Agreed

The "wide net for merit" process is wearying.

I would have loved getting an ornament! I actually bought ornaments during a few college visits, because that's my thing. My daughter did not receive on in 2016, though we did get a mug during the visit. Probably my least favorite sort of swag, haha. I'm sure I am not the only one with way too many mugs (in general, not just college)

Useful, for sure. We live far, which limits the visiting typically. It would be nice if that happens for #3 but it feels like a different season for college admissions this go-around.

My junior took it in October. She had a misbubbling error, ugh. Scores will have to plummet here for her to get NM. In retrospect, I wish I had held her off until January, but there seemed to be so much uncertainty as far as a testing location then. She took the SAT in October too, and did fine, but will take it one more time. She is ready to take it seriously now.

A few plane tickets to come visit 🙂 But nothing cool like a charm.

Here's one, though it seems a little different than what I remember. But maybe our tweaking made it different? I remember fewer eggs and we added sour cream. I always put chocolate chips in it too. I saw a site called Bread Dad that seemed to have bread machine tips. https://www.zojirushi.com/app/recipe/banana-bread

There was a recipe that came in the instruction book that we tweaked a bit. My machine has been gone for a while though because the heating element stopped working. I'll Google and see if I can find it.

Well, I never really loved mine for regular bread. It was great for banana bread though :-)

I would agree, and especially with mental health issues in the mix. In some cases that necessitates a more watchful eye and advocacy.

This part quoted above is huge. I have three daughters, 25/23/17. Differentiation is intense! You already have excellent insights. My biggest piece of advice is to not take any of this personally. Back off as much as you can, unless it is an issue that will affect you and your husband financially or in some other meaningful way. In college, this part is a challenge because the system necessitates our ongoing involvement in paying for school and often in healthcare. As far as a curfew, I would handle that as you would for any other adult staying in your home. I do think that if she is using your vehicle, you can set some limits on its use. My oldest is liking me again these days. She's gotten to a place of financial independence and is living her own life. She is looking back and seeing the wisdom of things I did. My 23 yo new college grad can hardly stand me right now. Like, the sound of my voice grates on her nerves, lol. But I get it. She had to abandon her beloved school early, found that the jobs she could have had dried up, and she ended up living with her sister and using our healthcare. She's got health issues I have to nag at her about a bit. It's all annoying. The 17 yo is somewhere between the two situations above, but closer to the annoyed by me end of the spectrum. She likes us paying for things though, so she knows on what side her bread is buttered 🙂 There is some interesting mis-remembering going on around here. My oldest claimed for a while that I had only let her listen to...Amy Grant. Ummm, what? I can name maybe three Amy Grant songs and don't like Christian pop-rock at all. The youngest said I only ever read the Bible to them. She told someone that I never cooked a Christmas meal. OMG. So bizarre. My Christmas meal was an all day affair, lol.

And not in a fun Dr Seuss way, I presume? The good news is that we did get a meal out of it. But no leftovers, and it was quite a large piece of meat and atypical indulgence for us. I left it out while I visited a friend because my husband was going to eat more. He did, but then left it all out when he went to bed. The gate to the kitchen was askew and I guess it was just too tempting.

Fail/Christmas Miracle: the Great Dane overcame his longtime anxiety about entering the kitchen and consumed 4 1/2 lbs of prime rib right off the kitchen counter. Did not even disturb the plate.

A lot of people would have left and asked for a full refund after booking a place with two showers only to find just one is functional. She is probably pleased that you stayed. The discount is reasonable.

Thanks for sharing your insights. There's not much I regret in life, per se, because it is what it is, and it all brought me here. But I do go back and forth about whether I would be employed in nursing again in my children's early years if I got a do-over. It's never about the "work". Work is good for everyone. It's employment that can be problematic. I would have enjoyed continuing in some form of nursing if I could have done it in a manner that fit in with raising my children in the way I liked. Never did figure that part out, though, as I've said before, plenty of people seem to be successful at it. My family did benefit from my nursing in that I was definitely able to work out better healthcare options for them from my contacts, especially in the early years. I know less people now that I've been out so long, but I still understand the system. Even now, with a job which is entirely controlled by me, I still find the commitments interfere with the uncertainties of family life.

My experience working part time in nursing was that it was the worst of all worlds, though obviously plenty of people do it. Depends a bit on support from your partner, I think. I worked full time in various hospitals for five years and part time for another four, after I had children. You've got to keep up all the education/licensing requirements. There is a constant push for you to give more than the agreed upon hours. You can't easily call in sick, much less for a sick child, without it hugely impacting other staff (someone else will get called in to cover your absence). You are not really part of the staff family, because you are part time. I made enough that it bumped us up a tax bracket, but a full third of my pay went to the expensive quality part time child care. My youngest got RSV from exposure at day care that led to ongoing respiratory issues for years. That was all twenty years ago. When I initially took a break, the thought was that I would go back when the kids were older. Then I was homeschooling and going back never happened.

It's about their fear of being alone. Can't have healthy interaction, so the neediness forces interaction around money. I get it, but it's still tiring.

My mom (probable borderline personality disorder) used to do that. She would ask for money then send cash gifts in birthday/holiday cards for me or the kids. Yes, annoying.

If she is a decent test-taker, yes, it's likely worth the drive.

I think the biggest risk for most women is divorce. No help from life insurance at that point, and nobody is holding a go fund me for the family in that circumstance. It's a worry, for sure. I left nursing after working for nine years to stay home. I don't have any regrets but there is a lot that could have gone wrong. It's certainly benefited my children to have me here though. The regrets I do have are about the years my little ones went to part time child care. There are many risks in life though. I think you have to weigh the odds and prepare for unfavorable outcomes the best you can. Active volunteering with the community does open up opportunities. Continue to learn and pursue interests. Hope for the best and have a plan for the worst knowing that some of the details will need to be worked out at that time. Editing to add that my oldest two have graduated from college now and my youngest graduates high school in the next couple years. This is from the perspective of an old mom. I have a part time, not terribly profitable photography business at this point that could keep me busier if I wanted. I've considered substitute teaching as a flexible income stream. I have found that my young adult kids have needed a lot of my time, so I hesitate to tie myself down too much with full time commitments.

They have an excellent NMF scholarship, but do give other merit awards as well.

Hard to say if the tic is Xanax related, but weaning off Xanax is rough. Saw my mom ill-advisedly go off it cold turkey more than once: psychosis, hallucinations, psudo-seizures. Read about functional neurological disorder. It could be a reason for the tics.

It could be a lot of things, including wanting to use providers or therapies that are not in an insurance plan. MANY practitioners do not want to work with government plans, so it is full pay or go elsewhere. For my daughter's mental health care, we wanted to use certain therapists and doctors that opted against participating with our insurance. We also had travel expenses, that sort of thing.

I have an account and actually was digging deep in there just last night. If your ancestors were from small towns, it's quite fascinating. Learned from a picture and article that my g-g grandmother was my g-g grandfather's teacher, and 9 years older than him (had not paid attention to those birthdates before so much)

Twogood Farms has some interesting beef based holiday packs