I read the leave the pets inside thing, but I didn't think it was funny. I guess now that you mention wild animals I can see the humor. I imagine if any animals look up it's because they see humans doing it.

I just saw a post on my feed talking about the ways different schools are handling it (closing, viewing, etc). I thought to myself, wow, I'm kinda glad ds is homeschooled this year. I don't even want to have to think about that. He can't even find his prescription glasses.

I just meant for the few minutes allowed (3 min. at a time) that everyone is wearing them. But maybe I'm one of the few here that has had to literally chase a toddler around an optometrist's office trying to get her to put glasses on.

Really? I would think that a child not wanting to or not being able to cooperate at that age would be the norm. My dd may not be the norm for toddlers, but I don't think she's the only toddler that wouldn't grasp the importance of keeping the glasses on. She currently wears glasses every day with a band around the head. Does she sometimes take them off? Yes. Will a flimsy pair fall off more easily than hers that are strapped down? Yes. I don't care how much watching/monitoring a parent does, you'd have to hold the actual glasses down to the side of their face or build your own strap to keep them in place unless you trust a toddler to do so while you are also trying to look at the sun.

I could not fathom securing glasses on my toddler. I don't know what you plan to do with kids as young as 1. I wouldn't feel comfortable. But I do tend to be one of those more worried parents, too. Both my children got glasses this year and we've gone to optometrist appointments and an ophthalmologist. If I was going to do a viewing I'd put a cardboard box that was made into a pinhole projector on my kids. They face away from the sun. Glasses? I mean those can fall off and only work for a limited time.

Of course, AZ was especially bad recently I think. I mean, I'm not driving around wearing pot holders here.

I've lived in AZ. It's a different kind of heat. It's really the humidity that kills you here. But I don't drink coffee at all, or tea for that matter unless I'm sick and it's hot tea. Just based on our observations people would be looking for the iced tea and not be particularly interested in hot coffee around here, unless it was like a breakfast gathering.

One time relatives from out of state came over to throw a party for my grandma. They had planned on serving coffee and hot tea. We said are you crazy? No one wants a hot drink in the middle of Miss. heat. Dh proposed sweet and unsweet tea. His mom made some batches for us that we put in those coolers with the spout. It seemed to go over well. Can't imagine if we had just had the other.

If you're breastfeeding you can chart and probably should so you see when fertility returns, as it is unpredictable. You don't need to wait for a period to be fertile. I started seeing my NFP teacher while I was breastfeeding. But it was after my cycle had returned (which was not right away). One of the biggest differences was a short luteal phase. I've never tried an app. I don't really know what they do, do they just estimate things for you?

Just my two cents, I would consider shopping at the children's place site. They do free shipping and you can usually find some decent sales. I find shopping on Amazon much more difficult for narrowing down items and finding something affordable. I have found a few things on Amazon, though. I also would consider looking in person at discount racks and mailing in a bubble mailer. That's what I'm doing for a relative that is expecting.

I didn't care for Trolls. It was so weird. I don't even remember if I saw the very end. We have seen Sing a number of times. The squids were inside another establishment (restaurant?) at first. Am I the only one that wanted to see the darn cake the elephant carried around half the movie?! That drove me nuts.

:laugh: at the names of some of these fights Dh and I haven't had to do anything that I consider major to any of our homes, but we have had little arguments over stuff. Mainly my micromanaging of his umm sometimes sloppy looking work because it's something I cannot or don't feel confident doing myself. He's very tall. He hung curtains for me. He didn't want me to buy a bigger ladder (our step stool is too short for me). I requested he hang them a certain way (they have grommets and the curtains can hang "in" or "out" on the ends if you know what I mean). He didn't listen. It drives me nuts. And he's always complaining that the curtains allow people to see in when the cat or toddler messes with one set of blinds. Well, it wouldn't be an issue if you hung them correctly lol. He says he'll fix them, but we'll see when that happens. Still waiting for him to mount a tv that Santa bought two Christmases ago. And there's a dead Christmas tree in my backyard that he was going to drag to the curb...

I don't think of OK and AR as Southern states, but maybe because I think of the ones closest to me. We had trouble limiting sun exposure. It happened months ago. She's 2. You can see where it happened. She tripped and fell face first into a coffee table side (no corners on the coffee table, but still).

Can't help but ask... did it clear up right away? I don't understand. My daughter had the same thing. The dr said you can expect some amount of scarring, but less exposure to sun is better so it won't be as dark. We put some vitamin E on it but I forgot to do it consistently.

I have seen a couple shows streaming. We watched Fixer Upper, for example. I don't remember if I watched on both Netflix and Hulu or just one.

I live in Mississippi. Don't think that's ever happened to me. Christian stuff in waiting rooms, yes. An actual Bible was on the table at my ob/gyn office in the past. Large Christian paintings in one dental office. I am so over everything having a Christian affiliation, though. Sorry, but no, I don't think it's necessary to lump religion into a sports group. Have you heard of this? I'm like what is this, the Christian Boy Scouts? http://www.traillifeusa.com/

Maybe not have been the same type of eclipse, but I do remember wearing cardboard boxes in our backyard that my dad made when we were kids lol.

While I can appreciate that many homeschoolers may start out volunteering young and continue to do so later, I would hesitate to think they did it willingly as youngsters. Might have been mandated by parents or other authority lol When I worked at Vacation Bible School one summer there was an overflow of "volunteer" teens. I put that in quotes because many didn't do much or weren't needed. They were either there for community hours (I was told they could earn service hours) and/or Mom and Dad signed up younger siblings so thought, hey, I'd rather older sibling tag along than sit in empty house alone all morning.

I have not seen that. I know one library that offers a "homeschooling 101" class once a year, but that's because someone that works at the library is a homeschooler and they host it. I have never been able to attend as it's not close to me and now I don't know if I'd get as much out of it. I don't understand how "programs" = "beneficial" necessarily either. I know of a martial arts class aimed at homeschoolers, but that's because the instructor was homeschooled and wanted to offer that to the homeschool community. In my particular community I am not aware of any homeschool specific events for Parks and Rec or libraries. There is the summer reading program open to all. Story hour open to all (which is during school hours so this is really daycare children and Head Start kids that attend from nearby centers. When we have attended I think we were the only homeschool family). Our library is open 2 days a week. I do know of homeschoolers setting up events and looking at libraries as a potential meeting place, but not sure how often they do that. I was under the impression that Parks and Rec classes happened in the afternoon/evening so not specific to homeschoolers. Another person mentioned something for younger ones. I didn't know that even existed. Maybe just certain areas.

Hmm the volunteer thing could go either way, depending on the family's precise available hours and interest in volunteer work that they find. Part of me hoped that I could volunteer at the public school sometimes on the mornings dh goes into work later. But in reality we are both needed home. Today he did school with ds while I tried to occupy dd. Even with me home it was hard. She wanted to draw on the dry erase board with Daddy, started to cry when I told her that she needed to let her water color book dry, etc. lol Depending on the ages of the children, yes, I could see volunteering working out well. The at home parent could take the child with them to a food pantry or nursing home or something. Of course that depends on the family's school obligations, the organization's rules about children, etc. Are there any benefits to making an area attractive to homeschoolers? Maybe if you're trying to draw up business during hours in which homeschoolers are the only client (or primary client). We have a bowling alley an hour from us that offers a homeschooling day. I know two homeschool groups that meet there in the morning at least once a month.

We are just going to watch the Mystery Science lesson they released about it. The kids and I all wear regular glasses and I can't imagine what a pain it'd be to supervise that.

I also live in a rural area with one bathroom. I don't imagine it's usually an issue. During the summer reading program they had the fire dept. come out and spray the kids with a fire hose like it was a giant sprinkler (I'm not kidding lol) and we were not prepared for that. No where in the itinerary did it say that water activities would be involved. So I lugged my drenched kid to the bathroom to change her clothes (had spare clothes in the diaper bag) and another child was knocking on the door to use the bathroom. I was worried he wouldn't be able to hold it. Story hours and such invite young children to the library. One bathroom when there are a lot of young children seems like a problem at some point down the line. *Eta: yes, I could have left the library before she got wet, but dd really wanted to join in the fun so I just went along with it.

I think it's a good idea to plan for the future. What if the community grows? Would be better to get the second bathroom now rather than realize it's a problem when a field trip consisting of 20 Kindergartners arrives. Also, I personally hate feeling like someone is waiting on me. If I'm changing my toddler's diaper and someone is knocking on the door it's not ideal for either party. Nevermind if I also wanted to use the restroom after I was done helping her.

You can look at certain topics/posts under your username, but often I can't find what I'm looking for there, either. I think it only keeps track of the last few.

I have a lot of trouble, too. I use a combination of google, old emails (email notifications), and using the ctrl F + keyword if it's been recently. Then I have to click through a few pages.