I. Heart. Macofalltrades. Seriously. We've bought all of our last 5 Apple machines from them. No problems. Well. . I take that back. . .my son bought a MacBook Pro from them about 2 years ago, and it wasn't working right at first. They sent a return label, shipped a new one, no problem easy-peasy. Sent from my 2011-MacBook Pro 15", found it in clearance section with scratch and dent, for under $650. With a one year warranty. :001_tt1: Mac of all Trades!

Brilliant as well. I'll share this one, except I don't see that they sell iPods? She can't scrape up the $200+ for even a refurbished iPhone. I LOVE LOVE Mac of All Trades. Just got a new MacBook Pro, 2011, for $600 - it was in "fair" condition; the case is dinged, but who cares?? Plus, came with a free 1-year warranty.

Thank you so much! I thought I saw that, but was dealing with a hormonal, emotional person (me or her, not sure which!) and couldn't figure it out for the life of me.

Here's the latest teen angst in my house. Help? Dd16 has been invited to be a member of the top ballet company in our ballet school. (Hooray!) There are 11 girls. They have a Facebook page, that the teachers, etc are on, for communicating about rehearsals, schedules, etc. However. The veteran girls asked the new girls (7 of them) to get the GroupMe chat app on their phones, so they have an easy way to group text. Here's the problem: my daughter and one other girl are the only two girls who don't have smart phones or iPads. My dd was hoping she could download it to our Mac, but she couldn't find it tonight. Thus, the angst. She's - understandably - pretty upset at the thought of being left out. But there is NO way we can afford a smart phone for her - nor can she pay the monthly fee herself. She has a TracFone now, but will get a better phone (still not a smart phone, nor one with internet access) in the fall. (Heck, I don't even have a smart phone!) So, I need help. I either need someone more internet-savvy than I am to figure out how to get GroupMe on our desktop. OR I need an alternate app/somethingorother that can work for this situation. Sigh. Remember when we just passed notes in school???

Continuing in prayer for everyone involved.

Praying

This is super-fun to read through! My expertise: 1. Playing bassoon - well, I don't consider myself much of an expert, but it's this random thing that most people have never heard of. 2. Organizing people to do things willingly - this past weekend, I coordinated about 100 volunteers to wrassle piles of children and the various support positions that go along with a full-scale, pre-professional ballet. 3. And also acting like I'm far more competent than I feel. Which gets me into trouble. See #2.

Well, Mother's Day is the final performance of our big ballet weekend, so I've spent the entire weekend being "Mom" to the 100+ dancers in the lower levels (I coordinate the volunteers and manage crowd control for the youngers). I've already cooked my breakfast and am waiting to wake up the big ballerinas for a quick church service before we go to the studio. Since we moved here, Mother's Day has been a very small affair because of ballet; some years we'll celebrate the weekend after, but not this year, as that's eldest dd's graduation weekend. I did send cards to mother and mother-in-law. Honestly? Mother's Day and my birthday are my two least favorite holidays. Ever. I feel like the expectations are SOOOO ramped up. My dh is a great, amazing guy, but he doesn't do romantic or gifts. At all. My kids sometimes do, sometimes don't. I'd rather just skip the days all together. Anyone else like that, or is it just me?

Yes, he has African-American friends that he works out with/hangs out with who talk that way. And he accused my dh of being too white, so THAT's a whole 'nother ball of wax. What??? Now, ready for this? When dh and I got engaged, he was a teen. We were at a family gathering, and he said, "When I get married, I'm going to marry a purebred, not a mutt." That would be me and my German-Scottish-English-mix of a heritage. Niiiiiiiiiiiice. (He's unmarried, btw.)

Yup. And he needs to grow the heck up. Which is actually the crux of the matter. Dh had a great conversation with a black friend at the gym he works out. His friend said, without prompting, "How old is he? He needs to grow up." And then emphasized that the context can be tricky, so it's best just to avoid the word. That actually made my dh feel better.

No, not black. European, very Ronaldo looking. He has chosen to identify with a very inner city, urban, "street-wise" culture. Does that make sense? Now, my dh has been called Hispanic slurs before. . . . . . :glare:

He was raised in a city, like my dh. They are both 100% Portuguese, fil emigrated years ago. He has chosen to identify? I guess? He says my dh is too white. (Whatever that means) He drives a muscle car with huge speakers, is a body-builder. He still uses a ton of streets slang, stuff we hear teens use. I think there is an older brother/younger brother dynamic at play here. Best policy is likely just to ignore. (He has used the term before, in a group text to a large family contingent, referring to my nephew as a *n* when he was congratulating him on an accomplishment. I asked him about it then, he laughed and thought it was funny to say that and get a rise out of the family. I dropped it after that. But he doesn't use it with me.)

To clarify: they text/communicate infrequently. (Maybe every couple months) he said something a while back, but was met with silence. It has happened more recently due to texts about my fil's medical condition. He has a history of taking offense over various things; we likely need to ignore it for the sake of family peace.

I'm treading carefully here, but I'm wondering if we are over-reacting. . . . . *background* My bil is a 40 years old Portuguese-American. He has always strongly identified with ethnic/African-American culture. He's single, acts like he's 20ish. (Which is a whole 'nother story. . .but. . . . . ) We don't live in the same state. For the past year or so, he's been signing off his texts with a variation of the "n" word that - as I understand it - may or may not be offensive. I think it's a term of endearment? (Can I even type it here? I'd rather not) It drives my dh crazy to no end. And - listen - we live in Birmingham, AL. That's not exactly a word that I'd like used around our family, or my kids. So. This week, my dh - in response to a text that uses the *n* word from his brother - texts back: "I'm your brother, not your *n*. Okay?" (That was the actual text message) His brother got VERY offended, accused us of being offensive to his culture by asking he not use that word with us. Did we over-react? Should we just ignore it? This board is more diverse that what we have in real life, and I'm sincerely asking: did we blow it? :bigear:

I used to mercilessly tease my mom, who was famous for saying, "Go get me the. . . . . . . " and stop. Now I do the same to my kids. Payback. :glare:

This. I'm always up for a challenge. It will be hard for our girls to move, but ok in the long run. He does indeed need to focus on which job he'd rather spend his days doing. . . . . even though neither one is a great fit. We have been given til Friday. Gonna be a looooong 48 hours. Thanks, all!

Yeah, bless him - he just texted and said "I want to do what's best for everyone." He's a keeper. I have a LOT of self-employment income here that would be nearly impossible to replicate right away if we move. A piece of it will transfer, but not all. The job is closer to my extended family, but farther from my parents. (But they might move anyways) And if he doesn't make overtime in his current job, the difference is more than $500/month. And the current job involves extensive travel as a matter of course, whereas the new one would only be 9 months apart until we could get there. (Which we've done before, a couple of times) But I think the biggest thing - he has absolutely psyched himself out of this job. He's not excited, more resigned to, "I guess I should do this." For those of you who know our history, we moved 1100 miles 10 years ago to teach at a private school (this school is also private) and the job wasn't what was represented, and it began a HUGE professional downward spiral for him. He's deathly afraid of that happening again. As he said last night, "Sometimes it's just easier not to care so much about your work, and just work a job you're not emotionally or philosophically invested in." He has STRONG feelings about education and HOW it should be done. When it's not done in a way that he feels is with integrity and excellence, he gets - cranky. So he's right - it IS easier just to work for a company, do your best, but at the end of the day it doesn't rub your idealistic personality type the wrong way. Thanks for letting me vent, y'all. It really does help.

Going to keep this as vague as possible, but here goes. Dh is currently working a job not in his field, that has great benefits. It's paid hourly, and involves overtime and travel 2 out of every 3 weeks. He's not been traveling now (due to a different project he's been placed over), but will resume in the summer. Good people, good company. Not a lot of out-of-office stress to bring home. Salary is - meh. I have to work to make ends meet, but we'll likely sell our house next spring and buy something cheaper which should help. He has a job offer in his original field, teaching. It would require he live out-of-state for the academic year, we'd move to join him next summer. Job has some aspects that are giving him pause, in terms of workload and expectations. No big "deal breakers", but added together they are giving him pause. They would contribute a "little bit" of $$ towards his doctorate, but not much. Salary is better than what he makes now, benefits less so. We come out about $500/month better off with the new job (for you bottom line people) The thing - he's very, very conflicted and agonized over taking the job offer. He's worried about moving us. He's worried about the job expectations. And really? He wants to be teaching college, not grade school. But that is likely not going to happen for a variety of reasons. Even if he does get his doctorate. We have to decide by Friday. I think we've hashed it out from every angle possible, but was wondering if the Hive has any thoughts? (And yes, for you old-timers. . . .the saga continues :glare: )

Ds is 2.5 hours away - but with no car. He only comes home on scheduled breaks, and we try to go once a semester. The school is very big on community, and leaving every weekend doesn't help. He's really formed some great bonds with the guys on his hall; I don't think that would have happened had he been home more frequently.

The worst I saw was someone pushing EOs for someone who had broken her neck and was paralyzed. Um. No. :huh:

:grouphug: And to quote SWB: " 'No' is a complete sentence."

(Hope it's ok that I chime in here) This is what's been so hard for my dd - before her internship was lined up, I think she felt like she had to have her whole life figured out once she graduated. You know - the path has always been relatively clear for her. She's been pretty focused for a long time, on getting an Arts Admin degree and minoring in Dance. She just couldn't figure out what the rest of her life would look like, when it's been so "planned" up until this point. It's hard to remind this type-A, hyper-over-achiever that she can just take the next step, and watch to see what unfolds.

Thanks. I think I'll have to ask my tax guy. . . . . . She really is excited. It's her field, great chance to live away (she's lived at home all 4 years). And she says she can't WAIT to be doing only 1 thing, instead of working 3 jobs and going to school and choreographing and directing performances and, and, and. . . . . . we'll see how long that lasts ;)

So - anyone had this before? Dd is graduating in May (HOORAY!) - and she landed a GREAT internship with the Lexington (KY) Children's Theatre in Arts Administration. She's super excited, but now I've got a question. The internship provides housing & utilities, plus a $100/week stipend. Because of that, we'll still carry her health insurance, car insurance, and cell phone. She'll leave her permanent address with us, since it's only a year-long program (May-May) I'm guessing that, because they provide housing, she'll no longer be our dependent, tax-wise. Thoughts? Who's dealt with this before?

Yes. We attend a large-"ish" church (3000 membership). We have a security consultant in-house, and a school on our campus. School is locked down, you need security access to enter from the church side of the building. We have cameras monitoring the building, inside and out. Police are stationed outside the school, in cruisers, during operating hours. When I play in the orchestra, I've also seen well-dressed men . . . with earpieces (is that what they're called?) like Secret Service guys have. It's not broadcast that we have security, but they are there. I can't figure out if this should freak me out or not. . . . . .