Just following along, as we'll be there for a couple days the end of March, too. Apparently, a lot of us will be in the area this spring! We live pretty close - about 3 hours - so no trip to DC has to be all-encompassing for us. Which I'm thankful for! I would probably be pickier on what we do if that were the case. :) So far all we've done on past visits are the National Museum of Natural History (and right now, the main dinosaur parts are closed, but I think they still have a little bit of dinosaur stuff rotating, just a lot smaller than it was - we liked the NMNH, but won't go back until that part is done, because that was the best part! ;), a little bit of wandering along the National Mall, and the Smithsonian castle. This time we're doing the zoo (our zoo is very different, so I'm looking forward to a change of pace, zoo-wise) and monuments. I'm thinking about doing the day tickets for some sort of bus or trolley tour that we can just hop off and on whenever. Is there a double decker bus that's open on top? Or is the trolley the best option? Just when it comes to the view... any touristy stuff they may say doesn't really matter to me. We'll be staying near Capitol Hill, and we'll definitely be using the Metro for everything, because we're not even driving up. :lol: My husband HATES congested traffic areas COUGHroadrageCOUGH and it makes that portion of the trip eyeroll worthy at the least and annoying at best - so we're taking the train. :D Anyway, have fun!! I'm just taking notes for any future excursions. ETA: Oh, UGH, the WHOLE REASON I commented and I forgot!! Depending on when you are there in March, the homeschool day at Mt. Vernon may coincide. I think it is March 8. Rates will be lower, with special programming, I'm sure. Also, I wouldn't recommend Colonial Williamsburg at all. Ever. I live in VA so I say that there is a sort of an obligation, as someone who lives this close, to go there at least once - but for out-of-state-ers, who live nowhere near? Nah. It's not that great or important. It's actually a little bit boring - something that they could do really well with if they just tried a little harder, but it's just not quite there. Kwim? The Jamestown Settlement is much cooler, but tbh, if you're in the DC area I'd do Mt. Vernon instead, homeschool day or not. That should be plenty of Colonial history for the trip.

Unfortunately, I'm a bit further south than that! Not far enough to be out of this stupid cold weather and snow though... grr... arg... #ihatewinter AAANd this was quoted but it deleted the 'quote' part for some reason: And I will also confess that I mailed Valentines to all of my grand nephews and a grand niece, each containing a five dollar bill. When I was a child, I loved receiving cards with dollar bills from my grandmother and an aunt who lived in California--as did my son who has an aunt who always did the same. Small gesture on my part which I hope brings a ray of sunshine into the lives of some littles. A random aside - not Valentine's Day related - several years back I used to send our niece and nephews cards with a little bit of cash in them for their birthdays. They were little kids at the time, so like $5, because, you know, when you're little that seems like a fortune lol. THEN we're at Link's birthday party when he was turning 4 or so, and the parents of said niece and nephews said, as Link opened a card with money in it, 'Oh! Well, we know all the money just goes to mom and dad's pockets, anyway!' :svengo: Um, no. Nope. And if that's where your kids' birthday money goes, you'd better believe I won't be sending THAT anymore!! Sheesh! :lol:

The Lion King. We won't be going - I can't pay $200 apiece for tickets. Plus DH thinks it's a ridiculous premise, people running around the stage acting like animals. :lol: :lol: That's the only 'touring' thing. We have other theaters and other stuff, but it's all locally done or just within the state. That's the only 'big' one, at least that comes to mind when kids are involved.

hyperbole and a half.... wait, is her blog the one with the alot?! 'I like this alot more' and such? The drawing style I'm seeing on that cover looks familiar, and I feel like I've heard the name somewhere before... hmm... It's funny, because I'm really not much of a romantic at all - I don't really care for 'chick flicks' and am usually more of a 'guy movie' fan (went and saw Deadpool tonight, which was hysterical but oh dear lord there were people there with little kids and I'm just like :blink: ). I think I've read a handful of romance novels in my life, back when I was younger. But the funny thing is, that I absolutely LOVE Korean dramas, which are, for the most part, romance. I don't know what it is. But yeah. That's my one 'romantic' vice. :lol: Here we are looking at some possible snow and ice tonight - yay. :glare: Not really. Even Link and Astro (12 and 10) are like what? Nooo.... when they hear we have a chance of snow. It could be the downside of having a dad who has to spend all his time at work when it's snowing, and a mom who can be called in to do the same, resulting in them sitting in the lobby of a retirement home for hours on end in snowstorms. :lol: JK it's really not that bad. But we're just not snow people. DH is currently back putting salt down just in case, since there were flurries when we left the theater at 8pm. Sigh. I reliably hate winter. You know how some people hate winter when it's winter but love the idea of cold weather when it's summer? That's not me. I'm consistent. :lol: Anyway. As far as my own reading goes... Still working on Woman of Influence, because I'm spending too much time doing other things. :lol: Only another chapter or two left, and if I have the chance to just sit down and plow through it, I'll be able to get through it pretty quickly. This year's list so far: 1. This Present Darkness (Peretti) 2. Captivating (Eldredge) 3. The Heavenly Man (Yun) 4. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Kondo) 5. The Case of the Missing Marquess/Enola Holmes (Springer) current: Woman of Influence (Farrel) The Power of a Praying Wife (Omartian) (if I don't end up throwing it in the road to be run over by a snow plow) ongoing: The Celebration of Discipline (Foster) Knowing God (Packer) :D

Eh, they know lots of people are into Valentine's Day and that sort of thing. I remember DH telling them at some point - perhaps not VDay, but another day - that just because mom doesn't care about those things doesn't mean that someday they'll have a girlfriend who is the same, so they should pay attention. And they know the story - DH got me a dozen roses on our first VDay; we were in college. They were sitting in the hallway outside my dorm room. My roommate got up to go to class and was all excited, comes in and wakes me up, I walk out and see them, say, 'huh', and climb back into bed, leaving them there. So he knew, from then on, that I really, literally, did not care. :lol: My roommate was mortified though. :D But knowing that story, they know that he did try to do the norm first - and ever since then has watched and laughed at all the poor suckers who run out the day before and pick up all the cheap crap from Walmart. :lol: :lol: This is so our life. Seriously, Creekland, you and I - based on all the responses of yours I see in threads, I think we'd get along very well IRL. :D

Yes, I may do that. He likes a lot of things. I'm not sure what he's reading right now, but I know he's read many of the Warriors books (cats? lol), he liked White Fang and other of that genre when he was younger, he liked My Side of the Mountain, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit...

The bolded statement jumped out at me, because we're in exactly the same situation; only my DH is the one who said it to me! :lol:

I remember the night my mom was gone. I can't remember her leaving or remember knowing that she was gone and not coming back, but I remember going out to the kitchen, where my grandparents were sitting at the table eating watermelon, and asking if I could start leaving my bedroom door open to sleep at night. I remember going to Dairy Queen with the wife of one of my grandpa's employees late at night one Friday night because we were at the depot late. My grandpa worked for Schwan's and was the retail manager. Every Friday night my grandma and I would go with him, as would many of the other families, and we'd sometimes have food, other times, we'd just play and have fun, and the wives would sit around and talk while waiting for the husbands to get in after the week was finished and get all the inventory done and finish up all their totals for the week. It was like a big extended family. It was fun. We'd have holiday parties on weekends, and sometimes even after we left the depot we'd go over to the house of one of the guys' families. Usually we'd be at the depot until about 11-12. That night with the DQ, a transformer had caught fire so we were there until around 2. When I was really little, I'd fall asleep in my grandpa's office, or on the wooden shelves that held some of the boxes. I'm still convinced that's why I can sleep anywhere. Those memories are all really good ones. :) I remember when the boy came to the back of the bus in 2nd or 3rd grade and pinned me to the seat and told me he was going to r@p3 me. I didn't know what that meant. I don't know why he knew. I don't know if he knew. Now I just feel very sad for him if he did know, because he was only in 4th grade. He didn't do anything to me - the bus driver caught him. I don't think he would have done anything - I think he was just trying to scare me. I remember being kind of a different kid. Maybe I was a bit ADD (I've often wondered that, actually). I don't think I was a bad kid because it wasn't like I was getting in trouble, but the teacher was always sending me on errands, finding things to occupy my time. I think I liked feeling helpful but sometimes I didn't get along well with all the other kids. I did have good friends, though, too. That was like, in 3rd-ish grade. I talked to the counselor regularly. I seemed to have grown past it by 4th grade, though. I remember visiting my great grandfather in Iowa in 2nd grade because it was November and I took two weeks off of school. I remember doing my school work with my grandma at the hospital and at my great-aunt's house. I remember spending Thanksgiving Day at my cousin's, with the other side of her family, and playing hide and seek in the dark. I remember my great grandpa's funeral the following April. I remember that my mom came. I remember that was the first time that the words were said to me, to 'take care of grandma'. Mom said those words again when my great grandma died in 2002, after I was married, and she couldn't make it to the funeral - that I had to be there to take care of grandma. And then in 2014, when my Mom died, I stood in the hallway of the funeral home while my grandma collapsed against the wall in tears, and I realized that had been most of my life. Taking care of grandma at all the times my mom couldn't; they say I even would go out to her as a toddler and hug her and console her when my mom was gone. I don't say that bitterly. That's just been what I've done. That's my job. To take care of grandma. I remember finding out I had a little brother on the Friday after my 7th birthday, in 1989. I was SO excited. I remember meeting him that Christmas. And thinking he was just awesome. Even though he would wake me up in the morning by throwing whatever he could find at me from his playpen - his pacifier, his bottle, his blanket, whatever. :) I remember the kids telling me they were going to beat me up on the playground in 3rd grade, and the pile up that ensued, where I was on the bottom of the pile not getting hit at all, but walked out with a black eye from my best friend's elbow. :) Oops. :lol: I remember getting hit in the face with a football and I remember falling and needing stitches from hitting my head on a rock (two separate events, both the same year, I think). The stitches were on the last day of my 4th grade year, my last day of school in Virginia. I remember going on trips to California and Arizona and Colorado and Texas to see family. I remember going to Iowa every year for Christmas, and then going down to Missouri to see my uncle. I actually remember a lot. Those are just the big events, and those are all from pre-Missouri, where I moved when I was 9/after 4th grade. Idk. Maybe I just have a good memory. ? :lol:

This is a very lighthearted opinion question. So. I'm not really a VDay fan. It just really doesn't matter to me. It's my personality, whatever - it seriously just isn't something that comes to mind as being important, whatever. Growing up my grandma always bought me a little something for the day - a new pair of earrings, etc. She sent me little packages at college. So... this will probably sound really silly, and it is. It's not something that I lose sleep over or anything like that, it's just a slight hmmm curiosity moment, kwim? Anyway. Is our non-participation in VDay a disservice to our kids? Like, mainly Pink? I guess I think of it this way - my grandparents got me something on VD that wasn't anything huge, whatever. But if Pink is a kid who likes getting things (I'm not even 100% sure she is), it's not going to like, scar her for life if we don't give her something, right? She's not going to jump into the arms of the first boy who gives her a flower because she's starved for VDay affection? :lol: :lol: See, I said it was silly. So what say the hive? No big deal, right?

My reply is a definite no. And I'm anti-Valentine's day. :lol: But seriously, I wouldn't think twice about it. I'm with the above posters who talk about life outside of the kids. That's something I'm a pretty big advocate of. So yeah. :)

I just have to chime in and say I absolutely LOVE that book! I think it's definitely one of my favorite Narnia books. Link is reading through the series now - I read them to the boys when they were younger, and I just realized I haven't started them with Pink yet! Maybe soon. :) Which actually brings me to another reason I was posting: Good kids books! Well, he's a kid but not a little kid. Link is 12. (HOW THE BLOODY HECK DID I GET A TWELVE YEAR OLD ALREADY?! SHEESH!!) He goes through books like there is no tomorrow. He's almost finished with his reading list for 6th grade, and I've thrown in a couple other books along the way for him. He's just joined this book club with some other homeschoolers (all boys around his age, which I have to admit I'm hoping he'll enjoy - being the oldest, and not having a lot of friends his age. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, and I can't say it bothers me - I can totally get it if relationships and friendships like that just aren't something that are important for him. I know he's totally different from me, personality wise. So I'm not trying to force anything on him or assume anything - but that being said, it can't be bad for him to forge new friendships out of this, yes?) and he'll be reading one book per month with them. This month it's the Enola Holmes book I read - next month, I believe, is Percy Jackson. He's an excellent reader - both in technicality and understanding. Though I don't want anything that would be pushing it on the boundaries of maturity in some ways - he is just 12, after all. :) Such an interesting age, 12. On one hand I experienced his first outburst that felt very teenager-ish a couple weeks ago, and on the other hand he used his birthday gift cards to buy Star Wars legos lol. :)

I think that I'm what people would consider an 'evangelical' in the more traditional sense of the word, so I just wanted to weigh in. The program mania has definitely become a bit of an obsession with what I'd consider the evangelical church. That's not to say that I have a problem with programs, per se, but there has been a shift in weight. It used to be that people ended up at the church in a less program-oriented way, and then programs were created to help disciple people who were just coming in. But those things were pretty low-pressure, and not as shiny and flashy as they are now. Now, there's tons of stuff everywhere. Bring a visitor and get a chance to win a new bike! Come to the petting zoo on Easter! These things are the things that make me like, hmm.... not because I think they can't be sincere - I really think they can. They just need to be well balanced with reality and actual teaching from the Bible. In general, not being liturgical or Catholic or Lutheran or any of those, the main thing that I'm looking for in a church is a place where I feel we can fit. I don't think much about the sacraments (bread and body, right? What I'd call communion?) though I think doing it regularly is good. I think there is a certain order to things when it comes to that. When I think about what I don't care for about the church we are in now, it's that I don't know how I feel about the pastor and his Biblical foundation. I'm not sure I agree with him on the important things - you know, there are the important and the not-so-important. And I can't say for sure that I've ever been made aware of he and his wife's vision for the church, their plans, what they want to accomplish, etc. We're a church with 'outreach' in our name but I'm not sure where the 'outreach' actually is. Some of these things are things that can be addressed, found out about, etc, but they don't make any info very easy to get. So the biggest problem I have right now is that I'm not sure I'm confident enough in the pastor's grounding in the Word to definitely throw our chips in here yet. There are other, small things, that on their own aren't enough to bother me, but when put all together and paired with my lack of confidence so far in the pastor, do end up adding to my frustrations. WARNING: I'm going to vent for a minute. These things may sound petty and THEY ARE. So please, if you respond to these statements, understand that I'm saying them with the knowledge that they aren't deal-breakers on their own, but they are things that are just a small part of a whole problem, and that I would be able to get used to and/or handle in time IF the biggest deal breaker (pastor/above) wasn't there. Just wanted to get that out of the way. ;) The people are not friendly. It's not like they're mean or rude, but they just have what they're comfortable with and they're not really interested in newcomers. We travel a bit to get there (45 minutes), and many of the people are from that small town there (which is even smaller than ours - they put our town up there as a place they don't know how to get around in. Reminder that my town has 7,000 people :lol: ) and they've known each other their entire lives and/or they're related. :lol: DH and I have done some things to try to get to know people - he's gone to the men's Bible study a couple times, I volunteer in the nursery, we've gone to church functions and picnics - but so far, it's not really getting us anywhere. I'll be friendly and chat a little with the other women in the nursery, but that's it. DH will talk to people at the picnics, but in general once the small talk is done, the people turn around and walk away and seem like they've never seen us before. I'm not looking for best friends - I have those. And I'm in a bit of an awkward age/grouping - I think when people look at me, they assume I'm younger, until they see my 12 year old. People my age have little kids, a lot of the time. Not that it matters much - but I sometimes wonder if the women in the nursery think there's some sort of barrier there because my kids are older? But I don't see why it would be a big deal? We've been at this church a year!! I do know that it could be a distance thing - I can't say that yeah, we'll definitely commit to coming to all of the 'extra' stuff which is what seems to be required to get to know anyone, because I can't commit to driving 45 minutes each way every night of the week. (Sunday morning is church; Sunday night is junior youth, which would be Link and Astro; Tuesday evening is men's Bible study and youth 13+; Wednesday night is a co-ed Bible study but nothing for kids; Thursday night is a women's thing every other week or so) It would honestly be much easier if they put things more on one night so that there would be something for all of us, but I do understand the difficulty in that, too - space constraints, etc. The pastor is not a fan of higher education. Well... when pertaining to the Bible, anyway. But then sometimes he says things that make me go huh? about higher education in general. He hasn't gone to college or anything for preaching. But I don't think he's totally against higher education in general because his wife is a nurse, and she certainly had to get education for that. I'm not a person who thinks that everyone has to go to college or that they even should. But I definitely don't want someone speaking into my kids' lives that it's nothing but a waste, especially when I have one who, at the moment, has definite college plans in his future. Yeah, sure, a lot can change in the next 6 years, and I don't put a ton of stock into a pre-teen saying what they want to be when they want to grow up - but I don't discourage it, either. And there is the music. I save that for last because I meant to quote someone else asking about music, too, but I forgot. We don't have live music of any kind - no worship leader, no piano, no guitar, nothing. We 'have worship' by staring at a screen of words and sing along with a CD. Half the songs are songs on the radio. This is very hard for me. That's not to say that it's inherently bad. But. I'm a musician, you know? I've forever and always been a part of anything I could to do with music - in school, in church, in college, as an adult... and here there is literally. nothing. It's like a desert to me. I came from a church where there was music in abundance. There was a worship team, a choir, a musical at Easter and another at Christmas. Lots and lots of music. And I was a part of all of those things, in increasing amounts in my more recent years there, until the worship team became too difficult because I couldn't make all the practices (a side effect of being run by a young married couple with no children. Not that there is ANYTHING wrong with the way they were doing it, it just didn't fit what I could do anymore because I do have other priorities in those areas. It's something that I've seen happen in several different places and it naturally becomes a little more laid back - or at least the hours of being on-site are scaled back - as the couple gets older, begins a family, etc) and the musical became more of a money maker and less of a ministry, until it fell apart all together. And so I'm here. I'm here in this place where there is no music to be heard. To some I'm sure it doesn't matter. I think that some people would hear this particular complaint and roll their eyes and say that music doesn't really make a difference. And I can't say that the music alone would. But I can say it is definitely something I miss. I mean, it was my life. It was what I always assumed my life would be, you know? So the lack of it now - the void that it has left? - it's gaping. It's been brutal. That's not to say I haven't found new strengths in this time and that I haven't had the opportunity to expand who I am, my abilities, capabilities, etc in other places. That's not to say that I don't see the growth that has taken place in those other areas in the time that music has been missing. But.... I really don't want it to stay missing. You know? I'd like to have it back, even in some small amount, at some point. Ah, so the post about music I was going to reply to was about why churches don't stand back and reevaluate it if people don't like it - I think it's part of the 'can't please everyone' thing. As long as the majority still likes it, it's nothing that needs to be messed with. There will always be unhappy people. And I agree with the above poster who said that they wouldn't leave if it was only the music that was a problem for them. I wouldn't, either. And if I wouldn't, with music being such an important thing to me, then I have to admit that I kind of think that people who would are just looking for a reason to dislike something. But that's just my take - YMMV.

Finished up the Enola Holmes pre-read (for Link) this evening. I'm behind on the books I was actually planning on reading, but once I finish Woman of Influence, the next book on my list is another Peretti reread, so I should be able to knock that one out in just a few days and, hopefully, catch back up. I'm trying to decide whether or not to count little miss Enola as one of my official books. Technically it's a kids book, and an easy read. But there are books written for adults that are just as easy lol. So... yeah. I guess I'll count it. :D :lol:

They will need to adjust and get used to it. That said, I can definitely understand their discomfort. It will take getting used to. But they will get used to it with time.

I just had to quote to be like YES. It's so good to come across someone who GETS IT, you know? Our circumstances and everything sound incredibly similar. It's just nice to remember sometimes that we aren't alone in the things we experience, even when some details vary.

Saw this yesterday but just now getting around to commenting. Church is... Complicated. A few years ago, I could have been the person up thread who can't imagine not being at church, being a part of something, being involved. We were VERY involved in our church since moving here within a year of getting married. It was the church dh grew up in , the church my children were then born into. We were involved, we were a part of something (the church community/family, whatever you want to call it) and loved it. Dh was on the board, we volunteered in the nursery, the youth group, became parts of small groups, did the musicals in various capacities. But when a church begins to change theologically, there is nothing you can do. We stayed on for a few years, hanging onto hope that the doctrine would straighten back out and yes, staying because it was comfortable and easy. We never talked to other members/people at large about the problems we saw in the preaching, the politics, the way they were beginning to run the church, but we discussed concerns with the appropriate people. Finally, dh was ready to leave. It took me a few more months because I was so comfortable there - I knew everyone, everyone knew me; but truth be told, I was skipping out on the preaching often, helping in the nursery, etc. I was avoiding it because I knew the decision to leave would be hard. I prayed that something would come up and we would need to move. Because moving to another place entirely would be easier than staying in our same little town of 5,000 people with very few churches and leaving the one we called home. When I finally came face to face with the fact that we needed to leave, I was sad for awhile. But as I was, I realized that the things I was mourning - the memories I had - those were things that weren't there anymore anyway. Let me be clear: THIS WAS NOT BECAUSE WE DON'T LIKE CHANGE. Because, you know, that's what people say. People who get upset because you leave automatically assume that the problem lies with the person leaving, that they 'must not like change' or that the church needs to 'get rid of the chaff'. We weren't a part of some good ol' boys club who wanted to do things the way they'd always been done just because. And tbh, it's frustrating because what bigger change could there be than the choice WE made? The difficult realization that we couldn't stay with people we loved at this church that was important to us? To choose to leave, to choose the difficult road - THAT was change. It still IS change that we walk through every day, and we left over a year ago. Because when change = watered down doctrine, false theology? Sure. Then I guess you could say change is bad. Around here, as I already mentioned, there are very few churches. VERY few. We tried everything within a 45 minute radius. There was little to be found. At present, we do attend a church regularly. However, im not sold on it. None of us are. We attend only on Sundays. There are many problems with the church, the pastor, etc - and by all means, there is NO such thing as a perfect church! - but right now we are in the place of trying to figure out if the doctrine is so bad that we should go ahead and leave with the knowledge that there is literally no place else to go. So that's where we are with our church journey right now. Part of me still wishes we could move, just to have more options available. But the likelihood of that - and the reality of whether or not I would REALLY want to move... Probably not happening. I'm an extrovert, so some of our problems are different. I want a church where I can get involved, etc... And this one doesn't provide an opportunity for that. We are trying, still - we haven't given up yet. But part of me thinks that soon we will have to. I'm just not sure about it right now.

As an adult, I use an oil cleanser at night and it works wonderfully. In the winter I wash my face in the shower every other day with an apricot scrub - in the summer I use my regular soap (not a typical soap - all these products I buy locally from the maker. The soap is not a harsh one). I think if/when my kids start having acne issues I'll start with those things, because they are natural and low cost. Of course, teenage skin can be a whole other thing, so we shall see. As a teen I used neutrogena; cetaphil as a young adult. I never had bad acne but my skin in general looks better now than ever, so if I can keep the harsh chemicals off their faces I'll definitely try that first.

I haven't read all the replies so this may be redundant. In India, it's dowry, it's not 'gaining' anything by having a daughter, it's archaic patriarchal things that a few people are now working on changing. I've watched documentaries on it and it's mind-boggling, the treatment of girls and women in general there. Here in the US, I actually find - when it comes to 'what people want to have'/babies, girls are preferred. Girls are cooed at, catered to, and considered 'precious' in ways that boys are not. When I was pregnant with Pink, I looked around me and saw the blatant favoritism of girls over boys and was honestly upset at the prospect of bringing a girl into such a culture. That's not to say I hadn't seen it before that - as a preschool teacher well before having any children, I saw other teachers favor girls and spend extra time with them and give them special attention and privileges. I always found it extremely problematic. Aish. Just thinking about it bothers me. (That's not to say that the issues we encounter in the us are on par with or worse than girls being killed in India just because they are girls - please understand I'm not saying that AT ALL. I'm just speaking from personal experience here.)

I've been neglecting my reading and haven't finished a book this past week. :leaving: :D I'm still working on Woman of Influence, a reread from a women's group at church several years ago - it's not too bad. There are some mild things that could be interpreted as something I don't agree with, but they aren't the focus of the book, so I'll probably keep this one around. I started The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes) as a pre-read for Link. He's going to be participating (or at least trying out) a book club with some other boys his age and I wanted to read the book, too, as I hadn't heard of it before and me reading it would give him a sounding board on it before going to discuss it with others. It's fine. I will say I'm kind of like :blink: about a couple things in the foreword, but since then it's been nbd. I hope he doesn't just want to immediately drop it because of the whole female protagonist thing, though. I also begin reading The Power of a Praying Wife and this woman had me thinking she's completely insane in the first chapter. I'm not sure I can stick with a book in which the author insists that it's a woman's duty to her husband to be all sorts of things. That really rubs me the wrong way. So. I may jut toss that one out. We'll see. :glare: Aside from those, over the course of the year I'll be working on Knowing God (with my Bible study group) and The Celebration of Discipline (an old favorite from college that I'm going to focus on one chapter/month at a time). And of course, as always, I'm continually adding books to my 'Want-to-Read' list on Goodreads. :lol: Usually there are tons on here, and then this past weekend I attended an IF:Local (IF:Gathering = Christian women's conference), and added more then, too. One day I'll get to them. :D :lol: Oh, and in other news: I went through all of my clothes and discarded FIVE TRASH BAGS WORTH!!! :D I took them to the donation bin today. Woot woot!! I wish I could go through things quicker, but alas, real life doesn't allow it. Just that much, though, is pretty awesome, and just that much space is already making me feel happy. :D So far this year: 1. This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti 2. Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge 3. The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun 4. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

:lol: :lol: As I read through here, I have other tabs open, each with a music video I have pinned on pinterest. Just so happened that the EXACT ONE I was listening to when I came to this comment, I had commented myself on the pin 'Girl SLAYYYYYY' :lol: So I didn't say YASSSSS (though that is also on some m/v pins) or Queen (that's one that I only reserve for specific female rappers and this girl was NOT one of them. :D ) So yeah. That happened. Like when I was in a hotel room with my friends last year and commenting on an m/v and said 'seriously tho, he's going lowkey hard in the paint' and they were all like :blink: :confused: and that one isn't even a new slang-ish thing! :lol:

My MIL did it recently with Ancestry.com. She did hers and my FILs - his came back with some surprising (though not so much so when you thought about it) Middle Eastern/North African lineage. I haven't seen his actual results. His dad was Mennonite and with their last name I'll admit I was sort of expecting 100% German. :D ;) But then, looking at him, and his complexion and coloring, it isn't surprising. Just wasn't something we'd thought of before. It's sort of fun to see. I've always wanted to do mine. I had originally thought 23andme but now I'm wondering if I shouldn't do the other one PPs are recommending. I don't know my dad/ don't know who he is at all, so I'm a little curious about that 'unknown' half of my ancestry. :) My maiden name (my mom's maiden name) is 100% Dutch, so I'm expecting a lot of English/Dutch/German. But then who knows, there could be something surprising. :D random story: A few years ago when I was planning my trip to Thailand, an acquaintance in a moms group asked if I wanted to go to Thailand and liked K-pop because I'm 'part Asian'. (Because, you know, Korea and Thailand are the same thing? :lol: ) I just looked at her like she was nuts and pointed to my blonde hair and blue eyes and was like, 'What part of this looks like I'm from Thailand or Korea to you?' I'm not saying there's no possibility of a tiny percentage, but it's clearly not a big enough part of my heritage that heritage alone would make me want to visit or like their music. :lol: :lol: But then, I'd LOL if I really did get a percentage - even a teensy tiny one - from Eastern Asia somewhere. :lol:

Not quite there yet. (12, 10, and 6.5) All 3 of mine would eat unending unhealthiness if I'd let them. But I don't. :lol: They also seem to eat most in the morning, a pretty decent sized lunch, and then less at dinner. Except Astro. He would eat all day. Astro began asking for third helpings on occasion a couple years ago. It's gotten more frequent over time. He almost never eats just his first plate of food. During soccer season, he eats more. So it could be that Link never does it, but Astro probably will. :lol:

Neutral/descriptive.

Yes, looking back I think that I was saying 'do your best' and meaning it in the context of two things: it equaling making a good effort and it being something that mattered to you/is important. I wasn't thinking in the context of small things like 'do the best possible job of keeping the house clean' or 'do the best possible job of making dinner every night'. I was thinking much more broadly - 'do the best you can in school', 'make a good effort in the activity you choose', 'do your job well', 'make an effort at being a parent' (not an issue on here, lol - and not saying what style of parenting. There are all types. I'm just talking very general, broad terms here). That sort of thing. I think that things like housework and cooking (both of which I detest lol), it falls somewhere under the bigger, broader categories. Making sure the hungry Chaos Crew gets fed. Or that there is at least food available. Making sure it's clean enough that it's not unlivable. That sort of thing. I can definitely see where I was talking in very broad strokes and others were seeing the smaller things. I apologize for not being clear originally. I tend to be that sort of thinker. :) I agree. I actually have a really good example of the bolded. That like, just happened. My DH hates his job. Well. He hates a lot of his job. It sucks the life out of him, sometimes. And I really, really hate it. However, he does his job well, and it is work for him. He is often looking for other ways to earn an income - should he go back to school in the evenings? Should he look for a job elsewhere? (He's always got feelers out on other jobs). He used to often ask me, what do you think I should do? And I never really had a good answer, and I think he thought that I didn't care in a negative sense. But finally he asked one day, I said he should do what he wanted to (my usual answer), and went on to explain that what he does doesn't matter to me. We can find lots of ways to make things work. But what matters to me is that I find it completely heartbreaking to see him like this. Success for us isn't about how much money is in the bank or anything like that. I wish it wasn't for anyone, but different people have different priorities. Success should be doing something you enjoy. It should be loving your life (in a very broad sense lol). He was like that again today when he came home from lunch - worn out, by the job. Not a physical exhaustion, so much. He's a hard worker, but working hard at something that is sucking the life out of you is horrible. I'm watching this and I'm just. *shrug* I don't have words. It's incredibly hard. I wish I could think of something to change it. I want so badly to be able to do that. :( On the other hand, I don't work at a job besides the PT receptionist one, which is just a few hours a week - I'm PRN, so there's no guarantee of hours. I'm two blocks away so I go in more during snowstorms than the others. But then I tend to be bottom of the totem pole for hours when it'd be nice to have more. But at the same time, I don't mind that. It gives me time for things I do enjoy. A few years ago I had the opportunity to direct a full choir for the Easter musical for the first time in a long time. I could come home and listen to the music, memorize all the parts, go to practice multiple times a week, plan on going early every night of dress rehearsal (which I often did even when I wasn't the choir director because I was still the music director for those, or, in past years, in the cast and ensemble), and never feel worn out from it. Hours could pass and it didn't bother me in the slightest. Juggling our schedule and pushing dinners earlier, etc, wasn't a problem because it was doing something I loved. It's not that I think that DH *should* find something he loves that much lol. He's more of the sort of person who has a job as a means to an end, not that his job is his passion in life. But I do wish it wasn't the dreaded thing that it is for him. :(

:lol: I am most definitely not a perfectionist!! :D I guess I just see things differently. I never said things have to be perfect or that anyone has to be 'better than' anyone else - just that they should be giving their best effort. If my kid wants to play soccer, I'd encourage them to go out and play, not warm the bench. And I'm not defining success AT ALL. I don't like the idea that success only = high salaries, prestige, blah blah blah. That's very much against my philosophy in life. I honestly think success is 100% doing what you enjoy and love. How you equate these feelings of mine to perfectionism are lost on me. Sorry. Oh yes, definitely. I HATE TO CLEAN. I HATE housekeeping with a passion!! So I do the best that I want to. Because honestly, that has nothing to do with my life or me as a person. I don't define my success by how clean my house is, and I would hope that if anyone did so, it would ONLY be because they absolutely love keeping their house clean. THIS x100!!!!!!!!! :iagree: :iagree: I absolutely agree with this. IMO, kids need to put forth good effort on everything, and by that, I mean schoolwork. And whatever sport or activity they choose, if they choose one. If I ask them to clean their room, I don't really care how they do it. I just care that they can vacuum the floor without vacuuming up clothes. :D My kids have never done music lessons, but I had one who did a season of baseball because he wanted to. He was never told he had to stick with baseball or practice baseball outside of the delegated practice. I just wanted him to try. Because he wanted to try. He got nervous the day of the first game, decided he didn't want to play, but we encouraged him to do so anyway because he wanted to and we knew it was nerves. We told him he never had to play again, but that when he signed up he made a commitment. I wasn't going to let his nervousness override his commitment. There was nothing serious going on in his case - if there had been, we would have definitely allowed him to stop. Apparently I'm in the minority here because I want my kids to actually try things that they said they wanted to try? Sigh. I'm so confused. I feel like my thoughts are exactly the same as everyone else's, but I'm getting singled out as being someone who is a perfectionist. It's disappointing. I definitely agree. I don't consider things I enjoy to be work, either. But I think that pretty much anyone can agree, even if it was something they loved, they can look back and say, 'yes, I worked hard.' It's not a negative thing. I'm trying to understand how what I'm saying is any different than anyone else. I feel like I need examples of things lol. Let's see. I am a receptionist as a part time job. I don't love my job (got it just to raise money to go to Thailand a couple years ago, and then paid for LASIK with it) but I do it well. It's not hard. It isn't hard work - I sit at a desk, answer a phone, direct people where to go. I still feel like it is important for me to be pleasant. I don't want to be rude or mean or look/act like I absolutely hate being there. I sound pleasant on the phone and smile when people walk in. I fail to understand how that makes me a perfectionist? Because I feel like if I'm going to be there I should do it well? Same thing with the kids, as I mentioned above. They all like soccer, one more so than the others. They choose to play whatever they want each season (if anything). I wouldn't be pleased if my kids threw a fit on the field and refused to play (mind you, they aren't young, either - that sort of behavior in younger children isn't uncommon just because of their moods ;) - but at 12 and 10 I would not be pleased with it), which I have seen some kids that age do. Granted, I've never had a child do that. Astro is the soccer lover, but when he was 4 he was terrified to go on the field, so we didn't make him. He didn't have to. He was a little kid and he liked playing at practice but didn't like the pressure of games. He still went back a year or so later and loved the audience at games. But if, at 10, he suddenly shut down on the field for no reason - I would question it. I would try to find out if something happened, someone said something, or if he just suddenly decided he didn't want to do it. And doing one's part, making a good effort, doesn't mean they have to be the most intense players imaginable. But for me, that means not dropping the ball (figuratively, since it is soccer lol)... if they are covering defense in one area, I would expect them not to just stand in one spot and watch the ball roll by when they were easily within range to get to it in time. That's an attitude problem, if something like that were to happen. Do others really not agree? Again, my kids choose their own activities. It could be that the children I see yelling at their coaches and parents from on the field did not choose it but were forced into it by parents. In which case, well... :lol: Perhaps the parent should learn to not make their kid do something they don't want to when it isn't something important. When it comes to school work, I do believe they should give their best efforts. What else do kids actually have to do besides school and play? Isn't that optimal? I'm not saying I expect perfect grades - I'm saying I want them to try to do the best of their abilities, in as much time as it takes. Isn't that what homeschooling is all about? No way on the badminton! I've never played badminton, but fun games are for fun. In that case, the best effort would be to just have fun. Idk. Apparently my post last night came across weird because I feel like all the responses are accusing me of something I never said - or at least, never intended to say. *shrug* Perhaps my wording was weird, as it was pretty late. I thought I was clear - in my head I was - but semantics. Who knows.