I tried it once while flying, and just, no. Apparently I am in the minority here, but I can't change them in public. I've had all sorts of nightmares. So first of all, a moving tiny gross bathroom is just not a good situation. I guess you could recreate this situation for practice by finding a porta-potty and having a friend shake it back and forth for you while you are in it :lol: ! Secondly, I found out later that due to cabin pressure menstrual cups are prone to losing their suction mid-flight. I got into an argument with the flight attendant because I HAD to go to use the bathroom very suddenly and we weren't supposed to at that moment. It was not fun. It's not a time you want something like that to happen. At the very least I would wear a heavy pad back-up. Which just sort of negates the whole point of a menstrual cup... YMMV.

I'm having a rough week bookwise. I can't seem to settle into anything. I finished listening to Dune Road by Jane Green. I also finished A Partial History of Lost Causes which was an interesting story. A chess champion living in Russia in the 80's plus a woman with Huntington's disease who meet up in Russia in the present. I gave up on Birdsong and Operation Mincemeat for different reasons. Both of them were in my dusty pile. Sometimes there is a reason something stays in the dusty pile for so long! One way to get rid of your dusty book pile is to give up and donate them :lol: ! This week I am reading The Widower's Tale and listening to an Elin Hilderbrand novel. I tend to be a little less picky about audiobooks because I just need something to listen to when I am walking or waiting to pick dd up from something. I also got Evicted out but haven't started it yet.

Me too!

I use to work in banking. The first time I was part of a merger, I worked for a bigger bank that bought a smaller bank. It totally stunk. Later, I moved to a small bank that eventually got bought by a bigger bank, and that stunk too. Reshuffling is usually not very fun.

You are a brave lady!

I do not understand this mentality of NOT having your dog on a leash in public. I can't stand people bringing their dogs into stores, but at the VERY LEAST have it on a leash! My city doesn't allow dogs off leash in public areas like ROADS. The other day we had just gotten about 8" of snow, and my neighbors got out their skies and went skiing down our regular, suburban area road with their dog running all around them. Not only is this not a rural country road, but it doesn't lead to a big field or a skiing area. They were just skiing around the neighborhood. For the life of me I cannot understand why you would risk your dog getting hit in those conditions. To put someone through the agony of hitting a dog because you are a self-entitled idiot, is criminal.

I could be wrong, so feel free to correct me. I think this is a fairly new program. There are videos that go with Saxon math are done by Dr Shormann, but now he has a new program that is actually an online math program. We are looking into it for next year, but not sure what we think right now.

This week I had a couple of non-starters, and I can't remember WHAT they were. I really think I should keep a list of books I started but gave up on, just so I won't forget and try to read them again in 2 years. I did finish The Circle. Which wasn't the world's greatest book, but was interesting. I think we're way past stopping all of this privacy invasion stuff. It's just so far beyond that. I also watched the movie, and wasn't thrilled with it. They made some odd story change choices. This week I am trying to read Operation Mincemeat for the 3rd or so time. I own this, and am trying to cull my dusty collection. I just can't get into it for some reason. WWII non-fiction is of particular interest to me, so I would think I would really enjoy this book. I also started A Partial History of Lost Causes and it's interesting.

I can't WAIT to read this book..... :lol: I love Maeve Binchy too. I've read all of her books. This was my first attempt at multiquoting.

Is weekend traffic a lot better?

We are thinking about taking a trip to Baltimore/DC in May. We are planning to stay in Baltimore, but take 2 day trips into DC. Is this even feasible? I don't know anything about traffic from Baltimore to DC. We're not set on any particular things in DC, just want to drive by some of the classic sites, and go to some museums. DH and I have been to DC several times, and have driven in from Harrisburg in the past a few times. So, any thoughts? Are there days or times that are better for driving in? And, what can I expect? Any must do things in Baltimore? TIA!

Yes, this exactly.

I finally finished Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. I have been reading it for weeks, maybe months and it had become the bane of my existence :svengo: . Spoiler alert, after 700 pages he died in a duel! Sorry everyone, for ruining the ending. I was never so happy to throw a book into the Goodwill pile, and wish I had a woodstove to burn it in. It may just be that we are having a very long winter here, and I am going a bit stir-crazy and taking it out on poor Alexander Hamilton. But maybe not. :laugh: Alexander Hamilton did make interesting contributions, but it's a little hard to be as memorable or interesting as figures like Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson.

None. You don't have to opt out of free services that we as a society offer to our citizens. Public education shouldn't be any different.

They grade it. The kid signs in, takes a short comprehension quiz every week on a page length "lesson", and submits a draft of a paper. The class this year everything is due on Thursdays. Usually 3 drafts of each writing piece are done, with feedback on each draft from the coach due back on a certain Thursday. You have the same coach correcting everything all year, which is nice because they get to know the student. The final draft is given a score from a rubric. It's not a teacher teaching a class. It's a writing coach working on drafts of a paper with the student, with some short writing lessons thrown in. We really like it, but it's not what everyone is looking for.

My 9th grader is currently doing the WAH HS comp 1. We used WAH for 8th grade too. It's exactly what we were looking for. It's not a live class. It's less about general writing instruction, and more about feedback on specific writing projects.

:lol: I've said it before, but if it makes you feel any better, 11 was absolutely the worst with my dd. It is a very difficult process for a body, turning from a child into a woman.

This week I finished My Name is Lucy Barton and The American Heiress. They were both fine. I also continued reading Alexander Hamilton and I absolutely cannot wait to be done with this book, and have no idea why I am torturing myself :lol: . I started Suite Francaise this week. The story of the writer of the book is compelling; the book not so much. I am probably going to give up. I also started The Buried Giant, in my quest to finish all of Ishiguro's works. I don't like medieval type fantasy books, so I am not thrilled with this one. I am also listening to The Circle which is frightening. It's not the greatest book ever, but I am finding myself yelling at the characters in my head, and wanting to find out how it ends.

Can you imagine traveling back in time 10 years and telling yourself, "(the current president) and Oprah are running against each other." I wouldn't believe myself :lol: !

My MIL bought my DD a tablet one year. DD was too young for a tablet at the time. MIL refuses to ask about things like this ahead of time and has gotten very offended when we've tried to give her suggestions of gifts my DD would actually like. It's a touchy subject and at holidays now we just say "thank you" and give stuff to Goodwill. However, we thought we could easily return the tablet, get a credit and get DD something she actually wanted. Amazon assured us that MIL would never find out. Somehow they emailed MIL, and it was all very awkward. Just a heads up, in case you don't want your sister to find out about the return.

This week I finished The Intimitable Jeeves and The End of Your Life Running Club. A couple of you were talking about audiobooks with non-American accents, and I that is something that I love in an audiobook! Jeeves was so much better to listen to with a cool British accent. I read the Cary Elwes book last year, and I really wish I had heard him read it. The End of Your Life Running Club was also interesting. It went on a bit, but I enjoyed it. I was reading Victoria and Abdul but it was so boring, I think I am giving up. The point is, Queen Victoria was very close with an Indian servant the last 10 years of her life. Whoopie. It feels like they are trying to make something exciting out of nothing. I'm also still reading Alexander Hamilton. which again, BORING. So I can't really stand to read 2 boring books at once. This week I am reading My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. And Plainsong by Kent Haruf. I also have 2 audiobooks on hold and won't have time to read them both, so will have to pick one. Either The American Heiress or The Circle. Any votes on which one I should pick?

Careful, they may drown in it! :lol:

I finished 4 books last week, bringing my 2017 total to 94. I read The Unwanteds because my daughter likes the series. It was described as Hunger Games meets Harry Potter, but it really was more a toned down version of Harry Potter meets The Giver. It was fine. I also finished The Way Life Should Be by Christina Baker Kline. I knew I wouldn't like this book, and I didn't. I have a particular pet peeve with authors who own summer houses in Maine and then write novels as if they have any idea what living in Maine is actually like. Which when I think about it logically, is ridiculous of me. But, I think pet peeves are allowed to be a little ridiculous :lol: . I also read I Liked My Life by Abby Fabiaschi. This was an interesting novel. The story rotated between 3 viewpoints, the mother the teenage daughter and the father. The mother had just died and found herself in some sort of purgatory/ghost state, able to send thoughts to her teenage daughter and husband, to try to help them move on. And I finished Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen. An abused woman escapes her husband with the help of a network that helps women get away. This year I have a couple of goals. I want to read the 5 Ishiguro books I haven't read, and I have 28 dusty books that have been collecting for years that I want to finally read, and get rid of. Oh the horror, I know :laugh: ! I like to keep the bulk of "my book collection" at the public library :leaving:. This week I started reading Victoria and Abdul, and The End of the World Running Club. So far the Victoria book is boring, and the End of the World book is exciting. I also started to listen to The Inimitable Jeeves, and continue to slog away at Alexander Hamilton. Jeeves is funny, and I like the narrator. Alexander Hamilton was an interesting person, absolutely, but the book needed to be MUCH shorter. DH and I saw The Mountain Between Us this weekend which I read a couple of years ago. I didn't really like the book, but I thought it would make a good movie. The reviews of the movie I read were bad, but DH and actually enjoyed it. The only thing that annoyed both of us was the completely unnecessary s*x scene. I guess we're officially old farts.

I get really sick of people saying people are "too young" to get married or that the reason their marriage failed was because they were "too young". It's stupid. People are ill suited, or getting married for the wrong reasons, or whatever, that's why their marriage failed. Not because they were "too young". Young people can be stupid and impulsive, but so can people who are old enough to know better. I don't think everyone should get married young either. I just think you should get married, when you should get married. If your dc isn't in any sort of red flag relationship, I don't see what choice you have but to support their decision. They are adults. They have the right to make what could be a really good decision or a really bad one. It's not up to you to punish them for not doing exactly what you think they should do. You're friends are being annoying, and I think I would politely tell them to butt out. Or not so politely.... :lol: !

I like celebrating the new year by being asleep by 10 pm.