RELEASE THE CATEN!

Meryl Streep movie, she could save only one child from the Nazis (or they’d have killed both, the cruelty was the point) and the guilt and trauma stays with her throughout her life.

I was implying that if your mom had to give up one twin for adoption it might still be a painful thing she doesn’t want to talk about.

Your mom said the doctor told her the ultrasound showed “two babies” but I had an ultrasound at 5 weeks and they looked at the tiny embryonic speck and said, “there’s the baby!” In fact no babies are shown in ultrasounds, only fetuses. But my point was, they may have seen one 7-month fetus and one little shriveled thing and said “there’s two babies.”

I guess it’s also possible she brought two babies to term, made a “Sophie’s Choice” to give one up for adoption, and didn’t want you to be heartbroken or afraid of being given away too. And since other people had heard about her being pregnant with twins, she gave you a story you could accept as a child.

And another possibility is that the doctor gave her anesthesia or rohypnol or something and took the twin to put up for adoption, telling her it was absorbed. She’d know she had given birth but not remember it was twice. It’s terrible but not unheard of.

You could ask her, if you feel you’re both adult enough now to handle the emotional implications of all the possible explanations. Remember that you can still trust her love no matter what, but she might not know the whole truth and/or might be ashamed to admit it.

I’m not going to send you my personal info, but it’s no secret that anyone with US health first gets a bill with a huge number $$ that’s marked THIS IS NOT A BILL, then some weeks later we get another one from the insurance company which shows that number, and then a much smaller number “allowed” by the insurance which then shows as paid by them, then whatever “copay” we might have, usually about $30 with my insurance. Then there’s “your responsibility” which is just the copay if the doctor/hospital is in your insurance network. In that situation the provider has to accept what the insurance allows and no more. If they’re out of network, you may have to pay the difference between the original bill and what the insurance paid. Which can be a lot, so the first thing you should do is request an itemized bill. This will often be lower to start with, and gives you information to negotiate/contest items. Hospitals will also work with you to make a payment plan at that point.

In the OP case it was Swiss travel insurance not US health insurance and they finally agreed to pay the NICU bill, good work by the couple’s lawyer.

For most US medical bills the number you see and what the insurance company will actually pay (even to completely settle the bill) are entirely different numbers. Although this isn’t medical insurance per se. I bet they negotiated it down though.

For your carrot problem, get the really fat bulk carrots, which (at my grocery store anyway) are not woody and very tasty. Peel it as usual, noticing you only have to peel one or two. You’re now perfectly set for your first cucumber solution, cutting it in half lengthwise, or maybe even quarters because carrots are a firmer bite. Personally I start cutting off the fat end and work towards the tip, because you have more to grip for better control on the harder slices, and if your last ones are a little thicker they’re also small.

Thank you and they’re so sweet! But I’m specifically focusing on fox news stories (preferably not the depressing ones) for that instance. Just trying to look every few days.

It’s also fun to find items to post to it, but a little tricky to search for them while filtering out Fox Bullshit

“bat an eye” ( blinking rapidly in confusion and stress, flinching)

The Internationale (written in French, so we leave the e on even though we translate the rest)

Perhaps you were using voice-to-type?

I agree with both your points

I am legitimately a little old lady.

But if they can see my face I say “Sorry” or “Thank you” and make the appropriate grimace.

When I was an actual kid, I liked Marlin Perkins Rearranging the Animals

When my baby sister was a kid I liked Electric Company

When my babies were kids I liked Blues Clues

And I’ll always have a hug for a muppet, Sesame Street or otherwise.

I’ve mostly seen the double-flick of lights to mean either “Go ahead, make your move, I see you and I won’t hit you” (to pedestrians or someone waiting to turn into/out of a driveway in heavy traffic) or “turn on your lights you idiot, it’s pouring rain.” But it’s always heavy traffic in Southern California, and it never rains, but man, it pours.

If you mean that the way I think, in Los Angeles when you’re going to make a left turn at a light without a red arrow, AND there’s enough clear road ahead on your left for you to turn into, you’re expected to “post up” into the intersection while you wait for opposing traffic to clear. Which often it never does until the light turns yellow, or even red. Then you’re expected to make your turn on the red, and the car behind you is allowed to follow you if they’ve got their front wheels over the line into the intersection. The cross traffic has to wait until you’ve cleared the box. “Two cars on a red.” Of course if it’s an especially large intersection, it’s possible for the first car and second car to post up so far that a third car can get those wheels over, and all three can make their escape from the box after the light changes. But the cross traffic considers this rude.

I roll down the window and do the Sorry/ThankYou Wave. 👋

Especially if they DIDN’T honk.

In addition to all the good answers previously given, a conductor interprets what the composer has written. And different conductors may create very different interpretations of the same piece. They can set the basic tempo faster or slower, they can get the orchestra to really lean in to a particular musical phrase or de-emphasise it, they can bring out the horns at one point or hush them a bit and let us focus on the oboe or piccolo… A good conductor has studied and notated the entire score for some time before they and the orchestra even begin to rehearse.

So, part of that bow at the end can be to say, “what do you think of this interpretation compared to all the other times you’ve heard this famous symphony?” Then they usually turn around and wave the orchestra members to stand, which means, “and didn’t these guys do a great job executing it!?”

It’s as cold as Minnesota in January

It’s cool, I just like to point out these things in case one day you need it correct on a resumé or for a crossword puzzle or something

Elicit is probably the word you mean, unless you’re using a pun to make a point that AI “art” is illicit.

Don’t settle for adoption, dude! You go ahead and get your girlfriend pregnant, you can have the first human/ai hybrid kids! Just keep working on that. We’ll leave you to it.

Honestly I wouldn’t know, I live in Los Angeles and am just going off things I’ve seen in the past about ice fishing shacks in like Minnesota and Canada. Meanwhile I’ve got flowers blooming in my garden on plants that have had enough water for the first time in their lives.