No offense here, but much love.

Nilly is the best.

Nilly, you're a pleasure and a delight and have never offended me.

Nilly, you've never offended me, and I'm always happy to see your pixels.

In other news, I went with my dad to a new retirement community, with an assisted care and nursing home option. It was really nice. As it should be, since they want a quarter of a million dollars before letting Dad in, as well as $2800 per month afterwards. So he won't be going there. Unfortunately the experience left him feeling really depressed, and kind of like a failure. I tried to point out that it was just not a place geared toward middle-middle class people, and he probably wouldn't find any other retired teachers there either. But I don't think that helped.

Seriously--how many retired teachers have $250,000 sitting around?

Nilly, the world is a much, much better place with you in it. No offence, ever.

Nilly, your Yom Kippur posts are always so lovely. I can't even begin to imagine you offending me.

ION, the capper on the saga of Jess Being At Work All Fracking Weekend? There was a fire in my building early this morning (not on any of my company's floors thankfully) so I'm sitting in a deli down the block drinking coffee and waiting for news.W. T. F. World.

I know a lot of the people at my Mom's retirement place ("independent living community, PLEASE") AKA Ann's Choice raised the money by selling their family homes which at least in NJ had appreciated greatly over the years. It also helps that the $250K+ that was required goes into a trust that comes back to the estate -- in the meantime, the Erickson corporation gets to invest it and make money off it. Erickson is upfront about how this works, and their business model seems to be ticking along just fine even in these times.

I forget what her monthly fee is, but I'm sure it isn't as much as $2800, though -- that would give me more pause, frankly.

One thing that Ann's Choice does so right is have the campus set up so that if you're using a walker, cane, wheelchair or other assistive device you can get through doorways and make your way through level hallways and outside pathways. The communal dining rooms and community areas like theatres and workshops all have designated "parking" areas set up, too.

(It cracks me up that wheelchairs and scooters all get license plates, but then when you have a ten lined up, telling them apart gets kind of tricky.)

Nilly, your Yom Kippur posts are always so lovely. I can't even begin to imagine you offending me.

I totally agree.

Tired run down crummy feeling. Bright side says it's another morning!

French Toast Sticks:

Nilly, I can't recall you ever offending me or noticed any behavior that I thought could offend anyone else, either! I know this past year has been so very stressful for you, but even under stress, you showed that you cared about your friends here. You are a class act.

Anyway, I can't speak for anyone but me -- but for me, I do most sincerely forgive you, in case I've forgotten some momentary minor annoyance (the mixed blessing of a sieve-for-brains).

I know a lot of the people at my Mom's retirement place ("independent living community, PLEASE") AKA Ann's Choice raised the money by selling their family homes which at least in NJ had appreciated greatly over the years.

Oh, Dad's sold the house, but it was never anywhere near $250k. More like $90k. And he didn't have the mortgage paid off because my folks put money into things like sending their kids to college instead. The Independent Living Community we went to also passes some of the money back to the estate, depending on how long the residents are there. But you have to have the money in the first place.

How the heck do middle class people do this? Hell, I probably won't even have a house to sell when I hit retirement age.