Jump to content

Menu

dirty ethel rackham

Members
  • Posts

    11,047
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    7

dirty ethel rackham last won the day on December 25 2021

dirty ethel rackham had the most liked content!

Reputation

13,733 Excellent

About dirty ethel rackham

  • Birthday 06/08/1963

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Female
  • Interests
    rock climbing, reading, board-lurking, reformed childbirth educator (as in I taught for 12 years and have finally stopped buying books on birth and breastfeeding), tea snob, going back to school to be an sonographer

Contact Methods

  • Biography
    wife to Greg, homeschooling mom to 3 great kids
  • Location
    western burbs of chi-town
  • Interests
    books, birth and rock climbing
  • Occupation
    Student - Diagnostic Medical Imaging Sonography

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. I used to. I had a couple home businesses and, with all the work I needed to do to be ready to turn something over to a tax preparer, it was easier to just do it myself, one paper at first, and then with the help of TurboTax. However, when dh "retired" from a job that has a pension, started working for a consulting firm with stock options and bonuses and other weird things, I decided that I just didn't have it in me to learn all these new things (and I was in school at the time and my brain was full. 😬) So we've hired someone ever since. ETA: My dad sat me down when I was a teen to have me do my taxes from my part-time jobs. Dh's dad was an accountant and had always done his. When we got married, I was appalled that he didn't know how to do his taxes. So, it became my job. If something weird came up, I had to learn about it and figure it out. Although we could have had his dad do ours, I just turned to him when I had questions, like "do I need to amortize this purchase or can I just claim it outright?"
  2. I've been here since 2000 or 2001 - lurking, sometimes posting. I was probably on here every day when I was still homeschooling. My oldest is 30 and my youngest is 23. I was Ellen in IL but switched to my "pirate name" when I was getting confused with another Ellen - I couldn't remember which were my posts. 😄 A huge thank you to @Susan Wise Bauer and to all the boardies for your support over the years!
  3. Sounds brilliant to me. Dh thought it was weird that I used my leftover homemade whole berry cranberry sauce as jelly for my toast.
  4. What is your current favorite podcast, blog, or person you follow? I follow a several sonography and radiology social media creators who have funny and informative content. Oh, and Nurse Blake is a hoot. But the podcast I listened to the most is Circle Up hosted by two rock climbers - one who we knew on the youth competitive circuit in our region who ended up going to the Olympics and the other is a Canadian climber who is a funny, real person. Oh, I forgot that I listen to Sleep Cove for sleep meditations to help interrupt the worry train that starts the minute my head hits the pillow. What was your favorite book last year- fiction and/or non-fiction? I don't get to read much for pleasure so I listen to audio books in the car. For fiction, I loved Sisters of the Night and Fog by Erika Robuck. For non-fiction, although I haven't finished it yet, I've been enjoying The Long, Steep Path by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I've loved most of her fiction. Favorite purchase last year: It's a toss-up between blinds for my living room (we went 20 years without any window coverings because I kept buying them and they didn't fit so I had Costco come out and do them) and a new duvet cover for our bed. I splurged rather than just getting what was on sale that was passable and I really like it. The colors make me happy. Best life hack Since I have to get up at O'dark thirty for work (and I struggle with sleep), I prep and lay out everything possible the night before - setting up my smoothie ingredients, filling my tea kettle, packing my lunch and work bag, laying out my clothes in order of putting them on since I have to do so in the dark, untying my shoes. It means I can be out the door in under 40 minutes. Biggest regret - this was a financial podcast so it was my biggest financial regret but I think it's best to open it up for interpretation. Not making friends. Not sure how I could have changed it, though. What did you do to make your life easier this year? Hired a professional organizer to help me deal with mountains of paper (as well as other clutter.) She helped us get all our important papers together and create a "file of life" so that if something happens to one or both of us, everything is easily accessible. The work is mentally and emotionally exhausting, but I feel lighter after every session. High point of last year Once in a lifetime trip to New Zealand. Oldest was there for a Fulbright fellowship and we got to travel to with him for 2 weeks, and we got to meet @lewelma in person and meet up with some acquaintances from the states who moved there. It was a whirlwind and I wish we could have stayed longer.
  5. Dd majored in civil engineering and it was about 50-50 for her cohort. It didn't start out that way, but dd recruited several other girls leaning toward engineering into civil. She was active in Society of Women Engineers and restarted the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers at her school, was president, and had a mostly female e-board. The firm she works for has a larger female percentage than the industry as a whole, but is still more men than women.
  6. Oh, I remember that, too. My dad had huge respect for Woody Hayes until that incident. I thought my dad was going to cry when he saw that.
  7. Brock Purdy is a quarterback. His role is to be cool under pressure and to avoid contact as much as possible. His whole front line is aggressively using force to protect him from the opponents aggressive use of force on him so that he can do his job. (BTW, I have seen plenty of QBs who are cool under pressure on the field who were absolute a$$holes off the field.) Travis Kelce is a tight end. His job is to block and to receive. Blocking requires lots of aggressive use of force to prevent the opponent from getting to the person with the ball. Receiving means being on the business end of lots of force. His job is to be fired up. I used to love the adrenaline rush of watching football. But knowing what I know about the lifelong impacts on the brains and bodies kind of dampened it for me. I've never been a fan of aggressive/demeaning coaching styles. But there are people for whom this rolls off them like water off a duck's back. The insults and aggressing are "noise." My dad and my 2 of my brothers and one sister seem to thrive in that environment. My other brother and I wilt in that environment. Growing up, we had a family culture where insults were "teasing" and "terms of endearment." With my children, I didn't encourage sports/activities with that kind of culture. Interestingly, 2 of my kids chose to study Karate which can have a harsh corrective style, which was hard for me to watch. Oh, and I meant to add that this isn't reserved for football. Bobby Knight throwing a chair at a player is forever imbedded into my brain.
  8. I can't believe after all these years that I've never taken a sorting quiz. I've read the books a few times. Today, I sorted into Hufflepuff. I feel like I'm very Hermione, though.
  9. I love my Chaco sandals (with no toe strap) for anything wet in warmer weather or if I need fast on and off. They are adjustable and last forever. I've had mine for nearly a decade. I was able to adjust the straps for my foot that changed shape after surgery. They have a molded footbed with some arch support and heel stability. I love my Abeo sandals for dressier needs. But, since I have some serious foot problems, for any longer distance walking I need my Brooks Ghost shoes with my custom orthotic insoles.
  10. It is my understanding that if she is a transit passenger, then she needs to remain in the transit area of the airport. Does she have her NZeTA? New Zealand Immigration Transit Passengers
  11. Thank you for sharing. Hugs to you. My mom has been gone for 14 years. In the past year, I've been working on decluttering and had come across some of my parents' things that I had packed away to be dealt with "later." It all came flooding back as if it were yesterday. It's like I had boxed up some of that grief and opened it anew. I was able to let some things go, but others could not be parted with.
  12. We installed a bidet toilet seat during the pandemic due to the TP shortage. We also buy the Kirkland paper.
  13. Funny that this thread was woken from the dead today ... I am working on a photo book of ds's year in NZ and he finally added some photos of some of his time there without us (specimen collecting trips, sightseeing with friends, Fulbright events.) I am hoping to finish it this week. And I'm making a separate book of our trip for dh for his upcoming birthday.
×
×
  • Create New...