Little kids still need to know they can yell for assistance if they need to.

Liv is HUGE with the "privacy" but Owen would have no problem pooping in jail.

Too true, Truds. I am a delicate fucking flower.

ION, International Male changed its name to Undergear. I haven't looked at an International Male in yonks. There's a cock in my eye!! ARGH.

Also, the underwear names are awesome. I like Priape and Candyman, but by fave by far is MANZONE. I hear it in this booming movie announcer voice, in asscaps: MANZONE. (Much like my favorite all-time men's cologne name: GRAVEL.)

(Dan and I are going to a houseparty for one of his friend who never had a slumber party as a girl, so her bday is going to be a grown-up slumber party. Not naughty, AFAIK, just pajamas, and Dan wants some scurrilous ones.

I think Undergear is either too boring or too scurrilous, but there are three (!) choices for grown-up men's footies, including velour. However, I am warning him that if he actually makes an appearence in men's footies, I may never have sex with him again.

Heh. Tep, you think you're being a smartass, but that would be an EXCELLENT choice! I am totally thinking hilarious labels.

Hey, the talk of finishing wine reminds me! So, I would like to have an occasional glass of wine, maybe with dinner. Pete doesn't like a lot of wines. (This may have something to do with my habit of choosing wine by the label, and YES, I did like the wine from Cupcake Vineyard, what?)

Anyway, what should I know about keeping an open bottle of wine good for a couple of days? I need bottle-stoppers, yes?

I had no energy or motivation to cook dinner, but I made some scrambled tofu and a salad rather than getting junk food. I really need to remember more often on nights like this that real food doesn't really need to take all that much effort.

Erin, there's some fairly awesome flannel and/or fleece at fabric stores, and drawstring pants are wicked easy.

Erin-- I am super good (and love) making ribbon roses if you need a hand!

I suggest Love My Goat red. What's better for a wedding than a love-themed bottle???

That winery is so near to me. I do not like that wine, though.

I do, Erin. (Heh.)

(double heh). I am just tickled pink and green by actually having conversation with another Erin. I mean, i know that it was statistically a very popular name round about when i was born, but i never knew another Erin growing up. I think there was another Erin in my first high school, but we were two years apart so there wasn't any overlap in classes. I felt like a special name-snowflake until very recently when i actually saw stats.

Ok, it's a little confusing sometimes when i pop in and see the wedding conversation, knowing that i am entirely single, but still pretty darned awesome.

Erin, on my old porch I used wine bottles as suncatchers, and collected all the shapes and colors of glass I could. Oh the hardship of sampling those diverse wines.

I couldn't afford schmancy centerpieces at my parents' 50th anniversary bash. I ran around the house scooping up vases, perfume bottles, china dogs, whatever had a touch of gold on it. We had some tin candy boxes, and pretty paper and fabric covered boxes, and I put a box on each table and stuck in a few photographs of Mom and Dad and their friends over the years. The photos were a huge hit. You could do heart-shaped boxes of all kinds, or wrap boxes in wide purple and green ribbon, and put a box of pictures on the tables for guests to look at.

It's going to be so pretty--and so will you!

Hivemind question.

OK, so I'm trying to get a bead on an answer to "how much would it take to make you take the job" in anticipation that tomorrow goes swimmingly. I've looked at a dozen websites for cost of living comparissons. The range is HUGE! Saying that CA is more expensive by a factor of 15%-80%! um. HUGE differences. What the heck do I go with?

Also, is there a good guideline for ballpark of what take home pay is? I've got 30% for non-retirement deductions. Is that about par for state, fed, FICA, health insurance, medicare, SS, etc?