We can't have pets because of DS severe allergies so when a little cottontail bunny kept showing up in our yard it just made me so dumbly happy. He stopped showing up for about a week and I actually prayed that he'd come back. With all life's real problems and struggles that cute little fuzzy bunny munching on grass in our little yard really made my day. He did come back and has been around pretty much daily. The kids named it Bun-Bun and we just enjoy watching him in our yard. It really is the little things sometimes.

So I think we need some camaraderie. INFJ is the rarest of all the Myers-Briggs personality types and yet here we are hugely represented on this board according to the poll in a current thread. More likely to vote/ be active on a internet forum/ etc etc etc... maybe, but still. It's sort of fascinating that we would be disproportionately choosing to homeschool. I want to see if you all are experiencing things similar to me and how it relates to the homeschool path. I seem to experience a lot of conflict. I want to homeschool and I don't feel equipped to handle it. I want things to be a certain way but get bogged down in the details of making it happen. I get easily overwhelmed by the chaos of children, loudness, untidiness, things not going as planned. I'm calm on the outside (usually) and not calm on the inside. I am not really a good "multitasker" at all. I feel like I'm a "unitasker" in a multitasker calling. I'm a "creative type" but rigid in many ways. Does this ring a bell? Have anything else to add?

This is so weird. Supposedly INFJs (I always get INFJ on the tests) are the most rare type and here we are a large percentage represented. I feel like we need another thread just for us... or can you all tell me about INFJ traits you think are common and would make you choose homeschooling? I don't know much about my type but maybe it will help us feel some camaraderie.

Looks like there's one on there that we've already eaten from a few times (big Costco bag of froz green beans). I guess we probably shouldn't keep chancing it even though we didn't get sick. Anyway Geez that's a long list of items. Are these items that people should continue to avoid buying until further notice?

The people who live in it and that it makes us not homeless. That's about it but I think those things are worth something.

Having shoes with you in the sheltering spot is a good idea. Never thought of that.

Sometimes when a bad thunderstorm is close by it says to stay away from windows and running water. Do you file that under whatever too? I can see that the news and alert systems are overdramatizing things. I just want to figure out a good balance. I mean, actual tornadoes are scary and people not taking things seriously enough is not unheard of either.

This makes sense. A lot of natives to the area seem to have no concern whatsoever unless things are getting extremely dangerous. Like when my phone alert is going off telling me "extremely dangerous thunderstorm, seek shelter immediately" and everyone is just like "whatever". But tornadoes are especially concerning.

What do you do during a tornado watch? When there's "conditions" but not an actual tornado. I have lived most of my life on the west coast and am still trying to get used to this. During the spring especially it's nerve wracking when there's a tornado watch for 10 whole hours of the day a couple times a week. I know things can get crazy very fast, there has been some measure of tornado related death and destruction not that far from here since we've lived here. But how do you handle going about your day during the watches? Do you seriously not leave your house at all? Do you cancel plans etc? It's frustrating and inconvenient but I don't want to get killed either.

Giving all the credit to Jesus. That's my only explanation. Whatever is normal and healthy is his doing. I started my adult life following in my mom's footsteps except I took it to the next level.

And as far as using, she takes painkillers now as opposed to illegal drugs.

It was actually an instagram post. I don't have a facebook account so I don't know what goes on there. I know my sister did delete the caption after my mom got upset but she didn't apologize that I know of. What will happen now most likely is that my mom will be hostile and distant for a while and then make contact one day and act like nothing happened. And then the next thing will happen. I appreciate the feedback. I do also want to know if my sister's behavior was out of line too. Editef to add: I want us to be responsible for our own behavior even if our mom won't be. Seems like boundaries are an important thing here. I've cut my mom off completely for stretches of time. Right now I have a surfacey relationship with her and communicate almost only through texting. I send pics of my kids. But I have trouble with keeping boundaries where they should be.

I guess the keyword is "relationship". It's my hope that I am building the kind of relationship with my kids where they wouldn't post stuff on social media that insults my best and honest parenting efforts. My mom never forged any sort of relationship with us. And now that she's aging and doesn't have much else going on (fading beauty, can't attract the men) she wants to cash in on something she didn't invest in. She wants a relationship, but one where we have to pretend the past doesn't exist. Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that it's not surprising my sister made that remark about our hair. It wasn't the best idea for her to say that. It just feels tame compared to some stuff we could say like "Saw a crackpipe on the sidewalk today. Brings back memories of mom's boyfriend from when I was in 4th grade." or "Saw a cockroach today. Reminds me of how mom used to tell us that we kids are like cockroaches in her life."

I can understand where this is coming from. My kids growing up to not like me, and point out my failures is a fear of mine. At the same time, how do you even know where to start in having a relationship with a mom like this? I won't say it's right but I'll just be honest in saying it feels like adding insult to injury to have had a childhood so messed up that no one you know even has a frame of reference for the type of stuff you went through, and then have to tip toe around the feelings of the person who caused much of it. It's hard, let's just say that. There's about a zero percent chance she's willing to go to counseling or anything of that nature, based on how things have been so far. So I don't know how productive it is to expect something like that. It just leaves me in a hard place not knowing how to handle this relationship. I'm not expecting anyone on here to figure it out for me. Just talking.

So a few weeks ago my sister posted a picture of she and I when we were little and we both had haircuts that looked uneven and home-done. She wrote as a caption "Who cut our hair, they should be fired, LOL". It was meant to be a lighthearted remark. My mom saw that and furiously texted my sister a lot of things along the lines of insulting her kids (my sister's kids/ my moms grandkids) and saying never to speak to her again. My sister reached out to my mom a week/ couple weeks later and my mom told her "You can go f*** yourself" This is not unusual behavior for my mom. She doesn't have any official mental/ emotional condition (not like she'd agree to get looked at anyway). She's just always been like this. She's held down jobs and knows how to act normal when she needs to but she is famous for telling people to "f*** off" etc. at the slightest offense. This is a woman who used to give her boyfriend money for meth while my sister and I had no groceries to eat as children. As you might imagine, there's a lot more she put us through. So a lighthearted "burn" about a childhood haircut send her into a rage spiral, and it seems obvious to me that it touches on some much deeper stuff she doesn't want to deal with. She's never acknowledged any wrong doing in our growing up years. Which... whatever. I don't expect her to at this point, but we have to deal with explosions like this and getting told to "go f***" ourselves. I guess I just need a reminder that this is not normal. I know I'm delusional, but I still hold out hope that I could have some kind of loving mother/ daughter relationship and that my kids could have a normal grandparent relationship. There's a good chance I will delete this. Just reaching out.

I agree that a lot of the sadness for people is the ending of an era. Some of us were more connected to popular culture than others. More connected to certain music. It feels like a very real part of our lives and stories. Also when you look around at the most popular musicians of this day they are heavy on style and low on substance, and like Prince or not, he had a whole lot of artistic substance.

Were you able to find any songs on YouTube? I ask because Prince notoriously tried to keep all his material off YouTube, even suing people over it. So there's a lot of messy live clips and low quality bootleggy type uploads. Maybe it changed in the days since he died now... Anyway it's ok to not like someone's music. I think a lot of people think of Prince as an 80's novelty or one hit wonder but he really was more than that to a lot of people. Some of his songs are so loveable and iconic. And his demeanor was just so unique. He was not known for being nice or easy going but that was part of his appeal too.

I agree and personally, this is one of the many reasons I'm glad we've decided to homeschool. A good chunk of peer nit-picking about stuff like this won't be there. I'm not even sure why I started this thread, lol. I don't really care about keeping up with the Jonses. I guess I just wonder how others see it. And I do wonder if I'm lightly traumatizing my kids by the quality of clothing I'm providing for them but there's probably nothing but pointless anxiety that can come out of that.

Oh the thrift stores here really are good (except that I can NEVER find Pyrex... the Pacific Northwest was a vintage Pyrex goldmine at the thrift stores). My only problem is that I often don't have time with DH working so much overtime. Thrift stores are great except they are time consuming.

I feel for you. In some parts of the country it really is like that. In the Portland (Oregon) area I would see an Old Navy shirt at Goodwill for more than it would be on the clearance rack at the actual Old Navy. I guess that's one thing to be thankful for about Texas.

BTW Tsuga, I grew up in Orange County (since age 7... left California at 21) poor too. I wish I knew you! I was very harshly made fun of for sure. And I have carried that outsider feeling with me to this day. I think the alienation of being a child from a poor single parent household in Orange County is not for the faint of heart. I had a couple of friends in similar situations but we were not the norm and boy did we feel it.

I think people can probably tell/ sense that a person's clothes are coming from the thrift store if they know what to look for. There are so many kids (and adults for that matter) wearing the latest "athleisure" clothes like Under Armour (as an aside I cannot comprehend the popularity of athleisure. I absolutely don't get it. Can someone explain wearing expensive workout clothes as your going to the grocery store clothes every day?) with vibrant colors and the latest style. Or stuff emblazoned with "Hollister" or whatever is the cool thing now. If you're going to buy a significant amount of clothing at thrift stores, much of it will not be the latest style, the colors will not be the brightest, the fabrics won't be the most pristine, and yes, sometimes my kids stuff even has small holes in it. Anyway, even though we could not afford to dress in all-new clothing, I still like to pat myself on the back for thrift shopping because I can wear AnnTaylor tops, and dd can wear J Crew for less than the price of new clothes at Walmart.

Something in another thread made me think of this. It's something I wonder about anyway. My kids usually don't have real pajamas, meaning they wear regular, although comfortable (t shirts and elastic waist comfy pants) clothes to sleep. DD does have a couple of nightgowns. Also I get a solid 50 percent of their clothes at thrift stores (and wash everything on hot before it is worn). However I always buy underwear, socks etc new. Is this a stamp of poverty on my kids? Would anyone think their kids would grow up feeling a bit traumatized by not having new clothing and real pajamas? Once I was at Carter's (a baby/ childrens clothing store) buying a couple of things on sale and the lady who rang me up told me about a program where you can buy a pair of pajamas for needy children who don't have pajamas... and I just thought, "I don't buy my own kids pajamas". So that I guess adds to the idea that not having real pajamas is a mark of poverty.

Anyone see what Google just did? I have tears in my eyes.

I do agree that it's good to gain understanding of why we are the way we are. It can be very helpful and healing. Maybe I'm getting into a bit different territory than what this thread is about. I guess I should say bitterness has been a struggle for me. Knowing I am so deeply messed up in certain areas, and so thoroughly ill-equipped to be normal as a direct result of things that happened in my childhood that I have zero control over, and at times it feels like the bitterness really will kill me.