In your opinion has the situation improved/worsened or not really changed since ACA? I remember lots of paperwork confusion with my mom's medical treatment with Medicare but was 8 or 9 years ago, and I don't know if it has changed. So much of the insurance paperwork mill that I encounter with our plan (group insurance through employer) has not changed either way. I am not sure if my question falls in to the banned topics area. If it is not appropriate please let me know.

According to my family reunions, I always thought "salad" meant mayo. you know, potato salad w/mayo, carrot raisin salad w/mayo, pasta salad...... :lol: the lettuce stuff was 'tossed salad', ha But thinking of jello and cool whip, remember that salad that was orange jello blended with grated carrots and cottage cheese? ETA: not recommending the orange jello stuff, just reminiscing

My gluten intolerant child had most neurological symptoms. Insomnia, fatigue, brain fog, depression and anxiety. I actually had a fairly easy time instituting gf rules for her because we had a mother and child with celiac in our homeschooling group. I did not have to explain gf or how important it was because the tough work of explaining it had already been done. Accidental exposure because someone doesn't know what to do is bad enough but deliberate sabotage. yikes

When my girls were younger one had a life threatening condition and we had her wear an alert bracelet. Standard bracelet did not look like fancy jewelry. It was useful for more than just paramedics. She was asked about it several times by tour directors (at an industrial plant) and ride operators (at Disney) who were double checking that she would be safe. Her condition also included occasionally included her outward appearance (pale and bruised). The bracelet gave several people, who I think were concerned about abuse, a opening to talk to me about her.

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement Catwoman. I shall begin seeking out grants now. :lol:

Perhaps Austin is trying normalize other nudity as well. I don't know, I don't live there. I think the overexposure leads to it being less about sex, just like bare legs are no longer considered sexual. I guess one question is 'does nudity make us think of sex or does thinking about sex make us look for nudity (or as near as we can find"? Look at me...I am well on my way to nudity researcher now. HA

Thank you Crimson, this is one of the reasons I love talking about things here. I have a question. :seeya: I have NO SCIENTIFIC DATA here, but my instant (unconsidered) thought was just the opposite. That so much public discussion and sex in entertainment has caused nudity to lose meaning. I would have said. We have become so accustomed to folks waving their bodies around that we don't pay any more attention. Sort of a sub-thought that the more a society covers up the more exciting body parts become. Victorian men ogling ankles and all. :001_cool: Now of course I am wondering where my assumption came from, and like I said "I am not a nudity researcher nor do I play one on TV", I have no facts to back this.

Thank you Ravin. I already like this. I am going to ramble here and I hope this makes sense. Please correct me gently if I am not clear. I grew up in the 70s, there was a lot of talk of body awareness and acceptance. Much of women's bodies were considered secret, wrong, hidden, icky. There was a woman Betty Dodson (?) who did these consciousness raising workshops on women's bodies and sexual pleasure (also unspoken of). There was a lot of nudity as a way to show bodies were all different and all beautiful

yes, at least for me. It also helps me a lot to be able to understand why some people think or act the way they do even if I don't end up agreeing. There are some political mysteries out there that baffle me. I can't ask the people I know irl, I also don't ask here because I respect the rules about politics but I am just sure that someone could explain them to me. :laugh: I really loved the 'ask a xyz' threads. So much open information.

:iagree: :iagree:

I will repeat that I don't have any great concern with public nudity. Or with adults making legal choices. I will also state that when an adult makes a legal choice I don't approve of I just ignore it. That said. Some of the above posts seem to imply nudity is a moral failing. :huh: Topless nudity does not necessarily equal sexuality. It is not the same category as drunkenness, or drug use, it is not an indicator of 'someone who needs attention' or lack of a job. It is just nudity. Some people like being nude.

I liked your response. To me (IMO) the key word is adult. If it is not illegal and an adult makes his or her choice, the only thing I control is how I respond. That is pretty much what I teach my children as well. I don't care either way about topless nudity but there are many many other things out there that are also illegal and annoying. As much as possible I just ignore things that do bother me, I try to practice "don't like it, don't pay attention" :hurray: :hurray: like this one too. I can't control anyone else but I can control how I respond.

Me too! I thought I was the only one because of the stereotype that women love the phone. Nope..nope..nope Even when I am calling someone who I KNOW wants to hear from me I can barely make myself do it.

Toastmasters International has a youth leadership program. I don't know if you have to join a group or if you can just buy the materials 4H teaches youth leadership. Most counties have a youth council and follow a formal protocol for leading meetings, keeping records and minutes. I know they sell their materials online at 4H Mall. You could also just get a copy of Robert's rules of order as a good starting place.

What exactly does your Obama sticker say? :lol: :lol: :lol:

I have been looking at this site to buy gift cards at a discount. My plan is to buy one of the petsmart gift cards at 10% off since I usually buy my pet food from them anyway. I have seen other people use a gift card to pay and still be able to use the store rewards cards to get the sale prices. That would be a discount on a discount if it worked. Has anyone tried this? http://www.cardpool.com/buy-gift-cards

Karoke? okay I know I did not spell that right. A costume or engineering competition. How ever many teams you want, each gets a bucket of stuff, they need to design a bridge, a prom outfit or whatever in x mintues. Then vote on winner and give prizes.

New College of Florida, located in Sarasota. It is in the public university system and is a small liberal arts honors college. Total enrollment around 700. No grades or GPA - pass/fail. 7 "Contracts", 3 Independent Study Projects and a successfully defended Thesis to graduate. Most kids are clothed but even in the winter very few wear shoes. I once over-heard a conversation that went like this. "My roommate is going out with that boy that only wears skirts". "Oh? which one?" My dh went to parents weekend the first year (I was out of state visiting relatives). He took her out to dinner and afterward she had him drop her at the front parking lot. The central mall was full of kids having a 'body painting' party...paint only. Like I said, I never asked about her participation (other than noting lack of shoes).

Answering only for me, of course. Yes, you can teach your girls safety without implying that rape would be their fault. Just like you teach them how to drive safely or watch both ways when crossing the street. Just like the stranger danger for kids, "not everyone out there is a good person, you can't tell from the outside so here is what you do...." . It is up to the teacher to determine how positive or negative that lesson is expressed. My original post was just that sometimes we fail to teach boys the same things we teach girls because we (rightly or wrongly) assume they are at less risk. I am not a mother of boys so I can't say why moms would not teach them the 'watch your drink' rule but apparently some don't. Reference in the title to Patriarchy was intended to s/o off of the "modesty and patriarchy" thread. I don't think teaching girls safety should be based on blaming them for rape, but it is used that way at times. I have seen times when there is a problem in a town with rape and the news media are all about reminding girls of the safety rules. Reality is we do see girls asked 'well what were you doing? wearing? who were you with?" when problems arise. It's wrong. But it is reality, it happens pretty much any day in the news.

Sorry :blushing: I'm sure I wasn't clear. Reefgazer and Aura are correct. This was a spin off, I didn't put the s/o in the title so that wasn't clear', off of the 'kicked out of prom' thread and the 'modesty and patriarchy' thread. In one of the threads (I didn't check before starting the reply) posters discuss that we teach girls the 'how not to get raped' lessons. I was just pointing out that sometimes we forget to teach boys public safety too. This was really pointed out to me when my daughter said how many of the boys in the orientation had not heard the 'watch your drink' speech.

When I was in high school (70's) some of the boys would try slipping 'spanish fly' into girls' drinks. It didn't do anything except make you throw up. One of my friends was very sick after someone did this. I was always cautious after that. :glare: For some reason, though it did not occur to me that boys would need to worry about this also (I don't know where my was :confused1: )

oops, I missed a station in my train of thought. sorry In one of the other topics we were discussing how girls are taught to 'not get raped', we also discussed that the same rules could be taught to boys on 'how not to be accused'. This got me thinking about the assumptions we have in our society about what girls need to know and what boys need to know. Does that help? Sorry, apparently I leapt ahead in the conversation with out the proper build up. :mellow: I hope the reply above helps. I don't think I would apply it to a server bringing me a drink, but I don't drink something I have left on a table and then wandered away from. I gave both of my daughters this advice when they were growing up. Some of it referred to things like date rape drugs, but I also remember way back in my college days malicious 'pranksters' :thumbdown: putting stuff in drinks. You don't know what happened to it while you were gone.

Those are gorgeous.

oops :lol: Now at least one of them will have a burning desire to become a fashion designer, cosplayer or reenactor. ha

My older daughter told me a story from her semester abroad in Italy. During orientation the teacher said "the girls will know this, but most of the guys won't" and then gave them the don't leave your drink unattended speech. You know the one "open it yourself, or watch it being poured. Don't leave it alone and throw it away and start fresh if you aren't sure" DD said that many of the boys around her had never received this advice. She and the other girls basically responded with "really? we have known this since we were 12" Apparently college age American students studying abroad are a goldmine. Slip something in their drinks and then steal their money, credit cards, ipads, iphones, passports, etc. And yes I know the students have more to worry about than just theft but that is how the teacher presented it. And yes, again, most of the boys did not know this simple advice. :(