I bought some of these at a maker booth in town, themed/colored for my siblings (one had musical notes for the worship pastor, etc.) but found them on Etsy to show you all. https://www.etsy.com/listing/721112589/curvy-photo-holders-fused-glass-picture?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=glass+photo+holder&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&frs=1&sts=1 https://www.etsy.com/listing/101912384/curvy-photo-stand-fused-glass-in-blues?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=glass+photo+holder&ref=sr_gallery-1-7&frs=1&sts=1

I am working on Project Hail Mary. It's a lot more science than my usual SF&F choices, but I am really enjoying the human/alien interaction to do science to save their planets. 3/4 of the way through, so I should finish it this week. Then I can't wait to start Martin Walker's next mystery, To Kill a Troubadour. Reading less but working more and learning about marketing archetypes and specialized project dictionaries for marketing communication.

I started a group (all 3 of us) crocheting stuff to give away. I was already making baby blankets for our local pregnancy crisis center and we've also experimented with hats, a pattern for an octopus toy for premies, a fidget sleeve and some hats and scarves. We're not sure what to make next as they're still building their skills and I am coaching. My dd asked me to make her a cropped sweater which I am working on but which I need to stop and measure on her body as I'm not really working to a pattern, just getting ideas from one I found on ravelry.

Congratulations on seeing the need for change and hanging in there, growing through the process as well as on GETTING THE JOB!! I got a new writing client and I am feeling some of those same feelings of insecurity: new apps to learn, new terminology in marketing vs. what I was doing before, new people, tons of online meetings (hating how I look on camera), etc. I hope you fit smoothly into your new position and can find ways to make the most of the commute time.

My reading has slowed down due to an excess of contract work. Upside is I'm learning a lot of new marketing jargon and learning a lot about digital identities. Downside is less time to read/crochet/whatever else plus a bit more anxiety as I work to master this new stuff. Finally starting to be more enjoyable and less of a worry about whether my skills are too out of date for this assignment. Anyway, this week I moved on to the next Margaret Coel book: https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Custer-Wind-River-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00BC21SWE/ref=sr_1_2?crid=EJAVALOMSBQF&keywords=killing+custer&qid=1666476775&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjY3IiwicXNhIjoiMS4xNyIsInFzcCI6IjEuNTMifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=killing+custe%2Caps%2C184&sr=8-2 On the anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Colonel Edward Garrett, a well- known Custer impersonator, leads a troop of reenactors in a cavalry parade down Main Street in Lander, Wyoming. But a group of Arapaho youth disrupts the parade by riding their horses around the column, just to remind everyone who actually won the battle. Then history repeats itself when, in the confusion, Garrett is shot dead.Father John O’Malley knows in his heart the Arapaho are not guilty. And Vicky Holden finds herself professionally and personally compromised from getting involved. But what begins as a murder soon reveals itself as a conspiracy that neither Father John nor Vicky could have foreseen. And someone wants to ensure that the truth they discover will die with them… There's a lot of focus on the inherent contradiction of re-enacting -- are you the real person in present time or do you lose track of that as you immerse yourself in the character you're playing? Fun because our AHG troop has volunteered at a local civil war days event and we got a chance to talk to some of the traveling vendors, not just the soldier types, who are re-enactors. They are very good at staying in character!!

Lovely quick vacation trip and family reunion. A bit of culture shock too as the area I grew up in has gone from early suburb, anglo-hispanic with open fields to densely populated and bilingual asian with about 6 restaurants on every corner and very little green space. Had to drive all over town to find a non-asian grocery store so we could buy potato salad to take to the (chinese family) reunion. Made for a lot of humor, shall we say? And a very good time was had by all, aside from the 9 hour drive each way. I've been reading a multi-book urban fantasy series by Michael Anderle and Kevin Williamson on The Steel Dragon - a woman who grew up in a human family and then finds out she's really a dragon and has to learn about her new culture while being a cop in the old one, then becomes a cop among the dragons, fighting against the onset of a cross-cultural war fueled by human resentment (read blue collar) and dragon hubris and wealth (read billionaires), all set in and around Detroit. Really enjoyed the first few books but by #8 I am ready for something else and just feel both sides are portrayed as utterly unreasonable (perhaps some deliberate commentary on current political polarization?).

It's true they're asking to skip the usual process, but it's also true that the effects of Russia's aggression on Ukraine will be extremely costly and long-lasting and very probably would mean they can't meet the NATO membership requirements, particularly the economic ones. The only reason they're succeeding in battle is that NATO members are already propping them up and housing their refugees and sending them humanitarian aid. And the chance of Russia ever paying reparations.....or being convicted of war crimes.....or taking any kind of responsibility is slim to none. Ukraine needs NATO, in my opinion.

I'm so sorry! All that effort and commitment to retraining and building your skill and speed. It really sounds like time for a readjustment and evaluation of which job (if either) you want to stick with. Perhaps your current vascular boss will be just as hard on the newbie as she is on you, or perhaps you can go to her and say, yes, I AM interested in one f/t job (she may have assumed not from you taking on another p/t position). It also sounds like it would be best for you to have something with a regular schedule. I know I would absolutely HATE midnight wakeups and functioning on minimal sleep at unpredictable times. It's one thing if you're paying the dues in a new position, but not something I'd want long-term. I hope the bad experience produces clarity. My daughter's struggling right now because she's in a position that doesn't pay what she's worth, with a boss who doesn't respect her boundaries but she feels like she has to stay because of a current medical issue that will last into the new year. It's really hard to hang in there, but I hope you will soon know your next best step, and I am sure you will take it with the same determination that you have showed so far. The transition *out of* homeschooling can be rocky.

Private School Affidavit (PSA) filing is Oct. 1-15 every year. Another source for info on this is https://www.californiahomeschool.net/ - a secular but inclusive organization. There's also CHEA of CA, which is typically for christian homeschoolers in CA and excludes charter homeschoolers. And someone's already mentioned Homeschool Association of CA (hsc). - So we are blessed to have 3 different organizations available to us in California. Each of these organizations should have information on high school planning as well as on how to file the PSA, and I think all 3 have county contacts you can call and talk to in more detail. I wish you all the best!!

I had some 24-hour bug this weekend and spent Sunday reading books that wouldn't expect too much of me. This turned out to be a multi-book series about the Rocky Mountain K-9 Patrol (various authors), predictable but enjoyable. We are gearing up for a trip to a big family reunion next weekend, so this week I'll be busily packing and counting out all the meds and trying to figure out what to wear in the 95-degree heat predicted for SoCal...15 degrees hotter than here in the fall. Luckily the bug didn't stick around too long!

The most effective thing my daughter's done (and she does take magnesium and B and CoQ10 AND prescription meds) is the Cephaly -- it's electrode stimulation, fastens on between the eyes and has a daily preventive mode and a mode for cutting off an impending migraine. It was expensive ($500 but a $100 off coupon) and we've had it less than a year. With heavy usage, it quit working this month...and the company replaced it free of charge and extended the warranty to 2025!!! Worth buying it direct from the company rather than from a 3rd party. Does not need a prescription. Did take some getting used to the level of stimulation but it really helps dd.

On re-entering the workforce, YES a reference would be great. I list my homeschooling time as individualized tutoring on my resume and, since I was a technical writer before, I mention teaching middle and high school group english and speech classes, which I did for several years for our co-op (for minimal pay). And be willing to be patient! It sure has taken me awhile, but some of that is down to covid and not wanting to go back f/t.

I've said the "marathon, not a sprint" thing a lot of times! I've also given away plenty of unopened curriculum. One thing I had to decide was relationship over scholarship. This meant one child "graduated" early and went to CC...it was right for him AND me that he should challenge himself in new ways. It also meant one child went to a charter with accountability to another teacher in high school...her lesson plans, not mine, but I got to be the equipper instead of the demander. It was right for us both to have that buffer and the teacher worked well with my student too, and listened to me. Some days that mean we had a reading-only day or a character day or a very long nap. I got more relaxed and flexible with every kid. And life happened. My last kid did her senior year online at CC because covid and layoffs came and I had to go back to work (after 15-plus years homeschooling). She did GREAT and is enjoying having at least one in-person class this semester, her first year as a CC-only student. Outside activities are valuable BUT keep them in their place. For us that was 4H (horse-crazy kid, dog-crazy kid, public speaking kid) and AHG (4H did not cut it for the youngest), along with Community Bible Study with kids and teen classes. Leadership, mentoring, ease with public speaking were all great fun and great benefits...but we watched the time-commitments for balance. We never did sports because no $$ but survived without them.

Honestly, she can just email the advisor and ask for a list of checking, savings, and investment accounts she is a signer on and the balance, and a list of accounts she is a beneficiary on and the balance. Just a list. That's a start. Does somebody file bank statements? If so, she could get a copy of the statement for each account from their files at home.

I read the first Margaret Coel book, set on an Arapaho/Shoshone reservation in Wyoming, with a Jesuit priest and an Arapaho woman lawyer as lead investigators. It was so good that I was hooked and am now on #11 of the series of books. I won't detail all the titles here, but these are excellent mysteries!

What a blessed result! And I feel that now your son has found his groove he will be ready to make plans instead of just struggling to figure it all out. My difficult one was never that difficult but when we moved he was a sad/silent/angry/uncooperative hermit most of his 16th year. Turned out he was also using the solutions guide for all his precalculus tests too. We "fired" each other from homeschooling, he took the high school exit exam and began p/t at the CC. Suddenly he could get up ON TIME and LEAVE THE HOUSE and that summer he worked on-site at a local camp and CLEANED THEIR BATHROOMS as well as leading a ropes course and doing kitchen prep. He had friends! We were so happy to see that he began to blossom instead of wilt and it's been an uphill glide since then. May your boy go from strength to strength!!

Regardless of the husband's problem, it seems your friend needs to see a counselor for her own benefit. Perhaps a third party can best help her, because she needs some very frank talk and help with restructuring her thinking habits as well as her words and actions. Or she needs to decide she is unsafe, financially at least, and take the courage to do something about it. That could be anything from her own meeting with financial people (it's their JOB to explain the stuff) to taking a simple finances class through community education to start with. Often people who've kept up with "the latest" through work-based training look down on those who have learned by doing and kept doing without pursuing outside training. I hate it that practical abilities are often not recognized, nor the sheer strength it takes to survive and recover from major illnesses. DH was off work for most of 2020 and part of 2021 and he now works from home. We try hard to be in separate rooms most of his "office hours," and that helps us not distract or criticize each other. When he was laid off he looked for other things to do -- Meals on Wheels, coaching his hobby sports (parks & recs class teaching and private lessons), just SOMETHING to get him out of the house. He's more of a people person than I am and he needs the outlet. Maybe a gym membership would help the husband work off some of his issues? Or maybe he could take up something he does badly, to humble him a bit? (Tongue in cheek there.) All my sympathies to her! The only time dh has done the finances here was when I was pregnant and couldn't deal with the stress of the very tight budget at the time.

I survived the heat wave (114 is the hottest it's been here in the 12 years since we moved, but after a week of high temps it's starting to cool just a bit) with wet shirts and fans. Makes me think of people living in places like Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Also managed to avoid turning on the oven all week. Ready for a new weather pattern! This week I read Jim Butcher's Calderon series -- all 6 books! Action packed fantasy, full of twists and turns, conspiracies and surprises. I really enjoyed it. I also finished Merle's Door -- at the end dh found me sobbing over it, as some of the symptoms Merle had at the end remind me of our elder dog, Duke, brought those last few months all back. Really well written, a meditation on dogness and personhood as well as a story of a wilderness lover and his dog. I love spy stories, so I've been adding this week's recommendations to my ever-expanding wish list! Thanks again for the book threads, Robin!

I read the Touchstone series this week (recommended here). I wondered if I'd get past the first book -- I often fall out of love with series mid-set -- but I enjoyed all five. I also read All Wound Up by Stephanie Pearl McPhee -- which had me laughing out loud and waking my husband up. Pretty much pure enjoyment of her humor and knitting and family stories. I also really enjoyed The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate. Made the Outer Banks come alive a bit, and lovely use of language and foreshadowing. I will read more by this author! No more gout this week, and I am ready to start walking again after a month off babying my feet. Hurrah!

Reading a lot this week as my feet recover from a fasciitis attack brought on by too much tramping around the fair. Luckily no one's had surgery or a car issue, and everyone's back to school this week so it's been pretty calm around here. If you want books with cats, they are formidable family members, though not major characters, in the Liaden space opera series. The family cats cooperate with the robobutler (who used to be a war machine) to keep the clan house running. The authors, BTW, have *four* maine coon cats; you can see why they put the felines in their fiction. 9-) One of the reads I greatly enjoyed this week was "The Unlikely Yarn of a Dragon Lady" about a knitting and prayer group of strong-willed women who start off meeting in the chapel while bossing God and the pastor and end up knitting in the mall while listening and discovering obeying is more fruitful. More about the people than a particular doctrine, and very heart-warming. Made me want to (maybe) learn to knit and be more purposeful about my crocheting. I also bought too much yarn this week, LOL. I also read a trio of books by Isla Frost beginning with "A Dragon is a Girl's Best Friend" billed as urban fantasy and set in a post-magical release Las Vegas. The girl is a police officer and the dragon is her grumpy partner and in the 3 books they save the world more than once, but it is a fun romp. Nice distraction from the sore feet!! I am now engaged in "Doing Time" one of Jodi Foster's new Time Police novels. She is always a kick with great dialog, challenging situations, and unique characters. I expect to get another baby blanket done to donate with this novel 8-).

I've done 4 first resumes for my kids. We always include leadership or volunteer activities, certifications, and gpa (the gpa I wouldn't include on an adult resume). I'd also include planned graduation date and a photo. Google suite or Word have several resume templates to choose from. I'd try to fill the page, so I'd choose one with a photo, a lefthand column, and use extra space for something like values and put references on the 2nd or back page. One teen had tons of volunteer hours, another had helped with local art camps, another had done 4H leadership...whatever you can do to make your kiddo sound highly responsible and worth hiring. I did one of these for a divorcee who'd never held a job and was looking for a nannying position. We included her church volunteer work, babysitting, and used the lefthand column to list child-rearing values like reinforcing independence, individuality, competence. I did another one for a near-retiree who'd relocated and was looking for work in his new place. There we listed his sales-oriented achievements: building client relationships, closing sales, developing business opportunities, exceeding targets.

I just finished Lessons in Chemistry, which I heard about here. What a great read! I really identified with the main character: cried for her, laughed for her, cried again, laughed again. She did change her world and with enough momentum to change things for her daughter too, even before the fairy tale ending. I have immediately begun recommending it to others.

I believe I posted on this thread a while ago. I homeschooled for 25 years, heard Gene Vieth talk about TWTM when it first came out, and began tweaking things towards classical immediately thereafter. My kids are now 30, almost 28, 25, and 19. Oldest dd got a BFA and then went back to community college for a few more graphic design classes. During covid she moved back in with us (after 10 years away!) and now has a local job and her boyfriend is studying in the big city nearby; right now they plan to get married when he finishes his computer science degree. DS is almost 28. He got a BS in communications from local state U but is still working his college job (zipline tour guide) about 30 hours a week. Meanwhile he's started two businesses with friends -- one doing media and web design and photography, including drone photography so he had to get his drone pilot license. The other one takes action camera shots at the zipline company and sells the photo links to zipline customers for mementos. Next step, hopefully marketing the camera setup to other venues. He loves rock climbing but works so much it's hard to find the time. 2nd dd has had challenges with school. She went to the CC and got both an AA and a CNA, was doing senior care and swim lessons, but is now helping a cerebral palsy student in public school. It's a wakeup call for her to be in that environment, even though we were part of an at-home charter with some classes in her high school years. She struggles with migraines and depression, but helping people helps her. 3rd dd spent her senior year taking classes at the CC online because dh got laid off and I had to go looking for work. God provided that, thankfully, as dh was out of work 10 months. She's now working as wait staff at a high-end B&B in the area and will finish her AA this coming year, trying to figure out transfer applications for a BA in political science. What will she do with it????? Who knows but it interests her. We are pretty opposite, which makes for some rousing discussions and some abrupt halts to them too. LOL During dh's 2020 layoff I was able to reconnect with some colleagues I had worked with and now do some proposals and marketing work from home. At this point we're talking about moving once the youngest finishes her BA. DH is liking his newest job, one year anniversary in December, and is working from home. We email each other from our home offices. Maybe someday one of the four will get married? They are late movers in that area, as were we, so we're going to be really old grandparents.

How would you handle transportation expenses, per diem costs, etc. Would those be at the consultant's expense? Would you provide staging for the booth like table displays, book racks, etc.? Would you arrange for consultants to give vendor talks during conventions answering questions about WTM press AND classical homeschooling? I've done the home party route with books and they are a lot to move around!! Would you consider teaming with another vendor on a booth? I am partial to Classical Academic Press for elementary latin, for example, and I rather like their logic series too. Are you open to collaboration, which would allow the person in the booth to have lunch and rest breaks?

I really enjoy Jo Walton's reading list, and I'm glad to see she agrees with me about The Steerswoman series. A favorite!! I read The Beekeeper of Aleppo, which was a story about a Syrian refugee and his wife, told through flashbacks as he journeyed from the ruins of Aleppo to meet up with another Syrian beekeeper who had already found asylum in England. The flashbacks were all tied in with sensory memories, which was a cool sort of stream of consciousness way to shift time and place in order to tell the story. Not a happy story, but some peace and hope at the end. I also read Revenge in Rubies, the second in a 3-book series set in Singapore in colonial times. I enjoy the heroine, who is an Englishwoman and a suffragette, facing some of the trauma she fled England to escape (she was imprisoned, force fed, and almost died due to suffragette protests). And Veronica Speedwell #7, An Impossible Impostor, by Deanna Raybourn. I have read all of these and haven't found a bad one, though Veronica is a quite unlikely nonconformist for the Regency/Victorian period. She's a lot of fun and very adventurous and independent. I also did a yarn hop this weekend -- four stories in 2 counties in one day -- and am hoping I get lucky on the door prizes. I also have some nicely scrumptious yarn to experiment with this week! Thanks again for these threads, Robin!!!