I’m mid-forties. About a year ago I was getting these extreme night sweats where I would literally have to go to bed sleeping on a bath towel, and wake up in the wee hours to change out of my drenched PJs. I finally talked to my GP about it and she referred me to an Ob/Gyn.

I had a partial hysterectomy due to evidence of precancer about 10 years ago, so I didn’t have any menstrual symptoms to give me a heads up this might be gynecological.

Fortunately I was referred to a Ob/Gyn that was incredibly knowledgeable (and passionate!) about menopause. After talking through symptoms and possible treatments, I decided to start HRT.

Best.Decision.Ever.

Night sweats gone, my mood stabilized and things just feel more even-keeled.

Side note: the BBC show Riot Women is a fantastic series that depicts the lives of a group of women who are navigating through various stages of menopause. And they start a band that highlights that journey. Highly recommend.

Maybe lean into it, like that dinner table scene in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels where Freddy (Steve Martin) asks if he can go to the bathroom, and after hearing yes, makes… that… face.

That ONE ALBUQUE RQUE logo is giving me a migraine.

“Oooooo biiiig stretch!” I can’t not acknowledge it this way. And the word big lasts as long as the stretch, obvs.

But do they have translations in High-Elven?

Search up the 2014 short video 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman to give you some insight into how pervasive (and, unfortunately, timeless) this behavior is.

Gneiss.

This morning in Northern California: $4.89/gallon for regular at Costco, which is a good deal in my area, although you have to have a paid membership to get it.

(3) Anyone can break up a showing of an enemy propaganda film by putting two or three dozen large moths in a paper bag. Take the bag to the movies with you, put it on the floor in an empty section of the theater as you go in and leave it open. The moths will fly out and climb into the projector beam, so that the film will be obscured by fluttering shadows.

Amazing.

If your aunt has a garden, some native flower seeds could make a nice gift— at my local garden center they run about $1-2 per packet. Tie up a few packets with some rustic twine, and you’re good to go. If it’s in your budget, add a small hand trowel or pair of gardening gloves. Note: take a look at what gardening zone she lives in and check the seed packets to determine how the plants would fair in that area.

I forgot to plug the nonprofit Common Sense Media— I frequently check this before watching movies with my fam so I can get a heads up on what themes to expect and gauge whether it would be appropriate for my kid at the moment. The site has rating systems that are pretty detailed: not only info about profanity, drug use, and violence, it also has ratings for representation, gender messages, and educational value. There’s even a “Talk to Your Kids” section that has discussion suggestions specific to that movie. The site isn’t specific to movies, either— it covers books, television, games, etc.

Amazing list!! There are a bunch on here I hadn’t heard of before, so thanks for sharing!

Of those I’m familiar with, I think a heads up is warranted for couple of films in your “As Safe as Can Be” section: Office Space (one of my faves) has lots of swearing and some suggestive dialogue (the million dollar question scene comes to mind) and Groundhog Day has lots of references to suicide and one or two makeout scenes.

Also, I watched Happy Gilmore recently with my 11 year old, and she was mortified by Happy’s “Happy Place” dream sequence (I had completely forgotten about that part), so just an FYI that it gets a bit spicy (and weird).

I always clock flag and bumper sticker choices in my neighborhood for a similar reason.

The Princess Bride and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Mildly annoyed that the graphic artist didn’t bother to manipulate the “mugshots” to reflect actual height. Makes it look like if anyone in Trump’s admin that is 5’8” and a half… straight to jail.

Interesting. I haven’t read Dust yet, but I thought the first two were fantastic reads. I also really like the TV adaptation so far. I agree it doesn’t fit well into the hard science fiction subgenre. I would categorize the books as soft sci-fi— focusing more on the social aspects of an isolated society with limited resources where technological advancement is restricted. I’m more of a soft-sciences nerd though, so I get it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

I’m not sure what you mean about the premise of “wool” in the story though? Are you wondering why it is important enough to be the book title? To my knowledge, the name of the first book is not solely derived from the wool pads used by the cleaners… this first book is actually a compilation of shorter novellas “woven” together (haha)(the author’s titles allude to this: Proper Gauge, Casting Off, etc). I particularly like the author’s juxtaposition between these textile-related terms/concepts and the alternate definitions that lend themselves to the dystopian setting of Mechanical and the Silo in general.

My MIL raved about Lessons in Chemistry and was excited to share it with me. I was shocked by how poorly written it was— perhaps it’s a decent story (enough people were enamored with it that it made it onto several best seller lists), but the execution was so bad I couldn’t even finish the first chapter. When asked, I ended up just telling my MIL it wasn’t my cup of tea and crossed my fingers she didn’t want to discuss plot points or anything that would make it obvious I hardly cracked the spine.

“I heard she slept her way to the top”