6 families.

After my thread about being a good conversationalist, I discovered that's not really my problem. Of course, there's always things to learn. Speaking of southerners, I spent a wonderful 2 hours with 2 of them and learned a lot about being gracious. That's where I am now. It's not the conversation that's hard; it's learning to end one graciously.

Thank you. It was actually tuesday, not Wednesday, I typed that wrong. It felt like Wednesday, lol. Anyway, boundaries are fine, and I have them. I give what I can, but I wouldn't volunteer if I can't connect with the people. That's the point of the whole thing. I didn't say the op's volunteer was a bad leader. I was actually responding to the vitriol towards the poor op who thought she maybe could have received a text. There was a miscommunication about boundaries there, apparently.

Oh, and I organize things with 100s of people in the 20-30 range. Most of them are on Facebook.

So, I've not read all the replies. But I'm a volunteer who coordinates lots of things. In fact, I had so much to do over the last couple of days that I didnt even sleep at all from Monday morning until late wednesday. And it's not a big deal to me to post on facebook, screenshot it and then text it to the few who need it. I do it all the time. The op was in a Facebook group with 6 people. The volunteer can send a text. If I'm in a group, especially leading, of 6 people, I know them pretty well. I make a point of that. I can easily avoid schedule conflicts, and keep everything running smoothly by having a relationship with the people I'm spending time with. "Hey Sue, does Joey still have gymnastics on Tuesday?" "Ok, great, I can schedule the awards banquet that night?" Groups are about the people, and connections with the people. Good leadership is about the people. I find this ridiculous.

That is so funny!!!! Eta Though I'm sure it didn't feel like it at the time!

I once had 9 kids over for a splash pool party, and 7 of them were 5 and under. The other two were 7 and 9. I greatly underestimated how much grass and dirt and mud there would be!

Can you set up each kitty in their own room? Then when one naturally goes back in that room for whatever reason, you can shut the door and let the other one out? Actually, maybe if you isolated each kitty in their own room for a while, with neither running free in the house, they will calm down.

Games are fun, but my boy needed work. When he was being bonkers, asking him to take out the trash, or relocate a pile of books, or take the vacuum from upstairs to down or down to up, or etc would really help take the edge off. All of my kids liked washing the baseboards with baby wipes, too. And it wears them out because they are leaning over awkwardly and scrubbing. Unloading the dishwasher, and rearranging the living room were also favorite events. Shoving couches and chairs around is lots of fun! And big blanket forts... Keep in mind that none of my suggestions should be used as punishment, and should be ended or redirected before they stop having fun. As far as the work suggested in my first paragraph, he should be made to feel that he's really helping you, and you really appreciate it. No guilt, shame, or the feeling of a chore.

Yes! Fun!

I realized that the clutter was the stuff that we used every day. So clear out the place where it would be most convenient for it to go. For example, are there a bunch of toys in your front hall ? Is there a closet or shelf nearby? Look in there and see what you can get rid of. Next time the toys are in the hall, scoop them up and toss them in the closet. I heard a story once about a college who didn't make sidewalks when they first opened. They waited a few years, and then paved the worn paths the students made. I also have 6 kids, and decided not to fight what they naturally did. Also, not to struggle against what just happened in the course of living. Another example, my dh always comes home and dumps his stuff in the hallway, and on the kitchen counter. It drives me crazy, but he's always done it. I emptied the closet nearby, so now I can just slide stuff in there. I also put a basket on the counter, and toss the counter stuff he leaves in there. Now it looks like that's where that stuff goes.

Cross fit instructors can sometimes be high on motivation and low on knowledge of these sorts of things. Please make sure yours is properly trained before accepting their advice about how to improve. Sometimes "do more" is really bad advice.

I just typed "first communion dress" in the search on Amazon and found a lot of cute and affordable options.

A flock of geese! A herd of geese? I'm not starting off well, lol.

I was surprised so many people thought the op's gift budget was high on the thread about the categories her dh doesnt like. We have a lot of people close in our lives, and I've most stopped giving any gifts, except my kids, because it would be so much money. But then I was reading all the gift threads, and people are getting Christmas gifts for so many people! How do you do that and not spend a lot?!? So, my 2 questions: How do you keep your gift budget low (and what does that mean), yet buy for so many people? And, what was a small and inexpensive gift you have received that was very meaningful to you?

We love our Berkey! We were getting noticed of things in our water, and we kept having stomach problems. After we got the Berkey, we didn't have any more problems. We have the biggest one, and we do ok with it. We are a family of 8.

Even as a kid, I found them too emotional. I tried an episode with dd when she was about 8, and she was upset by it. I think there are probably better shows.

It doesn't sound like you have enough, but when the snow is a little deeper, you can bring some inside. We always make snow ice cream, and sometimes I bring tubs of it for them to play in at the table (like individual sand boxes, but snow).

It really does get better. My dd12 made quesadillas for the whole family yesterday, and then brought one to me as I lounged on my bed! She even went back downstairs to get the sour cream for me! As far as healthy enough, I know we've learned some things since then, but what 80s kid didn't live on box macaroni and cheese and kool aid? Most of us made it out alive.

That basically sums up my life. It's 12:40, and I have a repairman coming at 9a. I'm wide awake, and am going to feel horrible when I'm dragging myself out of bed at 7a. The only thing I've found to do is bring a caffeinated soda up to bed with me. When I am first awake, I force myself to open it and drink a little. The caffeine and the sugar wake me up just enough to get going. Sometimes. If I get straight into the shower after that, it helps, too. I need to get dressed and go outside right away, though, or I'm likely to just get back in bed. Being a night owl is rough. When I can sleep as my body would like, I feel SO good. Early to bed and early to rise makes me feel worse by the day. Eta I don't recommend the soda thing. I don't recommend it for all the obvious health and teeth reasons.

So why bother with the signature?

I agree, mostly. I think that places that get colder and snowier more frequently have better equipment to deal with it. I don't even own a winter coat, and where I live is in the lower teens this week. We are expected to get a LOT of snow over the next few days. It doesn't happen often enough for me to worry about having all the proper gear, and I just bought snow boots for my kids tonight so they can play outside in the fairly rare snow. If winter wear were a part of our wardrobe, I can see being outside without much fuss. My family can handle a splurge on boots, but this is a city with a lot of poverty. The children in our local schools do not own, and cannot afford to buy, winter clothing for a few random weeks a year that may or may not occur. The same issue applies to closing down everything. The roads really do become an issue because we don't have a lot of trucks and etc to deal with a lot of snow. It isn't worth the cost of maintaining everything. So, we have to wait out cold and snowy weather longer than places who deal with it every year. We aren't chicken, we just don't have the equipment.

I was signing my second purchase at Walmart tonight, and laughing about how my signatures never look the same. Often, they are radically different. Sometime, I have my dh's card and I sign for him, or the other way around. I can do a pretty good imitation of his signature because it's mostly a scribble, lol, but he can't come even remotely close to mine. I have never been denied a purchase. Why not? Have any of you?

Maybe she thinks you'll be excited to have it done, so she is working hard on it for you, instead of in spite of you.

Sometimes when I can't get going, the problem is actually being dehydrated. That's more likely in the winter when the heater is blowing a lot. When Im dehydrated enough to feel badly from it, I usually need more help than water. Gatorade, or lemon water with salt, might perk you up.