Today is lowkey. It's the last day of school break. violin (I found the notes to Bittersweet Symphony and it's fun to play around with) 10,000 steps sit down with ds and make sure he goes through the steps to prep for school tomorrow clean the living room lunch: chickpea salad with tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, and mixed greens. knit? Maybe It's below freezing outside so I'm trying to do as many steps as possible inside. I may be getting out there soon anyway. There are enough leftovers in the fridge that I'm not cooking dinner, either.

Starting us off!

Good afternoon! Most of our tackling today has been so slowly done. It's been nice. Dh and I woke early to have coffee together We took everything to the dump - recycling, trash, etc. I made a box and organized small packets of spices and sauces from meal kits. They'll go to the boy scouts for camping. We sat ds down and talked to him about narrowing opportunities. He has a few tryouts coming up, but each one means restricting others. We really need for him to figure out a path because doing it all won't be possible. Dh and I tried to transfer my pictures from my phone to the external hard drive. It was not a fully successful process. Windows now wants everything to go to the cloud and makes it hard to do otherwise. While the phone was transferring we went to BJs and picked up more dishwasher tablets. We also found a USB rechargeable fan for ds's summer camp. Yay! I'm sure it'll be well used. Chicken chili is now simmering on the stove. I'll make rice in about half an hour and hopefully we'll get in a round of Disney Jeopardy tonight. 🙂

Ours was similar. Make a list of needs by subject: the curriculum we wanted, extras we wanted, and what was already on the shelf that we would be using for the plan. I would post the price next to it that I would expect to pay and consider the total my working budget. I would then start looking for used items, and free material that would meet our needs. By the time I was usually done, it was half the cost of new, at the very least, and some subjects I didn't spend hardly anything on.

It does bring up an interesting point as to what a divided society would look like: those who can program the machines for a functionally illiterate society and those who use them as consumers. It's not something that historians have considered out of reach for periods of post-Roman society or rural, serfdom-driven economies. Depending on how things progress over the next centuries, would be not be an adequate hypothesis of 2020, where people looked like they just didn't understand directives and safety measures?

We use 3: Wood for "dry" things or cooked things (bread, pizza, etc.) Red plastic for meats Green plastic for produce and cheese I don't mind the plastic ones, but they do tend to warp just a bit in the dishwasher. Putting a towel underneath helps with keeping them stable on the counter, though.

At that point we can only hope that the plethora of science fiction from the 50s and 60s continues to exist. 😄 DS is reading Fahrenheit 451 this year. IIRC, many of our current devices are written about in a possible form within the story. A little clunky, but a little eerie. The first time I saw the Robotic Hound in person I nearly flipped, and screens are integral into their homes already - something thought about in 1953 and put into practice by the 2000s.

4 kids at 4 different educational and 4 different developmental stages is a lot. And it's not your only pursuit - you are feeling the weight of needing to be everything for everyone at once. I admire how eloquently you're able to identify your needs here and see the big picture. So then the question is, what gives so that your life can work? The farm business? The extracurriculars? Some of the schooling? Adding something instead? A mother's helper? Outsourced classes? FWIW, both of mine ended up in school toward the end. DS14 is better suited in a class of 10 right now than he is at home with me. I know it. I'm sad about it, but everyone is thriving so my real feeling is kind of regret for not being "enough" when I was never going to be enough for what he needs right now in his life. I had too much pulling me in too many directions, and it just wasn't going to be pretty.

I got out of making dinner tonight. DS14 is in a lull between growth spurts and has stopped eating constantly. Dh is at work. I had a large lunch. Ds25 took off with his gf to look for shamrock shakes and didn't say a word, so when they showed back up at 5:40 I let them know that I didn't bother to make anything. No point in cooking a big pot of chili if I didn't know who would be here or would be wanting to eat. Leftovers are available for those who want them. It's 7:30 and ds14 still isn't hungry (he had a large lunch, too). He's really my only concern to deal with. but it's vacation week so I'm not going to micromanage his diet, either.

Coffee done, dishwasher switched over, and dh and I went shopping for vacation, thanks to the medicine thread sparking that fire. Moleskin, reupping basic first aid kit, and 2 tubes of sunscreen, one for us and one for the not-always-thinking-ahead 20-somethings going with us. And then, because it was so warm out, we stopped by McD's for Shamrock shakes. It was apparently everyone else's idea, too. We got ds signed up for summer camp. He was wishy-washy about going until we put out an all call to his friends. One jumped at the idea and his parents were down with it, so now they'll spend a week together playing with the Army. 😄 It was an ordeal doing the sign up, though. So many pieces of paperwork to get together and pull info from. I really thought last year that we did most of it right before camp, but I could be wrong.

We did! I forgot that one! @pinball, I didn't remember until we saw the story again that he died. DH and I searched for quite a while before finding a set of terms that worked. I'm glad you were able to find it with the information I gave you, though, it means I did a good enough job giving you information about something you knew nothing about previously. So, good for you on that front! 🙂

Good morning! It's grey and drizzly, and a good day for staying in. Unfortunately, the chicken we thawed yesterday has significant freezer burn and won't be a part of today's meal. coffee empty dishwasher run to the store for chicken (oh, and adobo sauce!!) lunch: chickpea salad with avocado, hummus, cucumber, greens, and tomatoes violin 10 minute workout make dinner: chicken chili and rice...brownies for dessert? Maybe.

I was relaying a conversation I had with another parent this week to dh. Both of our families had gone to WDW in Feb/Mar of 2020, both of our kids got incredibly sick from there with an unknown virus (that didn't present anything like Covid). It was a crazy experience that shaped our first few months of the shutdown - and we were only prepared for what happened next because of the megathread that was going on here. We had a leg up while the shutdowns started and we were still dealing with ds's illness. Our house was stocked with basic shelf stable foods, we had Clorox wipes, gloves, masks, disinfectant sprays.... But as I was telling dh the story, and we related other parts of that trip from hell, I dropped in the tidbit that there was a guy there who had the first verified case of Covid in the parks, who was verified to be there the same day/park we were. And he flipped. "I don't remember that! There's no way!" We both started searching for any evidence.....but you guys...it was like it was scrubbed. Nothing we searched for brought it up. So I thought that I'd just pull up my posts interacting with the information. Due to a board glitch, everything I wrote from Dec 2019-April 2021 is gone. Searching the megathread was enlightening, though. I realized we had been searching all wrong. I was looking for a specific date range and 'covid" or "covid-19" with "WDW", "Disney", "Orlando", or "Epcot". 30 pages into the Wuhan - Coronavirus thread and I realized nobody was calling it Covid yet. It was "Coronavirus" "Wuhan virus" or "Chinese virus", which was surreal. The only mentions of Covid were in sites/stories that had been updated as it went along. Our terminology changed entirely within a short time. It made me wonder how many other historical stories have gaps or parts that have fallen away because the terms now used are not the terms most commonly used for short periods of significance. FWIW, I did find the story, at least an overview of it, by narrowing my search to only information we could have known at the time with dates the information could have become available. It broke nearly 3 weeks after we left and made the news because the gentleman died, sadly.

We don't throw away expired meds. If we don't have a drop off day come up, we ask our pharmacy/doctor's office. They're usually willing to take it back from us. In fact, you just reminded me that I have a drawer full of Sudafed to get rid of. It did nothing for ds. Our on hand stock is kept pretty low: motrin Zyrtec Nyquil/Dayquil vitamins/Tums zinc and elderberry lozenges Alka Selzer Cold & Flu powdered drink mix (surprisingly super effective and fast!) Vicks Vaporub Most get used regularly enough. DH has some pain meds that are strong and must go back to the doctor if he doesn't finish them when issued. I'm not sure Vick's ever truly expires. 😄 That's ds14's drug of choice and he will literally carry the little container around when he has a cold, like it's an emotional support cream or something. I do throw away things like Neosporin and iodine. About once a year we go through our first aid kits and medicine cabinet. Our kits are all stocked differently (sports, outdoor rec, basic car emergency) and we just go through to make sure everything is still active. Medicines in the cabinet tend to be replaced often enough on their own, so I guess we do buy as we go along...ish. Like, we're going on vacation this spring and I'm making sure to have everything ahead of time that we may need if people get sick.

There's truth to this. One kid who was absolutely awful to ds was the leader's kid. He didn't want to be "that dad" so he left his kid in the care of the second leader often.....who then didn't want to speak up (and I will be generous here on my beliefs) because he didn't want to discipline the other leader's kid. It would have been a really good time to set the stage and the standards for everyone. I'm sorry it felt like a mistaken way in your situation, but sometimes there just isn't a right way, is there? Sometimes an organization doesn't develop a procedure unless there's prior circumstances, and even then sometimes their procedure isn't sufficient for the urgency or determination of the new incident.

We have 11 smoke detectors in our house. Want to know how I know? 😄 We replaced the batteries in 9 of them last month along with the CO2 detectors. And today we kept hearing a faint "beep...................beep" then nothing. Repeat every 15 minutes or so. And we couldn't figure out where it was coming from. A fun game of "Hot or Cold?" took place over the last couple of hours. Turns out I have 2 detectors in the garage, not hardwired into the main circuit. Bless the original owners for being super ultra safe with the multitude of detectors, but I could have done without the easter egg hunt.

I wanted to touch on this. DS14 gave me permission to share/reiterate more of his story. 2 years ago he was in an awful, awful situation. There was bullying. No matter how we prepped him before each session and gave him tools, his adult leaders failed him to the point where they put it in writing that they would not correct the kids and ds was just "antisocial". We heard descriptions of our child we have never heard before or since from any adult who has ever worked with him and were not consistent with the video evidence of each week. We got him out of there after taking it above the organization's head. They did put in preventive measures but it was too little, too late. We were within minutes of losing ds that year, permanently. Last year was better, but a peer made a cutting comment and ds literally had a panic attack. He was so scared that he would be back in that situation, even though he had great leaders who made it their mission to guide the kids in socially appropriate behavior and a group that was fantastic together. The leaders knew ds was reluctant to engage but we didn't tell them until the end of the year exactly what their impact was. Our kid was smiling again, but he was healing, not healed. It took a long time for ds to find himself, and he still has leftover anxiety. He's nearly 6ft tall and a gentle giant, even in hockey. He is scared to death of being back there in a group that encourages that behavior through lack of teaching. And for all the blame from his former adult leaders, who have now had to deal with the same situations this year, with the same kids, who have killed any comradery there could have been among them. They eat each other alive and those who don't conform are pushed out. And the leaders do nothing. FWIW, we still have no idea why ds was targeted other than he didn't fit the pipeline. He didn't go to school with the small group who was the ring. Their targets this year have included kids from other schools, kids with learning disabilities, and interesting enough, random strangers that they felt like attacking while watching the activity. DS, thankfully, is blessed with amazing leaders again this year who keep up with the kids and toxic behaviors to nip them in the bud. He's sticking with them next year, too. He is still healing. So yeah, a single thoughtless comment last year took my kid into a spiral again, because that's how it starts. And it's not that he's weak or wrong for crumbling so easily. It's that looking at a kid who is excelling, is polite, is a hard worker..........and who crumbled....you have no idea what is going on. You cannot tell someone that they shouldn't have taken it that way because it's something each person needs to work through. With adult help. With children who are also being taught behavioral skills and how to express themselves. You don't know if "cringe" was the tip of the iceberg or the first shot. You don't know if there was more pinpricks that built up to it or if there was an underlying fight/flight response. All you can do is deal with teaching how to appropriately express yourself and making sure a kid is developing the confidence to be themselves. I think the OP and the school handled their situation well - it was dealt with, parents were notified, and interactions will probably be under more scrutiny. And there will be teaching involved. It's the most anyone can ask for unless it goes deeper.

Dinners planned: pasta bolognese/salad/bread for tonight and chicken chili/rice tomorrow night, during the rain. We made it to the grocery store (dh went with, bless him) and the poor man got so frustrated dealing with the people who don't know how to shop/do their job. I will reiterate, it is not necessary to park your cart in the middle of an aisle. Pull to the side and let others pass through. Don't dawdle at the end, blocking both the secondary aisle and the perimeter corridor. Simple rules; they keep the world working.

This is going to be an unpopular thought, and I think it is because it doesn't address social norms as a whole. Children are more currently taught that their own behavior is important - and you cannot blame someone else for how you choose to act in response to any outside stimulus. You cannot blame someone for being a victim of your behavior, you own your behavior and how you treat others. Victim blaming is a very old method of dealing with a situation and it's not encouraged anymore. It also fails to address the idea of a long term relationship. EVEN IF a child changes everything about them to avoid being a victim of someone else's behavior, the history is there and the lack of expectation of change from the bully is something very real. So, no matter what, the behavior has the potential to escalate to violence. It has the potential to start with violence at certain ages. It has the potential to be insidious and "bless your heart" interactions with a nod of The Devil Wears Prada thrown in. Adults really do need to be guiding their children to socially appropriate behavior when responding to others by doing two things: -enforcing that their rights end where someone else's begin. -being responsible for their restraint and self discipline. Taking the adult out of the equation means we end up with more adults that victim blame and have never really adapted to a society that relies on interacting with a variety of people.

We're probably getting your storm tomorrow, @ScoutTN. And thankfully my kid doesn't play sports outside. 😄 He'd be upset about the loss of time. Today: figure out dinner tonight and tomorrow grocery shop hit up the hardware store for another mouse trap. Living in the woods has its issues, and our trap finally gave out. laundry violin clean the bedroom Last night I had the pleasure of talking to another mom. Our kids aren't on the same team, but all three teams work together at a skills session. It was very lightly attended due to the holiday break. We pointed out our kids, and she actually smiled when she saw who I pointed at. "Oh, my daughter thinks he is just so nice! He's one of the few boys who isn't so rough out there and helps her out." So, being a ball of anxiety is working in his favor? 😄 He doesn't want anyone else to feel awkward and has told me she just started this year. Totally different kid at home and with his friends, so I'll take the small win.

Do not feel bad. Your daughter was gifted a wonderful learning opportunity through making a mistake, and that's something truly necessary and appropriate. Would we all wish our kids wouldn't be frootloops? Yes. But they're kids, and they're learning still. My kids and I have had plenty of good conversations thanks to The Goldbergs and Mean Girls. Adam Goldberg practically captured his childhood on film, and the fact that it never, ever goes away for him and his friends is something to recognize. Knowing that has made them more careful in their written words and public thoughts. Mean Girls shows how things can go too far (and is hilarious). But both of them gave us low key opportunities to talk without the focus being directly on them.

Current favorite podcast is still History That Doesn't Suck. It's just long enough for my walks during the nice days. Book - I finally got around to reading Call The Midwife memoirs. Lovely. Favorite purchase last year was a Le Creuset short dutch oven. The sides are only about 4-5 inches tall, but it is absolutely perfect for so many of our meals and I can make 5 pieces of chicken at once. It's heavy, but not unbearably so, which means I don't struggle to wash it. Best life hack......cleaning my shower every day. It takes 30 seconds to squeegee the walls, door, and floor, but it means I can go longer between deep cleans. Also, keeping $36 in my wallet: a 20, 10, 5, and 1. It's not uncommon for a kid's activity to crop up or organizations selling things. I've gotten a few kids coming door to door and that's a rough gig. This way I can make sure that any of my own kid's expenses are covered and that I have extra for the Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts/Little League/6th grade bake sale (we know they're a standard fixture now at the polls 😉 ) I have no biggest regret. Making my life easier: meal boxes. We get so busy in the winter that it's nice to shop online for 3 meals once a week, have them arrive in a box, and only needing to grab the individual bag to get ready to make dinner. We tend to do a lot more vegetarian/plant first meals this way rather than relying on just what we think up. During the summer I grab the recipe cards that we've collected and head to the grocery store, making some repeats of what they've sent us. High point - visiting D.C. I've been several times, DH has been a few, and ds only when he was a baby, so it was a nice trip. We got to see a few things we had never done, and some that are worth doing every time.

Good morning! We're enjoying winter break here, so everyone is moving slower. Today: coffee (done) empty the dishwasher lunch: Turkish spiced chickpea bowls take ds to skills 3-5 pm dinner: tacos violin take ds to hockey skills - 8:30-9:30pm ensure showers are taken, bags are emptied, etc. I may run to the grocery store for things like yogurt and honey, but I'm not sure if that will happen.

DH and I were watching HGTV yesterday and were appalled at what they did to the bathroom. Two pedestal sinks, with a tub between. Two nice mirrors. Beautiful. Not appropriate for bathroom function. A sink area needs to have an outlet for each sink, storage, and enough counter/shelf space for toothbrush/paste/razor/comb. There needs to be a place for a hand towel next to each sink. You need to have a linen closet or similar to keep the towels, toilet paper, and extra soaps. So honestly, it doesn't matter if you put a sink in the WC or not, all your sinks need to be usable for the function you intend them to have. If you do that, you're golden.

We traveled extensively in Europe with a 3yo. 1. Many places are not handicap accessible. They're just not, so a stroller was no help. We had one, and by age 4 ds had ridden in it approximately 4 days in that time. We used a structured carrier for the most part and took a LOT of breaks. 2. We found it helpful to bring a set of child appropriate silverware. I bought them at Ikea, but there was one place we went to where the silverware was as big as his forearm. 3. A folding toilet seat was worth bringing, too, or one like the stretchy ones. I could sanitize it, but ds needed a place to sit and toilet bowls are large. Occasionally we would find a child friendly bathroom, but not often. If you really want a stroller, Amazon has a Dream On Me that might suit your needs, except for reclining for sleep.