Relax, it was an example. I did need help figuring out the campus coin/card operated machine, because the one I used at home didn't have need to have money inserted into it. Someone took a minute to show me how to start it.

The nature parks near me look for volunteers to help do stuff around the park sometimes. I don't think they care how efficient you are and when I did a day with my old company it was simple stuff like pick up trash, spread out the mulch, etc. I think they have both opportunities that expect good work and opportunities that are more whatever happens is OK.

I was not "prepared" for college, went to public school so I was not prepared really academically or being independent. Unless your student really doesn't care about going to college or doing well in college they will be able to find help. TA's and professors are available for help and are usually quite clear how and where to get their help (IMO at any reputable school that should be a minimum). A student does have to be motivated enough to seek the information (by looking it up or asking), showing up to class, going to the office hours, etc. Help won't seek you out but if you ask help will be there. Professors/TA's will give tidbits on how to study for their classes, RA's/friends can show you how to do your laundry, the bank will help you write that rent check, etc. An NT student who is motivated to succeed in college can figure it out. I'm also pretty sure you'd be able to handle that random phone call from your college child to ask "Mom what detergent do I buy to wash my clothes!!"

Just back off for a few weeks. Then go from there again. My youngest potty trained before my eldest. She potty trained herself at 2-ish. My eldest was 3 almost 4 before he decided he wanted to be potty trained. I was not prepared to potty train two kids at the same time. Early potty trainers have a lot more accidents. Those who decide to potty train later seem to have less FWIW.

I have a Chrysler Pacifica. There are different seating arrangements you can choose for the center passenger seating. One of which will have a center "bench seat" in the middle and another will just have two captains chairs (the seating like the driver and front passenger). I can also choose how I want the back seats folded down. So I can have two of the back seats folded down leaving one of the back seats up (so it's more of a regular sized seat for a third person in the back rather than the "bench seat"). Or fold one seat down and have a one full seat and a "bench seat". ("bench seat" isn't really a bench but it's not the full size seat; it's the squished between the two seats seat.) If you have the non-hybrid model I believe you can fold the two center seats into the floor of the minivan as well. Of course in any configuration as you desire. I have no skin in the game for Chrysler Pacifica and I also want to say the Honda Odyssey probably has similar configurability (wouldn't be surprised if all the minivans do). BIL around 6 ft had no trouble at all sitting in the back seat for a 5 hr car ride.

You should decide what to do before the wedding date. Basically you do want to be able to hand the photographer a list of the family pictures you want with a list of people that will be in each of the formal photos. It's a way to speed things along so you get all the formal pictures you want in the allotted time. It also takes off the burden of the bride and groom to be the bad guy, let the photographer be the bad guy (whether the photographer is a female or male). I've seen this addressed in all sorts of ways. It ends up being it is what it is. The bf/gf are arranged at the edge of the picture to be potentially cropped out. (This is more complicated because arranging needs to happen. So I've just seen it for people who have photographers for a long time.) Have some just family photos with blanket non-family members cut out (you decide on a blanket cut, yes it does mean the other bf/gf that you deem worthy are also not in this picture). Of course the blanket could be long-term vs. short-term with a time frame. Another photo can be taken with "everyone" were you know even friends or distant relatives are in the pictures. So people don't feel left out. Or like an informal formal picture where it's an informal picture but it's a picture with everyone and the bf. Bride can choose to just cut that one person out. Then I would absolutely suggest they just give the photographer a list of names of people in the formal pictures and have photographer announce names for the pictures. His is just not announced. Or announced for one of the n number of other pictures you have with all the people you are certain to want. I would be against leaving it up to chance or the bf to make the "wise" decision. There is a lot of order following at these events and no matter how wise and mature bf is he may feel pressured to be apart of the picture. This can be because some well meaning person is making sure everyone gets in the picture and shoves him in there, or photographer trying to hurry things along and "forces" him in the picture or whatever.

@Heartstrings yes keep this episode away from your kids for a few years. I just read the recap (Bluey isn't something my children are watching). This episode would have had me super angry at my parents at 7 years old. I immigrated with my parents at 6 years old, to a new country. I understand from a TV show standpoint why they would do the storyline the way they did, but they should have not done that storyline. What under 10 year old is really going to understand look Bluey's dad made a decision based on something other than financial gain. Most children don't have a salaried job. When I moved at age 6 whether my dad made more or less at the new job was completely lost on me. The first year after the move I was devastated - bad things happened, new place was not unicorns and rainbows. Subsequently a few years of not much would have been different if we had not moved. A decade or so after the move everything "worked out for the best" for me. Also, note that decades later my mom's opinion on the move is that we shouldn't have done it. These are the real feelings that a child moving has to deal with and the parental guilt that comes with having to move. An episode of "oh, we don't have to move anymore" is not helpful. Anyway, in short I totally agree it was terrible to address moving in this way.

We have a cabinet above the fridge and all it's there for is for looks, well or my family's stash of we don't want mom to know about stuff. If you want it to be practical any cabinet or shelf I put in would have a built-in dead space at the top back.

Also to add, I'm an only child and all my cousins lived an ocean away. I always wanted an older brother as a child. Now I see my daughter has what I've always wanted and the grass isn't greener (they actually get along pretty well so far). Sure, I probably would have been happy with my idealized older brother but I am no longer disappointed that I didn't have this mythical older brother.

Not every provider can do or schedule like that. For them if you don't show up they don't have money. I want my lesson providers to also have a steady income. The answer is as you say for the community to have some sort of community enrichment classes. Some providers do volunteer their time to do just that for the community but I think it's a bit unreasonable to ask them to do it for their job (the way by which they provide for their own families).

Do what you want to do. It's all going to be fine. There's no guarantee having close in age children means they'll be best buddies. There's nothing to say people with huge age gaps can't be close to their siblings. Not BTDT but I know a lot of people with huge age gaps between their children (seriously up to decades). I've seen people do either and nothing's predictable. FWIW my mom was much closer to her sisters who were decades younger than her than her brothers who were years apart from her (in fact my mom spent decades not speaking too much with her brother who was a year younger - they didn't like each other growing up). My friend is super close to her sister who is 11 years younger than her. Also nothing to say the older sibling moves far away after they become adults. They might still be around (or in the neighborhood) to be a big part of the younger sibling's life.

Originally I thought so too. Now DS is only 7 and sticking with it in terms of an all-in-one curriculum feels overrated. When we left it and found other stuff it wasn't stressful. Some subjects we are even "doing our own thing". The thing is the all-in-one curriculums do similar things over and over again through the year and the years. There's a routine to it all. So we leave because maybe our children have different interests than the assigned reading every year (that's why we didn't stick with ours because DS really likes dragons, mystery and action and a lot of the all-in-one curriculum has a lot of nature/farm books). DS is also advanced in math so we had to find a math curriculum that fit how he prefers to learn and his speed. It's not stressful because deciding is about what makes learning more enjoyable (sometimes just more tolerable). You don't second guess because you see the evidence of progress or stress right in front of you every day.

Good point! I suspect that there is no janitor and that the person doing that is the person we've been dealing with over the last few months (who I was going to tip anyway) but will confirm. Anyway you may or may not have access to this person. You can ask what the protocol for this is and hope everyone is honest.

If you want to tip it would be whatever you want to the staff. It is not 20% of the total cost. I don't know what it is but I calculated 20% of total cost for mine and everyone said it was too much and returned a bunch of cash to me. I guess if they have a break down of cost then maybe it's 20% of the staff cost.

If you want to start simple one is to look for things similar to that but less ingredients. So like find a chicken pattie or nuggets that have less ingredients or just have chicken breast that you could freeze. For the pasta roni, start with buying higher quality pasta (https://www.cucinabyelena.com/pasta-quality-matters-cheap-vs-expensive-pasta/) and a jar of marinara sauce. I think once a person starts the journey it gets easier to take the next step and the next step. It's how I started to make healthy meals from scratch. At some point I realized making things from scratch is sometimes easier than the drive-thru or even having the convenience foods. You look up and figure out how to defrost meats quickly (that meal isn't going to win you a Michelin but that doesn't have to be the goal of made from scratch meals). Or because you are doing it you acquire an appliance or two that makes making these meals easier like a rice cooker, an instant pot, a food processor or a smoker. You know what you like and you get the appliance that makes doing that easier. I think the mom rightly took the first step and now just needs the next step. So, yes her meals may not be healthier than the McDonalds meal but she is moving in the right direction.