What about a shikibuton? It might be what you get if a sleeping mat and a futon had a baby. It goes directly on the floor, and (like a sleeping bag or mat) it gets rolled up and stowed during the day. It's more convenient than a chair in that it takes up way less space ... but it's less convenient in that you would need to roll it up and stow it a few times each week at minimum - every day is best. Otherwise it could get ruined - moldy, musty. They're meant to go on tatami mats and even then, to be stowed daily. We keep these in some of our rental units, but we cater to a mostly Asian market who are used to the firmness and maintenance. These aren't as thick as a standard mattress, futon or sofa but that doesn't sound like it'd be a problem for your guy since he's already used to sleeping on the floor LOL.

I hope he got extra ... points ... for creativity! :smilielol5: So was it his one-liners that originally reeled you in? LOL

I scored high for MUS. It properly identified it as my chosen curriculum for Secular K-6. I answered "strongly agree" for the questions that asked about mastery and manipulatives. I answered "agree" for the questions that asked about regular review of concepts, the "why" of math, and manipulatives. I answered "neither agree nor disagree" for the questions about online and video helps, and memorization. ** OP ** Very neat quiz! I clicked on the curriculum it identified as my second highest score because I had never heard of it. It opened in the same tab, so when I wanted to return to my scoring page I hit the "back" arrow button. Unfortunately it took me back to the first page of the quiz, and I no longer had access to my scores. I don't know if this is an issue on my end or on the website's ... I'm not very computer or internet saavy ... but it bummed me out because I was interested in reading more about the curricula in the quiz. But not enough to re-take the quiz LOL.

We don't generate a large amount of trash, even for a large family. I'm not sure what we do, really. Our trash service comes twice a week but we only fill the can once every 3 or 4 pickups - if then. We eat lots of fresh food. We bring those home from the market in re-usable mesh bags rather than the store's plastic bags. We don't eat a lot of individually sized portions - we buy in bulk or warehouse servings. We portion ahead of time, but not with plastic baggies. We buy family-sized portions of hygiene stuff like lotion and soap, again portioning out in re-usable containers if necessary. We use cloth a lot - napkins, placemats, diapers, feminine needs, rags for cleaning, even for the Swiffer-type mops and brooms. We don't buy a lot of CDs, DVDs, gaming things etc. - anything that can be kept digital, is. (I don't like this, I like tangible things!) We buy things used. Not a lot of extra packaging to deal with that way. We refuse store bags if we really don't need them. E.g, the bookstore - we carry the books out in hand. I can keep bags/boxes in the trunk. We don't any longer, but once upon a time we composted. That was an immediate reduction of trash! ETA: reading through this I realize what we do - WE WASH! :lol: We wash re-usable containers, dishes, and cloth items instead of using convenience products. My friend is the crock pot queen and she's been using these disposable liner things. She also lines her baking pans with foil so she can toss it right after. Her priority is time, so she takes advantage of convenience items. Her trash will be more full than mine. I have more time than she does, plus I'm way cheaper!, so I just use the stupid crock pot and wash it after; same for baking pans.

I'm a planner, maybe even to a fault. I plan two routes to baseball practice every Wednesday night even though I've been driving to the same fields twice a week for nine years. Everyone knows (even the kids' friends who we give rides to) not to talk to me or turn on the radio until we pull out of the subdivision because I'm route-planning LOL. I have to factor in whether it's trash day, whether the mail man was early or late, which side of town is undergoing street resurfacing, and what time the mega-Protestant churches in either direction have their Wednesday service (which clogs our two-land back road). Stuff that my brother will just deal with on the fly if he runs into them. But in fairness, I have other kids going in different directions and the timing of everyone's drop offs is essential! Especially if I'm going to fit in my 30 minute Starbucks 'debrief' before I have to swing back and start picking everyone up again :lol: . Confession: I was the mom who mapped out school careers for each kid beginning their K year - not just the homeschooled ones, but also the public school ones! I think planning is what keeps me from worrying. Just knowing I have one or six plans in place is good, I don't have to actually stick to any plan. There's comfort just knowing there is one there if I need to default to it. Being a planner allowed me to retire in my 30s. It helped me to divorce 'smart' and to guarantee a financially secure retirement once I hit 'real' retirement age. It helps me invest wisely - buying low, selling high. It helps me save on big purchases, like cars. And, God willing, it will help my kids care for me in my late, late years without significant cost (time or money) to them. This covers the things I'd otherwise worry about. So, yeah, for me the planning relieves any tendency towards worrying.

Oh I love that! That's the look I want, even down to the color! Beautiful, beautiful, job, Happy. I hope my cabinets turn out as nicely.

Our school district has consistently ranks in the top 3 in our state. Every year the same three school districts (one the town over and one on the other side of the state) hold the top 3 spots, just their order flops around. I have kids in homeschool and kids in public school. It really just boils down to each kid. If I homeschooled because of a lacking school district, and then I moved from that district, I would absolutely re-evaluate my efforts. If that is one's primary reason for doing it (homeschool), it makes sense to! If your student's needs can be met in an equally or better situation, freeing you up for other roles/responsibilities, it's silly NOT to consider all options. You may still end up deciding to homeschool, but the decision would be made having taken everything into account.

Annie Sloan is the one brand I've seen everywhere, and have heard about but the price is what had me hesitating LOL. But it sounds like it's worth what you pay so I think I'll give it a go! The kids ship off to a relative's next week and it'll be a great time to give this a try. I was seriously thinking about spray painting it but I knew that'd be messy and nuts. It's just THAT ugly and in the garage, so who really cares (except that I do). I'm glad for this thread, thank you all!

I could have written the OP myself about my third son (who was my third scout) when he was about 13-14. He wasn't that eager bushy-tailed new Scout anymore, nor was he the mature Life Scout that he is now. He was in flux and bending towards the "Can I get away with it?" and "If everyone else is, when in Rome ..." mentalities that I decided was just a normal part of the maturation process - even for decent, good kids. Maybe especially for decent, good kids who have spent their short lives doing everything "right" and by the book. He basically leapt off the pedestal I had placed him on! And not just in scouts, but in school and sports also. He was consistent, if nothing else. I tried discussing it with him but my older sons hushed me and said to save my breath. They talked to him some and planted some seeds. They told me he'd come around and to trust him and how he was raised. I couldn't trust; I prayed a lot instead LOL. He went from being the kid to refuse a participation trophy in a tournament to taking credit a SM mis-assigned to him. Disappointed doesn't begin to describe it. But I felt at 14 it wasn't my place to step in, that he had to do right on his own accord. So instead I took a hiatus from scouts, only participating in conferences as a committee member so as not to affect other scouts trying to advance. I refused to let him share his enthusiasm with me re: scout rank or camps. Every other part of our intertwined lives were unaffected. I didn't handle it well as a mother, but the point was made: I love you, but I don't always like the person you choose to be. And then I hit him over the head with CHARACTER stuff. We'd read about it, I pointed it out in television shows and news articles and his friends. We studied and memorized great speeches in school. We discussed political and military leaders, and their qualities. He's always confided in me about his friends' drama, and he's their go-to for advice. I think it helped using others as a place to start defining who he wanted to be associated with and what he wanted to be known for. And he came around. He still takes short cuts I wish he wouldn't, but they're not the kind that would have him take credit for something he didn't do. I can live with that. I kind of have to, I guess. My favorite resource for character and morality stuff is the Medal of Honor project. This is the child that is pursuing a military career so it particularly spoke to him. It's free and easy to incorporate into a homeschool, or just daily thing: http://www.cmohedu.org/ Sorry your son disappointed you. :grouphug: It totally sucks when they do that.

I'm glad you asked the questions you did, I've had the same ones (and the same experiences with regular paint). But there's a really, really ugly bathroom cabinet in the garage that I'd like to spruce up ... I think I'll practice on it with this chalk paint stuff. Experts - any brands to recommend or to stay away from? Any tips? Should I plan to wax a bathroom cabinet? There isn't a shower or bath, it's just a sink and toilet. But there's also no window in there so it can get humid in summer and it's the bathroom kids from the pool use when wet.

I spent five hours on a flight last week next to a sniffler. It got so bad I wanted to offer her my shirt - anything, really - to just BLOW THE NOSE already :lol: .

I went back for an additional degree when I was 30. I was on an extended leave of absence from my job (3 years) and figured, why not. I took a mix of online and campus classes. My goal was to keep my brain from atrophying during my leave, as I was in the thick of parenting at that time. The first time around I had earned the degrees my parents wanted, this was a chance to study something of my own choosing. It's not an easy decision to return after a long absence. Good for you, this is an exciting time!

My kids don't drink Gatorade, but most of their friends do. What seems normal for an outdoor workout of that length (soccer, baseball) is a bottle that looks like 20-24 ounces or so? It's smaller than a liter. I know martial arts studios run hot sometimes, so if that were the case I'd probably say that's a decent size. But if the studio was cooler, or the class smaller, maybe the next size down? My kids go through about a liter of water.

See, I feel the same way! But I do have a problem with that responsibility falling to me on a daily basis so I just say no or I restrict their use to a situation where I know I can stay atop their proper contact use (like baseball). My kids have such low prescriptions that contacts feel optional and not worth the long-term trade-off. Once those get higher, I'll relent out of sheer empathy if nothing else, and agree to contacts F/T. I just hope we're years away from that, and that laziness and questionable hygiene won't be the issues then that they are now!

Well, we were living under the same rock until a few years ago! You are wearing your contacts correctly, and using them as instructed. Additionally, your eyes are getting oxygen every day when you wear glasses - even if your contacts are in most of the day. Yes, these absolutely reduce your risk. I did not wear my contacts correctly, nor did I use them as instructed. When disposables became a 'thing' I switched to those on my doctor's recommendation, and that's when my problems started. I got lazy about taking them out and would go weeks, sometimes months, without removing them - not even to disinfect them. It's like I convinced myself I had perfect vision again. Idiot! I have a very strong prescription so even with the highest hi-index lenses, my glasses are heavy. I can't switch between glasses and contacts mid-day, it gives me a headache. I have to pick one or the other and stick with it all day long. My flat, wide Asian nose doesn't hold up glasses well, so they're always slipping. I have a very round face and there aren't as many frames sized to accommodate it so glasses sometimes feel tight. I really, really hate the feeling of wearing glasses. I looked into reverting back to regular one-pair-for-a-year contacts but my doctor thinks the disposable ones are better for me at this point because they're thinner and more oxygen can get through. And like a good Asian, she shames me into using contacts as directed and wearing my glasses at least one day each week (which I've started to do, but I won't do anything else that day. Not even drive unless it's an emergency because I don't trust my vision. It feels 2D as opposed to the 3D from contacts. I know, can you say issues??!) My eye doctor is amazing. She is passionate about her field, which is saying something because her parents pushed her into it. She's also a long time contact wearer so maybe it's something she's looked into out of personal interest. I don't know, we've only compared notes about having Asian parents and being Asian-American parents LOL.

I do get introspective on my birthdays, so I can see where your sister might be taking stock and feeling like she's coming up short(er than where she thought she'd be at this point). I turn 40 this year and I am starting to feel my mortality. I swear just a year ago I was still invincible! 50 can be a pretty major milestone. Given that most people die before they're 100, it's a point some people realize that their life is more lived than yet-to-be lived. Happy and healthy people might view this through a different lens than someone who is already struggling with where her life is. In the latter the milestone is just one more reminder; it's not a catalyst itself. You're a good friend and sister. It's why she called you when she needed to feel better! :001_wub:

I've worn contacts pretty much non-stop for 30 years. I love contacts. I didn't have a contacts-related problem until the last five years, and the problem I do have results from years of oxygen deprivation. It's not something or anything wrong with the contacts so much as what I did wrong (to and by) myself by mis-using them. Knowing my kids, they're likely to make the same (poor) choices I did. So I'm putting off contacts for as long as possible with them. I didn't mean to imply contacts were a questionable choice for all kids or teenagers (or people). We're learning more and more about long-term contact lens effects ... and they're constantly improving lenses to address the findings ... but I still think the unknown risks of oxygen-deprivation for so many years is not worth the trade-off for my kids at this point. I want them to view contacts as one tool in their box and not as their go-to. That will likely change when/if their vision gets, like, coke-bottle glasses bad. At that point the trade-off may be worthwhile. But I'd encourage them to still wear glasses at home part of each day, or at least one day each week so their corneas can breath. That's where I went wrong. Things I considered before letting my son get contacts for baseball - does he wash his hands regularly? will he remove the lenses each night? will he use saline, not water, to rinse them? will he disinfect them regularly? I could answer yes to all of those, so he got contacts part time. My daughter is a different story, so she got googles LOL.

I donated during college, as often as I could. I'm petite and my weight was sometimes too low or close to borderline for them to accept me. I still have a permanent scar at the draw site in the crook of my arm LOL. At the time we were paid $15 for the week's first donation and $20 for the second. We didn't declare it as income, it never occurred to us. We were near two centers, one paid in cash but the other paid by check. They swabbed our fingernails with some UV paint or something so we couldn't trick each center into accepting us more than the allowable limit to donate. It was a nice little downtime. My boyfriend read the magazines we couldn't afford to buy ourselves (Time, SI, etc.) while I watched atrocious talk shows (Springer, Maury) he swore would rot my brain LOL. Neither of us noticed any related health issues. Sounds like maybe we were just lucky.

I fixed it for you! (Pretending I didn't see what you wrote LOL)

:lol: I don't garden but I appreciate a lovely, lush garden space. It's hard enough keeping my children fed and watered, much less adding plants to the mix. But I love hostas for the very reason you mention. The more I ignore them, the better they do and the more full they grow! They're my outdoor "go-to" and pothos are my indoor "go-to" for the same reason. I just spent $50 on hostas, I wish we lived closer! I hope mine don't die on the lanai before I can get to planting them. Which I guess I could be doing now ... oh ...

You know, it was an old Irish nun who told my grandmother so, and how to make it. My grandmother had a cup every night when I was growing up. She'd sit on the lanai, sip and stare out at the fields. We were allowed to sit with her if we didn't move or speak. Or breathe loudly LOL. She's 94, still driving to church every day and serving meals at the homeless shelter on Sundays. I figure it can't hurt to try and to hope that's part of their secret!

:w00t: You let your mom pull at those with a string???!! You people amaze me. My armpits hurt just reading this, I can't even imagine. But aren't moms the best?? We're grown women but there's still not much mama can't fix. I love that. I have never heard about the six hour rule. I'm glad you said that because even if I end up using something like Secret or Mitchum, I'd have applied it straight out of the shower and right before walking out the door. In my head I'd be minimizing how long it'd be on my body. But I guess that's just wasteful because it'd be on my body and completely ineffective. I am blown away by the knowledge on this board and the things I learn here!

This is smart advice. I have mostly solid color tee-shirts and the wetness is as obvious as the nose on my face. I never would have considered wearing a pattern, but it makes perfect sense. I'm going to have to go shopping for a few new tops. And thank you for the heads up - this is something I wondered about up thread, whether habitual use would lead to a(nother) detoxification phase when I stopped again. It's important to know so I can time things right!

Okay, well I'm a lush. Social drinking is very much a part of my Asian and family cultures. I married a man whose family makes moonshine and greets you at the door with a shot strong enough to put hair on your chest. I had to stop visiting whenever I was pregnant because they consider that all the more reason to cheer and never understood why I'd pass. Sadie, I'm now in the US and drinking is extremely normalized here. I drink most days or nights. I like a shot of whiskey in my tea in the evenings. I also add lemon, honey, cloves, and I call it my medicine :lol: I'm convinced it keeps the germs at bay. Plus it tastes good and it relaxes me. Usually in February, for most of February, I add a shot of whiskey to a glass of soda and sip on it throughout the afternoon. It keeps me from maiming or eating the children during that dreary, hard homeschool slump. I drink at meals with friends, if they are. I live in the Bible Belt, so some do but many do not. I don't drink in front of them, in deference to their religious beliefs. I don't need to drink, I just like to. Same goes for soda and chocolate. When I consider buzzed versus drunk I imagine a scale: Buzzed = you're not 100% control, but you're still more in control than not - as judged by others. Drunk = the alcohol has more control than you do - going by the judgment of others.

We're a big family and have always lived with, or very near, each other - by choice. My brother lost a potential wife because she felt we were over-involved with each other. And I have friends who love my family but who regularly say that the way we work would drive them NUTS and it'd never work. But really this is how we grew up, and how our parents grew up, etc., so it's just what we know. For years I provided childcare for my siblings, which meant leaves of absences from my job and ultimately quitting it. These days I do more homework and tutoring. My brother regularly steps up to coach his nieces' and nephews' teams. My dad works with the boys on scouting. My sister is the fashionista who hands down her season-old stuff to other sisters, SILs, and nieces to enjoy. I don't know, it sounds like we're a lot like your own family. Mom is her own beast LOL. She's particular about things like laundry. Because we had lived with her for years when my sons were young, she was used to adding their laundry in with hers. Plus she hated that my brother didn't sort his laundry or iron his shirts - he tossed them in the dryer for 10 minutes and hoped for the best. So she started to take his laundry in and ironing them (to her satisfaction; she irons everything, even bed sheets). When she moved out of my house this last time, she was only washing clothes. But when she moved out and I took over washing towels, it drove her crazy that I didn't fluff towels or iron cloth napkins. So she started taking those to wash and iron, too. I think she does it more for herself than she does for us. We drive her crazy by doing it all wrong! :lol: