I"d totally eat them, but for 4th of July, I'd probably not put the spices in them. But - if they were there - I'd eat them no matter what was in them 😄

I, too, wonder what counts as conflict. I'm an only child, so there was no sibling conflict at my house. I don't remember my parents arguing, ever, although they divorced when I was in middle school. DH and I talk things out, but we also just let things go. Usually I don't care too much about whatever we're discussing and I just get sick of talking about it, and forget what we were even disagreeing about in the first place! Then DH likes to go waaaay back to the beginning of the conversation, re-tell the whole thing: "You said blah blah, then I said blah blah, and then you said..." I find that exhausting!

Same!

I agree with you! I'm so impressed that you got evaluations when she's so young. Awesome job!!

I think the classic response around here is Ronit Bird. I love, love, love her materials. Generalizing is a big goal... and internalizing the concept of numbers.... not just counting with no deeper understanding. Like, this domino has 6 dots. Here are 6 plastic dinosaurs. Here are 6 cotton balls. Do we have the same number of cotton balls and dinosaurs? (They're different sized objects, but the same number...) Look, 6 cotton balls can be put into groups of 3 and 3! Oh, and also 5 and 1, and 4 and 2! This leads nicely into addition and subtraction, which is what the early Ronit Bird books do (Dots e-book). Constantly build with actual objects, and write (when she is ready) numbers and equations to go with them. Does she count with 1-1 correspondence (i.e., touch objects and say numbers)? Can she say which number is bigger/smaller (compare)? Does she recognize numerals? Estimating.... how many jellybeans do you think there are? 2? 10? Which pile has more/less jellybeans? You have 4 teddy bears. I give you one more. How many do you have now? I agree with you that math can be very verbal, with wordy explanations. It doesn't have to be that way. Ronit Bird isn't that way, and you can structure math "lessons" to be very fun, play-based, with fewer words than in a commercial math program. The wordiness of math curricula bug me a lot, too.

Classes for adults are important, too. I'd like to get back into taking ballet classes, but the place near me looks a bit intimidating. Somewhere a bit more chill with a good teacher would be amazing. I took ballet classes in college and I had the most amazing teachers. It was so good for my physical, mental, and emotional health. I loved my teachers, and was so impressed that they chose to teach people like me instead of doing something more fancy.

This happens to me and it's so annoying.

I feel like this, too. Not like a 22 year old who wants to go out and party, or anything... just that I don't feel much smarter or more competent than I did when I was 22. At almost 40, it's a bit disheartening to read from those of you older than me and realize I'll probably never feel like an adult! I have a fear that I'll be 90, feel 22, and have people not want to hang out with me because they think I'm too old and boring. 😕

I get this. I'm sure I'd feel the same way. You could always go back to teaching, some day, if you want.

Aww. Poor Fuzz. Sending good thoughts!

I love this! I'm going to embrace this point of view.

Yes! I hope it helps. The FAILSAFE acronym is: free of additives, low in salicylates, amines and flavour enhancers (failsafe) It's really been completely throwing me for a loop, because I was bound and determined to "fix" things by feeding him as healthy a diet as possible, and for that I was convinced that meant a ton of fruits and vegetables, some meat, and no dairy or gluten. The elimination diet for FAILSAFE allows oats, wheat, rice flour, buckwheat, butter, milk, legumes (lentils and some beans), meat, very specific veggies and only ONE fruit - PEELED pears. HUH?! So, the complete opposite of what I've been doing for months... no, years! I thought, this is ridiculous and will totally backfire. But what I was trying was so far not working either, and I had no idea why. It was so, so frustrating. So when his eczema started improving the very next day, I was shocked, to say the least!! The goal is to eliminate things that can aggravate - like additives in medicines/cosmetics/etc., but also in food. Then, to do a series of "challenges" to see what exactly is a problem, and then how much of it you can tolerate. So, if you can eat some amines, you can have some chocolate but not tons, and maybe not every day. The goal is not to stay on a super restricted diet forever. There's also an active Facebook group if you want to join. Of course this isn't helping with the WHY of why this gut/skin stuff started happening in the first place... damaged gut from antibiotics? Random chance? Genetic predisposition? Maybe it's not the solution but I'm hoping it at least keeps helping! Here's the link to the elimination diet. The diet comes from the Royal Prince Alfred hospital in Sydney, and you can buy the books that go along with it, although it's $50 shipping to the US. http://www.failsafediet.com/the-rpah-elimination-diet-failsafe/ (Use a computer to look at the link, it doesn't size well on a phone or tablet.) Another (more confusing to me) website is: https://www.fedup.com.au/factsheets/support-factsheets/how-to-start-failsafe-eating

Thank you!! I'll get some tomorrow. I got decently good at giving pills when she had 28 days of antibiotics last fall (almost passed out when the vet told me!). Hope this will give her some relief.

I recently learned about the FAILSAFE diet, developed in Australia. The elimination phase takes out salicylates and amine foods (including histamine). My DH has had years of weird food problems. He got hives from black raspberries as one example (now I know they're super high in salicylates). We've never been successful figuring things out bc everything seemed to bother him. Unfortunately he's really doctor-averse. For about a year he's had gut issues, and also eczema or something on his elbows that comes and goes. It even fluctuates day to day, sometimes hour to hour. We started the FAILSAFE elimination diet 5 days ago and the eczema is GONE!! I would not have imagined something like this bc we eat "healthy"... So the tons of veggies I was making to help him actually was doing the opposite. 😕 Anyway, maybe something to try to gather clues!

My Maggie is so itchy! Treated with Revolution for fleas, ticks, and ear mites . This happens to her every spring/summer but it's worse this time. The vet can't see her till next week. Is there an antihistamine that's safe for cats?

Penny!!!!! Lucky Penny? Okay, I'll stop now!

Sadie? Jackie...? The dog in that video looks energetic, so I think an energetic name would fit 🙂

We had a cat named Zelda and I've always loved that name. It was actually a boy cat that we thought was a girl initially. She had lots of nicknames, my favorite was Zellie 😺

My brain hurts from constant analyzing. Thanks for this!

So... This says that 117 people have died from Delta in the UK, and half of them were fully vaccinated?

Thanks, it's good to know that rates are highest with young, unvaccinated people.

I put worn and still clean enough jeans, sweaters, etc back in the dresser. Hope that's not actually gross! Eek! Never thought about it before... 🤔

Since the UK has so many more people vaccinated than the US, does that mean we're pretty much guaranteed to see cases rise again soon? I'm already feeling nervous about fall teaching...

So are the "little white lies" okay then? And if so, what do you use to guide the decisions about what level of lies are okay, and what aren't? Is it religion, your own personal moral compass...? Just wondering what the "no lying" crowd would do if a little old lady said, "Hello dear, my daughter just bought me this scarf. Isn't it lovely?" and you thought the scarf was the ugliest thing in the world.... I fully admit to lying all day long! Kid says, "Do you like my new Spiderman action figure?" and I'm like, "Sure! It's awesome!" I do that kind of thing ALL the time. Maybe this should be a spin-off discussion.

I feel like now you NEED to take the job, so you can find out how these people run the place day-to-day! If they give you a couple pieces of clothing, that should supplement your income a lot 😄