I'm so sorry. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

I second that.

I'm not as opposed to regulations as I used to be, but my cooperation is contingent on good will from the governmental side. I feel like if we don't correct that before adding regulations, it will just become a big gotcha game. FTR, our regulations are all mostly honorary, though I do abide by them, no one checks to see whether I did. It'd be nice to have a collaborative dynamic to the endeavor, however that ended up happening.

The logical outworking of granting truth to this sentence is that any given parent is more likely to abuse and neglect their child if their child is homeschooled versus public or private schooled. As in, if I pull my own kids out of school in order to homeschool them, I am immediately and automatically more likely to personally abuse and/or neglect them than before I pulled them out. Maybe you meant it puts them in the higher risk category, and that's true enough. And maybe homeschooling exacerbates the situation of an at-risk family, but it doesn't alter the risk of any given family; they were already at risk or they weren't. We need to be careful with how we understand and use statistics and data. :( ETA: I apologize if this point was already made; I don't intend to harp.

What about these? ;)

Today I unloaded the dishwasher while the coffee was brewing (Keurig). Was done by the time the second cup was ready. :) The weather is making it hard to get my outdoor stuff done; the kids got a lot of outdoor items for Christmas, and we have nowhere to store them except our living room (in addition to my painting junk). A bike, 3 scooters, an unassembled basketball goal...I'm feeling a bit cramped at the moment. :D But the projects are coming along, more slowly now, as we've tried to return to our normal routine. I may still be done with the indoor jobs by the end of the month, which was my goal (well for indoor and outdoor jobs, but I can't change the weather, so no guilt there).

If you're anywhere near a warm climate, make sure you have air vents in the back (I didn't understand the different terms :().

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Or team up. Let her do whatever she can, and the more grown up team member can do the rest.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

DD (almost 12) says whenever she inhales, she gets a pain in her sternum. It used to be in her rib cage, but now has moved to the center. She describes it as stabbing, but doesn't ever show discomfort. No coughing, no fever, no malaise, no recent blows to the ribs. The pain increases the more deeply she breathes in. Is there anything completely normal this could be? I know if I google, it'll turn up cancer or something. I remember getting feelings like side stitches, but in my ribs, and my mom basically said it was cartilage growth, how true that was... :confused1: But still, "growing pains"?

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Please have safe travels.

Other: I have themed miscellaneous drawers. So sort of a junk drawer, but only with kitchen stuff, or toys, or school stuff, or hardware stuff. A couple of these are actually boxes.

If no one else in the house likes it, I'll either feed it to the chickens (crackers) or dump it in the garden (tea). If it's highly processed, I'd just toss it.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Oh I see. :laugh: Well just **conveniently** interrupt their fun and have them finish the task they didn't do. ;) Mine are 7-11, so this is my annoying mama approach.

How old are your kids? Unless they're littles, they can recycle the candy box, move the board games, hang up the clothes. Or if clothes are mine, I ask the kids to toss them on my bed (this is rare, and usually stray socks or a jacket). Of course, half my dining able is covered in stuff, so you might not want to listen to me... :D Most of it actually lives there, though--does that make it better or worse? :lol: FWIW, 2-minute jobs here are either ignored, delegated, or done, depending on what the job is and what kind of day it is. So not all 2-minute jobs are done, and not all the 2-minute jobs that do get done are done by me. Make sense?!

:iagree:

Good luck!! :D And :grouphug: for your nerves.

Rooms painted!!! :hurray: Not 100% professional-looking, but done. There are still a few loose ends to tie up, though. We moved all the displaced kitchen stuff off the dining table (where it had been for 9 days) to a folding table. This made me feel SO MUCH BETTER about life; I wish I'd done that to begin with. We did a survival session this morning: vacuumed with my new robot vac, washed the most necessary loads of laundry, and tasked two kids to get through all the dishes. Then I had them organize the toy shelves while I painted in the kitchen. Finally, I just cooked for the second time since the New Year. And I cleaned up the kitchen after cooking (I'm in the struggles-with-that camp). I still have 2 1/2 loads of laundry to fold, so I'm going to find something on Netflix while I do that.

:party: :party: :party:

Blue Ridge is probably the biggest touristy cabin rental area, with Helen after that, and then Dahlonega (the last two aren't far apart, iirc). Dillard, maybe? It's been about 10 years since we've been.

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Me too. I often say I'm a writer, not a speaker. No lie, DH and I "courted" in writing. We were in college and we'd pass a notebook back and forth. I used to be more chatty than I am these days. Now I'm actually thankful to just hear all about someone else.