So much of this I agree with and yet I think some of it is locality. I have two daughters, both married, both have bought a home, both have husbands that have some college but have decided to not pursue a degree at this time. One daughter is staying home and homeschooling and doesn't work, the other works *very* part time (8-12 hours/week, flex.) But we also live in an area of manufacturing so these are families who work OT and have medical benefits, paired with a moderate COL. That said, why do people live in high COL? I've lived on the west coast, twice. Big perks but a costly way to raise a family. DH has multiple degrees. Would we encourage a kid to go our route? It can't be about the numbers. People are internally wired for different areas. I needed an electrician. It took eight phone calls to talk to a human. Eight. And I refuse to think of the hourly charge - this company does odds and ends residential work, but it's pay by the job, not hour. Still... one can't help but calculate $2500/8 = $312 and change per hour. 😕 I was with my dentist for a consult yesterday. 3 hours and $1200 later, and that was spendy too. Dunno what the answer is, but if I had a kid with daydreams about electrical work or filling cavities, I'd likely not dissuade either.

A friend recently said her husband has noted more and more people don't give the folks the benefit of the doubt. He told her that more need to just assume good intentions. I've thought about this 100 times since then. "Mom! He ate the last yogurt. He knew I wanted that." Did he? And I have surely been sitting in church on a Sunday morning and felt a sermon was so perfectly tailored to ME, but I knew this series had been in the works for weeks. Finally, of course it would not have been paid because churches heavily depend on their congregation to utilize their skills and abilities to help. However, when people can't or won't, then necessities must be done by non-congregants who won't do it for free. 😉

I also love our brick. We're in the middle of making everything sale-ready for if/when we put it up for sale. I'm genuinely considering adding black trim and timber to upscale the brick but I never trust my judgement. I'm going use Brick & Batten I think for before/after pictures. Maybe check it out?

Wait though! Is it 74 Irene of current size or must I count the, “I’ll be that size again… probably?” items as well?

((Hugs)) It will be fine but it’s still a lot and some hugs never hurt. ❤️

We've been working on a cohesive Joining Award booklet. Getting the Joining Award done efficiently, while not separating out new kids (not a fun intro for them) and not making returning members cover the same material they know, has been very bumpy for us. New girls can join at various times and we wanted something we could give parents to work on at home assuming they did not yet have their books.

When I go out in the yard, there is nothing to do but go in. When I go in, there's nothing to do but go out. I am throwing my very own little pity party today. I fought it valiantly for a bit. I thought of a "project" which is really just me bossing around humans. But the humans have stuff to do - one moves back to college on Thursday, two (DD17 & DD15) went to a sister's to help out for a bit, DH is changing an alternator. DD13 is at camp. DD11 is arranging coffee pods while DD10 is cooking ground beef. And my house is INSANELY undone. We ripped up the flooring to prep for the new stuff. We packed 80% of my books so we can remove the massive built-in bookcases. And I ITCH to actually DO something. I have never, in my whole life, been able to sit stilll and the irony is that ALL I do is sit now. I'll make menus for the week and finish the AHG booklet but I really want to go dig in the dirt or just anything to feel physically SPENT. I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow and quit belly achin', but it is hard knowing your spouse has a list two arms' length and not be able to alleviate it.

Hmmm ^^ this door trim is entirely different that the trim on the door in the background.

We are redoing our floors. My wheelchair has destroyed the LVT plank. We are putting in nailed down hardwood and would like to redo our trim at the same time. DH wants to go with wide trim and I think it will look nice with one caveat. The baseboard is one thing but trim around doors is hard! For those of you with wide trim, what is done around doors with less clearance? For example, our coat closet is about 3" from a wall. 4" trim won't fit there so is it then lopsided?

So our oldest didn't work during her high school years, our second and third did at Chic FilA, our 4th, 5th, and 6th did at a grocery store. Both businesses were closed on Sundays and that gave us an in common day off as a family day. My takeaways? The first clearly understood academics were her priority. The 2nd and 3rd loved the staff and the crazy hecticness of CFA and felt a loyalty that kept them saying yes to hours when they should have said no. That said, leadership qualities were nurtured and that was valuable. 4, 5, and 6 all worked at a semi-local grocery store - no late nights, 6-12 hours a week, no hectic pace, low pressure environment. Our firstborn wishes she had worked earlier because she worked and did college and commuted -starting all three at the same time when she had no experience in time management. It was a steep learning curve so I am pro-kids working in hs, but I think minimal hours -10, give or take a few. In our experience, all employers who regularly use hs kids as staff expect to work around extra-curriculars. That has never been an issue.

A lovely little Amazon delivery - Digestics daily, ideally on your drive home.

I wish if caught onto that twenty years ago! 👀 i sympathize. I ate so well for two years and now I know I should but I’m not motivated. What motivation did you have last week?

At our house, we give each family a gift and a stocking. So, for example, this year I got the marrieds a Pampered Chef pizza stone. In their stockings, we put wool socks, candy, bath stuff, and a card with cash, sometimes a gift certificate for dinner. Grandkids are separate. My mom and dad (and my grandparents before them) bought a guy gift and a lady gift and gave a card with cash. The gift was $30ish? Think towels, nice flashlight, scarf, gloves, tape measure, trivet, etc.

It is - and it's a really big area. Sigh. Our exterior is brick so it is what it is. The upside is that acreages in our area are hot currently. The house value has more than doubled since we moved here 10 years ago, very nearly tripled. The windows at the front of the house are really big and the incredible lighting (east facing) is my favorite thing about the house. I wonder if it would be weird to do fancy in front, but black vinyl in the mudroom, laundry room, basement egress windows (3), and patio door at the back of the house.....

Is it because they're black or wood or aluminum clad? It's not their premier line so I was guessing not *cheap* but not insane.

It does include permits. They will also put on my new trim - we buy, cut, paint, but they mount. Breakdown for the front of the house: Casement window in front of kitchen - $2568 Bay windows will now be a large square picture window with two casements on either side - $5165 times 2 Double hung large - $1652 times 2 Door - $6823 (inc. side lites) Storm door - $1248 $1600 Materials and waste disposal

Of which $8600 was labor and then I got 40% off that for the sale. 😮 We thought $25-30k. Turns out that won’t do the front of this house.

I’m so sorry! I meant to come back sooner! $69,000 Ya’all! $69,000! i live in Iowa. Iowa.

After reading all the reviews, we'd like our windows replaced with Pella. Original to the house we had Andersen, I opted for the Lifestyle line (aluminum on outside and wood inside) black outside and stained black inside. We have a ranch - 15 windows main floor (3 bay), patio slider, front door with two sidelites, and 2 egress. They'd take out windows, replace windows and put up the new trim we provide. Anyone want to take a guess?

I have all cards to autopay the minimum so that nothing can slip by and all utilities autopay.

Undermount? Why or why not? Curious.

Christian volunteered for the next five weeks for ROTC before he heads to Ft. Leonard Wood! What a coincidence! Now I'm wondering how big could that group be?

😉 At our house currently, a little girl who shall go unnamed, has adopted a mama mouse (Fredricka) and her three littles. They live in the woodpile and she takes choice bits out to her several times each day. ❤️

I did Wahl’s Level 3 for a year-ish. The weight poured off of me. I wasn’t 120-125 in high school (5’6”) so it was pretty shocking. Dr. Wahl herself told me not to do her diet, or at least not Level 3. ALS is hyper-metabolic and not known to be autoimmune. I’m planning on going back to Level 1. If you’rea big woman start with getting in nine cups of veg 3/3/3. Of small six cups - 2/2/2. By focusing in on getting in the veg and the fat. Then start weeding out. You won’t be hungry and the cravings will pass in about 2.5 weeks for the most part. Use the Carb Manager app. Keep frozen raspberries for afternoon emergencies.

Aaahh. That makes sense.