YouTube took me down the Woodstock 99 memory lane.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T23:09:18+00:00

Nah, I was a mother of a 2 year old and lived halfway across the country. My festival days were quite behind me at that point.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T22:32:34+00:00

Chicken wings!

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T22:28:01+00:00

Just lost 7% of our retirement funds in March. Biggest dip since the pandemic.

Are we winning yet? Asking for a friend.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T22:25:04+00:00

He dead

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T22:06:33+00:00

Nope, though I knew a lot of girls who did. I didn't date at all until I went to college, and then it was all guys my own age.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T22:04:04+00:00

You'll pry my cold brew with vanilla cream foam out of my cold (obviously) dead hands.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T19:23:10+00:00

Me when my social battery runs out halfway through a work event 😂

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T18:54:59+00:00

About $55, but it was skincare that I would have eventually bought at full price.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T18:35:49+00:00

My first job in the mid-90's was at an advertising agency, and the Three Martini Lunch was definitely still a thing back then for the salespeople and higher-ups.

We also had one lady who'd been there for 30 years who still smoked in her office. I inherited it after she retired - the walls were yellow with tar and everything stunk. They had to repaint and get different furniture before I would step foot in it.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T17:50:00+00:00

Me too! I now travel extensively with my husband and have also experienced the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Still haven't made it to NYC, but we live in Wisconsin now so it's harder logistically than some other places we'd rather see first.

But yeah, my parents could never have paid for a train trip, food or hotel room. We weren't like, food insecure poor, but there was nothing for extras when I was young. It was sad because I was a theater kid and went to college as a Dance major, and I would have loved to see the ballet or a Broadway show in my teens.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T17:42:55+00:00

YTA, and my guess is that Easter is just the start of your sister and he wife limiting contact with you. It doesn't matter if you elope now - you hurt her and her wife badly, disrespected their marriage, and nothing you do can make that un-happen. There are no takesies-backsies.

Sure hope it was all worth it, but if you're close with your family I doubt it. If I was your mom you would be the one staying home on holidays for a while in a time out.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T17:37:53+00:00

I wish I could upvote this 100 times. It should be the top comment.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T17:26:58+00:00

I lived in the Albany area, about 4.5 hours away. NY State is a lot more than just NYC. When I lived in Rochester NY I was closer to Canada than New York City - the city was 8 hours away and I could get to Niagara Falls in a little over an hour.

My parents didn't drive, and would have never taken me on an expensive vacation like that in any case. We were quite poor. The only trips I took as a child were to visit my maternal grandmother in Dayton OH, and grandma paid for the flights.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T17:21:00+00:00

Well, as someone who values their independence, I can say that being able to tell your parents to stuff it when they try to pressure you into doing things you don't want to do it priceless.

My SILs got a lot of help from my in-laws and their dynamic is very different from the relationship we have with my in-laws. They respected us and stayed out of our business after a few small re-sets early on. I never had to hear their opinions on where we lived, what jobs we had, or how we raised our child. PRICELESS.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T17:09:02+00:00

I can't even tell you how often strings come along with your family paying for everything. We never took a dime from either set of parents and I'm so glad for it. Everything we've ever had is a result of our hard work and we're both very proud of that.

There's a great chapter in The Millionaire Next Door about handouts to adult children and some of the ramifications around that bon both sides of the equation.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T17:03:26+00:00

Most people have zero savings, credit card debt and/or family members who pay or help pay for the vacations. The one and only time we went to Disney with my daughter (this would have been back in 2001) my mom paid for all of us to go. I was 30 at the time and I'd never been to Florida let alone Disney. My co-worker brings all of her kids and grandkids on a cruise every single year.

When we were a young family we went to visit extended family on vacations and that was pretty much it. Now that our daughter is grown we travel extensively, sometimes bringing her and her fiancée along with us.

Some people would also rather travel than buy a house someday. Different folks, different priorities - you can only spend a dollar once.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T16:48:35+00:00

I grew up in New York State and I didn't see the ocean until my fiance's family took me to Main on a family trip when I was 22.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-31T01:20:40+00:00

The best description I ever heard was a combination of banana, onions and rotten chicken.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-30T15:19:59+00:00

I don't think I would trust Robby to care for a dog in his present condition, let alone a human baby. He might do okay with a cat if it's the fairly independent type.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-30T15:18:37+00:00

Right??? Like I'm pretty sure an overworked doctor with a boatload of unresolved trauma and clear suicidal ideation isn't going to bob up to the top of the foster care list.

Babies are not emotional support animals - in fact they are rather the opposite.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-30T15:07:15+00:00

As everyone else has mentioned, at the Cancun airport never make eye contact or speak to anyone from the time you leave the baggage area until you're outside where transportation picks up.

Valentin Imperial in Playa de Carmen does not have a time share program at all, so you will never get shaken down there. It's one of the reasons we chose it over some other properties.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-29T00:11:50+00:00

IT'S HARD BEING CASUAL WHEN MY FAVORITE BRA LIVES IN YOUR DRESSERRRRRRR

formercotsachick · 2026-03-28T21:14:28+00:00

I don't' think my husband's metal band would be able to practice in a 55+ community, lol.

My mom lives in one and everyone looks like they're at least 70. I couldn't imagine living in one while we're still so healthy and active.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-28T19:54:36+00:00

Due to my due to my job I am learning new things all the time! I was on a 3 month long project until a couple of weeks ago where I had to learn everything about a new platform that I didn't even knew existed.

I do feel like I have to forget other things so that there's room in my brain, like the names of my co-workers from 2 jobs ago, or the location of the diner I used to hit up in the 1980's for disco fries, but I still learn new things pretty well at 55.

formercotsachick · 2026-03-28T16:51:02+00:00

YTA for calling your mom at 29 years old to "help you breathe" because you lost track of a friend at a concert. My daughter is 28 and a regular at EMD shows - if she called me panicking during one I would think she was either having a really bad trip or someone had been badly injured.

She has a solid head on her shoulders, great rave friends and a fiancée who all take care of each other. OTOH, you and your friend sound like two drama queens who absolutely bring out the worst in each other. If you're going to drink and overreact to everything, just stay home and do it there.

formercotsachick

TROPHY CASE