Yep. We have a black and white Brother laser printer, and it’s lasted* for at least five years now. Toner is so much cheaper than those stupid, tiny cartridges with not-enough-cyan.

My lungs hurt from laughing. This is amazing!

I mean, I feel like I’ve been seen, but also called out. 😂 Thank you for all of this info!

Thank you! We’re really looking forward to it. It’s such a beautiful country, and the people seem lovely. My daughter has been learning German for a couple years, but I definitely need to work on mine before we go.

This makes sense, too. I know we borrow a ton of words and phrases over here, especially from our neighboring countries and historically from, well, basically all of Europe.

This is great context, thank you! That would make sense about the comments. The hotel owners were responding to folks, but I admit I was reading through things quickly and could have missed someone identifying themselves that way before the hotel responded.

Oh, that’s a decent theory! Interesting that you haven’t seen it as a German person, too.

Oh yeah, we know that! Between the three of us we can do survivable German, Spanish, and French, as well. I think. 😂

My daughter actually said something like that, that the French names probably just sound fancier, especially to Americans. That would jive with ladyofthrowaway’s post above, too.

That’s certainly possible! I’m not sure how I would find that out. We’re just looking at the places with decent reviews on available sites in the US, like Expedia and TripAdvisor.

Yeah, I was thinking of areas like Enumclaw, Bonney Lake, and Puyallup. You can definitely get a (smaller) house for under 500k in those areas, but I’m not sure if it quite fits OP’s political preference.

South of Seattle (South King or North Pierce counties, or even further south, closer to Olympia) gets occasional snow in the winter, and occasional 100+ degree days in the summer. Summer is gorgeous FTMP, with temps around 75-80 most days. Oct-Mar can be rough if you’re prone to seasonal depression, from the lack of sunshine. Plan to vacation somewhere sunny for a week some time in January or February, and you’ll do better.

I will say this specific area is pretty rural and red, vs the city centers closer to Seattle and Tacoma.

Michigan gets frigid winters, doesn’t it?

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Give people a top ten list (movies from the 80s, e.g.) to rank.

My brother (in his 30s) calls me up when he needs support, and I do genuinely care. I’m sorry you don’t have someone. That must be terrible. 😔