This - I think of it as the bargaining stage of grief. It's possible she will get some real relief, but bargaining is real.

We did similar. A trip to the Smithsonian, prom at the local high school, a monarch butterfly poster for the house, and a sweet graduation ceremony party in the yard with her mentors and close friends. Dd thanked her mentors and community for their tender care. We all signed her diploma as "loving witnesses to (dd's) home education journey" then had yummy food and a cake. She made references throughout the year to her possible "senior prank" but if it ever happened, I missed it!

Crikey. That is a no-brainer. And probably illegal not to fix.

To me, no. Tech for kids is the anti-movement, anti-autonomy substance. The tracking and conditioning that's happening to kids now via tech will produce symptoms in the future that we can't know yet.

I still can't get into it, and now my CPA has told me to wait til she gets everything done. She does her FAFSA clients first but her nervousness makes me nervous.

I'm seeing some metadata here that suggests most of us were active outside and did minimal organized non-school sports.

I just finished Prequel by Rachel Maddow - I liked the interesting and hidden history but her writing style is very colloquial, which can get tiresome. Looked through a landscaping textbook from ds for Christmas - good ideas, not really a reader.

Walked to the bus stop, maybe 1/3 of a mile twice a day, gymnastics a night or two a week, played outside constantly. My sisters and best friend and I made forts, climbed trees, rode bikes every day, did occasional horse riding, played basketball and softball in the yard, swam whenever we could. At school: PE, recess, my dad coached my softball team that year. Chores: Gardening, cleaned gutters, fed and cleaned out chickens, helped my mom burn huge burn piles. When I was ten I put a little note in my neighbors' mailboxes to see if anyone wanted a housekeeper's helper, and an elderly single gentleman took my up on it so at 10 and 11 I did some housekeeping chores for him eg vacuuming, dusting.

You beat me to it! I'll just add never late to supper...

After two days of no coffee and lots of supplements, my bp is definitely lower! So I went for a real hike today and went slowly enough that I didn't have to stop and breathe. No snowy owls still. I fear they've found a winter retreat they like better than here. Also followed tracks in the snow near the house and did a morning stretch/plank routine.

I don't remember many specifics but my mom was also a Sunset magazine reader and early Bon Appetit adopter so we had some pretty experimental meals. 11 in 1976. Breakfast was cereal and milk, toast, sometimes store-bought crumpets with honey and something called Russian Caravan tea. Omelettes with veggies and French toast. I learned to make omelettes from my grandfather, who taught my mom as well. Lunches were at school and I was embarrassed by her sending weird things like peanut butter rolled up in lettuce instead of a normal sandwich. Mayo and alfalfa sprouts when she was in a sprouting phase. Always an apple. Dinner was often meat, rice or potatoes, fresh cooked veggies, salad but she also made a fair amount of curries which she believed must always be served with little sides of peanuts, coconut, and raisins. I do remember having a standoff with my oldest sister vs our parents when we refused to eat our required three bites of lentils one night. We sat at the table for hours not eating them. I didn't try lentils again until I was about 30 and of course loved them. We always ate homemade and my parents were very judgmental about "store-bought" food. We had a big garden and fruit trees so ate a lot of fruit - apples, cherries, plums - for snacks. Mom made yogurt and butchered her own chickens but I would never eat chicken when it was ours because they were my job to feed and I loved them - which I laugh about now that organic chicken is so expensive. I still can't bring myself to raise meat birds though. We rarely ate out but it was almost always Chinese food if we did. I remember some of the best ever meals were at Grange halls. We weren't allowed to have candy except on Sunday which of course meant we spent most waking hours trying to find it. Mom always made a super yummy dessert for my dad on his birthday called Chocolate Icebox Cake that was made with ladyfingers, chocolate, and whipped cream but otherwise we didn't have dessert except Junket or her homemade stewed fruit which we all loved. Junket is like vanilla flavored milk-based jello mmmmm.

Hugs for you and strength to your dc and whole family, I'm holding you in the Light. You are such a good mom!

Yup, this is my whole family though I'm unsure what age. I'll ask my mother. We have an unbroken line of heart disease, congestive heart failure, high cholesterol, high b/p which is why I've always thought about it 🙂

How does one measure this?

A brisk walk yesterday.

I'm not ready to do this but I can see a time on the horizon when I might. I'm stupid sentimental and keep lots of old stuff for that reason. Maybe I'll just let it sit in my well-organized attic and my kids can pitch it when they clean out my stuff. For me it's something about celebrating my time and efforts when nobody else will - I don't get a gold watch or a retirement fund or even a "well-done!" from hubby but I can remember the love and the "eureka" moments when I look at it.

Wow! Thanks for sharing!

I don't know but my I'll ask my FNP to check it, my cholesterol, and my thyroid next week. I don't feel tired or dizzy, but I know people can have different symptoms. I do eat a lot of iron-happy foods plus lemon juice on most greens.

It's been sugar weather here for weeks, not a true January thaw. We had a great maple year last year. But winter is taking longer to arrive, it still feels like late October or mid-March here. We heard geese heading south in the night last night - on January 6th! We're near the coast which is warming faster.

I'm mourning our lack of snow, and also can see a time when there will be no more maple syrup. The trees need very specific conditions to run well, and it's rarely been that cold at night this year.

Thanks, I hear this. I see her next week and I think maybe I would give it three months to see improvement and/or normalcy, or sooner if it gets worse.

Yes, I had just sat down for the first and yes again after resting a bit. Next I took a walk, laid down for an hour and took it while still in bed and it was 120/70 - I know that was just lying down but I was glad to see the variability. I'll just start taking it on a regular schedule and charting it to watch the trend. I go see my FNP next week and will see what she says. I don't know anything about this but will look it up, thanks.

Got a cuff today and the first reading was 148 over 115! The heck? Took it a few minutes later and it was 129 over 94, still bad but not quite as shocking. Today I've had only one cup of coffee (on my withdrawal tapering plan) and 2 cups of hibiscus tea, some fish oils, garlic pills, magnesium, half a banana, and no salt. I'm feeling a little weirded out, honestly, to go for a real hike so will do a brisk walk instead. This is really kinda blowing my mind.

Same - back to my early morning stretch routine now. Thank you for the reminder of this!

Maybe you can reset to this as your new normal! My ouchy tooth kept me quiet yesterday but it's much better this morning and I need to move. We're expecting a storm so it's calm and cold, I'm going to go up a mountain and look for snowy owls. I've been up four times, none yet.