I just read three books on my non-nonfiction :laugh: fun reading list. One I hated and didn't bother to finish - "Behind Her Eyes" - Sarah Pinborough Two I enjoyed - "My Not So Perfect Life" - Sophie Kinsella and "Big Little Lies" - Liane Moriarty One I loved - "The Girl You Left Behind" - Jojo Moyes Now, I'm bookless (a state I hate to be in) and looking for some more fun, lighter reads. Any suggestions?

You know, it's funny, we had one of those experiences. I was in the grocery store with my 6 month old son and a famous photographer came in and started looking at us. He asked if I wanted to bring my son to a photoshoot the following day that he was doing for a new brand of baby clothes, gave me his business card, asked me to please consider it, and left. I told my mom, gave her the guy's business card, and she freaked out. "Didn't you know who he was?!" No, I really didn't. I didn't want to go alone with my baby to a photoshoot where I wouldn't know anyone, so she accompanied us. There were a lot of babies there as well as celebrities who were going to pose with the babies. My son posed with the band's singer, his photo was chosen, and the ad ran in Vanity Fair and Vogue. I still have the magazines somewhere. A few months later I got a call from the photographer asking me if he could give my information to the clothing brand owner. I said okay, and she asked if I could bring my son into NY for the line's launch. I negotiated a fee and a car and we went. Got to mingle with some beautiful people, and was approached by a number of agents. That's it. I didn't want him in that life. Not being able to run around outside and play for fear that he'd get hurt and shoot would be ruined, or being so busy working that he didn't have time to just be a kid while he grew up. He's almost 18 now. He was pretty mad at me for about a month when he was old enough to realize what he had potentially missed out on but I told him to deal with it. I don't regret the decision to let him just be a child.

A great book music by Peter Gabriel or Leonard Cohen baking the sun shining fresh baked chocolate chip cookies overhearing my girls laughing about something homeschool planning book shopping looking at the artwork of the Old Masters

My stutter started at age 10 also. I went to speech therapy and I practiced a lot on my own and it went away within 18 months, I believe. It comes out occasionally still if I'm really anxious. I was extremely self conscious about it.

Hot, but no humidity where we currently live. We have the air conditioning more far more often than the heat (I think we ran the heat maybe 4 times this past winter?) We started running the a/c in March. It hasn't been on daily since then, but that's when we started seeing temperatures of 88+. It's been more frequent lately, with temperatures regularly climbing into the mid and high 90's. We're looking at 100+ next week.

When I first read the title I thought elf like Will Ferrell in "Elf". Now I realize it was far more LOTR-esque. For the most part I say live and let live, but I hate to think of spending that kind of money that isn't going to make him happy since he's done so much but wants to go further and further? When will it be enough? You can change how you look but you can't change who you are on the inside or how you feel about yourself with cosmetic procedures. I feel badly for him, based on reading his quotes, he seems like a deeply unhappy person.

Both are such different programs. MM is mastery based, more conceptual, and teaches to the child. CLE is spiral, less conceptual, and requires much more teacher attention. When we started doing math, we tried MM. The mastery style did not work for my children, at all. MM quickly led to tears in our house and I tried a lot of different curriculum before landing on CLE. I hadn't originally wanted to use CLE (due to its religious content) but I couldn't find anything similar that seemed like it would work for my children. I would buy a couple of light units and see how your child does with them, as well as download some of the free printables from MM. Both are great programs; but for us CLE worked (and still works) better.

Our doctor told us that girls usually stop growing about two years after the first menses. I'd be more concerned about the side effects from hormones than from having a child who's petite.

Why just boys? My girls play with Legos far more than my son ever did, I play with Legos, and DH plays with Legos. Legos don't care for age or gender - they are everything at every age.

I've loved the Love Boat ever since I was a little girl watching age-inappropriate shows. I used to wish that Captain Stubing was my dad. :laugh: I found this bit of awesomeness too.

You're right. My elder daughter has always felt lesser than her sister academically, and it's been the cause of much jealousy. Younger DD is also many inches taller than her older sister and that has caused an issue as well. I suppose anything that one's sibling is perceived as "better" at can be cause for contention (I'm an only child, I don't have any personal reference for this). I like this! Absolutely. The differences have gotten obvious as they've gotten older (they're currently 12 and 11). Bolding mine - this really resonates with me and you're completely correct.

I gave each of my girls math placement tests with a couple of different curriculums, solely because I wanted to check to see how they were doing compared to other curriculum. I then also tested them with CLE's math diagnostic tests. My youngest daughter tested consistently at 2-3 years ahead of our current year in CLE (including CLE's) . My elder daughter is on track with our current year (I started them on school work at the same time due to some developmental delays DD1 had as a toddler/preschooler, but there is an age difference of not-quite 14 months between them). My question is this - should I switch DD2 to a higher level, knowing that it will very likely cause jealousy and strife on DD1's part, due to her lack of confidence and math anxiety? I fear that if I switch DD2, DD1's confidence will degrade further, but I also fear that if I deliberately hold back DD2 from this, she will be bored and possibly lose her love of math. I don't want to cause my older DD pain, I don't want to see the wonderful, close relationship the two of them share suffer, nor do I want to deliberately hold my younger child back. My husband and I have been talking about this but have not yet reached a clear decision. I'm going to wind up feeling guilty and concerned whichever way I go; I need the hive's suggestions on this one.

This may come across as harsh. I apologize if it does, as it is not my intention. My step-dad is severely bipolar. When I was 11, he stopped taking his medication. Even though I was in school and my mother tried to shield me, it was awful. My mother had him committed against his will and he remained hospitalized for more than a month. I was sent to live at my grandparent's and no one really talked about what was going on. It was frightening and such an awful situation for a child to be in, regardless of how "protected" they are. They're aware to more than most parents realize and how they see the "well" parent acting is how they set the bar for themselves in future relationships. She was divorced (Catholic) and really didn't want to get divorced again, but she told him flat out that she would divorce him if he ever went off his meds again. Since then, he sees his psychiatrist regularly (monthly) and has remained on his meds. I've never forgotten how frightened and powerless I felt. My mother behaved in a capacity that left me no doubt that she wanted what was safest and best for me. I'm hoping for the best for you, OP. Stay safe and keep your children safe.

If you've read any of my posts, you know that I spend a lot of time freaking out about math. I've decided to keep my girls with CLE instead of looking for a new, miracle curriculum. I sit with them for every lesson and help them to understand the questions if they need. The spiral curriculum is the best for them. We re-tried Math Mammoth and the mastery approach of that was decidedly not working for DD1. My youngest daughter is so easy going and learns so well with nearly anything and my elder daughter, she is my math phobic child. She freezes up with her multiplication tables. She says that she feels "stupid" at math and it break my heart to hear her say that. She's actually very good at math, but she feels like she's going to be terrible - it's a vicious cycle, and we're trying to help her break it. She loves fractions, and she loves what she's had of algebra (through Dragonbox). She really enjoys multiplication, but she doesn't have confidence in her memory. I'm looking for a supplement (preferably online) that will help her fill in the gaps. Multiplication, certainly, but not only. Any suggestions?

I would go for it in a second - I'm almost 44 and I feel better than I did in my twenties. A baby coming to older parents really has it made, imo. Parents are well established, most likely financially sound, possess far more patience than their younger counterparts may. All the best to you and your family!

A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving A Widow for One Year - John Irving (just about anything by John Irving) The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak Til We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis American Gods - Neil Gaiman (if you get the audiobook, make sure to get the 10th anniversary full-cast version. It's amazing.) My Brief History - Stephen Hawking Just Kids - Patti Smith The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami

I'm not a huge fan of packaged vegan cheese, but a lot of people swear by the Daiya brand. You can also sub nutritional yeast for cheese in certain meals.

When I was in college, during the early 90's, I was a nanny. $20/hr back then. $20. for 6 hours is beyond insulting.

I love planners. Not online ones, but a nice hefty one that I can hold, write in, and look over what we've done and are going to do. I wound up buying the "A Simple Plan" planner because I couldn't find a secular planner that had the features I was looking for at the time. It's a nice planner and has a lot of features I do like, but I don't have any use for the "prayer requests" section, or the scripture at the beginning of each month, the "steps to salvation" in the back, and the "scripture to memorize" section. I'm not anti-Christian but it's a bit too Christian for me, if that makes any sense. What I'm looking into for this upcoming year is a bullet journal; that way I can have it exactly the way that I want, without the stuff that I don't. I love planners where everything is done for me, but I haven't been able to find one that suits my wants as well as my needs, so this might be the way to go this year.

Beautiful job! And congratulations on your new home!

Oh, that is fantastic! :thumbup:

What did you do??? :laugh:

My husband told me I wasn't allowed to put up anything that could be construed as a threat 😄 The baby sign sounds promising. I'm so tired of this occurring regularly. Thanks, eveyone, for the suggestions! Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk

We regularly get solicitors (even though property clearly states they're not welcome). We have menus shoved through the section between the door and wall, a certain religious group, and your run-of-the-mill salespeople. I really don't like anyone knocking on my door unless I'm expecting them. It disrupts our lessons or seems to happen at lunch or dinner time. This happens at least once/twice a week and I'm ready to move at this point. Any suggestions on how to effectively remedy this? TIA!

My stepdad is bipolar, I have OCD and anxiety as does DD. I also have severe PTSD from an accident that left me in need of years worth of operations.