Yes, this can be super-helpful. Breakfast buffets vary widely; knowing what to expect will really help folks manage their own needs.

PLEASE think about nutrition as you plan this meal. Pastry and donuts is in no way the kind of meal that will keep people at their best for the day's activities. The purpose of this meal is to nourish people's bodies in preparation for the day ahead of them. A breakfast of sugary carbs won't do that. Consider things like mini-quiches, peanut butter (on mini whole-grain bagels, perhaps), fresh fruit, hardboiled eggs, small non-sugary muffins with nuts, yogurt parfaits with greek yogurt and fresh fruit and nuts, small breakfast sandwiches or burritos, (think ham and cheese on whole grain bread). ALSO - think about the various special diets many people are on nowadays. Can a person who is gluten-free find something to eat? Someone who is dairy-free? Someone who is vegetarian? Your budget should be spent on food that nourishes the conference attendee's bodies and helps them have the nutrients they need to be at their best for the conference. It also sets a tone for the community of striving for healthy living/eating; a breakfast of donuts speaks more loudly than words and can undermine any efforts your church community is making towards encouraging members to make smart choices about their health. If you focus on that, it will help to minimize waste. Many of the foods I suggested can be frozen for future use if they are leftover, like bagels, muffins, quiche, and small sandwiches, or you could simply add them to any other buffet-style meal that will be served the next day or two of the conference.

That's what Babylock Imagine sergers are for. Drool-worthy and SO worth every single penny. Built as well as those vintage Kenmores, and a dream to use.

Ah, that explains it then! Everyone was raving over my topstitching and I was like "huh?" because it wasn't something I put any particular effort into. My Kenmore is a boat anchor. The neighbor who put it out for the trash apparently told her family it was "broken" and got a new machine. It ran perfectly the first time I tried it. I think she just wanted something new and shiny.

I would also suggest considering it may be a problem with how the bobbin is wound. Start with an empty bobbin, and make sure that the thread is under tension and is winding properly. Also make sure you've got the right bobbin for the machine. I have mainly Class 15 and Class 66 bobbins for my machines, but I didn't realize they were different until I used the wrong one! The small difference in height makes a big difference in performance. And the modern metal bobbins they sell at Joann's are horrible - I don't trust them. They are made of some kind of horrible thin metal that bends really easily. I only use my old steel ones. I recently cleaned and organized a sewing room that quite a few family members use at different times, labeling boxes and such so we all know what should be put back where. I sorted out all the bobbins, got a new bobbin box for each type, and labeled them with class and machine, so that no one gets them mixed up. Between all of our machines, we use five different kinds of bobbins!

If your old dishwasher has any handy utensil baskets or other similar items, consider keeping them until you have some experience with the new machine. I found that the rack arrangement in the new one wasn't great for the mix of things we generally wash, but using the utensil basket from the old machine provided some internal structure that I could use to prop up baking pans and such, which meant I could fit a lot more in one load. Plus, I can now put my big cooking utensils in the small door basket that came with the new dishwasher, and put the bulk of the eating utensils in the much-larger basket from the old dishwasher.

My main machine is a relative of the Kenmore that Arctic Mama posted. I recently went to a week-long sewing class, and was interested to hear all of the struggles my classmates had with their machines, while mine, which actually came to me when a neighbor put it out for the trash, purred along just fine. My classmates and teachers were also impressed with how straight my topstitching was, which I assume is the machine because I don't do anything special in that regard (and I was very surprised with their being impressed).

For that kind of anxiety, quantifying the risk can help to put things in perspective. (For example, I often see recommendations that elderly people shouldn't watch the news, as it over-emphasizes Bad Things which can lead to an inaccurate sense of their likelihood. Stop watching news, and the world can look much safer, leading the elderly person to get out more, which in itself has health benefits that shouldn't be overlooked.) So it could be helpful to the OP's friend to compare the likelihood of being shot at school to being hit by lightening or whatever. On the other hand, I think a PP is right to suggest that other approaches to anxiety reduction are also important, in order to address the overall problem. Another thought - I think it's somewhat misleading that we always seem to focus on deaths from shootings. Obviously, a death is the worst case scenario. But most of the school shootings and/or mass shootings also leave people injured, in some cases very seriously injured. The risk of "being shot at school" is much greater than "dying from being shot at school". Obviously, that's not something the OP's friend really needs to hear in this scenario. But for the rest of us, I think it's something we shouldn't be overlooking (especially as we do not have universal health insurance, giving a shooting both physical and potentially financial ramifications).

As several PP's have said, you have to follow the process in your state. Just verbally asking for accommodations is not enough; you need to formally request the process. Find out the specific rules for your state and follow them. Most states have parents support organizations which are full of helpful info. Find yours, and learn your student's rights and your obligations.

Yes, I agree that that self-selection plays a huge role in who goes to private college-prep schools, though the ones I'm familiar with have a mix of educated/well-off families and 1st generation college/less-well-off students. I was, kind of tangentially to the rest of this thread, addressing G5052's skepticism about claims of 100% college admission. She raised the valid point that college admission rates alone, without any sense of which colleges are granting the admission, can be a fairly low, potentially misleading standard. I was trying to show the other side of the coin - that at least in the cases of the schools in my area with which I am familiar, the schools not only have ~100% college admission, but the colleges are, generally speaking, fairly selective ones and not "anyone gets in" / community colleges. My point was simply that, while skepticism is a good idea in general when evaluating schools of all kinds, interested families shouldn't write off the claims of private college-prep high schools without further investigation, as the reality behind the claim may be bogus but it may also be completely legit. (As is the case with any kind of school - ask questions, dig deeper, get specifics, don't focus on just what the top "star" grads are doing, etc.)

I hear you on the idea that such a statistic can be meaningless, depending on how it is measured. BUT - assuming the stat isn't totally bogus (e.g. everyone is getting admitted to cc and not even going), it's a legitimate thing for a prospective parent to consider. Some things to think about - Only around 69% of students nation-wide go on to college. For a surprising number of states, the percent is in the fifties or even the mid-forties. Within states, it also varies. Many students don't have access to magnet schools or other public "choice" options; they have only one public option for high school. So for a family whose local public high school has a 50% college rate, investing in a private school with a ~100% college rate might be a very good choice. It is not just about ensuring that one's student is well-situated, academics-wise, for college applications. It's also about surrounding the student with classmates/friends (and their families) who have similar goals. Community matters - are the student's friends going to spend their time getting into trouble, or helping each other with their AP Stats homework? Of course, some parents choose to get similar results by spending their money on a house in a "good" public school district. I've seen similar houses on opposite sides of a school district line have selling prices that differ by as much as 500K. Other parents choose to live in a lower-cost area where the public schools aren't as good, leaving their money liquid so they can pay private school tuition. There are pros and cons to each approach, and all kinds of local factors, financial considerations, and student-specific concerns, can come into play. Obviously, a prospective parent needs to dig deeper than a one-sentence claim before choosing a school, whether it be college (as we've been discussing in this thread) or high school. Most of the private high schools I've looked at mention not only their college acceptance rate, but the specific schools their students have been admitted to, and which schools they've chosen to attend. Just as with choosing a college, the more you look, and the more information you gather, the easier it is to read between the lines and see differences between schools. Tl;dr - The private college prep schools I'm familiar with, which claim 100% college rates, do so legitimately. Their students attend college at a dramatically higher percentage than public school students in many of the local areas they serve, and the group of colleges they attend are significantly more selective than those attended by the public school students. It's not a guarantee, and parents are wise to look closely at any school before enrolling their student; in addition "fit" matters. But don't assume all private "college prep" schools are fudging the numbers. And some parents choose to spend their money on a house in a "good" school district, vs. other parents who choose to live in a lower-cost area where the public schools aren't as good, leaving their money liquid so they can pay private school tuition.

The thing is, most people only need two sets of bedding for each bed, max. And bedding usually lasts for a fairly long time, so it doesn't need to be replaced all that often. You can't price used items, especially personal stuff like bedding, as if it is new. Lots of people won't even consider buying used bedding in the first place. And you can buy new, although not well-made, for fairly cheap. And something like a comforter (unlike sheets) is hard to clean; it won't fit in most home washers. Many people who buy second-hand personal stuff wash it thoroughly as soon as it gets home; if it can't be washed easily, fewer people will bother with it. And people want linens that match their room; something plain might sell better than something fancy, even if the fancy is of good quality. So chances are it's going to be hard to find someone who is willing to spend $10 on that comforter.

College is expensive, in both time and money. I strongly encourage students and their parents to visit multiple schools, ideally before deciding where to apply, and then to visit their top choices more than once, ideally on an open house or accepted students day when more info is available. We have found these visits to be an essential part of making sure the chosen school is a good fit for a particular student, and I've watched many students minimize this step and end up somewhere less than ideal.

So, just to understand - you keep your guns in carrying cases, which you use to take them to and from the range for target shooting. Are the cases themselves locked? Where do you store the cases when you're not using the guns? Are you saying that you think insurance, to cover you in case of the guns being stolen and used in some kind of badness (paying for any damage to life, limb, or property), would not be a good thing? Doesn't that leave you and your dh liable, perhaps financially and perhaps morally, in the absence of such coverage? Help me understand why such coverage would not be a good thing?

Then it's vulnerable to undetected theft, and all the ramifications thereof. The idea would be, like with swimming pools, to encourage the gun owner to think seriously about the lethal weapon in their possession, and to treat it responsibly. If you're just going to have a gun lying around that you're paying no attention to, then that's a concern, isn't it?

This. I think the only way things are likely to change is if money enters the equation in a way that forces individual people to change. If your weapon is used to inflict damage on goods or people, then you should be liable to make restitution, and you should have insurance to cover it, just as we expect people to carry such coverage on their vehicles and their swimming pools. And as much as possible, this needs to apply to people who themselves do the shooting, as well as those whose guns are stolen - you injure three people, your insurance needs to cover their healthcare and recovery costs, unless self-defense is clearly the case. Of course there will be people who don't get insurance and inflict damage on others; we can handle this the way we do uninsured motorists. Everyone could still own the guns they want, but they'd be required to take on the underlying costs. Insurance companies could charge according to the perceived risk factor, assessing things like whether the owner has a gun safe, a background of violence, and so on. (There would of course be a debate as to what kinds of things insurance companies could use to assess risk; that would be a debate well worth having.) A small positive for the victims of gun violence, in that at least their health-related costs (or, sadly, death-related costs) would be covered, which is important in that we don't have universal health care. And without restricting anyone from owning a gun, so no 2A issues (unless one wants to argue that it would be too expensive for the poor; that would be an interesting debate).

If you have access to the test, I would go through the whole thing again with each of them, doing each problem and talking about how they approached it, what their reasoning was for choosing the answer they chose, etc. It really is the best way to get at their thought processes, and thus unearth any misunderstandings or ineffective strategies. Taking bubble tests is a skill in an of itself, and while homeschoolers tend to lean on the "tests aren't particularly useful in telling me anything about my child," "high-stakes tests are bad in so many ways" side of things, there is an argument to be made that being good at bubble tests can open doors that otherwise would not be open, and thus spending some time learning and practicing this skill may be time well spent. Just make sure they understand that doing math on a standardized test often requires a different approach than doing math in real life, and go from there to teach all the little tricks of the trade that can help raise their score.

I think private schools *should* have different standards - their standards reflect their educational philosophy. Different philosophies create different schools, which gives prospective students opportunities to find the "best fit" school. It also allows private schools to adjust to meet the needs of individual students, and of their specific local population. Schools do not all have to be the same. So how to decide? There are lots of things to consider, of course. But in terms of college prep, it helps to ask what the high school's students are doing post-graduation.. My local private college-prep high schools publish lists of colleges that have accepted their recent graduates. In addition, their graduation programs list, for each graduating student, the schools at which they were accepted and the one they have decided to attend. This data of course doesn't mean that every prospective high school student would get into every college on the list if they went to that high school. But it does give a sense of where their student body is aiming, and how likely they are to meet their goals. (FWIW, my local "college-prep" high schools are exactly that. Typically, less than one percent of students at these schools join the military or choose not to go to college for one reason or another.)

For more swearing + fabulous clothes on Prime, there is a movie called something like The Dressmaker. (There are two, actually, so be sure to get the right one.) Woman comes back to outback town, after leaving as a child and becoming a dressmaker in Paris. It's a mystery, and a wee bit, um, surreal/whimsical. Quirky with fabulous clothes.

Wow. These folks are in for a HUGE wake-up call. HUGE. Which is a shame, because with careful research and planning ahead of time, they could probably have found a good-fit uni at an affordable price. Another reason I suggest parents & kids start visiting schools as early as freshman year is that the *parents* can begin their education as to all the various details they are going to need. You'd think homeschoolers, who are lacking guidance counselors and high school-based info nights, would be more inclined to do the research, and do it early - especially as they begin to plan the high school years so they know what they're aiming for. But I guess you don't know what you don't know...

Yes! And as a preemptive measure, put any larger liquids/gels in a zip-loc and throw it in the TSA bin separately as if it was a 3-1-1 bag. It will be quicker if they can immediately see what it is and move on, rather than seeing it on the x-ray then digging through your bag for it (which usually spurs them on to look more closely at everything).

You should, at the very least, have documentation for the meds you are carrying - what they are and that they were prescribed for you. The prescription label on the bottle should be sufficient. Most people make it through the TSA checkpoint without a lot of detailed checking, but if for whatever reason you are flagged for a closer look, it would simplify things if you can show that the meds are what they are, and that they are yours. I like mine in the handy-dandy pill box, but I do carry the original packaging also (boxes flattened, etc.). If you plan to carry on all of your luggage, and you will need your meds either in-flight, at layovers, or if you are delayed, you will need to keep them in your under-seat bag rather than your overhead-bin bag. Sometimes the overheads are full and those bags must be gate-checked at the last minute, where you would not have access to them. Always make sure you have what you may need (in-flight or at a layover) in your under-seat bag.

Nordstroms Rack, or regular Nordstroms' sale rack, is a good place to find quality bras at a decent price. Macy's has a fairly decent selection and some of their clerks are knowledgeable. Victoria's Secret does not carry a wide range of sizes, and our experience with their clerks is that they know less than nothing about fit and will put you into whatever they can sell you. If you are within their size range and know enough to be able to fit yourself, you might get something, but they are not cheap; we've gotten better quality at Nordie's. Or, if you sew, you can make your own - no really! If you can sew in a sleeve, you can sew a bra. This Craftsy video is the best place to start. Beverly packs a ton of info into the video, and if you go to her website you can often get the video on sale, as well as pick up a kit with all the materials you need to make your first bra.

One way to consider this is to think "whose opinion/experience/judgement is this?" If your dd has read the report in question, she can summarize what it says in her own words. However, if she's writing about what someone else feels the report said, then she is better off with "Mr. Jones notes that the report "specifically advised [etc]", with a citation to the source. But if this is a fairly important class, she will be better off finding the original document, because quoting someone else's quote can become problematic. Finding the quote in the original source can help your dd to decide whether or not she agrees with Mr. Jones' (and Mr. Smith's) take-away from that source - in other words, does the source actually advise what they say it does? Is their quote a good summary, or is it taken out of context, or did Smith & Jones completely miss something else important in the report?

To be clear, the toggle button is a feature, not a bug. :-) It allows you to edit the normally-invisible formatting code. It can be useful when you copy and paste something which brings in a font or color or size you don't want, for example - just toggle, remove the codes, and untoggle to check it before posting. Generally speaking there's a code before the formatted section, and one after - like a code to turn on italics at the beginning of the italicized section, then one to turn it off at the end. To see what I mean, try using the italicize button on part of a post you're writing, then before you post, hit the toggle button to see what codes you've put into your text. No need for your college-based IT squad!!! You've got this!!!