Renee in NC
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Posts posted by Renee in NC
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I didn't like fruitcake until I visited a fruitcake factory not far from here. They made many other things as well, but the fruitcake was to DIE for!
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Tough Mudder? I bow down to you.
Don't - I haven't done it yet! LOL
I did a 10K mud run a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn't really that hard. I just hope to get through TM. I will try all the obstacles, but I am under no illusion that I will conquer them all.
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I am doing something this weekend that will be strange to many, but probably not to the history lovers on this board. I am taking part in a Vietnam reenactment (tactical.) What this means is that I will be running though the woods, dodging enemy fire (blanks), sleeping on the ground, and hoping I don't injure myself 2 weeks before Tough Mudder. I am a war correspondent, so I will also be interviewing the troops I am embedded with and reporting on the battles.
I have never done a living history event, though I have been to many. I will be very tired and dirty when I am done, but it should be fun. Wish me luck!
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I meant that they are moved as soon as they are comfortable and that is absolutely horrible.
I know several people who have been or are foster parents and they've all mentioned that as something they despise. My impression was that it was SOP. The kid's welfare doesn't take priority over the desires of the bureaucracy. From what I have heard the idea behind it is that by moving the kids from loving homes that the foster parents instead adopt to stop it and therefore take the kids off the foster roll. Or, when a great foster home takes a troubled kid and turns him around, then the kid is moved to a not so-great home so that another troubled kid can be turned around.
We actually gave some thought to being foster parents. We decided that we could happily jump through any hoops to make the kids safe. Medicine safes, inspections, etc. But then watching kids harmed for the sake of the bureaucracy? I get homicidal just thinking about it.
I have a cousin who has several special needs foster kids. She mentioned the fact that they wouldn't be moved as a benefit to them being special needs. So, the kids have joined the family completely and the extended relatives like me know them.
I am a Guardian ad Litem, and I work within the court system determining what is in the "best interests" of children who are in "case management." This is NOT procedure in our area. Re-unification is almost always the goal, followed by kinship placements (which doesn't always mean blood relative,) then foster homes, with group homes and shelters as a last resort. No one wants to move a kid unless absolutely necessary.
There are terrible social workers out there. There are terrible agencies (in terms of the local social services office.) I don't think the system as a whole is broken, but rather is doing the best it can do under the circumstances it operates under.
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I came very close to walking out of Black Hawk Down. It's a good movie, but DH (then boyfriend) was just starting to sort out his military options (he did ROTC) and I couldn't stomach it. I was sweating with anxiety by the end.
This is one that I could not watch.
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I have family that have raised 4 kids on 1 income and the mom could stretch a quarter further than anyone else I know. Her kids were and are involved in church and a homeschool group, but not many other outside activities. Her family is a tight family who enjoy spending time with each other and her oldest is now in her second year of college. You can raise kids well and educate them well without spending a fortune on outside activities.
When we were broke (broker than broke!) we couldn't afford the homeschool group's activities. Church activities cost money too. Scouts and AHG can be expensive. My kids were not able to participate much.
They finally made friends when they went to school. It was hard, and I am not sure it was worth it.
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Interesting. I left the daycare in 2011, so it must be pretty recent. I know Head Start still doesn't allow packed lunch for that reason.
It is new this year, I believe. Probably after the big mess last year in another district when a school presented the parents with a bill for the food they had supplemented with. Now they WON'T supplement if they bring a packed lunch - not even milk.
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It looks like her child goes to a Pre-K or daycare. Here in NC, licensed daycares/preschools have to provide meals in compliance with USDA standards - 1 protein, 1 dairy, 1 fruit, 1 veggie, 1 grain/bread. This is because they participate in USDA subsidized food programs. When I worked at a daycare, if parents brought in food it had to contain all those components or the daycare could be penalized. We provided any missing components to the packed lunch. So, for example, if a parent brought in a Happy Meal (common), we would provide a fruit and a grain. The only kids who packed at our center had doctor's notes. Not saying I'm for or against, just saying that this is probably a USDA Meal Program issue.
Never heard of public school at any level banning packed lunches.
That has actually changed recently. There is a waiver that we had to sign at the beginning of the year that said if we wanted to provide a packed lunch then we could, but that it was no longer ALLOWED for the school to supplement it. Basically made it all or nothing. This was for not only a preschool, but one that has NC Pre-K spots.
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I think seeds and soil should be free or subsidized like food stamps. Sure many people won't want to garden, but I think anyone interested in putting in a garden should be encouraged and helped to do so. It's not perfect. Dust bowls and floods and such. But I do think it's beneficial and vital common to life knowledge needs to be passed from generation to generation. Like breastfeeding. Natural cleansers. Canning. I don't think any of it should be required. But I do think we should subsidize the common man learning these skills.
You can buy seeds and food plants with food stamps.
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I just have to say that WTM euphemisms make reading posts here endlessly engaging, even if (or especially if) they are NOT meant euphemistically! (I still can't hear a women say she's tearing out all her carpeting and going bare without snorting my tea...)
I literally just laughed out loud!
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Also realize that you might not be treated at the ED for some things either. If you break a bone, and it's not life-threatening in some way, you'll get pain meds, some radiology, and maybe a splint, but they won't patch you up there. You'll be told to follow up with an orthopod. That's not what you want to hear on a Friday night (especially after a 2 hour wait and a big bill/co-pay) because orthopods don't usually work weekends.
And then someone without insurance and no cash to pay up front won't get care.
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So when I hear people say, "oh they will qualify for Medicaid/Medicare" or claim either is an example of limited universal healthcare - it leaves me really wondering how much they have to deal it personally. Because I don't know anyone that does who has such an optimist perspective of it. Maybe it's just awesome applesauce better in other states, but then again, I have family in other states who claim to wish they had it as good as Oklahoma. Which scares the bejezus out of me for them.
Medicaid is great here in NC - no problems using it. There used to be a problem with dental care, but now we have a great dentist.
In FL? It was horrible. We basically had no coverage for anything other than prescriptions, pretty much as you mentioned elsewhere in this thread.
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I would allow it. I don't assume that a male present = sex.
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I know many, many professional women and the only ones who both work (outside the home) and cook even one meal EVERY day are immigrants. And among immigrants, the ones who both work AND provide 3 home-cooked traditional meals per day are all Asian-American Supermoms.
There could be exceptions, but this is definitely not typical of professional American women.
I work outside the home full-time and cook one meal a day. Two would do me in. LOL
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At 26, I'd expect a young person (in our culture!) to be able to prepare some basic meals, do their own laundry, and know how to do some basic cleaning.
I just hadn't really thought about it until now, because it is something that I take for granted in the young people that I know. They typically move into their own living space when they are in their late teens or early twenties and perform most of their own self-care.
Cat
Heck my 11 year old can do all of that!
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No it isn't easy. However, remember that Highlands Latin School can be selective in its admissions.
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I personally like the song. And I don't think the idea is watching gorillas mate but rather (edited content so as not to offend. LOL)
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But most mental illnesses are not curable? Medicated and monitored and coped with, but most aren't curable.
So for me, it goes back to I think it really depends on the illness.
And when the illness presented and how.
I don't think anyone enters marriage knowing the worst in their future. Same goes for parenthood in general.
They may not be curable, but they are definitely treatable. We can't "cure" cancer, but it can be put into remission. Same with many mental illnesses, BUT the person has to work at it. Proper medication gets the person to where they can do the work in therapy. Therapy doesn't cure, but it gives coping skills and can change behavior patterns.
Some people aren't willing to put forth effort at anything, medicated or not.
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Yes. "Sickness and in health" becomes an elusive, gray concept when the sickness leads to erratic behavior and presents situations that are dangerous, inappropriate, or otherwise compromising.
And again THIS. Add the two together:
Curable illness that someone won't work at that leads to what Joanne says here is a dealbreaker for me.
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No, I meant incurable.
Incurable conditions are "acts of God," if you like. Curable conditions that aren't being cured and could be are not. Most people have more patience with the former.
THIS is a big deal...BIG.
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I wouldn't have a problem with it.
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Also, you need to include total household income for all dependents when calculating for the subsidy. This would include working teens.
You sure about that? Most gov't programs don't include the teen's income until they are 18.
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My first marriage ended in divorce after nearly 11 years. My biggest mistake was doing it after year 1. Honestly. I knew then it was doomed but I thought that if I just stuck with the "divorce is not an option" mantra that everything would work itself out. My divorce was not a result of one of the "Big Three A's", either. It was just a bad, bad deal all around.
I believed I would never marry again, but I finally decided to anyway. Now, I approach it much differently than before. I believe we only get this one life, and if someone is making another miserable for much of it, then they should go their separate ways. Not as a first option, of course, but it's definitely on the table, so both my husband and I better remember that if we want to stay together. We better always do our best to honor and support and actively love one another. I've never been so lonely in my life as I was during most of my first marriage, and I flat out refuse to ever allow myself to be that way again. If that's how I feel with my husband, or he with me, and we give it our best effort, and it just isn't working, we'll be done. And I absolutely guarantee it wouldn't take 10+ years the second time around.
This really spoke to me. Thank you.
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What a loaded topic!
I don't know that anyone here can say definitively what they will or won't do. I never thought in a million years that I would be getting divorced. In my mind divorce was not an option. There were a whole lot of factors involved, and none are/were trivial in my mind. I had to do what was best for my children AND myself.
I hope it will be amicable. I think it will be. We don't have anything to fight over.
Domestic Violence Awareness month: Did you know this about abusers?
in The Chat Board
Posted
Not only that, but it creates behavior patterns that will follow the victim into the next relationship. The victim may have a hard time recognizing the behavior of the former abuser *as* abuse, so looks for a new spouse/partner with some of the same characteristics. When coupled with the behavior patterns from the initial abusive relationship, this can lead to a new abusive relationship.
The woman may not even realize that there *is* a particular behavior pattern, until someone else points it out.