I have no recollection of what I wrote in my application essays. I remember writing them, but I have completely forgotten content or even the questions!

It's ridiculous - the middle schoolers all started waddling like penguins last year in an effort to keep their sneakers without creases. Then they'd change their sneakers for gym class or to go outside, so the new shoes wouldn't get dirty. I am super glad that wasn't a trend when I was young. Also glad DS doesn't care about having creaseless white sneakers!

Yes - love it!

Navy?

I remember my parents going out a lot. They went to friends' houses for murder mystery parties, out to dinner/movies, regular dinner parties, etc. My brother and I would be home with the babysitter a few times a month. We would go out as a family, too. Not quite weekly, maybe monthly? Dinner and a movie was a regular night out. The only times we were allowed fast food were at Burger King after the dentist's (30 min after when we were allowed to eat again). And McDonalds after doctor's appointments if we had to get a shot. To this day, I associate doctor/dentist appointments with getting a treat. Now I stop at Dunkin after dentist appointments for a cold brew!

11 in 88. Let me think. I have no memory of breakfast, but I would guess cereal or instant oatmeal (maple and brown sugar!) My mom only bought "boring" cereals - cheerios, rice krispies, crispix. Nothing with sugar. Lunch - by 11 I packed my own because my mom was a terrible lunch packer. (american cheese on wheat bread with mayo, mealy apple and a warm juicy juice box that invariably squished the sandwich). I went to a tiny grammar school so I would have made a sandwich, a juice box and that's probably it unless we had the "good" apples. After school snack - Kudos bars or dunkaroos or something like that. Dinner - ugh, we'd always have the box of frozen veg that would get microwaved. I hated the mixed veggies (still do). Then something like chicken and rice, pasta w/ meat sauce, that kind of thing. Steak and potato once a week. Sometimes casseroles or enchiladas. My mom and my aunt took an "ethnic" cooking class around this time, so she'd make things from that. Dessert - whatever the "in" cookie/ice cream was? My mom would get the snackwells when those were popular. I remember various frozen yogurts when that was in. If we ate our dumb microwaved veggies, we could eat dessert, so my brother and I got really good at hiding them. I'm betting there are still dried out lima beans in some of the plants in the dining room. We both love veggies as adults, just not microwaved frozen veggies. And I still won't touch lima beans or mixed veggies from a bag.

That's so annoying. Our superintendent wears jeans half the time. Stitch Fix seems to have amazing powers to find pants that fit me. And they always have nice stretch and are comfy (and have pockets!) May be worth a shot?

I like YouTube TV too. No Lifetime, but three different Hallmark channels! I also like that we can add on the sports package during football season and cancel it easily when that's over. You can make any account changes you need online. One of the things that annoyed me about cable was that I'd have to call any time I wanted to make any changes to the account. You can stream on multiple TVs. I think RedZone limits to three screens, but I haven't noticed an issue with multiple screens aside from that. And you don't have to be at home to watch. If, I happened to be in a different state and logged in there, I wouldn't get blocked for not being on my home network like some services do.

I just want to chime in to thank everyone for their YNAB tips and youtube suggestions. I tried it a couple of years ago and it was tricky, but I love the idea of it and I have friends that love it. We need something and I'm going to try it again! Thank you!

I've had great luck with Duluth. They run slightly big, so I usually buy one size down and that seems to work well.

DS just got over a really nasty stomach bug. Water with lots of crushed ice, ginger ale/sprite, and lemon-lime Gatorade was all he could handle for a few days. Plain baked potato with a little bit of butter and herbamare and saltines were what he was able to keep down next. I hope you don't get what he had - he was DOWN for almost 5 days. We had to call the on-call pedi twice, and thankfully eventually got some Zofran into him, which helped a lot.

I'm a special educator and agree with this. Also, in my state (and I'm guessing others?), an ASD diagnosis is a path to more services, especially adult services. Respite, job training and support, etc. The team has to look through the lens of "which disability is limiting access to the general education curriculum and causing the behavior." In this case, ASD seems like "what came first." Our school psych does a nice job guiding the Eval team (which ALWAYS includes the parents) in making the decision as a team and explaining things to the team. If your meeting focused on accommodation and not services, I'm guessing you had a 504 meeting, not an IEP meeting. So formally requesting an IEP evaluation would be a good next step.

Has he had an eval? There are legal time limits in place for a school team to move on an IEP. If you request a meeting to discuss an IEP, the team has 15 days to set it up. Then, they have 60 days to complete an evaluation for special education and hold the eligibility meeting. This link is VT-specific, but much of the info should still be relevant.

She looks very sweet! Here is Rosie yesterday "helping" me wrap presents.

Flurries today in central VT - the ground is bare still but the air looks pretty!

She likes to sleep under the tree, but she's thankfully not a climber!

We need to move to an artificial tree next year. DH has developed an allergy to the real ones. Does anyone have favorite places to buy from? Lit vs. unlit opinions? I'm guessing a good time to buy may be right after Christmas, but any suggestions on that would be good too! I've been looking on the Balsam Hill website, and they seem to get good reviews. Help - I've always been a real tree person! This is unchartered territory for us.

It's adorable! And I'd happily eat it! 🙂

We have to this year - DH has developed an allergy to Christmas trees. He suspected last year, but it's very obvious this year. And, for some reason, our tree is almost dying already and we only got it 3 weeks ago. Not sure what is going on with trees this year (I have a few friends in the area that are running into the same problem). But ours is going out on the 26th even though we usually keep it until the first weekend in January. 😞

It's pretty common in southern New England. There are lots of people going 80+ in northern New England, too, but there is not usually heavy traffic here. I have to remember my RI driving skills anytime I leave VT, though.

Deviled eggs? cowboy caviar with tortilla chips guac and tortilla chips pita, hummus, olives- a Mediterranean type platter of happy foods

One of our favorites: Soften a block of cream cheese Spread the cream cheese around the bottom of a 8x8 glass dish or something oven safe. Top with a jar of Newman's mango or peach salsa Top that with cheddar jack or pepper jack cheese Bake until happy and bubbly in the oven serve with tortilla chips (tostitos multigrain scoops are really good with this one) Easy and everyone loves it!

Yes!! They almost hurt my teeth to chew, and I don't have super sensitive teeth. There's something so off-putting about the texture- ground up tree bark is a great descriptor.

When we had more employees and did Christmas bonuses, we'd have the accountant base the check on what we wanted the employees to receive net. So, if we intended to give everyone a $250 bonus, they would receive a check for $250, but the actual bonus was higher - the $250 was after taxes were taken out. It would cost the business slightly more, but it enabled us to give a specific dollar amount as a gift without getting into tax trouble.h