higginszoo
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Posts posted by higginszoo
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If you're a dork, then our Y is full of them. Anytime I go there in the morning (anytime between 5 am and 9 am), there is usually an adult having a private lesson. Most of them, like you, are looking for some stroke refinement/instruction. There are a few where the teacher acts more like an athletic trainer and some who are just learning the basics (some of whom are uncomfortable in the water). Not dorky at all though, at any level. I'm already facing osteoperosis, and swimming is one of the few regular exercises I'm permitted -- yet I HAVE to exercise to maintain/hopefully improve what bone mass I have.
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Yep. I *almost* still fit into it... not quite, as childbirth has changed my hips permanently, and I lived at high altitude for most of the intervening years, so my rib cage is expanded, too. (I only weigh 10 lb more, and the dress was big.)
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Mine was Rosemarie. -- I started out with 8 place settings about 20 years ago. 5-6 years ago, we were getting low, so we got something else, but I still have a few pieces. They held up a lot better than the nicer china I got from Macy's to replace it. Thinking of going back to Corelle, not sure what pattern I'd pick this time around.
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Depends on where you live, what the weather is, what the local laws are, and how long you're going to be.
I live in an area where there isn't a local law. Starting at about 10, if the weather were cool/warm enough, I wouldn't have a problem leaving a pair of kids in the car for 10 minutes or less. More than that, they'd either need to come in, or if my total round trip were less than an hour, I'd leave them at home.
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My kids are pretty responsible and independent. For an immediate neighbor (on our block), I'd probably let either of my high schoolers do that now. For someone who lived further away, I'd say that I'd rather they wait until they're 16 or so. This does vary a lot from child to child and from family to family. A neighbor still has full-time child care (a nanny) during the summer for her only ds (nearly 15, going into 10th grade) ... I probably would opt for part time, get out of the house things for my 12 year old, and would feel comfortable leaving him home for at least part of the day -- I'd leave my 14 and 15 year olds home all day without any concerns.
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Yesterday was an eventful day for my Boy Scouts. My little guy finally got his Star Board of Review.
My older one had a lunch meeting with his Eagle Advisor, and he gave him a lot of homework to do on his project paperwork. He also got Cit. in the Community signed off. So now, he only has Personal Fitness (which he needs to re-start for the 3rd? 4th? time *insert exasperated mom of teen eyeroll here* -- it's now the long pole in the tent), along with the project, which should go fairly smoothly now that he has picked one.
Little guy is signed up for a Merit Badge Fair where he's going to work on Robotics ... it's all day one day, which eliminates all other badge possibilities for the fair, but it's the direction he might head career-wise. He has his Eagle-required badges for Life already open and in various stages of completion, and is close to his 8 non-required for Eagle. His dad will be teaching Cit. in the Nation for the troop starting next week, and I'll be teaching Cooking for those who need it after that, I think (the SPL wanted me to do it sooner, but it's easier for me to do when my youngest has church classes during the school year). He needs to finish E. Science (started at summer camp) and Cit. in the Community (he is close on this one, I think).
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We don't have any right now. Dh would love to have one, but they're not available in the US in the types of cars we need. I was not allowed by my parents to get my license until I could drive a standard transmission confidently, and I do think that it is a good skill to have, but I'm not sure how realistic it is to learn anymore in many parts of the US.
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Some other scout-like options:
Spiral Scouts http://www.spiralscouts.org/ -- based in pagan spirituality
The YMCA has Indian Guides and Princesses (I can only find info by each branch of the Y online) -- I had cousin-ish, not quite relatives who did this
4-H ... every county in the country has at least information through the county extension agent of the USDA
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English as a native, French well enough. I can make rudimentary conversation (where's the bathroom, how much does that cost) in Italian, Russian, Spanish and Japanese.
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No. They used to have younger boys register for insurance purposes to go on things with their leader mothers, but insurance has gotten more restrictive and doesn't allow tagalongs at all anymore. The only exception would be if you had a biological boy who identifies as a girl, in which case some councils have been known to make exceptions. Campfire USA is a group that has similar programming to Girl Scouts, but DOES allow boys to join.
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I'm finally seeing progress from my boys, anyway. Older ds's two best scouting buddies had their Eagle boards this month! This has inspired ds to finish 2 required merit badges (just 1 left -- no progress on that one ... blue card has been open about a year), and he has finally picked his project and is working on getting a first draft of the first set to the Eagle Coordinator before we leave for our family reunion. He's also gathering materials for some pre-fundraising while we're with relatives who will likely be willing to give once the time for collecting money comes. (He's re-doing the warehouse space for our church's food truck to the poor/food bank program, and adding a handwashing sink and replacing and relocating the industrial ice machine.)
Little guy has had his Star scoutmaster conference, but the boards of review got caught up on discussion of a scout whose board decided that he needed to work on some things for a second time before getting Life. (To make it worse, he's a child of divorce, and one parent is supportive of the board's decision, and the other is unhappy with the committee over it.) The committee guy who sets up the boards of review offered ds one outside of the meeting, but our vacation put a wrench into that plan, so likely the week we get back (no big rush, he's barely 12 1/2, and his desired leadership position for Life is Den Chief, which won't start until the Cubs start meeting in September, anyway). He does have his non-required badges for Life, and has 3 required ones open/started/in various stages of completion, though none are signed off yet, but should have no problem getting there by March. The more difficult thing for him will be demonstrating the scout skills -- he might have to have a scoutmaster come watch him with the cubs, since our troop has NO sixth graders for the coming year ... politics -- the cubmaster took the last Web II den to another troop with him ... new Cubmaster now, and the Den leader of the new Web II den has a boy in our troop and they have had one of our new Eagles as Den Chief since they were Tigers ... they're a big group, and will probably be two patrols worth, come February.
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He's 5 1/2 weeks older.
The youth minister at my church and his wife were born on the same day.
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The BOR is held with several committee members. No boy in full uniform who presents us with an actual book with everything signed off ever gets turned away here. Our committee chair has refused to let anyone touch the computer records in 4 years (I was the Advancement Coordinator for 2 of those years), so she's always behind. The boy takes his book to her after the BoR anyway, so she can record then, if needed.
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My experience was similar to Fiona's, except I was almost 16 when I joined. It would have been pretty tough for me to get Mitchell, etc. (though you can continue in the cadet program until 21, so it would have been possible), but I DID get to do a lot more with SAR and various other programs because of my age. I really enjoyed CAP, but being a military brat made it hard to continue, as we were PCSing every 18 mo in my teen years, and one place had a squadron that I could get to, but the next duty station didn't have one close enough to continue.
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Not yet. We generally vaccinate on schedule, but I don't see enough testing having been done on this one, and I'm not willing to offer my kids up as guinea pigs without better information so that I can make an intelligent decision on the risk/benefit ratio. As more data becomes available, we'll re-evaluate.
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My 12 year old still has one particular stuffed animal that gets played with/dragged around a lot (not constantly, but not rare, either). He has other animals and a baby doll that see more occasional play, including with the neighbor boys (12, 12, and 10). I don't think it's the norm for boys in this age group, but I don't think that it's terribly unusual, either.
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A tip from a high school friend of mine (she was overweight even then, is in much better shape now, in her mid-40s) ... she joined a gym where several of her friends go and she'll make a date with them to meet at the gym and work out. She'd feel bad if she stood up her friend, so she gets to the gym a lot more regularly than she would if it were just her. Another friend walks, but does the same thing. She has a couple of walking buddies and can't stand them up. Peer pressure!
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Laura has a point, but still, eww. Babies should get changed where everyone else has those things taken care of ... the bathroom. Even with a bunch of kids close together, that's where I managed to change all of mine, even with 3 in diapers.
Now, nursing, on the other hand ... the eating area is a great place to do that. Everyone else eats there, babies should be able to eat there, too.
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The raw milk around here goes for $7-9/gallon, vs. $3-4/gal for regular store milk. If I could get raw milk for $2/gallon, directly from the producer, I'd probably do it.
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I read a book as a teen about a single lady who adopted a couple of girls from Korea and Vietnam through Holt International. This goes back over 35 years ... the woman is Chelsea Clinton's m-i-l (she eventually got married and had a bio son).
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And FYI, if someone writes on a whiteboard with a sharpie, tracing over it with a whiteboard marker will get it off. Thankfully I don't know if that works on hardwood floors as well.
I don't know about real wood, but on laminate like Pergo, this trick works really well.
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I know that the day is coming when they'll all likely be taller than me. Right now, it's just 13 year old dd. She's been taller for over a year now. 14 year old ds still has a few inches. 12 year old ds is also a late bloomer and might end up with the shorter genes, but my guess is that even so, he'll be slightly taller than me (I'm just under 5'6"). The little one is the biggest of all of them on the growth curve (the only one who has always been ON the growth curve), but she's just 8, so I should have a few more years (though she might pass the 12 year old soon ... 14 year old is used to his sister being taller, she passed him when she was 7-8. They're only 13 mo apart and a lot like twins, though. The 8 and 12 year olds are 4 years, 1 month apart, so having baby sister pass him might be harder).
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I, personally, don't find it worth the additional investment. If I did, I'd buy directly from the farm(er) where it was produced, but not from a third party, even another farm. The more steps involved, the more opportunity for errors in handling, which I'd be very concerned about with this kind of product.
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The only time I'd ask would be if it were a young child (I've heard of but never met a transgendered little one). For teens and adults, I agree that most of them feel validated that you at least cared to ask instead of pigeonhole them in the wrong one. Some have a strong preference, some don't care. I had a transgendered roommate/teammate on an international Girl Scout trip who really didn't care. He'd been born female was just starting to fully identify as male, but hey, was still a Girl Scout, so 'she' fit from that perspective, and the whole s/he issue was one that he saw as something to have a sense of humor about. Like someone else said, as long as you don't use 'it', many/most transgendered people are fine, but most of them are glad to give a preference if they have one if you ask.
Your experience (or lack thereof) with pot
in The Chat Board
Posted
My only experience is secondhand smoke, mostly in the girls' bathroom in high school.
Then again, I've never smoked tobacco, either. I've had plenty of opportunity, and while my parents wouldn't have been thrilled if I'd tried in high school, they wouldn't have freaked, and I guess that took the rebellion out of it.