This is so odd. I place well over 100 orders a year (not even counting PrimeNow) and I think maybe once has something ever been late. I do live in a huge city, but it sounds like many having problems do too.

DD did Singapore EB at 4 and we just continued on to 1A. :)

DD gets this about sports, and it does bug. Her gymnastics coach works those girls as if they were tiny marines. But it's true that others have no idea how much hard work she has put in to be so strong. Sometimes I smile and nod and sometimes I mention the time she's put in. The important thing is we always emphasize her hard work when we are talking to her. All those articles about emphasizing hard work being much more beneficial than compliments on intelligence or talent...

Likewise if you are driveable distance from Houston!

They're EXPENSIVE. And the old kits are even more expensive. DH's parents saved every last freaking thing he owned, but the only thing we wanted was the big bin of Lego. Ours will never get tossed.

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I got this amazing thing. https://www.thetrackr.com/ I shared it on Facebook in June, but my mom remembered and got it for me! I have ADD and have been scattered and forgetful my whole life This will save me probably on average a half hour a day! They're sleek little quarter-sized things that can be put in a wallet or on a keychain or bag or a pet collar. Your cell phone can ring any one of the things or you can use one of the tags to ring the phone so you can find the lost item. I'm thrilled. The Amazon Echo has been a big hit too.

How funny! I PMed Dunno last week. I really appreciate him taking the time to help, but I suspect he may not be as familiar with lower-key, lower-pressure gymnastics. I know he normally recommends our current gym (and we do love it). The gym he recommended is, if anything, more intense than ours, and I'd be in the car three hours a day (which...I could just leave her where she is since hours are the concern.) I feel the same way about our younger girls. I'm in a chalkbucket social group for the 6-7 year olds and all their daughters are going 12-20 hours a week and mine just moved from one to three. But our gym has a long history of winning and producing lots of level 10s and a few elites. Soooo...I value their philosophy that littles don't need to live in the gym. If only they had an Xcel team...

That's great Rebcoola. It's amazing how quickly they can go from scared of a skill to nailing it! DD moved up a level on the pre team today. And even though it's tripled her hours (to three), the level after that triples again. And it just keeps climbing until before long they are at the gym 2:30-7:30 every single day except Sunday. And I'm not saying she'll get that far, but even 9 hours a week at 6/7 years old seems like a lot to me. I know it's actually on the low side for team gym, but...I don't know if we can do it. She's got the most incredible coach she has had for the last 3 years. You really can't find many like her coaching littles. So I'd like her to stay through this level, but I think I may be shopping for Xcel gyms soon, or USAG gyms that are not quite so terribly serious. She's talented and hard working and she's not going to want to leave. Parenting is really hard sometimes.

This is an annual tradition for me.

Yes. Only for my kids/husband and my best friend and fellow thrifter. I'd buy one that looked like new and not think a thing of it.

Love ours. We have a small kitchen and very limited counter space, but it lives up there anyway.

I haven't read all the replies, but I was just researching this last night. The Hello Kitty Janome. http://www.overstock.com/Crafts-Sewing/Hello-Kitty-Janome-Sewing-Machine/4584360/product.html Seems to be widely reviewed as one of the very best kid's sewing machines. So much so that the majority of moms report stealing it when they need to do a quick job. It's $99 on overstock and $120 or so from Joann's and WalMart. I'm about to teach DD6 and if she takes to it I'll get her this for her birthday.

Joann's had a line I had never heard of called "We Made it!" They are cute kid's kits - nice quality. They were 75% off!! And Then there was the Joann's coupon for 25% off your total purchase. It was hard not to buy them all!!! And within the brand was a set of nice and colorful mixing bowls, so I bought those too. Dell was having a very good online sale, so we ordered a replacement for our dying laptop, 60% off. Carter's was 60% off, with an additional 20% off your total order code. I had a large gift card, so I really cleaned up. Land's End was 40% off. They are the only place I've seen that make nice quality science shirts for girls, but we usually can't afford them. I bought like 6.

Our healthcare costs were skyrocketing. They have stabilized since the ACA. Small business owners seem to get the short end of the stick, though that is not new. I remember how horrifically high healthcare costs were when my stepfather started his own business 15 years ago. Costco has started offering health insurance. Honestly, with how Costco is run, I would not be surprised if they turn out to be a good choice.

We host Thanksgiving and my BIL has his daughter so early in the day that I'm all for a Thanksgiving brunch, but I know it would never go over with everyone else!

"Twitter preacher" made me actually snort. :lol: I was one of SIX Kelly/i/ey/ie s in my second grade class. I never upset me much. I got way more upset that none of the "personalized" stuff with names on them had my spelling...which is also a problem little Spurgeon is going to have.

The gift or money thing is super regional, and divided by socio-economic status even within regions. In the weddings I've been too, most people bring presents, but family that's older than you (and especially aunts/uncles/parents) will often write a check. You're supposed to give at both the shower and the wedding regardless, as far as I know.

DD is still in gym, progressing through the preteam. The moment of truth will come in December. She's supposed to move up to the next level, and has all her skills and then some, except vault, oh the vault. So she's in weekly private lessons for it right now which she does not enjoy and cost a fortune. I'll be happy when they're over.

For how do you think the character feels? I used to say, "Well, her dog is lost, her friend is mad at her, she failed a test...how would YOU feel if those things happened to you?" And when she would answer "sad", I would say, if you feel sad, then the character likely feels sad too. Then I would pull some things out of the reading that demonstrated the sadness and told her they were clues to how the character felt. Predict what comes next was harder, but I usually did the same thing - put her in the position of the character. OK...you've been beamed up into a spaceship...what are some things that might happen next?

Yes, most of what I buy is things we need. The things I get people for Christmas don't seem to be the types of things that are on good sale. We desperately need a new laptop, so I'll have my eyes peeled for a sale. I used to love camping out in front of a store. I used to go with my sister, and then later, my best friend. But now that everything opens early on Thanksgiving, it's not an option. I hope more stores will go back to closing for Thanksgiving.Or, as I told BFF last year (the first we did not go shopping together, because of the hours), give it a couple more years and we'll be fine again because Black Friday will start on Wednesday morning

Wow! Yeah, I think I skipped out just ahead of the common app. I have a friend who is a high school guidance counselor, I need to ask her about this. But I was mostly referring to these parts. They're outside the scope of guidance counselors here:

In my high school (of 4,000) the guidance counselors didn't do ANY of that stuff. At all. They would supply your transcript. You asked teachers who liked you for recommendations. That was it. Everything else was on the parents and students - that is absolutely the norm here. Sooo...public school doesn't automatically mean that's taken care of. DD will likely go to public or private high school, but I know it will be on me to handle all aspects of her college selection and admissions. :blush:

Keep my house clean.

Sorry, it wasn't here. But it was a similarly-formatted forum of similar size. I realize TWTM doesn't moderate a ton, but it seems like it's something that could help until there's a better fix for the spamming.