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Azalea

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Everything posted by Azalea

  1. I think the whole hive would like to be able to give you a great big hug.
  2. My old person scent will be sunscreen and bug spray, liberally applied somewhere in the tropics.
  3. Thanks for posting. More confirmation that healthcare shouldn't be for profit.
  4. Two girls I know did not take geometry. They had math skills at an algebra one level when they started at community college. They never ended up taking a separate geometry course. They are now in post-grad professional schools which will lead to high paying careers. That being said, my daughter didn't like math until she took geometry which she enjoyed.
  5. You said it all, I'm in the same boat. My youngest is almost 15, so I'm a little closer to being finished as a stay at home mom, but I also have no great career to jump into and a husband who would really like a break. My younger two do charter school from home after formerly being solely homeschooled. My husband and I are trying to stay sane by planning for our future. We have been spending a lot of time thinking about living outside of America, somewhere tropical when our kids are older. We know kids often don't leave the nest until late 20's or even early thirties, so we are considering leaving the nest to them! We could move to a low cost geo, they could have a rent free house for many years, we would have a base to come home to when needed. We are reading, "The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget: How to Live Well on $25,000 a Year. The most eye opening thing about this book is how much lower the cost of medical coverage is many places and the service is better. You can fund at least half the cost of your annual expenses simply by how much you will save in medical costs. We are almost thinking how can we afford not to move. But none of that solves the problem of not feeling like my life has adequate purpose and meaning.
  6. DH made smoked ribs, I made Cajun potato salad and steamed vegetables. Later we will have sundaes with fresh whipped cream, spanish peanuts and homemade fudge sauce.
  7. I finally took a small part of my garden and turned it into an area for vegetables. I have tomatoes, broccoli romanesco, zucchini, thai basil, sweet basil, bush basil and cilantro. Some cilantro I am growing from seeds I got from the Indian food store. The coriander seeds they sell for spice grinding, the stuff tastes great, germinates at a monstrous rate and is super cheap, $3 for a giant bag of seeds. I cook tons of Mexican and Asian, so I need lots of cilantro. It's hard to know whether I will really have enough sun in this area, if it doesn't work it will become another flower bed. I've also used half this bed to house dahlias. I split some of my tuber clumps this year. Mostly I grow flowers, really wish I had more full sun
  8. Two of my kids took his classes. They were great and Mr. Owens is kind and helpful. Updates would be appreciated.
  9. Would MIL continue to live in "her" house? Would she would always see the house as hers, especially if dementia is an issue. It's hard to imagine a scenario where the other siblings would not see your family as taking advantage of MIL and them as well. Especially if you buy the house for anything less than absolute top market value. Will you become MIL's primary care giver because of this choice? Will the other siblings be as willing to help with care and possible costs of providing for MIL in the future if you make this choice? This seems scary to me.
  10. I have lived in Oregon, Portland metro right now, my whole life. If I were you, I would move asap. The longer you stay, the more entrenched your family will become. I think it's much easier to move younger kids than older kids. Believe it or not, your younger kids may even start to like the weather and may not want to move to a sunnier climate. Lifers here talk about feeling oppressed or depressed by sunshine, it's just not normal. And wow you think it's been gloomy here?!? The weather the last couple of years has been much, much, much warmer and sunnier than usual. This weekend we will have temps in the high 90's, it's still spring! In a normal year, it rains until July 5. Yep you could almost set your clock to it.
  11. I talked to my daughter. Each degree was 90 credits. She earned a total of 136 credits, so there was a lot of overlap.
  12. Okay, for the school I'm looking at the ACT score of 30-36 is 13%, GPA 3.75 and above is 40%. That's a wide range. Let's say the student had an ACT of 32 and a GPA of 3.9, from that info could they tell if how they ranked compared to the rest of the student body? I mean they would be at the top, but top what 6%, 16%?
  13. Hmmm...I don't know how to calculate that. I looked at the site College Simply, and an ACT score of 27 is 75th percentile, average GPA is 3.56, for the more expensive college where she did get a $2500 scholarship.
  14. Hi Hornblower, my daughter is not here right now and she may be able to offer more details, but briefly she started taking classes at 15, so went part time to community college for three years. Some of the classes between the degrees overlap, I believe.
  15. Hi Grantmom, those are good questions. My husband (and many others) feel that kids should have "skin in the game." In other words, help pay for college themselves. I go back and forth as to whether this is a good idea or not. My daughter asked if she could take the full loan offered, she wants to start building a credit history. I will probably pay off the loan myself as I can't bare to think of all that interest accumulating through the graduate school years. Our family has saved for college, but probably not enough to fully pay for all three kids. Additionally, my husbands company is laying off employees left and right and my daughter was trying to be compassionate and helpful.
  16. Before going through the process, I didn't know that the schools could offer you less than the regular amount for Stafford loans. In other words, I believe $5500 is standard for freshman year, but the school may only offer $4500 in a loan. Also, I didn't know that this loan could not be paid back with money that has been saved in a 529 plan or ESA. It makes sense once you think about it why the government requires the 529 plan funds to be spent directly on tuition and books, etc. since someone could take a loan and then buy non-school items, I just hadn't considered this wrinkle, so wanted to pass it along. I appreciate all the information I have gleaned from this board over the years. I have friends who are just now realizing the true expense of college, I'm glad I began the grief process when my oldest was in 8th grade. My dd was accepted at the colleges to which she applied, she only applied to two state universities. Her stats: completing community college at 18 with two associates - general studies, and fit tech GPA 3.8, ACT score 30, 3 AP classes, job teaching taekwondo, 2 internships, went to nationals in tkd twice. Total academic scholarship offered by more expensive university $2500, reduced loan amount offered. Scholarship would reduce the cost of college to $27,000 per year with three years needed to complete degree. Our family is not eligible for need based aid. My dd has decided to stay home and attend the local state university, I am disappointed in her choice, but fully understand her desire to be financially responsible as she intends to go to graduate school.
  17. 42 days, six weeks in the Caribbean, five islands. Glorious. Kids were about 8, 10 and 12. They got bored of beaches occasionally.
  18. Benefiber makes you feel full. Resistant starch like potato starch works also.
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