I forgot about tax-free weekend, thanks for reminding me!

That's really a thing? Why do I feel like we don't have that here?

Some states don't have it. I think only 15 states do.

I feel certain we don't have it.

Our next-door county has no sales tax. Our neighbors make the trek to the mall there for Costco and grocery shopping. Which, I'm not sure thing don't even out, what with spending on gas.

Tax-free weekend in Ohio is just for clothes and school supplies. (And things like computers don't count as school supplies -- it's just things under $75 an item for clothes, and under $20 an item for school supplies, I think.) New Jersey never has sales tax on clothes under something like $275 per item, so we never had the tax-free school shopping weekends there.

A lot of it is that I tend to usually sit in the same place on the couch, so if I'm paying bills or something, then the stack of bills piles up there, and then I'm bad at following through at putting them in the recycling when I get up. I tried putting a small garbage can right there, but I kept accidentally kicking it over, and then all the stuff would spill. Plus, if I'm reading a book or using my iPad or something, my instinct when I'm done with it is to put it on the floor, so stuff just piles up there

Yes, we refer to this in my apartment as my "crap hole."

meara, yeah, psychiatrists aren't often covered anymore, I think? Tom and I just pay out of pocket for med consults, and it's pricey - a few hundred bucks for the initial consult and then follow up appointments (20-30 minutes) are around $135. But PCPs can only do so much before you have to let the brain experts give it a try.

Yeah, I get that about PCP but I feel like she basically tried one thing and then gave up. If I have to wait for an appointment and pay out of pocket, I'd like to try at least one other thing first, yonow?

Virginia's tax-free weekend has price limits (fairly generous), and it only covers clothing, shoes, school supplies, power generators, and chainsaws.

So if you need a generator and a chainsaw, this is the weekend to come to Virginia.

Mom's birthday is tomorrow . She's in Florida visiting a friend and also taking care of her townhouse . Her friend went off for the weekend so my Dad is taking her to dinner tonight to one of his favorite places.

Mom worries sometimes that my brother and I struggle with relationships because she and Dad have been divorced for so long and we didn't grow up seeing a marriage work. I keep telling her watching them develop a relationship as a divorced couple and parents is a good model.

Strike two is a red flag. I don't do doctors who don't listen to me. No one should.

Sing it, Vortex!

I am helping a friend through the dying process and, no matter how many times I do this, it never ceases to amaze me that certain doctors simply can't slow their roll enough to listen to an 84lb woman express pretty much the last few choices she will have in this life.

When I was so sick a couple of months ago, I ran into one of those in the emergency room. Even with a 102 fever, I was able to demand a different doctor. The original one came back to apologize, helped I'm sure by the fact that I recorded our entire conversation.

I keep telling her watching them develop a relationship as a divorced couple and parents is a good model.

So wise, askye. It's a gift that you can tell her that.