Thanks. That was so weird...I switched to my phone and it logged right in. My Chromebook is still being weird, though. 🤷‍♀️

Hello! I was trying to purchase something in the store today and it absolutely will NOT let me log in. I've tried logging in from the main page, and also from the shopping cart. It just brings me back to the same page I was just on, and I'm still not logged in.

I used to joke that I would go straight into menopause after weaning my last child. He was almost 3 when he stopped nursing, and that's when my peri- symptoms started - extremely long/heavy periods, hot flashes, insomnia, etc. That lasted about 12-15 months. The one thing that I am liking about menopause so far (besides the no-longer-checking-my-cervix-daily-family-planning-method) is that my acne seems to have eased greatly. Finally!

It was a year from my last period at the beginning of this month, so I am finished with perimenopause and am officially in plain ol' menopause. I have only had mild hot flashes, and I rarely drink. I am making a list of everything else that you all are mentioning so I can research it all! 😉

It's official, I'm menopausal! But, I'm also only 47 and my youngest just turned 5. Please hit me with your best advice for getting and staying fit and healthy physically, mentally, and emotionally. Thank you very much!

My father's family used to have the movie on every year on Thanksgiving. The only thing that would pre-empt the movie would be a Patriots game. DH and I just listened/sang along to the song on the radio in the kitchen while cooking. It's on in the Boston radio market every Thanksgiving at noon.

We are taking my FIL to see the Boston Pops holiday concert for his gift. Last year, my husband offered to buy him a cat. 🤷‍♀️

My younger four are getting: My First Carcassone (DS7), Dragomino (DS5), Carcassone (DS12), and Catan (DS9). DS26 will get Pokemon cards in his stocking. I also bought into the Avatar Legends kickstarter, but that won't come until after the new year.

Thank you, @Kareni! I ordered this for my DS26's girlfriend, and will pair it with a Barnes and Noble gift card. One more gift crossed off my list!

I was going to say that I really like the cotton sheets I got from Macy's. I liked them so much, I bought them for all my boys' beds... In case mine are different than yours, this is what we have: https://www.macys.com/shop/product/charter-club-damask-stripe-100-supima-cotton-550-thread-count-sheet-sets-created-for-macys?ID=4504859&CategoryID=9915

Are you close enough in location that you can go over and share some time with them (or take them out for a treat) and give mom a break for a few hours? Sounds like she might need it!

I have no advice, but my DS12 has been learning piano for about a year and just started viola lessons last week. (He also picked up a saxophone that we had in the house and is attempting to self-teach.) I will say that he is playing piano less these last two weeks, but I think it is just the new-ness of the viola and it will likely even out soon. Knowing how to read music puts him at an advantage for learning the viola, according to his instructor.

This is an excellent point. Thank you.

So, I've accepted that I will be working with him just as much as when I was teaching him myself. Altering my expectations has made me much less cranky about his writing assignments. 🤪 However... If your kid was getting a ridiculously high grade in an online writing class, would you think the teacher was an easy grader? I don't want him going into the public high school in two years thinking he's all that....if he's not. And I guess I don't feel like I can adequately gauge his level of writing ability (and I'm second guessing the instructor's grading).

This is my 9 year old when it comes to narration. He can't cull the unnecessary info in order to summarize a passage.

We're north of Boston. I saw some tree branches down, but that's about it here. However, my kitchen ceiling was leaking again. This used to happen during very windy/rainy storms when we first bought the house, but we had it fixed a few years back. I guess I'll be calling to have it fixed again. Grumble grumble grumble...

We have a routine of trick-or-treating at my parents' house. They live on a dead-end, so it's a small, quiet area but has lots of families, and their city always holds trick-or-treat on the 4th Saturday of October. My kids then dress up again to hand out candy in our neighborhood on Halloween night. We live in a neighborhood a short distance from the the border with the poorest city in the state, so we end up with a lot of people who aren't necessarily from our immediate neighborhood. We don't mind! We plan to buy a good amount of candy (no full-size bars here, sorry!) and my kids enjoy interacting with all the trick-or-treaters and seeing all the costumes. When we run out of candy we shut off the lights and go inside.

It depends on my level of anxiety at the moment, and also on noises that I may hear during the night. I often check on everyone that is home if I wake up having a panic attack. Just to help settle my nerves before starting other calming exercises. I have woken up and checked on them only to find that one was sleepwalking and trying to get out the locked door, or to find one having an epileptic seizure. I haven't slept well in a very, very long time.

I could kiss you! Thank you very very much for that link. I have the first sax book from them, and also the first trumpet book (for DS9). I didn't even notice the advertisement for the website. 🤦 I'm going to check it out with them both tomorrow. I did have the sax cleaned and repaired 2 years ago, when we thought that DS25 would be able to tutor him, but that didn't work out. I will check it out tomorrow and see about having it looked over again. Thanks for reminding me.

Is there a Hoffman Academy equivalent for the saxophone? DS12 did Hoffman for nearly a year before moving on to a local piano teacher, and it worked really well for him. He now wants to learn to play viola, but also would like to learn a marching band instrument (to follow in his big brother's shoes and participate in the HS marching band in a two years). We already own two saxophones (from said older brother). I can't pay for lessons for *three* separate instruments, so I'm wondering if he could teach himself sax? Thanks.

Try this (newer) post: https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/688668-aops-intro-to-algebra-tests/

This happened to us over the summer. I threw out everything... $$$. It was painful, that's for sure! But, always better safe than sorry.

Congratulations! 🥰 My mother was a grandmother to my oldest at 41. (I had my last child at 42!) She's the best grammy ever. I'm really looking forward to being a grandmother someday.

I was looking for a fleece jacket for DH for Christmas and came upon these clearance men's Columbia winter jackets for 75% off: https://www.dxl.com/coats-jackets/columbia-horizons-pine-interchange-jacket/cat140130/G4057 This is a steal! Too bad it doesn't come in his size. Hope someone else can get one if they need it.

This is all extremely helpful, thank you! I am realizing that I did have somewhat unrealistic expectations, especially for a middle schooler who would rather be playing the piano than writing. I think I need to read through the week's assignments earlier in the week, that way I'm not frantically trying to figure out what he's supposed to be doing after-the-fact. I can also get him thinking ahead, so we're not working so frantically at the end. ...