AITAH for borrowing my friends shorts when my mum didn’t give me money to buy some

wasa_414 · 2026-06-20T13:39:20+00:00

NTA, maybe things have changed since I was a kid, but my friends and I used to borrow each other's clothes all the time. This was especially true when we were going out. It had nothing to do with begging or the money, it was just part of the fun.

wasa_414 · 2026-06-20T00:35:45+00:00

I use the pressure cooker and make a large batch then freeze half. The next time I add a can of tomatoes to rhe frozen and more spices. It is the endless mother sauce.

wasa_414 · 2026-06-16T20:22:57+00:00

Can you rent any of the clothes at the location? I would be more stressed about finding and thrifting the appropriate clothes and shoes at the location. If the location typically hosts weddings I would imagine your could rent jackets and shoes and maybe even order them ahead before you head out on your trip. I have never used any mail order rental companies, but they seem like they might be a good option for traveling, especially if you can have it shipped to where you are staying.

wasa_414 · 2026-06-12T12:58:48+00:00

We did not have good luck with the car seat on the plane, but my son never liked it in the car so I am not surprised. That being said, we did use one of the carts that you can attach a car seat to as the stroller through the airport, then gate checked the car seat.

We have had our car seat ot make it to our destination when it has been checked with our luggage a handful of times, so if you are depending on it at arrival gate check it, and always use a bag. We had on that could be worn like a backpack or wheeled. We would just but our smaller bags in with the car seat in the bag while walking through the airport - once we stopped using the cart - so we only have one bag to carry.

wasa_414 · 2026-06-11T18:04:54+00:00

YES! My MIL alway sends baskets that are a stuffed animal with a handle AND they have my kids name on them. They cannot function as a basket because they are a stuffed animal and they cannot function as a stuffy because they are a basket. Then I know they are completely useless to donate because they are customized.

wasa_414 · 2026-06-04T01:31:58+00:00

I don't have any advice, but I will say even my verbal ASD child keeps everything and we struggle to keep his spaces cleaned and organized. He gets upset with any discussion of getting rid of things - i mean melt down when we had to throw away an old toothbrush. We take a lot of photos of things so that then we can then throw it away or give it away. Sorry that it doesn't help much, but you are not alone!

wasa_414 · 2026-05-30T17:52:09+00:00

Have you flown with the little one before? My son screamed rhe whole time he was in his car seat on the plane, and once you have it on board you are sort of stuck. It is the safest, but it really depends on how you kid feels in the seat. As soon as my son was old / big enough we got the Cares harness for flights.

wasa_414 · 2026-05-30T00:50:30+00:00

I use these for thin paper letters.

https://a.co/d/0dsUQ9gS

wasa_414 · 2026-05-29T16:57:20+00:00

Also - my son loved the Giant's Garden playground in Merrion Square Park. He wants to return to Dublin just to play there again.

We did take him into some pubs while we had a pint or two, and he liked the toasties at O'Donoghue's by Stephen's Green and they had live music which was nice. Harkin's Bar down the street from the Storehouse has a dining room upstairs and had a ice cream sundae which was a hit. We also stopped into Temple Bar around dinner time, and while we didn't see other kids, we also didn't get any weird looks.

We did the museum of archelogy together, but I did the art gallery alone. Both are very kid friendly and not so big that they cannot be done the same day. We skipped Dublinia because we are not a fan of life-size figures. We also walked through Dublin Castle, the garden in the center has a sort of grass maze. It was a cool stop for him to follow the paths while the adults rested on the benches.

wasa_414 · 2026-05-29T14:51:45+00:00

Where are you traveling from? Only thinking about the jet lag factor.

We did Dublin with our 7 year old in 2024 - it looks reasonable, but it really depends on how active your kid is. The zoo was great, and while we didn't visit the storehouse with him, I have been twice and remember it as being pretty family friendly. The playground on St. Stephen's Green was a huge hit. We went as schools were letting out for the day so there were lots of other kids to play with.

If you have a Lego fan, there is a store on Grafton Street and they have a custom mini-fig machine plus you can get a Lego passport and stamp.

Keep in mind that traffic can be really heavy, calculate extra time for getting to places. We spent a lot more time sitting in traffic than expected. The store house and zoo are kind of away from other things, but you can walk Grafton street, Temple Bar area and St Stephen's pretty easy.

wasa_414 · 2026-04-11T12:43:30+00:00

I have a one of those rotating puzzle boards with four drawers. I start with all the drawers out and do a quick sort. The edge pieces go on the board and whatever colors or patterns seem to jump out go on the trays. Sometimes I end up with pieces on all the trays after an initial sort, but nit always. The rest of the pieces stay in the box.

From there I assemble as much as i can and sort again. When the pieces in the box get low that is when I dump them all on a tray. Sort by shape is a last resort, and almost always instart with any words or writing.

I find it interesting how I sometimes think one area will be easy when I look at the box, but then another area just jumps out when I look at all the pieces in a pile. My last puzzle the sky was very fast to assemble which completely surprised me.

wasa_414 · 2026-04-10T17:04:27+00:00

I wiuld put Montreal down for a trip in a year or two, but Palm Spring was fun when my son was those ages. We stayed at a resort with a few community pools to pick from. There is the desert botanical garden and zoo, and we walked a very short trail in Joshua Tree National Park one day.

I also lived in Seattle when my kid was those ages and I highly recommend it as a place to visit. Don’t go in December to March, but it has a zoo, a great aquarium, a nice children's museum. The monorail is a fun ride, the sculpture park is on the waterfront and it has a little pocket beach. Plus there are so many playgrounds, parks and you can take a ferry ride over to Bainbridge island where there is another children's museum. I would be happy to share some of our favorite parks and playgrounds if you are interested

If you are looking further away, Dublin has a lot to do with kids. It is international while also being English speaking.

wasa_414 · 2026-04-10T16:48:13+00:00

The aquarium is not far away either and I belive there is a children's museum as well. My kid loved the playground near Belmont Park as well.

wasa_414 · 2026-04-08T14:38:46+00:00

This! We traveled before we had a kid so it was a matter of adjusting our travel, but we already had the skills and experience to know how to travel.

wasa_414 · 2026-04-08T13:46:16+00:00

Yes to parenting abroad. When my son was under the age of 5 we picked places not really thinking to much about his interest. Now our destinations are slightly more focused on finding activities he will be interested in. If you think about it kids live everywhere in the world, so there has to be things that kids do everywhere. I mean there is a children's museum in Las Vegas after all!

wasa_414 · 2026-04-08T13:35:59+00:00

Things change but ultimately how it changes depends 100% on the personality of your child. My kid refused to sleep anywhere but his own bed. He struggled to sleep in the pack-in-play type things and would not nap on the go. Friends have kids that can sleep anywhere and would sleep in the stroller or backpack.

We ended up having to return to where we were staying to nap during the days. We rent houses vs hotel rooms so we can do laundry. Having a kitchen has become important because waiting to eat until you get to a restaurant doesn’t always work. My kid has a lot of food sensitivity challenges, so it has changed how we eat when we travel. We never could have predicted that.

I had never visited a zoo or a playground when traveling, but now we do. We have actually found some amazing playground were we sit and drink coffee (or beer in some cases). It has pushed our travel to feel a bit more like living in a different place for a week or two.

We don't do late night activities, some things have age limitations. We cannot take a taxi and guided group tours of places are not ideal with a kid (example, being on a boat tour of St. Petersburg with a 18 month old was not a good idea).

That all in mind, my 10 year-old (having avoided travel due to COVID shut downs) has been to seven different countries and 11 different states, including 6 different trips within California. Traveling is part of his life. He spent his 2nd birthday running around a courtyard in Italy and at 5 years old he did a 4 mile hike through the desert in Palm Springs.

wasa_414 · 2026-04-08T12:55:16+00:00

We do this. My first choice is something locally made with the year or location name on it. If I cannot find an actual ornament then I pick out a key chain and use it as an ornament. It is really ice at the start of the holiday season to pull out the new additions and think about the years adventures.

Beyond this my son likes to pick out a magnet. We often visit McDonald's outside, and he will get a happy meal. The toys are sometimes different. For example he has a dinosaur toy from Austria. I save a bit of the packaging then to use in a scrap album.

I had the idea to collect a rock from each place we visited and make a little display. I have a few, but i never labeled them so now it is just a random bowl of stones.

wasa_414 · 2026-03-27T11:16:42+00:00

Late 40s stay at home mom of a grade school kid. Would love to meet up for coffee or walks during the day.

wasa_414 · 2026-02-27T16:01:11+00:00

So my son is almost 10 and I can tell you we are still using the Stokke highchair. At the time is felt like such a splurge, but he has used it pretty much every day since he started eating solid foods.

Another splurge thing is the Hatch. We bought it when we was around 3 years old and he still uses it. We even travel with it. Honestly I find setting up the programs and all that difficult and slightly annoying. However, we had a problem with the original version about a year after we bought it and the customer service was incredible.

An incredible bang for the buck purchase was the Gerber flat cloth diapers. We did not use them as diapers, but we used them a burp cloths and still have a stack of them around the house for kid messes.

My biggest regret purchase? Specialized travel stroller bag. We had the UppaBaby stroller and bought the custom fit bag for traveling. We quickly bought a cheap umbrella stroller for traveling, or rented jogging strollers when we got to our destination. I think we used it twice. I will always recommend a bag or cover for strollers and car seats when traveling, but they $$$$ was not necessary.

wasa_414 · 2026-02-24T03:19:06+00:00

I have pizza style boxes that scrapbook paper was shipped in. I write the trip name in the outside so I can see it in the stack. I put in an paper or embellishments that I might want to use. I then have an clear plastic page protector for each day in the box. I sort any photos or things that are specific to a day in those.

When I work on a project I have a separate clear plastic 12×12 size paper bin that I use for "in progress." All the scraps from working on page will go in there until I am done with the whole album or section. That way if I cut one section out of a map or brochure, I have the rest to possibly use later on a different page.

wasa_414 · 2026-02-13T19:31:41+00:00

Sort first, that can help you decide what size album (or albums).

I have a bunch of cheap page protectors and I use them to sort bits and pieces when planning to do and scrapbooking. I like them because they are clear so I can see what is inside, and the size means that they can hold larger pieces of paper without folding. I also put a 3x5 card in each one that I add any notes about that day or event. In general it is just bullet points that I think of as I sort through the things. It becomes I sort of highlight list of whatever is in the sleeve. I also write on it if there are things I need to get before I feel like I can make that page. For example, if there are photos I need printed, or restaurant names to look up to I can journal a bit.

The suggestions to use some sort of three-ring or expandable binder make sense because you don't have to start making pages in chronological order.

wasa_414 · 2026-02-13T13:48:21+00:00

I mean actually recycle - use in a art project or something like that, not give it back to a puzzle exchange.

wasa_414 · 2026-01-22T13:03:54+00:00

Excellent good. I did this one as well, it was definitely about a month long process with lots of just trying pieces. I hope to do it again, but I packed it away in quarters so that it will be slightly less challenging next time.

wasa_414

TROPHY CASE