Plus 11 more hostages released by Hamas who are foreign nationals.

I told my boys about math competitions and asked if they wanted to take to AMC 8. They are excited for it. Then I went to register them and pulled up the testing locations. There’s hardly anywhere offering it. We are looking at a seven hour drive to the closest higher learning institution offering it. There is one school in a city an hour away that is offering it to their students, but they haven’t returned my phone calls. If your kids have taken the AMC, how do you find a location for them to take it? Are you just lucky to be close or do you travel for this?

I haven’t tried the enchiladas. Her smothered burritos are another of our favorites, though.

It really depends on the kid. Transitioning from parenting two to three was the hardest adjustment as a mom having babies. Just learning to balance the needs of more little people than you have hands was tricky. I have five bio kids. But when we had our foster kids, eight was absolutely the hardest. Eight was 500% harder than parenting seven, even though we were dealing with ds’s cancer diagnosis simultaneously with going from eight to seven. But that was a function of K’s personality and attachment issues, not the number.

I'm having trouble thinking of anything. I made a note months ago that I could maybe ask for an egg skelter as an idea for the kids to give me, but that was before I realized just how many eggs our chickens would be producing--the egg skelters I have seen hold nowhere near enough to keep eggs sorted by age for us. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=egg+skelter&crid=2L4NKMCVDK1ZB&sprefix=egg+skelter%2Caps%2C320&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 I would totally rather just not spend money and have less stress about reaching financial goals. Or maybe put some cash aside to go towards a fund for a long-term stretch dream. That's not likely, though.

We love Carlsbad Cravings' tacos--I've probably made eight or ten different recipes of hers and have never had a single family member dislike one. And I have some very picky kids. https://carlsbadcravings.com/category/30-minute-meals/#search/q=tacos

I will ask my sis if she has a backup. They talk on the phone every day, but you’re right, if he took her phone or canceled the service, she might not have another way to communicate.

I do not know if she’s a legal resident or a citizen. She did live in the US for some years before marrying him.

She has no access to any accounts, no bank cards, her name isn’t on anything, she doesn’t know how much her husband’s business makes. He will say things like it’s too expensive to send dd to preschool—but they live in a big house and he has a nice new truck.

The kids cannot get passports without both parents’ consent. I don’t know if she has reached out to her consulate otherwise.

She is worried about it being used against her for custody later if she leaves the state with the kids.

It sounds like this church she reached out to is trying to be helpful, but it’s definitely not enough on its own. They offered to pay for childcare for her and said they might be able to help her with an apartment, but need to confirm they can manage the budget for that long term before they can make that a firm offer.

I know I’ve seen related threads on here a number of times, but I’m having trouble finding them. And this is an extreme case. My sister’s friend is in desperate straits. She has tried to leave three times and gone back in desperation. My sister is making plans to close out her business, move to her friend’s state, and restart her business there in order to be present to be a support in her friend’s efforts to get away from an abusive husband. I was sharing the suggestion I have seen on here before of getting gift cards from the grocery store when preparing to make a move, but sis said her friend has no access to money at all, not even for groceries. She and her kids usually eat from food bank donations because he hasn’t brought any food home for them or has brought only basic staples like nothing but flour and plain beans, or only food he likes that is hard for little kids to eat, such as very spicy hot wings. She and the kids haven’t been to a doctor in years as he won’t put them on his medical insurance or let her have access to any information necessary to apply for state insurance. I told sis to let her know that she can go to the county health department after physical abuse to document it for divorce proceedings later, even if she doesn’t have money for a doctor. He tells her that she will never be able to do anything requiring a credit check, like get an apartment, because she had no insurance and he never paid the bills after their second child was born, so her credit is ruined from defaulting. She wants to get a job but he will not watch their four-year-old or let her have any money for childcare. She has recently spoken with a church leader who said the church could help her with childcare expenses so that she can get a job to try to get some independence. She is an immigrant from NZ, so her family is on the other side of the world. She cannot take her kids and stay with family because he will not allow them to have passports. My sister keeps her friend’s passport for her, as he destroyed her passport in the past. My sister’s plan is to get an apartment and, after filing for divorce, her friend can move in with her. The plan is to file before leaving so that she can’t be said to have abandoned the home, but it will be a dangerous time. Hopefully she can get a restraining order, file, and then move in with sis and not let him know where they are. She will technically be sis’s tenant, but won’t have to have a credit check or deposit to move and sis plans to forgive rent payments until her friend is on her feet, plus sis can help her with childcare and serve as a witness/call the police if the husband tries to come after them. She is also planning on getting a gun. I am worried about my sister going into this dangerous situation, worried about her friend, and wondering if there is anything I can do to help in this situation.

Got the main big combined Christmas gift for the kids: an above ground pool. I bought it used (but in great condition) from a friend for $300. They are going to be over-the-moon excited. And it is a big, nice one. Not something I could normally find for anywhere near that price range.

Please don’t, Yael. I appreciate hearing from you, and worry about your family.

This is a big part of why I am so concerned by the current climate in our country. Hate crimes are always terrible, but the actions of a small fringe group that are despised by the majority of the country are not as indicative of a massive problem in our country as are widespread occurrences at admired universities and the words of respected members of mainstream groups.

In normal times, yes. The FBI’s regular reports confirm this. But the current massive upswing in violence and threats? I haven’t seen evidence of that. And most of the perpetrators in specific news stories I have read do not fit your description. I haven’t seen any statistics on it, though, and would be interested to.

Thank you!

I’m sure there are threats and antisemitism coming from that end, too, but that is certainly not the source of the loudest voices right now. Let’s not get this thread shut down, too, by assigning blame to specific political groups without sources. Let’s try to stick to what we actually know, with the most trustworthy sources we can find.

I can’t find updated info on the Jews being hunted by the mob at the Dagestan airport. Is there word if they got out safe?

Black Hebrew Israelites and pro-Hamas protesters fighting in the streets of Chicago. https://www.themidwesterner.news/2023/10/pro-hamas-protesters-beat-black-hebrew-israelites-with-palestinian-flags-in-chicago/ (To be clear, “Black Hebrew Israelites” is the name of their religious group. These are Americans, not Israelis.)

The Wild Rivers Coast (southern Oregon and a bit into northern Cal coast).

That would follow their historical precedent, as they have been confirmed by international sources to operate from there in the past. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shifa_Hospital

AOPS is raising all of their class prices by $20 soon, so if your kid is planning on taking something from them next semester, you might want to sign up for the class now.

I have laundry baskets of produce sitting in my living room I need to freeze/store/preserve. I have half a basket of onions from the roadside (onion trucks are always overfilled and spill onions on the country roads around here). I was going to hang them in pantyhose in my basement to last longer, but apparently you can no longer get the cheap packs of 10 pairs I used to use for Easter egg dyeing. So I need to find a permanent container to store them in that will allow airflow. I also bought 92 lbs. of apples and pears yesterday from the church orchard for $49, way cheaper than I can get them anywhere else around here. The kids were hoping for peaches to can, but the church orchard just sells the excess when they harvest more than they can process at a time, and there haven’t been any excess peaches this year. So I need to get to work on apples and pears. I also bought a bucket of honey from azure standard. We use a lot of honey here, and it will be both cheaper and higher quality to buy a year+ worth of honey at one time. I wanted to portion it out into quart jars to make it easier to warm if it crystallizes, but the store is out of quart jars.