Has her hearing been checked recently? Tested for auditory processing? I work with young adult with hearing impairments and for some they lose hearing and need hearing aids again as young adults.

My grandfather was part of the troops that liberated one of the concentration camps. The pictures he took are horrific. We plan to donate them to a holocaust museum that will help preserve the history but treat the pictures and people featured with the respect they deserve.

It is such a poor testimony.

Sounds like an excellent film, but not one I could watch.

Just glad my student didn’t see it .

I just finished The Forgotten Girls very good listen. Would make a good book club book but might be controversial. ——- Growing up gifted and working-class poor in the foothills of the Ozarks, Monica and Darci became fast friends. The girls bonded over a shared love of reading and learning, even as they navigated the challenges of their tumultuous family lives and declining town—broken marriages, alcohol abuse, and shuttered stores and factories. They pored over the giant map in their middle-school classroom, tracing their fingers over the world that awaited them, vowing to escape. In the end, Monica left Clinton for college and fulfilled her dreams, but Darci, along with many in their circle of friends, did not. Years later, working as a journalist covering poverty, Potts discovered what she already intuitively knew about the women in Arkansas: Their life expectancy had dropped steeply—the sharpest such fall in a century. This decline has been attributed to “deaths of despair”—suicide, alcoholism, and drug overdoses—but Potts knew their causes were too complex to identify in a sociological study. She had grown up with these women, and when she saw Darci again, she found that her childhood friend—addicted to drugs, often homeless, a single mother—was now on track to becoming a statistic. In this gripping narrative, Potts deftly pinpoints the choices that sent her and Darci on such different paths and then widens the lens to explain why those choices are so limited. The Forgotten Girls is a profound, compassionate look at a population in trouble, and a uniquely personal account of the way larger forces, such as inheritance, education, religion, and politics, shape individual lives.

Today I was driving the school van with a student and was a behind a vehicle with a Christian fish emblem and a LOVE sticker and this (trigger warning) like this Obviously this hits close. I am in no way excusing their behavior….but seeing this on the same vehicle as the Christian emblem and LOVE sticker just hit me.

I sorta/mostly agree. I grew up in poverty and was working regularly before age 11 to help with the basics like clothing, etc. it was just a way of life in our rural community. Now as an adult, I am not making a huge amount of money but my frugal beginnings have taught me a lot about not needing much. We are very comfortable and I save money for retirement but in paper I would be considered poverty or near poverty level. I love to travel and that is a priority. Much of my travel is backpacking so once I bought the basic gear (about $500) it is just gas to get to a place and very basic food. I am doing a bigger trip this year to Italy but will be staying with a friend, using public transportation, and mostly eating grocery store type food. On the flip side, I have a limited wardrobe and most is from the $2/item thrift store or Walmart clearance. I don’t buy coffee out or gas station snacks, never had a manicure, and rarely go out to eat. Those are choices that help my travel budget. but there is also the element of being blessed such that I was able to sell a house when I got divorced and pay cash for one that is a lot smaller but fits my needs

We are getting to that stage. Last weekend we gathered a large number of nice furniture items for a family that said they would pick them up that afternoon. We are now one week later and they have yet to pick them up so now now it is just going to be whoever wants to grab them may have them

Yea. That is why hotels are so peaceful……no excess stuff. maybe that is why I like backpacking as well as I can survive for 4 to 5 days with what I have on my back

There is one closer to my mom’s house that we might try for a pick up. Great organization. My son-in-law got a power wheelchair from them to use for two months after he broke his leg and needed surgery.

Yesterday I was able to bless my friends grandson with a few simple Lego sets. He was soooo excited and will spend hours playing with them.

That is part of my stress as I want anything useable to be donated and gotten into the hands of those that need it….but that takes time and effort. we have power wheelchairs to donate but those need a specific type ministry. Then furniture another, craft supplies somewhere else, etc. we are doing our best but it is hard when we all work full time and we have an entire house to clean out.

I am cleaning out my mom’s house now that she moved to assisted living. So much stuff. I am also working in cleaning out stuff at my house . A thing I keep seeing over and over is that we hang on to stuff we aren’t using by/don’t need and there are costs to doing that. Items that 5 years ago might have been valuable enough to sell or even just wanted as donations are now old, out of style, no longer useful, etc….and may have cost us money to keep when they could be a blessing to someone else now. Trying here to keep just what we need and use. we just sold a used car yesterday. Today I am listing an exercise bike as I go to the gym now, hover boards, etc.

Bus drivers are such important people in kids lives. They set the tone for the start and end of the day and most take an interest in each and every one of them.

Does your district offer an alternative high school? Or smaller charter school?

If this is an ongoing need they do make male bladder pads that absorb better and have odor control.

I have to give him 21 days and then there are options. Issue is locating him.

I won by default today. I didn’t even have to leave the row of benches behind the main part of the court. The defendant did not show up. Now comes the hardest part of trying to get him to pay the judgment. I will be surprised if I ever see even a penny, but it is more of the principle of the thing.

I am not sure if it would work on the water issues there or not but we backpack with a sawyer squeeze which is very small and portable and could be used to filter water as needed.

My son has one and used it for commuting to work before he got his license. I think his is lectric brand.

Ok, going early and watching one or 2 before mine won’t work as there are several weddings today and the only other small claims case being heard is hours before mine in the middle of my work day.

That is a good idea to go early. I can see if I can get off work early and do just that. It seems weird that I represented myself in divorce court (I couldn’t find a lawyer to take my case due to my ex-husband’s federal court case status) and wasn’t this nervous.

I have 2 pages of notes and 28 pages of evidence prepared….things like FB listing for vehicle, inspection reports, etc

I am the plaintiff in a small claims court case tomorrow. It is over a car I bought that was grossly misrepresented….including that it was all wheel drive and the rear drive shaft is missing …..and that there were 12 check engine light codes that had been reset so they weren’t on during a test drive. Anyway, if you have been to small claims court I would appreciate some hints, tips, etc. I have been to court well over 100 times…a murder trial for my BIL (victim), lots of foster care cases where I had to testify, adoption cases, guardianship cases, federal court for my ex (where I did NOT have to testify), divorce court where I represented myself, etc. So, I should not be nervous but I am. I feel I have a strong case but even if I lose, I want the defendant to consider before he does this to others. There is a fair chance he will not show up. He has already tried to avoid being served papers several times until we go all sorts of proof that he did live where he denied he lived.