Not there!

Dd is working through Intro to Geometry. Today, she was working on the exercises from section 8.6. The last exercise (8.6.6f) has a step that dd struggled with. I helped her through it but wanted to find where it was covered in the past because I am not explaining it in a way that makes sense to her. I have combed the Intro to Algebra and Pre A texts but cannot find it. In the final step, she must solve for x given the following: x^2=32-16(3)^1/2 So, she needs to factor the right side of the equation. The solution says "recognizing that 32-16(3)^1/2 = (2(6)^1/2-2(2)^1/2)^2, x=(2(6)^1/2-2(2)^1/2) Anyone know where in past chapters/texts they learned how to do this? I just *see* it, but I'm not sure how I see it and certainly am not doing a good job of explaining it to dd.

There is one episode where somebody is giving out free Christmas presents to the poor and Elizabeth decides to get one despite being told not to by her parents. When she opens it, it is a doll with a cracked face. I think it may actually be in the "pilot" movie, rather than the actual show. My dd still has nightmares about that scene. It would never have registered on my radar as scary but she still chastises me for allowing her to watch it. So, I guess even the most benign shows can be a trigger.

I hate it but I have to vacuum. We have old hardwood floors with gaps between each plank. So using a broom means the smaller stuff just ends up in the cracks and the really fine stuff like dust bunnies and cat hair seem to escape the broom before the dustpan stage of the process. So, I lug an old, heavy vacuum around every other day or so. I really need a better system. I only "spot mop" which really just means wandering around with a wet washcloth and wiping up anything obvious. I have only done a full mop once in the 14 years we have lived here. It was such an ordeal, I vowed to never do it again.

Our thermostat is set at 50 degrees at night and 62 during the day. It turns on at 6am. Is it 8:30 and the furnace has been running non-stop for 2.5 hours and the temp has only crept up to 54 degrees. I don't think we will hit 62 until mid-afternoon at this rate. This is not atypical for January but I am already developing a bad attitude about it. I skied on snow so crunchy last night (snow gets noisy when it is really cold) that I could not hear my music in my headphones over the crunching and squeaking. "Silent sport," my ass. Meanwhile, dd is sitting here doing her math with bare feet and a t-shirt. :lol:

The Waltons was a huge hit with my dd when she was little and we still watch the occasional episode. There is some heavy stuff in some of those episodes too but nothing creepy. I watched LHOTP when it originally aired but I was too young to get much of the creepier stuff as others have mentioned. The fire at the school gave me nightmares. And it may be my imagination, but wasn't there a spin-off show featuring Nellie (or someone)? I had fond memories of the show and had read all of the books to dd so thought we would try the show. I just found it....I dunno....lame....right off the bat. I think we watched a handful of episodes and gave it up.

I do the leave-the-leftovers-in-the-pot thing. Mostly because I am lazy. I only have two big soup pots and one is almost always filled with the grain-of-the-week on the front porch. The other either has leftovers in it or is ready for another meal. I will make a vat of something. We eat it, I put the rest of the pot on the front porch. Dh takes his lunch for work the next day from the pot. Dd and I take our lunches the next day from the pot. Then I eye up the pot and decide if there is enough to eek out another meal or if I portion it out into individual mason jars to freeze for quick handy meals of the future. There is almost always a big pan of roasted veggies on the porch too. In the OPs situation, I would make pots of things I like and freeze individual portions to grab as a meal replacement or supplement when dinner is not going to work for her. Her dh is making things he knows she does not like so I don't think it is rude to ask him to either take her preferences into consideration or grab something out of the freezer to heat up for her. I too hate a cluttery and full fridge. In the winter, I have the porch and in the summer we eat out of the garden on a more pick-as-needed basis where there are seldom leftovers. That is when the freezer meals come in handy because often dh is leaving for work and there is not a leftover to be found in the house. I like nearly emptying the fridge the day before grocery day. And I very very seldom waste food. Food waste is a hot button issue for me.

That is sad! I am surprised. I live about as geographically isolated as possible in the continental 48 and we can get it. No lettuce worth trying to eat but plenty of storage veggies. I grow both so I still have them in my root cellar as well. They keep forever.

You can also roast kohlrabi, rutabaga, celeriac, and beets. I roast up two huge pans every week to graze on or add to meals as a side or part of the main dish. They are especially good with fried/poached eggs on top as a savory breakfast option.

Wow. My mom saved and froze he top their of my wedding cake for our one year anniversary. It didn't taste good after just one year. I cannot imagine 50+ years! Who goes 50+ years without a power outage or freezer failure?

I have never defrosted mine. It is 20 years old and has been moved twice without defrosting! At this point, it is so old, I am afraid to even try it. That said, my freezer has a predictable loading cycle. We fill it over the summer and slowly empty it as we approach summer. I am usually mapping out my garden plans in March each year so I take a detailed "mid-year" inventory of the freezer contents to see what I seem to be using up and what rates. I keep a spreadsheet and track use metrics over the years....because I am *that* sick. If I see that I have way too many beans, I adjust the garden plan. Or not enough blueberries, I know to plan to hit the patches on opening day that year. So at that time, I take notes and meal plan to use up certain items. I am usually down to just about nothing by the time summer produce is available. I will use berries up to two years old but all other produce only up to one year. I really never have to toss anything. I take another inventory at the end of the summer to get final counts on the new content. That is when I will snag anything from the previous year and use it up. I also store bulk grains and veggie stock scraps in the freezer so even as it is approaching empty of produce, it is being filled with veggie scraps. I also stash ice from our ice maker as we approach summer to fill the freezer (making it more efficient) and o have cooler ice on hand for camping and the beach. Green beans are OK on their own for the first half of the winter but by February, I only use them in soups, casseroles, and stir fry.

I am the only cook in my house and we also have an unspoken eat-what-is-served policy, but I also don't cook anything that people dislike enough to cause issue. There are occasional times that I will cook something I know dd doesn't like and I do prepare something separate for her. I wait to cook things dh doesn't like until her is out of town, which is frequent. My contribution to the thread is that I think family rules can be reshaped when circumstances change. If you take other people's tastes into consideration when you cook, then your family rule is fine. If someone else does not, then I think it is easy enough to justify serving yourself an alternative. Especially as your dc are all old enough to understand the difference. As for the rice/quinoa issue, just freeze half of each every other time you make it. Freeze them in the exact quantity that makes sense for serving a single meal. I do this with a grain every week as I prefer to make grains in large quantities. So easy to grab a quart of frozen rice to thaw on the morning I plan to make a stir-fry for dinner.

We moved from a hobby farm WAY out in the country to a smaller house in an older city neighborhood with small lots. I would not say we "downsized" much when it came to stuff because we did not have much at that time anyway. Although we did unload a lot of outdoor tools that we no longer needed. It was definitely a good decision for us. The isolation and upkeep were the two biggest factors. But I found many more benefits after moving. We actually have better access to the outdoor activities we love in town. Before the move, we spent so much time doing outdoor chores that we rarely had time for the outdoor things we like to do. Gaining back the time that was lost to commuting meant even more time to pursue other activities. We moved when dd was a baby but I can now see that living where we did would have been very limiting for her as she grew up. She would not be able to do many of the things she enjoys doing. And because we are right in town she can easily walk places or arrange carpool rides with others. Even the simple things like getting repair people to our house, finding people to watch our animals when we travel, and being able to zip home between things to eat a meal or change clothing have been very good for us. I have always been a nature lover and really thought I would not like living in town but I was wrong.

This happens with us (me) too. I just let it go. Our families have way bigger issues so not my hill to die on.

When we are at my house, everyone has a stocking and all get filled. That means I fill my immediate family's and any guests. Dh puts stuff in mine but I do have to remind him.....not because I NEED stuff in my stocking but because it is distressing to dd when "Santa" forgets me. I now keep backup stuff to toss in mine when dh forgets just to keep up appearances. This happens about 50% of the time. When at my mom's, everyone has a stocking and all get filled. I fill my immediate family's and my mom's. My mom fills her friends' (who often join us for Christmas morning) and mine. When at dh's mom's, I fill my immediate family's and MIL's. MIL fills her other children's, their families', and mine. Dh's siblings are supposed to rotate MIL stocking fillings with me but it is usually easier for me to do it as we are often the only ones there on Christmas Eve. I don't see any of this changing anytime soon. Gifts are not my love language and I would just assume stop the stockings but I am outvoted....even though I do the bulk of the stocking jobs.

The additional info of another child is a factor. I am going through this with very close friends right now. They also have another child and have leaned very heavily on friends to help make things "normal" for their older child. If staying at a hotel is possible and you are comfortable doing holiday things with the older child and MIL to create some normalcy, that might be a great help to the mother. Everyone grieves differently. If there is any way to ask the mother what she wants privately, I would do so. At the very least, since you are not very close, I would try to stay somewhere other than the house to allow for privacy when needed.

Are you close with your niece? If you are very close and willing to forgo traditional holiday festivities during those two days, she might find your presence a comforting distraction. If not, then I would most definitely find a different way to celebrate with MIL or skip it altogether this year.

When we are home with just immediate family, we volunteer for Christmas dinner at our local Friends of the Elderly chapter. We are vegetarians so do not actually eat there, just work. Once home we crash with movies and pure junk food, which is a rarity in our house. It could be frozen pizza or bean dip or cheesecake. Whatever! I do make a big breakfast but that never takes much time for me. Some years I pre-make quiches so I can just pop them in the oven while we open stockings. But I often do a bar similar to the above for bigger occasions. With almost no extra work, I expand it to be taco/salad/burrito/tostada/nacho bar. I keep the oven on and serve with oven safe plates and a stack of hot pads. People can create whatever they like but have the option of heating or melting their creation if they choose. I always have the refried beans in a crockpot so those are hot but it is nice to broil some cheese on the top of a plate of nachos or a tostada or to heat burrito wraps. Another crockpot of simple winter squash soup rounds out the meal nicely. Make your own pizza and baked potatoes are two other ways I address the feed-a-crowd but don't want to be in the kitchen during the whole day issue. In the summer, I use the charcoal BBQ for pizza heating. It is faster than the oven, outside, and pretty do-it-yourself. Again, I try to have a crock of soup (or a cold soup/salad in summer) to round out the meal and provide alternatives.

Everything we set off to do was indeed open. We focused mostly on outdoor activities so I'm not sure about museums and such. We had a car so we even made stops at remote farm restaurants. As far as I remember, all were open and blessedly empty. I understand that things can get very crowded in the high season. I know that parking around our apartment is a big problem during the summer but we were able to find a spot after one or two laps around the block. The weather was chilly and we did wear light winter jackets, hats, and mittens. Like you, we come from a very cold climate anyway, so we found it very comfortable, especially for hiking. I think some might find it too cold at that time. I'll take the cold over crowds any day. My favorite dorky thing was the sheep everywhere. Just hanging out by the roads or up on small rock hills. One thing I wish wish wish we were able to do and I will do when I go back is to rent a camper van. We saw them EVERYWHERE and finally found someone willing to show us theirs. They are tiny so no more than two people can sleep in them (which is why we couldn't do it on that trip) but they were awesome. People just park those things anywhere to spend the night. We would often see them on the sides of roads for the night. I guess this type of camping is very popular. Now that I know that driving there is not too intimidating, I would like to try it next time. And there will be a next time because Icelandic Air is one of he cheapest ways we can fly so we can take advantage of the layover perk any time we go to Europe.

Another tip.... The airport is CRAZY. They seem to be operating at 4X the intended capacity. We flew in very early in the morning so didn't notice anything unusual. We had a later morning flight when we left and planned to get through security then get some breakfast/coffee, go to the bathroom, etc.... Nope. The lines for everything, including the bathrooms, were so long there was no chance of clearing them before we needed to board. So arrive at the airport fed (or with snacks)! There were no available seats at the gates. Etc..... Totally worth that small hassle but if we even fly through there again, I will be prepared! If you go to the Blue Lagoon, which I highly recommend, try to visit right at opening time on a weekday. So much less crowded. And do read the tips on their website about protecting your hair and sunscreen application. There are several affordable shuttles right from the airport so many people visit it as part of their coming or going. They even have a luggage check. I can imagine getting right off a plane and into the lagoon is pretty relaxing.

I went two springs ago! We were there in late April. We rented a car which is not something we normally do in foreign countries, but Iceland is easy to navigate and rentals are not very expensive. We had an AirBandB which was perfect for us. I loved all of the things. We especially liked doing the hot spring spa. A couple of little pointers. We never needed cash. Not once. They take cards for everything. This is very handy and no need to keep track of using up cash before leaving. Also, at that time of year it almost never got dark and apparently window blinds are not terribly popular. Sleep masks would have been really nice.

It was just last year and dd does math to mastery. I have all of her work, I just didn't formally grade it. My bad. It would be hard to go back and grade it because I required dd to revisit any missed exercise until it was understood and correct. So looking back, it is definitely "A work" but is probably not the grade she would get for the same topic in a school setting. I am trying to be more formal with geometry this year, although I still find it difficult because she is still not to move on until everything is correct and understood. I suspect I will have more clarity on this looking back after more math is under our belts.

If it were just the algebra class, I would not bother putting it on a HS transcript. It's the foreign language that I may need to put on her transcript as it is quite possible she will not take any more foreign language in HS. She is in AP Latin as a 9th grader so if she indeed does not take any more foreign language classes AND she wants to apply to a school that requires two years, I need those other years to appear on her transcript. I don't know if I need to be consistent. Maybe I could just leave the algebra class off since she will be taking 4 years in HS anyway.

I am in a bit of a bind with this. Dd took three years of high school language during middle school from an online provider and got As is all of them. But she also took Into to Algebra at home with me using AoPS but I did not "grade" her so don't have a grade. It would be easiest for me to just omit all classes taken in middle school from the GPA but I do want to include them on the transcript. It sounds like that will be OK should I go that route.

I wish my basement were suitable for root cellar activity, but it is not. I also garden so am dealing with my own storage veggies too. Our CSA does not have a swap box. And while we are waiting in line, there is much discussion about our shares and what people struggle to use up. We all seem to be on the same page. I think my family might be the only one that actually uses all of it. I have lots of practice. We were doing fine until we got tripped up with travel. The food pantry won't take fresh produce. But What I have offloaded was to friends and people on our local FB group. I don't find the foods novel. I have the opposite problem.....we have just had too much of the same things. Our CSA farm is going out of business and this is their last season. It is VERY obvious that they kind of quit caring. We always got much more variety in more manageable quantities in past years. This year, whole categories have not shown up and instead we get 8 cabbages or 10 pounds of winter radishes. I can deal with a handful of winter radishes. 10 pounds, not so much.