Lilymax
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Posts posted by Lilymax
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The resort we visit each summer switched from chlorine to salt two years ago. We loved the difference!
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How cool that there are so many writers here!
At the moment I am mainly a newspaper columnist--I struggle to find time for more! My weekly parenting/humor/slice-of-life piece has been published in our local paper for nearly 4 years. I also write occasional feature articles for them and have been published in a couple of magazines as well. I also have a selection in a wartime writing anthology published by Random House, and was included in an accompanying documentary, which was an amazing experience.
I'm reluctant to post links to my blog on open forums like this, but if you'd like to see it, PM me and I'll send it to you.
I have a baby due soon (hoping for c-section next week!) and it's been a tough pregnancy. So aside from my column, writing has been on the back burner this year. My goal is to begin pursuing more magazine gigs in January, once we've all settled through the newborn stage of life. I have a couple of book ideas in the works, including a collection of favorite columns, but of course that's such a huge process I can't imagine having the mental energy for it until later next year.
As far as finding time to write, I'm a night owl. I'm usually up at least three hours or more after everyone else is in bed (something that I know will change with the new baby, too).
A homeschooling mom with three published novels--not self-published, but with one of the major Christian publishers, Multnomah, maybe?--spoke at one of our local writers group meetings. She managed to write all three books by writing just on the weekends. She treats Saturday as a full 8-hour work day, getting up early, shutting herself in her office and leaving her DH in charge of the kids. Then she did four hours on Sunday afternoons.
I don't know that would work for my family, but it was inspiring to hear how dedicated she was to her work, and how much she was able to accomplish by focusing on it in solid chunks of time.
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The OP reminded me of one reason our local PS's aren't an option for my kids at any age.
Unfortunately we live in an area of the country where racial tension is extremely high. A friend's FIRST grader was gang-banged in the boys' bathroom by five boys of another race last year. If this crap is happening in our public elementary schools, how much worse must it be in middle and high?
And that's just one issue. I look at friends' PS'd kids and am not at all impressed with what I see the schools producing, character-wise or academically.
I may not do a hugely better job educating them at home, but I guarantee I cannot do worse. Not in this town, anyway.
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I was just thinking of how strong this baby's immune system must be. If a nursing mom produces antibodies to anything she's exposed to, and baby in turn receives them through BF, how many antibodies must this child be ingesting from all those different moms? (That would be an interesting study, wouldn't it? If a baby nursed from more than one woman has a stronger immune system.)
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On top of it all, ds has no desire to go to high school (public or private). He has no desire to sit in classes 6hrs/day 5days/wk and have homework when he can complete his work in much less time.
My oldest is just in 6th grade, but this is how he feels, too. He's figured out that HS'ing affords him much more downtime to use as he wishes and he's not anxious to give that up.
Thankfully, we do have local middle and high school level co-ops for science, foreign languages and other college-prep type classes. He's also very eager to join a homeschooler's ROTC program (it's about an hour's drive away, though). His softball league goes up to adult level. So he truly feels that he has nothing to miss by not going to an actual middle or high school.
There is one really good private school in our area that I'd consider if we really needed it, or if he changed his mind. But our finances would have to improve markedly to be able to afford it. Our public schools are atrocious and I can't imagine that they'd ever be a choice for us except in the most dire circumstances.
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I don't know if anyone's mentioned this idea, but for the past several years I've made all the grandparents scrapbooked calendars. I get the calendars at Michael's dollar bin section, and look for deals on prints from drugstores, shutterfly, etc.
The calendars hold 4x6 prints and I just do some simple embellishments (rounding corners, adding stickers, etc.) Then I make sure to write all the family birthdays on the calendar.
I try to match each month with photos of the kids from the same month this year (Halloween pics on October, etc.) The grandparents love getting these. I also made one for a friend one year, with pics of her kids (ordered from online albums she'd shared with me). She was really touched by it!
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It could be pain from your hormones stimulating all the cysts at once. I have polycystic ovarian syndrome and though I'm 9 mos. pg now, noticed in previous cycles that ovulation time seemed to get more painful as I grew older. It would be a dull, heavy, achy feeling on one side near my pelvic bone and would last for a day or two.
Sorry you're dealing with this. It could be worth getting checked out again.
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I'm in the "celebrity deaths don't really affect me" club. Sure, I feel bad for their loved ones, but I don't think I've ever cried over hearing someone famous has died.
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Another ex-Democrat here. I grew up in a family who still votes straight Democratic ticket with each election. As far as I know, DH, one of my sisters and I are the only conservatives in the family.
I didn't start exploring political issues for myself until I'd been married a couple of years, and when I did, I realized that conservative ideology was a better fit for my own personal convictions. Made for some interesting family gatherings when we "broke from the liberal fold." LOL
I'd rank DH and I somewhere between Republican and Libertarian...there are aspects of each party that appeal to me, and others that don't. I've voted for members of both parties in previous elections.
I worked for a while in a military family support job that required me to frequently interact with several state senators and other local politicians. Honestly, it sort of jaded me on politics in general. The Republicans were very big on offering support to our deployed soldiers' families, and one of them was just awesome...really amazing guy. But one of the Republicans was so smarmy and hateful that I hated to see him coming. He seemed to use the military for photo ops and little else. But, hey, at least he showed up. The local Democrats never returned my calls or cared to get involved at all.
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I wouldn't worry unless there were other symptoms. My two have had weird fevers like those, where their only real symptoms were sleepiness and the high temp. The good thing is those bugs tend to pass pretty quickly...they seem to sleep them off.
The fever will actually help kill the germs, so if she doesn't want meds, I'd say just make sure she's staying hydrated and see how things go.
Hope she feels better soon!
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My MIL is not horrible, but she's not wonderful, either. She is good about staying out of our business, and always remembers the kids' birthdays, holidays, etc. However, she (and the rest of the in-laws) have always treated me mainly with indifference. She doesn't remember my birthday, buy me anything for Christmas, call me directly or anything. She's never really cared to learn anything about me (asked about my job, hobbies or anything), and often acts as though she doesn't quite get why DH chose me. MIL has also made snide comments about my weight through the years (she is a beanpole)...but overall, she's not a mean, conniving type. (Unlike my own mother...our relationship has always been rocky. BUT I'll give my folks props for always treating my husband like a son. They love him to death and make sure he knows it.)
MIL and FIL divorced when DH was little, and I've had two step-MIL's from him so far. The first one, Ann, was awesome; she was pretty much the only in-law I had that ever treated me like a human being and not a unwanted addition to the family. She was kind and generous and friendly, and DH and I were very angry with FIL for years after he cheated on her and left her. She lives far away and we've basically lost contact. His current wife--his fourth; the one who was his mistress for years while he was married to Ann--is hard to even think of as a MIL because she's barely older than DH and I. (FIL is a cradle-robber...) She is nice enough, I suppose, but she's the freeloading type. No career or anything, and her grown kids are kinda scary to be around.
Yeah, not had a lot of luck in the in-law department. I do miss Ann, though. She was a very sweet person and I hope she's found someone better than my FIL...which wouldn't be hard to do.
Edited to add that I, too, have enjoyed reading this thread and I hope that I can be a good MIL to my daughters-in-law. I definitely know what NOT to do!
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I've been on procardia since a preterm labor scare around 25 weeks. I still have days with lots of BH contractions, but have yet to have them regularly enough to send me back to L&D for monitoring.
I also have PIH so that's probably why I've been on it so long. She wants to start weaning me off of it now that I'm getting close to the end.
It's given me no side effects. Hope it works as well for you!
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TIP # 3
Do as much as you can orally. Seriously, it is so much better for everyone.
:iagree:
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I guess I'm the odd one out, but we have a house rule that everyone sleeps in their own beds.
I co-sleep for the first few months, when the baby needs to nurse every couple hours. After that I start transitioning them to their own bed in their own room.
Neither I nor DH sleep well with a child in our bed. We've done it on rare occasions, like on vacation, etc. but I just sleep too lightly to have them there. All their wiggles, snorts, etc. wake me up...so having them in the same room doesn't help, either.
Truth be told, the longer I'm married, the more I realize why many old folks end up in separate bedrooms. ;) The best sleep I get on any given night is the couple hours after DH gets up for work and I have the bedroom to myself! When he travels or I go somewhere alone, I sleep SO much better!
We have a queen-sized bed and I'm hoping to move up to a king-size soon. Maybe with more space between us I'll be able to rest better when he's there.
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Wow, thanks for sharing about Rifftrax! I had no idea they were still doing stuff like that. Checked out the site and can't wait to download some of those!
My sister, DH and I are huge MST3K fans! They are my "go to" therapy for bad days, too.
Too many favorites to list, though "The Giant Gila Monster" will always be near the top because it was one of the first ones I ever saw. We also loved "Manos: The Hands of Fate."
Sometimes I think people think my sister and I have our own language because we're always throwing out lines from favorite episodes when they fit our current life situation. Example: from the "Johnny at the Fair" short...whenever I've complained about this pregnancy, my sister says "Did I tell you to have this baby?" in the same tone as from the MSTie clip.
Another favorite line is "They just didn't care!" from "Attack of the Eye Creatures". Joel and the bots show this segment of clips that show how you can see the zippers on the Eye Creatures' costumes in different scenes, and then all of them together go "They just didn't care!"
Maybe we take it too far? :lol: NAAAH!
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I get Family Circle, Parents, American Baby (I think that's what it's called; it was a freebie). If there are any you're thinking about getting, check eBay first...amazing deals to be found there!
DS2 gets the Lego magazine and DS1 used to get Boys Life.
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"The very pinnacle of my good fortune is you. Above all else, the children are blessed to have you. And if we sail smoothly into our old age, it will be because of you. When our children succeed, they will thank God for you. They are your great work, your masterpiece. You'll spend the rest of your life with gratefulness and pride and nurtured love in your heart.... And when I thank God and when the children thank God, it will be through you."
Wow...that is SO sweet! He sounds like a keeper! :001_smile:
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I don't buy them anymore because I haven't seen an improvement in how long they last, either.
And the mercury issue...sheesh. With two (soon to be three) boys, two cats and two dogs, lamps often get knocked over. The first time we broke a green bulb, I didn't know about the mercury issue and we just vacuumed it up as usual. Then when I heard about it, and heard what we were SUPPOSED to have done to clean it up??? I was so upset that it wasn't more common knowledge how toxic those things are. How in the heck is that any better for the environment? It's crazy!
Add me to the stocking-up-on-incandescents club. The only place we're using our flourescents is in outdoor light fixtures, where they aren't going to be knocked over and broken.
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I think my boys are getting a better education than they would in school for all of the reasons mentioned so far. A few more that were related to the private school they attended:
-The owner of the school was only interested in profit. Many, many of the things they promised us never materialized despite the high tuition we paid (and let's not forget all the fundraisers!). They were always promising this new class or that new program, but failed to deliver on so many accounts. At least at home, my kids have access to decent art supplies and can go to the real town library anytime we want, instead of settling for the sorry excuses the school offered for art and a library.
-Some of the teachers they had were great, but others came retired from the PS system and would've been better off remaining retired. DS1's 3rd grade teacher was borderline literate and sent home newsletters and worksheets full of misspellings and grammatical errors. Not just once or twice, but weekly. She also gave A's that I knew he hadn't earned; that became ever more clear when we started HS'ing and I realized how poorly he was doing in math. He was nowhere near a 3rd grade level in math.
-Bullying was tolerated as long as it was committed by a kid whose parents were good friends with the admin or teachers. My son was the victim of awful bullying and the school refused to do anything about it because the twin bully boys' parents were good friends of the owner of the school.
-They put a huge amount of pressure on kids to achieve higher and higher standards, to the point of sending home crushing amounts of homework. I could still kick myself for making DS1 do all the homework they gave him. To this day, he lists "no homework" as his favorite thing about homeschooling!
There are dozens of more issues. I'm just glad we're out of that mess and have no desire to ever go back to it.
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Frankly, I think that if I let my kid go feral, he'd still be better educated than what that school produces.
:lol::lol::lol:
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Had my first at 29, second at 33, and will have this one soon at 41.
So I'll have had a kid in each of my last three decades! LOL
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My dad's in town this weekend. Since he missed our Labor Day cookout, we're doing a repeat for him: hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, etc. with chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream for dessert.
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This thread cracks me up!
My name gets mispronounced all the time, too. It sounds the same as "carry" but people often pronounce it "CAR-ee".
Our last name is very unusual and I don't want to share it here. But the mispronunciations are insane. The one that gets me the most is that it's a two-syllable name. But most people just sound out the first one! Anyone who learned the most basic phonics should be able to figure out that it has two syllables. So aggravating...I always want to say, "The second syllable isn't silent!" LOL
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IMO, it's a good thing that our co-op classes feel like school. Both of my kids attended school before we started HS'ing and I know they miss certain aspects of it. So one day a week, they're taking three classes with other kids, and brushing up on their group interaction skills.
I taught the art classes last year, and having also taught at their previous school, I can say that it had a slightly different feel than teaching at school. The kids were more cooperative and polite, and got along with each other so well. There was a friendly, light-hearted feel to the classes that I never felt while teaching in school.
They get the advantage of meeting other HS'd kids, which is also a good thing. I always think it's so neat to go and see these 100+ kids who are all being taught at home!
School children taught to praise Obama in song...
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I glanced through the links you shared but didn't see anything stating the details as you shared them above. Maybe I missed it by not reading every comment, but do you have a direct link that supports what you said about it being voluntary and not part of the regular school year?