easypeasy
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Posts posted by easypeasy
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I have a large account (business account, maybe?) on Dropbox and it holds a ton. You can share from there. Can't remember the annual cost, though. It auto-debits so I don't think about it.
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There’s #HATSNOTHATE, an anti-bullying campaign that takes and donates blue knitted/crocheted hats.
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We're a one-at-a-time fam. Kids can dig into their stockings as soon as they wake up, but the gifts must wait til everyone is awake, had breakfast, etc. lol We usually start around 10 am.
We don't make everyone pause for pictures, but we all honestly like seeing what everyone got each other. I put out crackers, sausage, cheese, fruit, veggies, etc for everyone to munch on as we unwrap everything. Only takes a couple hours with lots of laughter and silliness in between.
I hand out trash bags between every two people so they stash-the-trash as they go, lol.
I used to keep/reuse gift wrapping, bows, foldable boxes etc but gave that up several years ago. It was LIBERATING, omgosh. Best decision ever. lol Now, I buy wrapping paper after Christmas each year for next year and we're good to go. If we use bags, we'll fold those back up to re-use, most of the time, but I'm not precious about it. I do have some boxes I save each year, but they're not the foldable/disposable style.
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What a relief! I am happy that all of your family gets to be together over the holidays!!
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That sounds miserable. 😕 A friend of DS1s had to take a leave of absence halfway through this semester because of mono. He is hoping to come back next semester, but so far is still unsure.
The symptoms for everyone I have personally known who has had mono have been varied. Sort of like Covid, where so many people had such different experiences with it, some drastically worse than others.
I hope your son has a milder case and is able to R&R over the break and be good as new come January!!
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What an ordeal! She’s having the whole kitchen sink experience, poor girl! 😞
Good riddance to the manchild. I know it doesn’t feel like it to her now, but she really dodged a bullet with that one.
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It was EA release day for many schools and I spent a solid hour today scrolling through Instagram watching kids' videos where they recorded themselves, often with their families, opening their decision letters. I teared up at every. single. one. of. them. 😭
Just gets me every time & brings back so many memories. When DD1 was offered her athletic scholarships, when DD2 found out she won a HUGE academic scholarship, when DS1 decided to apply to only ONE very selective school to an even more-selective program and was accepted, and when DS2 found out on Ivy Day that he had been accepted to THREE of them after a couple odd/hard-to-comprehend rejections from much less-selective schools.
We got videos of exactly zero of them opening decision letters bc the kids were too stressed to be recorded (wasn't even with DS1 when he found out because he opened it without me, lol).
However, I do have a recording of DD1 calling her new coach to accept his offer with him booming a loud, "YESSS," a fantastic series of photos of DD2 opening up her scholarship decision letter that make me cry to look at again, and one photo and short video of DS2/Bonus Kid calling my husband to tell him the good news on Ivy Day with a goofy grin on his face and my husband in the background whooping in celebration in the middle of the job he was in the midst of doing. 🥰
I am getting so sentimental in my retirement. 😁🥰
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14 hours ago, bolt. said:
If someone as a guest were to be "helpful" like that, I'd be kind of thankful, but my primary feeling would be shame. I prefer if people politely pretend that my house is not noticeably messy. If they take action to help, I know that I'm not okay. I hate that feeling.
ditto this - I also would prefer that people politely pretend if they notice anything amiss. 😄
11 hours ago, catz said:Honestly, this situation sounds like a tinder box. I would be hiding in my room for a few hours every day in this situation. They went from no contact with this son for whatever reason to now their house is their hospital and hotel and home over night. It's a lot for an extended period of time and sounds extremely stressful. Just the stress of having an injured kid like that is a lot without all the extra comings and goings. young kids out of their normal element soaking up everyone else's stress, etc etc etc.
I'd not take it personally at all.
and agreeing with this. This is a huge shift for everyone involved, including yourself.
Having someone - especially another mother and ESPECIALLY one who has been in contact with her own son when she has not - in your home, even to be helpful, could very much feel like a major failure on your part to take care of you/yours.
You did a kind thing. Don't sweat it. It is a stressful time.
In general, though, I don't want anyone else ever touching my laundry. I welcomed my mom's help, though, when my kids were younger, and she would come over and wash the kids' laundry or their bedsheets. That was wonderful. But when she offered to wash my laundry, it was a big no on my part. 🙂
(My husband, kids, parents, and in-laws couldn't possibly care less about who does their laundry. ALL would do a happy dance that someone else did it and that they didn't have to! So I'm the odd man out in my family - but I'm also the one who winds up doing said husband and kids' laundry - especially if they have handwash/delicates involved! lol)
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4 minutes ago, Quill said:
Hahahah! Toll booths! With people! I remember those….
They still exist in various areas and parking lots! lol I always go through that line if available! 😁
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I don’t use self checkouts. I hate to see that what used to be good, reliable, safe jobs for real life people are being replaced.
Maybe people’s feelings about this are connected to the level of education within their own family. I come from a lonnnng line of under-educated people and feel strongly that there need to be safe, reliable jobs for the everyday Joe to do.
I don’t like chatting with strangers and I am always in a hurry, but I will go through the “person” line in 100% of cases. Toll booths, grocery line, etc.
(I view ordering online and picking up as a different thing and do that frequently)
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Can you drive to her and stay with her and then drive her back home with you?
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This is all so exhausting. 😩
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You could possibly have amazon/UPS/etc ship to a dropbox/location near your home vs your front door?
Otherwise, I’d ensure the box you have has a lid on it (a chicken wire lid could work) to keep the dogs out, put it on your front porch, and add signs with icons of packages with arrows pointing “in.”
Could set up a Ring camera on your front door and have it alert you when someone is there and speak to them directly when they are on your porch, directing them to the box
Would not suggest a dangerous dog sign for non-threatening goldens. We had friends who were sued bc they had a sign like that and, when one of their (extremely well-trained) goldens walked out their side door, a door to door salesguy saw him, panicked, freaked out running, tripped, broke an arm…. It was a giant mess. He was trespassing but their “dangerous dog” sign was used as evidence that their dog was knowingly… dangerous. 🤷♀️
Finally, this is a behavioral issue that could be trained out of them (as you mentioned above) but will take a lot of effort since they sound so enthusiastic about their packages, lol.
It’s a good thing they’re cute, huh? Sorry about the painting from your cousin. 😞
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Wow! Sounds like you've just taken the long, winding path to a fantastic destination when all is said and done!
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Sounds like an incredibly common request to me, tbh. A lot of people mentally "count their chickens" before they can sleep and, once they mentally know that everyone they care about is safe and at home they can relax enough to sleep.
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Last year was “Let go,” which turned out to be perfect. Letting go of preconceived notions, of resentfulness, of bad relationships, of old expectations. It was a year of letting in new ideas, new people, and new goals which could only happen by letting go of the old baggage.
This year’s word is “connect” in a connect-the-dots sort of way. Our family dynamic has changed dynamically with new schools, new family members, new jobs, etc. It’s time to start seeing the new shape of things now that I feel more secure about who I am, where I have been, and where I am going. 😊
I am so excited for this new year. 😊
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In my experience:
A school cannot make a student accept an offer of acceptance for a regular decision application until May 1. Even if they try to make it seem like you have to commit sooner.
However, a scholarship program can have an earlier acceptance date. Some will allow you to accept without accepting the whole school (UofAlabama was like this), while others will send you the legal forms and you have to accept the whole kit and kaboodle at one time.
Most scholarship awards and program acceptances will trickle in slowly and drag out through the end of March. Some financial information will not reach you until early April. Ivy Day is at the end of March for regular decision. It's agonizing.
Each of my kids went through a period of time where they were up for so many prestigious awards/scholarships/programs but it felt like they might walk away with zero dollars because the process takes so long and you become a little unsettled and uncertain.
I would check in with the program you mentioned. Perhaps it's an "accepted students" event and banquet as opposed to committed students. Having it in March would seriously eliminate a lot of students from being able to attend if they had to commit by that date in order to attend because a lot of high-achieving students applied to many schools and are waiting to hear back from them all to see their offers before committing.
Also, you will get acceptances in trickles as well as financial information. My DS2 was up for a "full ride plus" scholarship at one private college - or nothing. He would either go to that school with them PAYING him to go, or he would get $0 in scholarships. lol It was mind boggling (he had to choose which scholarships to apply for and, since he applied for the "big one," he could not apply for the smaller ones. It was nuts!)
DS2 was also awarded a "full-ride plus" scholarship at one of his original top choices and they gave him an early date to have to commit (iirc, it was in mid April), before he had a chance to visit the Ivies he was accepted to. He had to negotiate dates and kept pushing them back a little at a time until it was time to visit the Ivies. Once he had settled on a school for sure, he finally called that school and cut the full ride free so they could offer it to someone else. THAT was a hard phone call to make bc he really loved the other school and felt like he was really letting people down and like he'd led them on. (He got over it and hasn't regretted his decision, thankfully)
It's all part of the roller coaster!
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no suggestions, but following because we have the same MIL, I think. lol
She does read a lot and this list is exactly what she'd like more of, but I'm short on ideas. 🙂
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Honestly, these past few years have been my favorite Christmas seasons of all time. When the kids were younger, there was so much... of everything. Excitement, pressure, catching-up (we often spent Christmas "break" catching up on school stuff), extended family drama, etc. It just wasn't fun.
Once they all hit adulthood, we had a big family talk. What traditions did we want to keep? Which ones to scrap? What things caused stress, and which were fun? Did we want to be busy with festive stuff, or chill by the fireplace chatting more often? We wanted to set a baseline of the "good" stuff because I was starting to worry that, once they were adults, they would head off to significant others' homes for the holidays, leaving dh and I all alone (or, heaven forbid, with the in-laws!) because our Christmases were stressful.
So: #1 thing decided by the kids: We scrapped ALL extra family. That was hard (on the extended family) but such an enormous relief. Our parents have caused us all so much stress over the years and have taken OVER our family holidays in the past with all their drama and emotional outbursts. We drew a hard line in the concrete and, once the concrete set, we are all SO much happier for the change. Wasn't easy, but was SO worth it.
It's now my favorite time because everyone (aka: the children) comes home. That isn't true during summer due to internships, travel abroad, jobs, etc, so I relish this time when they're alllll home under my roof and I can hug them anytime I want to. ♥ Looking at the "Find My iPhone" and seeing them all stacked together once again in our house is literally my favorite moment of the year.
I enjoy the sounds of my family playing games together while Christmas music plays in the background. I enjoy the weird movies we watch as one of the traditions the kids wanted to keep. I love introducing our bonus kid/ds2 to all our traditions and enveloping him into all our new memories of the holiday season.
We have gingerbread house decorating contests (new themes each year), play croquet in the snow or rain, hide pinecones like Easter eggs, eat exactly the same food for Christmas morning and dinner as we've had for the past 4 years, toast with champagne on Christmas Eve, have Christmas morning mimosas, stuff stockings so full they nearly burst at the seams, dress our dogs up like elves, bake cookies for Santa and eat them all on Christmas morning, and play so many board games I'm surprised they can remember all the rules.
Secretly, I love that, while the boys have significant others, they elected to not bring them home for the holidays, nor are they going to the girls' homes. 😶 I just know my days are numbered before they all are in serious enough relationships where they want to bring someone home for the holidays so I am enjoying this "before" period of time while I can. 😄 (I really did offer that they could bring their girlfriends home, though, I promise! I was just so happy when they both decided against it, bahaha!)
When my kids were younger, I dreaded the holidays due to all the stress, pressure, and family drama. Now, it is 100% my favorite time of the year. ♥ Maybe I'd feel differently if they all went to school close by or worked nearby... but they're scattered across the country right now & possibly forever.
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12 hours ago, SKL said:
(Also, what's the difference between tights and pantyhose?)
To me, pantyhose are sheer and often have a control top built in and are easily snagged whereas tights are opaque and typically much less restrictive.
I do wear tights (love the ones with brushed fleece on the inside). They enable me to wear skirts or dresses and booties in the winter. 🙂
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12 hours ago, SKL said:
OK this bring up something I wonder about. People say they don't wear pantyhose any more. Then what do they wear with a business suit?
I HATE pantyhose with a double capital H. But I wear them when I have to wear a skirt, because I don't know of a viable alternative. (Thankfully, it is pretty rare that I have to wear a skirt, and most of my skirts are below-the-knee length so I can wear knee high hose. [But even knee highs strangle my legs.])
I don't wear make-up. So I was one of the No-Yesses.
Suits with pants only is my solution. 🙂
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On 12/2/2022 at 6:33 AM, Sebastian (a lady) said:
When my youngest was in high school I started to shift towards doing consulting. I'd already been doing workshops and coffee chats for homeschoolers locally. And I'd been a Naval Academy admissions liaison for many years, doing info events and interviews.
So I completed a certificate program from UC Irvine, started touring colleges, and put time into separating what was true for my kids and what were more general college admissions trends and requirements.
@Sebastian (a lady) were you happy with the certificate program from UC Irvine?
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Not sure of the context of the other thread but, no, my feelings do not burden my husband's day in any way. lol If I am super upset, he'll maybe ask if I'm okay and, once assured that I will survive whatever turmoil I'm experiencing, will happily go about his business.
The only time it affects him is if MY mood is long-lasting and I'm cranky or sad for a very long time. Then he gets distressed in a way that he wants me to return to normal (and starts to try man-fixing the problem), not that he is absorbing my feelings.
I, on the other hand, feel everything that anyone in my family is going through probably ten times more deeply than they themselves are experiencing it (but completely lack empathy for anyone who is not one of the five people on this planet that I either gave birth to, married, or adopted).
So, between the two of us, there's a normal reaction to other people's emotions in there somewhere! 🤪
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Pantyhose were invented by the devil specifically to torture the female species.
I once had a job that drew up a new dress code requirement that all women HAD to wear pantyhose specifically because *I* did not wear pantyhose. I flipped out at my boss and HIS boss and wore pants only the rest of the time I worked there (well, except for the day soon after when one of the big bosses came into our office for the day and I wore a short skirt (there were no length restrictions, bahahaha) and thigh-high pantyhose with the lace at the top.... 😁)
I do miss the L'eggs eggs, though. Remember all the kids' crafts you could do with those back in the day?!
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Well-trained bodies - turn of the year, goals, January, etc
in The Chat Board
Posted
joining in with a goal of 5 miles/10,000 steps every day in January, increasing working my way up to 10 miles/day (5 days/week) by summertime. And a goal of running a 5k this summer and a half marathon in the fall sometime, maybe?
I get in plenty of "steps" but want to run more of those steps each day, 😅.
Will start some light weight training with dh too, to beef up my spaghetti noodle arms. DH is overly enthused about helping me and I'm a little scared at his enthusiasm. 😂
We have a lot of traveling planned for the year ahead (and, into 2023) and I want to be fit as a fiddle before we set out.