The school probably would not have called about the initial incident, but her dd had a meltdown and was rude to the teachers when they addressed. That's going to initiate a call home.

I don't think what she said is a big deal, but I am also disappointed that posters are so quick to say that the other kid must be weak, fragile, sheltered, overreacting, and a weenie who shouldn't have tattled. It's giving 1950s. If we're going to give space and grace for OP's dd overreacting, we have to do the same for the other girl. Plus, we don't even know the full context of when/where it was said. Sometimes things just hit hard, and I'm glad she felt able to tell the teacher how she was feeling and that the teacher took her seriously. They were not raining hammers down on OP's dd but letting her know that she caused unintended harm. There's nothing to indicate that the teacher was harsh, and I would assume the call home was made because OP's dd had a meltdown. People seem to be interpreting the phone call in a strictly punitive way, whereas it's more likely this distressing thing happened and your dd was very upset, this seems like useful information a parent should know. OP, to be clear, I don't at all think your dd did something terrible or intended to hurt her feelings, I'm just pushing back on the idea that the other girl is necessarily at fault for telling the teacher how she feels. I think it's great that the school handles these things head-on. Ah, yes, the time-honored method of bullying people into following social norms. There's a reason why it tends to be certain kids who get bullied across multiple situations. Something about their behavior is encouraging it. I don't necessarily disagree with this, but I disagree that it's usually their fault and that "feedback" from other kids is the way to solve it. Sometimes the "something in their behavior" is being an effeminate boy, or being not very smart, or conversely too smart, or or not socially adept and not able to learn from kids' "feedback," or having a nerdy hobby. Those kids should accept the feedback and do their best to change themselves to fit in? Going along with group norms simply because they are group norms can be a dangerous game to play. I have more thoughts, but I have to leave for now.

Yes, that's what I meant!

It's not that serious. @HomeAgainmentioned strawberries as one of several cute little grow kits available. If half of their friends live in apartments, maybe they go for something else, or maybe this is the kind of group that knows planters can be made from coffee cans, milk jugs, ice cream buckets, and all manner of things.

You can laminate photos with laminating sheets (as opposed to running them through a laminator, although for all I know they can do that). I use the 8.5x11 sheets but I'm having trouble finding a link. Avery Laminate Sheets

How very stupid of your friend! It doesn't even matter is your friend is better off financially: she asked if your microwave was for sale, you said yes, and she happily bought it for a great price. Another thing you never need to work on or worry about ever again!

You'd be annoyed if they came home with seeds? 🤔 I've never read that book, maybe I'm missing some context.

Yes, practice in advance. I disagree with going straight to a supervisor if you haven't done anything so basic as asking him to lower his voice. Unless his behavior is egregious, that is likely to be the first thing the supervisor asks you (have you addressed this with Bob directly?). Break it apart to make it easier to address. Is he yelling at people, is he yelling at all, is he a loud guy who gets louder in heated discussions? Some members on one side of my family have that projecting voice, and any level of enthusiasm has them "yelling" if you go by volume alone, lol. Saying he's "pushy" isn't helpful; what does he do? Address his actions more than his attitude. Is he interrupting and trying to shut down appropriate discussion? Is he is being persistent that things have to be done a certain way? The level of persistence might be more or less appropriate depending on whether it's a task directly related to him/his team or not, and whether there is a set procedure for the task. If he is persistently telling you to do a task that you 'own' in a specific way, what happens if you end the conversation? Thanks for your thoughts on that, I'm going run the X report now. That's an idea, see you at the meeting later. I understand that Y worked for you when doing this task, but I'm not comfortable deviating from procedure, I have to do Z now, so I'll see you tomorrow.

The cat died from the illness.

Kinda, sorta between services: the service had not begun, but there were plenty of people there already. The shooter was shot and killed on site.

I am rooting for a shark/stingray romcom.

I mean, most relationships break up sooner or later. And I agree with those who are saying she doesn't necessarily have a "very poor record" of relationships. She's 34. She dated one guy for about 7 years and has about a dozen known relationships. There's nothing wrong with that, and nothing unusual about dating someone for a few months and deciding not to date them further. If you don't meet the right guy, do you just have to stay with guy #5 or guy #6 out of default? Oh, for sure, it's Taylor's fault 😂 Which is exactly one of @bolt.'s big points: "There are a number of "one way" rules about treatment that is okay from greater towards lesser, but not okay from lesser towards greater. Clearly, one of these one-way rules is, and has been since very young childhood, that the lesser can not 'yell back' at the greater, even though the greater can do plenty of yelling. The *more* yelly the greater one is, the more quiet, composed, and cowwed the lesser one is required to be." Well, they're not doing it when mom is watching, y'know? I think that yelling with forceful, blunt language and tone and abusive screaming sound very similar. Is it universal? Well, nothing's universal. Is it near-universal in quad A high school teams with a chance of winning the championship? I really do think it is. Abuse to players is widespread at the college and professional levels.

I've never had it, never seen it. It sounds extremely, uh, midwestern. Am I right?

I have all their comb-bound books I made with their SOTW coloring pages, maps, and narrations. Their nature study book. A bunch of notes they wrote through the years, invitations to tea parties and warnings that no one should read this notebook, lol. We have some favorite curricula, some I didn't want to get rid of and some they didn't want to get rid of.

They both use IRS-certified volunteers, so whichever one is most convenient.

I haven't answered an unknown call in, like, 20 years, so I'm not sure if they've tried to call or not. It's a typical marketing call, though. Banks have a lot of products and they want to sell them. CD rates are decently high now, so that suggestion makes sense if you have cash reserves. Our general way of dealing with sales people is to tell them at the beginning that the meeting is only for information, and no decisions will be made. Not that it stops all of them in their tracks, but we warned them and thus don't have a problem ending the meeting if they refuse to quit talking, lol If you remember the name of the account he wanted you to switch to, it would be interesting to google the differences.

What does that look like? the bike lanes I've seen are literally just painted lines on the street.

Pajamas Made in the USA

Strong disagree. You're not painting them on the car, they're magnets. You can use them at first and then take them off. There's no magical way to get ready to be driving on crowded streets, you just have to drive on crowded streets. There is no way to get into the deep end of driving other than . . . getting into the deep end of driving. You can practice for years on quiet suburban streets, and that is not going to make you ready for the deep end of crowded city traffic or the interstate. The driving schools and parents around here put a sign on the back and on each side. Regardless, it's okay to do something that helps just a little bit. ime, people are quite nice when they see the sign. That doesn't mean anyone is telling their student driver to slack off because they have signs, lol, they're still doing their best. The purpose is to alert the majority of drivers who are not completely obnoxious and aggressive. A lot of them will give, as @Bambam said, a little extra space and grace. If a student driver is near me, I'm treating them with extra care and extra space. Most impatient drivers are pretty good people most of the time, and willing to be a bit nicer to novice drivers.

You and your family need to stop being so medically interesting.

Because you don't, you've been quite calm and chill.

I am sorry to report that parents in the United States have extremely broad rights to choose faith healing over medical care. Many states have legal protections in place for parents who refuse medical treatment for their children for religious reasons, and a few of them explicitly shield parents from felony charges. Even in states that don't shield from felonies, it's vanishingly rare for parents to get prison time until they kill a second child. The first dead kid is free. Depending on the state they live in, CPS may or may not be able to intervene. Faith Healing Exemptions Faith-healing Parents  Imprisoned After 2nd Death in 5 Years This next link includes a gruesome case of a child dying for lack of medical care after extended suffering; please do not click if you are sensitive: Faith Healing versus Child Protection

They don't always hand you the straw separately. Sometimes, they put the straw in the drink, with like an inch of the paper covering left on the top, lol.

What's the goal? Low carb and healthier, or is there another reason to swap?