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MrsBasil

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Everything posted by MrsBasil

  1. I am hoping to take a trip up to Washington in the next year. I'd like to take my kids whale watching(Orcas!) and visit the Hoh rainforest. Beyond that, I have no idea what to do with kids in the 5-8 year range. Could anyone recommend some cool towns to stay near that area or fun things to do? I'd like to keep it outdoorsy-hikes, tide pools...that kind of thing. I don't mind driving and I'd like a homebase or two for exploring I can happily skip the Space Needle and Pike Place. I am thinking of flying to Seattle from Denver and renting a car. Any advice, tips, or cautions are appreciated! I've only been out that way once and I was 11. All I remember is thinking the rain forest was the coolest place ever and wishing I had enough money to go whale watching. I was looking at spending a few days in Anacortes to whale watch via boat and then find a different place closer to the Park. But I'm open to anything.
  2. We can rent yurts and tepees at some state park campgrounds. I know some museums, the zoo, and I think the aquarium do themed overnights every so often.
  3. I love this! I have a really intense 4 year old who boycotted sleep for the first 2.5 years of life and now stalls like a champ. At one point, I had this book memorized. It's genius.
  4. Get off your high horse. I don't give a steaming pile of bull crap what "worked" for other people. Why should I be grateful when yet another internet doctor or essential oils guru or yoga expert of 6 months tells me to just do (fill in the blank) and my dad will be back to his old self. He will NOT and they can go to hell with their compassion. If they had an ounce of compassion they wouldn't peddle their untested, unproven cure. I DO smile and say thank you most of the time. Then I cry later as I try to help my dad start a treatment plan that he has no hope of remembering to follow. I cry after I field follow up questions from these people. Seriously, people are here are venting about having life long, and in some cases life threatening, conditions and having to deal with unasked for advice on a regular basis and how they usually just smile and nod but YOU are calling us ill mannered and rude. Get over yourself.
  5. My dad has Alzheimer's and I've been told that if I feed him an organic Mediterranean diet, have him do yoga daily, and take lots of coconut oil he'll be cured. I've stopped seeing these people as being well meaning. I think they are awful.
  6. Quite a bit. Sort of. My mother is squeamish on her best day, so I got lots of books, subscriptions to Sassy and other teen magazines, notes when MTV was showing something about AIDS/teen pregnancy/sex, an open invitation to be put on birth control when I wanted, and discussions about why and why not to have sex, who to have sex with(no losers, no one who was mean or putting pressure on me, no one who I couldn't see myself being civil to for 18 years, no one who refused to wear a condom etc.). My mom was (and is) very pro choice and I was fairly prolife, so we had talks about day to life with babies and what their expectations would be should I not take advantage of her open ended birth control policy. We talked about marriage and she gave me her thoughts on difficulties in long term relationships. We talked about how awful periods were and she showed me where she hid chocolate and years later made sure I could sign her name so that I could get out swimming if need be or school if my cramps were super painful.
  7. I don't know what we'll be doing, but for a starting place I asked DS 7 what he wanted to do in school. He wants to learn to weld, build robots, and make stop motion animation cartoons. He wants to hike, camp, learn to use a knife, learn to whittle, and go fishing regularly. He wants to write a book with drawings and other information about the fish he catches. He wants to play board games and math games and do more puzzles. He wants to play video games, learn to do magic tricks, and learn how to make balloon animals. He wants to keep learning karate, go swimming more often, learn rock climbing, and maybe take a gymnastics class. He wants to try Boy Scouts. He wants to learn to read. He wants to do science with hands on learning every day. He wants to practice drawing and get better at it. He never wants another history lesson again. He wants to use a telescope and a microscope. Maybe I should just say here's a few non negotiables and let him plan a project each/week and devote my creative energy to supporting that. He doesn't care if handwriting, reading practice, spelling are fun or not. He's fine doing math worksheets.
  8. Our reading program is more of a hybrid. There's levels based on ages and it has activities to do, some from the last couple years included star gazing, reading comic strips, finger painting, observing and drawing bugs, attending a library program, making a Rube Goldberg machine, designing your own super hero and write about him or draw him/her etc, and logging a certain amount of reading time. Prizes were stickers for each completed section, a book at the end, and a coupon for a free frozen yogurt. I think there were drawings for a few big ticket prizes. I liked it. My kids really had fun with the suggested activitiesComplaints I heard from other parents were annoyance at needing to be involved and that it felt like parent homework.
  9. No PETA's ad did not air on TV during the Super Bowl or ever. It was rejected by NBC. It is a web only commercial. I assume that they deliberately make racy ads that they know will be rejected so they can get press and page views for their ads for their ads. This is not the first ad from PETA that NBC rejected.
  10. We camped in Leadville last summer and it was wonderful, but cold at night. It was August and, I think, around 40 at night. Estes/Rocky Mountain is fun. Touristy in summer, but if you avoid the Estes main area it's not that bad. Go up highway 36 if you do that. Highway 34 will be under construction this summer. Lots of good hiking in the Park. I haven't made it to Steambot yet, but every one I know locally who camps there goes back every year.
  11. I am not, but we all have our things. Those "we ate all your Halloween candy" videos bug me. :) I think some of those photos are kids being fine with it up until the moment they realize mom or dad isn't there or they get spooked by all the unknown people looking at them or something. Those store photographers take photos quickly and usually the parent is right there to grab them. OT, but I wish I had a video of the only time my son went to see Santa. He was somewhat into it, but got uncomfortable with sitting on Santa's lap or getting a hug from him so he decided he would stand a foot away from Santa and shake his hand while saying, "I mailed you a letter, did you get it? I do not want to sit on your lap and I do not want a hug. Thanks for bringing gifts to kids. Bye" Then he just walked back to us and said, "OK, I'm done. We don't have to do this again."
  12. One set of great grandparents were farmers. My great grandfather was an accountant. Not sure about my mom's grandparents. None of my grandparents farmed. My husband's mother grew up on a farm, but really the food they grew to eat came her mother's massive garden-not the farming. That was for income.
  13. I should add that my husband does local haul. He hauls crude oil from wells to refineries. He works very long hours, but is home most nights now. :). We're very happy he's not over the road at this point in our life. Thanks for the kind words. They mean a lot.
  14. Pics, funny things my kids say, exciting/happy/fun/sweet things that have happened or that I'm doing/going to do, links to really good articles or fun or interesting happening locally, wishing people a happy birthday, sometimes little daily stuff like being able to go to Target alone or something. Chat type stuff.
  15. Hmm. My husband is blue collar. He's a trucker and people will not let you forget that that is a crappy, less than job. As in people saying to you, " Well, I homeschool so my son doesn't up driving a truck." Or, " Has he considered just getting a better job?" "Yeah,my husband has a job where he actually has to work. Not just get to drive all around all day." Or a snotty post on that Mt. Hope homeschool blog about how hilarious it was to go to a Christmas party filled with truckers. So I can confidently say we are a blue collar or low class family in terms of perception. I think the only truly difficult thing is juggling financial and emotional resources to get the things we need. I put together most our curriculum to save money, but that takes a lot of time. I'm hoping to buy a math curriculum soon. I also think juggling resources is something I'd do anyway since my youngest would need daycare and my son after school care. A group is an interesting thought. But so often advice on homeschooling on a low income comes from people/blogs linking MEP and Ambleside even they've never used it and their curriculum retails for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. It's not in the trenches advice which is hard to find because the people deep in trenches are busy.
  16. We've only had cellphones for the past 10 years or so. I misplace mine frequently. My DS once suggested that it would be great if phones could be permanently attached a charging cord so I didn't have to look for mine. The only place he's seen a phone with a cord is at a museum that had a small communications display! That was after he had his idea and he was fascinated. He was a little surprised to learn that when mommy was a girl people didn't take their phones away from their house.
  17. Yes and no. I love Christmas. This year has been a not so great one, but I really want a nice day. We'll be having Christmas Day with the kids and my parents tomorrow due DH's work schedule. Our traditions are fairly simple, put up a tree, decorate(my kids enjoy doing it), see Christmas lights, listen to music, read books, decorate a gingerbread house, watch Christmas specials/moviesand play board games on Christmas Eve that are part of our Christmas Eve box. Oh, and my birthday is 4 days before Christmas. I get a pamper day and red velvet cake. DH does about 50% of the shopping. This year he and the kids decorated while I was out of town attending my Grandpa's funeral. My parents live downstairs and my in laws are 15 minutes away, so hosting is fairly easy. My parents usually spend whatever day we actually celebrate with us and we have a family Christmas with MIL, FIL, BIL, and whoever BIL is dating a couple days before/after. I adore Christmas and plan to do things I want to do or want to share with my family. I am not Martha Stewart or even a little bit Type A, so I don't care how the decorations look as long as the kids like them. Nothing we do will ever show up on Pinterest, but we have fun. Also, due to most of our friends having extended family close by we don't have much in the way of social obligations. That said....I am guessing things will get more hectic as the kids get older. Thankfully, it's easy to have a little simple joy right now.
  18. My son is 6 and he figured it out. He'd been putting out feelers, making comments, asking questions that I could answer with," What do you think?" Finally, he asked point blank and I told him. He got very quiet and sadly asked to change the subject. He barely talked about Santa until Christmas Eve. Then he was all gung ho about tracking Santa, leaving out cookies, and getting my to bed so Santa could come. I have no idea if I should play along or not. He's had a tough year for a 6 year old-new house, death of a great grandparent, major health issues for both grandfathers have left them unable to be his buddy in the same way they used to, a close friend moved away, and he had a neighborhood bully to deal with. I kind of want to just let him play pretend....
  19. I know a few people who have taken kids there. I've never been, but apparently some of the hotels have amusement parks, the Hoover Dam, the M&M factory, the hotel shows(fountains and a volcano), a water park, the cost vs. Disney cost, and that most hotels have nice pools that are usable longer than swim season in CO, KS, or WY makes it an option. Again, I have never been to Las Vegas. No idea if I'd take kids or if it's a good idea for my family.
  20. In my family the kid would get a comment along the lines, "Hey, that's not a very kind thing to say." or, "You are supposed to say thank you for a gift." Then we'd continue on. There would possibly be a conversation later since we don't operate on the premise that people get to dictate what gifts are acceptable. In our family a list is merely a guideline, but you may get things that aren't on it and you likely won't get everything. Frankly, saying no clothes might mean a kid ended up with clothes because it's not OK(in our family culture) to demand a certain type of gift or declare certain things off limits. We try to get things our kids will like or could use, but we've made a few mistakes too.
  21. My husband has a 15 hour shift today and every day until Monday. Which is when we are having Christmas Day.
  22. My in laws lived with us for a time in our previous home. We had to share kitchen and laundry and that was harder. My FIL frequently re arranged my kitchen, got mad at me because he doesn't like clutter and I don't care about it, made fun of me for sleeping late(at the time I had a toddler who didn't sleep much), and was annoyed when my MIL baby sat-the arrangement was supposed to be that they paid no rent or utilities, but MIL babysat 2 -3 times a week. It pissed him off and he complained to and about me. It would take a lot of discussion to live with them again.
  23. We are doing that now. We bought a home with my parents with a walkout basement. The upstairs is a 3 bed/2 bath with a kitchen, living room, and laundry room. The downstairs is a 2 bed/1bath with a kitchen, living room, laundry area, and useless wood shop which we'll probably eventually convert to a den. We share a 2 car garage, a covered back deck, and a fenced yard. So far, so good to OK. My dad has early onset Alzheimer's and being around more people makes him happier. Also, he adores having a dog again, but my mom is relieved they aren't responsible for the care. It helps my mom in the she's not the only caretaker and able to have other people to talk to. I manage my parent's finances and paperwork so it does make things less hectic than driving over to see them. They previously lived 30 minutes away. I'm also their POA. It benefits us financially, our expenses went down and we are able to sell our previous home at a profit. I think having what are essentially two 2,100 square feet apartments makes it easier. My mom prefers to have her own kitchen and laundry. We had to downsize to move and I miss having a dedicated school/play room. OTOH, this house has a much better kitchen, laundry, bathrooms, windows, a nicer back yard, it doesn't need thousands of dollars in improvements, and our expenses have gone down over 60%. There's an attached 10x10 shed we ma eventually turn into kid space.
  24. There's close to a foot of snow here and ice under that, but no scorpions so I'm just going to stay put. Yikes!!
  25. Hahahaha! No. DH is a truck driver/oilfield worker. We've been lucky when companies/employers treat him like an actual human being.
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