Oh, Bethany. :grouphug:

:iagree: And, if it makes you feel better, my 11yo asked the same things at that age. She doesn't ask anymore and is pretty ecstatic about homeschooling when she hears from her teammates about their day, need to go home after practice and do homework, etc, and she has a *very* full schedule of school work this year.

I love when that happens! :D

You go ahead and brag. Your kids are doing the hard things. Actual achievement, hard work to reach a goal despite obstacles, and character are the things I would like to see more brags about.

:svengo:

Ok, I am all for giving gifts to the intended party. Gifts are to be given without strings, or they are not gifts but barter. My mother has spent my whole life showing me things she bought for me or other people, but decided to keep because she liked it so much herself, and then purchased some obligatory, thoughtless trinket instead... You get the idea. However: 1. Lori should never, ever interact with this unholy biotch again. Thus, there is no opportunity to present said gift to its intended recipient. Which leads us to... 2. It is wasteful to hoard such a thing. What I suggest is that Lori and daughter get all gussied up, use the gift card to go to tea at AG, and post the pictures on FB with the caption "Fat, dumpy girl goes to tea!" with a description of the wonderful time had. Unbelievable, these people.

Wow. I'm in jeans shorts and a maternity tank (which did not fit me pregnant because my plan to be a cute pregnant chick was thwarted by twins)... I've been to tea at the Four Seasons with no scandalous fallout. I would be oddly dressed if I was wearing formal tea-wear at home, and casual wear at tea. I'm sure most people know the difference between dress up occasions and casual ones, don't they? :confused:

:iagree: It's very difficult when your body rebels against you. Why should you shove those feelings down because other people have bigger issues? I'm not saying hide in your room and wallow in the self-pity forever, but chronic health issues are frustrating when you're trying to go about your life, and it is perfectly normal to feel frustrated when they rear their heads. Don't beat yourself up for feeling what you feel. :grouphug:

I get what you're saying. When I was a kid, my friends weren't necessarily family friends, just school mates. Well, most of them, anyway. There were others who were whole family friends, and I played with my cousins quite a lot (they were also school mates). When I was a kid, though, it was small town 1970s, and while my friend(s) and I may not have been playing with their siblings (I'm an only), the siblings also had friends who were out running the neighborhood. It wasn't the drop off / pickup situation we seem to have now. We didn't have playdates. We just went out, maybe knocked on a door, but just generally all fell in together while being out. Throw homeschooling into the general spreading out of social groups and playing becomes much more intentional. I am fortunate that my children's friends are those whose parents I adore. Or maybe it's simply a function of homeschooling that we meet other people as families and the relationships that develop do so that way. I mean, my kids don't really go anywhere without us, so they wouldn't meet people and develop friendships on their own. Hmmmmm. Interesting.

:lol:

I used "dark" redundantly. Because I was being chewed by something. Possibly crickets. :ack2:

Ooh, fun! I will try to channel Elaine writing up the urban sombrero in the J. Peterman catalogue! In the sultry night air of early September, the house tucked in for the night and only the chirping of the crickets and cicadas reaching through the dark, Angela sits in the dark. The lightest white lawn with just a hint of tonal floral skims to the ankle to catch the mere suggestion of a breeze, while pearlized buttons and hemstitched bodice transport her to a more genteel time. (Or: I'm sitting on the porch in my nightgown.)

Wow. My kids aren't in Scouts because I disagree with their policies. It would never occur to me to attack an 8 year old (or anyone for that matter) selling popcorn. What is the world coming to? :confused: I'm glad the nutbunny was moved along and the boys are ok.

I'm planning to assign Gail Collins's "America's Women" and Cokie Roberts's "Founding Mothers" to my 7th grader this year. I enjoyed both.

Yup. I totally get that things come up, even fluffy things that get reshceduled, but I refuse to be the backup plan for someone who doesn't want to spend time with *me*, just wants something to do. (and, really, Cat, I think you should just add "and Angela thinks so, too" to the end of everything. It would save me a lot of typing on my phone. :D)

Well, I'm sure we've covered this situation within the past few months, but I'll recap: You send her an email with the date and time you will be arriving at her home, demand an advance menu to approve, refuse to allow your family to eat the majority of what you're served, and steal her napkins on the way out. :D I agree with the general consensus: some people say things about getting together as social conversation, or because it sounds good in theory but, in reality, they are nor prepared to put it on their calendar for whatever reason.

:iagree: though I doubt you'd have to. You're right about your body adapting. Your muscles get very effiencient doing the same thing all the time. And, just as a point of reference: whenever I take somebody else's classes, I totally feel it. One of my colleagues, who has taught group exercise classes for almost 30 years, complains about the same thing. That made me feel better, less like a slouch. So if you're feeling kicked, take heart. "Fitness professionals" get our butts kicked, too. I'm not sure I'd do a cleanse, new diet, and switch my exercise routine into high gear all at once - I would definitely advise a client against it - but that's just more "miser factor" than any concretely based objection. ;)

Yeah, I just realized it was a movie, not a show. The kids had it on our Netflix queue, but I don't think I've seen it.

Timebandits?

Yoda. Just for grins, I had my husband do it on his phone (since he hadn't clicked on this thread): yoda, birds, fox, fish

Orzo is small, rice-shaped pasta (though larger than rice). My thought process was that the alphabets are small, and they're sort of slippery when cooked, which is pretty much the way of orzo, too. Recipes for other pastas wouldn't work as interchangeably as orzo recipes because the cooked pasta behaves differently. Eg salads calling for penne would end up with the chunks of veggies any whatnot riding on top. Likewise, couscous is much drier so takes additions differently. I wouldn't use them for mac and cheese because mac and cheese normally has thicker noodles with "insides" (elbows, penne, shells) to hold the cheese and, because they're thicker, take up some of the liquid in the cheese sauce. Little skinny alphabets would turn to mush.

You could use them in any dish that calls for orzo, I'd think.

I've had that before. I just scraped the seeds out as usual and went along my way. I'm sure no one was sick from it, but I do wonder if the nutritional value was affected.

So true. Unfortunately, I think people who think it's ok to do things like publicly degrade people passive-aggressively are the same ones who will say snide things about "how it looks": you're unwilling to help unless you can lead, sore loser, etc. If you do how out - and I think you should - I would definitely make it clear that you are doing so because of the public insult, not because you're high and mighty and bent on being in charge.

I believe I will be implementing some of Claire's ideas, as well. It would take no time at all to keep the housework done if we had that going on. For schoolwork, my kids get grades. I do not accept sloppy, incomplete, half-a$$ed work. Period. But I will confiscate it while you do the lesson over again. It took relatively little time for my 11yo (the primary offender) to catch on that it takes less time and effort to do things correctly once. And, for whatever reason, grades seem to work for them. Oh, and I sit on the couch or work on the computer in the school room while they work. It keeps the wild rumpus from starting because I've stepped out, and it also keeps them from losing focus and wandering around if they had a question. I never thought it would be the case, but having a dedicated school room upstairs is one of the best things we've ever done.