Why do you specifically suspect community college classes? Do you mean in comparison to online high school classes? In comparison to 4 yr college online classes? I am hoping you don’t mean to imply that community college students are more likely to lack integrity than other groups of students.

:grouphug: :grouphug:

Not the OP, but I do :)

Skeptic here. Even if I thought it was possible to communicate with the dead thanks-but-no-thanks. However: (1) I have close friends who are believers and I do not consider my friends' beliefs to be ridiculous, just different than mine. (2) I love visiting and touring cemeteries, especially old ones. ETA: I have never read The Tomten! Must rectify...I just requested it through my library.

I finished two books this week: Ronja Røverdatter (Ronia the Robber's Daughter) by Astrid Lindgren. This was my 5th Danish book for the year, and my first encounter with Ronja/Ronia. I was enchanted! I would like to see the Swedish film, but haven't found access to it yet. Amazon Prime has a Studio Ghibli animated series, and I think I will watch at least a few episodes of that. The Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez by Richard Rodriguez. There were times that this book made me angry, and there were times that it made me sad. It is a somber memoir of growing up as a Mexican-American in Sacramento in the 1960s and it stops when he is in his 30s and poised for a career in academia (published 1982). I disagreed with PLENTY that the author had to say, but I do think he is a good writer and I did leave with much to ponder with regard to how language shapes identity. A fellow ESL tutor has recommended The Distance Between Us by Reyana Grande to me, and I expect that to be a good follow-up.

Glad you figured it out. That kind of thing makes me batty.

Two more things to consider: (1) If you do not complete the program all the way through the exit exams, you might have nothing to claim but the experience. Not all systems have interim credits like we do in the USA. (2) Your student visa might be tied to a particular program, and it might be impossible to change programs without first reapplying for a new student visa.

The Snow Child is going to be a musical with the premiere in DC: https://www.adn.com/arts/2017/03/31/the-snow-child-musical-will-premiere-next-spring-in-washington-dc/

I want to chime in with additional praise for Jetta. My son loves her class. Given that he is more of a humanities kid and has to work very hard to do well on the tests, the fact that he loves the class anyway is really a testament to the teacher. From the mom POV, I think Jetta is incredibly organized and I love that more than words can express :)

Oh sheesh, I had forgotten about Alexandra Stoddard. I have one of her books; I think I have Creating a Beautiful Home. And I love Simple Abundance! I have almost all of these books in a box far, far away and now I am itching to look through them again.

IIRC, the Sidetracked Home Executives were the inspiration for Flylady. I have also wondered if the Sidetracked Sisters' Happiness File inspired The Happiness Project (which I have not read). I'm old enough that I remember when the Sidetracked Sisters were popular :)

Time Management from the Inside Out is actually the one I was thinking of. The time map rocked my world. And before Flylady, there were the Sidetracked Home Executives.

Based on what I have seen, it is ok to talk at length about your medical issues with your peer group. My mom and her friends chat about their medications and surgeries. I chat with my friends about menopause. I think that is healthy and helpful. I think it is just that the youngers don’t have much interest.

This is my favorite post of the day :) -- That being said, I deeply value my spontaneity. I am the person you can invite to see a movie today. When the kids were little, I was the person who might call you in the morning and see if you wanted to go to the science museum. Energy levels, budget surprises, and weather influence me a lot. I prefer hotels that let me cancel up to the day of arrival. But I always have an arsenal of ideas (mostly daytrips) in the wings. And I do look ahead at the weekend. If it is looking blank, I start planning something. Big trips that include airline tickets are a different story. I do a lot of research and advanced booking for those. ETA: For some reason, planning my fun is a version of fun but planning my meals is a version of torture.

I read The Devil in The White City while I was in Chicago. Maybe that’s why I liked it better than y’all.

Garga, your idea about reading a current baby book is BRILLIANT!!!! I get the idea of Move Before You Have To, but it does presume that you have non-nomadic kids. My beloved 80-year old-mother would love to live near me, her only child. But I have not stayed put. I am wary of the idea of moving to be near my kids. My mom did that once, and then I unexpectedly moved again. I still feel guilty about that :(

Aggieamy and Woodland Mist Academy, continuing from last week: I share your propensity for time management books and reading about habits. Any favorites (old or new) you would like to recommend? The two classic that I have internalized are Getting Things Done (David Allen)and Organizing from the Inside Out (Julie Morgenstern). The one that sent me down this path was Confessions of An Organized Housewife (Deniece Schofield). When I discovered her book, there were not many books about getting organized. It didn't matter that she was a SAHM with five kids and I was a working mom with one baby. I read it until it fell apart. I still have it - the pages secured with a rubber band. I even met Deniece Schofield in the late 1990s at an author event and I had her sign my battered copy. Fond memories :)

We went to DC yesterday, and I finally made it to Politics & Prose bookstore. They are absolutely a huge name around DC. Whenever the big names are in town, Politics & Prose is usually the host. A lot of times, the big name speakers like Isabel Allende and John Green are off-site. Yesterday, we happened upon author Daniel Swift talking about Ezra Pound. The book is The Bughouse: The Poetry, Politics, and Madness of Ezra Pound. I had to drift in and out of listening to him, or I would not have had time to look around. Today, I indulged in one of my favorite hobbies: rearranging bookshelves. I was trying to find something and then the whole thing got out of hand...

Your post made me giggle. I’m glad to know that other languages have authors everyone knows about but nobody reads.

These are my three favorites. Sunset Beach and Ocean Isle are close enough to Myrtle that you could go there for an evening show. Carolina Beach is close enough to Wilmington. One thing you should know about NC Carolina beaches is that many of them do not have lifeguards. If this bothers you, do careful research.

Thanks! Both the sci-fi-loving son and myself got the Lovecraft one.

I have always been a black coffee person, but a friend brought me around to tea about two years ago. Now, I drink black coffee in the morning and a green tea in the afternoon. Sometimes, I have something decaf at night - eithet an infusion or a rooibos. And I now know that neither one contain any tea.

I finished two books yesterday: Angela's Ashes and The One and Only Ivan. I loved Angela's Ashes twenty years ago, and I loved it this time around as well. It takes about twenty years for me to want to reread a book :tongue_smilie: The One and Only Ivan had some lovely spots in it, but not enough for me to give it five stars. I went with four stars. I will be adding it to my ESL recommended reading list, as there is enough in there for adult enjoyment.

I read it in the 1980s. I think I liked it lol. But I was recently disappointed with The Antelope Wife. Apparently, she rewrote the Antelope Wife. It needed it:)

The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich?