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underthebridge

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Posts posted by underthebridge

    Need to find a funny, very clean movie

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I started to think of old classics like Singin’ in the Rain (as mentioned above), Arsenic and Old Lace, Bringing Up Baby, Easter Parade, and Inspector General. I haven’t seen those movies in ages so I can’t remember if they have anything too racy or violent. Auntie Mame is a great one for Christmas time.

    What is the risk of a Christmas tree fire?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    And who paid for this research.

     

    There is a great deal of evidence that we misjudge risk in our everyday lives. This leads to everything from poor investment decisions to product safety laws which are counterproductive. I think one should be prudent when it comes to fire safety, but we must also be realistic about what the real risks are.

    Completely agree with this. If 1 in 34 tree fires result in a death, 200 tree fires would result in 5-6 deaths per year. In the entire US. I would guess you are 50-100 times more likely to die from a space heater fire. Tree fires are worth mentioning, sure, but I would expect the fire department should inform you about the most common causes of fire.

    • Like 1

    What is the risk of a Christmas tree fire?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by underthebridge

    I think we should be careful but if you do the math, it’s not common. There are about 125 million households in the US, and let’s say that there are 80 million trees (about 65%). 150 divided by 80,000,000 is about one in 5 million.

     

    ETA 125 million, not 125

    • Like 3

    Playmobil

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I loved Playmobil, but my kids preferred Lego. It has about a gazillion small pieces, so be aware. Definitely would not recommend it for that other “toys without small pieces†thread!

    • Like 1

    What gift are you most excited about giving this year?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I'm not sure if it's out of print or just an older edition, or what. I think the edition we got is out of print, maybe....?

     

    It's Twilight Imperium 3rd edition, and is one of those "stay up all night" strategy games; I think there is a 4th edition out, but it was even more, and 3rd edition is the one we played, and the one we found, so.....

     

    If you look it up, we didn't pay quite as bad as what it's listed at now, but did end up paying $20 over the lowest price we saw earlier on when we were first watching it.

     

    Oh, here's a link that explains it that is not a shopping link :)

    https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12493/twilight-imperium-third-edition

    I have heard of this game and it is supposed to be an epic, sweeping, and incredible game playing experience! The hosts of this board game site really love it.

     

    www.thedicetower.com

     

    I am sure your gift will be treasured!

    • Like 1

    What gift are you most excited about giving this year?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I am most excited for the gift we found for my stepbrother. They live in Colorado, we live in Texas, and they're the ages of my kids, and a new(ish) addition to the family, so I don't know them well, at all.

     

    One of them is getting the boring stand in, an Amazon gift card (although in a nice amount).

     

    But the other....when we were there visiting over the summer, he and I discussed epic board games, and I was able to tell him about a game I had played once with friends. Turns out, this game is on his "bucket list" of games to try. So of course, I had to find it for him.

     

    We did find it, paid way too much for it (that is dh's fault, and he finally caved when I asked him the total budget for the family and realized that paying the high price for the game didn't put us over budget for that family), and I only wish we could be there in person to watch him open it. First, and possibly only, time we'll have really scored a major hit with them, so I'm super excited.

     

    Extra excited, because last year, in our cluelessness, we got him what turned out to be a really crappy gift (we gave him $$ to make up for it, because we honestly had no idea that what we were buying wasn't what we thought).

    Well done! I’m so curious as to which game this is. Is it out of print?

    • Like 1

    Bullied boy

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    To be honest, I had a Facebook post go viral last summer. It was never meant for anyone but my close circle of friends, but it wound up with almost a hundred thousand shares. I did have offers of money and even from one or two “celebritiesâ€( i hadn’t heard of them, but apparently they were the real deal—one, who requested I never mention her name, paid off some outstanding medical bills from my son’s NICU stay. She negotiated directly with the hospital). I turned all of them down(the celebrity went through my Facebook and found the pictures of my son and the hospital’s name and called them to see if they could get in touch with me and get my permission for her to pay off our significant and outstanding bill).

     

    But I never once meant for any of that to happen.

    Thank you for posting this. That was a lovely thing to happen and I wish all stories went this way - someone is in a tough situation, another person is in a position to help and does so, and no one is defending their Facebook photos in a tabloid, or getting into twitter battles with strangers.

    Bullied boy

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Me too...I walked by a women at Wal Mart the other night....she had a young kid standing by her and the woman was holding a sign that said, 'need food.' I kept on walking...but it really upset me. I kept thinking about them for days.

    A few years ago I gave $10 to a pregnant women holding a sign saying “Pregnant, homeless, kicked out by parents†outside a drugstore. She was young and looked to be about 7 or 8 months pregnant. Four months later, I saw her in front of a different drugstore in the same state of pregnancy with the exact same sign. I felt duped but I still felt so sorry for her.

    Bullied boy

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Yeah, I think the money stuff is a separate issue. I don't know if the mom had any $$ intentions when she posted the video. If she did, shame on her. But given how hard it is to separate truth from lies on the internet, I'm going to stay out of that discussion. It does amaze me that people allow their adult opinions and biases to influence how their heart feels about a kid in tears.

    I agree, we will probably never know what the real motivations were. But we should all be aware that people can range from hearbreakingly sincere to indefensibly deceptive when it comes to viral stories like this. Remember the lady who posted all those sad photos of no one showing up to her shower? Strangers generously bought her hundreds of gifts from her registry and she was found out to be a fraud.

     

    http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/07/sad-baby-shower-tweet-was-possibly-a-scam.html

     

    There was another case of a mother doing the same thing with her daughter’s birthday a while ago. It’s rare but I think people learn by watching others. These stories are so disturbing to me that I only give when I personally know the people involved or to a verified non profit.

    • Like 3

    should I or should I not?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Painting toilet seats is a thing people used to do! I'm trying to remember which kids' book we read it in; maybe it was by Madeleine L'Engle, the one where the family takes a road trip and the mother runs in the house, leaving the family sitting in the car, to paint the seat so it can dry while they are on vacation. I can't be sure I have the right author in mind!!

    Yes! I think it was Meet the Austins

    • Like 2

    Bullied boy

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Ugh. Well, I am totally doubting my ability to judge situations. He seems so sincere and sad.

     

    But.....maybe he was sincere. Maybe he is bullied because he won't stop being a racist. I can't imagine his mother's planned it out like it ended up.....otherwise one would think she would take her FB down before it went viral.

    Yes - so many maybes! I tend to jump to conclusions about the motives of the parents and perhaps you tend to jump to empathize with victims. But none of us know the whole story. Remember the Heene family balloon boy hoax? And the DaddyOFive YouTube family that lost custody of their kids? It is so easy to post our opinions to social media and comment on the lives of strangers without knowing any facts. I hope Keaton comes out of this ok. Whatever the story is, this turn of events with some celebrities offering things and others disparaging his mother's motives, can't be a positive development.

    Bullied boy

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    That's what I've heard. I'll try and find the article but the other kids are claiming that they were just trying to get him to stop making racist comments and he wouldn't stop.

     

    ETA: I'm still looking for it. Looks like mom has raised over $50,000 with a GoFundMe. I find the whole thing kind of icky, and I was bullied badly in school. I feel for the kid but I'm not sure if it's because of the bullying or having to deal with his mom.

    I feel like this story is a good example of how little we know about the real story behind these viral news items. First, we hear a firsthand heartbreaking account of being bullied. But it is recorded and put out there for everyone to see by his mother, which, regardless of underlying motive, has shades of self promotion. The public erupts, celebrities jump to befriend him and then his mother starts a Gofundme. What, exactly, are the funds for? Does sending money to a bullied child stop the bullying? What, exactly, will this money be used for? And then we find out that the mother has intolerant views and has possibly opened two different gofundme sites.

     

    I may be in the minority, but I am instantly suspicious when I see parents trying to make a video of their kids go viral. To record your child’s outcry of pain over being bullied and send it out the world and then ask for money just seems very odd to me.

    • Like 12

    Renting Tents, Tables, for Outdoor Event

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by underthebridge

    Depends on where you are geographically. In my area (urban city center), rentals are exorbitant - we paid $125 for a kids’ table and chairs for 10 for one day’s use. The next year, we just bought a folding table and chairs and put them in storage. How many table and chairs do you need?

     

    ETA - I just saw you also asked about tents. Yes, they can get pricey. In addition to the tent, you have to think about renting side walls, flooring depending on if you think there’s a chance it could be rainy/muddy or if the ground is uneven/unsafe, lighting if at night, heating/cooling if necessary, bathroom facilities, etc. In my area, it would run around $1-2k for a tent w flooring and lights for 60-80 people.

    • Like 1

    How do you organize your winter gear?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I love these types of threads. In our home, boots are placed on a tray in the hallway. Everything else goes in a closet with double doors. On the inside of one door are hooks for kids’ coats. On the inside of the other door is a hanging shoe organizer that holds kids’ hats, mittens, hand sanitizer, lip balm, pocket sized tissues, mints, sunglasses, band aids, etc. Adult coats are placed on hangers and adult mittens and hats are in one of those cloth shelved organizers that hang from a closet rod. We also store sports gear and uniforms in the organizer. Keeping it organized requires constant vigilance!

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