American exceptionalism is a weird thing. We are military, we have had various medical issues throuout the years and never paid one red cent, other than getting a couple prescriptions at civilian pharmacies. The quality of our care has almost always been top notch, with rare exceptions, and I used to work in the medical field before I joined the Air Force, I'm pretty familiar with the US model. But you will hear all these military members complaining about healthcare and how the Feds suck at running anything, even as they are using those federal benefits. You hear people talking about American innovation even as they are show actual facts about health outcomes in the developed world. I will never understand how a person chooses the most socialist type of lifestyle available in the US, then decries socialism. Seriously, Medicare is one of the most successful programs to ever exist here. It's efficient, not perfect, but still a great program, and expanding it to cover every American would solve the problem, the wheel does not need to be reinvented here. But we've just always done it this way and there are a lot of lobbyists, so to heck with the people, let them go bankrupt over medical bills. Sigh. Off my soap box, I'm irritated.

We live in high col area, I would not classify $100k as upper middle class. Probably $200k on the lower end.

Looks like this first system this morning is going to stay mostly south of us, I've heard a few rumbles and it's raining but nothing to get excited about yet. This afternoon was supposed to be more mild anyways, so it'll probably be a nice day to just hang out at home and listen to the rain. :)

Scary, that kind weather freaks me out and tomorrow it's supposed to go on from early morning until late night. I was never that afraid of weather until I went through meteorology school, maybe that's because I had never lived in a place with severe weather though, moving all over the south and my weather knowledge made my anxiety way worse.

I just saw that confirmed tornado, there was a tree that went right through he center of a house in Ellicott City. Glad no one was injured.

We just started it, but we are taking it extra slow because I don't want to do much in the way of formal stuff yet, but he likes it and we are having fun with it.

We are in the middle of Math Mammoth PreA. We tried AOPS first but I could not get on board with the format and it was frustrating both of us. Halfway through MM I had ds take the Saxon Algebra readiness test and he did great. It's a good fit for us.

My kids eat cereal because I cannot bring myself to make breakfast, and none of them like eggs, well one might like them but he's allergic. I've always hated breakfast foods and breakfast itself. If I eat in the morning I'm much more likely to have leftovers or cheese and crackers. I prefer a brunch 5-6 hours after waking and another small late lunch and a normal dinner. Doing the Whole 30 finally convinced me that breakfast foods are unnecessary, pure social conditioning. Whole 30 requires that you eat a full meal within 30 minutes of waking, I did not enjoy that aspect at all. When I was in Thailand we would have fruits, some meat, and maybe sticky rice for breakfast, it was so much more satisfying to me.

Today's storm reports don't have any tornadoes listed, just hail and winds. The radar shows some more good stuff headed our way too.

No tornado here but the wind was crazy. We are a few miles from BWI and they got over 60mph. I hate severe storms, we hung out in the basement.

I got $21! Woohoo!

I voted other. My parents divorced when I was 9, when my dad came out of the closet. They remained best friends. When he got really sick, they remarried about 4 years ago so my mom would have medical benefits and my dad would be taken care of as his health declines. They live in a cottage on my brothers property and travel together in an RV. it's kind of a weird story to explain but they are best friends and pretty much always have been.

I love fitness blender, all the videos are free but if you go to their site you can filter them, try low impact or yoga and Pilates. I've been doing them for about 7 months now pretty regularly and I'm just as muscular as when I was lifting heavy at the gym. But I agree with a pp that said you can't outrun your fork. That's where I struggle, I love working out but it doesn't make me lose weight on its own, I have to calorie count as well.

Camping at Niagara Falls, I'm really hoping we can see the fireworks from the campground. I hate fireworks and prefer to be far away from them.

We go one big real vacation per year and several weekends or long weekends. We also go visit family 1-3 times a year. We probably leave our house for at least one night every month, but 2-4 nights is more common. I love traveling and dream of doing it full time one day.

I really don't watch much tv or even mind sex humor and/or scenes, but I joke with dh about how almost any movie pg-13 or higher now has a "mandatory boob scene". It's like they put them in there regardless of plot or how it adds to the show, just because. It's weird and it bugs me.

I used a spray athletes foot medication called Tinactin. It worked pretty quickly, I just sprayed it under my toenail until it grew out. Tea tree oil was not working for me.

I love the PNW. I'm in central Maryland right now and every time we go up to Northern Maryland or through Pennsylvania I think how much I'd like to live there, the rolling hills and picture book farms are so appealing to me, with quaint small towns. Ive always thought Portland, Maine sounded appealing too but I haven't actually been there. Around the harbor in Baltimore is another one of my favorite places to go, I'd live there in a second if I didn't have little ones. Hm, I guess this is why I'll probably never settle down long term. :D

Yes that's the one, I'm not sure why it's also Saxon, the books and website say Hake.

I don't have any actual advice, but Patty Joanna was incredibly helpful when I visited one back during their Holy Week, it was a lovely experience and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

We are going camping at Niagara Falls over 4th of July weekend. I've never been there so I'm pretty excited. I'm almost done painting my house. My mom and sister are coming across the country to visit us next month. :D

We've been using Hake, I like the format, the kids tolerate well. We spread one year over two though.

My oldest watches Student News every single day that it's on, we discuss things as they come up. I discussed the rape case and the shooting with both of the older kids. My little guy will be shielded for awhile, but he may overhear us occasionally.

I agree, my dad has told me on several occasions that when his commander retired him he expressed regret over the way things were. This would've been JUST before DADT passed. The laws often don't match people's opinions. I was active duty when DADT was repealed, it was a great day, as I have quite a few gay active duty friends. The people investigating my dad went so far as to interrogate my mother, it was pretty traumatic for her. She loved/loves my dad and didn't want to risk his retirement/our medical benefits, they were pretty aggressive with her from my understanding. To deny that LGBT people haven't had serious life-altering discrimation makes my blood boil.

I like it, I'm glad we do it. We are pretty transient and the freedom works for us. If circumstances change at some point then we will reevaluate though. We mostly do it for the freedom, we like to travel and see things and do things. I have amazing relationships with them, and even my previously difficult dd is starting to outgrow that and become a neat little person. I don't think I would change anything, including their years in ps.