Jump to content

Menu

Okra

Members
  • Posts

    989
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Okra

  1. I would assume that all family that lives there would be automatically invited to eat in this situation.
  2. I have been frustrated with my dishwasher for many reasons. One thing that my husband read in the manual is that if your hot water heater is far away from your dishwasher (like ours is) then they recommend running the hot water in your sink (until it was very hot) then running the dishwasher. This helped things somewhat, you might try it.
  3. Chickpea and noodle soup Very tasty soup, that my children will eat also. Saute some garlic in a bit of oil. Pour in one box of Chicken broth, and boil 1/2 cup of noodles in the broth. Add one can of drained chickpeas. Easy to make, Children like to eat Hummus is also a very good idea. You can find recipes online.
  4. I think that the region is important. Canadian gardening will be so incredibly different than gardening in the south of the US. I would recommend going to Garden Web, clicking on the gardening forums. They have a special forum dedicated to Canadian gardening. I'm sure you will find lots of people who know much about Canadian gardening there.
  5. I also pumped exclusively for my last child. I had not even considered the baby not nursing well, as well I KNEW how to breastfeed babies. But, it didn't work for this baby. I exclusively pumped and fed through a bottle for nine months. I would try to give up the modesty and pump and school at the same time. I see you have a 13 year old, so this may not work in all situations. Maybe you could school the little ones and pump at the same time. Do you know how to pump with one hand? If you are right-handed you hold the right bottle with your left hand, and you hold the left bottle with your left fore-arm. You then have your right hand free to do other things. When I was exclusively pumping I learned how to no-hands pump, you might give it a try. It is a little weird, but when you are busy and need your hands then it works great. You can get a pillow or two, and something rubberish, like the back of a mousepad. After everything is started and the suction is going, then you can carefully position the bottles so they won't slip, then let go. This works great if you are typing on the computer. Also, I raised my milk supply by pumping, and I wanted to let you know how I did it. Basically, if you pump until the milk stops flowing that's good, but it will never tell you body to make more milk because your body thinks that is enough. You can have a second let-down, and if you pump until that happens then you let your body know you need more milk. Time it because it seems like it takes FOREVER, and won't happen, but for me, it took five minutes exactly. Sometimes it seemed like such a little amount of milk, maybe a 1/16 of an ounce, it seemed worthless. But the important thing is not how much milk you get with a second let-down, but the fact that you are signaling your body to make more milk. Hugs to you because I know how hard this is, and homeschooling makes it so much harder. Think positive! Don't beat yourself up, eventually I was able to look positively at the formula because without it, my baby would not have had enough milk. Keep strong, and good luck!
  6. Thank you for taking the time to post your updates. I appreciate them.
  7. I got two kittens that were very young (one weighed less than 1 1/2 pounds!) They were from different litters. They cuddle and bathe one another just like they were litter-mates. So, maybe you could get a tiny Bengal and another tiny kitten and they would bond if they are young enough. My previous pair of cats that passed away were about a nine months old when I got them. They got along pretty well, but they never ever cuddled or bathed each other. Okra
  8. I missed your first post, but I thought I would tell you about us. I had a baby that had a hard time gaining weight. I had never given formula to my two previous babies, it was a foreign concept to me. We struggled and struggled, I went to two different lactation consultants. When I decided to supplement with formula, it was the best decision we ever made. It was in the best interests of my baby. She wasn't getting what she needed by nursing alone. We didn't give up on nursing. It was a LONG HAUL. But, when she was really tiny and she wasn't getting enough nutrition through breastfeeding, many times I would pump and give her breastmilk through a bottle. It was easier for her to get out, and I got to see exactly how much she drank. Sometimes she only drank one ounce at a time. But, for this child, who really struggled with nursing, the bottle was the very best thing. Good luck, I know how tired you must be. Pumping, nursing, and all the emotional stuff that is there is hard work. Good luck. It will get easier.
  9. I wouldn't move two well-adjusted teens for a house. To me, if I moved and it didn't work well, it would be devastating. I wouldn't take a chance.
  10. We love our bottom freezer! We have one with the big deli drawer in the bottom of the fridge, and we love that too. I keep all the kids' snacks in it....so the snacks don't get lost all over the fridge, and the kids can just open up the fridge, open the drawer and get a healthy snack. The double drawer on the bottom is very nice. My husband, who is very energy efficient pointed out that some of the bottom freezers have just baskets that you pull out of the freezer, not drawers, and you would lose a lot of energy because the freezer would have to work harder to cool itself down after it lost its coldness. I would not get the ice and water in the door because it comes out the refrigerator part, and it would not give me enough room in the refrigerator if we had it. Just the ice maker in the freezer is great for us. We will never go back to a top freezer!
  11. I do not think that a teen would be a good fit for Wii Fit. While I have it and I do like it, I think that a teen boy would not be interested in it for that long. I don't think most teen boys are interested in the Yoga part, the strength training I personally think that a teen boy would only do about half of them. The balance games are very fun, though they are not really exercise. So, that leaves Hula Hooping, Rhythm Stepping, Boxing, and Running. Though, if you do purchase Wii Fit, I think you should purchase Wii Fit Plus, as it adds many more options to your Wii Fit. I think you should look into Outdoor challenge. We do not have this, but it seems as if a teen boy might be interested. It has positive reviews on Amazon. It does not work with the balance board, but it has a mat that is on the floor. I hesitated on buying this because I didn't know how the mat would attach to the Wii. If anyone else knows about Outdoor Challenge, I would be interested in hearing about it. Thanks
  12. I play the violin and I have some thoughts on this. Obviously, you have musical experience so that you already know how to read music, dynamics and so forth, right? If so, I think it might be possible with some expert advice every so often. Technique is very important in the violin. If a person is not holding the bow or violin correctly, then he or she will not be able to play the harder songs. It is very important to learn how to hold the bow correctly, it is not easy to re-learn how to hold a bow when the songs get harder. I would go and explain your situation to the music school. I would attend a lesson with your dd, and have the teacher re-explain exactly how to hold a violin and bow (so that you know) Everything is about practice. Just because a child takes lessons doesn't mean she is going to have good technique. It is about how much they put into it at home. Suzuki Book 1 takes a big jump in difficulty at the later end. The Bach minuets, The Happy Farmer, and Gavotte are much more difficult than the beginner songs. Actually, in Book 2 they take a step back and go back to some easier songs in the beginning. It might be a good idea to keep some lessons, (once a month?) Then you can get advice on the things you need, and teach her how to play notes, dynamics, rhythm yourself. With the bow it can be tricky. Sometimes you have to move the bow fast to get back towards the frog to play a long, slow note. Sometimes it is hard for beginners to know how to play piano without sounding whispery. The Happy Farmer song in Suzuki 1 can sound quite distressed even if a child does take lessons. If you attend the lessons with her, then you can learn what it takes and help her at home. Lessons are not the end all be all. A person has to take that knowledge and practice it. So, my advice is to attend a lesson with her once a month, and then help her at home yourself. Moms can be a huge resource if they have musical knowledge. Hope this helps
  13. This is a post that brought me out from lurking.... From this post, I see that most of the replies are from homeschooling families, not families that send their children to school and afterschool. I have children in PS and children that I homeschool. I see wonderful benefits in Public School, as well as the detriments. Just as I see benefits and detriments to homeschooling. I would say that many homeschooling moms that I am around do not see anything good about Public school, it seems if you talk to them all the kids are going to be drinking, or doing drugs, or do not have academic excellence. What I say is the bad makes news, and no one likes to talk about the good. (In regular real life news, as well as school) My oldest daughter is in public school. She is an excellent student, she has friends that if I could have hand picked, they would be the ones, and not mixed up in the bad stuff like drugs. She wants to go to public school. Being around her friends everyday is important to her. Many homeschooling moms say that school is not about the socializing, but school is about academics. While I believe academics is superbly important, I also think what makes a person happy in life is their social relationships with others, not how smart a person is. It IS important for my oldest to be around her friends everyday, it makes her happy. She maintains this happiness while making excellent grades. We also have a wonderful relationship between us. Other things I love about public school: They have an excellent arts program. All of my children in public school are better educated in all of the arts than my homeschooled children. I tend not to make it a priority in homeschool. They have an excellent music program. I like the fact that she can be in a top-quality music program. I do believe that they are good in the academics. There are things that I may do in a different way, and things that I add in, but overall I am happy with the academics of the school. I like that fact that I do not have to teach all of my children. I know this sounds unusual. But, I need a break sometimes! I really really do! Sometimes I feel that I am pulled in so many directions, that I am doing something for someone else all the time that I really need a few minutes for myself. Because I am not teaching all of my children, there are less people that need me. I am able to carve out 30 min. to an hour everyday that is just for ME! I need this. Without it I tend to eventually wear out and start yelling at everyone There are benefits and detriments to homeschooling too. I love that we can go off on rabbit trails and learn what we want too. We can take lots of time to learn one thing. I enjoy spending time with my children that homeschool (most of the time...) I enjoy learning things in history and science that I didn't learn in school. But, I am a little disorganized in my homeschooling. Sometimes it is too easy for me to let things that are hard for me to teach slide, (like science) Overall, I do not think that public schools are bad. With my children in public school I work with the school as a partnership. If my children aren't learning something to my expectations we learn it at home. At our house anytime the children want to go to public school they are welcome, and vice versa, the ones who who go to public school are welcome to come home and homeschool if they want.
×
×
  • Create New...