Not that I have kids, but if I did, they wouldn't have first cousins on my side. Luckily, my small family sticks together, so they could hang out with their second cousins (my cousins' kids).

I remember having many cousins. For some reason they elected me the butt of the jokes. I never cared if I ever got to see my cousins.

Pro-tip: when reacting with commentary to a weird crime-alert circulated to all-staff, it is advisable to not reply-all. Because I can guarantee it is a bad idea.

I don't even bother to read when people do this. Delete....and then delete again when the usual apology is offered. Like, how so dumb?

Adorable Orphaned Puppies From Tennessee Randomly Reunite In Brooklyn

Sarameg that does sound inadvisable.

I think I'm getting arthritis or something. Why does my HAND/joints hurt? Wtf. I keep having to take painkiller for new things, lately.

Also I have been inspired by Olympics and sarameg and Kat to look at swimming lessons. I can swim to the "not drown" level but not well enough to "propel myself efficiently anywhere or do laps" level. now to see if any of the local classes offered are at convenient times/dates.

but today's choices were Jamaican or Ethiopian!

Yum to both of those!

For my parents' 50th wedding anniversary I don't think I got them an actual gift, just threw their party. Which they were grateful for. I like the sound of Thing of the Month.

Good lord, Toddson. What a mess!

I didn't have a first cousin until I was 22 - my uncle is 16 years younger than my mom (his 7th birthday was her wedding day and I think he still carries a bit of a grudge about it) and wasn't in a big hurry to have kids. Still just have the one. I have 2nd-nth cousins out there somewhere, and have met a few of them, but we don't really keep up with each other. Geographically far-flung, for one thing, and have been all our lives.

Puppies marked for later.

I decided I should try out my hiking boots before actual backpacking trip and the easiest time to do that was this morning, so I loaded up my day pack with going-to-work stuff (ended up being about 25 pounds) and hiked into the office. Took about 45 minutes, boots felt fine, pack was not super comfortable but that is more weight than it is really designed to distribute and I'm not super tired or sore from carrying it, so all good. And I got to listen to a couple of chapters of Updraft while I did it (towards the end, and it was glorious to hear while I triumphantly made my way across the parking lot!) Probably won't get a chance to try packing up my actual backpack until tomorrow, but that still gives me a little time to tinker with it.

That sounds awesome, -t! Where are you backpacking?

Where are you going backpacking, t??

I have one set of cousins that seemed SOOOO old when I was a kid, but they're only about 10-15 years older. My other cousins are my siblings' ages, so a few years younger than me. I feel bad my parents don't get tons of grandkids--my sister is adopting one kid but it doesn't look like I'll be having any, and I'm hoping my brother doesnt reproduce...

Little Lakes Valley in the John Muir Wilderness, southeast of Yosemite. We're taking a day to drive down, and a day to acclimate to the elevation, then 6 days on trail, then back home and the weekend to do laundry and get used to the idea of going back to work. I am looking forward to it SO MUCH!

Oh wow, that sounds like an amazing trip.