My FAVORITE dumb question is "Do you know when s/he'll be off the phone?"

Dude. How could I POSSIBLY know that? What are the odds the precise time of this phone call was known and announced to me?

The one way I might know is if someone had to get off the phone by a particular time and it was my job to tell them -- and in that case they're not available to communicate with you anyway.

Stephanie, my best friend lives in the DC suburbs (VA) in a 1-car family (so they live near the metro - both commute into the city) and they have a kid. I can hook you up if you want. They have been thinking about buying, so have learned a lot. They used to live in Alexandria (yellow line) and now live in Arlington (orange).

Happy birthday Nora!

Wow, so far Hec wins the crazy morning drop-off award. I thought I was unhappy about Franny's school starting at 8, but it's only 2 miles from my house. I really should count my blessings.

Casper's school starts at 7:45, but it's only 4 blocks from our house. We need every single second of time saved that we can get, though. My god does that child hate to get up in the morning.

Mine are fine with getting up, it's getting dressed that leads to tears.

flea, I would love that. I have several friends in DC but none have little kids.

How long can you leave meat in the refrigerator? I had some ground beef in the fridge for a week when I was at my mom's house. I came home and put it in the freezer. Is it okay to thaw and use, or should I throw it out? I also had some turkey sausage in the same boat. Thoughts?

I don't know what's actually recommended, in terms of hygiene, but I would totally eat that food, Vortex. And I haven't died of food poisoning yet.

Nor have I. I just cooked some ground chicken on Saturday whose sell-by date was September 7.

I don't know what's actually recommended, in terms of hygiene, but I would totally eat that food, Vortex. And I haven't died of food poisoning yet.

This is always my response. IMO, it is pretty obvious when meat has gone bad.