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rebbyribs

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Everything posted by rebbyribs

  1. For written work, mine sit at the table but are welcome to wear ear protectors to block out sounds. Like these: https://www.amazon.com/Snug-Kids-Earmuffs-Hearing-Protectors/dp/B00CBDJ8PM/ For reading assignments or work on the Chromebook, they can go to the couch or their beds.
  2. My kids are a bit younger, but we find 15 minutes of exercise before school pretty helpful. My 8 year-olds might do okay with swim practice before school, but my 10 year-old is just too exhausted to do much of anything after an hour of swimming.
  3. A few more ideas: Breakfasts: Scrambled tofu & veggies (like this http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/easy-vegan-breakfast-recipe-scrambled-tofu ) Breakfast potatoes or hash browns Lunch dessert: Vegan peanut butter Rice Krispie treats (like this: https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Vegan-Rice-Krispies-Treats-35693127 ) Frozen banana "ice cream" with chocolate sauce (like this: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-creamy-ice-cream-with-just-one-ingredient-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-93414 ) Dinner: Vegetable curry over rice vegetarian chili over baked potatoes veggie stir-fry over rice Mujadarra (like this: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/mujadara-lentils-and-rice-with-crispy-onions/ ) and a big salad
  4. A mess that can be cleaned up in 15 minutes isn't a disaster. The same sort of mess happens in our living room every day, and the kids and I take 15 minutes to clean it up at the end of each day. They pick up toys and books, and I keep them on task and sweep. We keep most of our toys in the attic and basement, but I'm happy to swap out bins on request after cleanup has been done (or my bigger kids are welcome to do it). I also try to get my kids to clean up after themselves as they go (especially with art supplies!), but it's hard to be on top of that. I'm hoping to be able to take that approach more as they get a little bigger.
  5. I have Mirena, and while the insertion was easy-peasy, I was surprised to find that I could feel the IUD afterwards. It was quite noticeable, but not painful, for the first week or so, and then gradually a little less noticeable after that.
  6. Am I the only one who has never heard of this song before? (I grew up in an Agnostic household, but my mom was raised Presbyterian and sent me to VBS a couple times and a Christian summer camp once.)
  7. We keep the thermostat set to 66, but the upstairs gets a lot warmer than that when the heat is on. It's a radiator system, and the hot water tank is fed from the same boiler. If we leave the valves connecting the boiler to the radiators open, the pump will circulate hot water even when it's above the thermostat temperature. When the weather is in the 60s during the day, I usually turn off the heat at the valves first thing in the morning and open them up again right before bed.
  8. We used it last spring. We enjoyed several of the books - By the Great Horn Spoon, Patty Reed's Doll, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Zia. None of us liked Cruise of the Arctic Star though, and that part seemed to drag on forever. We didn't do notebooking pages.
  9. I'm combining 3rd and 6th graders for English by using the Classical House of Learning Literature (Modern period, Grammar Stage level 2) for all of them. Basically we're all reading and discussing the same books, and each kid is writing their own narrations. For my 3rd graders, I'm looking for two good sentences about the section we just read, whereas I'm expecting a decent paragraph from my 6th grader. I read the narrations with each kid and help them find and fix mistakes, and sometimes we talk about how to improve what they've written. We kind of go back and forth on writing though - some years I do a lot more writing instruction, but this year is more a time to practice what they have learned. I agree that Fix-It could work well to combine them for grammar.
  10. I think their technology makes it easy for them to do a bit higher volume than other real estate agents. There's also a minimum on the commissions, so they do make a fair amount. But it's not like it's twice as much work to sell a house for $700k as for $350k.
  11. Closing takes place in person at the title company (or you can even have a mobile notary come to your house for the document signing). You and your agent have a chance to read over all the documents first and discuss any questions. I don't know about the attorney - in our area it's not common to use an attorney for residential real estate transactions, so we didn't have one, but I know it's expected in other areas.
  12. Yes. When we were buying, we toured houses with one agent, but we never met the agent who wrote the offer and took care of paperwork in person. (Lots of email and phone contact though.) When we were selling, there were two agents, and they both visited our house a couple of times. Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
  13. Yes, we bought a house with them in 2008 and sold it with them in 2015. Good experiences both times. Any specific questions? Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
  14. The guy who refinished our hardwood floors said to use water, but just damp, not too much water. He said the Bona stuff was good too, but only a little better than plain water. Honestly, I try to keep them swept, but I don't often get around to mopping.
  15. Oh, goodness! It's scary when "It wasn't a heart attack" turns out to be bad news. I hope you and he get some good news soon.
  16. Well, I'm nursing right now, but also online so maybe that counts? My main thing is that I usually stay up for an hour or two after the kids are in bed to play some Duolingo and read, but I feel like I am always paying for it the next day with lost sleep. Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
  17. I have 6, ages 10, 8, 8, 5, 4 and 1. I'm 39. DH and I both talked about having a big family but didn't realize until a few years ago that we had different ideas of what that meant. I thought 4 kids was big (and it is more than the vast majority of families I know IRL), and he was thinking more like 8. So 6 is maybe a good compromise? I don't know - I feel really overwhelmed with taking care of everybody, and DH is disappointed that I'm not ready for more. I haven't taken any permanent measures, so maybe... but I really have to figure out how to do things better first. There just doesn't seem to be enough of me to go around, and DS4 and DS5 are not getting enough attention. I don't think I have a cut-off age for having more. Obviously, my fertility will give out at some point.
  18. BTDT! Honestly, I was mostly bothered that he wouldn't consider the lack of personal hygiene and lack of leaving the house as symptoms of depression and consider evaluation and treatment. I've been pregnant for a lot of the past decade, breastfeeding for all of it, and pretty much constantly sleep-deprived, so my desire for TeA has been all but non-existent. So I don't see where it really matters whether I find him attractive or not. It was harder to show any physical affection when he was so stinky, but it seemed like a time when he especially needed it.
  19. Me too. It's the not trying that bothers me, especially if I'm already making it easy by shopping for and cooking healthy foods. As far as what should the spouse do about it, I guess I'd say spouse A should do what they can to make it easy for spouse B to have a healthy diet and opportunities to get some exercise without being overbearing. And then spouse A should focus on doing what's right for their family and not dwell on the attractiveness of their partner.
  20. That sucks, and I hope your surgery goes well. I can't believe your baby is 2 already - your pregnancy and NICU days seem so much more recent!
  21. I would suggest a Danish dough whisk instead: https://www.amazon.com/BrotformDotCom-Danish-Dough-Original-European/dp/B002PABWJQ It's awesome for mixing thick batters or dough, takes up very space, and cleans up easily in the dishwasher. I use mine several times a week.
  22. It reminds me of the posts on filial responsibility laws the other day. A country's debt forces its younger generation to be responsible for paying for the things the generation in power wants right now.
  23. Just for a different perspective, I used AAR4 with my twins last year. One of them was having a lot of trouble with long words, and neither of them had any idea how to pronounce "foreign" words. We'd done lots of beginner phonics, and then they'd pretty much taken off with reading easy chapter books (Kingdom of Wrenly, Dragon Masters, Ramona, How to Train Your Dragon). AAR4 was very gentle and gradual, and it never felt like any of the lessons was a struggle unlike our experience earlier in the learning-to-read process. But I think it was a huge help for them to feel confident reading longer books with tougher vocabulary (Harry Potter, Land of Stories, Wings of Fire, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Little Women).
  24. If you like seitan, it's fairly easy to make at home: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/217170/best-homemade-seitan/ (It takes a bit of time simmering, but it's not a huge amount of work.) As far as homemade vegan cheeses, this one is a quick and easy Parmesan substitute. I often use almonds in place of some or all of the cashews: https://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-vegan-parmesan-cheese/ You might consider pudding as a yogurt substitute. You can make a vanilla cornstarch-thickened pudding from almond / soy / whatever milk. (I realize it's not the same as yogurt, but it's cool, creamy and good with fruit and / or granola. Vegan butter substitutes often have palm oil, which you probably want to avoid if you are changing your diet for environmental reasons. I would recommend checking out cookbooks by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, especially Isa Does It.
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