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Not quite that much, but getting into that range. Farm in Western Iowa where farm ground sells from $10K to 20K an acre and property tax rates are skyrocketing. So it's always fun to get the 'farmers get welfare from the government' thrown in our faces all the time. Property and income taxes are significant.

Observing other peoples parties for ideas or 'don'ts' is a great idea!

That's because cream cheese frosting should never be on a Red Velvet cake...
I don't know when that abomination got started, but it is wrong, wrong, wrong! *
The traditional frosting for Red Velvet is an Ermine frosting, which is a cooked flour and milk mixture, that is then whipped in with butter and granulated (not powdered) sugar, to make a fluffy frosting. It is not cloyingly sweet and pairs perfectly with the Red Velvet cake that has just a small amount of tang from the vinegar/baking soda reaction with the buttermilk.
*I say this somewhat tongue in cheek. If you love cream cheese frosting on Red Velvet - go for it. Just remember, it's wrong though. I do love a good cream cheese frosting, especially on carrot cake or pumpkin roll.
My recipe has 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. The chocolate is a minor player in this cake.

As far as the red color, it doesn't bother me. I don't eat this every day, I might make it once or twice a year and eat only a small amount of it. My recipe, and many others call for 2 ounces of red color - which is two bottles. My frugal mother always used one bottle, and filled that empty with water and added that. It was sufficiently red! She didn't do it for health reasons, she was just not one to spend a lot of $$.

Neat!

I have a big crop of Baltimore Orioles this year. I sit and watch them at the feeder. The hummingbirds are here in full force too, along with goldfinches.
I have seen scarlet tanagers, indigo bunting, lots of various woodpeckers. Killdeer are always interesting. They feign injury to keep/draw you away from the ground nest.

I miss the Meadowlarks. I haven't  had any for a couple years now. Their song was always my favorite and reminded me of my childhood.

The pooping invasive doves could go. And the swallows have to find a different place than my porch to nest! There are plenty of places here on my farm - so I put rocks or other barriers up in the corners and ledges on my porch to keep them away. Too messy!

Lord. That would be the end of it for me.

My son took a very large bull snake from my brothers house. DS was maybe 13, and my brother knew he had no fear of snakes. We did use a hog catcher to get the snake, because they do bite! It was as long as my son was tall at that age, and phew ... it gave off a stink when they caught it! Catch and release, because my DH loves those bull snakes! Rodent catchers. Just not at my house please.

I do love pickup! It makes getting a lot of groceries/supplies a breeze, plus it eliminates the impulse buys! The only thing I don't like is for things that need to be fresh. Milk, breads, fruit. I just don't feel they are giving me the freshest or farthest from expiration date on those, so I go in for that stuff.

I did get all my potting soil and heavy planting supplies by pickup. I about cried it was SO easy! LOL I just dropped my tailgate and they loaded all that in my rig! I need a few bags of mulch now, and I am definitely doing that via pickup! I can hardly wrestle those big bags into my cart anymore.

Ugh - this!

I had to take my kids with me, if I went anywhere during the day. You have to know your kids' limits, but you can make them behave! I had the "I'll warn you once, and only once, and then we leave". If they were well behaved, I did often let them have a treat. The treat was discussed before we left home. Sometimes it was a Matchbox car or a small candy. Often it was a Happy Meal on the way home (This was once a month, maybe). Only one time did we leave. I didn't yell, or count down, I just said that I had warned them once and that we were leaving immediately. Oh that was a quiet ride home. No further punishments, just an unhappy mother and no treat.

I never had to do it again.

At the grocery store, if they were old enough, I would have them get the can or box off the shelf and put it in the cart. Or we could discuss what meals they wanted, and what ingredients we would need. Or we did an 'eye spy" game to keep them focused. I didn't ignore them. I talked to them and engaged them. Not every trip was sunshine and roses, but you can teach your kids to behave.

There was a house a few miles north of me. It seemed like a doomed house. I don't think it was all that old, in farmhouse terms. Maybe built in the 70's or early 80's.
Original owners died, and it was rented out. There was always snakes in it. At one point it was gutted and re-drywalled because of mold.

Someone new (and young) bought the farm and farmstead. They battled the snakes. They finally just burnt the house down. They planned a new home so dug up the old basement and tiling. The tile lines were FULL of snakes. Like nothing anyone had seen. They completely removed the drainage tile for that whole farmstead area and put new in, and did it differently so they would not have snakes. That is how the snakes were coming into the house. Good lord!

Anyway, they have a beautiful new home and no creepie crawlers.

I used that approach a lot, when someone complained. It was always a person who never volunteered because they were "too busy".

People do have valid suggestions, but if they are not willing to at least help a little - go away. LOL

I really hope this is changing.

My daughter and her husband are both high earners, and have about equal work hours. Her husband is just amazing. They split the household chores pretty much down the middle. And they do it without one asking the other to do it. It just gets done. He is amazing with their kids and is a very hands on parent. He tends to do more of the outside lawn and pool maintenance, but she does some too. She enjoys cooking more, but they both prepare and clean up. But laundry, shopping, doctor visits - all of it is handled by both of them equally. I love it!

I have a more traditional role. I do all the house work, cooking, laundry. I also do all the outside lawn and house maintenance. I dearly LOVE yard work. I also do all the bookwork/banking. I do not work outside of our home/farm/ranch.
If I asked DH to do something, he would not have any issues doing it.
He works 7 days a week, long late days most of them, on our farm/ranch. I don't ask him to do some task after he has been out working a 14 hour day. But he appreciates what I do. Very much so. He appreciated my role as a mother, and when someone compliments our kids, he never hesitates to give credit to me. That makes me feel very proud.

During busy seasons, I work more on the farm now, than when our kids were at home. During harvest I am out there all day too. I prepare and pack all our meals for the day, and he makes sure my truck is field ready for me. If he is slammed with the livestock and hasn't had time to prepare my truck, I check the fluids and air and also do the same for his combine so we can get rolling faster.

But the one thing that has made this work is the fact that he KNOWS what value I am. I do not feel like I am set to drudgery without any compensation for it. I am an equal partner in our operation. He gets my input on management and purchases.

It really bothered me when we were first married, that on our taxes my occupation was 'homemaker'. That doesn't bother me now, but I am listed now as "Farmer"

It wouldn't work here. Too rural. The buses make one run on each route, so it would be impossible to run multiple times on each route.
8:20 start time for all grades. It has always worked.

I know there is something to the fact of kids learning better if they start later, but I still think they have to figure out how to manage their time and get their butts out of bed and going in the morning. I had one that was an absolute bear to blast out of bed in the morning. It was awful. A lot of it was not going to bed/sleep at a decent time. I know that is a hormonal thing. And I allowed some slack for it, but in the end - when it was time to get up - get the heck up. Turn off the devices and go to sleep at night.

My kids all participated in sports or academic activities that had them at the high school early, often by 6 am for some seasons. They had afterschool sports/activities that kept them at the school til 5:00 and on event days, it was sometimes 10 pm (or later) before they were home. I tried to keep them fed well, and didn't expect a lot of home chores from them during those times. All I asked was for them to have their dirty laundry in baskets. I returned clean baskets - they could leave it in the clean basket or put it away, I didn't care.

I love that ride! We almost took the Acela once, but the time difference was minimal and the cost difference wasn't. LOL Still wish we had done that though. We haven't been back east in a long time!

The east coast train travel is SO different that going west! HA!

I've done AMTRAK trips many times!
East coast trains are WAY different than the ones that go west. On the east coast, AMTRAK is generally very 'on time' and efficient.

On the rest of the system, you are are the mercy of freight train traffic. They own the track, and AMTRAK goes when they say it can go, so you can run in to a lot of lateness. Crews can only work so many hours, so if a crew 'times out', then the train waits again for a new crew to be delivered to it. Do you know which train your riding? I think you have 2 or 3 options on that route. Lincoln Service, Texas Eagle, and maybe Missouri Runner? I hope it is a fun experience!!

Make sure your group knows they can only bring/consume their own alcohol in private rooms (sleepers). You can't bring your own alcohol on and consume it in any coach seats or in the cafe car. Only in your own private sleeper room (I don't think the Heartland Flyer has sleepers on the consist). Snacks and non-alcohol drinks are fine though! Sounds like such a fun time!!

I love Tencel sheets! I get mine from Amazon, because...$$$ lol

DH even commented on them, about how much he liked them.

I don't know if they are cooling, but I feel like they are very breathable and don't bunch up. They have a nice soft silky feel.
I have two sets, and they are from the same brand/Amazon seller, but one color seems nicer than the other. Go figure.