We have very different priorities. I did not comment on what it is like to live in NYC on that salary because I did not have personal experience with it but not everyone needs or wants a really big house. A 150,000 salary in NJ is plenty and can get you a nice house.

Calling 211 is suppose to help connect people with the available local resources. They should be able to get food stamps and some areas have heating assistance. Some areas might have local Facebook groups to help for things like diapers.

That is awesome! The better digispan and improved math facts show it is making a difference! My dc have working memory and processing speed weaknesses and I hope to at least improve the working memory. I do think improving what someone can hold in their head especially while distracted can make a big difference in difficulties. My youngest has not been tested yet but I know she has a big weakness in working memory. I did a computer program with my middle child and saw improvement but I was hoping to improve it in other ways that do not feel like work to them.

It would be hard to live in the city but it is doable if you commute into the city and live somewhere else like NJ. I knew lots of people who did that on various incomes. We made a lot less then that when we lived in the area. We have friends and relatives who work in the city and live in a commutable location. The commute is not insane if you take can take the train.

There are some very bright articulate 4 and just turned 5 year olds in my church class. One is reading really well and others are very articulate and figure out math for kids much older without being taught. They still act like 4 year olds and are not very mature. It is like hearding a bunch of cats. They still need that extra year before they are ready to be in an academic setting all day and maturity wise they are their age.

We are listening to The Green Glass Sea. It gets really sad towards the end and the whole thing is a coming of age story of two awkward girls set during World War II.

The way the Brendan Dassey case was handled was deplorable. Steven Avery has a borderline IQ too but Brendan is much younger and has a very different personality and way less experience in life. His biggest weakness is his verbal skills and he is just really shy, and wants to please people. I think a reason for the lower IQs could just be the environment they grew up in with isolation and poverty but he just did not have a lot of experience. His first lawyer was so slimy. This really makes me think about the negative view people tend to have on defense lawyers. They are important. I like Steven Avery's attorneys. They really believe their client and did such a good job uncovering things. It made me think about what you would do when you do not believe your client. Brendan's lawyer went beyond not believing him but trying to actually work against him.

You cannot do so. I had long irritating calls with people who first language was not English and several emails. I got rid of the kid accounts and put parental controls on the adult account so they cannot buy things, access the internet and they need a code to watch videos. I am not happy that you could not access the video library, music library, or audiobooks on a kid account and it really baffles me why they do not allow audiobooks and music especially. I also did not like how they could just use any app that was free in freetime. I am not crazy that they have access to all the books this way. We do not have music that I do not want them listening to but I can see that being a problem for some people. There is no way of just selecting what you want them to access with movies, books and music since the music and audiobooks are not on a kid account. You can set a password for accessing videos so they need to ask beforehand.

The kindergarten I went to in the 80s did not teach reading at all. My report card was similar to the one posted above. My kids would have been 1st graders though not kindergartners because of different cut offs if they went to school then. So for them nothing would be different in the expectations of reading.

It is highly correlated with psychopathy. Most violent serial killers tortured and harmed or killed animals. I do not think everyone that does that is a pyscopath but it is not typical behavior. It depends on how it happens. If someone is prone to anger and overreaction and hurts an animal that is different then just showing no emotion towards an animal feeling pain and wanting to see it suffer. What really got me is how he downplayed it and was not fully honest about the incident. I do not know enough about the incident to know what was going on when it happen. I do not know the chances that someone who intentially harms and kills animals will go on to hurt humans or continue that type of behavior. I do not know for sure if he killed her. He is very calm during the interviewing and if he did kill her then he does not show signs of an anxiety response or emotion but that could also mean he did not do it. I think cruelty in factory farming is a different thing altogether and more similar to how people acted during the Nazi reign.

I haven't really thought of this before. I have always never really had a group I fit in neatly with. I am very eclectic and if you add dh and the kids there are lots of different interests and ways in our family. I am crunchy to mainstream people but not at all crunchy when in a group of crunchy types. I am not homeschooling but if I was it would be eclectic and closer to classical then unschooling. My kids got to am alternative charter but I think I am one of the few progressive liberals at this school. I am not really super strict or really permissive as far as parenting goes. I hate sports but dh loves them. I am a pacifist and do not agree with a lot of our actions but my ds is fascinated by the military, all the wars and wants to be a military leader when he grows up. I am an atheist but I am not dogmatic about it with my kids. They can chose what they want. Our opposites would be an evangelical religious family that is very conservative or libertarian. They would have helicopter parenting tendencies. They would also believe in conspiracy theories and be young earth creationists. They would not believe that global warming or evolution is real. They would have an educational philosophy similar to The Waldorf method. They would follow a strict primal dietary plan. They would fear GMOs but drive big vehicles and live a very resource intense lifestyle with big houses and lots of material possessions. I do know people like this and I am fine with them ;)

This series is an interesting case. I haven't finished watching but I have been reading. I am actually finding it hard to stay focused on it at times. I am not as riveted as some people. I still think that SA can still be responsible. They really glossed over or barely mentioned some things about him that he did and some of the evidence. The stuff they put is very cherry picked which I understand with so much footage. They wanted to show they did not get a fair trial. I get why it was and I am not surprised by that but a lot if people are probably not aware of the details that were left out. I noticed in the first episode it mentions that he always owns up to what he did but I do not think he really takes full culpability for his actions even if he admitted to them. Dousing a cat in lighter fluid and throwing it in a fire is not just a stupid youthful thing he did by accident because he had bad influences in his life. They do not even mention the part about dousing the cat in lighter fluid. They also barely mention his threats to his ex wife or that he was ordered to stay away from his fiancé and lots of other things. He actually got a 6 year sentence for the incident with his cousin so he actually lost 12 years of his life to the first wrongful accusation not 18. It is obvious there is some reasonable doubt in the case and that it was really mishandled. You are suppose to be innocent until proven guilty and they should not be questioning anyone never mind a 16 year old with that IQ with no attorney present. I heard that the full recording is not as bad as the parts the show shows but still he should not have been questioned like that. They really also did not really examine other possible suspects as much as they should. One thing that has been bothering me is that people are now calling people who made comments before this series was out stupid for thinking he was the murderer. Anyone who still thinks he might have done it or that a lot was left out is likewise called all sorts of names. A lot of people really do not seem to know how to debate topics, discuss things reasonably, and hear other people's viewpoint to see where they are coming from.

I think you can improve brain function but I am not sure if the luminosity app will do that. I am using elevate and luminosity. They were both free and they are fun but I am not sure they are doing much. I prefer elevate over luminosity. I want to eventually try mindspark. Certain types of video games can improve visual spatial skills and other areas. I think improving your working memory can be helpful and that is possible but I am not sure the best way to go about that.

You can gear up to ovulate but not end up ovulating and ovulate later. You need to chart temperatures to confirm ovulation.

I like to have a general routine and to schedule things in advance. I am not regimented with things occurring at the same time and every day looking the same but I do like to schedule things in advance and know what days are for what activities. I do better being organized and having a good routine but I am very bad at setting up organizational systems with inattentive ADHD. Things change over time and get added and subtracted and that is fine. I do not do well with unexpected changes to my routine that are last minute. If someone needs help from me like watching their kids I rather know in advance then having it sprung up the night before or right before it occurs. I get very burn out if I am very busy and do not get time by myself and when that gets interrupted unexpectedly it really stresses me out.

This was the 2nd PG13 movie I let my kids see. The first was episode 3. My girls do have a tendency to get scared by parts of movies but they were fine during the new Stars Wars movie. Brave, the first Harry Potter and Smurfs had scenes that scared them.

My disappointing gift was the kindle fire kids edition. The kids profile does not allow music, audiobooks or access to the video library. The whole reason I got it was for music and audiobooks. What the heck is up with that. Why would kids be blocked from that stuff but they can add whatever app they want. I paid for free time and is more of a hassle and not at all useful. I have to use my profile for my kids. I not crazy about navigating on a regular profile either. It shows things you do not even had and that is in the cloud but not the device.

When I had friends with babies they never went off by themselves to nurse they just nursed in the room. I did the same. I usually do use someone coming to clean my whole house though. It would not be perfect but every room gets hit. If someone asked to nurse in another room I would be fine with that but I would tell them they did not have to and I would be fine with them feeding baby in the room. I would not expect to be warned ahead of time.

I can see myself living in a big city if we had the money but it would have to be a well planned denser one with lots of transportation options not a suburb city. I did not answer yes because I could not commit to living a city permantely until I had the experience. I tend to like change after a while. I lived in suburbs or suburban like cities my whole life and I do not really love the suburbs. It requires so much driving and neighborhoods are all the same and separated from everything else. There is less things to do and they all require driving but it is still busy and has a lot if traffic.

Sometimes I wonder in what planet do I live on where cases like this where there is abuse happen and the kids are ordered to live with their abuser and the abusers claim they are the ones being wronged. It really boggles my mind the way those children got treated and that this still happens. I am glad the judge may get fired but I hope the children are able to get out of their situation. All these stories make me sad. It really is hard for women who are in bad situations to leave both because of the 50/50 custody thing and the income thing.

I said Happy Holidays to people when I was working in a grocery store nearly 20 years ago before there were lots of references to the "War on Christmas" I said Happy Holidays because I lived in a very diverse area with a sizeable population of Jewish and Muslim people who did not celebrate Christmas and if I do not know someone I did not know if they celebrated Christmas. I know there are people who do not celebrate any holidays but by saying Merry Christmas I included more people. If I know someone celebrates Christmas I will say Merry Christmas. I don't think people are offended by Merry Christmas but to someone who does not celebrate it can be a little awkward and has no meaning to them. If someone says Merry Christmas I have no problem with it but I do not get why find Happy Holidays so offensive.

I am having a hard time with this right now. I had good friends and enough acquaintances when my kids were younger but one good friend moved away and another got busy with different hobbies. I used to have lots of people I liked and saw at group meetings on a regular basis but now that the kids are older and in different education settings we do not see each other anymore. I have one meet up I like to go to but it is not conductive to meeting people and I like to take a kid to that one because they enjoy it too. A lot of the other meetups are filled with parents with babies and toddlers. I am very introverted and it is hard for me to get close to people but I need a few close friends in my life who I see and talk to regularly and that need isn't getting met at the moment. A lot of close friends have drifted in and out of my life. I really would like some permanency and at least a few more close friends.

I picture him inaccurately since those were the images I saw growing up. I picture him as Caucasian with light brown long hair with a little wave to it and lighter eyes either a brown that is not really dark or blue. He has a beard but it was not really long. He didn't have really pale skin but he looks white. I know in reality he actually was Middle Eastern and had a darker skin tone and darker hair and eyes. I would prefer if he was depicted accurately especially since there is so much prejudice and fear of people with Middle Eastern descent.

I would go for it for the good health insurance policy. I like not having to worry about medical expenses and to be able to do what we needed. The job security is another peace of mind. It sounds like with bonuses that it may not be a cut anyway. I would go for something like that especially since the other job is at risk.

I have now been doing jungle memory with ds for over 3 weeks. It seems like it might actually be helping him. There are 3 different games that work on different areas. He is doing poorly in the first game because you need to be fast. He is improving slowly and steadily for the second task and he is doing so well in the 3rd it bumped his age level. He started doing all three very poorly. I wish they had smaller increments between skills and I think the 3rd game will get too hard for him soon well before the 8 weeks are up. I wish there was a way to allow a younger kid to advance more without the math problems getting too difficult which I think they will. He seems to be doing better in spelling and getting Cs instead of failing and he remembers more of the words he got wrong that come up later. He seems to be doing a little better overall in other areas too. It is too early to tell if it will keep up or is just a fluke but I do feel it is helping him and the combo of the low processing speed and working memory weakness along with inactive ADHD was really holding him back. I will try it with older dd when he is done with it. I wish they had a version that went down younger because my youngest also seems to have the same issues. I could not afford Cogmed but I do feel this can be helpful for some children and it is a much lower cost. I still have a few weeks to go so we shall