Wendy's chili and a side salad is one of my most satisfying fast food meals. I also like Chick Fil A salads with grilled chicken.

I live in a big city. I find that socioeconomic diversity is very difficult here, at least in an authentic, not "those people" sort of way. The density is just so high that my neighbors all have very similar means. I grew up in a much smaller town, and I miss that part of it. But racial diversity, that we have. My oldest son goes to public school. It's considered a pretty white school locally, at 59% white. And the city has a lot more political and religious diversity than where I grew up. I appreciate those things. I like it when groups/businesses/whatever makes an effort to include more than just one type of people, whatever that type is. One note is boring.

That is such a crazyg nuumber to me. There must be parts of the US where there are just no POC. That number is so very far off my every day reality

We follow public schools

They are a great $5 present for up to teens in my house/extended family. A lot of the guys at dh's office have them on their desks. No one is too old for hotwheels!

When our property taxes went up, our rent went up. I didn't love it, but it made sense to me. Our landlord isn't renting to us from charity. He raised our rent by the same amount as the increase

We used balance transfers to get ahead. We got married with an absurd amount of debt. We paid off a lot in our first 5 years, then took a break to have babies and weather the recession and are now back at it aggressively. But the first aggressive time period was consumer debt, and the transfers helped us get ahead on that

Nm

In Georgia. I keep it on 65 during the day, 60 at night, and one hour of 68 as we get up and moving in the AM. We have original 1950s Windows and little insulation, so 60 really does feel like 60. You need a couple of blankets It's not terribly cold in here, and I will turn it up. But first, I require my kids to put on long pants, long sleeves, and socks. Usually that makes them comfortable. I am not paying for them to be comfortable in shorts and bare feet. :) We also run dehumidifiers continually, so that adds a little bit of warmth to the air. They act like mini heaters.

My mechanic told us to start looking when ours hit 240,000 miles. We replaces at 250,000, though I think we could have gone much longer. Made my anxious dh happy, though, so it was worth it.

Second shift is super hard, in my opinion. I prefer nights to that, but if is what it is My dh works a traditional office job. He is gone 11-12 hours a day, including commute. I do almost everything without him during the week. We love having him home for dinner, and it happens 3-4 times a week (including weekends). The job is seasonally busy, so we take advantage of lighter seasons. I would work on finding planning/thinking time on the weekends. Mine is pretty sacred. Also, I probably wouldn't count on your dh entertaining kids during the week for bookwork hours. I would shift that time-do it during naptime, put the little to bed and do it then, or make it movie time for your littles. My dh just plain is awful at the task of "entertain the littles while I get x done." I have a lot more success with, "take these kids out of the house and do PE, teach them to hike, or show them x, y, or z." After my 2nd got diagnosed, we figured out dh is dyslexic, which explained his reluctance to ever read a book to my kids. Doesn't make me love it, and it was frustrating ikn the moment, but working with our strengths has been better for us, our marriage, and our family.

Right. Everyone lives with this. But somehow society has this expectation that teachers are different and don't have these ramifications. I believe the guy if he says he feels like he has no choice. And that's why teachers end up leaving the profession

Teachers here don't have unions, and they are year to year employees. One of my friends got in a squabble with her (new) principal over something small that turned into something big. Of course, she wasn't happy with the situation, but she thought it would blow over, and it would work itself out in time. She didn't get a contract when it came time in the spring. No notice, just no new contract. She has been a teacher 20 years, 10 at that school. And nothing she can do, because year to year employees.

I have Christmas china that I love. Mine is Noritake Royal Hunt. Plaid around the edges. I have a deer shaped soup tureen that is my favorite piece. Never served soup in it (lol), but it's often the centerpiece of decorations.

I have changed my mind on a couple of issues, but it was because of personal experience. I would also say that I have very few very, very strongly held opinions, as well. A lot of my thoughts are in an open palm, so I'm always willing to listen to other people. Politically, I grew up far to one ditch. Became more moderate as an adult. Went to a church with a majority of people far in the opposite ditch of what I grew up with. I became more moderate/leaning that ditch. One day, my dh and I woke up, "hey, we don't agree with a ton of stuff here!" We have moved back moderate/leaning towards the ditch I grew up in. Changed churches and everything.

This is true. My 5th grader goes to a high achiever magnet school. It's not *that* high achieving or anything, but all the kids are who would be in gifted in their home schools. The vast majority of the boys have birthdays from August-december, with a few having June or July birthdays. It's lottery based, so just sort of how it worked out that year. However, there are 2 kids in the grade that were grade skipped, plus spring birthdays. They are 18 months younger than the rest of the boys, and they seem to do fine.

We barbecue for Christmas Day. A butt or two, a turkey, maybe some ribs. It's an all day affair, and it's fun.

My June birthday waited for kindergarten. He was not thr most mature in the class. There were girls 14 months younger that are more mature. :D

Mine have all asked a lot the year they were 6. We answer with, "what do you think?" By 7, they have figured it out for themselves. I am okay with that.

The areas that we've explored so far have had the ability to read text to the student, which helps a lot.

I usually go in at the 4 week mark.

I am curious about this, too. I have 2 dyslexic sons that don't read, ages 7 and 9. I ordered CLE math for them this year, but it's not independent at all for either of them. So we are doing this very dry, very boring math, without the bonus of any independence. I am about to chuck it and find something new. One thing that my kids do like and truly is independent is MobyMax. I use it to reinforce math, sort of as homework, if you will. That might work for your needs

I also thought feel was a reclaimed word. I was a proud nerd in high school, as were all my friends. Fly your flag high! :)

My dh is fond of Old Putney or McAllen 12.

An actual book, but I love Cheap Fast Good! So family friendly (my kids like every recipe), and genuinely cheap.