Well, I suppose anyone whose grad (or even if they didn't graduate) is preparing for a career any way other than a college degree would qualify. I just didn't list all of the possibilities because they are seemingly endless. CONGRATS to your son! I'm trying to give as much "excitement" to tradeschool kids. It can be a very expensive way to get job training- not meaning the for-profit rip offs, but a 625hr Esthetician program is almost $7,000 AND isn't eligible for state grant funds :( PLUS she still has to pass a state board exam to get a license to work. But for kids who don't want/need college, it's hard to get support from friends. If we had a dollar for everyone who told her she'll never make any money, she could pay her tuition in cash. :(

I didn't post this on the College board, because I thought I'd get more responses here. So... who has a grad in trade school or apprenticeship? How is it going? SweetChild is at her orientation today, she starts her esthetician program on Monday. M-F, 9-4. She's taking the bus, which stop at our street, transfer downtown is across the street from her stop, and bus drops her off literally across the street from the school door. 90ish minutes, but could take over two hours each way in rush hour traffic, plus our cars are unreliable. 10 week program. If she doesn't miss more than three days, she will finish before her 18th birthday! (right at Thanksgiving break) Exciting but scary to do all of this before she's legally an adult! Because of her hours, she can only work weekends at her job, which is only a 5-hr shift due to her age, but it's OK! She'll be ready to work full time, hopefully at a salon or make-up store, for the Christmas rush.

Freaking hideous. I wouldn't wear them, and I need and value comfort over style, especially for shoes. I will also use all of my limited resources to buy good shoes, especially if they're leather. But I wouldn't wear these if they were free and also made my butt look six sizes smaller and my bazzooms look ten years ago perkier. Maybe maybe maybe without the County Fair blue ribbon pie crust ruffle. Definitely without the Ancient Pottery bas relief sole.

I posted pictures of move in day for Diamond's first moving-away-to-college. She's a 22yo transfer whomalreadybhas an associate. Today our Chick fil A was giving away free breakfast sandwiches, so SweetChild and BabyBaby and I went... BabyBaby snap chatted some pictures, but I forgot to take some, it's our first day back, and we sort of got some work done. BabyBaby starts enrichment classes Thursday, maybe ill take one for that. SweetChild starts esthetician school Monday, so if I can manage to get a photo of her, I'll doma slightly different Facebook post: for the first time EVER I will have children in three different schools! Not just three buildings in the same district, but college, trade school, and home/enrichment.

The number one rule is I need to make things easy for everyone else to find and, more importantly, PUT THE HECK AWAY!!! Ahem. When people ask me, "Where is the tape?" I ask if it's where we keep it. (It has been in the same place in the same house for over 22 YEARS) My next sentence is something like If its where it should be, it is in the office supplies box on the shelf under the phone. If it didn't get put away, or put on the shopping list when someone used the last of it, I can't help you. Sooooo... all that to say: Clear bins and drawers. Or open-top bins. I removed a bunch of lids when I noticed people would set things on top of the lid! Mostly, we keep things where the other citizens of the realm will use them or put them away. It might not be anywhere that *I* want it to be, but I can remember where it is/goes, so I'd prefer other people be able to find and put things away. As much as possible, we store similar items together, as close to where they'll be used as possbile. Open cube shelves are my best friend :D

Diamond: 6 weeks, no effort or "training" on our part. SweetChild: never did, still (17yrs) doesn't always sleep through the night. First full sentence literally was "I doesn' like sleepin' " BabyBaby: I don't really remember, I was too xhausted dealing with SweetChild ;) All were nursed long into the toddler years They are all pretty much the same was adults/late teens

Grape. But I confess I do not know the difference between jelly, jam, and marmalade. I grew up with Welches grape jelly, maybe skippy peanut butter and white wonderbread. I think good jelly/jam needs good bread, which I don't have or make. But I had homemade grape jelly on homemade bread at a friend's house and it was soooo amazing. Diamond was maybe 4-5, and she asked my friend if she could take some home. She was so flattered she gave her a loaf and a jar. :wub:

Agree 1million% A year? I've had cheap cloths pill within a month, washing in a lingerie bag on delicate and drip drying :(

We have a very small local family: two widowed grandmothers, one ten mins away, the other 30 mins. My girls are 22, 17, and 15. They have birthdays occasionally on or very close to Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We have the dessert of their choice with the grannies at the holiday meal, which may or may not have both of them at the same time. The Thanksgiving and Christmas babies have occasionally Chosen to combine their birthdays in between holidays for family when we had more family. On their actual birthday, the birthday person, including mom and dad, chooses their meal- home or reasonably priced restaurant, plus dessert. Occasionally due to work, show/rehearsal, or school schedules we have moved the dinner to another day. When they were all younger, they had a friends party with a budget limit every third year, so I only had one kids party per year. Then, no matter where they were in the rotation, they got a 13th birthday party, none again until Sweet Sixteen, then a high school grad party. 21st birthday is a restaurant meal with family, college graduation is restaurant meal with the five of us and a friend. Then no more parties until potential weddings :D So basically, favorite meal ontheir birthday, cake with Grannies at the Holiday, friends party every three years until age 13, then follow the system until they age out. Editing to add: friends parties have varied from typical birthday parties for a dozen friends, themed parties, a few friends movie and sleepover, hibachi restaurant, one friend horseback trail ride.

"I can't do this because ____" I don't want to, and there is no good reason why you can't do this yourself You have made it uneccesarily complicated It will just get undone/messed up too quickly to even bother

Hmmmm I'm not the most stylish person, but most of the ones that look more like dresses I'd wear with leggings, not jeans. my general guideline is, if it could be worn as a dress by itself (even if it's shorter than I'd actually wear on its own) then leggings, not jeans. And if something is designed to be flowy, I don't belt it. But Baby, I got back, too ;) and belting a flowing top does NOT make for a good rear view on me.

Yeah, I hate making medical decisions based on cost. Usually it involves (for adults) pulling teeth rather than repair. Last week I treated a large cut on a child at home. It was borderline for "get stitches" based on every "Do I need stitches" website I searched. It seems to be healing OK, but if we didn't have a $100 ER copay plus a surprise bill for whatever wasn't covered it would be healing even better with stitches :( We just could not do any more after two children each had four wisdom teeth removed under general anesthesia- with almost $500 EACH CHILD not covered, and one just got new contact lenses ($570 not covered for initial exam, fitting/follow up, and contacts) that we'd already been putting off for six months. Hope all is well, keep us posted!

I once had vision insurance that only covered exams every two years, even for children with glasses and eye problems. Because of the type of eye Dr. I go to (sorry, not sure the difference) we could get the exact same exam covered under a medical reason IF there were medical problems, such as headaches. Magically, new glasses were covered (up to a certain dolllar amount) every year for medical reasons like headaches, but only every other year for silly things like a change in prescription. :rolleyes:

I would just ask her directly. Let her know what your typical menu would be and ask for her input for adapting or substituting. She may not like typical substitutions, and most brands of vegan cheese are gross :( She may have a "go to" side dish that will be good to have in abundance, or maybe she dislikes eats the same thing twice in a week. Burger night is easy- get some vegan veggie burgers. Also, find out "how vegan" she is, and if she is comfortable with minor/trace ingredients in situations like this, such as breads, buns, margarines. I have a dear friend who is strictly vegan for ethical reasons, and soy-free for health reasons, so I always run menus/ingredients by her on the rare and celebrated occasions I'm able to provide food for the family. Because there are things that I would think are OK but are not for them. More important than food, IMO, is not having meat-eaters try to trick the vegan into eating animal products or anything mean like that, and the vegan not ruining the fun of the special vacation menu for the meat eaters. But you did t mention any potential issues there, just something I've witnessed with various non-typical diets. ENJOY!

Three hours? Maybe, probably. But if we had to drive 45minutes to get to the activity, and plan to be there 15 mins early we'd have to finish a substantial meal 90mins before the start of the activity to allow for cleanup and travel time. So assuming it's a reasonable time for the child to eat a full meal, that's now 4.5 hours (3hr activity, 1hr travel, 30mins clean up and get shoes/coats/etc and in car) since the last bite. It could be even longer if, for example, we had to leave two hours after breakfast- that's too soon for another meal, but way too long to not eat during the three hour activity. Not because three hours is too long to go without snack/meal, but because of the timing of it. My most hated outside class time (class of any length) or time for kids to start after-school jobs, is 4:00pm. Again, with 30-60 minute travel time, its way too early for dinner, but way too long past lunch.

Ugh. Based on your signature, I'm guessing about the type of person you're referring to. Every town seems to have an over abundance of them. We've had own own bad experiences with several. Most likely not as awful as your DD, but I've seen enough over the years to understand. My hope is your son fully understands how devastating the person's history is to his sister. If this project is something he truly needs for experience or whatever that he cannot get elsewhere, I understand why he'd do this, even if were I his mom I'd wish he wouldn't. Unfortunately, in any line of work, there are some people you just cannot get away from, and some- even if you move across or out of the country- their slimey tentacles reach far. Rambling here... but if your son is aware of this person's character and in agreement that it's not good, hopefully he can get what he needs to out of it and not become sucked into any trouble or become a victim of it himself. I have seen people join or stay with some toxic people/groups because it was the best option for what they needed. Sometimes being aware of their ways helps you stay out of it, even when you're in the middle of it. For your daughter, I understand how upsetting this must be. I hope she can find a way to wish her brother success and not dwell on the negative of it. But I also know all too well that some hurts are very deep and aren't moved past easily. And for you, Mom... just hugs :grouphug:

That is horrible. One of my dancers was close to a being able to do a full split, but slipped getting into it and injured herself- it took over 6 MONTHS to recover. no one else was involved with her injury, it was just an accident. Reading that article just sickened me. so angry for that poor girl.

Sorry, I'm not loooking again to find the photo number, but good GAWSH fix the cracked sidewalk!

For second grade math it should be fine, but if it doesn't come with the worksheets you may have difficulty finding them, and to the best of my memory, they really are necessary for the course.

PSA If you invite someone over for "Dinner" ALWAYS specify the time. Like I said above, my entire life I have said Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner, and my mom was furious with me for way too long after I got married because she invited DH and me to come over for "Dinner" and we showed up at 4:30 I will say though, if a major meal is planned between 1:00 and 5:00, usually only a holiday or weekend, I will refer to it as "Dinner" such as "Sunday Dinner at 3:00" when inviting someone. I also often add to invitations, something like "Come over after 3:00, we'll be eating at 4:30"

SW PA, always and only breakfast, lunch, dinner. Also, if a large meal includes eggs, fruit, bacon, bagels, potatoes, and juice I will call it Brunch no matter what time of day it is served- meaning, if we have to have our annual "Mother's Day Brunch" at 6pm to accommodate work or performance schedules, it is still brunch because of the menu. However, cold leftover pizza eaten at 9am is still Breakfast. YES! I had forgotten the Snoopy connection! SAME!

OK it makes a little more sense to me if this is for an occasional group snack. Honestly, for me... I'd rather there just be a set fee for those group snack events, and let the school handle them- that way they can get bulk ornwhole sale discounts, make sure the food is approved for the allergies or diet/nutrition/whatever, and store it at proper temps Well, I don't necessarily see "poison" but those precut and bagged apples are nasty. I don't know what borrid bitter stuff they put on them, but no one in my house can eat them. So even if it is perfectly harmless unicorn powder just as nature provided, it tastes like poison to me ;)

Another NO! #keepingitunanimous

Leggings, tunic or tshirt dress, whatever shoes my feet need. Do your hair and makeup if that's your usual thing, and wear a fun necklace, maybe a cute totebag. I prefer one larger totebag to a bunch of small bags, purse, umbrella, etc. looks more put together than dragging around a purse and three smaller bags, plus it's easier to grab and go.

Clair is the masculine form :D but I have only ever known very old men with that name. Seems like old fashioned girls names are popular, but I don't hear it often for boys. Espilce. I almost like the name better spelled backwards ;) I'd be shocked if nobody used it.