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Donna

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  1. Clear your cookies before going in to look again at prices or look through different web browsers. It seems to me, the more I looked, the higher the prices got but when I started clearing everything or using different browsers prices stayed about the same. Leaving on a Tuesday or Wednesday seems to be cheapest. Time of year also makes a big difference. We usually fly to Ireland in August which had prices this year around $1100 per ticket so instead went in October and spent less than $500 a ticket. Also, try searching different airports if you have a reasonable choice of more than one. I live in the northeast so there were three possible airports for us to depart from and the variability in prices was very significant (+/- $200-300) based on different airlines flying from different places.
  2. My husband's parents are both deceased but prior they had so many problems themselves, they didn't make any effort to see my kids but maybe once a year which led to Christmas gifts that were never age appropriate and kids who didn't know who they were. The one year fil stopped by bringing Christmas gifts and dd was scared because "some man with a garbage bag" was on the porch. sigh. My parents were very involved in my kids' lives (we saw them at least once a week and often more) but a falling out three years ago caused a rift. Long story but basically they treated my kids badly one too many times and instead of my usual MO of keeping quiet, and telling the kids it wasn't their fault, I let my parents know what they did was not right…uh, not allowed in my family (no one can have an opinion or idea that differs from my father…not talking to family members/siblings who disagree with him is a running theme in his life which is why I kept quiet until I just couldn't anymore). My husband and I tried to invite them to our home a few times figuring maybe we could talk about the issues, move past the issues, agree to disagree, and maintain some sort of relationship with them. We invited them to kids' events a couple times as well the first 18 months but we could only be ignored so many times before we gave up trying. I was not going to grovel and tell them they were right so they ignored our invitations and a couple months ago moved 18 hours away without so much as a word to let us know they were going. My sister who loves the fact that I am no longer the "golden child" and was one of the reasons for the issues that caused a rift in the first place was talking to me for awhile, probably to see what I would say that she could relay back to my parents, but no longer talks to me. Last January, when she was still talking to me and saying she wanted a better relationship with me, my kids were invited to perform for an orchestra program not far from her (she lives in TX, we live in NJ). I told her I was willing to rent a car and drive the four hours to see her and her family for a couple days after the performance but she said she'd rather meet us in a different town halfway between so instead of flying home after the performance, kids and I drove to the other town and got a hotel room for two days. After we arrived in the other town, she texted to say she couldn't come. I haven't heard from her since. I don't think she ever intended on coming and wish she'd just said as much so I didn't put out $375+ on hotel and restaurant meals for two days.
  3. Our family listened to a lot of different music so I simply asked the kids to pick an instrument they'd like to learn and went from there. I figured if they picked an instrument that appealed to them, they would be more motivated to practice. It worked.
  4. Since winter is coming along with colds and flu, I thought it might be helpful to share natural remedies for different illnesses. While dd and I were traveling a couple weeks ago, I ended up with a cold I thought was finished that turned into laryngitis. Honey and ginger tea helped a lot! Steamy showers and soup helped as well. What natural remedies do you use to try to stay away from medication?
  5. You already have a lot of good suggestions. I wanted to reiterate, young kids (especially gifted toddlers/preschoolers) will memorize anything they are exposed to. Most like repetition of favorite songs, TV shows, books, etc…and they memorize them. It is fun for them. My kids memorized every book read to them more than once. Dd memorized numerous songs/pieces including those she sung or was learning/wanted to learn on violin. She had the entire musical Phantom of the Opera memorized at 4yo because it caught her attention and she liked it. She also loved to memorize poetry. I don't think there is anything wrong with having what your child hears every day be Bible verses and having those be what they memorize. I was also going to suggest a Suzuki program for instrument leaning. Oftentimes when learning and memorizing come so easily, learning something that also requires motor learning/practice provides a challenge. My other suggestion, and a life-saver for me when dd was very young, is a small mini recorder. Dd told her stories into the recorder and later she could slowly transcribe them or I would transcribe them for her. It saved a lot of tears and allowed her the ability to tell stories using the vocabulary she had available rather than only those words she could spell and write easily. With dd, I kept all her "learning" materials, including her violin, on shelves with her toys where she could reach them and whenever she brought something out, we sat down to "play." She learned most of early elementary math through play with manipulatives and through play figured out concepts like multiplication and division on her own though she didn't know what they were called; reading by being read to, memorizing books, playing with magnetic and bathtub letters; writing with materials like white boards, sand in a shallow container, mazes, etc…; science by exploring outside, helping plant our garden, observation, small experiments, and books from the library; and history through stories. She helped me cut coupons to work on scissor skills. She learned to do small crafts like sewing with big needles, origami, etc…
  6. Oldest started drums at 8yo. My middle ds started guitar at 6yo. He took for a year then took a year's break. He had a young teacher who I think took him into the room and showed off for him. He decided he really wanted to play guitar again, so we found a great teacher and he now plays guitar, bouzouki, banjo, and mandolin. My dd started Suzuki violin at 3yo and does not know a time when she did not play violin. I let each chose their instrument.
  7. I don't think using mj is the end of the world but sneaking around and lying plus the possible consequences if caught by someone other than a parent can be a big deal. If I caught one of my boys using, I would take their cell phones (how long would depend), limit contact with friends (after an initial grounding) to in my home where I can see them, require a report on the consequences of using, and test them every 6-8 weeks (not quite sure how long it takes to leave their system but within an amount of time that would let me know they were not still using but I don't think those tests are very expensive and they are easy to purchase at a drug store), and if it were for "stress relief," get counseling to teach him how to deal with stress in a healthier way. I also might take them to an AA meeting so they can see and hear about real lives affected by using drugs. I can believe there is a lot more going on in my kids' brains/lives than they might want to share with me, even though I think we have a close relationship, so having someone other than me to talk to might be a good idea.
  8. This is how I feel, too. I am disappointed at the way things are simply happening but without any sense being made of them. At the very beginning the school principle talks about how many kids were not in school, then the next episode more kids out of school but no news reports until the police shootings of zombies. It would be all over the news and internet like Ebola and SARS (both of which ended up not being near the disaster the news initially made them out to be). I also expected a bit of a story on how it all started. I don't like any of the characters in this show either. Especially not the mom…when she went outside the fence I hoped for a crowd of zombies to attack her. The characters all make decisions that make no sense and the arrival of the military ridiculous. I was looking forward to this show and am disappointed but I will watch the last episode as I wait for TWD to return.
  9. My dd takes Alg. 2 and Advanced Music Theory online and has a tutor for writing.
  10. I get this often with my kids and their music. I have always followed their lead and let them decide which things to do and not do. Unless people really know my kids personally and have been around them with their music, they assume I am a pushy parent. It is getting easier now that they are getting older because I don't have to always be right there beside them.
  11. I know a lot of musicians and nearly every day there is another one running some sort of "help me fund this" page so they can record/mix/master their new music on a CD. At first I tried to help out each one I knew especially if I liked their music…plus most were basically a pre-order of the new CD or digital download (ie. pay $20 now and when the music comes out, you receive your signed copy). Since I would have probably purchased their music anyway, I did it ahead of time to help them out. Time in the studio, professional mixing and mastering, then purchasing the first CDs is a big outlay of money (ask me how I know). Now there are just too many. So many are asking people to help them and I can't afford to help every single one asking. Also, I could not bring myself to do one when my kids were doing their own CD. We simply set aside the money and paid for things ourselves then reimbursed ourselves as the CDs sold.
  12. Our pup was examined and diagnosed at the expensive animal hospital. There was no way we could afford the surgery at the price they were quoting plus that was the low end of the quote. To have her diagnosed, it cost over $150 to walk in the door then another $150 for an ultrasound that took them less than 3 minutes from the time they took her from me until they brought her back. They wanted to do lab work and more tests to diagnose her but I asked them to just do the ultrasound and we'd do the other tests if that didn't show anything...our vet had a pretty good idea what the problem was without the ability to do the testing or surgery and an ultrasound was the best thing to show whether or not it was that. Our choice was to shop around or have her put to sleep because she was suffering. Called around to try and save her without putting us in a precarious position financially. Most of the places we called were around $1300-$1500, another was much cheaper but I didn't like the look of the place and it didn't have good reviews. We were very comfortable with the animal hospital who did the surgery and they had excellent feedback. They were caring, talked us through the procedure, included pain meds, watched her overnight, did not add on extra costs for lab work, called to let me know how she was doing after surgery and again this morning, and, most importantly, she is doing well and will be home later today. I will be switching to them as our permanent vet.
  13. might cost $2500 plus $230 for lab work at one vet but 1/3 that amount with lab work included at another? Public service announcement to shop around. What a day it's been.
  14. I have a master's degree but my dh does not have a college degree. He went to college for a year, got a job doing road construction earning a lot of money but no time for school, then went to work in corrections with better benefits and year-round work. He is retired from corrections. He went back to school, took a few classes, decided there was nothing he wanted to do that involved sitting in a classroom or the information he might learn there, and now has his own business doing home repair and contracting.
  15. I like the snake print tunic dress with a sweater idea. Cute boots might be nice as well. I'd go for comfortable.
  16. My dd began instrument study as a perfectionist. She still is to some degree but initially, she baulked (talking about anything that popped in her head and/or rolling on the carpet were her MO) when introduced to anything she considered difficult....ie. anything she could not do on the first attempt. Like you, I broke practice into very short sessions. When she was about your son's age, it helped her to have a list we wrote together consisting of everything she wanted to accomplish each session so she had a definite end point to her practices. When learning a new piece there were always "preview" sections (usually the more difficult passages or those containing a new skill) and these were practiced separately (did liked using an abacus to count 100 times or more) before she started learning the rest of the piece. We broke difficult skills down into small easily accomplished tasks and often I made them into a game. My mantra to her was " We practice to make things easier." whenever she became frustrated. If your son wants to play piano, I would not make him quit. Slowing down, playing only review pieces for awhile, doing a lot of listening to piano music, playing games during practice sessions (Helping Parents Practice by Ed Sprunger is full of ideas on games if you don't think you are creative) might be worth a try. You might also try to end each practice session at or before, preferably, the slightest sign of frustration and do something nice together after to break the association of practice being a negative thing...a cup of hot cocoa, a snack, read a book together, play a quick card or board game, whatever might be a treat for him (a snuggle worked here).
  17. Our summer was a bit busier than originally planned as we had a few last minute travels added on... -one week of fiddle camp (done) -ten days music/dance stage show camp (done) -some travel for CD release gigs and festivals (done...much more than planned when I commented on this post originally…we are actually traveling right now and have two more gigs on this last minute planned "mini-tour" to Gettysburg, Charleston WV, and Lexington KY--what a blessing it has been to meet so many new people this summer and make some wonderful connections with others who love Irish music. We hadn't planned to go to Ireland this year, we usually go in August, but the opportunity to go in October came up and we have a trip planned now. Dd was also interviewed and a feature article on her just came out in Fiddler Magazine's Fall Edition which was a big deal to her…it's a magazine she has read for years.) -some violin lessons (continued lessons though took off in July due to all the travel…decided on a teacher and a few pieces for the next year) -fiddle lessons (not as many as originally planned but had a few with teachers other than her usual teacher and some collaborations that she really enjoyed) -continuing some school: French with tutor (done though our tutor moved to Paris last week to be an au pair so looking for a new one), finish up geometry online class and biology curriculum (done-also started up a couple of dd's new classes this month to get a jump start on school for this year)
  18. Can anyone tell me the difference between taking the high school Algebra 1/Algebra 2 sequence vs. taking a College Algebra class? I only took Calculus in college so have no clue what is covered in college algebra…is it a continuation of Alg. after Alg. 2 or is it a quicker run through of Alg. 1 and 2 material? Thanks.
  19. Thanks for the tip. Will check into it. I only have to drive the car from Donegal to Sligo once then she will be meeting us and doing the rest of the driving but I would still want to be covered just in case of a rogue sheep or tour bus.
  20. Fitting it all in with a crazy schedule and travel.
  21. Dd is very serious about violin. We have paid as much as $110 for 90 min. lessons once a week and some years twice a week. This year will be a little less per lesson because she changed teachers. Her first violin (a 1/32 size) was $100…as she grew, they went up significantly in price though the luthier we went to (until dd didn't find the full size fiddle she liked best there) had a trade up policy where the cost of the previous violin went toward the cost of the new one (minus strings and bow rehair) so we were able to upgrade gradually each time she went into a new size. We paid over $10K for her recent full size fiddle and bow. With violins, good sound quality is a must for serious students and even newer students will be happier playing a fiddle that sounds nice when they play it. New strings cost $80 and she goes through strings about every 3 months. Bow rehair is $60 about once a year. We purchase music fairly regularly and the price varies depending on whether it is an etude book, collection of works, or sheet music for a piece. There are travel costs for lessons and we did have orchestra costs as well (not this year thank goodness).
  22. I learned to drive on a stick shift and drove stick for many years before purchasing an automatic. I haven't driven stick in maybe 20 years? I may have to drive one (or break down and rent an automatic) in Ireland in a couple months. The stick would be a friend's car...so free, meaning a large incentive to go that route. I am a little nervous about driving stick on the opposite side plus the hills in Ireland. We'll see how that goes.
  23. I was thinking all these things as well. It was very slow moving. With only six episodes, I expected more of the story in the first one. The choices (all the ones mentioned above) were too unrealistic. Also all those kids sick from school and there is no media coverage (here we have a percentage of kids out of the schools with the flu and the radio and news talk about it).
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