Exactly this! I don't understand any Fb user being annoyed by silly mom posts. I love Fb because I do feel comfortable sharing things like this. I know that (unlike real life acquaintances) people who are annoyed by my posts can simply unfollow me. And I enjoy being part of the silly (and serious) day-to-day celebrations of my friends. Parenting is such a hard job. We have to take the successes we can get. Some days it's a full-ride scholarship to a private university. Other days it's floating Grinch butts. I cheer them all. :laugh: OP, why not just unfollow the friend?

Doesn't every single college grad feel this way right out of school? :lol: My dh applied to manage the office of a huge retail store. He had a degree in Accounting, with a focus on Accounting Info Systems. He looked at the job requirements and tried to make his experience fit. They said that a business degree was a business degree and he did get the job. I think what helped him was that one of the HR people recognized his name, in his case from some community work he'd done. (He had previously volunteered for a couple of well-known organizations in the community. His volunteer work was the highlight of his otherwise quite slim resume.) It ended up being a perfect fit for him, and he has turned his position into one of an auditor and he runs a very tight office. Everyone benefited from his not-quite-business-Business-degree.

Exactly this. We have a family counselor (each child sees her separately and sometimes she'll pull in the other child or me) and I try very hard to put them in as many separate activities as I can. However, you encounter "annoying" people everywhere. Public school is probably not the answer here. Teaching him to handle these situations is the answer.

Dec 1st - Something that was new to you in 2017 - Learning German Dec 2nd - 2017 summed up in three words - :chillpill: :driving: :willy_nilly: Dec 3rd - Your favorite memory of 2017 - Being in the path of totality to witness the eclipse with my my family

10 or 11, I think? He started shaving at late 12 or very early 13. His voice changed at 10 or 11 too.

There's a medium security federal prison in my town and I've never thought anything of it. I wouldn't want to live a literal stone's throw away, though, just because it's not very pretty to look at. ETA: There's a pet shelter right next door to it. Dd and I walk shelter dogs through the trails right across the street. I've never considered that there might be a problem. I feel safer next to the prison than I do downtown on the bike trail.

I had to tell dh I'd truly rather have nothing than have something he bought at Walmart after wandering around 3 hours Christmas Eve trying to find something for me. Several years ago, this was the case. He gave me a fitted sheet and a LOTR DVD. I like LOTR (the books) but I don't really re-watch movies so I have no need for DVDs. I still don't understand the fitted sheet. I would have rather had that time with him. I'm a bit of a minimalist, anyway, so I really am quite happy with receiving nothing. Thank goodness he listened to me. Now he gives me gifts sporadically when he knows there is something I'd like to have. This could be a household item (I'd love a good steam mop!) or a pointless item (fancy soap! I never buy myself fancy soap.) Some years, he gets me nothing for the holidays and I am also happy with that!

You've taken this same trip already and couldn't afford to take the kids, but now one of the kids has the opportunity to go and you are not allowing them to go? I know you have your reasons, but I can not relate to this at all. This would make more sense to me if you had passed up your previous vacation opportunity because you couldn't go as a family. But you've already set the precedent that you take vacations where/how you can take vacations. (And that's okay! We are the same way. We can't afford to do much with our children, so we take opportunities that head our way and run with them.) I'm sorry, truly. I don't mean to beat you while you're down, and you're obviously struggling with this. I do hope you come to a conclusion everyone is satisfied with.

I have been on this side of it, and this was exactly how it happened here. We took my best friend to Disney World when I was 14. To my knowledge, friend was not able to go to Disney any other way so it's not like we were taking an opportunity away from her mother. She appreciated it, and I was glad to have a friend with me since my parents were focused on taking care of my brother. We always had friends tagging along to events and I don't think anyone ever thought twice about it.

I live downstate and I always struggle with this. As far as clothing goes, I don't need nearly as much as you would think. My skin has to be covered, but the clothing doesn't necessarily need to be as heavy as you'd expect. I typically wear fleece leggings, a tank top or long sleeve shirt, a zip-up hoodie, and a fleece or lightweight vest (or some lesser combination of these items, depending on the temperature.) I always wear gloves and a headband/ear covering thing. Where I struggle is: (1) My face. It needs to be covered and I don't know how to make that work. I need to wear sunglasses, but if I wear any sort of face mask with sunglasses, the glasses just fog up; (2) The area above my socks and below my leggings. There is always a little strip that ends up being exposed. I probably need longer socks, but I don't know how to run comfortably in anything but ankle socks, and (3) SHOES. UGH. There are always ice patches, even on those beautiful 50 degree days. There's always a little shady area that didn't quite melt. I've never fallen, thank goodness, but I've lost my footing many times and damaged my hips in the process. I'm asking for a treadmill for Christmas this year. I just want to take a break from running in IL winters without taking a break from running (as usually ends up being the case.)

This is what I was thinking as well. I'm a talker and slow eater. Usually I eat one plate in the time it takes other people to eat 3. It wouldn't have occurred to me to make a plate for someone at the same time I was making my own because leftovers are usually abundant.

My son loves those as well! He received them for his birthday a couple of months ago.

My dh is impossible too. He's getting socks (from Bombas,) some manly-scented bath bombs, and some fancy dark chocolate from the natural grocery store he never bothers to go to. I basically buy the same thing every year, and he seems happy enough with it. My dad is impossible too, but I've yet to find anything he gets excited about.

My 14 yr old has asked for Dungeons & Dragons manuals & items, so I'll be getting him that for "something you want." (We do the "something you want/need/wear/read.") I haven't picked out a book yet for "something you read," but he's a big sci fi & mystery fan, so it'll be something in one of those genres. His stocking is usually snack food and a couple of $10 gift cards (Steam, Kindle, etc.)

Hugs to all of you. This is our fourth holiday season without MIL & FIL (passed away suddenly in their early 50's in Fall 2014) but really only the second one we've really processed. The first one was a bit of a blur/black hole. I don't even remember it. The second year, we were still keeping busy with Probate and I don't think we thought about holidays much. The third year (last year) was the first year dh was really grieving. It was... manageable. We really enjoyed each other as a family during the holidays and didn't worry too much about "getting it right." I think this is going to be the year he has moved forward. We're finding our holiday groove in a different way and making our own traditions.

Thank you for sharing! I don't think that's as good as past years' book discount, but I'll take anything I can get. :)

Ds14 just made his first Black Friday purchase and ordered the $369 HP laptop from Staples. (Staples opens at 7AM tomorrow, but you can order online today and pick up tomorrow. He got the last of 2 laptops in our store so I don't know what in-person shoppers are going to be able to buy tomorrow!) He has been saving for years, so hopefully he's happy with this!

I would just let her go. My daughter is like this. We gave her a Kindle Fire with a subscription to FreeTime Unlimited and she just devours books unlike anything I've ever seen! If I need her to comprehend something for school, I do it as a read-aloud.

Zenni has a Black Friday coupon code for 20% off available now: FRIYAY. We've only used them once, but we were really happy. I'm ordering another pair.

:iagree:

Re: Do I share their medical info with them? Absolutely. My children have a range of physical and developmental conditions. Knowing what's going on in their own bodies/minds has been more helpful than harmful. I have one exception to this pledge of openness: When dd was 10, we were told by an electrophysiologist that her cardiology team suspected she had a rare genetic condition (CPVT) which could shorten her life considerably. I did NOT tell her this. I told her she had an arrhythmia which they were trying to figure out (true.) She went back for a stress test a week later and they determined she did not have the genetic condition. Re: Do I share my own medical info with them? I do, but I've never had anything serious going on with my health. I would probably tell them that as well, once something had been definitively diagnosed. I might not tell them during the diagnostic period.

I don't know stats, but I lost my 100% merit aid due to not keeping up my GPA. I could've gotten 2 B's or one C per semester. I got a B (science, ugh, expected in my case) and a C in Composition. I disagreed with the teacher on a couple of key issues, and I was a teenager who hadn't learned any suckitupness yet. I tried to appeal, but it was her last semester as a professor and the department obviously wanted to send her off well. I went on to do perfectly well in Comp II, but the damage had been done. Fortunately, it was 20 years ago and a local college, so I was able to afford to continue. What you've described is definitely a fear of mine as well. It was my fault that I lost my scholarship, but it was completely unforeseen to me. I fully expected to get a low A in that class. Our final portfolio was 50% of our grade and she just tore it to pieces.

It's' just hard to wrap my brain around being bothered by people's thoughts about my purchases. I have never been considerably well-off, though, so perhaps it's a problem above my pay-grade!

Same here. Dh has an accounting degree, so we've been pretty open about money since the kids were about 9+. It's important to know the situation so that you can learn to manage the situation. ETA: I've never understood the "but they might tell people what we make!" fear. I don't see why other parents would care if they did know. Everyone's just trying to get by.

I learned the Pringles trick here many years ago and it has saved me so much money! It takes up half the kids' stockings and they love having their own can, since I don't normally buy potato chips.