thanks for sharing! Looks great!

For those of you changing plans and worried I just want to give you a little food for thought. I have a good friend who is one of the survivors of the OKC bombing (one of the well known survivors). She is having a lot of anxiety right now too, but she will be there tomorrow (her kid in tow I'm sure) AND she is also standing firm in her plans to run the marathon again this year. You can't be consumed by fear. Do what you do, of course, but I thought I would just put that out there because if anyone would have good reason to be afraid and hide away it would be her.

Only takes once. I mean was it last year or the year before the one took out the neighborhood near piedmont? I bet if most of them could go back they'd have gotten the shelter. Just not worth the gamble unless I knew someone really close with one.

hopefully I'll get a chance to come back later and read the whole thread, but I had to share my crazy neighbor story. Where we used to live, couple next door got into a messy divorce. He took a job driving freight and disappeared. Leaving her w/ the bills, incomplete divorce paperwork, etc She can't pay her bills and gets everything shut off. I come home one day to find her in my backyard trying to quickly unplug an extension cord from my outside plug!! She had been stealing electricity from us for a month!! We shut off that breaker which made her furious. She called the cops on our dogs regularly after that and left hateful notes on our door. THEN the city came after her for her lawn, one day she was outside in a nightie cutting her lawn with scissors.... I kid you not. Then she tried to sell me her food stamp card..... seriously..... So glad when they finally evicted her. It took a year because they couldn't locate the husband. I was pregnant with my first at the time and this lady was such a source of stress for me. It was an even bigger relief when we escaped that neighborhood! The guy that replaced her parked his boat on our property line blocking our gate to the backyard. Complete jerk.

DH got up with the first group. I felt the last one. We've been learning about earthquakes this morning because of them http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ I enjoy them :)

Yeah, when I see one that is over the top I always wonder what we do that they don't. You can't spend that amount of time on sewing, preparing parties, working out, etc without giving up something. How much time do they get to just BE with their kids. Do they go outside and play with them? Do they go to the nature park and jump in the creek with them? Do they sit without anything else on their mind and read chapters in a novel with them just for fun? Or curl up on the couch and watch the latest dr who ;) These are things I wouldn't trade for all the beautiful blog photos in the world.

This! I had received mostly positive feedback and then one day a friend mentioned her and another friend we grew up with were discussing my blog. She said something along the lines of over achieving. My thought was, if I'm overachieving... umm... your bar is kind of low, isn't it? So I guess it's just depends on other people's perspective. I feel like my blog is real. I don't take beautiful pics. I like messy photos of my kids. I feel like it's REAL homeschooling. Then again it's a tiny blog. I do it because I enjoy it. I don't care if people read it, but knowing a few people have gotten something out of it so far makes me feel good. I don't feel bad reading other people's blogs. Most of the beautiful ones have more money, more help, and just flat more than I do. They live a different lifestyle. I don't want their lifestyle, I like mine :) I wish there was more TIME in the day so I could do more of the things I want to do, but then again, if I really wanted to do that stuff I could have been doing that instead of reading up on these blogs :p So there's that.

I think this has a lot to do with it and I think OP's child is showing a lot of maturity. I think it effects each person differently and their own personal history has a lot to do with it. The okc bombing effected me on an emotional level because my mother was supposed to be downtown that day for work. I heard the bomb, felt the earth shake and saw the smoke. She didn't change her plan until after she dropped me off for school and I spent the day trying to call her. I do the same thing now as I did back then for everything whether it's a man made catastrophe or natural disaster. I sit in front of the tv for a few days as everything unfolds. I didn't realize I did this until Newtown and I wouldn't watch it so that my children wouldn't be exposed to it. I realized I felt a NEED to watch it and I'm sure it all stems from what I went through emotionally after the OKC bombing.

What Dahlia said, natren trinity. Used to take it everyday, but have gotten away from it, need to get back to it :)

http://www.backyardchickens.com Check them for pasty butt every day. Meyer (where most of atwoods and TSC chicks come from) chicks seem to have a tendency for it. If they start cheeping a lot then they need tending to, too hot, too cold, need food or water. Pay attention to their behavior more than the thermometer. Since it is your first time I would highly recommend going back for more. The first time out it's best to get twice the amount you want to end up with because mortality rate the first time is usually high due to trial and error. Then if you find you've done well you can sell the extras! Good luck! Chickens are wonderfully fun! Oh! And you might research your bedding choice. I've always heard paper can cause splay leg, but I've never used it so I wouldn't know for sure :)

That type of rhetoric is wrong. Doesn't matter what you follow it up with, how you try to justify it, or what makes you think you were right to say it.

I felt like the writers are stalling. That episode made 0 progress. I'm tired of hearing Henry whine like matryoshka said the heroes are usually just as malicious and cruel. I felt Regina's change of heart toward her mother was out of left field. Now for her to want revenge when her mother was supposed to be dead by her order to begin with?? Eh, if they don't turn the plot around soon I'm probably going to give up on the show. I agree the preview made the fiancee look like she's in on it too in some way. It'd be funny if she was tinkerbell since they hinted (or did they outright say it? I was a bit busy during that episode) that he spent time in neverland.

:iagree: Wish I could be so poetic :) Nicely said!!

You're right I don't know you, but judging from the hauty and hateful tone of your posts I have read, I think I can deduce enough about you to know whatever I say you will continue to be hauty and hateful :) These days I hang with women and gay men needless to say not the rape joke type. My husband on the other hand hears plenty of distasteful jokes, including those about rape, in the shops he has to frequent for work. So, yes, adults make plenty of rape jokes, dear. If you had indeed been touched by suicide then I find it hard to believe you would find suicide funny so keep playing the I've been through it all card. Children are killing themselves younger and younger. They are taught from an incredibly young age that murder is wrong and it is reiterated constantly to not harm others. Most children are not taught about their self worth and to not harm themselves. Instead they are taught that they are an inconvenience by their parents, particularly their mothers, like the one that wrote this article. Until people realize that man or woman, the most important thing in their lives is their children things are only going to get worse. Go ahead and ***** about my statements, you won't get me riled up, but you are welcome to try :D

Yes, growing up I heard rape jokes all the time. I grew up in a neighbor where I was the only girl and being a tomboy I was not seen as a girl to them, even through high school I still predominantly hung out with guys and rape jokes are incredibly common whether you hear them or not. Usually the "I would kill myself if..." is a female thing maybe that's why you think it's the norm and okay, but having close family and friends that have committed suicide, no, suicide jokes in any form are not funny. They perpetuate the idea that there are reasons worth killing yourself. As adults we can roll our eyes and ignore people, kids on the other hand don't understand it and unfortunately once ideas are in their head it's impossible to get them out. I attended a high school student's funeral on my birthday this year, go to a few of those and see how you feel about those jokes then.

That's like saying people shouldn't get upset because Tosh.0 was making rape jokes at a woman in the audience's expense because people tell rape jokes, it's no big deal.

:iagree:

Has anyone else browsed her book on amazon?? Read the titles of her chapters, here's a gem under the half of the book called truth: "Smart women don't have kids." Wow..... What do you want to bet she wrote this book and then had a kid just so she claim motherhood to increase sales...... :glare:

I was okay with this opinion piece until it got here: "It’s understandable that some women would embrace motherhood as their primary and most important identity. When you have little power, you take it where you can. Trumpeting the supremacy of motherhood and domesticity is instant access to cultural approval. But the veneer of importance is not power. How can any American mother truly believe that her work is valued when every policy, every mocking magazine cover, every pat-on-the-head Mother’s Day sentiment tells them different?" #1 While complaining she is being demonized by domestic engineers (I love that! I'm stealing that from you, itsheresomewhere, if you don't mind :) ) for not being a mother first, but then she rips into women who embrace motherhood because they have no power and obviously making this choice because they are incapable of doing anything truly worthwhile. #2 The idea that you get "approval" by chosing to be home with your kids is absurd. In my experience people look at you like you're crazy. #3 The woman obviously feels guilt over her choices as a mother, otherwise why attack women who made different choices?? #4 The idea that being a 'mom first' means who have to drop everything for your kids at any time is ridiculous. I am mom first, I keep my children in mind when making decisions about my life. Doesn't mean I can't and don't do what I choose to. I agree with you OP, the author is invested in the "mommy wars", it's sad. Women are free to make decisions about what they want to do with their life, stay home, have a career, whatever you WANT to do. Just because we WANT different things does not mean we should sit ideally by while someone rips into those who choose to raise their children and not pursue a career (which is what this article does). I certainly don't need anyone's approval but my own. The idea that because I choose to stay home means I am supporting inequality and sexism is ridiculous. I choose to do this because it's what I WANT to do and I sure as hell am not going to be guilted into anything else by someone that obviously regrets their decisions. Why else would she write such a hateful piece?

Oh! Thanks for the detail! Okay I can understand a little better now. He probably feels an obligation very similar to work to help his father with this project. It's all got to happen before the weather gets bad, so it's not as simple as doing it another time. In the end he'd feel guilty if he didn't go help, so would you want him there feeling like he should be somewhere else? Eh, I'd sit down tell him how I felt and tell him I understand he feels obligated, it still hurts, but he is free to do as he feels he needs to. Then let it go. Hopefully he feels some guilt for not being there for the bday and will put forth the effort to make it up somehow.

I agree, my MIL apparently used to lie to her children (when they were little) about when their actual birthday was if they couldn't celebrate it ON the day :confused: Wierd IMO. She assumed I did the same with mine when DD's bday fell midweek this year, "Well, does she know it's her actual birthday today?" "Ummmm.... yeah....."

Have you told your DH that you are concerned about how the older kids will interpret his absence? Sounds like you need to sit down with him and talk about it. In the end it's his choice where he wants to be and it's up to you if you want to feel upset about it or just view it as one of your husbands acceptable flaws that he can't say no to his parents. Everyone has different family dynamics. I know people that wouldn't have a problem with it because the dad would find a day to spend with said child and make it special whether ON their birthday or not, doesn't matter. My husband has missed many bdays and parties due to work. I hate it, but he feels like he has no choice so nothing is going to change that. Why be upset about it? If it's important to you to spend the day as a complete family unit, can you change your plans and go with him? Maybe that is the inlaws goal anyway? (sorry if I missed a post with particulars, I just caught the jist of him going to see his parents)

We had kids die every year too, usually during spring break. Doesn't mean cancel spring break, things happen in life. However there is a sense of responsibility when it comes to children in school during school hours. In the case of this town the smart thing to do would have been to close campus or move lunches around the train schedule. They did neither. The mother of the last boy that died in the train wreck tried desperately to get them to change their policies, but they wouldn't. It's just like others are saying about common sense. There was obviously a danger to their open campus lunches, but apply some common sense, of course not!

HD? I didn't realize they came out with an HD version of the Fire. huh I got mine a year ago, I bought a case for $22 off amazon, no screen protector and my kids 6,4,3 use it more than I do. The screen is fine with nothing on it. My girls use it for educational games and video when we are out and around. I read on it. No problems, very happy with performance. I have had to return it due to charging issues, but they sent me another with minimal effort on my part. I'm beyond happy with it! If it were in the budget this year I'd do that for christmas this year for all my kids just so I didn't always find mine dead cause they didn't put it back on the charger!

I am not an advocate of open campus. Here is why - around here there is only ONE school with open campus. I lived in that town for 8 years, my husband grew up there, went to that school. Every other year at least one kid (one year my husband went there it was three in one car) from that high school died during school hours. Most of the time it was in a traffic accident, twice involving a train while I lived there. Could this stuff have happened after school hours – yes. However the train schedule doesn't change and it went through every day during lunch when nearly all the kids left campus.... there were four intersections with the train in that town. The decision to continue open campus was a poor one IMO. On the other hand, where I went to school the last two years they put a HUGE chain link fence around the entire campus and you felt like you were in prison. It sucked, but I still managed to leave campus regularly and at my discretion :) After Columbine we had threats called in every week, some weeks daily, so we were hardly in class in the morning the year after that happened. I was a great student, straight A, AP classes, but I was still on that list of possible suspects simply because I didn't agree with treating us like prisoners and did what I felt was my right to do. I was threatened with suspension a couple of times, I was interrogated by teachers. Being a good student doesn't always absolve you from suspicion. OP - I hope the school listens to you! Good luck! Things started to go way south while I was in school. I would HATE to be in ps these days.