The Christmas thing sounds like my grandma. She's want us over for dinner but it was also such a burden. One year in my teens I think my mom just had me listen in to what my grandmother was saying to her. From that year forward my mom was in a much better mood. She just say "Grandma wants to know when we would like to stop by..." We'd roll our eyes together, snicker, discuss what about us grandma would be unhappy about this time (for us it was usually that we didn't get our hair cut at the marketplace by her house next to the butcher). Then we'd figure out a doable schedule together. We'd all be on our best behavior at grandma's. I think it helped that she had someone to commiserate with who can see the actions unfolding at the events. My mom was the black sheep of the family according to grandma.

The reasons those phonics books have stated is because long vowels get into the complicated territory of multiple spelling of a particular long vowel sound and multiple sounds represented by the same spelling. Not to mention some sounds/spellings are based on prefix and suffix stuff. So they like to start where students are used looking at letters and blending sounds before going in to all of that. Some phonics programs will teach these common words as rote memorization but when the student gets to rule or reason that addresses why that word is the way it is then it goes back to say remember this word this is how it works. The Wiley Blevins book Phonics from A to Z brings a lot of insight as to what the phonics programs are trying to do. You wouldn't be the only person that felt this way. The counter to that is that common words are the ones that most often don't follow the simple rules, which means by doing so you can end up with a lot of clunky books, which aren't very enjoyable to read. I would focus on this which is your channel is mostly there to empower the parents. Then from an adult perspective parents can handle having a few one off videos that tell them the rules that govern the common sight words, or why certain "exceptions" exist (are they really exceptions). Which is not the same as what you might do teaching a 4-6 year old how to read (which a lot of the phonics programs are aiming for).

My mom's house is really less cluttered now that I've moved out and my dad is gone.

DD loves dollhouse toys. I've limited her to one big dollhouse but there are side buildings that she also likes to play with but these are all bulky and seems like the way they are built isn't meant to be completely taken apart and put together all the time. What are some ideas to store them? For example the bulky toys I'm talking about, she's loving her new Schleich vet building. I currently have all these bulky buildings in a box but we can't close the box lid anymore with just 4 sets of bulky things because of the shape of them.

I wasn't planning on it but on Saturday DS was willing to purge things and boy oh boy did I hop on that opportunity. This includes purging 2T clothes and he's 7 now. So I took 4 large garbage bags of clothes and toys my kids have grown out of to a thrift store. I think books in general don't resell well anymore. Any books and stuff I buy for homeschooling I assume, at best I'm going to be giving it away. I wonder if it's the change in how easily people can just purchase all the items new. I mean some of the stuff you can purchase the digital copy and it's in your hands to use instantaneously.

I am so sad your friend responded in this way.

It would be a hard no for me, at this time. I would probably respond with: It was heartbreaking for me to hear that you have been harboring this resentment against me. We can reengage when you are ready to talk things over. I don't know if I worded that well, it probably can be better. Basically I would let her know that as much as she is in the hurt space and feeling unsafe with you over what happened 20 years ago, you are now in that space with her because of what she did recently. As much as she should have what she needs to heal over what you did, you have needs to heal over what she did to you.

I'm hurt for you. Yes, adults can do whatever they please. Also, though we've absolutely gone on tour groups, business trips that sort of thing and still snuck in some time for people we care about on those trips especially when we are going to the same continent as the family. Poland to Italy is a 2 ish hour flight, maybe I'm too well traveled but that doesn't seem like too much of an imposition. They could or could have figured out a layover or something so they can at least see you for a day or two. As the child, sometimes we just wish our parents view us more as someone they like and want to spend time with rather than something you just raise. I may bringing my own baggage into this conversation.

You might thing about laying this out for him at some point. I did this with my mom after my father's passing and we had a tough talk. For sure, I did not get the answers that I wanted but in the long run it helped us have a relationship that works and is healthy for us. (I am not saying in any way it is the ideal I have in my head but at least it's healthy.) The conversation helped me to see my mom as a real person and realize that she falls short of my expectations, not because of me but because of her weaknesses. Part of it is at the time we were both grieving and needing what we needed which were not aligned to each other, but in realizing that it help me feel better about seeking that elsewhere. Especially since some of that stuff society believes we should get from our parents, but our parents are flawed people and can't always offer what we need.

I am absolutely flabbergasted at how much some parents keep their children from independence. Forget walking by themselves, I've seen parents forbid their babies from eating cooked carrots because they hadn't finish "preparing" the carrot for them.

To all the people who are saying what @gardenmom5 should or should not have done, unless you have or are in this similar situation, gently you all need to back down. Just know that some people are going through hurts for which they cannot emotionally "hold out hope" for. Honestly, it's really harmful to ask people to hold out hope. Know that your situation is better than hers and that's why you can't imagine doing, feeling, etc. what she is going through.

No.

I also think if I'm at the point of a friendship where I'm concerning myself with whether they are reciprocating, that's probably spelling the end of that friendship. After COVID, I stopped actively maintaining those types of friends. I believe friendships should be reciprocated but that reciprocation doesn't have to be the same gesture.

Well the one I actively avoid requires me to merge, cross through 5 lanes of heavy traffic to get to where I want to go. It's usually slow or stop and go traffic in that spot so I'm not sure if it'd be better if the cars are going fast. Sure I could do it and I have, but also if given the choice I will take a 10 min detour. DH got me a car that can parallel park itself and I still hate parallel parking. I thought it'd solve my problems but apparently the car is really good at parallel parking and can get me into spots that I can't get out of.

Balsam Hill, but be warned it's not cheap. I got it unlit but often think maybe I should have gotten a pre-lit. One of my cats likes to hang out around the tree and probably would climb it if she could, but the branches of the tree can't hold the 9 lbs. of her. Basically she tried it once and fell off the branch. The "leaves" are really pokey so I also think she didn't like the feeling. (Absolutely will knock ornaments off the lower branches though.)

I didn't know it was a thing to reciprocate. I love hosting and feeding people, even though I'm an introvert so we've hosted plenty of things. The thing with that is I also bought a house which is conducive to hosting and I know that's not at the top of everyone's list. Hosting is important to me and I know I have made decisions in my life to accommodate and so I would never ever expect anyone in particular to have made the same decisions.

Also I-5 in California.

Honestly between staying with the slower traffic and weaving in and out of traffic, you are probably the better driver. There's a section of freeway here that is nicknamed/called "the maze" seriously, I'm perfectly content missing my exit completely or be going half the speed limit to avoid situations. There are times I just find a way around that section of road by using the surface streets. To clarify, I usually prefer the freeway or interstate to surface streets, and go under the speed limit to match the speed of the person in front of me.

This. To my knowledge a prime rib not pink is a ruined prime rib.

In my high cost of living area it is not uncommon for parents to help their children with down payments. Even reasonably fiscally responsible with good jobs people have a tough time saving up enough for a decent sized down payment, because the cost of rent is also high in areas where the cost of a house is high. Also in a lot of cases in my area, this is a fiscally profitable venture. It's dropped a little bit since but my house was worth more than 3x what we paid for it a little over 10 years ago at one point. (There also lies the reason why 2 people with six figure incomes might have trouble affording a house, which is also not unheard of where I reside.) I can't say whether this is an actually fiscally sound position in your family's case. I can also see why you may be less than thrilled with this arrangement.

Yes I did. The notebook part was getting too frustrating for me. I think it could be a great program and I think the book is valuable to read even if you aren't doing the method (I wish I read it before). Between DS's hesitation with being neat in writing and my inability to let go of the notebook having a certain aesthetic, it was really stressful for us.

I pick mid-wall. If I could put it anywhere (without care for anyone else) I'd make the middle rack of the oven about 1-2" above the countertop. I think it'd make transferring from the oven to the counter and cooktop easier. My current one is a few inches higher than I'd like, it's sized more for DH with a bit of compromise so I could use it. I feel like the bottom oven is too low for my taste because I don't like bending over to bring the things up. A feature you want to look for in wall ovens is a telescopic oven rack. It's an oven rack that has rails built into it so it slides nicely. It's certainly not necessary but also I've moved both of mine into the oven I use most often because it makes a difference. I put my pots and pans underneath the cooktop. The counter space between the oven and the cooktop has a drawer underneath for cooking utensils. I love this placement.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to try out the free resource first. I think it'll work I just have to write a table of contents for it so my children can look up the phonograms.

This is the type of thing I'm looking for. I can make do with this.

I have Doodling Dragon and Whistling Whales. I was hoping for something easier to reference since you'd have to potentially go through 3 books to get the right sound/phonogram.