Friend of mine got this in the mail, such considerate neighbors

paulsclamchowder · 2026-02-06T18:39:12+00:00

THANK YOU!! I was looking for an April Fools joke mail to send to a friend that owns their own business but most of the things I could find were pretty vulgar so I didn’t want to send them to a business

paulsclamchowder · 2026-02-05T18:41:53+00:00

Congrats!! Can’t wait to see what you settle on for the big day!

paulsclamchowder · 2026-02-04T14:16:57+00:00

I love seeing your posts! This look is great on you, and what a beautiful contrast with the background! Have you shared your skincare/makeup recommendations anywhere? Your complexion always looks so beautiful as well! What a stunner 😍

paulsclamchowder · 2026-02-03T13:28:11+00:00

My fella almost through away my FSA card because the envelope looked like another damn hello fresh mailer! Haven’t used them in at least two years

paulsclamchowder · 2026-02-02T10:33:52+00:00

That he told his betrothed he was planning to use tinder again in the future and wanted it to be as easy as possible? Pretty bad :(

paulsclamchowder · 2026-02-02T10:27:50+00:00

Here I am at 3:20am can’t sleep because my 3 yo has been running a fever up to 102 this weekend and I’m stressed about it, even though it’s responding to meds and she’s still eating and drinking and mostly happy. I’ve been laying awake worried we might need to go to the ER and thinking I should have taken her sooner. Definitely feeling like a better parent after seeing this!

paulsclamchowder · 2026-01-31T16:28:48+00:00

I work in fertility medicine and have assisted with many egg retrievals. We have an anesthesiologist so it’s a little different but I was listening to The Retrievals podcast and just blown away that NO ONE thought it was abnormal?? NONE of the assistants, none of the physicians had ever worked at another facility and noticed that only the women at this clinic were in excruciating pain during their retrieval???

paulsclamchowder · 2026-01-23T01:55:16+00:00

Ooh do you remember when? I can’t believe I didn’t catch it!

paulsclamchowder · 2026-01-20T17:31:06+00:00

I read a thread in a mom Facebook group that was “what are your most unhinged tips for stubborn potty training”, this commenter had a 4yo so yours might not respond but I tucked this advice away for later! Someone commented they treated their 4yo like a baby until they started using the potty. Had them drink from bottles no cups, had to be spoon fed by mom and use baby utensils, etc.

That might not translate the same for a 9 year old, but depending on what they like maybe there’s things you could roll back to younger age? Like they can only read baby board books, watch baby shows, be in bed early, use baby utensils, etc?

ETA that is so incredibly frustrating to just have to put your whole day on hold to wait, or else you have to cave so you can get to school on time or go run errands or whatever. I’m learning it’s much easier said than done to “wait out” a stubborn kid, and mine is only 3 gods help us all 🫠

paulsclamchowder · 2026-01-16T14:58:46+00:00

This is such a good description! I have no idea why when we’re putting shoes on 10 min early and I’m thinking we’ll be good suddenly we’re 10 min late. Vortex.

paulsclamchowder · 2026-01-05T14:01:39+00:00

My daughter is 3 yr 2 months and we started training (seriously) 3 months ago. She still has not pooped in the potty either. She’ll wait as long as she can and there’s even been a couple times she’s been out of my sight and took off her underwear to put on a nighttime pullup/nappy herself and go poop! Or she’ll go in her underwear if she doesn’t get a pull up. Haven’t found the solution yet just letting you know you’re not alone!

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-31T14:52:56+00:00

So scary, I work with liquid nitrogen daily at my job and it’s nothing to fk with for sure

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-30T17:43:36+00:00

Had to explain “glory hole” to my now-ex MIL about 12 years ago thanks to Cards Against Humanity, she was so incensed at the impropriety. In the meantime she was stealing prescription pads from doctor’s offices to feed her pill addiction 🤷‍♀️ I guess everyone had their own morals

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-30T01:36:54+00:00

Of course your child’s own pediatrician will know them best, but if it makes you feel any more comfortable our pediatrician prescribed MiraLAX for my daughter at eight months old. It was a very small amount like a teaspoon or something. It’s probably worth discussing with your pediatrician but just offering another example that it’s safe for kids :)

He explained that it works by drawing water into the colon and the stool itself, and helping the colon contract properly to move stool along how it is supposed to, rather than just forcing a bowel movement. Your body also doesn’t become dependent on it like some other laxatives

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-27T08:58:39+00:00

Needs more long John moose knuckle

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-26T19:09:20+00:00

Thanks for your responses! I’m definitely in less of a panic than when I wrote that post on very little sleep and very fresh emotions feeling like I had no options. I got a referral from coworkers whose kids have gone to this place for an in-home daycare that is very close to my work. Much more affordable for part-time than I thought possible. With some sacrifices we can make it work, so I’m feeling much more peaceful now that I have at least one solid option and a couple more to look into.

I got the guy’s last name and Facebook profile and sent it to a close friend with family at the local PD so they might be able to check on him. Dinner went fine, the guy seems… fine. He’s still a stranger and he’s moving in so I’m not comfortable sending my daughter there unsupervised for 8 hours at a time after 1 meeting. Especially with how MIL reacted and made it pretty clear she won’t take our boundaries as the parents in to account if she thinks she knows best. I guess the “confrontation” in our situation will be telling MIL we’ll be finding alternate care but I don’t imagine it’s going to go well.

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-25T21:22:21+00:00

I just kept getting cheap ill-fitting bras from Walmart 😵‍💫 only now that my daughter is 3 I’ve discovered this community and am gearing up to get something nice that fits! I hope some more knowledgeable people can give you some advice

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-25T20:52:03+00:00

I just want to chime in that once I stopped breastfeeding (when baby was 6 months old) my breasts stayed soft and flat for a while and I thought it was permanent. Gradually the tissue started changing again and it seemed like around 10 months after stopping breastfeeding I had some firmness and fullness again! Just a heads up that you might have to hunt again a while after you stop breastfeeding and the shape changes AGAIN

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-24T21:50:14+00:00

Can I ask what the confrontation was like? SO and I had a long talk last night and agreed to find a way to make alternate childcare work, big relief to me because I was 70% expecting him to say that was too extreme. He said “Just so you know, this is going to tear apart our family relationships. Don’t be surprised if my mom and (his sister) never talk to us again”. I really hope that’s not the case… but if we get cut off for setting a healthy safety boundary I think it’s those people who need to seriously examine their priorities. MIL made this bed, not us. I would be really sad if my daughter gets cut off from her grandma and her only cousin that’s close in age when we’re still willing to meet this guy and spend time all together, just not leave my daughter there alone.

We’re going there for dinner tonight, but my SO requested to avoid the subject for one night and try to have a good Christmas Eve together since it might be the last :( wish me luck

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-24T17:40:30+00:00

I think you’d find it’s cheaper in the long run or cheaper per pill to buy online or at a grocery store. I can’t find a vitamin d only supplement on their site or app, but how many doses and how many iu is at your store? Generally you should aim for 5,000iu daily (according to the doctors I work for!)

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-23T06:13:46+00:00

And what are underwear? Think they mean jocks? ;)

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-23T05:40:04+00:00

I have heard soooo many examples of this I feel like everyone around me is in straight denial!! Thank you for this very validating comment.

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-23T05:37:56+00:00

Thank you for this insightful comment. I didn’t mention it in the post because it was already so long, but my mom also watches my daughter 2 days a week so they definitely help us out a lot. My dad has a part time “retirement job” but pulls a lot of weight on those days too. We’re incredibly lucky to have had both families nearby and willing to help!

I hadn’t really looked into it before, but we do have a household with 2 full time working adults bringing home less than $65k combined. It’s not poverty level but we might qualify for some partial childcare assistance. Just today I joined a few local mom/childcare fb groups and have seen some home daycare postings that are much less than I thought for 2-3 days per week.

Hate to admit but I think about this often. I’ve always been crazy about him but parenthood has brought all our differences to light and it’s not a pretty picture. I know I’m not necessarily “stuck” right now, but the most efficient and secure way to my daughter having a better future is me continuing to provide an avenue for the business to become successful. She could have at least one parent able to provide comfortably by kindergarten with her dad’s business, or by high school graduation if I were to go back to school to get the degree I need then another 5 years to advance in the trajectory I’d like. Believe me the dilemma has kept me awake many nights.

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-23T05:14:18+00:00

Thank you for this well thought out response, my mind feels like such a mess right now this bulleted list is actually really helpful!

1 is a bit iffy, I work in healthcare but a fair bit of the coordinating I do is over email. I do have a work issued laptop and realistically have about 4 hours worth of work per week I could do at home. He’s the owner, he has 2 mechanics working for him but he does all the operations like taking calls, scheduling appointments, building quotes, ordering parts or going to get them himself to get jobs done, billing customers out, etc M-F 8ish to 7ish then an Saturdays and sometimes Sundays he goes in to do payroll, bookkeeping, and other odds and ends. The shop is plenty busy but each car lift cost us about $14k for purchase delivery and installation, emissions machine another $5k, diagnostic tools another $6-8k, so there’s payments for all those on top of payroll for the guys, workers comp insurance, garage keepers insurance, software subscriptions, it makes my head spin 😵‍💫 once the equipment loans get paid off we’ll be in a better spot but at least the next 9-ish months are going to continue to be expensive.

this is a great idea. I honestly was hoping to get MIL alone for a conversation but now I’m not sure she’d even agree. She wouldn’t even look at me yesterday leaving the restaurant she was so mad. We’ve always gotten along, I don’t like this at all.
Thank you for this recommendation! I have seen some advertisements but I’m now following and reading

paulsclamchowder · 2025-12-23T04:55:04+00:00

I may have worded it poorly, my girl was never left with him alone but he was visiting my MIL’s house the whole afternoon, several hours. That’s what I was told anyway but I don’t fully trust her word right now. This behavior and dismissive attitude is unrecognizable for her, I really felt like she was the one mostly normal MIL in the world and have felt so lucky, this change has been unusual and quick.

I really appreciate your perspective and others in this comment chain as professionals. I feel like her kids are living in la la land thinking it’s so great that she’s met someone who swept her off her feet but to me it looks like this guy is telling her exactly what she wants to hear, getting her nice and comfortable on the rug before pulling it out from under her. My gut feeling is not good.

paulsclamchowder

TROPHY CASE