[How is school going?]

We have started week 4.  I'm really amazed at how my 9th grader is handling the long days/heavy workload. He is being such a trooper; I just want to squeeze him all of the time!  Some of his test grades are coming out lower than we expected, but he is getting an A for effort for sure.  My 6th grader is much more on task now that he's working in a separate room from his brother.  I'm feeling optimistic that this year will be better than the last one.

[Coexisting with roosting bats]

Finally, the mystery of "What leaves scattered droppings under our back porch?" has been solved.  I had always thought they were from rodents.  In spraying up the exterior of the house for insect pests, the exterminator flushed out 8-10 bats which have been roosting in the porch roof (it's a second story porch).  They must have been here since we moved into this house.  It's not a great surprise, as my son discovered a dead bat in the yard in late spring.

I've been reading about the headaches of bat exclusion (work intensive and easy to screw up), professional removal ($$$)... Maybe the best option is to leave them alone.  I feel bad that the exterminator sprayed into the roost.  Taking care of the guano into the future concerns me.  However, it's just a scattering, and we've been living with it for years.  We may have to build a catchment for the droppings and/or keep the children away from that part of the yard.

My husband, who works in construction, assures me that they can't get into the house from where they are.  Twice in my life, I've experienced a bat loose in the living space of the house (not this house) -- I have a net, and I know how to use it! The possibility of it happening again isn't terrifying, but I worry a little about exposing the kids.  We'll have to reinforce any holes in the porch screens soon. 

Do you coexist with bats living in your structure?  Would you be able to?

[July 1-7 Photo Prompts]

white

 

[What might go well with this dish?]

I think warm, fresh applesauce would go really well (and is kind of like a dessert).  Agree with bread that has some crust/crunch and a simple green salad.

[Anyone interested in a photo challenge during the month of July?]

My insect collection

 

 

[Anyone interested in a photo challenge during the month of July?]

(Smallest to largest)

I am prepared for anything.

[Anyone interested in a photo challenge during the month of July?]

Window - Afternoon play

[Anyone interested in a photo challenge during the month of July?]

A set I designed and beaded (hope it's ok that I didn't take this pic today)

 

[Nerve damage/healing = an exercise in patience]

10 hours ago, CAJinBE said:

Yes, patience! I am recovering from a pinched nerve in my lumbar spine. My foot and lower leg still tingle and are weaker than my right leg. The doctor said it could take months or  possibly never heal. If you caught it early, there is a good chance of complete healing. I know what you mean about over-doing it when you feel good. I walked 5km yesterday broken up into three parts. I felt fine at the time. Now I feel tired but at least the pain didn't return. It is so hard to know what to do. The doctor says to listen to your body. Unfortunately my body doesn't tell me there is a problem until the next day. It really is one day at a time. 

Yes, I often don't know how much I've hurt myself until the next morning, and then it takes a number of days to get back to baseline... but I am so grateful that it bounces back every time I do something stupid!  I have weakness, too, but I attribute a lot of that to deliberately resting this arm all the time.  Best wishes that you have full recovery!

[Nerve damage/healing = an exercise in patience]

13 hours ago, sassenach said:

My husband had a traumatic injury to his ulnar nerve which developed into CRPS. I have learned more than I ever wanted to about that syndrome and I feel compelled to tell you that you are at risk. I would highly recommend seeing a chronic pain doctor about aggressive treatment. 

Are you seeing any coloration changes in your skin anywhere along the nerve (like on your hand)? Any changes in hair growth?

No, I haven't seen any coloration or change in hair growth.  The only physical change is that the affected hand is slightly swollen compared to my other hand, but my dr. (a specialist in these injuries) said that's not outside the realm of normal with nerve injury.  I don't suffer from pain nearly as much as a few months ago, it's just all these other sensations driving me batty (especially the burning).

[Nerve damage/healing = an exercise in patience]

*Deleted medical info

[What kind of dress should I get?]

I found myself in a similar situation last year, and I was even more limited in dress choices because it had to be nursing-friendly.

My dress was nice, but it wasn't anything beyond what a regular wedding attendee would wear.  It had a paisley pattern with some honey-colored sections here and there, so I decided to add blingy gold pumps and a similar clutch, gold earrings, an antique gold brooch, and get my hair curled and put into a nice updo.  I felt that the accessorizing added a little extra touch to signify being a "special guest."

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HE9BOXQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I21XLAO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Another large homeschool family in the news]

To play devil's advocate re: the bathroom... in looking up the address on Zillow, the home is a 4 bedroom 4 bath residence.  I only see one picture being plastered everywhere of the really awful bathroom.  Anyone see other bathrooms?  I'd like to think that the remaining three were usable.  If they were as shocking as first one, they probably would have made the news photos, considering that the cluttered/messy room pictures were included.

[Small gift for ds to give his "mentor"]

I second a letter or a drawing of appreciation set in a frame.

[Low sodium cooking for elderly person missing quite a few teeth.]

A whole pork butt roasted in a slow oven for several hours is very soft.  Super easy, delicious on its own or with a little (low sodium) BBQ sauce.

One of our family staples is ground beef cooked in a pot with a chopped onion and a chopped head of cabbage.  This dish also becomes very soft after about an hour.  You can use cauliflower that has been "riced" in a food processor instead of cabbage.  He might not even figure out that the white stuff is cauliflower and not rice or fine potato hash.

Will he eat creamed corn?

[If she adores "The Reluctant Dragon"]

The Book of Dragons by Edith Nesbit

[What recipes use any of these canned goods?]

Your first four types of cans would be perfect in "shipwreck soup" -- meaning cooked diced meat (I usually use poultry or ham or both), broth, and whatever veggies are in the pantry simmered together.

I'd probably use the applesauce as an oil substitute in heavily spiced bread/muffins, just in case it tastes a little, well, canned.

[Feeling creative? Help me write epitaphs for school subjects!]

Here lies School Books/Folders/Supplies.  They've gone to Davy Jones' Locker.

Here lies Economics.  It paid the ultimate price.

Here lies Art.  It met its maker.

Here lies Math.  Its number was up.

Here lies History.  It's not with us anymore.

Here lies History.  It has passed away.

Here lies Drama.  It was written out of the script.

Here lies Physics.  It kicked the bucket.

[A question for you re: families & travel safety]

We mostly travel by car, 8-12 hour trips a few times a year.  The biggest safety issue is me staying awake and alert, especially at night!  Caffeine, snacks and music only go so far.  I always need someone awake in the car to be available to help me if I'm getting tired, so my passengers make sure to stagger naps etc.  We have accrued a lot of mental games that we like to play: various memory games, 20 questions, I spy games, remembering song lyrics, trying to beat our record of how many different state license plates we can find, conversation starters, etc.  The older boys like to quiz me with Brain Quest for their grades (BQ is pretty small and portable).  There is a wide variety, with something that everyone likes.  It's nice because the games not only help us stay safe -- they give us some nice quality family time when my kids would normally be in their own worlds listening to headphones, reading, or playing DS.

[If you have a sense that God loves you, how do you perceive that?]

I feel very clumsy explaining my understanding of God's love for me, but here goes nothing.

I have a strong belief that love itself is objectively real and would continue to exist just the same if all conscious organisms were to disappear from the universe.  God is the goodness and love that gives birth to all things, that wishes to share Himself in creating.  When I create, the force of love I pour into my creations (whether generating art or supper or children...) is so strong, so palpable.  I'm not talking about a "feeling of love": the warm and fuzzy, sentimental trope.  I actually put myself into everything I create -- everything I do.  So the very fact that I exist is sufficient proof that I am loved -- and it is incredible to behold.  Just think of all the alternatives that could have been chosen to exist in my stead!  This alone should be enough to satisfy me.  When I consider salvation history and the invitation to share eternity with my Creator, it becomes overwhelming.

Of course, writing it out makes me feel like a hypocrite, because I do not live every moment (or most moments!) like a conduit for love, and I take so much for granted.  But when I sit down and reflect, what I wrote above always hits me like a ton of bricks.

[Gas lighting - response?]

34 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

Here's the thing. Someone can be gas lighting you without consciously doing so. Dh and I have had conversations about gas lighting. In fact, something really SILLY happened recently and I felt gas lighted. Ok so sometimes we have tapioca pudding in the house. I never buy it. Not once in my life do I think I have ever purchased it. I have seen dh eat it. Well, we went to a place that sells smoothies with what is or looks like tapioca. We got in a conversation about it and I brought up the pudding. He said that sounded DISGUSTING and I must be thinking of something else he likes, such as, bread pudding. He just acted like I was out of my mind. Now, the tapioca pudding made its way into our pantry recently and I was like, "didn't you try to tell me that the idea of tapioca pudding was DISGUSTING and you don't eat it?? Well I'm not the one buying the pudding." Then he was like, "oh yeah, I like the store bought kind, but not like homemade. I must have meant homemade." (where is the emoji hitting a brick wall?). At least he finally admitted it...

We have a family member who does a similar kind of minor gaslighting.  He'll be flipping a pen high in the air, right in front of me.  I'll say, "Please stop flipping the pen; it could hit my important work stuff."  He'll stop and claim, "I wasn't flipping anything."  Then we get into a long conversation over what I just saw with my own eyes two minutes ago, and he either argues just to argue or doesn't perceive reality.  It is infuriating!

[Cake for a crowd?]

How about frosting the large cakes as usual and serving an individual unfrosted mini cake to the honoree?

If serving unfrosted cake to everyone, I think warm fruit compote would go better than cut fruit.

[Invisalign and teen compliance]

1 hour ago, penguin8079 said:

For what it's worth . . . my mom forced me to get traditional braces over my strenuous objections while I was in high school. I urged her to spend the money on herself as I was not concerned about having crooked teeth and told her I had no intention of wearing a retainer. She proceeded and things went just as I said. Total waste of money. If compliance is a potential issue and there is any possible way to hold off, you might want to wait for more buy-in from him. 

Yes, I think that is part of the issue.  His teeth are pretty well aligned, and he has no self-consciousness about their appearance when he talks and smiles.  It's his overbite that is supposedly causing significant wear to his tooth enamel -- so this is more of a medical problem than cosmetic, but he doesn't have symptoms/functional problems that prompt him to want to fix it.  I don't know if waiting is really a viable option.  The ortho is saying we should start treatment soon; it's easier to correct in adolescents than adults, etc.

[Baby name help.....Middle name to go with Lauren?]

Rainier

Mesa

Onyx

Ruby

Gemma

Lupine

Ginger

Phoebe

Robin

Starling

Estelle

[Invisalign and teen compliance]

We have a week to decide whether to get conventional braces for ds14 or Invisalign.  The price is the same for both (expensive!!!).  He is pushing hard for Invisalign (I think mainly for social embarrassment/aesthetic reasons).

The problem is that this child has a history of not being honest with us about doing things he is responsible for taking care of.  We just discovered another one this winter that had been going on for a number of months until it was discovered, and it was deliberately done.  It was school related, and we are still catching up to where we should be!  We know this is not unusual for adolescents, but it makes us lose trust in him to do things unsupervised.  I am worried about his compliance with braces in any form, but there seems to be a lot more involved with Invisalign, and it will really be impossible for me to constantly check on his wearing, cleaning, brushing, and flossing for 18-24 months.  He also suffers somewhat from absent-mindedness, though that has been getting better.  I wish we could push this off until he is older, but the ortho says it has to be done now.

He definitely has the ability to comply as he should, but motivation is such a huge factor.  He is promising over and over to do everything involved with Invisalign.  He has a positive expectation of what living with it will be like.  If he finds the treatment to be uncomfortable, too much work, eating restrictions too inconvenient... something negative that shatters his expectations, his motivation will probably disappear.  Likewise, he would be upset about getting conventional braces, leading to compliance issues either for lack of motivation or a backlash against us for "punishing him."  I know that braces look like a very long-lasting, over-the-top punishment to him for being dishonest in the past.  To me, it's the option more likely to keep a major investment from being wasted.  Honestly, I wonder how many 14-year-olds can really keep up with all that Invisalign demands.

I welcome any advice, or testimonials about the work involved with Invisalign that I could read to him, or commiseration re: teens and dental treatments...