Congratulations!

Happy birthday!

Thanks. It was an out of state private that she knew was a big financial reach going in, but wanted to try. Luckily, she didn't apply to anywhere she wouldn't want to go (with the exception of one she's eliminated after a second visit), so she's happy with her other acceptances and has good merit aid at some. We're now in the waiting part of the roller coaster to see if she gets merit aid at the rest and exactly what the bottom line will look like at all of them. The nail-biting part is that we won't know about at least one until after the scholar's competition in mid-March, so it's going to be getting close to the wire of May 1.

Thanks. Yes, she's looking at a mix of NC publics and privates. She's actually gotten a nice scholarship to UNCW and to the privates where she's applied but is waiting to hear if she gets anything from UNCC, UNCG, or Appalachian. She was a bit disappointed not to be invited to the scholar's competitions at App and UNCC, but also knew they were always a long shot.

My sympathies. My daughter has found out she has not been invited to compete for the big scholarships at two of her choices and it's definitely a disappointment. She has good scholarship offers at some others, though no really knock your socks off ones yet, one competition to go to which she has been invited, and hasn't heard from a couple of schools on that front. She did go through the competition for her first choice, but didn't get awarded enough to bring it into doable range. It's quite a roller-coaster.

I wish the owners in PetSmart were reliably well-behaved. I've seen owners stop to let their leashed dog pee on the cat trees that are standing on the floor and for sale. One older couple had put their small dog in the cart and taken it over to the cats waiting to be adopted and were actually encouraging the dog to bark and go crazy at the cats (in the cart so it could get closer to the cats). They had pushed the cart right next to the cages and were laughing and egging him on.

Thanks, I'll pass that along to my daughter.

Congratulations!

We received an email today that she has also gotten an honorable mention for her flash fiction piece! Very pleased, since this will be her last year to enter as she's graduating. Good luck to all of those who haven't heard yet!

I wouldn't totally rule out Baptist. Look to see if any are affiliated with the American Baptist denomination. They are much more on the liberal end of the spectrum and away from fire and brimstone. Likewise, I'd look for Presbyterian (U.S.A) (PCUSA) rather than Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). We have been UUs for a couple of decades now and it's the best fit for us, but I don't know that it would necessarily be a great fit for someone who is looking for a specifically Christian community. It varies by church, however.

Congrats! Last year was my daughter's first year. She got an honorable mention in the same category.

I'm so sorry! Good luck to her next year.

My daughter just got word that she received a gold key in our regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her science fiction short story. Anyone else have a student who won a regional award so that we can all celebrate together?

Molluscum contagiosum, perhaps? https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/contagious-skin-diseases/molluscum-contagiosum

It will pay to investigate whether the colleges they are interested in require extras from homeschoolers or not. Many do not, but some do. We've encountered ones that wanted a reading list from junior/senior year, extra recommendations, extra interviews, and even one that wanted a combo of 8 AP/SAT II test scores on top of ACT/SAT scores if not graduating from an accredited school. My daughter chose not to apply to those schools with lots of extra hoops. She has been accepted at all 7 of the schools she applied to, including (so far) honors college at 3, asked to interview for honors at another, and substantial merit money at 4 (including being asked to compete for higher scholarships at 3 so far). We are still waiting for announcements from the others re: honors and merit money. All of this was with my homemade transcript from our registered-with-the-state-but-not-accredited school. The only extra hoop we've had to jump through so far is that one school asked that the transcript be notarized. I did send a counselor letter and school profile along with the transcript, but did not send course descriptions or a reading list and haven't been asked for them. I phrased the counselor letter as specifically not being a recommendation but rather to provide a broader picture of her educational situation and choices. She does have supporting ACT scores and two years of dual enrollment grades, along with a few classes taken in a part-time program via the local public high school.

Interesting. Percent back to the troop must vary by council. Here it's 50 cents a box unless you sell some large quantity as a troop at which point I think it goes to possibly 60 cents. Unlike the Boy Scouts, who can have individual scout accounts to earn for activities, it all goes back to the entire troop, which was a surprise to some families who had dealt with Boy Scouts previously. As to why to sell cookies rather than another fundraiser, our council requires troops to participate in both fall sales (nuts, magazines, and candy) and cookie sales (Dec into February/maybe early March) before they can request permission to do any other kind of fundraiser on their own. This is our last year with Girl Scouts (daughter is graduating), and I won't be sorry to be done with the business end of cookie sales. We'll move on to buying from our god-daughter, I suppose, who is a Brownie this year. The circle of life. :) It will be interesting to see how the changes in tax law impact the numbers of folks who currently make donations rather than buy cookies, since the incentive is very substantially lowered to make donations to get a tax deduction. There's the potential to negatively impact many organizations who depend on donations.

There's a definite taste difference between Duke's and regular mayos that include sugar. A born Southerner ;), I vastly prefer Duke's! Now this only applies to the regular mayo version, not the light or light with olive oil, as those both have sugar.

I think those are likely scalper prices or folks who purchased season tickets to get those and are trying to recoup their entire cost for the season on one show. AFAIK, they haven't released any seats for the individual show yet if they are even going to do so, it's all through season tickets at this point. The Blumenthal ticket page doesn't give an option to purchase for the show. The Broadway Lights season tickets are already sold out. I'd love to see it, but there's no way we could afford it, or afford to buy season tickets, much less the strategy people were doing of buying season tickets for last season to guarantee an option at buying season tickets for this season and thereby get Hamilton tickets.

Thanks for all the advice. Unfortunately we probably won't know for a while what her housing situation will look like.

Happy birthday!

My daughter has recently gotten braces and the hygenist at her regular dentist has recommended a waterpik. Any recommendations on model? Features? She will be heading off to college in a few months so space will be a consideration. I could also likely use one as I have periodontal issues. Thanks!

IMO, in general, the only name one should *ever* consider safe to get tattooed is of their child. Not even "mom" as I've had friends where that relationship went very, very south and would have led to regret. ETA: I can see for a sibling who has passed or other memorial situation.

Happy birthday!

Anything he's always wanted to learn? I've given my husband violin lessons (3 months rental of a violin and lessons) before, and I'm considering blacksmithing lessons (weekend's worth is about $150 here) for a present this year. I was going to do the blacksmithing for Solstice but he wanted to go to an aikido/iado seminar so that was what ended up happening. I haven't told him about the blacksmithing yet. :) Other things mine might enjoy are primitive living workshops at the local history museum or a cooking class/workshop (he's lately gotten into bread baking but also would like to learn more about various Asian cuisines, vegetarian cooking, and canning).

Thanks, I'll have my daughter check her portals. She got all As in her four DE courses, including statistics (her required fourth math and her weakest area), so an updated transcript sounds in order. She's already decided against one of her seven admits and we have the full financial aid package from another that is still out of reach (after initial scholarship, award from scholarship competition, and additional school grant), so not sure those will need them.