We have an aeropress that we love, but we dream about espresso fairly often.

My sister got a super fancy espresso machine and it is so fun when I visit her. But my problem tends to be lack of milk, is why I go buy coffee instead. So I keep telling myself fancy espresso won't help that.

Strix - that is crazymaking. E needs a clue by four.

Gotta give "kudos" to the mom, here, Strix. Skillfully executed mindfuck in that you can't really win in it.(sarcastic slow-clap) If Dad backs off too fast, he's an indifferent shit. If he doesn't he's controlling If you intervene, you're not Jewish, plus Dad is hiding behind you. I will say, though, that her son is smart and getting to an age where he will begin to understand his mother's behavior on a different level(ie she will no longer be able to blame you for the conflicts in their relationship) so she better not count on that too many more times. That is the kind of thing that can become toxic.

And both of you are winners in your analysis.

Plus, D was the victim for 5 years in a classic emotionally abusive relationship. He's made massive steps forward in being more confrontational with her, but it's still hard for him. I GET it -- I was TRAINED for this -- but it's frustrating on a personal level.

If he's not told by tomorrow night (she didn't make it home tonight; job with long commute, stays in another state a few days a week, wants to tell him in person -- I think she should have told him ASAP, F2F or no), I will call and make my feelings known to her. And damn the fallout.

Someone has to stand up for M, and up to her, and if it's me, well, my shoulders are strong.

Is there a point where the kid gets to go on his camping trip after all? If Mom tells him the night before he leaves, shouldn't there be a Too Late To Stop This penalty?

A lack of consistent milk and taking Sudafed led to my tea habit. Mostly the milk part because I'll live through jitters. But I don't drink my coffee black.

(I'm pretty sure waving a tampon in the face of a boss doesn't always work. And wtf, we totally worked around your pumping schedule, lady, do I really have to go there?

If you worked around her breast milk, she can freaking understand tampon timing. Sheesh.

That's boggling, Strix. I can't even think what to say. Don't fuck over the kids, how hard is that?

Um, I'm not entirely sure if the Natter thread even is the place for this (not that I have any idea where is), and I already apologize that it's once again in a skipping-lots-ignoring-ongoing-conversations-and-poking-my-head-for-a-short-time manner, but it's that time of year again, and, yeah, still in a risk of sounding a bit strange:

On Friday evening (as most of you clever people probably already know) starts the Jewish holiday of 'Yom Kippur', which means 'Day of Atonement'.

This is a day of soul searching, of trying to better define our faults to ourselves, and try to accept it upon ourselves to become, at least a little, better people. A day of repenting past wrongs we did, looking and finding it in our hearts to forgive wrongs done to us, and trying to remember to learn from this process in the rest of the days of the year. The holiest day of the year for practicing Jews.

On a rough division, there are two kinds of wrongs people can do: against G-d, and hurting their fellow human beings. In Jewish tradition, if the person committing a sin against G-d is truly sorry for what they did, repenting and taking it upon themselves to try and avoid repeating it, G-d forgives those sins.

The deeds which hurt other people, though, are not so 'easily' and personally forgiven. If somebody did anything to harm another person, they would not be able to cleanse themselves from that deed, no matter how much they'd pray and be sorry and repent and try to do good in the future, unless they make amends with the person who was hurt by that deed. As long as peace between people is not achieved, the 'sin', so to speak, is not 'erased from the books' above.

Regardless of the date in the year, I'd hate to think I'd offended somebody here (or everywhere else, for that matter). I don't think that the attempts of becoming a better person than one already is, is something that needs a date or a certain holiday for it, of course. It's just that, for me, having a certain day in the year to stop my daily runnings around, and think of nothing else but the really important things, is a good reminder of the order of priorities I'd like to have in my life.

So, since Saturday will be, for me, this day of soul-searching, of trying to create a new start in my on-going effort of 'becoming a good human being, or at least a slightly better one', I would like to ask all of you here, if I offended anybody, or hurt any of you lovely people, to tell me about it, and give me the opportunity to apologize, fix it if possible, and also learn from my mistakes, and try to not repeat them (there are so many new ones to practice, why repeat old ones, you know?).

In case I offended anybody, and can't communicate directly with them about it (for whatever reason, especially with my lately irregular internet connection and my ongoing absebce from the computer in the last few months), I can already say that I'm truly sorry. I can honestly say that I didn't mean to - you're all so considerate and thoughtful and generally all-around lovely, that there's absolutely no room for such a thing here. However, I might have had a slip of a keyboard, or mistaken somebody's intentions, or many other possible so forths. Y'all are so understanding, you probably tried to find excuses for me and didn't take offense anyway, but I want to make sure, all the same.

Please don't get me wrong - I'm definitely not trying to go around in a 'holier-than-thou' show off, or force my personal beliefs on others, or make statements which may be understood as criticizing anybody else's beliefs (or lack thereof) and way of living. If anything, being around here, among such a rich versatile group of kind and clever people, has exposed me to a lot more ways of choosing to lead one's life than I've ever had a chance to see before, and has shown me much more of the beauty and richness that is the world we live in.

[Edit: this is especially true this year, with my oh-so-short computer time and internet access, which gave way for too many opportunities to unintentionally miss stuff or seem to ignore (undeliberately!) people or their posts. Even the one thing I tried to maintain posting, their birthdays, didn't work (and I don't even have any excuses for that. I mean, yeah, I get less and less time in front of a computer, and I still have a Completely-Not-Smart Phone, so no Internet there either, but still).

Sometimes in absence you can hurt people just as much as when you're present. Or even more so, only differently. And at the same time, you guys are always so there-for-anybody-who-needs (including little me - even when I don't get to get to the computer, I still know that you're there, that no matter what, if I ask, you're there for me, even after all my absence and lack of giving back). So this is a chance to also post:

Thank you.]

Nilly, as always you are a joy to know and your thoughtful approach to life is inspiring. Best to you and the family.

Separately, speaking of family, it sounds like my dad is doing better. He went back to the ER on Monday, waited for four hours and then was seen for three minutes and sent home. Which is a good thing - they seemed to see good healing progress and no more need for IV antibiotics.

My sister's not freaking out anymore, and I kind of trust her reaction more than his. Or at any rate, I can split the difference between the under- and over-reacters.

Nilly! You are great. Hope everything is good, and know that we are always here for you!

That's good news, brenda.

ita, I hope you're doing OK. Thanks to Polgara and J for taking care!