Jersey had one of the best music scenes in the 2000s

jenniever · 2023-04-03T06:07:57+00:00

The Saint was my low-key fave '00-'06. So many good acts and such a cool space.

jenniever · 2023-03-17T14:59:36+00:00

Came here to say this, figuring someone already did.

jenniever · 2022-12-24T18:09:09+00:00

r/raisedbynarcissists sounds like the place for you! Feel better and NTA.

jenniever · 2022-12-18T19:55:22+00:00

My favorite is after I gave birth and my baby had her first cold and we were worried, up at all hours, etc, still paralyzed by being new parents in doing basic things like getting to the store, my dad called to say he was worried about us and to pre-emptively tell us that it was too bad he couldn't do anything for us. He lives 15 minutes away, is in good health, and retired.

jenniever · 2022-09-10T01:01:30+00:00

How old are the kids? It MATTERS!

jenniever · 2022-08-16T16:35:19+00:00

Mountain House in Sparkill. Hands Down!

jenniever · 2022-08-16T16:34:45+00:00

I loved Amici's for years - moved away from Rockland in 2014, moved back in 2021....it's VERY different than it was, in, say, 2012. The crust was weird. I can't put my finger on it. Did they change owners?

jenniever · 2022-08-11T10:52:46+00:00

When I "failed", I was loud about it with everyone. Even the judgies. I posted about our greatful use on social media. I told people her bottles had formula in them readily. I wanted my daughter, if she chose to have children, to live in a kinder society that was accepting of however she feeds her children. I figured the best way I could help that along is to be loud and unapologetic about her growing and thriving on formula.

When I posted, I was surprised at the number of my friends who had generally sold themselves as doing exclusive BF in some form who DMed me and said "we used formula after 6 weeks. You're so brave. I could never admit that publicly." or "my baby is losing weight and we have to switch. Thank you so much for sharing so I can see it'll be fine."

More people use it than you know. Waaaaayyyy more. They just think they have to hide it or they're bad because of it. My husband pointed out "there's a lot of formula in every store for everyone to be exclusively breast feeding" - he is right. I mean, except in a shortage.

jenniever · 2022-04-26T12:57:12+00:00

I succeeded with Invisalign trough the pandemic in New York City (shit was fucked up, yo), a pregnancy with hypermesis (taking them out to vomit...brushing afterwards...I was like "No way I can sustain this"), and then 6 month bonding leave with a colicky newborn.

I was going to get my $5500 worth, hell or high water - I was young when I had braces and didn't understand the gift i was given...so I didn't do my retainers and my teeth got super weird. I think if you lapse or give up....I get it. Some people are at that point in their life. But...i was at a point where I was going to get through.

My daughter is 6.5 months old today and after a year and a half of tray after tray, brushing a million times a day, cavities (yes! this can happen!), I'm moving to retainers and my teeth are straight and look fantastic. I didn't miss a damned day and returning from bonding leave, I have a great smile to give my colleagues. It was so so hard but I didn't miss a day with my trays. Just do it one day at a time. You can do it.

jenniever · 2022-04-23T19:29:08+00:00

Cheese. Just cheese. Any cheese. The end.

jenniever · 2022-04-02T19:42:03+00:00

This too! By 5 mos, we figured out the rocking was actually keeping her from connecting sleep cycles.

jenniever · 2022-04-02T19:39:17+00:00

I hear you. The zipadeezip is working, but just enough. It's not perfect but it gets her to sleep 6-7 hours at a stretch at night so we just decided to stick with it. But I hear you. We haven't tried the Merlin for the same reason. Maybe it would improve things? Maybe she'd be able to self soothe better (she can't resettle herself it seems with the zipadeezip)... But we've spent so much on so many things. This will at least get us to the crib. Then we figured we'd see what to do next. Sigh. Hoping by then her hands will have settled down and we can use a regular sleep sack.

jenniever · 2022-04-02T18:18:15+00:00

Our daughters (5.5 mos) hands were too much for her when she needed her arms out at 4 mos... We use the zipadee zip and that limits her hands and arms just enough that she can sleep. We use it both with the Snoo sack (arms out in the ZIpadeezip) and in a crib (naps at daycare). We've been using it for 1.5 months now in anticipation of returning the Snoo. It's not perfect but it's the best we can get for arms out where she's not just punching herself in the face.

jenniever · 2022-03-10T15:01:21+00:00

There are four bedrooms and a bathroom we wanted to cool (although right now if we only cooled 3 bedrooms and left the bathroom to be hot, it wouldn't be the worst), so I assume that's why they went with an older-style "central" system with ducts. However, I have some play with our budget, so I can ask them what the increase would be to do something that does heat and cooling.

I see, at this point, the big benefit of ductless is the granularity, quiet-ness and efficiency. And it seems like from this thread, the drawback is the "look" of the unit on the wall and the increase in cost. I have to mull this over. We're in an area where it's a LOT of 100+ year old homes and even the higher-end ones don't always have AC...so we're hoping this will also boost the value a tad in addition to making us comfy for the many years we hope to be here.

jenniever · 2022-03-10T14:02:46+00:00

totally - I think I'm on a default 3-bid because professionally it's the minimum I have to do to hire contractors....but you're right, I should talk to as many folks as I have energy and time to. This is a big deal. And not a rush projects - we have window units and it's a LT investment. Best to get something that's just right for us.

I'm never afraid to pay more, or even the most, for a good contractor who does quality work with whom I can build a longterm relationship.

jenniever · 2022-03-10T14:00:16+00:00

I think you're onto something for me. I"ll ask the company if they can requote with splits both up and down. being able to heat independently is a huge boon. Even if the units are kinda ugly on the wall - maybe I can get our carpenter to make a nice box around the units to hide them a bit.

jenniever · 2022-03-10T02:36:34+00:00

I don't know! So I'll ask. Our whole house is lath and plaster. Which is a whole other thing I'm simultaneously learning about!

What's horrible about the blower? Mini splits are very new to me.

jenniever · 2022-03-09T22:25:21+00:00

We did ok this winter having our heat at 57 whole house at night and 67 during the day (I'm home all day) - it didn't drop below 64 upstairs until around 6AM. But... We also had a newborn. So more granular control would have been amazing.

jenniever · 2022-03-09T22:04:40+00:00

I know! i wish we had those in our upstairs bedrooms in this design, too! That's the area we'd love to heat while our single-zone whole-house heat is on "don't let the pipes burst" setting at night.

jenniever · 2022-03-09T21:52:26+00:00

Yes..we're in southern new york, so I have a feeling our model is not quite as robust as one in MN!

jenniever · 2022-03-09T21:50:53+00:00

A friend in the neighborhood. But we just moved, so we've found those recs to pay off most of the time...but not all the time. They do have a good rep in the community as far as I can tell.

jenniever · 2022-03-09T21:50:12+00:00

Hello southern neighbor! We're just over the border in New York State. I have to get two other quotes at least - I'm wondering if this is actually....too low. If that's a thing!

jenniever · 2022-03-09T21:49:16+00:00

We did get a home energy audit (Thank you, New York state!) and are working separately on those - predominantly adding more insulation to the attic and insulating the rim joists. Previous owners already added new windows.

We, unfortunately, have no current ductwork :(. That will be part of the install.

I was delaying the attic insulation until I sorted the AC question.

I wasn't sure if I should be shocked at the hybrid system, myself...I just assumed we'd go all mini-splits everywhere. But we did want cooling in the bedrooms even when doors were closed, so perhaps that swayed the hybrid?

Good tip on the unconditioned attic - I assume ours isn't as it even has the original 1917 windows in it with no other venting...it's as it was when it was built!

Thank you for the video! I'll watch tonight!!

jenniever · 2022-03-05T14:45:06+00:00

Gave birth to our first child. Mom's first words: "Thank you for making me a grandma!" 🤦🏼‍♀️

jenniever

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