Orange County The IT Crowd

Here's an inexpensive idea: Get a pack of your very favorite ink pens (I love the Pilot Precise) and open the pack and tie a pretty ribbon around each one.

I want to do a middle school level general science course with my 7th grader next year (not sure what that will be), and I would love to be able to teach a similar course with my 5th grader simultaneously. Does anyone have suggestions on what I could use? Thanks!!

My sweet middle school age girl is having such a hard time with friendships. She is a sweet, kind, adorable girl. She knows lots of people but it seems that in any friendship circle that she is the odd one out. Today she found out that she was left out of yet another birthday party of what she considered a good friend. She is just being crushed under the weight of not knowing why friends are so wishy-washy. She longs for a fun friend that she can count on. Just last weekend she invited someone over but they couldn't come because they were having a birthday party (different friend than the one this week). So my question is this: How do we identify what is wrong with us that is keeping her (and her younger sibling) from good, strong friendships? We invite her friends over but it is rarely reciprocated. Sometimes friends just ditch her altogether. We are left out of group things, no matter what the group, either co-op or local friends. For some reason I can't figure out, we are not accepted by people. Oh, we can small talk and everyone seems so well-intentioned and friendly on the surface, but it never goes any farther than that. One more thing: when did it become NOT rude to talk about the fun things you did with other friends to someone who was not included? I can't remember that happening when I was growing up. It was considered rude to talk about a party or sleepover, etc, to someone that was not invited. I have been so hurt in the last few years by moms bragging about things they did with others that I was left out of, and the same thing happens to my children. If you have lots of friends and feel included in their fun as well, can you pass on words of wisdom that might help us to correct what we are doing wrong? Any advice would be appreciated.

Daisy, We are currently going through issues with our yg as well. This is for our 6th grade dd. We have approached the yp with our concerns and are blown off as the overbearing homeschool parents. It seems to dh and myself that there are a myriad of activities and fun for the kids that are either seeking or very new to Christianity. There is nothing right now for kids that are a little further along in their walk and need more "meat." Dh and I feel that the Sunday morning "talks" are geared toward people that have been living outside of Christ. Yes, I know that the church is supposed to reach out and bring others to Christ, but I have a big problem with the way the YP either dumbs down the message or makes the message so "relevant" that it is no longer relevant to a Christian.

Growing up, my family got into a bad habit of being critical of my mom. She was such an easy target because things would seem to happen to her or she would do things that just begged for a joke or a snide comment. I say it was a habit because we didn't do that to other people, just her. She put up with it for years, then one day she just said enough was enough. After that, when we would say something critical or make jokes about her, she would say that it was hurtful, and sometimes she would walk out of the room. My mom was very calm and didn't get angry, didn't lecture, but her taking her presence from us was somehow enough for us to realize we were hurting her. After she did that for a while, we really began to filter our comments and respect her more. The good thing was that my dad really changed and became more protective of her. We are still able to laugh at the dumb things we do, but we are more careful about taking it too far.

Someone on my FB posted pictures of a 6th grade PROM that the local middle school had recently. There were 11 and 12 year old girls in skimpy formal dresses and full makeup, updos, etc. The pictures were disturbing to me because these girls are so young.

Dh wanted to buy me a new laptop, but I decided that I needed to spend less time on the computer, not more. So...I decided to upgrade things like cookware, casserole dishes, etc. We are even starting to slowly replace our knives with Wustof knives. I am replacing my pyrex casserole dishes that I've had for 18 years with Emile Henry casserole dishes.

"Vince Guaraldi Trio (Holiday)" station. You MUST try it, you'll love it!!!

I am somewhere on that fine line between introvert and unsocial. I am a friendly person but it completely wears me out to be in a smalltalk situation for very long. I also don't want to make friends that are very social, because they don't seem to "get" me. I don't care about most things that people small talk about anyway. I am so fortunate that I have a group of a few friends, all homeschool moms, that are extremely forgiving of my introverted personality. I've known these women for years, some of them my whole life, and they are absolute treasures to me. I could cry thinking about it. BUT, I have let go of many potential friends because they were too pushy or wanted to be surrounded by lots of people and needed tons of interaction to stay friends. I can't and won't do that. I love my very un-needy and easy to please friends. I also have resigned to the fact that I take a very long time to say someone is my "friend". The times that I have made a friend really quickly, it has backfired. BTW, I love your blog, and I love reading your posts. I feel like we are kindred spirits!

Yes, one of my children would craft 24/7 if I'd let her. I do planned crafts with my dc, but I also give them SOME free time to craft however they please. It does get out of hand at times, but most of the time it is manageable. I love that they want to do crafts and be creative, so I don't want to completely squelch their interest. But, I also don't enjoy swimming in a sea of paper scraps, wiggle eyes, and pom-poms. I would reign it in, but still give them free craft time too.

That song (Tonight I Celebrate My Love) really grosses me out. :tongue_smilie: My Sharona is another terrible song! Ooh my little pretty one, pretty one. When you gonna give me some time, Sharona? Ooh you make my motor run, my motor run. Gun it comin' off the line Sharona Never gonna stop, give it up. Such a dirty mind. Always get it up for the touch of the younger kind. My my my i yi woo. M M M My Sharona... Come a little closer huh, ah will ya huh. Close enough to look in my eyes, Sharona. Keeping it a mystery gets to me Running down the length of my thighs, Sharona Never gonna stop, give it up. Such a dirty mind. Always get it up for the touch of the younger kind. My my my i yi woo. M M M My Sharona... When you gonna give it to me, give it to me. It is just a matter of time Sharona Is it just destiny, destiny? Or is it just a game in my mind, Sharona? Never gonna stop, give it up. Such a dirty mind. Always get it up for the touch of the younger kind. My my my i yi woo. M M M My Sharona

That's the one I was asking about this morning!!! I saw an ad on TV and could not remember the name. Thanks!!

I saw a commerical this morning for a new board game. I cannot for the life of me remember the name, and I have searched online with no results. Each person draws something, then they pass the drawing to the person next to them and they write down what they think it is. Something like that. I think it started with an "S" like scribble or something. The announcer said it was "Hasbro" but it looked like it had the Cranium logo on the box.

I want some oatmeal right now!

FYI there is a yacht rock channel on Pandora.

My dh was an only child and his parents were divorced when he was around 10 years old. His dad remarried, and then about 10 years after he remarried, he passed away. He didn't leave dh (who was 21 years old at the time) a single dime. He left everything to his second wife, she sold the house and land, spent all their money, and then moved out of state to where HER 30 year old son lived. BUT....God is good. Since his dad had been married to his mom for over 25 years, and his mom never remarried, SHE got his social security. And he made pretty good money, so she has that money to help take care of her needs. It was such a blessing, and we love knowing that although he was a deadbeat dad and a horrible husband to my MIL, he is taking care of her now! And we couldn't give a rip about how his stepmom is faring, she skipped town and never came back. Gold digger!!!

When I taught school I was sick very often. But I was public schooled all the way, and I was sick alot while growing up. So apparently I didn't build up all that great of an immunity if I got sick while teaching as an adult. We attend church every Sunday. Talk about a germ pit! My dh and I help out in the children's church, and so many of those kids are just GROSS! There are plenty of germs for my kids to pick up at church every week. ((shudder!))

Nakia this brought tears to my eyes! When I explain heaven to my children, this is the same way that I describe it. I don't know exactly how it will be, but for right now we just imagine the most fun, happy things that we love to do, and that is the way we imagine heaven. And I have hope that my sweet dog will be there. If not, I know that I'll never even realize it but for now I want to believe it. As for the OP, that girl was rude. Obviously her parents have not taught her tact. Even at a young age you can teach your children that it's not polite to say certain things. I know, I know, we all believe differently and we all have our rights, yes, yes, blah blah blah, but our words can be hurtful and we need to teach our children when it is appropriate to stand up for our beliefs and when it would be best to keep our mouth shut.

Loved this movie! Cried happy tears.

"Australia" by The Shins "Return to Innocence" by Enigma

I love TT, we did the Revolutionary War last year, now we are doing the Early 19th century. Here is what I did: I made several different folders on the computer, they were: White Paper, White Cardstock, Yellow Cardstock, Blue Cardstock, Green Cardstock, Off-White Paper, and Orange Cardstock. All of the Lesson Text Pages and the Project Pages (that has a list of all projects for the 5 lessons, instructions, extra projects) went into the white paper folder. The Timeline went into the Orange folder. The 3 types of vocabulary cards went into the blue, green, or yellow cardstock folder. Finally, I went through each minibook and decided whether it needed cardstock or plain paper or both. For the game I just looked at what was recommended and put each part of the game where it needed to be. The timeline figures went into the white paper folder. The newspaper went into the off-white folder. Dh put the files onto a memory card and I took it to Kinko's and they printed it all out for me. Yes, it cost around 28.00, but it is SO worth it! The last time I just printed it out as we went, and it was such a pain in the neck! I came home and sorted everything by lesson, 3-hole punched it all, and put it all in a binder. I will still have to do some tweaking. For instance, the vocab cards really need to be printed on both sides, but I had two separate pages. So I just ran the front side through my printer and printed the definitions on the back. It would have cost so much more in ink for my injet printer than to let Kinko's do it. I would love it if she would organize all the files into separate folders that are labeled with the type and color of paper, so that we could just take it to Kinko's and print it out. I haven't decided what to do about the transparencies yet. Oh! I also wanted to add that I did not print out every single page on the disc. I did not print any of the handwriting, only the one page that had all of the sentences together. I didn't print out any of the "teacher keys" for the timeline---they are not necessary. And for the vocab cards, I just chose one type (there are a few options) and did not print all the different types.

Joanne, I am also weary of those type of things you listed, and I could probably add a few more that are specific to my life. I grew up with a religion that, for me, was spiritual abuse. It has taken me years and years to begin to shake those things out of my system. I am so grateful that for some reason God showed me the way out of that and has brought me to a place where I can experience his grace. So whenever I hear legalistic talk, I start to shudder and tic. I know that it is a bottomless pit. A person can become so legalistic and rigid that they don't agree with anyone but themselves. We are in a church that I feel is not perfect, but the general attitude is one of grace and mercy and love. I also am increasingly becoming a person that doesn't place value on what people think of me. God and I have worked it out. I told Him that He is enough, even if I never fit in with the general Christian crowd. On a lighter note, I told my dh that I would love to find a church that was just like the one in "Lars and the Real Girl". They put aside their uncomfortable feelings for the sake of Lars and it made their own lives better too. I would love to find a place where people are willing to do what they did.

One time my mom answered the phone and thought it was my dad, because it sounded just like him. (Before caller ID). The person on the other end asked to speak to my dad, but since my mom thought it WAS my dad, she thought he was just being playful. So she says to him, "Oh he doesn't live here anymore." The man was confused, and asked a few more questions, to which my mom made up some elaborate story (still thinking it was my dad). Finally, the man said, "Well, it's strange because I wanted him to do some work for me {my dad is a contractor} and this is the number he gave me." My mom realized that it truly was not my dad, and of course she was mortified that she had carried on with him like that! She explained the mistake but it was embarrassing! :lol: :lol:

My sweet little niece had her 5th birthday party at the local skate center. Oh.my.goodness. It was the nastiest, most disgusting place I've been in a good while. We had to go there about a year ago for a party and it was gross then too. I would not have attended it if it had not been a family member. The carpet was beyond disgusting. There were stains everywhere. The skate floor had a crack in it that radiated from the middle of the floor to the edge, like there had been a small earthquake. You could skate over it but who wants to skate over a crack in the floor every time they go around? The most annoying part was that there was NO AIR CONDITIONING! As a matter of fact, when we had to go there a year ago, there was no a/c that day either. It smelled bad, but I'm sure that goes without saying. So now I'm wondering....why is it that restaurants have to be inspected but a place like this can be just unbelieveably disgusting and get away with it? I feel like the Health Department should be called in. Does anyone know if there are laws concerning proper heat and a/c, clean facilities, etc. for businesses? I really want to contact someone about it but I'm not sure where to start.