I have this backpack from Amazon. We're still in the toddler phase, so it carries diapers (cloth, so bulky), wipes, eating supplies, books/basic art supplies, and our other odds and ends pretty easily. Lots of zippered compartments, but no thick lining (like laptop-style) to add bulk/weight. The water bottle pockets are nice and stretchy and deep. It's held up well so far and I like that it has back straps and a shoulder strap, so I can quickly throw it on a shoulder if I'm just walking out to the car or something. The overall dimensions are probably slightly smaller than a regular backpack but I seem to be able to fit lots. My apologies if it's smaller than what you envisioned. 🙂 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D71LF24/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I gave paint-by-sticker books to the younger cousins this year and they were a huge hit. They make more difficult/adult versions, but even the simpler ones are relaxing and turn out really pretty. Similar in vein to the adult coloring books, but even easier because all you need is in the book. https://www.amazon.com/Paint-Sticker-Create-Masterpieces-Time/dp/0761187235/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=paint+by+sticker+adult&qid=1576979818&sr=8-1

House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer might fit this. It's a very well done YA novel, slightly dystopian, deals with power/inequality and cloning.

I would definitely vote add to the magnatiles. Wheels, different shapes, clear, glitter... there's all kinds of expansion packs out there now. And the bigger they get the bigger and more complicated stuff they'll want to build. If they have room for it, a light table or light board might also be a cool gift to use with the magnatiles they already have.

My daughter is much younger (almost 2), so no true BTDT advice, but we did just go through the Supernanny-style fade out to get her to fall asleep alone instead of being held. I know it may not help since yours is much older, but what helped my kid the most was having a monitor with a talk feature and showing her ahead of time how it worked. (Putting her in her crib and letting her see herself on the screen, letting her talk on it and hear how it sounded in her room, walking around the house with it while she sat in her crib and letting her see that she could "talk" to me and I could hear her and talk back from outside her room). I think it helps her feel less "alone", even though we're not in the room with her. The few times she's woken up upset, we've been able to reassure her through the monitor without going back in. Again, that may feel way too babyish for your child, but just in case it helps!

Could the material you're talking about be ponte? Doing a search with that term may turn up some more options similar to what you're describing. ETA: I just looked at the Kohl's link and those pants are ponte material. So that term may be what you're looking for. 🙂 I've had ponte dresses over the years that I've loved, too.

I know it, but I have no idea why I know it or what it's from.

I clean the bathrooms on Wednesday nights after DDs bedtime (just the basics - toilet, counters, trash, etc.). My husband does the same with the kitchen. At this stage of our lives, once a week cleaning is plenty and having it pegged to a certain day makes it more likely to get done. If we can do those two tasks and stay on top of the clutter the house feels clean, even on crazy weeks.

Chicco makes a jogging stroller (the Activ3) which we really loved. Unlike the BOB, it has solid wheels that don't need to be filled with air periodically. Chicco's infant car seat (Keyfit) tends to get top reviews, and it clicks into the Activ3. For carriers, we really like our Lillebaby. It has a back support panel that makes it comfortable for long wears. I can tote my toddler around for hours and be fine. The pricetag is high but you can frequently find certain colors/fabric styles on sale on Amazon. Sleep aids may be helpful, especially for a single mom. Blackout curtains for the nursery, a white noise machine, a few different types of swaddles/sleepsacks. The best advice I got, though, were consignment sales. They typically run seasonally (fall and spring) and I got SO much for SO cheap. Search the site consignment mommies for sales in your area or look for a local/regional mom-blog page.

We had a very "normal", "on-trend" Pinterest wedding, about 6 months before Pinterest became a "thing". We were even featured on one of the many wedding blogs that were popular back then. Our wedding wasn't cheap, but we but DIYed a lot and spent far less than my friends who had similarly sized and themed weddings. Our wedding was in 2011, so somewhat current. 🙂 The #1 thing we did was purposefully starting with a more rustic vibe. This made it so much easier to mix and match pieces, use vintage or thrifted items, and hand make items. It's really hard to do a "fancy" wedding with rhinestones and bling and make it look expensive with Dollar Tree/Walmart items. We used basic stationary supplies for our invitations and printed them at Staples. We had a few things custom printed, like RSVP postcards based on a vintage postcard we found for our reception location, which made the whole invitation look custom. We shopped venues and purposefully picked one that allowed us to pick our own caterers, didn't charge by the hour, etc. My dress was a cheap one from a bridal store, and I bought my bridesmaid dresses for $20 each at a J Crew outlet. Same style, 4 different colors. Again, a more rustic vibe meant we didn't have a strict color scheme, so this worked. Our only hired musician was the organist for the church ceremony. A friend and his bluegrass buddy played for cocktail hour and were paid with craft beer. My husband borrowed a sound system from the school he worked at for the reception and we made an iTunes playlist ahead of time for the reception. We put another friend in charge of pressing play on the laptop and announcing as needed. My mom actually did make 200+ cupcakes for the reception. 😁 She started a month ahead of time and froze them until the day before the wedding. I have a very fond memory of my cousins, aunts, and bridesmaids icing cupcakes in the hotel suite the night before the wedding. My husband's aunt made a small cake to cut (funfetti, per our request) and I made a paper banner topper for it. Rustic vibe = less fancy (cheaper) catering menu. We found a caterer who specialized in bbq and helped us make a menu that was upscale but not standard wedding food. Also, buffet instead of plated saved $. Wine and beer were purchased at Total Wine and brought to the reception by my uncles. Tablecloths, plates, centerpieces, and all other decorations were thrifted or DIYed. My mom nurtured a large bunch of succulents leading up to the wedding that we used as decorations and favors. Flowers were done by Whole Foods (and they did a lovely job). Overall, we prioritized our money on the big "experience" pieces that mattered to us (venue, good food, photographer, a shuttle service to and from the venue/hotels to keep people safe) and found ways to DIY/cut costs on the things that weren't as important to us. A few caveats though: my mom and I have been antique shoppers since my childhood, so the vintage, mix-matched look is what I would have wanted no matter what our budget. We've also always been DIYers, so this was well within our comfort zones. AND hubby, mom, and I are all teachers, so we had the entire summer to do all the work before our fall wedding.

My favorite YA dystopian series at the moment is Cinder. I feel like most YA dystopian is either heavy on the romance (Selection) or heavy on the societal issues (Matched) - but Cinder does a really good job of balancing it. It's a futuristic Cinderella story and each sequel introduces a new fairy tale character, so that by the last book you have 4 different stories weaving in and out of each other. That part's really fun. 🙂

I don't have teens, but as a random aside, my husband has an excellent credit score in part because he was an authorized user on his parents card from a young age. If nothing else, I might go ahead and put him on the card and then put it away for safekeeping if you don't feel he's ready for it yet.

This was the case for my aunt (grade A hoarder, with overwhelming "collections", piles of trash, and gambling/QVC shopping addictions). What finally broke the cycle for her was moving into an independent living facility. I think it was a combination of factors: she got past the initial hump of getting rid of 90% of the mess and out of the space she associated with hoarding, she has staff members coming into her space regularly to clean and check on her, and she's more connected to a community. She also no longer drives, which severely limits the amount of stuff she can accumulate. Don't get me wrong - her mental illnesses are still there, and other symptoms of it are still very strong. But the hoarding symptoms, at least, have been kept in check by moving.

Perler beads? Might be a little juvenile, but they're so intricate, mostly relaxing, and easy to chat or watch a movie while you work on them. Not necessarily a "useful" finished product, but the process is nice. I have a lovely memory of finding my childhood stash one Christmas as a young adult and sitting up for hours with my college-age sister and our boyfriends making random things while we talked and ate.

If you're looking for a creative way to give cash, my mother always gave us (and still does, actually) "scratch pads" in our stockings. She'd get new, crisp $1's and $5's from the bank, cut a piece of cereal box to size as a backer, draw a fun paper cover, and use a very small amount of Elmer's glue along the top to bind it together into a notepad. Very cute and useful - in college it lived in my bookbag and got pulled out for vending machine snacks, paying for parking, etc.

If you haven't already, look into Google Forms as a way to grade simple material. Students can do all their work paper and pencil to avoid computer cheating, then enter their answers in at the end of the period. Then the form will automatically grade it for you. Multiple choice is easiest, but it'll also grade short answer questions (this only works if it's a straightforward answer, like a number, and you sometimes have to check behind it to make sure it didn't count an answer wrong because the student added an extra space or something). A quick youtube search should get you some good tutorials.

There is a beautifully written but largely unknown novel called "I Had Seen Castles" by Cynthia Rylant (who wrote Missing May and other more popular books). It's under 100 pages with short chapters and very poetic language. It's a WW2 novel from the POV of an American soldier, looking back on wartime as an old man. It does a lovely job of explaining the emotions of the time as it explains how he, all his family members, friends, and girlfriend react to the war. There's so much richness to delve into: themes of growing up, war vs. pacifism, love, etc. Be aware, it does not sugarcoat things. There are brief but extremely descriptive moments of drinking, "tea", and war violence. They are tastefully handled, but important to the story. You may want to pre-read it depending on your comfort level with such topics.