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Rosika

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Everything posted by Rosika

  1. For those of you chiming in with suggestions, is it possible to say something you like about the ones you recommend? I've been using Hag Rags for over a decade, but they're no longer around. I'm building up a stash for my daughter. So far I've only bought one brand (Glad Rags) which I order wholesale from Frontier. They're okay. She likes that they come in colors and can be stuffed according to the day's needs. I ordered myself a few of the organic ones. They work fine, but aren't super super absorbent so I don't wear them on heavier days. But I like that they're organic. My daughter doesn't like that they're only in natural cotton color because she's squicky about how stark the blood looks against it.
  2. Green salad Sauteed chicken sataras roasted potatoes
  3. I have control issues. I don't even like having my own kids pick my fruits and vegetables. And heaven forbid they don't claw through the products to find the furthest away expiration date!
  4. I'm wary of picking one firm line in the sand because I truly think that intention and context are important. I'd have to weigh those along with whatever [dealbreaking choice or behavior] against the best OVERALL interests of my children, our families, and ourselves. E.g., I might be able to overlook adultery in some instances, but not others. I'm on my second marriage, FWIW. It took a lot for my first husband and I to abandon our vows, we did not make the decision solely or due to any single dealbreaker.
  5. Othello Backgammon Stratego - is similar to Risk (strategy, war) Clue Blokus Jenga Life Clue Battleship - but nobody here likes the electronic one! Dominoes - this tends to be hit or miss with people Carcassonne Ticket to Ride Settlers of Catan - I'll second this suggestion. Our family enjoys this game. Monopoly LOL
  6. The reason I haven't jumped onto the university model bandwagon yet is because the student I have is a bear about assigned work. It's hard enough getting her to work for me on my lax time schedule; I can't imagine trying to work with her on an outside schedule. Public school has built in pressures that would keep her mostly on track on her own. A UM environment has too many down days to work for us. If this is an issue for your student, consider that. If this isn't a problem with her, I think a UM school sounds like a great compromise between what you want for her academically and what she needs socially. :)
  7. H&R Block has a financial literacy program: http://www.hrblockdollarsandsense.com There are also several stock market games online. Those always seem to be a big hit. Our co-op did the standard school project where you are draw an income (the teaching mom did it by their grades - best grade got the best income; when I did it, I did it by chance). From that income they had to find a place to live, car to drive, bills to pay, etc. Basically the game of LIFE using real-life data. She had them draw cards every week - some were good (Tax refund of $2000!) and some were not good (uh-oh, car accident leaves you with no car and $1000 hospital bill). When I taught it, I drew from the BSA badge and had the kids guess how much their parents spent on them in about a week. Then I had their parents assign them an allowance. They were responsible for their own "bills" for a week - food, gas, entertainment, etc. Some families did this with monopoly money, some with real money. It was eye-opening for some of the kids who were used to just having things - they got to see that sometimes their parents had to move things around, make judgment calls, etc. I'm going to look into the actuarial foundation stuff - thank you for the link!
  8. :smilielol5: Yes!! Exactly this! When you pull up to the house on a holiday, you can see and smell "dinner" doing a slow turn over the fire pit. Everyone is gathered around it talking, the way some families gather around the tv to watch football. Kids are running amok, occasionally stepping up to the spit to pull a handful of meat before going back to their play. Discussion ensues about which goat or lamb we're about to eat, and we name it (if only by number, but the kids usually name them) when we thank the animal during grace. And yes, freezers full of meat slabs!
  9. I'm a visual person, but I'm almost glad to not know what some people look like! For me, on other message boards, I've been taken aback by a few people who I was way off base about. And then I can't reconcile that in my mind, so I'm forever internally tormented by my image of them versus the reality of them. LOL Like I said, I'm a visual person. It's like playing FOR REAL. :lol: This is only true of posters who I didn't already form a visual for. Posters who use a portrait as their avatar don't offer me an opportunity to form my own visual image of them. I only see them as the lovely ladies they are! It's the same reason why I generally don't watch movie adaptations of books. I just .... can't, mentally, deal with an image so counter to my own! It's the same reason why I generally don't watch movie adaptations of books. I just .... can't, mentally, deal with an image so counter to my own!
  10. We don't do turkey. All of our holiday meals involve lamb, goat, or both, on a spit in my cousin's backyard. To me, THAT and pumpkin pie = Thanksgiving. My SIL always brings a deli packet of sliced turkey for her husband, who is not from our culture. He can do packaged meat, but farm style meat messes with his head. He's an American who grew up in a large city. He also can't eat veggies he knows came from the garden, because ... dirt. In his mind, grocery store veggies come from sterile beginnings. LOL The more I think about it, the more my BIL and his quirks = Thanksgiving (and every holiday!) Our culture make him wonder if his wife is worth it! :lol:
  11. Thank you so much! I especially appreciate the specific product recommendations, those are a huge help. I was hoping to avoid NAIR, but maybe that's just where we need to start. From what you all are saying, I don't think she could start with an electric razor, but she could probably move to that after a first go-through with the Nair. I didn't know they made electric razors for women. I completely forgot they were an option even for men. I'm so glad I asked. I like the idea of the epilator. I wonder if she'd be open to trying it. She's a chicken when it comes to pain, whether it's real or just perceived! She likes the idea of the Olay face cream, so we're going to bookmark that for when the time comes. :hurray: This place is amazing.
  12. Those are the type of bullet journals I like to drool over, but ... for me ... if I tried to make mine as awesome ... would backfire because my perfectionist tendency would emerge. That one is as pretty as a nice planner, the kind I abandon using if I make a mistake in pen or can't erase a pencil marking well enough! LOL I've been having insomnia the past week and am running out of things to read online. Tonight I'm going to spend time on Pinterest looking at people's bullet journals. :coolgleamA:
  13. I agree! It's fresh in my mind on the sister side of things because my daughter started her menstrual cycle this year. It seems to be an issue with WOMAN CARE in general, sadly.
  14. Mine is a buffet of educational and sociological philosophies, sort of an eclectic mash-up of my own gleaned from researching every philosophy under the sun. But it's not changed since 1997 when I first began working with my oldest kid at home! Homeschooling wasn't on my radar at the time, we were just doing what we thought was a good supplement to his preschool and preparation for his future public school career. My approach has been refined over time, and sometimes tweaked to reflect a student's reality, but the overall philosophy of parenting and education (home or otherwise) has remained true!
  15. We are Eastern European and on the hairier side of things. I don't shave my armpits or my legs unless someone in the family is celebrating a sacrament. :D When I do, I prefer to get waxed over shaving. My daughter is in 7th grade. When her hair became obvious, I told her that the norm is to shave (or wax, or whatever to remove armpit and leg hair), and that it was "expected" in the area we're currently living. We discussed various options, including my own choice to remain "natural" against social convention. She's more of a personality who wishes to fit in, rather than to stand out. She didn't want to shave, questioned why it was expected of women but not men, and decided to leave her hair as it was. I've brought it up a few times, and she's more interested in hair removal but not quite ready to commit to it. The idea of a razor makes her hesitate, but so far that's what I'm planning to use. When she saw what was involved with sugar or wax, she balked in horror. I was told by two electrolysis offices that because she's young it may not be effective long-term ... something about hormones/age? I don't want to expose her to the harsh chemicals like Nair, but I might as a last resort. Any suggestions or advice for me RE: removing armpit and leg hair for her, when she's ready? Eventually we'll need to consider facial hair. Any experiences with threading? Or with kids doing it? Do they thread armpits? :confused:
  16. I got goose pimples when I read this! What a great coach and team, and a very deserving recipient of their service. :) I love stories like this. The world needs more stories like this.
  17. My town has been eliminating a lot of our stop-sign intersections by installing roundabouts. And some of our neighborhood stop signs are becoming yield signs. I wonder how this will impact traffic patterns.
  18. It's happening here, too. It seems to be a myriad of things: 1. There are more people on the road, 2. there are more distractions in the car, in general (radio, kids, phones, etc.), 3. there are increased attention-getting distractions outside the car (billboards, blinking signs, sign twirling people), 4. there are more lights due to more commercial build-up (which can affect road flow, in concert with #2-3 above), 5. there DOES seem to be a "more in a hurry" frame of mind these days, because - 6. there are A LOT of over-scheduled people rushing around to do all of their things, and 7. there are social norms evolving that people truly DO feel more "self-important" and thus, justified. And, around here, the roads are congested because infrastructure hasn't kept up with growth. Add to that the fact that people around me tend to keep the same working hours as each other (standard 9-5) and that many people average a 45-90 minute commute one-way ... it's like everyone is on the road at the same time - heading to work, heading home from work, running errands. They're tired of the grind, the drive, the congestion, and they try to minimize their sits at reds. And it's really sad that all of that takes a "back seat" to how dangerous it is to run through an intersection. When one of my sons still had his permit, he did hit the brakes upon coming to a red. We have ABS and he locked them, causing us to skid into another car. The police officer who responded to the accident suggested we teach all of our teen drivers how to use the ABS (it hadn't occurred to us before that), and suggested that if it was a close call ... like on a short or missed yellow where stopping would be as dangerous as maintaining speed ... to reduce speed, and continuously honk our way through a red intersection. I ran that by my insurance agent who said that the officer was correct in terms of how to run a red as safely as possible but that the right move was to avoid running a red at all - even if it meant braking hard at that red. My town has cameras at red lights. My county ... I don't know if they said it was unconstitutional, or if it was something else, but for some reason the county I live in doesn't enforce ticketing. Anyone who is caught on camera is sent a ticket, but payment of the ticket isn't enforced. The only inconvenience is that registration can't be renewed online, it must be done in person (I guess so that the office can manually override the "unpaid" ticket from the red light camera.)
  19. I have one of those on my lap right now :) What's weird is that he's my least snuggly over all. He wants constant contact, but he's always leaning back off of my hip, he hates being hugged, he'll tolerate a single quick kiss, and he will only be "worn" high on the back - not the front. I loved that my last baby was like a little panda, always snuggling into my body and super lovey. She slept with me until she was 11. It stopped the day I went to the hospital to have this current baby. LOL I ended up with a c-section this time and couldn't lay flat afterwards because it hurt so badly to get back up. So we've been mostly sleeping in a recliner for the past year. :lol:
  20. Not only are you not "bad people" but you're in good company! I do drink caffeine, but I don't keep it in the house. Nobody else here drinks it (and part of that is because I don't keep it in the house.) When people drop in unexpectedly, or if I ran out of time getting ready for people I was expecting, water is usually it. I don't have an ice maker either, so sometimes it's warm water at that. I like to chew Sonic ice, so I usually have a bag of that in the freezer but ... not always. What I've learned to do is to keep powdered lemonade on hand. It's easy enough to mix up. We all hate lemonade so none of us drink it, it's strictly for guests. Everyone around here seems to like lemonade. Or at least they do more than than they like water! My kids all play or played sports, so they'd always bring home the juice boxes or gatorades that were passed out after games. They don't like those drinks, so it was nice to have them to keep in the refrigerator for when friends came over. They're older now, so that's less of a thing now. They finally (thank God) aged out of snacks after games. I used to get stressed out about this and just not offer anyone anything to drink. LOL
  21. So, some different ways to incorporate nuts: 1. Stir-fry - which you're already doing - peanuts, cashews 2. Salads - sliced almonds, walnuts, pecans 3. Oatmeal/Breakfast cereals - sliced almonds, walnuts, pecans 4. Snacks - salted almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, peanuts 5. Nut butters - with sandwiches or as a dip for raw fruits and veggies 6. Sauces - look up a recipe for "gado gado" to use with rice and cooked veggies And if you're willing to branch out to try avocado in a new way, a daily juice glass of this: 1. Smoothie: avocado, banana, and honey + a nut milk, if you want a smoother consistency (I suggested this because you're looking to be "plantier" and not necessarily full-on 100% vegan.) Something else to look into, SEEDS: 1. Chia seeds are a good healthy fat 2. Flax seeds, especially as an egg replacer if you plan to still bake morning muffins or breads 3. Sesame seeds, toasted, sprinkled over stir-fry 4. Sunflower seeds, salted, sprinkled over salads 5. Pumpkin seeds, roasted, as a snack GOOD LUCK!
  22. I get it. I have a sister who's only 11 months older than me, but I always call her OLDER. :tongue_smilie: So it definitely sounds like depression or a mid-life crisis, maybe both. I'm sure the passing of your mother (I'm so sorry!) is bringing all of it more to the surface, and she must be drowning in the emotions of all of it. What a sad, lonely place for her to be! :( I think a good approach would be to consider the stages of grief - because it sounds like she's not only grieving the loss of your mother, but also perhaps the life she had envisioned for herself - and tailor your support accordingly. So maybe if you just hear her out right now, let her feel heard and work up to the part where you remind her that "it" isn't over and that she IS younger than she thinks. (I'm guessing that to hear that right now would be like salt in her wound. I can't imagine being so unhappy with my life and realizing that it could go on for another 50 years!) :grouphug: It's hard to sit by and feel helpless when someone is experiencing this level of hurt. I hope she'll allow you to be there for her.
  23. Ok, I'm another one who laughed at 50 being "older" :lol: I think what she'd appreciate is genuine concern and knowing that ... while she's in this "holding pattern" ... there's at least one person who cares. Hopefully as time passes, grief becomes more controlled, and therapy/medical issues are addressed, she'll be able to find strength and hope in knowing that you were there in the thick of things when she couldn't see past her own depression or grief or crisis or whatever this is. How to show genuine concern? Follow the sage advice of those posters before me: be an ear. It sounds like you're able to see through her judgment of you over the years and see it more as a reflection of her situation - not yours. That's a great start and a very loving act, especially for a sister.
  24. We have both an attached and a detached garage. My sons and I park in the detached, and enter the house through the side door. My husband parks in the attached but also uses the side door 80% of the time because he checks on his garden before heading inside. I do use the front door daily. We have a stray cat that I feed on the front patio.
  25. I'm the friend that never leaves :lol: My feelings are never hurt when friends, or their husbands, say, "Rosi! Thanks for coming, we'll have to do it again!" as they shoo me towards the door. It is the culture I come from, where there aren't firm start/end times or an air of formality. It's very casual, open-ended, and a "hey, this is what I have on hand, please stay to eat" environment. I'm learning to adapt to a less ... informally social? I don't know the words to describe it ... American culture. This is actually a topic that comes up every once in awhile in a church group I'm a part of (immigrants). But the situation you describe doesn't sound like a friend (of yours), so that's a bit different. It sounds more like a time you'll be HOSTING this family. Maybe there's no distinction, but it would feel different to me to be a HOSTESS versus just "having a friend over." The former is definitely more stress-inducing. I'd figure out how to push your limit to 2 hours, as suggested throughout this thread. As a mother to a 1 year old, I'm prone to keep these types of visits short because it's hard to contain and entertain a 1 year old in someone else's home - especially if the baby is with the adults, and not with the kids. (It's also something I understand you stressing about, should the mom "try" to let the baby play with the older kids - naturally, she might, then, see the playroom.) From the get-go, outline the visit: "We'd love for you to come by from 1-3pm" Put an exclamation point on that end time by linking it to something - maybe you need to start dinner before the husband comes home, or maybe you have to run to the library before it closes, or maybe you have a gymnastics class to get to. Mention it with the invite, and also when she comes over. When she gets there, apologize for the need to set an alarm but that you "can't forget to ____" (whatever your reason is to end the playdate on time.) Then set an alarm. I set one for park days. I give myself 20 minutes. It's enough time to have the kids begin to pick up and get one last, favorite thing done before wrapping up. I've figured it takes 10-15 minutes to do that and another 5-10 for the Great Goodbye (actually getting everyone on their way.) Plan ahead and do a crockpot dinner or dinner out that night. You'll be wiped out from pushing yourself past your comfort zone. Keep it simple, easy, and give yourself permission to check out - a long shower, a hot bath, a glass of wine, whatever while you pop the kids in front of the tv with dinner. It will help de-frazzle you, and give them a buffer to "come down" from the friend high that sometimes happens with play dates. Let your daughter know that you're doing your best, but can only reasonably handle ___ of these things a month. Maybe it's one a month, or one every other month. Let her know ahead of time so that hopefully it's not something they ask for, or come to expect, more regularly than you can commit to. Hopefully in time, the other will drop-off her daughter instead of staying. :grouphug:
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