Zinnia
-
Posts
1,358 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by Zinnia
-
-
I hopped over to take a peek. It looks like a lovely blog, but I'm immediately skeptical of some of her claims. $50/mo by turning off her computer at night? $150 when combined with shutting off ceiling fans when no one's in the room? My entire house is electric, and my bill is under $200 in the summer for everything we do, including hot water, cooking, washer/dryer, and sometimes running an AC unit. Plus multiple electronic devices, lights, dishwasher, fridge, etc. There's zero way that 75% of my bill is passive energy use while we're sleeping and/or not home.
I think she lives in Vegas, though, home of the ever-running AC. I know that it's not unusual for people around here to have regular bills in the $500 range in the summer months. And we're no where as hot as Vegas.
-
1
-
-
We invite our families frequently; they end up coming over once or twice a year. All of our families (my side and inlaws) don't like to drive in the city and are noticeably uncomfortable when they are here.
We end up with friends over about once a month. I got into a habit of outside playdates (parks, events, playdates) when my oldest was young. I seem to always have one kid that is struggling to behave, and the novelty of another location helps behavior. We still do a lot of outside stuff.
-
In my world - since my youth - broadcasting salaries wasn't common, but mentioning unusual pay raises was (generally with thankfulness). We also knew who was laid off - esp since they networked for new jobs. Maybe they kept pay cuts to themselves, but my IRL world is nowhere near as private as many folks' on the Hive, so I find it doubtful. My family and our closer friends (and even co-workers though the years) share info a lot. We aren't very "hush hush" or "keep it all to ourselves" folks - good, bad, and ugly. For me, that's what community is. We're there for each other through it all. It may be a rural trait. I like it that way.
This is how my circles run, too, and we are very urban. It's much more open than the small city I grew up in. I like it this way.
-
2
-
-
My dh did an awful job last year. Awful. Dollar store candy from my 4 kids to me. A promised present he didn't follow through with and actually procure for me.
This year? In September, I made a joke about last years fail. I wasn't upset, because time had passed, and he wasn't sensitive, because time, but I let it be known that he had failed and needed to do better.
This year was 1000 percent improved.
-
I use a cheap spiral notebook. One side is my meal plan, and the other is my grocery list. As I plan out a meal, I write the ingredients on the grocery list.
I do try to look at my week for any late nights, meetings, etc, so I can plan easy things for nights that need it and the 4 hour roast can be a different night. I use recipes, and I will just not down where it came from on my meal plan (like the magazine page) to make it easy.
Before I sit down, I have an idea what we have a lot of (Oh, we didn't eat all the lettuce this week, I should plan a mai n dish salad early this week), and I look at the sales flyers (oh, Kroger has pork loin for 99 cents/lb, let me fi nd a recipe to use that).
-
We spent most Christmases with just the 4 of us (most Thanksgivings we travelled).
When I was 8, the entire extended family came to my house. Great grandparents, grandparents, uncle, aunt. It was magical. Must have been a lot of work and trouble for my family, but I loved it so much.
-
1
-
-
We got Ticket to Ride, and my 7 year old got stilts to play with. His pediatrician is of the mind that he is fine, but he hits all the markers for low tone, so we work on that at home.
-
I would have to be mighty hungry to try this one:
If you have small amounts of leftover meat and vegetables, grind them together and mix with mayonnaise for a tasty, nutritious spread.
That's chicken salad.
-
8
-
-
I also use a mop that is billed as wet/dry. I do use it as a dry mop, mostly for walls/ceilings and cobwebs, but mostly, I use it wet. I then take off the head, rinse it, and reuse it. It works well for me. I wouldn't know what to do with an industrial drainer (those yellow bucket things?).
-
1
-
-
A friend of mine brought over a giant Amazon box for ds#3. He played in it all day. Lol
My ds#1 got 2 jerseys he loves, as well as blokus, a thrift store find for a sibling gift. They are all just the right ages to play that, with or without us, so a great gift.
My dh did so well this year. Last year was a last minute dollar store fiasco. This year, he replaced the watch he had given me when dating (it was not repairable and so sentimental), as well as some awesome local folk art I had been eyeing for years. He helped the kids get me fuzzy socks, earrings, locally made soap, and Pioneer Woman salt and peppers. I am highy pleased with all of that.
-
2
-
-
We would if we were home (Northern IL), but we're in mid-FL right now. The kids are actually in the pool right now.
My cousins live in middle FL. Their Christmas pictures had them wearing coats. I don't think I would be in the pool. :)
-
This is how DH got underwear most years. After we got married, our first Christmas DH realized he hadn't gotten underwear in his stocking. He was upset. How was he going to get new underwear? Uh, dear, you can buy underwear at the store. And frankly, if you had wanted underwear in your stocking you should have said so.
How on earth was I to know that underwear in the stocking was a thing? LOL
I can't imagine not getting socks and underwear! That's Christmas! ;)
-
1
-
-
Joy to the World!
-
2
-
-
I’be only read the OP.
I spent my whole childhood running to Grandma’s on Christmas morning and the Great Grandma’s for lunch. It sucked. Put your foot down and tell everyone you are having an at-home Christmas this year. Your children will thank you.
But that's the thing. Maybe your kids will thank you. Maybe they will grow up with memories of their Christmases as sad and small, without much excitement.
You gotta do what makes you happy, not what your kids might like
-
3
-
-
I have decided that you can't please everyone.
My brother insists on Christmas Day in his house, no exceptions. He does invite the grandparents, and both sets are local, so they both go.
We live about 2 hours away. My in laws always travel to my sister in laws who are 12 hours away. We have no options at Christmas but to be at home with just the 6 of us. My parents usually drive over after they see my brother.
It's taken me years to not see Christmas as sad and lonely, but I am coming to terms with it. I would still prefer a bigger gathering, but it is what it is.
-
3
-
-
My parents kept charts and made sure it was exactly, exactly even in terms of number AND money spent. Must be exhausting (they still do it).
We have a tradition of 3 gifts, plus 1 Santa present. For us, the number is the same, but the value is not. Usually similar, but my kids are within a 6 year age span, so that's not terribly hard
-
Pump for soccer ball
-
My best friend in elementary's name was Wenjia (her given name); her parents had come to the US the year before from China. They seriously discussed renaming her Wendy, and when her little brother was born they named him Willis. Though they held strongly to their social traditions at home - spoke only Chinese, ate homemade Chinese food, required Wenjia to spend 2+ hours a day after school learning Chinese and accelerated math (at age 7!) - they did value assimilation in some ways, and names were one. I think they felt if she and her brother had American-sounding names they'd have an easier time fitting in.
We had family friends in school that were Chinese. Similar story...very traditional upbringing, named William, Jane, and Kevin.
-
We take 2 weeks off. I have a public schooler, and my dh is off the week from Christmas to NYD. Nothing happens here. I do require a tiny bit of dyslexia tutoring...20 min for one kid, 10 for the other.
-
I have a son that likes to yell and scream when he is sick at the injustice of it. He was 3 years old when he first woke up screaming mad in the middle of the night because of a runny nose.
I feel you, OP. Utter craziness
-
1
-
-
Our local refugee organization does a Christmas market. They sell donated goods to parents for their kids, and they have a Christmas party for the kids at the same time. The money raised by the market gets donated to different places. This year was the (woefully underfunded) pta at the elementary school in the neighborhood.
-
1
-
-
Divorce is hard on kids. It was hard on me as a kid, harder on my brother. Eventually we all grow up and have to make our way and be responsible for our own choices.
No doubt. It just clouds the interactions I have now, and I hate that it translates on to my own kids. I don't have any emotional stuff I haven't dealt with (or not that much), it's just that my mom get so angry if my children mention their grandfather. Or if we go to celebrate my in laws 60th anniversary. She is so angry and hurt, and I have to deal with that. Then I am upset because I don't know the perfect way to deal with that. And round and round we go. It never really ends
-
2
-
-
You'd rather that your father DIED than have had your parents divorce?
Am In reading this correctly?
I don't feel like this exactly, but it would have been a lot easier for me, too. The divorce was 20+ years ago, and I still feel the effects now.
-
3
-
-
My mom is a stepmother. She never could get over the fact that her sd was fat (as was her mother). She said some hurtful things to her over the years (putting it mildly). The sd ended up cutting contact.
Ironically, her own daughter (me) ended up getting obese in my 20s. My mom wasn't and isn't happy about it, but she learned to keep it quiet. I have one son (of 4) that is overweight, too. If she shames him for it, I might also cut contact.
This is the kind of thing that impacts relationships for a long time. It can be very sticky
-
11
-
Being a Parent to Adult Getting Married Young
in The Chat Board
Posted
I think you are doing the right thing.
We weren't young marrieds (we were 26 and 29), but I am a but jealous of our friends that married young. Lucky for us, we were still immature enough that we consider we grew up together. :)