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elfgivas

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Posts posted by elfgivas

  1. Hi Kai -

    the facebook group was a great help.  we sent lots of info off (school profile, textbooks, course descriptions, transcript, etc, etc).  we got an acknowledgment back that simply said "thank you.  we will get back to you if we have further questions." 

    and so far that is it.

    will keep you posted.

    ann

     

    • Like 6
  2. 11 minutes ago, Jilly said:

    If you are on Facebook join this group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/CollegeSeekers/

    It is a CA based college group that has such knowledgeable people in it who will be able to help. 

    thank you!  i have just applied.  i hope they are speedy in adding me to the group.  thanks again.

    • Like 1
  3. dd#4 just received an email from the University of California system asking who certifies our homeschool.  we file a private school affidavit, which means we are legal.  but not certified per se.  all her AP classes are thru pennsylvania homeschoolers and are certified but ???  advice?  suggestions?  aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.......  they gave her five days or they will cancel processing her application.  this never happened with the first three kids.  

    • Confused 1
    • Sad 3
  4. hi friends - 

    two years ago i did this successfully.  can i remember now how?  no, i cannot.  on the university of california applications there are two additional places for info.  in the academic history one, i can upload either the course descriptions or the school profile.  which?  the second one is for an additional essay i think, but i could use it for the other of the two.  suggestions?  experience?  help? 

  5. complete basket case.  we dropped dd#3 off yesterday.  you would think i would be good at this by now, but apparently not.  i am crying at the drop of a hat.  youngest is still at home, but now without her buddy.  very, very, very hard.  and yet its what we all want.  getting to live your dream ought not to hurt so much.  

    • Like 8
  6. College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley for dd#3

     

    why?  the college of chemistry is rated #1 in the world (who knew??!!).  it is small, research focused, and the students hit the ground running; they had to apply as a declared chemistry major, there are only about 75 of them in the Bsc Chemistry each year, and about twice as many grad students and post docs as undergrads, all of whom like to have undergrads as part of their research teams.  

     

    she is over the moon.  (and turned down several ivys to go there!)

     

    it is also only a 6 hour drive from home, which is nicer than the other side of the country.  (now if stanford moves her off the wait list, which is highly unlikely, it will be a Very Hard Choice).

     

     

    • Like 25
  7. dd#3 is Berkeley bound!!!  she loved Cal Day.  

     

    the college of chemistry is an amazing place with amazing people, and small enough that she won't get lost in the shuffle.  i can see her there easily.  the college of chemistry is one of the few colleges where you apply with your major declared.  they had a meet and greet friday before CalDay, and we spent two hours speaking with current students, advisors, and the incoming class of 2021.  

     

    (someone asked about wait lists; stanford says wait list students will begin to hear the middle of may.  no idea what dd will do if that actually happens.... which is not at all likely... )

    • Like 15
  8. Its been a journey.  

     

    right now, it looks as if she is Berkeley bound.  

     

    wait listed at stanford (so sad - she has wanted to go since she was 4),

     

    accepted at Cornell, UPenn, and Wellesley (but not at Harvard, Princeton, Yale)

     

    accepted at UC Berkeley College of Chemistry, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, UC San Diego.... but for some reason, not accepted at UC Santa Barbara.

    accepted at Cal States for Music, for Chemistry, etc, etc.

     

    hoping she loves berkeley on cal day!

    ann

    • Like 25
  9. it seems to me as if you have come up with a good solution.  (if i read it right, you will document like crazy, pay for a professional clean and then move in.  i missed what was happening about the painting.....)

     

    an awesome safe neighborhood is worth its weight in gold.  i am so sorry about the new neighbor at your old house, but am totally relieved that you are moving sooner rather than later.

     

    hugs,

    ann

    • Like 1
  10. i would break the lease, because it sounds as if this landlord isn't so great on honoring commitments, even legal ones, and it would make me nuts over the months. (and i intensely dislike legal events).  if it wouldn't make you nuts, then cleaning and a gardening company might be a good solution.  

     

    converesely, you could see a lawyer and have her/him write a letter to the landlord, explaining that the landlord has until date "x"  (say maybe one week) to bring the place up to scratch or you will (a) hire companies to do it and take it out of your rent, or (b) consider him to have broken the lease because he didn't honor the terms of it (cleaning, painting, etc) and so won't pay anything.  you could also ask the landlord to pay for a hotel for you and the family until it is habitable.  (its always good to have a negotiating point, but also a financial consequence for him not having done it.)

     

    then, you either have a nice place to live or you can look at plan B without having lost money.  

     

    fwiw,

    ann 

    • Like 3
  11. I've been admiring this landscaping, but I have no idea what it would cost or if it's as low-maintenance as it appears.

     

    it depends where they are.  where we are, it would be very low maintenance, because weeds need rain, too.  when it doesn't rain, they don't grow.  so each early spring there are a few 'break outs' in our pebble lawn, which we pull, and then there will be nothing until after the next rain, which is often months.  

     

    we also put down liner before putting down pebbles, so it really is remarkably low maintenance.  we do rake the pebbles occasionally to remove pine needles, etc.

     

    hth,

    ann

    • Like 2
  12. so this took an interesting turn....  

     

    we live in the high desert in california.  any year with +5 inches of rain is a good year.  (our annual average is ~8.79 inches, but that averages in data from years and years ago when there was more rain.  

     

    our goal is to figure out how to live in the climate we have now.  its hotter and drier.... bad combo.  

     

    things burn.  a lot.  

     

    we decided not to go with astro turf, because where we live its a "when there is a fire"  not "if there is a fire", and I didn't want all those chemicals in the astro turf burning.  

     

    pebbles for us are better.    

     

    so we tried thinking outside the box.  we have a vegetable garden in the front yard watered by drippers.  we have native trees that require water their first few years to get established but then are fine on their own.  (except the past three years, where even the junipers that are decades old are dying).  

     

    i had trouble embracing it at first, but what worked for me was to see it as an opportunity to walk the walk.  ie.  live in harmony with our surroundings.  we aren't using more water than falls on us.  that's good.  when i thought of "giving up the lawn" i was sad and mad.  when i thought about using what's given and no more, then it became an opportunity to care for creation.  world of difference for us.  

     

    hth,

    ann

     

    • Like 6
  13. we are in SoCal.  20 years ago we took out the grass and put in buffalo grass.  it looked okay, but it was tough, hard on the feet and the animals and kids wouldn't play on it.

     

    so then we worked on it a bit at a time.  fast forward 15 years and we put beach pebbles in.  they are lovely.  they are round.  we walk on them barefoot.  kids and pets love them.

     

    but it cost a lot.

     

    we did it gradually for a while and saved money.  we just took a corner, and made it nice.  then we did another corner.  then we found someone who would give us a deal if we bought a lot so we went for it and were horribly tight for a bit.

     

    but in the end i am glad we did it.

     

    fwiw

    ann 

    • Like 4
  14. i have been thinking about this.  if you will move again in 3.4.5 years, then I wouldn't take the time to rent and then find a place, and would go with #1 because it fits the kids now, and will resale well.  if this will be your last move, then i'd be more inclined to wait for a house i loved, and move into a rental if necessary.  

     

    its a big investment, and for me, it would be worth another flight if one popped up that i thought we might like, even if only one of us could go.

     

    fwiw,

    ann

    • Like 3
  15. I also tend to reflexively clench my fists. I used to be a yeller and a door-slammer. By the grace of God, those are rare reactions from me these days. 

     

    You're right, of course, that people react to things internally in different ways. Thinking about this gave a flash of insight into this man: perhaps he truly cannot understand the concept of "understanding but not condoning". I don't believe he's a liar, so he must really believe he has NEVER (his emphasis) been that frustrated or angry. I wonder if his mother would confirm that even as a child, he never got that angry or frustrated.

     

    The man is a pastor. Evidently, he counsels people that if they are angry about anything, they are wrong, because that is ultimately anger against God, since He sovereignly allowed that situation to take place. I think I would be extremely frustrated to be counseled that way.  :crying:

     

    in the biblical greek, "blessed are the meek" uses the word "praotes"  which is aristotle's idea of having the right amount of anger at the right things.  ie.  Jesus isn't condemning anger, just irrational/inappropriate anger.  there are times (clearing the temple) when Jesus thought that an expression of anger was appropriate.

     

    people express anger differently.  as a child, i had a sibling who hit and kicked.  i threw things.... until the day i thru a music box at him, and as it sailed thru the air, started fervently praying "miss him, please miss him".  and that was the last time i threw something.  from then until this day, when i get angry enough, i just burst into tears, because words aren't enough?  its definitely not that i don't get angry or frustrated, just that hitting has never been how that came out.

     

    re his comments about Baltimore.... it sounds a whole lot like racial prejudice to me, and nothing at all to do with anger or the expression of it.

     

    fwiw,

    ann

  16. i would go for knowing over not knowing.  

     

    i injured my right elbow in high school.  i left it for eight months.  i ended up needing surgery to remove bone chips.... the elbow had swollen and locked in position.

     

    when they did that, they discovered that the bone chips in there for eight months had been grinding away at the radial head.

     

    three years later, same surgery.... more of the radial head ground down.

     

    four years later, same surgery.... now there is almost no radial head.

     

    fast forward to life in my fifties, and there are days when i can't hold a pen, or a dish or drive.... 

    replacement elbows have a really lousy success rate.... half of them fail in the first five years, so i'm not doing that, either.

     

    so yeah, if i had a do-over, i would so go to the doctor right away.

     

    hopefull, ymmv,

    ann

    • Like 1
  17. dh's rule is to buy based on land.  you can always fix houses, but the land is what it is.

     

    given that, i would go with #1. 

     

    pantries are "fixable".  (my mom keeps food in the closet just outside the kitchen.  i keep some in the laundry room which is just off the kitchen.  and we both cook from scratch all the time.)

     

    and in most kitchens, there is one non-load bearing wall.  so, one chain saw and part of a day, and your kitchen isn't small anymore ;).  refinishing bits of it will take a wee bit longer, but it is so do-able.  in our first house, the only wall that didn't have cabinets did turn out to be load-bearing, so we cut out the top half, leaving the supports and the bottom half, and it was wonderful!

     

    how long are you likely to be there?  

    ann 

    • Like 2
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