{{Hornblower}} I am so sorry. Praying for you and your family!

The squirrels near us are not particularly destructive. Yeah, they have been known to get into the attic or walls of a not very well maintained house or two, or steal an occasional tomato from my vegetable garden (usually the one that I was "giving one more day") They do love to taunt my dog with chatter and that waving of their fluffy tail ... it's like they're saying "nana nana boo boo. You can't catch me." Which gets my pup every single time. Rabbits ... those adorable little fluff balls ... they are the destructive ones. We can't have ay decorative annuals because the rabbits eat them. Bulbs? The bunnies get them. They managed to get through the rabbit fencing and eat all the foliage of my veggie plants. Good thing having a dog keeps them at bay. Chipmunks are very destructive IMHO. They have ruined patio furniture and umbrellas. Back to the topic at hand ... I appreciate this discussion very much. Yeah, I got my feathers ruffled a tad, but I realize how valuable this information can be. I love the variety of opinions on this board. I have learned so much from people who are not like exactly like me and who have varied experiences. I'm off to review some of the materials presented here so I don't come off like an Ugly American when I go to visit my daughter in Spain in 2 months. Oh, and the white sneaker thing is very fashionable in Spain right now. We have friends who recently moved from the Midwest to Barcelona and asked them for advice on helping dd pack for her study abroad experience - 1 suitcase, 1 backpack, and 1 carry on bag for 5 months. They told her to get some Adidas white leather sneakers ... that for the bulk and weight, they would be a very versatile shoe. So far they were spot on. Everyone has them. Now for me, if I want to walk more than a block, I need my motion-stabilizing running shoes with my custom orthotics. Do I attempt to look more fashionable and be very limited in how much walking I do, or do I stand out and wear these? I have experimented with dozens of shoes and really, no matter how good a "walking shoe" it is supposed to be, my underperforming posterior tibial tendon will be screaming in pain.

My semester starts next Tuesday. I have 14 credit hours and 24 hours of clinicals. Haven't figured out when I will have time to study. I'm super excited and also terrified. I feel like I got really rusty on this 5-week break.

Continuing to pray for you and your family. I can't imagine the pain and stress for you!

I don't have anything to add, but I'm praying for you and your darling little one.

But you have to be visible to ask people to take a picture.😁 "Excuse me. Can you please take a picture for me? Excuse me. Umm ... Excuse me? Hello! I'm standing here." I am not a quiet voiced person, but I truly feel invisible most days.

🤣🤣That was hilarious!! Not many of those in real life. I used to have a large circle of friends, but when homeschooling ended and K got sick, I became invisible to most of those people. I became a "once a month or less" friend. After my life blew up and I was working on trying to build new friendships and tried to find people who wanted to do some regular activities with me, I was told on more than one occasion that they could really only commit to lunch with me once a month. Couldn't find anyone who wanted to walk or work out or just come over for a cup of tea. But that seems to imply that you have to have this louder, more noticeable personality to be "spreading joy." As an introvert, "being bubbly" is like putting on the extrovert suit. It can be very heavy to wear on top of the daily grind. It's like all those times that I was told that "being shy" was being selfish. Another example of how extroverts are valued more than introverts. It's not that I don't want to be photographed. I'd love to capture important moments. However, if that is to happen, I have to be the one taking the picture. And my selfie game isn't good enough to have me in the picture. My daughter is the only person on the planet who wants to take pictures with me. So, there are very few pics of me that aren't my poor attempt at a selfie (or selfies with dd.) That is what I want ... but nobody but me cares to capture those moments with me. I have lots of pics of these events, but I'm not in any of them. This thread for me is about invisibility in almost all aspects. I don't have anything to offer the homeschooling community, friendships have faltered, family relationships have unraveled. It isn't necessarily about attractiveness, but about mattering at all. I never wanted for male attention from my college years on, but it usually wasn't the "I want to f*(k you" attention, but "you're fun. who's your friend?" attention. Maybe its that I wore my impossible curly hair in chic short hairstyles and men seemed to like longer hair. My daughter gets lots of attention (must be her beauty and her long curly locks). But she can wear the resting b!T(# face that many find intimidating. I've noticed this invisibility probably since my mid-40s. One time, a friend and I were out for our daily fitness walk and we heard some young men in a car calling out something. My friend (who is 6 years older than me) commented on how "we still got it!" I laughed and pointed out the young slender runners who coming up behind us. If they noticed us, it would have been our funny looking nordic poles. I notice it in shops ... the young guys, young women, and even older men get help from the sales staff and I'd walking right up to them and they act like I'm not there. I once said very loudly "Me and my wallet are right here." At the climbing gym, the invisibility situation got pretty bad. I was there 3 days a week and had trouble finding climbing partners when many of my regular partners were injured or traveling. Someone I knew who was already paired up would introduce me to someone else and we'd climb. The very next time I came into the gym, I'd say hello and ask if they wanted to a catch and be COMPLETELY IGNORED. I looked around, pinched myself and tried again and was again ignored. The guy passed right by me as if I wasn't there. The following week, it was a younger woman. I tried their meetup nights to find new partners. Someone would approach me from the back and when I turned around, they would suddenly remember that their "friend was able to make it after all." Between this and all the people treating me like a newbie is what ended this hobby for me ... it's sad because it is my very favorite form of exercise ... the only thing I can truly lose myself into. Fortunately, getting into the sonography program has changed my life. My class is a really supportive group of mostly younger women in their 20s (with one man and a few of us over 40.) I never feel like an outsider with them. That and the academic challenge have made a huge difference in my life. I look forward to a career that is engrossing mentally, physically, and emotionally.

I'd love to see that in one of your books!!

Well, baby girl is at the airport and waiting to board her flight. I ended up putting both cucharada/cucharadita and the metric volume measurement on the advice of my friend who lived in Spain. I thought about the maple syrup, but it really isn't representative of the Midwest. Plus, that would have put her suitcase overweight. She had to take things out to get it under 50 lbs.

Thanks. That is what my friend who is married to a man from Barcelona recommended (I had totally forgotten that she lived in Spain for many years.)

Anyone around to answer ... For dry ingredients like salt and sugar, would you use ml or grams in Spain?

Fantastic. Thanks so much.

DD is leaving tomorrow for her study abroad experience in Spain. We are sending her with some gifts for the host family, one being my husband's famous chili recipe with some of the spices, and a homemade cornbread mix. I used google translate on the recipes, but I need someone to check the translation. My Spanish isn't good enough to see if there are any glaring errors. Cornbread 1 cup cornmeal 1 cup whole wheat flour ½ tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda 2 tbsp melted butter 2 tbsp honey, maple syrup, molasses or brown sugar 2 eggs 1 cup buttermilk. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place 10” cast iron skillet in oven while preheating. Combine dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. In another bowl, combine liquid ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Lightly butter the cast iron skillet and pour batter into it. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. (If not using a cast iron skillet, use a lightly buttered 8” square baking pan but don’t heat it in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.) Pan de Maíz 1 taza de harina de maíz (145 g) 1 taza de harina de trigo integral (130 g) ½ cucharadita de sal 1 cucharadita de polvo de hornear ½ cucharadita de bicarbonato de sodio 2 cucharadas de mantequilla derretida 2 cucharadas de miel, jarabe de arce, melaza o azúcar morena 2 huevos 1 taza de suero de leche o yogurt. Precaliente el horno a 400 grados. Coloque una sartén de hierro fundido de 10 "en el horno mientras precalienta. Combina los ingredientes secos en un tazón mediano. En otro tazón, combine los ingredientes líquidos. Vierta los ingredientes húmedos en los ingredientes secos y mezcle hasta que estén combinados. Engrase ligeramente la sartén de hierro fundido y vierta la masa en ella. Hornee por unos 15-20 minutos. (Si no usa una sartén de hierro fundido, use una bandeja para hornear cuadrada de 8 "ligeramente untada con mantequilla, pero no la caliente en el horno. Hornee por 20 minutos). Greg’s Awesome Chili · 1 lb. ground beef (or ½ lb. gr. Beef and ½ lb. gr. turkey) · 1 tsp. oil · 1 onion – finely chopped · 1 cup celery – chopped · 1 green pepper – chopped · 4 cloves garlic – pressed or finely chopped · 1 can diced green chilies (mild) – 4 oz. · 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes · 2 tsp. salt · 1 tsp. sugar · 2 tbsp. Penzey’s Chili 9000 chili powder (or any 1.5 tbsp. chili powder and ½ tsp. oregano and ½ tsp. cocoa powder.) · 1 can red kidney beans – drained · Tabasco sauce to taste Brown the ground beef and drain. Saute onion, celery and green pepper in oil until softened. Add garlic and stir for about a minute. (If you like your chili smooth, not chunky, you can puree these veggies with the can of diced tomatoes in a blender.) Add the beef back into the pot with the veggies. Add in the rest of the ingredients except for the beans. Simmer for about an hour or more. Add drained kidney beans and continue on low until beans are heated through (about 15 minutes.) Add Tabasco sauce to taste (we like about 4 drops.) Serve with corn bread. El impresionante chile de Greg • 1 lb. de carne molida (o ½ lb. gr. De carne de res y ½ lb. gr. De pavo) • 1 cucharadita. petróleo • 1 cebolla - finamente picada • 1 taza de apio picado • 1 pimiento verde picado • 4 dientes de ajo - prensados o finamente picados • 1 lata de chiles verdes picados (suaves) - 4 oz. • 1 28 oz. puede tomates cortados en cubitos • 2 cucharaditas. sal • 1 cucharadita. azúcar • 2 cucharadas. Penzey’s Chili 9000 chile en polvo (o cualquier 1.5 cucharadas de chile en polvo y ½ cucharadita de orégano y ½ cucharadita de cacao en polvo). • 1 lata de frijoles rojos - escurridos • Salsa Tabasco al gusto Dorar la carne molida y escurrir. Saltee la cebolla, el apio y el pimiento verde en aceite hasta que se ablanden. Agregue el ajo y revuelva durante aproximadamente un minuto. (Si le gusta que su chile sea suave, no grueso, puede hacer puré estas verduras con la lata de tomates cortados en cubitos en una licuadora). Agregue la carne nuevamente a la olla con las verduras. Agregue el resto de los ingredientes, excepto los frijoles. Cocine a fuego lento durante aproximadamente una hora o más. Agregue los frijoles escurridos y continúe a fuego lento hasta que los frijoles se calienten (aproximadamente 15 minutos). Agregue la salsa Tabasco al gusto (nos gustan unas 4 gotas). Sirva con pan de maíz.

Now comes the task of translating the recipes into Spanish with metric measurements.

We decided to pack a homemade cornbread mix where they would only add the milk (or buttermilk), eggs, and fat.