I laughed out loud when I clicked the link. But if it makes you feel any better, I thought my Muzinos were ugly (crazy color scheme) and bought them because I was desperate for proper footwear. They have grown on me and I've even had a few compliments. I need to replace them as they have worn out and I'd consider a similar pair again. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SPl6HvX6nh8/maxresdefault.jpg

I think you're taking the whole hurricane party too literally. It's just a thing people joke about, because they're hunkered down together in a house with supplies and work/school is canceled. I'm talking more about storms where little damage is done and you may not even lose power. I've always spent storms with family and it's usually not a party vibe. In my experience you kinda gotta judge if you're gonna need to leave town before an official statement is made. If you wait for someone to tell you to evacuate, you might have waited too long to get on the road. I honestly don't remember if we were told we had to evacuate during Katrina. I had neighbors that stayed! I thought they were crazy!! One of them said they had hung onto a tree during Camile (don't ask me what they were doing outside) so I guess they figured it wouldn't get that bad. None of us thought it was get as bad as it did. Let's say my area was not told to evacuate... we still did the right thing in our sitatuion. I'm agreeing that unless it's severe people shouldn't all clog the roads. But I'm also saying use common sense. Our house was a block from the Mississippi Sound.

Did you have to pay for stuff already? We actually have family there right now (well maybe not Disney, but they sent us pics from Universal) and we're wondering when they are heading home. If the storm gets bad they'll come stay by us because they live on the Miss. gulf coast.

I can understand this. In my experience, unless it is really severe, people seem pretty content to stay home. Hence, "hurricane party!"

I think many people fit this fixer personality. I've heard this about men, in particular, but I don't know how accurate that is. My sisters can sometimes be like this. I think I can be like this at times. Dh views me as taking everyone else's side if I ask/point out certain things. You know it can be as small as, "the bagger was a jerk" and me saying, "oh yeah? Hm. Did you have a lot of items that had be be bagged separately?" or whatever. Then I'm the bad guy. I guess I want a bigger picture of what happened, even if the guy was a jerk lol. And we don't usually shop where there are baggers, I was just throwing out an example. One sibling is very much, "well my friends/I know people that deal with XYZ. At least you don't have to worry about that" or "they deal with it and it's not that big of an issue." lol.

on my facebook feed people are reporting shortages of water in their local stores. Mobile, AL and Mississippi gulf coast.

For those storing medicine in the bathroom, I've heard that is actually not recommended. The bathroom temps/moisture can be an issue.

We have a one of those metal utility shelving units in our dining room that serves as a pantry. On the top shelf is medicine (all sorts) and my pills. Some items are in their own plastic container like the Nose Frida. I ordered a pill container that is on the way so that when I leave the house I can store one in my purse in that if I'll be out in the evening when I'm supposed to take it. I just take one. I probably should get a bill box for inside the house with all the days of the week. I keep them way up there because our toddler can get on a chair or step stool and still reach many of the shelves.

Any chance it's just a different dialect?

My toddler and I have read Baby's First Christmas several times this month :laugh:

I mean you can see the online price but when you walk into the store it won't be the same. Maybe if you click through the steps "pick up in store" THEN you see the shelf price. But if you are just browsing I think the default prices you see is the online price. Everyone is making excuses for the price difference, but Walmart site to store functions just fine. I guess because Walmart is bigger. When I worked at Best Buy you could certainly price match with bestbuy dot com. ETA: Also, at Walmart and Best Buy it doesn't always get shipped. Sometimes they just pick it up from the shelf for you and have it waiting at the pick up counter. Same for Target. So it is irrelevant if they have it physically in store. You can get the online price, at least if you paid before you drove there. I think you can get it at the online price either way if they give you a quote during your order process and choose "pay in store."

Sorry if I was unclear. I didn't mean to imply racism was the only reason. I was just giving that as an example of a way I could see your point. "A lot" is subjective I guess. I feel that the majority of parents, reservations or not, would simply use the public schools.

My son still wants to see it Lol. We didn't end up going... he couldn't find his glasses that day nor did he accomplish the task he was supposed to finish to go. I have a feeling he'll end up renting it at some point. Is it still in theaters? I thought given the bad reviews it would not stay in theaters long.

I'm not following. Are we talking about a random child? And we're foreseeing their classmates' future? Like 8 year old Johnny is going to graduate with the best and 8 year old Susan is going to graduate with people that can't get a job? I thought the point was that they would all get the same education so that it would help shape their chances of employment, etc. I find it hard to believe 80% are that bad.

I don't know what percentage falls into that category, but I hesitate to say "a lot." I do think there are racists here that don't want to send their child to public schools that are primarily made up of black students, if not 100%. I have had white people bring their voice to a hush and say things along those lines. I know one family that sends their children to a Catholic school. I guess to some degree that's convenient because there is not English Sunday school at their parish (just Spanish. Very few English speaking children of Sunday school age, but a larger population of Spanish speaking children I guess). Their children get religious ed during school. I used to do it at home, but have started taking ds to a further parish for classes since the ones closest to me I attend do not offer it. I can't imagine the average working parent dropping their job to homeschool. I'm an accidental homeschooler. I know a local family where the mom works PT and sends two kids to the private school. I cannot fathom paying tuition for a 3 yr old. I'm thinking to myself, wouldn't it be cheaper to just stay home with the 3yr old? I just don't know that homeschooling is a desirable solution to that many people (not including those reading this of course).

That was not my thought, though, I suspect a lot of homeschoolers would choose to use the public schools if they were all equal. I homeschool because of the poor quality of education around me. But I wouldn't want to eliminate the option to homeschool. I think the benefits of homeschooling will vary from family to family and that it's the better option for some families regardless of local schools. It could simply be preference to spend more time together as a family. I don't care the reason, I wouldn't want to make it illegal.

Do you have an educator card? Don't forget you will get 20% off many of their items with that. Might not work on the cookbook, but might work on some other items. So in that case it might be cheaper on B&N's site than Amazon.

I was just reading the Krazy Coupon Lady's blog on gift cards. She said that Target will give you a partial value of certain gift cards in the form of a Target gift card. So I guess you could find out if B&N is on the list and what value they would offer you for it. Yes, I have noticed the same problem with B&N orders. They don't do store pick up the way other stores do it. You have to pay the shelf price if you do pick up and generally I find the online price better. It's so dumb. The other option is to find a $5 item on the site to add to your order. It could be one of those Memo mate pads.

Honestly, I don't even know what a local church would do with them. Some churches have a gift shop so at least sometimes people know to go to the church to look for items like that, but a lot of times I don't think it would occur to people to ask about items like that. I mean I suppose the church could make an announcement.

I'm sorry, I think I shared the wrong version fo the video the first time. I was trying to point out that their schools are all equal because there are very few private schools (and those are publicly funded). My focus wasn't so much on the length of their days or how they feel about standardized tests. More so that no matter where you live you have the same quality education. :) Of course your points make sense for why it would be hard to copy their system if we were to try to do everything the same.

I may have shared the wrong video link earlier. I don't think the last one included this part. Fast forward to around 5 min. and they talk about how all the schools are equal. To paraphrase... the rich families go to the local schools and so their parents will want to make sure the school is great. And by having the rich and poor going to school together they are friends.

I thought they told us ds' blood type as a baby? I don't know, it's a bit foggy now. I'm 99% sure I'm B positive. My dad has that book. I think I was pretty disappointed in the list of foods that were okay for me ha. What is the point in telling them? Well maybe they have a shortage of one vs another. Maybe they have two options for some people... universal donor O negative and whatever your actual type is? I think it would make sense for them to check again unless it was already on file.

Maybe something came up where they were gifted money and wanted to pass some along.

Maybe the ques. to be asking is what would happen if we got rid of all the private schools?

I'm a landmarks person, but I like an address, too. I like current landmarks vs "used to be" stuff. I told dh I wanted the GPS with landmarks. I'm pretty sure that's a thing. But the one I have doesn't tell me anything like that. I really want to know in advance which lane to be in, too. We don't even have a street sign. I have told people to look for the street name on some of the mail boxes that have it.