I made goulash. When I was almost done DW reminded me of the office xmas party tonight. I planned on having dinner early (that would still have it simmering significantly longer than normal), but now it's looking like we might be having dinner late (insane amount of simmering). I don't think there's a point in turning off the heat and then reheating it later - it's a big pot, so that would take too long. But still... I started making it at 2:30, does it really need to simmer for potentially 6 hours?

(btw, I'm aware it's still over a week till xmas)

Is Christmas today or tomorrow? If so, yes. Otherwise, no.

Yes, this. Icelandair was supposed to allow you to spend a night (I think even up to 3 (5? 7?) nights or w/e) in Iceland at no additional cost, but we couldn't get that for the date we wanted, so, just the airport. I did look up some stuff (before we discovered that it wasn't going to work out), and Iceland is so expensive! The freezing rain we had to walk through to get from our plane to the building was not super exciting (and I was annoyed that my sleepy kids had to walk down those metal stairs off the plane in the dark, freezing rain... so glad nobody fell). Anyhow, Iceland does look beautiful in the pictures.

Realistically, no lights would be the best option, but given the presumably vastly bigger risk of fires from candles (a PP mentioned, insurance companies quit covering tree candle fires?), and the presumed destruction of all sorts of environmentally bad things in those fires (random things made out of plastic around the house, etc), odds are electric lights would still win the "safest overall" award. Either way, it's nice to be able to just have the lights on without having to paranoidly stare at them the entire time.

Yes, but what about the CO2 emissions of candles?

Someone spilled their drink all over the inside of his coat while he was playing soccer. With the weather I mentioned above. I made him wait inside while I got the car right in front of the exit. Had to honk twice for him to notice me... kid's been so spacey lately. That can't be that preteen spaciness yet, can it? He's 10.25, and 4'3" or so, and is just so not a preteen yet.

Oh, in random good news, the Y's "early winter" classes are over (as in, tonight was his last one), so no more soccer for Celery. Because I'm so done with that Y.

When he was 2 he had pink Hello Kitty ones, because he wanted pink Hello Kitty snow boots. Why do kids eventually get the memo that pink and Elsa and Anna and all of that stuff is for girls? (these are blue, btw, and the zipper is hard to pull up, but I.don't.care... it's too late in the season for me to go running around trying more stores)

I waited too long to buy Broccoli snow boots. DW looked at Walmart yesterday, and didn't find any to their liking (I think she said that maybe there were pink ones? not sure). I tried Target today, nothing in his size, and then at Payless they only had Frozen. So, Frozen it is. Because I'm not going anywhere else.

Not sure that counts as Tiger Mom. Probably Helicopter Mom. Tiger Mom would probably push the kid to get into MIT if the kid wants to take apart microwaves. Luckily, that's normally not an issue for me.

I haz heater.

It's 17 feels like 6. At 1am it's supposed to be 19 feels like -3. F.

If only that wouldn't require setting the thermostat to like 80.

IIRC there is a way to be able to just do whatever exercises you want. But it's been a while - the kids and I have been on Khan for about 5 years, iirc. ETA: to be clear, a few months ago I did most of the exercises they'd added in the last couple of years - it's not like the last time I looked at Khan was 5 years ago.

Hm, I guess if I moved the driver's seat back before getting out, it might be marginally easier to climb over the stick and parking break. Not sure.

The most annoying thing about having to park on one side of the street some days of the week, and the other side the other days, is that because it's a one way street and there's nowhere for the snow to go, you have to climb over a mountain of snow* and then squeeze yourself into the driver's side door half the days. Or climb over the stick shift and parking break, which in a compact car is just about as much fun (DW did that the other day - I haven't yet (well, I have, but not this year, and not because of snow)). *Yes, technically it's possible to shovel that away, but since there aren't parking spots, and certainly not assigned parking spots, you probably wouldn't be able to park in the same spot again, and you probably wouldn't be lined up with the part where you shoveled the snow away even if you got more or less the same spot again, so, what's the point (these mountains of snow are already over 3 feet high).

I want a garage, and a heated driveway and sidewalk (so they don't have to be shoveled). Is that so much to ask for?

Wait, you're in NY and use a cover school from another state? What state? How does that work?

Um, you have to file a bunch of paperwork, so, not thinking about it is not an option. Also, just because the reqs happen to line up with what you'd do anyway, doesn't mean that they line up with what everyone would do. As a parent, you do not just get to choose what you want to teach - the state has rules, and quite a lot of them. Just because those rules happen to line up with what most colleges want to see anyway, doesn't mean they're not rules, and doesn't mean they're not a PITA for some people. (and it'd be one thing if they were graduation requirements - but they're not... you have to do those things or you won't be allowed to homeschool your kid, in other words, you're not the one in charge of what gets taught in your own homeschool) To be clear, I'm not even saying they're bad requirements... just that you can't just do whatever you want. Some PPs mentioned the parent being able to decide what is taught as the criterion for whether you're a homeschooler - well, I can't just choose what to teach. I have *limited* choice. I can't just say "no math" or w/e.

I'd subtract more points for missing units on, say, a physics test than I would on a math test. Either way, I'd make the kid correct the mistake, and give a reminder about the importance of units (if there are a lot of missing units the lecture can get kind of long... I once read that NASA had one of their missions go wrong because someone didn't write units and the person reading it thought it was inches while the person who didn't write the unit meant cm (or the other way around, or something), and it basically cost millions of dollars. It's been a while, and I'm not 100% sure if that story was true, but I don't care - it could've been, and it drives the point home). Also, I don't give out grades for upper elementary (other than on my quarterly reports, but those are really generic and only intended to keep NY happy).

It'd eventually dissipate into the room whether you leave the door open or closed... but if you can have heat now, why wait?

Well, I haven't watched Khan's videos, just the exercises (I've done all the pre-alg ones to "mastery"), and I'd say it's not as rigorous as AOPS (not that we've gotten far yet in AOPS). Not real sure how to compare it to LOF - just completely different. I don't have experience with the other pre-alg programs. ETA: I don't think there are too few practice problems in Khan. Then and again, I'm mostly fine with LOF too, and people tend to criticize that one for too few practice problems, so, ymmv. If there's one thing my kids struggle with, I just find some more problems online, or make up some more problems, or, uh, have them do Khan (Khan is not our primary program - I just occasionally have the kids do Khan for variety or when I need a break, so my assessment of the number of problems is based on when I went and did all of it - it seems like they have a decent number of problems, but since they randomize them you do sometimes get the same problem almost back-to-back, and, if you're new to a topic, only doing Khan to mastery might mean you haven't mastered it - you probably do need to do more problems than they make you do, but that's not the same as there not being enough problems).

Right, I didn't mean that as a criticism - of course you can turn down the heat some. I was just saying that I don't care all that much about the numbers other people post. I don't remember the details of the thread, but iirc the thing was that they weren't destitute. Some people do think they're in a contest to show who's the most Spartan. Anyhow, making the kids put on a sweater and socks when cold is perfectly reasonable.

I should probably just send him to go run outside any time he complains of feeling cold. Not that running is always an option, depending on how well people have cleared their sidewalks - I shoveled a foot of snow on iirc Monday.