I also got permit from local school district when we were homeschooling. And he was not supposed to work during school hours

Congratulations! Your children will see your accomplishments with pride and not regret, I am very sure. As a mom whose child has used the services of a flight paramedic, I thank you.

Costco gas $5.29 today for me. I travelled to see family. I saw gas over $6.

I'm sorry it didn't work out for that. You definitely did your homework! I didn't know such a thing was even possible for some cases, so it was pretty fascinating to watch (though painful to go through-for Dd, and for me!).

I don’t know the specifics of the adult tooth that’s coming in wrong and needs to be removed but wanted to share an experience in case it might be a possible help. Dd had a permanent top tooth coming in two places wrong (was coming in above and in front of top very front tooth when it was a canine that should have come in two places over). Instead of pulling it and having fake tooth later, a very skilled orthodontist attached a bracket to that tooth while it was still under the gum and attached a spring to the bracket and sooooooo slooooooowly brought that tooth across to it’s proper place (still under the gum) and then brought it down. Apparently it has to be done incredibly slowly so the root doesn’t get disrupted and the tooth dies. Anyway, it was successful. Amazing what can be done. This wasn’t our local orthodontist, who said only choice was to pull. This was the big city orthodontist who specializes in tricky cases.

My mother doesn't have emergency food (except for cans of beans) because none of it lives up to her exacting expectations (fresh, whole food, not in plastic, free of her ten thousand things, etc, etc). She entirely misses the point that emergency food is for survival. Preferences have no place. Food allergies DO. I have bought freeze dried "meals" from an organic place. Yes, they have onions in, which are on my "not so good for me" list. Will they kill me, no. If I need to suck it up and eat those meals, I surely will. I bought enough for a few weeks, they are freeze dried and mylar packaged and will last 15 years. I'm not planning on rotating it and eating them in normal times. They are in the cupboard and there they will stay, barring an emergency situation. But I feels REALLY good to have them. Of course I have my usual pantry that is always quite well stocked, but if we had to evacuate, there are only so many cans we can pack.

Thank you for all of the awesome replies. I'm going with a tea towel from our state. I know that the English family will use it and enjoy it. Plus it's light, small, and no problem going in a carry on. You are all awesome!

My husband is travelling to the UK and is staying with friends of friends. I'd like to send along a gift for the hosts. Something that can go in a carry-on on the airplane, isn't too big, and would be something American feeling. Preferably consumable. Any ideas? Thank you!

https://www.projecttreecollard.org/ When we rented I grew in old burlap bags (got for free) filled with soil. We have the clay-est of clay soils where we live. Our local zero-waste organization is giving away a cubic foot per household of organic compost in 2 weeks. I'll be there! Usually I buy a cubic foot per year-about $40.

I volunteer at a community garden that raises 100% organic produce and donates all of it to the food bank. It's a non profit. We raise everything from donated seeds, we hold a plant sale once a year, and all the work is done by volunteers. It is wonderful to see all this amazing food going to the food pantry that's in the parking lot of the garden, as well as being picked up by a low income senior housing complex and a women's shelter. This is how I am participating in meeting the food needs in my community. If anyone has active Master Gardeners in their area, they are a great resource for what grows well in your area and they may also know of volunteer opportunities (that's how I found the community garden where I volunteer). Personally, I have changed the way we eat to 95% what is in season. I do not buy lettuce or tomatoes in the winter. In fact, I never buy lettuce. Nor do I grow it. I aim to buy whatever is nearest to $1/lb. I do not meal plan before I shop for produce, I shop and then plan around what I buy. Perennial food crops are of great interest to me. So instead of the labor involved in, for example, growing lettuce (annual crop which is water intensive, and labor intensive to plant several rounds) to make salads, I grow collard trees. Yes, it's not lettuce, but lettuce is nutritionally quite poor anyway. Collard trees take the least amount of work of anything I've grown, propagate easily and could provide 100% of my vegetables if necessary. Berries and fruit trees are also perennial. I don't mind repetitive eating. It used to be that people ate what they grew, and it wasn't a varied as the supermarket shelves. Whatever grows well for me, that's what we eat. It means a TON of zucchini and tomatoes in the summer, but then we don't get any the rest of the year. It means a TON of collard greens, but they are filling, nutritionally dense and gloriously easy. I was given a butternut squash seedling last summer, which I planted by the ditch which waters a fruit tree. I did nothing to that plant, no supplemental water (other than what the tree got from the pool hose that drains our washing machine into the ditches), and it grew enough butternut squash to last us the whole winter. That was worth it! So I do think there are ways to garden that are actually cost effective. But my hobby horse is collard trees. We have some in our master gardener demonstration garden. I always say that if someone was food insecure, and they had a space for one pot, they should grow a collard tree.

We are a low-key and low-budget family. We did a Murder mystery themed evening-dinner-at-our-house for both of our daughters 16th birthdays (4 years apart). The younger daughter loved the older ones party so much that she had her heart set on it from that day forward. We invited about 20 of our daughter's friends. We bought a kit that had the mystery, directions, invitations, etc all in it, similar to this https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Tables-Christmas-Mystery-Multicolour/dp/B07H3212S2/ref=sr_1_35?crid=2MMYL5G6ENOG2&keywords=murder+mystery+game+dinner+party+20's+themed&qid=1645910287&sprefix=murder+mystery+game+dinner+party+20's+themed%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-35 Ours was "G" rated (IF YOU DO THIS, MAKE SURE YOU LOOK AT THE RATING!). It was 20's themed and our daughter got a dress at the thrift store, borrowed gloves and pearls, etc. We borrowed folding tables, chairs and tablecloths, wrote a menu on a blackboard, strung white christmas lights, served spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and chocolate cake from Costco. This party was the talk of high school for a good while. And I have literally never thrown a party that was that big of a hit. The kids just loved it and were super enthusiastic. I remember for my older daughter's party she had invited an exchange student from eastern Europe somewhere. Each guest gets a little bio of their character in the game and the role they play in the whole thing. I remember this girl would come dashing out to the kitchen and ask us to explain a piece of her information, then she would dash back to the party. We re-used the same kit when our younger daughter turned 16 (I am ALWAYS frugal) and her group had just as much fun. The kit gives a timeline for the whole thing, like when to serve dinner, how long to let each section run. Someone needs to sort of be the announcer and move it along from time to time (all provided in instructions). At the end all participants write down who they think "did it" and we had small prizes for correct guesses and for best costume, I think. Just writing this brings back so many good memories.

I'd say let him fly. He will learn what he needs to as he goes along. In my experience it has been best to not stand in the way when there's intrinsic motivation for a young adult to move forward. Good enough education is good enough. Launching is so important.

My aunt was diagnosed with osteopenia and her doctor told her that cycling doesn't 'count' for a bone strengthening exercise. It's good for health and cardio, but not bone building. It does seem it has to be exercise with impact.

This was Charles de Gaulle airport. The main one. Paris wasn't build for airports and all the airports are outside of the city.

I honestly can't remember. It was so disappointing because I hate to fly and I REALLY wanted to take the train! But we flew. Just FYI, the airport is WAAAAAAY out of Paris, so you have to get a bus or train into the city. The day we arrived the taxi drivers were on strike and there had been a fire on the railway line, so the only choice was buses-for all the thousands and thousands of people needing to get into the city. They didn't run any extras. We waited hours, and ended up on a local bus that made a million stops, was severely overcrowded and it was summer and very hot. Our daughter was standing packed in with all the people and she passed out. She couldn't quite fall because people were packed so tightly. And we weren't near her. But we saw the commotion and pushed through and a very nice German doctor (tourist) was helping her. Then we were charged an extra fee for arriving late at our airbnb! I'd recommend packing light for your trip. Suitcases in the underground, on buses, and over the cobblestones are a nightmare. On that trip to Paris (and we are pretty light packers) if we weren't so frugal, we would have dumped our suitcases in the gutter and left them. Plus schlepping them up 5 flights of spiral staircase at the airbnb after the delays and the passing out. We wished we had a change of underwear in my purse and nothing else😃. But Paris was fabulous. Though the French are kinder to the English (us) than they are to Americans (in my experience, having travelled with Americans). I always recommend talking quietly and being very nice. And read the guidebooks about tourist scams. We spotted at least 2 that we'd read about. My daughter (20) was too nice-she did say no, but a scammer kept walking with her, until I caught up and gave him the evil eye and a literal sharp elbow in the ribs. Paris (and London really) are the places you want your wallet under your shirt. Our teenage son had his backpack rifled through while it was on his back, and he never knew a thing!

When my family was stationed overseas we always received packages through the USPS at our APO address. I didn’t know that there was any other way. If you don’t send it to APO address then it’s going to be really expensive to mail. Stuff sent to APO is charged as if it is being mailed within the US.

We were going to do Eurostar from London to Paris for 4 of us, but it was about 50% cheaper to fly. We booked a discount airline for that leg once we arrived in the UK. They have some crazy cheap discount airlines.

I lived off and on with a family who had variable and sometimes no income, and 3 teens at the time (plus sometimes me, a 4th teen.). A gallon of milk was labeled with the date that it had to last until. Oats, wheat (to grind), corn chips, etc were all bought in bulk. Bread was homemade, substantial granola was homemade, as was every meal and snack. Fruits and veggies do not fill up a teen. Yes they are needed, but no, they don't fill a teen up for any time. A snack for my teen boy was 6 fried eggs on top of a serving size bowl of oatmeal. Cheap and filling. It was quite usual for him to eat a can of beans and a can of tuna, standing right at the kitchen counter. And still eat twice what any of the rest of us ate at dinner. Same teen stood in the kitchen eating an entire pint of ice cream (which he bought) and lamenting to his sister that he was having difficulty keeping his weight up. Teen boys count for 2 or 3 people in a grocery budget, in my experience. Bread is expensive. Oatmeal is not. I never bought cold cereal, that was the worst for us for price and being non-filling. So there are ways to make it as frugal as possible, without anyone being hungry. He was the only one of my kids who I actually felt like I "won" in terms of college dining hall meal plans. My tiny daughter did NOT eat enough to win on the meal plan.

I was going to chime in as well that pain isn't a typical breast cancer symptom and that I get called back EVERY time I have a mammogram. The first time I got a call back (on my very first mammo) I totally freaked out. But it turns out I have dense and cyst filled breasts. Now I know I'll get called back and it doesn't faze me a bit. That's not to say ignore everything, but it does seem that call backs are common. I usually have the 3D imaging, which is apparently better for dense breasts.

Collard trees are grown from transplants, which I guess is why they are rarer. I do see that they have them for sale in Territorial Seeds catalog. Once you have one they are super easy to take cuttings and grow more. So only buy one, even if you need more in the end. There’s a good video on how to prune tree collards at projecttreecollard.org. And you can google ‘how to take cuttings from tree collards’. I have a cutting growing on my windowsill. And in the spring I take multiple cuttings and grow them until they’re ready to transplant and then give them away on my buy nothing group. They always get snapped up!

I’ve been expanding my food garden. If anyone in the US would like garden advice, a good place to go is your county master gardeners. They’ll have a website and contact info. They are so good at knowing what grows well where you live. Seed catalogs are fun, but not everything grows well everywhere. One of the most prolific plants for leafy greens is a collard tree. I had 4 last year and they would have fed a family of 6 easily. I had to give 2 whole trees away because we couldn’t eat the leaves fast enough. They’ll stand 100 degree heat all summer long. And here they produce all winter too (CA). It’s a tree, so plant it once and it lives for many years.

This thread pull at my heart so much and brings back many memories. Our first 2 children entered college the same year. You've all see the story of my son, which I posted earlier. He was the larger-than-life personality of the 2 of them, and his school path had always been hard, which is why a good ending was SUCH a relief. But I've been thinking more about our daughter's experience as I've read the other posts here. She did NOT know what she wanted to do, except she knew she did not want to go to college. She is a good student, but really wasn't driven for academics. She had a heart for ministry and so she decided that if she had to go to college, she would go to a private Christian college. I'll back up here, because I'm sure some of you are saying, "why did she have to go to college?" She was a strong student, and we as adults could see past the temporary discomfort of college and know that a degree would be the key to a lot of opportunities that she said she wanted. We also knew if she took a year off that she would never go. And for girls it's a lot harder to get a degree after one is married and possibly has kids. (None of these statements are absolutes. Every circumstance is different, but in our experience and opinion, these things rang true). So, off she went to her chosen Christian college, and she hated it. The other students were partying and not behaving in a way that she liked. Six weeks in she said, "I don't want to be here". We encouraged and supported her to finish that first semester, both to see if it got better/changed, or to at least get the credits for the classes she had started. She left at Christmas and went to the local community college. Really didn't love it either but at least she knew it was cheap and living at home was free. She continued to mutter about "no point, I don't want to go to college, etc" all through her 3 semesters at community college. This was happening SIMULTANEOUSLY to our son's rocky path through 4 majors and also saying he wanted to quit. Good times! I asked our daughter what it was that she wanted to be able to offer people once she was out in the work world, because as much fun as mission trips to Mexico are, I told her that just her sweet presence was not going to pay her bills or really give concrete value out in the world. She decided for a major in an are that was A) easier than many/she had a lot of credits in those areas, and B) she felt was an area in global ministry that she could give value in. She finished the degree (with fair amount of muttering still). She took a year off. And she went back to get a Masters (insert parents rolling around the floor in shock and glee for being proved right). She does work that she loves and is good at and that is truly significant. When we got those 2 kids through college we really could have checked ourselves into a sanitarium for a year's rest cure. So my absolute hearts best to all of you who are in it, or having it coming up soon. It will pass-but as the saying goes, not soon enough!

The class that my son said he loved was a gen. ed. class. He was hating all his major classes, even though they were subjects he was good at. So I guess those gen. ed. classes serve some purpose after all (for some kids). And in fact, the class he loved, he said he was embarrassed to say he loved it (he was an engineering major at the time and the class he loved was a humanities class-I guess the engineers look down on those). It was brave of him to make such an about-face.

Also wanted to add, I was also thinking ‘teacher’ as I was reading the beginning of your post. My husband is a teacher, as is my dad and brother in law. We’ve raised 3 kids and sent them all to college on a teachers salary. My husband really wanted to be a PE teacher, sport is his thing 100%. A dear friend (an older teacher) advised him not to choose PE. Those jobs are a lot more likely to be cut when budgets are tight. So he chose math, which he’s good at but he wouldn’t have said at the time that he loved. But he saw that mah teachers were about as stable a position as one could get. He has said so many times over his 17 years of teaching, how thankful he is for her advice. Other teaching areas that are highly in demand-special Ed, adaptive PE (different pool of money than regular PE, and not enough of them), math or science.

My heart goes out to you. You are being strong and caring and that is exhausting. And I know we all do that sort of thing all the time. So hugs and every best thing to you. We also had a son who was a bit lost as to what to do. He changed major 3 times. We also looked at “what jobs do you want to do and what major do they want “. None of those majors worked out for him. We ended up (sort of in desperation at the time) encouraging him to choose some major that he loved and was excited about, and the job could sort of figure itself out later. It felt a big risk at the time. I asked him what college class he’d taken so far that he loved. And he told me, and that’s how he chose his final major. He met his wife in that major. He graduated with honors. He took a job that was as far from that major as the east is from the west. So many jobs just need a degree, not a set batch of information that someone has memorized (obviously this is not true for every job). But his counselor did say that medical schools were recruiting undergrads from the humanities because they had people skills and knew how to reason, skills which are hard to teach. Anyhow, he did ok following the ‘do what you love’. Now he is more mature, has seen a LOT of life, and knows more of who he is and what he wants. That sort of knowledge could only come with time and experience, for him. I am so thankful that he completed the degree. And that we had the support to walk alongside a very bumpy ride.