astrid
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Posts posted by astrid
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It starts feeling like Christmas when the landscapers and exterior decorating companies start showing up in the neighborhood with the cherry pickers, and they put up all the lights and wreaths on many of the houses. Nobody goes really crazy with the lighting and decorations, though -- everything is always very tasteful and everyone's lights are perfectly straight. :rolleyes:
Exterior decorating companies?? Never heard of such.
astrid
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SWEET!Love it when things line up like that--- enjoy it!astrid
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http://www.thecitychicken.com/
http://www.backyardchickens.com/
http://www.mypetchicken.com/default.aspx
There are lots of great books--- The one Janet linked is a good one.
We live in a very small, residential neighborhood of old homes on small lots, close together. We have seven hens and LOVE them to pieces. SO rewarding!
astrid
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Well I don't think I fit his critiera because I only have one child and though we homeschooled through 8th grade she is now in high school as was our plan all along, but......
K-State is on her short list of schools she wants to attend (from our home in CT!) and I have lots of family who are grads, so I just want to say....
GO WILDCATS!!!
(and congratulations to your husband!)
astrid
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NEEDLES!!!! NEEDLES!!!!! PLEASE, NEEDLES!!!!!!
Those looms are one-trick ponies!
astrid
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Whole Foods has a big container in their wine department for cork recycling. People bring in their old corks to dump in it. I have no idea how they're recycled, but we usually scoop some up whenever we need corks for anything. Last time we were in I noticed the container was pretty empty, which I assumed was because everyone is taking them for Christmas craft projects.
I wonder if other stores do something like this.
Edited to add: There's a cute pattern for cork-based elves on Ravelry. They remind me of those Christmas trees.
OMG I had no idea?! I'll check out WF before I buy some.
Enjoy the wine, ladies-- and then knit elves and Christmas trees! :-)
astrid
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Molly is 15, tall and lean, but athletically built. No belly, but she's a swimmer (butterfly) so she has shoulders and upper arms. She also goes to public high school in Connecticut so here's a list of places she likes:
Hollister (though it's very casual, EXPENSIVE stuff-- logo hoodies, etc.
American Eagle (not great quality, but fit and style is ok)
Garnet Hill (some stuff)
Eddie Bauer (again, some is too old, but she loves a lot of their cardis and scarves, and the jeans fit her well)
Aeropostale (very much like AE and others)
Forever 21
Charlotte Russe
H&M
Hope that helps!
astrid
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But, taking the GED puts you in the tier two category. Because the army is now downsizing, those jobs are fewer. Recruiters are limited on the number of tier two recruits that they can accept in a given year. Being in the tier two category severely limits your MOS choices. I would strongly suggest that anyone in this boat do the community college thing for a year and then enlist to get back in the tier one category.
oh well I know nothing about "tiers." Didn't even know there was such a thing. I just know that recruiters seem to nod and understand when they hear the acronym "GED" and get a puzzled, skeptical look when they hear "NEDP" or "homeschooled."
astrid
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Absolutely true. And why I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with a low income mother deciding she wants to take care of her own child instead of put them in daycare to bring home pennies.
Again. The problem here is people are asking the wrong question.
The question is why are they having babies?
The questions should be:
Why are they terrible people?
Why are they having sex?
Why are they haing relationships with losers?
Why are they not getting an education?
Why do we tolerate jobs that don't pay a living wage?
Why do we pay daycare workers crappy salaries to watch other people's children and then complain that they have the nerve tI want more of their own? (Heck. My question is how'd they manage to keep that desire after working in daycare?!)
The problem is NOT having babies.
Babies are nothing more than the natural result of having sex between two people.
Yet babies are the fixted decision we are questioning.
That is what I don't understand.
I have yet to see a single problem poverty presents that rich folks don't have too. Morons? Check. Jerks? Check. Poorly educated? Check. Broken or abusive or uncaring families? Check. Drugs? Check. Bad parenting? Check. The difference is rich people can buy breaks and poor people just have toslink or swim with the weight of it.
Again. Why blame the babies? The decisions that are the problem are decision made way before getting pregnant. Why is the focus on this one decision?
I don't think working or having one child is strike against anyone.
My only point was that to me asking why I would want number 10 is ridiculous. It's the same reason I would want number 1.
When I see a woman who has a child, 1 or more, in bad circumstances, I don't think, "Why is she having that baby?!" I think instead, "Why was she in that foolish relationship to begin with?! Why was she dating that turd? Why doesn't she get her act together?" and many other wonderings of what decisions created this problem situation. Because the problem isn't the pregnancy or the child. The problem is the decisions 9 months prior to that.
Who is blaming babies?
And no, I don't think many people see the kind of poverty and its repercussions that I was referencing. Hollow-cheeked, several-generations-of-crack-addicted-family-members, profoundly mentally ill. Literally no way out. Duquesne University is a major accomplishment; bravo to that boy! But most of the profoundly urban poor have more of a chance of winning the lottery than graduating from a school like Duquesne. It's just not a possibility for the vast majority of the population with which I am most familiar.
astrid
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My point came out wrong but I completely agree with you.
See? I knew we really just agreed! :-)
astrid
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Addictions and abuse, I agree with. Poverty, I do not.
Inner-city. Lack of transportation to/from ANY job. Lack of child care, even if a job was available. Lack of education past fourth grade. Lack of mental health sufficient to hold down a job, in many cases developmentally delayed or profoundly mentally ill or challenged such that they are unable to hold a job if they get one. No roof overhead, but rotating with kids from shelter bed to shelter bed to street.
THIS is the kind of poverty I"m talking about. Very VERY little chance of ANY WAY OUT.
astrid
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Umm, since the star thread you've had 5 stars :cheers2:
LOL well lookit that! ;-) Five stars and a dollah will get me a cup of Dunkin' Donuts (which I sorely need right now!)
astrid (who seriously didn't know those existed before that thread today!)
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i do not disagree. I think you are mistaking what I mean. I don't think "planning" for several "blessings" is a good idea when you are not able to feed them or give them basic needs. I guess I am imagining more the kind of family just making ends meet and if they want one more child. I don't mean having zero for food and having 10 more kids. I don't see how you get any strikes for being a working mom. That is not what I meant at all. I mean a loving and stable home is created with more than money.
No, I think we actually agree on a lot. I'll just go ahead and say that IN MY OPINION it's the height of irresponsibility for one to continue to have unprotected sex if one is not able to feed/clothe/nurture the children one has. Except in the cases of rape, pregnancy is, as my dad used to say, "self-inflicted." :-)
And I know it's not what YOU meant, but you'd be surprised the nasty-grams I've received for chosing to not only work but to raise my child without siblings. Tantamount to abuse, some think! ;-) <insert winking smilie here....they don't work on my office computer>
astrid
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Well I know. My point is LOVING families who choose to have more kids. I don't know how exactly to explain something without at least someone misinterpreting. I should have also added the crazy people who don't like their kids yet continue to have more.
No, my point is that while I think we can all agree that the idea of a loving family is the way we think all babies should enter the world, the reality is that poverty, addictions, abuse, etc. all play a role in both repeat pregnancies and robbing those babies of stable, loving homes. I work every day with women who have more "blessings" than they can afford financially or emotionally. They know this, and they continue to get pregnant. More babies make their lives more chaotic and the existing children suffer further. It's a vicious cycle that I see. They are neither "crazy" or "don't like their kids." They are just overwhelmed with a huge variety of overwhelming circumstances, some of which are not all of their own making.
But then, I'm a working mom of an only child. Two major strikes against me in most minds here. Do I have an opinion about this topic? Yes. A strong one at that, that heretofore I've withheld.
Oh--- disclaimer: I have no stars, so anyone feels like disagreeing and retaliating by giving me only one star, you'll be actually helping my rating. ;-)
astrid
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We don't drink much wine, and I found this adorable pattern for Christmas trees tops for wine corks. But I need corks! I don't think I've ever seen bags of them for sale anywhere? Would a restaurant give them to me? They don't save them, do they?
Frustrated because they're ADORABLE but I don't want to go buy corks at the hardware store, I want the cute WINE corks!
astrid
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How do you think a kid would rather grow up? Being loved and cuddled or in daycare and with a nanny 24/7 having no family stability? Stability and comfort come from FAR more than dollar bills.
It's not just children of "ball busting career parents" who grow up not being cuddled, and in daycare (or worse) 24/7 without family stability.
astrid
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Ha ha ha! I just checked and I have ZERO STARS!! Does that make me akin to Typhoid Mary? Or the sophomore girl who picks her nose and has bad skin and doesn't wear Benetton? ;-)
Yeah....I just don't have enough brain matter to get all worked up about my starlessness.
astrid
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........ I didn't even know there were stars. Now I'm all self-conscious. Great.
Yeah.... me too. I saw the starts on top of threads but didn't know they were clickable-- I guess I just assumed the stars were based on the number of replies or views a thread has gotten. But I admit I haven't gone poking around the new board a lot. There are probably lots of people dissing me here and I don't even know about it! :-)
Not that I care...... seriously.
astrid
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I deal with recruiters all the time who don't understand the National External Diploma Program that I administer here in CT. It's an alternative to the GED, portfolio-based, and self-directed. So I often talk to recruiters who have former clients in their offices, holding their NEDP Diploma (which is an actual local diploma, not a state certificate like the GED is in most states.) Recruiters often need an explanation, etc. about the program because it's little-known but more rigorous than the GED. Some decide to accept it, some don't. BUT, I always tell students if they're having trouble with recruiters who may not accept their credential to just take the GED. In most cases (your son's included, I'm sure) it's pretty much a formality and they breeze through, which results in a credential that the recruiters are more familiar with and more likely to just rubber-stamp.
He's adorable-- "smokin' hot girlfriends." LOVE that adolescent mind! :-)
astrid
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Molly has BearPaw boots. She loves them. Most of her friends have them, and hers are going on her second winter. Not expensive; maybe $50? Best price i found was on Amazon, but you can find them at Kohl's pretty cheap too.
astrid
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I was just getting ready to post the same-- this kid may have been disappointed by his birth father, but I wonder if Birth Father has mental illness? Because this kid seems more like someone with severe psychiatric issues to me. "There's someone inside of me...." and the kinds of threats make me think there's not much of a firm tie with reality there. Perhaps inpatient psychiatric care? At any rate, the family needs a respite. That poor grandmother. And mother! And the baby sister! It's so heartbreaking.
astrid
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It's possible that some ingredient(s) in her food or treats was changed. Companies do it all the time.
IMO senior foods are mostly a marketing gimmick. I think it might be helpful to change her food, but you don't necessarily need a senior formula. I'd look for something with relatively few ingredients, the type of food that's usually targeted for dogs with allergies or sensitive stomachs. Fewer ingredients means less chance that something in it won't agree with her.
You could also try giving her a probiotic or a bit of plain yogurt.
Completely agree. If you're up for it, a raw diet could be the answer. In any case, I'd add in some probiotics.
astrid
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No picture?
Sounds lovely-- just your description brought tears to my eyes. What a lovely idea. They will adore it and cherish it.
astrid
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UGH-- Labs are notorious for dog gas! :-)
I'd try switching to a grain-free food. If she's quite active, she probably doesn't need a senior food. Basically "senior" formulations have lower fat and protein because the assumption is that dogs are more sedentary in their senior years.
astrid
something cute and fun to start the day with!
in The Chat Board
Posted
GAAAH! I opened it and saw the pink tongue and thought it was a SNAKE!
Fun!
astrid