Family stock photo

Does anyone have recommendations for an affordable photographer for family (grandma, mom, daughter) photos?

I’ve been doing a deep dive into the Duggar train wreck in preparation for the documentary coming up. Reading court documents, police reports, AMAs, Google, this subreddit, obituaries, news articles, etc. The common element in their descent into disgrace is arrogance, hypocrisy, hubris, or whatever you want to call it. Every step of the way.
2002-2003: Pest (14/15 yo) starts molesting young girls 🤮
2003: JB, Meech, and Holts made aware—JB brought Pest to pedo-friend state trooper to “report” his crime, but trooper failed to investigate and report. 😡
2004: Despite knowing they had a seriously disturbed son who had molested their own daughters, JB and Meech debut their family in 14 children and pregnant again. 🤑
2006-2007: JB runs for Arkansas State Senate and loses. 😮‍💨 4 more shows aired including one airing after the Oprah debacle in late 2006 (Family was in Chicago filming an interview, but it was cancelled when Alice tipped off Oprah that Josh had molested 5 girls). Oprah alerted Arkansas CPS. A second person (letter reader) also alerted CPS at this time. A police report was made. Apparently, CPS investigated but we don’t know the outcome of that. Meanwhile, starting in 2007, Alice and others were posting on OG snark boards about Duggar family dirt. 🤔
2008-2015: They really played with fire 🔥 here. An 8-year-run on national television portraying a wholesome, Christian, pure family.

 2013: Josh moves to DC to work for Family Research Council, a right wing organization dedicated to “family values” and “traditional marriage”. 🤢 2014: Meech records transphobic robocall that says in part, "I doubt that Fayetteville parents would stand for a law that would endanger their daughters or allow them to be traumatized by a man joining them in their private space.”🤬 2015: Lesbian couple protests Meech’s robocall by kissing in front of TTH with marriage certificate in hand. Photo goes viral and InTouch seeks them out for an interview. One of the women, Tandra Barnfield knew about the Duggar family secrets and pointed the reporter in the right direction to obtain a FOIA for the 2006 police report. InTouch publishes the police report and 19KAC was cancelled and Pest fired from FRC. 🌞 

June 2015: JB and Meech, Jill and Jessa appear on Megyn Kelly - JB and Meech lie and revictimize their daughters
Aug 2015: Pest goes back to AR in disgrace only to have the Ashley Madison scandal erupt just 3 months later-so much for “family values”
Dec 2015-2021: Wait, they come back only this time without Pest. Counting On comes back on for another 5 years. How did this show not jump the 🦈, I do not know.
Nov 2019: Pest’s car lot raided by HSI Apr 2021: Pest arrested for CSAM June 2021: Counting On cancelled Dec 2021: JB lies under oath—“can’t remember” Dec 9, 2021: Pest convicted 😈 Dec 14, 2021: JB loses Republican primary 😵‍💫
They could have stopped the train wreck at so many points but 💰 🤥👺won out. Most tragically, if Bobye and other friends can be believed, 13-year-old Pest felt guilt and remorse and could have been rehabilitated if proper steps were taken in 2003.

I'm a very high ranking member but chose to play PvE instead of PvP. This guy started sending me a lot of compliments about my skill and joking about us being a duo. He soon started sending me very suggestive, romantic messages about us having a gaming family. I felt very uneasy because this is just a GAME to me. I started distancing myself from him and 1 week later other users starting saying "Be careful dude. She's not a girl" and directly started sending me messages asking “ARE you he or natural born woman? Show photos for proof”
I’m currently ignoring the messages but need some advice what to do next. This is just so crazy to me. Why would someone try to sabotage in this way?

I am at my breaking point with this dog. (Before you all come at me for being rude towards my bfs dog I LIVE WITH MY BF AND HIS FAMILY AND I HAVE NOWHERE ELSE TO GO) Tynee is my bfs dog. She is a Great Dane. Tynee is about to be a year old next month. I absolutely love all animals but with this dog I dislike her so much.
I let her out in the morning for a piss and shit and then I’ll feed her. And let her out again. But nope she’s barking and whining for absolutely no reason. At this point she is whining and barking just to hear herself. She doesn’t get a lot of play time outside her kennel bc she is very destructive and will torment the cats.
Keep in mind that she is almost a year old: she for some reason cannot wait 2 minutes for me to put my shoes on at 6:30 in the morning for me to let her out and she’ll soil her kennel. (Her last time to go out at night is 11:30)
I’ve had qualms with her since the beginning.
Last month I took her out for a pee and she starts jumping on me (I’m 5’10 and 140 lbs) and I cannot get her off of me. She is 110 lbs of pure dumbness and crushing me and she bit me and broke skin. I had to slap and hit her to make her stop (there was no other way as I was the only one home and didn’t have my phone on me to call for help) she didn’t sustain any injuries while I had a gash on my arm that was bleeding profusely.
I was not allowed to tell my bfs dad bc he would have given her away (I’m contemplating telling him)
My bfs sister doesn’t want her to be muzzled bc she thinks that it’s “inhuman”. I’ve told her if she doesn’t want her to be muzzled then she can freaking sleep in the living room and listen to her bark and whine all night.
But today I had enough. She had broken out of her kennel 2 days ago and we found my bfs jacket full of shit. That is her being vindictive. I can’t attach photos but if u want to see message me and I’ll send them.
What I’m trying to get out of this post is help. What do I do?

A special thanks to u/bluefishcake for the wonderful original story and sandbox to play in.
A special thanks to my editors LordHenry7898, RandomTinkerer, Swimming_Good_8507, CatsInTrenchcoats, and KLiCKonthat.
And a big thanks to the authors and their stories that inspired me to tell my own in this universe. RandomTinkerer (City Slickers and Hayseeds), Punnynfunny (Denied Operations), CompassWithHat (Top Lasgun), CarCU131 (The Cook), and Rhion-618 (Just One Drop)
Hy’shq’e Ay Si’am (Thank you noble friends)
Chapter 30: A Promise Kept
Kalai stepped off the shuttle to the Vaida’s headquarters and into a running tackle-hug from Sitry. “Oh Kalai, I could kill you right now! You got to see the Great Barrier Reef in person, you bitch!” Sitry’s cheerful voice was muffled from where she was still buried in her chest. Kalai staggered backwards a pace or two, happy to be back from her whirlwind adventure around Earth with her father.
Naranjo and Papa Rhaxiid were there on the platform to welcome her back too, but their welcomes were more sedate.
“Not to mention you got out of work for half our damn trip. Ugh, it’s so not fair!” Naranjo huffed as Kalai gave him a sisterly hug.
Papa Rhaxiid reached up and chucked her chin before turning to lead the way back inside from the forested platform. “Welcome back, sweet-sprout, we’ve missed you. Come on, we’ll get you settled again and off to work. There’s quite a bit you need to catch up on if you want your credits.”
The chuckles from the twins behind her were full of sibling malice, but she knew how to shut the pair of them up. “Papa Rhaxiid? I’ve got the paper on Biodiversity in the Reef you asked for, along with the dissection report and stomach content analysis of the tuna we caught. I want to put the finishing touches on it and do a final proofread first before I send them to you.” The man turned and gave her a warm smile as they entered the building.
“Good, why don’t you go take your things back up and say hello to Andy? I’ll give you an hour and a half to get freshened up, then I want you to report to Aquarium 12 with Dr. Sor’ansa. You can put your snorkeling practice to work there.” Papa Rhaxiid walked the three of them to the residential elevator. “I’m heading back to my office. Andy’s been requested by Maetro Pae’ella to work the kitchens for something called ‘Bison burgers'. Apparently it’s a type of indigenous bovine that the eastern Bands raise. That and something from Europe called ‘French Fries’.”
Kalai couldn’t help but get excited as she and her siblings piled into the elevator back to their little shared apartment. Sure the food she’d had all over the place was good, but so far nothing had been able to compare to Andy and his Salishian cooking.
“Nerd, I can’t believe you cheated and did work on your vacation." Naranjo broke the silence of the elevator after a little bit and stuck his tongue out at her.
“Spit to windward, you vain little weed. Don’t hate me because I’m awesome.” Kalai’s riposte caused Naranjo to fold his arms and huff. Sitry simply ambushed her with an ear flick.
The elevator door opened to their floor before Kalai couldn’t bear the silence from Sitry any longer. “So, did you bag him yet, you lucky bitch?”
“No she hasn’t!” Naranjo’s singsong mockery of his sister interrupted Sitry’s response. “Papa hasn’t let Sitry even NEAR Andy without one of them around!”
“Rub it in, you snitch, besides, he did kiss me first,” Sitry preened happily as she playfully shoved Kalai’s shoulder.
Kalai pretended to stumble and almost caught Sitry’s foot, but she was just a hair too slow. “Yeah, and then you gave him a black eye, you clod.”
“Will you let it go? It was an accident!”
“It’s not even the only one he got either." Naranjo’s interjection stopped her right in front of their door.
“Wait, what? Who hurt him this time?” Kalai let her bag thunk to the floor as she turned to look accusingly between Sitry and Narny.
Sitry folded her arms and her ears twitched back as she shot a dark look at their door. “He ‘fell down’ yesterday while out at one of the Hatcheries we gave to the Hwatcoms. Mrs. Toloui nearly had a fit! She said she could smell another human on him and that he was covered in blood!”
Narny nodded primly as Kalai tried to process what they were telling her. “WHAT? Did she call out the militia? Track down whoever hurt him?”
“No, and he refused treatment and insisted that no one did it to him! When papa tried to talk to him, Andy said some stupid human macho shit about pain healing and birds liking scars. I don’t know, sometimes humans… they’re frickin’ insane!”
The door shot open and there stood Andy. His left eye was an angry puffy yellow and blue mess, and there were three points on his lips where a dark cinnabar line marked a crack. Kalai and her siblings stood in wide eyed shock at his sudden appearance and the only sound was the music emanating from the common room behind him.
Andy looked up and down at the three without saying a word. He cocked an eyebrow and snagged Kalai’s bag before any of them could react and cleared the doorway for them.
Kalai sputtered at the impropriety but Naranjo and Sitry just shrugged and walked in after Andy. “Femboys, am I right?” Narny whispered to Kalai as he passed. Kalai followed behind and was greeted by the white fluff-ball, Puck, who hopped up and down, whining for attention. She bent down and started scratching his ears and back. While Puck rubbed up against her hands, Andy settled back down at the table where his omnipad was hooked up to a keypad. Her heart started to sink a bit and Kalai shot Sitry a jealous look before the music came to a sudden halt and Andy interrupted the beginnings of her pity party.
“Ok, Kem’ira, I got the pics now and I’m telling you to declare yourself to the farmers first! I guarantee if you tell them you’re with the new DNR and you’re there to kill all the Scotch Broom in their pasture lands, they’ll stop trying to shoot you for trespassing!”
Kalai’s mood jumped up a bit. It’s not that he doesn’t care to see me, he’s in a meeting!
“No, no I’m not coming out to talk this over with them, I’ve got my own work to do! Either you start talking to folks like I showed you how, or ask the militia to give you one of their armored catsuits to wear under your uniform… Uh-huh, good luck." Andy hung up on the call and leaned back as Puck scampered over and hopped up in his lap.
Andy rubbed his temples before shaking his head. He seemed to relax a bit and Puck slid off to follow Sitry to the kitchen. Andy looked over and gave Kalai a happy smile that made her flush. “Welcome back! So how was the land down under? That tuna was fan-frickin’-tastic, if you aren’t sick of seafood I’ll do something fancy with it tomorrow to celebrate your coming back. Can’t tonight though, I got volun-told to be head chef tonight and I… Oh damnit! I’m late! Come to dinner, burgers and fries Indian style tonight. Gotta run!” With that, Andy went dashing out the door with Puck barking and scrambling along after him.
Kalai felt her heart sink back down again, as he left. “Andy I-” She started but he was gone.
“Yeah, it’s been like that for the whole week. The only time we get to hang out is dinner.” Sitry commiserated as she took Kalai’s bag into their room. “On the other hand, we might get to catch up during the family meal tonight.”
The dinner was delicious, though a bit weird. It tasted alright, but there was a certain aftertaste on the sandwich that just didn’t sit right with Kalai. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. The french fries more than made up for it though, and Mama Sakalbi had to hold a science trivia contest to see who got the last little handful.
Kalai and Narny were already silently plotting with each other for their revenge against their sister who had won and refused to share the last few matchsticks when Andy finally joined their table. He was sweaty and he smelled of woodsmoke and french fries. Kalai jumped up and offered him a seat next to her with a nervous smile. He took it gratefully and seemed to sag a bit as he gulped down a glass of water.
“Andy, I think you may be finding your calling as a culinary ambassador,” Mama Aftasia beamed. “A toast to the chef!”
Andy gave a shy smile and looked down as Kalai and the rest of the family gave a hearty ‘Here, here!”
“It’s a simple enough recipe; it’s just using bison instead of cow, that’s all, and I don’t know anyone who’d turn down hand cut fresh fries. It’s kind of hard to screw up.”
“Young man, you are speaking to a woman who found a way to take cold water and dried wumpa flakes and wind up with a Class-4 fire. Cooking has always seemed like ‘blight mysticism’ to me, and these foods? These flavors? Nothing short of a Greenwood miracle in my opinion." Mama Aftasia continued her praise of Andy, which only caused him to shrink even lower in his seat.
“To be honest, I like your salmon better,” Kalai said, and the whole table went silent. Kalai held her ground though, and was rewarded with a tired but genuine laugh from Andy that brought him back out of his shell.
“You know, I do too. My Clan were fisherpeople, not buffalo chasers.” Andy gave Kalai a cheeky grin, which she returned happily, her heart glowing. Mama Aftasia and Mama Sakalbi both blinked in bemusement at Andy’s statement while Sitry just giggled.
“Speaking of which, Andy, I received a call from Elder Alex Hwatcom.” Papa Rhaxiid’s change of subject instantly perked Andy up, and he stared silently, waiting. “He extended an invitation to our family to attend his family gathering this Friday-”
“Alex said that? He used those words?” Andy shook his head in shock as he interrupted Papa Rhaxiid. The table went quiet and everyone held their breath as they looked between the two men.
Papa Rhaxiid adopted as good an impression of the human Elder as he could. “I’d like to extend an invitation for you and your family to be guests at our family gathering this saturday up at the White… something… lodge-”
“The White Ram Lodge?” Andy sat forward, interjecting again as the color drained from his face.
“Yes, that’s the one! I asked if we could bring anything since the last time they hosted us they put on that wonderful spread. He said if we could bring a few salmon for the family, that would be wonderful.”
Andy leaned back and took another sip of ice water before holding the glass to his blackened eye. “Alex Hwatcom… just invited you… to a gathering… and he told you to ‘bring a few salmon’? Do you realize what a huge honor this is?”
Rhaxiid looked from his wives to his children with mild concern. “Um, I thought it was only dinner, but your reaction tells me there’s more significance to this than I originally thought. I was thinking about our stocks of adult Sockeye, but then I remembered in his story how important King Salmon are. Of course, I’d like to defer to you for the choice since you know these animals and the cultural expectations with this invitation better than we do.”
Andy was silent for a moment before he put the glass down. “I’d recommend a ‘hard no’ to all your clone stock!” Now it was the Vaidas’ turn to be shocked, as each of Kalai’s Erbian family’s jaws dropped in synch. Before anyone could say anything, Andy continued, “You need to bring wild-caught. Farm-raised salmon wouldn’t… well we can tell, and you can taste the difference between them. We need to go fishing!” Kalai leaned towards Andy slightly as he lowered his head and started mumbling to himself. She was just able to make out what he was saying to himself as Mama Sakalbi and Mama Aftasia began whispering to each other. “...need to get the Gillnetter out of storage, check what’s running and select the mesh. I’m gonna need a deckhand too.”
Kalai reached a hand out but stopped short of touching him. “Andy?”
He popped up and spoke for the whole table to hear. “I need a shuttle to the mainland and a waiver against the fishing ban. I’ve got to get my boat and the drum ready for sea ” Rhaxiid and Aftasia sputtered in confusion, but Mama Sakalbi had a shadow fall over her, and her ears pulled back.
“Do you mean to say you want to go out on the water? Risk the ecological balance for… dinner?”
Andy looked Sakalbi dead in the eye and gave her a firm nod. “Why don’t you come out and see how we did this before you got here. Think of it as a chance to see the way we’ve fished for the last hundred or so years, and then I can explain the way we used to fish before that.”
The offer snapped Rhaxiid out of his confusion and he brightened. “A learning experience? Wonderful, we’ll make a day of it!” His hands shot out to grab both his wives’ and Kalai could feel the vibrations in the floor from where he was excitedly tapping his feet.
“If you don’t mind hard, smelly work. Uncle Willy always called it ‘the worst desk in the prettiest office.' It’ll be a bit cramped, but I’ve got room on the boat for a few guests and observers; four I think would be ok. She’s a working boat, not a pleasure cruiser,” Andy explained. That sent the whole lot of them excitedly talking among themselves.
Kalai was about to lean in to talk to Mama Aftasia, but Andy caught her attention first. “I don’t suppose you’d want to go back out on the water, given you just got back from pleasure-boating-”
Kalai’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest. “I wouldn’t miss it for my own colony planet!”
--------------------
Kalai stood on the pier, bundled in her thermal sailor’s coat. It was still dark and the wind blew from the north in a cold little morning breeze. Kalai took a deep breath and reveled in the smell of the fresh sea air. The soft chattering of Mama Sakalbi’s teeth broke the silence. “It’s a bit chillier than it said it was going to be.”
“The water always does that. It’s never as warm as the lubbers say it’ll be,” Papa spoke as he handed her back her thermos of hot chocolate.
Papa stood next to Kalai and nudged her with his elbow. Even in the dark, Kalai could see him smile up at her and jerk his head at the shivering Erbian. He was also wearing a thermal sailor’s coat, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets to keep them warm, just like Kalai’s. “Landswoman,” he whispered to her and the two of them shared a knowing smile. It was strange, but welcome when she'd told Papa about her upcoming day fishing with Andy, and he’d politely requested to join them. Papa Rhaxiid had graciously given his spot up to accommodate her birth father. Narny was all for it until Andy had explained what they were going to do, but then surrendered his challenge to the fourth guest space, not wanting to go anywhere NEAR anything that could see him come face to face with a Lion’s Mane Jelly. Sitry had done a happy little dance when she found out, but only yesterday had come down with Thistle Fever, and was bundled off to bed by her parents. It left Kalai, Mama Sakalbi, and Papa to accompany Andy on his fishing trip.
The water brushed against the shore behind them quietly. In the gloom, Kalai could just barely make out the outline of the nearest island mountain, but only because the stars had disappeared behind it. It was almost four in the morning, but Kalai had managed a catnap on the shuttle to the empty little lot that had been the boat launch. Aside from the water, the world was silent. Even the breeze made almost no noise and a sense of peace surrounded them. Everything was so calm, Kalai felt like she didn’t have a care in the world.
In the distance, a low rumbling sound of a motor rose from being almost imperceptible to a rolling drum of thunder. From around the point, two green floating lights sped through the darkness, and a spotlight turned on. The beam of light moved jerkily until it came to rest on the pier where they were standing and Kalai started waving her arms. Sakalbi’s omnipad rang, and Andy’s voice shouted over the speaker and the background noise for them to shine a light on the edge of the pier to help him park the boat.
Kalai and Papa moved closer and turned their omnipad flashlights on and waved them as the boat swung gracefully around and glided in alongside them. Kalai caught the rope that flew over the railing of the boat and she heard more than saw Andy moving around on the deck as she tied off on one of the mooring cleats. Several lights clicked on and the deck was bathed in light enough for Kalai to get a clear view of the boat they’d be spending the day on.
Andy hadn’t lied. Kalai saw that this little vessel was a working boat with no frills at all. When he’d told her they’d be going fishing, she’d envisioned something like the charter boat papa had taken her on out of Nantucket. Sporty, fast with a nod to comfort and function. This was not that at all. A giant wheel as wide as Kalai’s outstretched arms that looked like a sideways spool of thread was secured to the deck amidships and dominated the deckspace. Wrapped around it was a fluorescent green tangle with a line of oblong white and yellow corks and rope. There was a covered hatchway sitting behind the drum in front of the raised step to the enclosed cabin. Two large windows let the light out to two children’s bunks, a little table with a booth seat and a raised captain’s chair in front of the helm and engine controls. Andy shut down the engine and that peaceful stillness returned.
“Oway there!” Kalai called, “ship oway! Request permission to come aboard.” Kalai gave the traditional greeting of a Shil’vati sailor.
“Permission granted! Anyone need a stepstool?” Andy finally stepped into the light and Kalai got a look at him. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and the same bright orange coveralls she’d seen the fishmongers wearing on their date.
“I wouldn’t mind a hand, Mr. Shelokset.” Papa He’osforos braced a foot on the railing of the boat and Andy pulled him up.
“Just call me Andy, Doc, and welcome aboard. Jackie should be along any minute now with the day’s groceries, and the cabin’s out of the cold. You can get yourself set wherever you find comfortable.” Papa nodded and disappeared around the other side of the wheel moving towards the bow.
Kalai helped Mama Sakalbi into the boat next, and she quickly ducked into the cabin that took up the entire stern section save for a little ledge that ran along the outside. Andy gripped Kalai’s hand and she smiled as he pulled her deftly aboard. The boat rocked a little on its mooring, and Kalai almost fell into Andy, who wordlessly put his arms around her waist to catch her as she lost her balance. She flailed for a moment before she steadied herself against him.
“Gotcha,” Andy smiled, and Kalai could see him flush almost as much as she could feel herself doing as their noses almost touched. Those big dark brown eyes surrounded by white orbs drew her in and she felt she could lose herself in them. Kalai started as Andy danced her around him and moved her towards the cabin door.
“It might be a little cramped for you in there, but the Mary Jean wasn’t built for pleasure boating, she’s a working girl. Sit tight, I gotta check a few things in the back.” Andy patted the railing affectionately before he hopped up and scooted along the outside of the cabin towards the stern. Kalai couldn’t help the little longing groan that came out as he left her there on the little tiny quarterdeck. Her heart was hammering in her chest as half formed fantasies danced at the edges of her mind.
“I saw that, little minnow.” Papa’s voice was soft, but his tone and the sudden broken silence nearly gave her a heart attack.
Kalai could only stammer as her father stared at her with a cocked eyebrow. A thump from the cabin window behind saw an amused Mama Sakalbi daintily sipping at her thermos with her ears twitched forward in interest, staring out at her. “Papa I… he-”
Papa moved carefully around the covered hatchway to stand next to her, leaning back against the cabin window and heaved a sigh. “I must say I’m surprised. This lovely man’s got good clean lines and is very well cared for. It speaks well of his Skipper.”
It took a full minute for Kalai’s brain to process that he was talking about the boat and not Andy. “And the way Andy brought him in smooth in near complete darkness? It gives me confidence in his abilities.”
Kalai breathed a silent sigh of relief and exasperation. Although she was happy to be spending more time with her father, bringing him on what she’d hoped would be a sailing date wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind for ‘family time’. He wants me to find a nice young man and spend time with him on a boat, but the first chance I get Papa decides to clam-jam me.
From up on shore, the sound and lights of a large human vehicle screeching to a halt heralded the last of their party to arrive. Kalai heard the clomping footsteps coming down the pier and moved to the railing to lend a hand.
“Ahoy Mary Jean! Raggedy Andy, you there?” Kalai stared with wide eyed surprise to see a human female, loaded down with plastic bags and sporting two human weapons on her shoulder. The two of them locked eyes, and while Kalai didn’t understand everything the girl shouted in surprise, she had caught and understood the phrase, “What the fuck?”
“Easy now, they’re my guests, and the one inside is the boss!” Andy appeared on the pier instantly before either Kalai or the woman could react further.
“Ya didn’t tell me we were having pur-” The woman glared at Kalai and her father. She had switched to Vatikre thankfully, but her tone was hostile as she dropped everything but her weapons. “I mean, hwun’eetums, aboard. A gal could get the wrong idea pretty quick in the dark when there’s no warning.”
“Knock it off Jackie. Let’s get the grub aboard and shove off.” Andy picked up some of the bags and took the guns as Kalai offered a helping hand over the railing. “Oh, Kalai, this is Jackie. Jackie? Kalai. That’s her dad over there, Doc He’osforos. He saw and treated Kay Tee a few years back.” Andy jerked his head towards the direction of Kalai’s father as she held out a hand to the human girl. On a quick inspection, she appeared to be about the same age as her and Andy. She had a round face and was about as dark complected as Andy was. She was shorter, only a few inches taller than Papa, but when Jackie grabbed Kalai’s hand to hop up onto the rail, she could feel the strength and the compact muscle hidden by the baggy sweatshirt and pants.
“Wait a minute, did you say Mini-Me over there saw Kay Tee? You’re fuckin’ with me!” Jackie stumbled a bit as she hopped down onto the deck with a loud thunk and advanced on Papa who shrank away at her advance. “You saw li’l Kay Tee? Where the fuck is he? Is he alright? Is he still fighting the good fight?”
“Last I saw, yes, he was ‘fighting the good fight.’” Papa looked over at Andy with a slightly worried expression. Andy smacked the girl in the back of the head, causing her to flinch and she opened the door to the cabin for Andy to go inside.
Jackie rubbed the back of her head and laughed. “Well that’s a little bit of alright, innit? Maybe today’s gonna be a good day after all!”
“Jackie, get suited up and get on the bow. I need a good pair of eyes on the roller horns,” Kalai heard Andy shout from the cabin, followed by a whole lot of thumping and banging from cabinets being opened and closed.
“You got it, ol’ man. We going to your place or mine?” Jackie sidestepped in and opened a tiny little closet and pulled out a set of rain gear that was identical to what Andy was wearing. Kalai collected herself and stood in the doorway next to her father as they both leaned in.
“Mine; Chuck said the Yaw’much are running from the South. We’ll do a set nor’west of Lummi in the Rosario and see if we can get some Fraser Kings,” Andy replied as he turned the engine back on and the vessel roared to life.
“Chuck? Isn’t that one of your cousins? I didn’t know he could keep track of the movements of Salmon, may I ask how he does it?” Mama Sakalbi perked up as she pulled a set of earplugs out of a pocket and inserted them.
Andy prevaricated a bit, looking from Jackie back to Sakalbi then to Kalai and Papa. “I’d rather not answer that-”
“Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law! Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law!”
Jackie began singing a human song, and Andy threw her the dirtiest of looks as she finished getting into the orange coveralls. Mama Sakalbi sputtered as Andy shrugged apologetically.
“Make a hole!” Jackie called, and she and Andy came back out as Kalai and Papa made room for them. Andy hopped back onto the dock to cast off while Papa ducked into the cabin.
“Can I help?” Kalai offered as Andy shoved the vessel off and leapt the gap over the black water below.
“You want to be useful? Come forward! I could use an extra set of eyes!” Jackie called back, and Kalai felt a slap on her shoulder from the boisterous human woman.
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Andy stood at the helm, watching Jackie and Kalai as he leaned to get a better view of them past the Net drum. The bow was lifting up again, and the gentle little swells became like speed bumps, jostling them up and down in a predictable bouncing rhythm.
“Are you sure you couldn’t slow down, Andy? It’s a bit rough, don’t you think?” Sakalbi was hanging on to the table and her thermos with a worried expression on her face.
“I could, but we’ll miss the morning set. We want to bomb out the buoy right when the tide changes. If we’re lucky, then we’ll get around seventy or eighty by slack tide this afternoon and call it a day.”
“How do you know where to fish?” Dr. He’osforos was making a good show of standing and maintaining his balance with his hand on the booth.
“Well, there’s two ways you know. The first is you fish the spots your family’s fished since time began. Every family has about two or three different secret spots that we know there’s fish in, and we’re pretty defensive about their locations. The second is by smell. Right now it’s the tail end of the King season, and you can smell them in the water.” Andy turned and saw the incredulity etched on the faces of the two aliens.
“No, I’m serious! King Salmon slime is really pungent, and you can smell them when they’re close to the surface. We get to the fishing spot and take a deep whiff. If we smell them, we’ll set the nets.” Andy laughed at the disbelief on their faces as the GPS on his omnipad beeped and he turned to sail around the last buoy and head for the fishing ground.
“I’ve never noticed that in any of the Kings we’ve raised-”
Andy suppressed a laugh as they caught a larger swell as they left the lee of Lummi Island. Andy reveled in the feeling of weightlessness as the deck rose up and fell out from underneath their feet, leaving everyone suspended for a moment in midair before falling back down. A massive spray of water rose and washed over the deck, drenching Kalai and Jackie, who were still forward. “Cloned and farmed Kings don’t have that same smell. Wild ones smell and taste different, I’m telling you!” Andy pulled back slightly on the throttle as they climbed the next swell. “Brace!” he called as they climbed and fell once again.
There was a look of fear on Sakalbi’s face as she gripped the table for dear life, but to Andy’s surprise, the Doctor looked completely unfazed, and was handling the rise and fall of the deck like an old salt. “You look like you’ve done this before, Doc.”
“I’ve done a stint or two at sea before,” he spoke, in the same tone Andy would have used when trying not to sound too confident, and Andy smiled.
“Kalai keeps talking about loving the sea and sailing. Did you teach her to sail?”
“Yes, me and her mothers. When they were home, we would take the family yacht out in the Vaascon Straits and sail around the Occidiens. Kalai practically spent all her early childhood on a sailboat.”
“And almost every waking moment on one in Junior Academy. I swear you couldn’t dig her out with a trowel when she wanted to go sailing,” Sakalbi managed to add in a word as the boat slowed, and the dramatic rise and fall of the deck slowed with it.
“What about you, Mr. Shelokset, did your father teach you to sail too?”
“I was too young before he passed. My Great Uncle Willy taught me after I came home, and Grandma took me out to the family fishing sites when she wasn’t busy with the Council. For the first two or three years after they let us come home, fishing was the only way to feed our families, but the Militia and the Cambrians would try and sink our boats or arrest us whenever we tried to go out.”
“And that’s why you’re so good at maneuvering your vessel in the dark with no instruments?” Mrs. Vaida had folded her arms, and her voice twinged with that imperious tone she’d had when they’d first met.
Andy huffed a dry laugh. “I did what I had to for me and my people and to survive, Ma’am. I don’t like breaking the law or dodging lasers and gunfire, but there’s a lot of poor families that need to eat.”
The GPS beeped, and Andy gave Mrs. Vaida a slightly defiant look to counter her furrowed brow. “We’re here,” he said as he threw the engine in neutral and opened the cabin door.
Andy walked out and took a deep breath, but all he could smell was the net and the exhaust from the engine. “HEY JACKIE! WE SMELL MONEY?” Andy yelled out as he took stock of the sky. The first signs of sunrise were chasing all but the morning stars away and a light fog was rolling in from the north.
“FUCK YEAH I CAN SMELL ‘EM, ANDY! LET’S BOMB OUT AND GET BREAKFAST GOING!” Jackie looked slightly manic as she smiled brightly. Kalai, on the other hand, looked wet and miserable as she shivered, arms wrapped around herself. Andy gave his cousin a disgusted look as he pieced together what had happened. Every deckhand learned when to duck behind the raised bow and the roller horns that guided the nets so as not to get a faceful of spray when cutting through a swell. It was also a classic hazing trick for Senior Deckhands to let Junior Deckhands learn this the hard way.
Andy moved forward to stand in front of the two of them. Kalai was trying to squeeze her coat dry, but Andy knew it wouldn’t do much good until the sun came out. Jackie at least had the sense to look a little remorseful. “Kalai, why don’t you go sit in the cabin and get out of that wet coat. It’s cold enough out here even for us-”
“No way, Andy. Junior deckhand Kally here wants to impress you and get her dainty soft hands dirty! She’s been bragging about being a sailorwoman and wants to learn to fish ‘your way!” Jackie gave Kalai’s shoulder a wet slap as the poor alien woman went blue. Out of cold or embarrassment, Andy couldn’t tell.
All Andy could do was shake his head and huff. “Ok then! Secure the buoy and sling on my mark. I’ll get us in position!” Andy couldn’t help but chuckle as he heard Jackie start ordering Kalai about. Andy went back into the cabin and looked in the closet/bathroom to see if there was anything hanging up that he could give Kalai. There was only the one rain slicker and a few of Andy’s old sweaters from when he was a lot smaller. Well, looks like I’ll just be cold today. He quickly stripped out of his sweatshirt and grabbed the slicker before throwing a switch on the main control. Dr. He’osforos and Mrs. Vaida threw him quizzical looks as he went back outside wearing less than when he came in. He was down to a sleeveless shirt and his coveralls, and the morning breeze cut right through him and he braced his jaw to keep it from chattering.
“We’re ready to go- Andy, why are you practically naked from the waist up?” Kalai was staring wide eyed at him as he approached her and Jackie was on the bow. Jackie had everything ready; the buoy line was strung through the horns and ready to toss out. A giant orange and blue beach ball sized float hung at the end of the line to mark the end and make it easier to pick up later.
“Trade me your coat for these. If Jackie’s putting you to work, you’ll need these to keep warm.”
“I’m alright, I can-”
“I’m the Skipper of this boat, and I’m ordering you to take off that wet coat and put these on; and Jackie?” Andy gave his cousin a long and piercing look. “Give her the elbow gloves, not the halfsies.”
The scoff and the muttered Salishian profanities meant he’d read the next prank she’d had in mind right. She was planning on giving her the cloth gloves with only the palms and fingers coated in rubber. While perfectly fine for fishing, Andy knew they tended to get soaked through very quickly and did nothing to keep jellyfish stingers and fish slime off your hands. Kalai sputtered for a moment before she complied gratefully and she accepted the dry clothes and rain slicker.
Andy saw Jackie give him a strange look before looking back at Kalai, but he paid it no mind. He walked back to the controls on the drum and switched off the hydraulics, placing the mechanism in neutral. “SLING IT!” Andy called as he took the small jerry rigged steering wheel and threw the boat in reverse. Kalai jumped as the line started unspooling the net into the water at a rapid pace.
Andy set an ‘S’ bend in the quarter mile long net, zigzagging backwards until they came to the end of the line. Andy stopped the boat as Jackie tied off the other large buoy and tossed it over the side, unstringing the cork-line from the roller horns in the process. He pulled hard over and put a bit of distance from the net before shutting the engine down. The line of white and yellow corks marking the net bobbed lazily with the swells as silence settled over the water again. The waves rocked the boat gently as Andy found his sea legs again.
“Alright, I’ll get breakfast going. Jackie, Kalai? Post the watch for seals,” Andy called as he walked back into the cabin to fire up the tiny little gas stove.
Sakalbi, having found the confidence to stand at last, poked her head out of the cabin and stood on by the hatch to the fish hold. “Seals? Why would you need to watch for seals?”
Andy grit his teeth and looked over from where he was cracking open and scrambling eggs. “They’re the spawn of Satan and we hate their guts!” Andy bit out. Jackie came back and pulled the two shotguns and a pair of binoculars from the closet. Andy reached over to a side cabinet and pulled out a box of shells for them. Both his boss and the Doctor’s eyes got wide.
“Seals are the enemy of our blood. Were it not for the invasion, our unending war against these vermin would continue to this day!” Jackie growled as she loaded one for herself and rested the other on Andy’s seat at the helm.
The look of growing horror on Sakalbi’s face towards their facetious declarations caused Andy to chuckle a bit, before launching into an explanation. “We’re not fans of the species because they’ll wait until a fish gets caught in the net and then they’ll steal it, costing us a fish AND ripping a big hole in our nets that we then have to take time to repair. We use the shotguns and buckshot to give them a nice welt and convince them not to hang around, because they’ll wait up on the surface and watch the buoys, just like us. A single seal can and will take between five and ten fish. The worst is when they start getting full, they’ll just bite out the bellies of a salmon in the net. We can’t really do anything with that fish once it’s ‘seal-bit’. So yes, as fishermen, we hate them.”
“Learned opportunism in apex predators as a response to human activity… I think I’ll go see this behavior for myself!” Sakalbi practically rushed out the door towards the bow where Jackie was sitting on the roller horns explaining to Kalai how to spot the bastards, leaving Andy alone in the cabin with the Doctor while he cooked breakfast for them all.
Dr. He’osforos sat down heavily in the booth and pulled out his omnipad. “I’ve had a word with my friend in the Interior. She’s pulled the warrant for your brother, and I’ve withdrawn the charges I filed.”
Andy froze and turned around slowly. The only sound was the sizzle and pop of the eggs and chorizo that he’d added to them in the skillet. “You mean… it’s done? He can come home?” A wave of light headed euphoria swept over Andy and he swayed with the gentle rocking of the boat. “I will pay you back, Doc-”
The doctor held up his hand and stopped Andy. “We’ll call it even, but there’s something… I was able to get my hands on this,” Andy watched as the doctor swiped something towards his omnipad and it dinged. “What is it if I may-”
“Are you really asking an Indian to tell you a story? Because it’s going to be a long one if you are.” “I’m Sevastutavan, young man; we invented long stories.”
Andy froze and stared at the screen of his omnipad. The Vatikre was heavily accented, and Andy had a bit of trouble with the unfamiliar accent, but centered in the frame in a hospital room, sitting in a wheelchair, was a Salishian boy. Andy blinked in surprise as he stared at the screen. “Is that-”
“I am Ikw’is’hi’ehlah, and this bearer is… of the Orca Clan Sheloksets. I drove our Haida enemies onto the rocks and took many heads when they attacked our winter village on Orcas Island. I signed the Treaty with the Great White Father and I fought against the slavers of the south-”
Andy wanted to grab the omnipad but the smell of overcooking eggs brought his attention back to breakfast and Andy stirred and scrapped the food quickly, trying to save it.
“I asked her for any materials she could give me on your brother. Pictures, recordings, anything. This is what she gave me. It's the last known recording of your brother during an interrogation conducted by a Navy Commissar prior to his escape. It seems he made friends with a Pod of Deaths Head Commandos. Quite a bit of the recording has been redacted, but… there are portions of it where he talks about his family and his history. I thought you might like to have it.”
Andy hurriedly pulled out paper plates and a slice of bread for everyone and scooped a heaping portion of the chorizo eggs onto them. He handed the doctor his before leaning out the cabin door. “Slop’s on, come and get it!”
Andy sat down after moving the shotgun out of the way and started the video over again as the three women came back to grab their plates and lost himself watching his brother start telling his story.
“What’s that?” Andy heard Kalai ask over his shoulder, and he paused the video.
“That’s my brother! That’s Kay Tee!”
“Holy shit, what?” Jackie nearly shoved Kalai into Andy as she jammed her bread slice down her gullet and crowded in to see the screen.
Andy started the video over a second time and they watched in silence. “God, that brings back memories. Back when mom was still alive and before we broke up the warband. I can’t believe that slippery little punk ghosted a pod of Commandos for two fucking years! Holy shit, that’s badass!”
Before Andy could say anything, Sakalbi started coughing and brought the binoculars up. “Uh, Andy? Jackie? What do we do about sharks?”
Jackie looked at Andy in confusion. “Sharks? There’s nothing but Dogs around here.”
“Well those are shark fins and they’re charging the net!” Sakalbi pointed and Andy looked up to see dorsal fins charging the center of the net.
Andy looked at Jackie and spoke the same words in tandem, “Oh shit!”
​
First:
https://www.reddit.com/Sexyspacebabes/comments/yz0u3h/the_cryptid_chronicle_chapter_1/
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https://www.reddit.com/Sexyspacebabes/comments/13nh0oe/cryptid_chronicle_chapter_29/
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To be posted 6/4/23

My octogenarian in laws are coming to celebrate my son graduate. We want to do a family photo. What are some good suggestions of benches we could use as a setup for this that don't require a lot of walking to get to?

New Airstreamer here, looking to try to peel back some layers of the mystery that surrounds the towing numbers. Please forgive the lengthy post – English is my first language, but I’m rather verbose by nature.
So, I just became the owner of a (new to me) 25' Safari (2005). It’s in great shape, but it has had some modifications, so it’s not stock. It’s a Rear-bed (twins), but the front dinette has been replaced with a corner sofa that turns into a bed. The previous owners told me that they weighed the trailer at 6100 lbs, which jives with the specs for a 2005 Safari: UBW: 5270, GVWR: 7300. Add a little stuff, and potentially 37 gallons of water and it’s safe to increase that to 6600 lbs. Still a touch below the GVWR, so that’s good – but I’ll call it 6600.
*My trailer tongue weight is 15% of the trailer, so it’s 1000 lbs. (estimated, I’ll take it to a scale when I can)
*I’m not a big guy, but I’m getting to 190, I’ll gingerly say that my wife and kids will add 300, so there’s 500lbs of bodies (arguably, that’s not the best way to express that).
So, without any Craft beer or Kraft dinner, I have 1000 + 500 lbs on the vehicle now.
So I look at a Ram 1500, and I find that the “Payload” (on this particular one) is ~1300 lbs. Then I see an F-150 with a similar payload. Given my calculation, neither will suffice.
I see people saying that they tow with a Tiguan or a Ranger, which, when I crunch the numbers, just don’t seem to work. I have a Ford Flex, the manual says it has a 4500 lb towing capacity, and GVWR of 6000. I hooked it up in the driveway, and the Flex almost cried – the back end dropped over 3” - I was afraid I’d break her back! People have said that a Flex will tow my Safari, I’d be afraid it would kill it, and that the handling would be whack. And if the tongue is 1000 lbs, then that, with the family on board, would max it out.
I know that there are bigger trucks - F-250, Diesel, certain big Ram 1500 with a Hemi, or a Titan or Tundra or Silverado, but I hear that “Anything can tow an Airstream”, and it doesn't jive. Can you help me understand? Am I missing something, or is everyone right when they say “don’t worry about the numbers”. I don’t necessarily disagree, but, I need to be safe, you know, for the aforementioned 300 lbs of family.
I'm happy to be a part of the Airstream family, just on a part of the learning curve that’s a bit tough (and I want to get it right)

I, 16F, recently resorted to the decision to stop seeing my father after years of many different events. I should firstly make it clear that I wasn’t subject to abuse in any of this I don’t think, I know I wasn’t physically though. So, when I was 7, my parents had divorced and my dad very soon after started dating another lady and moved in with her whilst I stayed living with my mum. Before he had left, he was always such a lovely and funny dad - well, that’s what everyone tells me anyway as I don’t have any memories of him living with us. However, after he left he started changing lots and now he’s nothing like he was before. His girlfriend would very often criticise and make constant pokes at me. It became very apparent quickly that she didn’t want any involvement with me, and wanted my dad for herself. Many times she would do cruel things and say some pretty harsh things. One time I was staying at their house for the weekend but wasn’t feeling well enough to go and see my dad’s girlfriends’ family for the day. Later that day when they got home, she was meant to be cooking dinner for us and because I didn’t feel well enough to see her family, according to her, I was apparently not well enough to eat and whilst they sat with their full plates, I was sat with a small snack and a few slices of cucumber. Another time I had accidentally spilt a glass of water to which she got pretty angry, shouted at me for a bit before storming outside to sit in her car for about 6 hours until I left to go home as she refused to talk to or speak to me. One time on New Year’s Eve we had celebrated with family and were going back to a hotel after. Keep in mind the hotel only provided enough pillows for the three of us to have one each. I felt very sick when we got back to the hotel so I sat in the bathroom almost throwing up. Once I went back into the room when I was feeling slightly better, my bed had no pillow, whilst my dads girlfriend had two and overheard her whisper shouting to my dad “she’s not my daughter, why should I care about her?”. So basically I was feeling really unwell and she couldn’t even spare a small ounce of empathy or sympathy by leaving me a pillow for my comfort? No. She didn’t care about me as she so clearly said. These are only a scarce number of the things that happened between me and them. No matter how many times I would tell my dad how disregarded and unwelcome I felt around them and told him the things she had done/ said, even if he witnessed them, he would always back her up. Anyways, fast forward to lockdown, him and his girlfriend got pregnant and despite the rules in the uk saying that fathers and mothers living in desperate households can still see their children during the pandemic, he would make up excuses, which was fine whilst she was pregnant, however as time went on and my half brother was born, the excuses not to see me didn’t stop. He would say he couldn’t see me, yet his girlfriend would be posting photos of her and ALL of her family (keeping in mind the uk rules were that you could only meet with one other household) and it became so frequent to the point my mum would have to comfort me at least two or three times a week from just seeing her new posts and being pushed away. My half brother is now turning three this year and I’ve only seen him 6 times at most which kind of says a lot. Anyway, at the start of the year I was diagnosed with a condition that causes me to faint often. From the multiple trips to the hospital, we learnt that on top of the other thing, I was clinically diagnosed with trauma and anxiety caused by my dad. Funnily enough, the only cause for the other thing I was diagnosed with that would make sense for my situation, is trauma. I honestly wasn’t surprised about the anxiety. It got to a point where even if I saw a message come through from him, I’d shake a lot and my eyes would well up with tears. When he called was even worse and I physically couldn’t press the answer or call button. This now takes us to a few weeks ago. I called him up, well, got my mum to press the call button for me and sit in the next room over and shut the door. I told him that I constantly felt anxious around him and his girlfriend and how unwanted they would make me feel which I had already told him over the years, to which he went on to try and manipulate me into thinking I was in the wrong and was victimising himself which I was starting to buy into and I’m assuming my mum had heard me crying on the call and some of what I was saying as she came into the room and nodded at me to hang up. So I told him not to contact me and I hung up in tears. I spent a whole hour or two after that call fully shaking badly and sobbing in my mum’s arms whilst she had to comfort me and reassure me that I wasn’t in the wrong and I haven’t done anything or said anything bad to them and she had to continuously explain to me how he was essentially gaslighting me into believing I was the one who had messed it all up. Long story short, I am getting put on a waiting list for therapy and have cut contact with my dad and am not planning on seeing him any time soon, or hopefully ever again. I’ve been trying to think of things I could have said or done that could cause them to act how they do with me and I mean, I have sent a few messages before which I expressed my annoyance in and also on a call but in those times it was 99% of the time to defend and stand my ground. Now I have a bit of an issue, with Father’s Day coming up in the uk, it has me constantly envisioning my dad sitting and waiting for a message all of the day to have the realisation that he has essentially lost a daughter. I keep getting a picture in my mind of my dad breaking down staring at the empty notifications on his phone and I’m scared that the stress will push him too far. He has always been one to bottle things up and then let it all out and as much as I hate him for what he has done, I don’t want him working himself into a heart attack or something. He’s still my dad. I don’t even know if he cares enough about me for it to hurt him but I keep getting this crushing guilt in my heart which is what has led me to being sat here at 3:45am on a Sunday typing this up. I really don’t know what to do and whether I’m in the wrong for what I’ve done or not because my friends all tell me that my dad and his girlfriend are in the wrong but my mind makes me believe they’re just saying it because they’re friends/ family and don’t want to hurt me. Please be as honest about me as you want in this because I need a genuinely honest opinion from people I don’t know so I can’t get biased responses. So, am I the asshole for dropping contact with my father?

My big birthday plan had been to drive to STL, shove delicious pancakes in my face at the O-riginal Pancake House, and then hit the pen show. Life has a different plan for me- surgery, at the beginning of that week, It's unlikely I'll be able to make it to the show. But a bunch of friends and family have said their birthday gift plan for me was a chunk of change to go hog wild at the show, which, sigh, thanks, lovely thought, appreciate it.
​
If anyone plans on going to the show, I would deeply, deeply appreciate any and all 'hey, here's a photo of so and so's booth, and here's their contact info' so I can follow up with vendors. Delayed fountain pen joy is still joy, and I'd love to throw my birthday money at small businesses if possible.

You guys I’m at a draw here. This is gonna be a long one but I’ll shorten my story up. I need some advise. So I was adopted as a child at 10 from a diff country. I have no blood relatives not even cousins. My birth mom was raised in an orphanage and both my birth parents were an only child. I’m the last of my name. When I was adopted it was like a dream but I didn’t realize as a child the abuse I went through. Emotional abuse and mind torture. I couldn’t even think without worrying she would know what I’m thinking.
She would have my social media logged in on her phone. A few times she replied to people acting like she was me. She deleted a post I made on instagram because she didn’t like it and didn’t think I should post that. She checked my phone every night almost everyday after school, would print my texts out and show them to me. She forced me once to break up with a bf I had in high school on speaker phone and told all teachers (she was pta president) to make sure I wasn’t around him. She would drive by wherever I was and make sure I was actually there. Read my Snapchat, text, Facebook, kik messages. My photos literally everything. I had no door in my room for a year. I was sxx abused by a member of her family when she found out she punished me by grounding me for 6-8 months and sent me to a mental institution claiming I ruined her family and now her relationship is weird because of me. Forced me to see these people who abused me every holiday and after many times telling her I was uncomfortable she would still invite them and say she didn’t know why I felt this way. Took me a long time to really see the issues we had. I’m never right, she’s always saying negative stuff, she has this uncomfortable energy that feels like she’s always mad at me for no reason. We argued when I was growing up she wouldn’t want me to ever ask or talk about my birth family. She always forced me to clean and clean and clean. Recently Mother’s Day I went to spend with my husbands family and it wasn’t planned like that in the beginning of day and I had told her earlier I had other plans to spend with my son and husband. We came to his family’s home and hung out for a bit before continuing our original plans, this woman drove by their house! And had my sister ask if I still have the same car. I called her and told her we were coming to see her and she said she’s not home they’re “driving around looking at houses just to get out of the house”. She was clearly spying on me to see if I’m lying. She would never admit so. She has given my husband the same gift twice that he does not like and she does not bother to get to know him. (He does not like her as he knows how she is). If I tell her the issues she just says she’s “walking on eggshells” around me and I’m always “mad” at her. Then it turns to that I don’t love her family or love her that I’m selfish (something she ALWAYS said) I only care about myself and not her feeling. So the question that I have for you guys is when do you know that it’s time to finally cut the chord? I’m adopted so it’s my only family so I feel drawn to keep this relationship having a lack of family for 10 years but also this stuff is just piling on and on and everything is always about her. I moved and she didn’t come see us for more than a month (1hr away) didn’t ask how the move went or how the place looks my dad came and helped us with the move tho. Then she texts me pictures of stuff she’s doing too her house or the issues she’s having currently rather than how things are with me. I’m not sure how to continue this my hubbys family is like my family but I feel like since I’m adopted I have to keep this relationship and am having a hard time cutting the string between her and I. What do I do in this case? I’m so lost

Itong kapatid ko (actually not by blood but my dad and her mom got together when we were teens), mahal ko naman kaya lang natatangahan na ako minsan. May jowa sya na laging out of town for work and lagi nila issue yung time. Nagre-radio silence kasi minsan si guy. Ang loyalty ko nasa kanya syempre pero ayoko mag-impose kahit noon pa feeling ko hindi ready magcommit sa kanya yung guy. Marami nang signs. Ang last away nila, may nakita syang family photo in a big reunion ni guy na naka-tag na "couples", tapos may katabing babae si guy. Context: in their 3 years together hindi pa sya napakilala sa kahit sinong kamag-anak. Sa part din naman namin, ako pa lang and si mama ang nakilala briefly. Anyway may kotob na pala sya noon pa naconfirm lang nya daw sa reunion photo. Careful ako sa pag-handle sa kanya kasi sensitive sya, so this time I said lang kausapin mo na hindi yan makukuha ng text text lang. The guy went back, di nakipagkita kahit weekend, me tatatapusin daw na work. When she confrronted nagalit pa, kung ganun daw na me duda palagi, tapusin na lang nila. Kapatid ko ang sabi, ikaw, ano gusto mo ba tapusin na? Sumagot naman daw ng ayaw. And that family lang daw nya yon talaga. Tapos apparrently nagkabati na naman. Dito na ako nainis. Proud pa sya na hinamon daw nya ng hiwalayan, di naman nakapalag. Akala nya victory nya yon. Pero sa totoo lang na-gaslight na naman sya. So balik na naman sila sa ganyan, yung kung kelan lang libre tsaka lang makikipagkita sa kanya. Masaya na sya doon. Hirap na hirap n akong magsabi ng you deserve better at ako na ang walking on egg shells minsan sa kanya kasi pag galit sya sa guy at galit din ako, ang ending sa akin ichachannel yung inis, na never naman daw kami naging boto kay guy. Pag naman neutral lang, ang iniiyak sa akin wala daw syang kakampi. Ako na minsan nadredrain. Me pagkat4nga talaga. Hay nako.

Hey guys!!!! Just wanted to share my story with y’all. So the eating disorder I struggled with was Anorexia (I NEVER ever binged or vomited bc like ewwww 🤢 but omg you’re still totally valid if you had something else like binge eating disorder or even 😳 atypical anorexia!!!)
Growing up my family wasn’t rich or poor and I would say we were comfortable! Like we only had two houses: a penthouse in NYC and a summer vacay house in St. Bart’s. My parents are also pretty normal and neither abusive or perfectly supportive. Like…. when I told them I wanted a Range Rover for my 16th bday, they only got me a Jeep (whatever 🥱 I’m not bitter or anything but trauma like this DEFINITELY contributed to my anorexia)
I would say my eating disorder started in 9th grade when, at the private school I went to, I broke my ankle and couldn’t ride my favorite horse anymore. I obviously gained a little weight and broke into TEARS when the prom dress that Donatella Versace herself made me didn’t fit anymore.
Yeah long story short blah blah overexercise and restriction. I won’t mention numbers bc they’re sooooo useless and triggering 🙄 (oh also I never ate more than 2 calories a day and ran at least 50 miles every morning)! I even had to get hospitalized 17 times because I was SUCH A LOW WEIGHT and even got a medal at my local hospital for being the best anorexic. But of course even if you were never hospitalized you’re still totally valid!!!! Body shape and weight don’t define how sick you are 🥺 butttttt in case you’re curious, here’s a nude photo of me at my lowest weight.
And then I found JESUS and he SAVED ME 🙏🏻 from anorexia! I’m not trying to tell others what to do or say there’s only one way to recover (but if you don’t believe in our true savior then you’ll never recover and also burn in the fires of hell for eternity btw)
So yeah that’s my story!!!! I hope I was able to help and inspire some of you. Remember that weight gain is OKAY and different for everyone, which is why I’m still underweight. Bye guys and here’s a 10% off code for protein bars ❤️❤️❤️❤️

My husband has an aunt that lives down south and we don’t see her often. Last time we saw her was towards the end of 2021. Well they started talking again recently and she told him the other night she planned on making a trip back home in September. Didn’t tell him the dates or anything. So yesterday she posted on Facebook that she’s coming home the weekend of September 22nd, I’m due September 8th. I refuse to drive an hour and a half with my newborn so she can meet her. I will allow her to drive that to us, but I don’t even know how old our daughter will be or how my recovery will be going. That’s going to be the same for all of the family that is up there, at least for the first month or so. I also have zero intentions of letting her take photos of our daughter, or letting her post them on social media. The photo rule will be for everyone too, not just her.
What bothers me most about this situation is she didn’t even ask us if that weekend would work… I think she just assumed since I should’ve given birth by then that it would be okay.

hey!!! me and my family are visiting my theia in athens soon and i really want to take some pictures at a photo booth. like the ones that take like 4 pictures and prints them out. i for some reason can’t find any just from a simple google search, do they have a different name or does anyone know places in monastiraki or nearby that have photobooths?