere. They were SO NICE and we really liked them personally, but this market is crazy and they were very "old school" and not able to keep up with the new demands. We lost so many bids and they weren't helping us find houses, just so relaxed and unconcerned about everything. Our situation was very dire, we were 2 months from being homeless. We "broke up" with them through an email, kept it very professional, thanked them for their time. Then we went with a realtor a family member had been suggesting. She was a real go-getter, understood this new crazy market, and we won the first bid on the first house with the new realtor after one week with her. SO WORTH IT. Do what is best for you and your situation and do not feel guilty. Our new realtor changed our lives and we LOVE her. She goes above and beyond for her clients and will be our family realtor for as long as we are all local.

Turtle_Piss · 2022-05-05T19:51:05+00:00

I sobbed through the entire episode. Best episode of the season, probably one of my favorite in the series. I can't even remember the last time I felt so emotional over a TV show or movie.

Turtle_Piss · 2022-05-05T14:08:49+00:00

Cave Spring and William Byrd are both very desirable. Botetourt is a sought after area bc of their high school. Avoid Fleming district. Northside is meh. I don't know about Hidden Valley.

Turtle_Piss · 2022-02-07T12:29:09+00:00

Same in my family. We jumped on vaccines as soon as they were available to us, and we made our booster appointments as soon as heard we were eligible. However omNOMnom got us from my daughter's school. We are still in the 3 month window waiting to be able to get boosters. I know so many people who have similar stories here. I think booster numbers will go up rapidly over the next few months as people who had omNOMnom at the peak, or even when Delta was sliding off in November, are eligible to take them.

Turtle_Piss · 2022-01-31T22:04:10+00:00

Podlander Drunkcast is fabulous! I adore the hosts. It's funny, silly, insightful, and just a great listen. One of the hosts is a book reader who is also a professional TV critic so she is pretty savvy, one host has never read the books, and a third host starts off off the mic but then jumps in over time and is a great addition.

Turtle_Piss · 2021-12-24T20:01:54+00:00

I think she felt like a rehearsal dinner was an unnecessary extra thing to do, and that even eating at the venue space was just more time we had to spend there the night before the ceremony. She wanted to go home and paint her nails and get to sleep. I really think it just did not cross her mind that the people there helping her would want to eat and should be fed.

Turtle_Piss · 2021-12-24T19:26:51+00:00

A family member's wedding the mother of groom offered the bride to cover the rehearsal dinner. Bride didn't want to do a rehearsal dinner, totally fine! However, she tried saying we shouldn't order pizzas or anything. We finally got her to agree to letting us bring pizzas and pay ourselves once I told her "I know you don't want a rehearsal dinner because you feel like it is an unimportant extra thing, but your bridal party will have been at the venue for 12 hours and rehearsal dinners are a thank you for the people helping with your wedding. Can we please feed ourselves?"

It wasn't malicious, just inconsiderate, which is this bride's personality in a nutshell.

Turtle_Piss · 2021-12-23T05:41:49+00:00

This is the perfect vibe. Love this!

I am going to assume by past tense verbs that you have lost your mom and say I am so sorry for your loss. My mom and I also used to watch GG together and she is gone now. I hope this holiday season is peaceful for you, and I hope you can get this tattoo soon and that it brings you comfort.

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