21 anonymous parents confess how they're battling burnout by any means possible

"I throw out my kids' crafts and I don't feel bad about it."

By Evan Porter

I was trying to make a dentist appointment for my two kids last week. Or, rather, I was trying to reschedule a dentist appointment. I'd made one six months ago at their last visit for a day and time that seemed to make sense, but that was basically an educated guess at best. Six months might as well be six years ago! I had no idea what our schedule would be so far in the future, so I did my best. But now it was time to move it, of course, because I had been completely wrong.

I called the office, but no answer. Called again, no answer. Left a message, no call back. Finally, I was able to get a hold of someone through the office's text line. They offered up some new dates and times, which was great. So, I went to check our calendar.

📖 Literature professor explains how history changed whether people bookmark or 'dog ear' books

"Dog ear your own books. Fine. Do this to library books and I will find you…"

By Emily Shiffer

All bibliophiles have a personal method for marking their "spot" in books. Some are fans of "dog ears"—folding the top corner of the page--while others prefer to use bookmarks. If you're a voracious reader, it's a divisive topic that has a surprisingly deep history related to libraries dating back to the 16th century.

NPR's Andrew Limbong, a reporter and host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast, interviewed Ian Gadd, an English literature professor at Bath Spa University in England to explain the history of dog-earing books—and how the two camps evolved.

"In England, from the 16th century to the 18th century, dog-earing was not a big deal," says Limbong. "In fact, dog-earing a book like the Bible was a way of showing you've been keeping up with the reading."

A mousse that’s rich with love 🥹

🎥 Man passionately explains the meaning of staircases in movies and now people can't unsee it

Once you hear this explanation, you start seeing it everywhere.

By Annie Reneau

Moviemaking magic is part art and part science, and most of us don't fully know how the cinematic sausage gets made. Many people enjoy watching "behind the scenes" and "making of" videos to get a glimpse of what we don't see on camera, but even those don't give us all the ins and outs of how filmmakers create a great movie experience.

Perhaps that's why a video from a woman showing her screenwriter husband geeking out over a very specific element of filmmaking has gone viral. Or, maybe it's because we all love to see people passionately explain something they know about. Either way, his explanation of how staircases are purposefully used to drive the plot and reveal information about characters in movies has people engrossed.

In the video, the couple is watching The Princess Diaries 2 when the husband pauses the movie and asks his wife, "Have I told you about staircases in film and what they represent in film?" She giggles—clearly this is not an unusual occurrence—and says, "No." He puts down the remote (apparently so he can use both of his hands to talk) and starts in on the lesson.

🌊 Ashley Judd joins the 'We Don't Care Club' and women cheer as she joyfully plays in the sea

This is as real as it gets.

By Annie Reneau

Actor Ashley Judd has perimenopausal and post-menopausal women everywhere cheering after she posted a video of herself frolicking in the ocean with the caption "WE DON'T CARE CLUB: BALTIC SEA EDITION." As she plays around in the water, she narrates what she's doing and what being part of the We Don't Care Club means.

"Hi, I'm Ashley and I'm a member of the We Don't Care Club," she begins, "and when I'm in my swimsuit, sometimes I get a little chafing, like right down there, so I put on cornstarch—good trick if you don't know that already—and then there's like a white thing, and if you see it, I don't care."