I literally just talked to our local public school about volunteering. They told me if it was more often it would require the background check. Maybe for a one time visit you could just go read without it???

I don't know that she was suggesting hiding it. She may have just meant that the facts are unfortunate.

Ahh, so complicated!

I don't know what NPD stands for, but I would be uncomfortable calling anyone "Mom" besides my own mother. Speaking just about these choices: Mrs. Lastname vs. firstname I would say I'd use what was preferred. If in doubt, I go with "Mr./Mrs./Ms." just because it seems more formal. When I was growing up my neighbor had me call her firstname, but I didn't do it with any random adult I met. I would feel disrespectful if someone specifically asked me NOT to call them something and I did it, anyway. You might like the name "Sam" but if you meet a Samantha and she wants to be called Samantha, don't call her Sam. It's simple.

I haven't been tested, but I have suspected dyscalculia in myself for a couple of years. I tend to disagree with this statement, but take my word with a grain of salt. As you said dyscal. can manifest in different ways, but I don't think that the why is necessarily the issue. Like if someone gives me a phone number, I have so much trouble remembering the numbers, and remembering them in the right order. It's not an understanding of numbers tripping me up. If someone gives me a mental math problem I have trouble doing it because of visualizing it in my head and keeping the numbers there while I figure out the steps. I don't know how to explain, but it's not that I don't know how subtraction works. I got good grades in math, too.

I'm sorry, what is VT?

In my thread someone mentioned the COVD website so if you do need an optometrist maybe try that site. I don't think our kids took the same tests, but I wonder how your child would do on the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test. That is the one my child struggled with and the optometrist I spoke to said that could affect handwriting.

I tried making a corn husk doll with ds in a 4H group once. I think I was pretty bad at it LOL

I saw a Halloween wreath made of those twigs (whatever it is, I think you buy premade) and rubber snakes, all spraypainted dark lol. You could have a little party, watch Halloween movies and make/display festive foods. I saw some really creepy ones! Like hot dogs cut to look like fingers ick ha. You could make trail mix with festive M&M colors. Decorate cupcakes or such.

Oh my goodness, how are you functioning? I mean I drove 3-4 hrs to visit family a couple of times and that was pretty crappy lol. I can't imagine doing that on a regular basis. Seriously, how do you get adequate rest? You must leave around 4am to get to work by 8. And then on Friday night I would just crash! If you are really able to do this I can totally see how having an extra day off would help. If it was me I would have to drive Sun. evening, not Monday mornings. I like the alternative idea of asking for every other Friday off, but I don't know if I would shoot for that as the goal or trial run. Definitely an idea worth mentioning, though. I know people that do/have done that schedule. Do your kids have hobbies? Are you involved with theirs? Maybe set yours aside (or change how often you are involved) to focus on something that interests them. Not sure if this is applicable. Just thinking about the limited time you have with them. I would be very upset with my dh if he was gone 5 days a week and came home and then "ran off" to engage in some hobby/see friends.

I've lived in a few places with outdoor arrangements or inside carport for laundry. I hated that. Totally agree with you.

Well since you've already done it that way, you at least know what to expect. I wouldn't want to deal with the infant in the front row where if I got up to calm her down I felt like I was drawing a lot of attention to myself. I don't want all eyes on me every time the child makes a noise. Then after the baptism Mass will continue and maybe the baby is just DONE lol. But you know your kids. Maybe it's not a big deal. I'm not familiar with the term narthex. I have stood in foyers with babies before. I just say foyer, I guess we're more or less talking about the same area lol ETA: If it's not a big deal then I can see how choosing to do things that way would be a beautiful moment with everyone welcoming your little one into the Church.

This thread went from weird decorating (I'm thinking carpet choices and pictures) to people with horrible/strange taste in placement of toilets LOL

Excess number of windows/large windows are a turn off to me. I know some people love big, beautiful, tall windows. I think, "ugh, window treatment nightmare and possibly drafty and/or difficult to clean." Plus, I hate it when I want to put furniture against a wall but a stupid window is in the way. I mean sure you can push furniture up against and block a window, but for certain things it drives me nuts. Saw the mention of wheelchairs. Wide hallways in addition to doorways would be ideal if hallways are going to be affected. Could be for wheelchairs or walking down a hallway with furniture. Steps. Don't like steps inside house or really right outside of house, either. I find them awkward and potentially dangerous. My grandmother had a house where you step down from the entry way to enter other areas. We have one bathroom. Drives me nuts. I seriously don't get how people are fine with just one bathroom. For our family it's awful. So I vote for adding a second bathroom, even if it's a half bath. But I don't know if that's on your list. For closets, if you can't add closets then maybe try a free standing one. That is what we've had to do. Old house and lack of storage.

I get the reasons it's nice to have it during Mass, but it's not ideal for us exactly. Dh's side of the family attended both baptisms and they aren't Catholic. Why would I make them sit through Mass? Well, that's the thought I would have. And when I go to Mass and find out that a baptism is happening I know this sounds so wrong to admit, but I think, "ugh this is going to be an extra long service." :o I also think about keeping the baby content/happy during the service where you'd probably be sitting in the front row. And make sure they don't spit up all over their gown/outfit. No thanks. I tend to keep the baby in the cry room during a service or keep them at home until the baptism (ie. go to Mass the night before without the baby). We had everyone meet us at the church for the baptism then go to my parents' home for a get together. For ds' we all met up at a restaurant afterwards. Either way, the whole celebration took up time and I think Mass would extend the time you are requiring of everyone. I don't know that most people would openly object... but it doesn't mean they would prefer it.

I'm not sure that you would know this.

In the past when I deactivated my facebook account I was unable to remove a couple of the photos, but others I was able to delete. And as stated above, it's unclear how long backups are kept if they are there. Corraleno answered my actual question. I do not think the average person is resharing photos in some odd discreet way. Typically people are going to hit the "share" button and then you will see "this photo has been shared X times," so the daughter would know who was doing what with her pics, but yes, anything is possible.

Some part time jobs offer benefits. I would like to see more do that. Yeah, at that time my spouse was doing an unpaid practicum so we didn't have benefits at all.

While I don't disagree that the principle is the same, I am personally curious what they are calling public. Is it like Mom and Dad's 50 facebook friends, Mom and Dad's 300 facebook friends, the whole internet or what.

Well, yeah, but that's not what I mean. And I don't know if you mean hit the "share" button or literally saved the image to their PC and then send the file to someone. My settings prevent my stuff from being shared to people that aren't on my friends' list but of course someone could screen capture or download an image and share if they were determined. I also know that profile pics and cover images are public. My profile is not searchable to public, but if I comment/post anywhere, people can click on it and see them so I think twice about what I use.

I wanna know how they define public. Are the pictures viewable to only the friends list or is the facebook page set to public? Could they compromise and have her photos only circulated around non strangers? If that still made her uncomfortable, though, I think they should respect her wishes and take them down in either case.

:thumbup1:

When I worked full-time and contemplated taking a sick day or a day off in general, I always second-guessed it because dh and ds were home and I knew realistically I would not get the rest and relaxation I wanted. Ds was very young. Ouch. I worked a part-time gig after having a job in my field and quitting to move. It was all I could get at the time. This was as a wife and mother so yeah, I would say I had life responsibilities. I didn't have benefits. I went to work with pleurisy and bronchitis and tried my best to not spread germs. I really needed the money and I also felt like the company needed the staff. I was actually a bit nervous about telling everyone I was going to back out of the Relay for Life walk because of the pleurisy. Some coworkers said they didn't think it would be that bad. Luckily a manager agreed that it was a bad idea for me to come so I backed out guilt-free.

Regarding inner/outer envelopes... well, don't some people enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope for an RSVP? Then would that be two or three total envelopes? Lol I can't remember... but I did receive one with the self-addressed stamped envelope. My own came with two envelopes and I might have left the inner one blank. I really don't remember.

I don't get that... yeah, just go alone if it's your brother. Maybe I am missing details. I have gone to a wedding without dh. Just recently we each attended separate wakes/funerals while the other was either at work or home with the kids. I was pretty upset he didn't come to my high school reunion with me, though. I drove a few hours and arranged childcare to attend alone while he went to work. We both even go to the movies alone sometimes lol.