Ignore this thread!

[Slache]

 

http://us.shein.com/Slogan-Print-Hoodie-p-387347-cat-1773.html

[AMJ]

My cat is trying to hover close to my ankles.  I was standing, talking to DD13 about how to hang up her witch's hat.  As we finished talking I stepped back and started to turn, taking the cat by surprise.  She tried to back up out of my way, and turned while still backing up and hit her head (lightly) on the corner of the wall.

 

I think I need to grab her and take her outside to have our car safety talk so we both can get past that and get on with life again.

[AMJ]

I'm trying to go to sleep. The other day I was listening to Casey Kasem's top 40 countdown (which I absolutely love to do!) and Air Supply's "Here I Am" was one of the songs. Now it keeps playing over and over in my head!

 

 

Hear I am!

That earworm again!

Never to be forgotten.

Understand

it's impossible

to ever get it out of your head!

 

Here I am!!!!

[AMJ]

I’m cold. And despite huddling under blankets, I can’t get warm.

 

 

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:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:   More hugs for Jeannie!  Hugs can be retroactive, so let's warm her up!

[AMJ]

Now I’m sweating.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

See?  Those retroactive hugs worked!  Woohoo!

[Slache]

I am going to be so tired today.

[AMJ]

For the purposes of ITT, my kids are hereby:

Reader (dd7)

Runner (ds6)

SuperDude (ds4)

Squishy (ds1)

 

 

Good names!

[Critterfixer]

I'm up. Caffeine... :zombie:

We are supposed to go to the lake today. It looks like rain. I don't mind rain, but I'd rather not get a ton of it today. It's very hot and muggy outside. This week we set a record low and a record high in the same week, days apart. This is typical fall for us. There is no fall. Winter and summer play freeze tag until summer gets bored and goes and plays somewhere else, leaving us stuck with winter for a season.

[AMJ]

Good morning!

 

Jean needs some temporature regulations!

 

We have regular lessons today and an Old Lady Party this afternoon. There is some dramatic thunder going on outside.

 

Coffee!

 

 

Just wanted to say,  all y'all have helped cheer me up quite a bit.  (That, and getting the cat scolding out of the way.  She got both kitty treats AND her tuna with Cosequin afterwards, so she's good now, too.)

[AMJ]

Cute story, when ds was about one and a half my dad bought him a robot that could zoom around and he loved watching it but would scream and cry if it got too close. Then it started coming towards me so he kicked it across the room. My knight in shining diaper. :wub:

 

 

:hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:  :laugh:   'Atta boy!

[AMJ]

 

Whine-po, dang it.

 

DH added another task to my list last night. :( He also wasn't that taken with any of the Stitch Fix items. The price of the t-shirt has knocked it firmly off my acceptance list, but I'm still vacillating over that dress. It's the old conundrum of why buy it if I never go anywhere where I'd wear it, and yet part of the reason I don't go to such events is I don't have anything to wear to them and can't find something quickly in the stores when an event crops up. I may rebel and try it on again with certain smoothing undergarments, and then go shopping for appropriate shoes to wear with it. Such shoes will be wearable with other outfits, so the need to buy shoes to go with it shouldn't be a reason not to get the dress.

 

I slept hard again and had trouble getting up and going this morning.

 

I'm still grumpy at my cat, who decided to sit down in the path of my backing-up truck last night, then ran when I got out to yell at her. She does this from time to time, and I grab her, take her to the back end of the truck, and scold her thoroughly about it. She then behaves herself and stays out of the path of my truck for the next several months, until for some reason she decides to do it again. She didn't let me catch her to scold her last night, so she's getting the Angry Mom treatment from me until we have this discussion. And she knows darned well why.

 

DD16 has earned her way off of electronics grounding, however, and DH and she worked out a weekly plan for her Geometry. She will work on the week's assigned lessons through the week and do the odd problems, checking with her Dad in the evenings if she needs anything. Then Saturday mornings they will go over everything and she will do the even problems. We will see how this works out.

 

To top it all off it's going to be a hot and humid day today. Inside it is already muggy, and yet I don't want to turn the a/c on stronger because it's November, for pity's sake.

 

:willy_nilly: :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly: I should probably eat breakfast. :svengo: And I just remembered I have to go back upstairs and get my meds for the day, that I failed to grab and bring down with me this morning.

 

Think of the stairs as exercise. Think of the stairs as exercise. Think of the stairs as exercise....

 

Wafting some cold air your way. 🌬

 

 

Okay, I think I'm done whining. At least for now.

 

 

 

Thank you!  Think you could spare some snow, too?

[Critterfixer]

Book one on my hundred books list. The Hum and the Shiver. I'm looking for comps for submitting to agents and it's on my short list.

[AMJ]

I am going to be so tired today.

 

 

:grouphug:  :grouphug:

 

 

And I think there's a full moon tonight, too.

[Critterfixer]

I'm supposed to be writing my protagonist sick and miserable. But being a wimp myself, I need caffeine first.

[AMJ]

I'm up. Caffeine... :zombie:

We are supposed to go to the lake today. It looks like rain. I don't mind rain, but I'd rather not get a ton of it today. It's very hot and muggy outside. This week we set a record low and a record high in the same week, days apart. This is typical fall for us. There is no fall. Winter and summer play freeze tag until summer gets bored and goes and plays somewhere else, leaving us stuck with winter for a season.

 

 

Good description!  

[AMJ]

Book one on my hundred books list. The Hum and the Shiver. I'm looking for comps for submitting to agents and it's on my short list.

 

 

I hadn't heard of that author or those books.  Is this book the first of the series?

[Another Lynn]

My kids love Reasoning and Reading!

Oh, Cool!  Didn't know you used it.  Do you have any thoughts about using it behind or on grade level or other?  Level Two says 7th or 8th grade.  

 

Looks good, Lynn. Are you going to drop Henle? Do you/he want a foreign language? Duolingo’s been a fun way to get our feet wet w no work from mom and very little time committment from kid. Not that it really matters if you skip foreign language this year.

 

 

He has hated Latin because they go.so.fast. and he's not as solid with English grammar as he would like, so I think we would pause it while we use AG and then decide next year whether to start over or wait and do Spanish in highschool.  

[Susan in TN]

Susan - what's an Old Lady Party? Can I have one, even though I'm not old?

 

.

Once a month the kids and I help put on a birthday party at a local nursing/rehab home - put up decorations, sing "Happy Birthday" to whomever has a birthday that month, and chat with the elderly people. The kids have always called it "The Old Lady Party". :D You are welcome to come, even if you're not old! Cake!

[Susan in TN]

(((AMJ)))

 

I think you should keep the dress!

[Critterfixer]

I hadn't heard of that author or those books.  Is this book the first of the series?

Yes, first book in a series. 

[Critterfixer]

I think your plan is a good one, although I might keep the Latin and proceed at a slower pace. I bought the MP schedule for Latin once, took one look and threw it out the window. Latin isn't a good subject to rush, anymore than Math is a good subject to rush, or writing for that matter. You need time to think.

[Critterfixer]

Book comps are a funny thing. You want the books you pick to reflect something of your book (tone, plot, mood, genre, setting), they have to be reasonably popular, but can't be popular, and shouldn't be popular outside your genre.

There's no pleasing anybody. I'm going through a list of two for my book--looking for fantasy elements on one side and setting/tone on the other. 

[AMJ]

(((AMJ)))

 

I think you should keep the dress!

 

 

I tried it on with the appropriate underthings, but with my hair up in a utilitarian ponytail.  I just might go shoe shopping today.  If I can find some shoes that go with it I'll try on the whole get-up and try to fix my hair somewhat, and that should make the final decision (basically if I like the end result).  I did tell DH that if I can find shoes this dress might become the dress I wear to our dear niece's wedding next week.

 

My one concern about the dress isn't so much the clinginess (because I have undergarments to help that), but the neckline.  It's a little high on me.  One inch lower would make a LOT of difference.  I'm not even nervous about how short it is (knee-length).  If I find the right shoes and wear the right hose my legs will look just fine.

 

It's a garnet red, with champagne touches in the lace (the whole dress is lacy).  Garnet red is one of my BEST colors.

[AMJ]

Book comps are a funny thing. You want the books you pick to reflect something of your book (tone, plot, mood, genre, setting), they have to be reasonably popular, but can't be popular, and shouldn't be popular outside your genre.

There's no pleasing anybody. I'm going through a list of two for my book--looking for fantasy elements on one side and setting/tone on the other. 

 

 

What exactly is a "book comp", please?

[JoJosMom]

I'm trying to go to sleep. The other day I was listening to Casey Kasem's top 40 countdown (which I absolutely love to do!) and Air Supply's "Here I Am" was one of the songs. Now it keeps playing over and over in my head!

 

Uh-oh, Angie. Why is the Holy Spirit planting in your head a snippet from Hell?

[JoJosMom]

Oof. It's nasty outside.  I've delayed feeding ponies with work and coffee.  I may just make one more work call before braving the windswept snow and icy wind. :nopity:

[AMJ]

Oof. It's nasty outside.  I've delayed feeding ponies with work and coffee.  I may just make one more work call before braving the windswept snow and icy wind. :nopity:

 

 

 

Hugs to warm up JJM!   :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

[KrissiK]

Good Morning!!!

 

COFFEE!!!☕ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸

 

Friday!!!ðŸ‘

 

I've got a meeting today with the Intervention person at DS's school. I'd love to be able to call her Ms. W, but she's a former student of mine, so my tendency is to call her M. 😜 We just gotta find out what's going on with this kid. I've been in contact with his teachers and they tell me exactly the same thing his junior high teachers told me, "he needs to turn in his work and study for tests and quizzes". There's no mystery here. He's intelligent enough to do the work. We don't expect high grades. Basically, just no D's or F's. We just feel so helpless with this kid. We've read all the books, gone to counseling....and yet we don't know what to do.

[AMJ]

Could you wear a long necklace like a locket with it to break up the expanse of bust?

 

 

I can try looking for a string of beads.  I don't wear jewelry much at all, especially metal jewelry.  As I've grown older it makes my nerves jangly, for some reason.  Beads would be smoother and not snag the lace, too.

[AMJ]

((Krissi))

 

 

Ditto.   :grouphug:  :grouphug:  for Krissi.

[Susan in TN]

(((Krissi))) I remember my mom going to meetings with teachers over this issue for my younger brother. He was really smart but never turned in his homework. I doubt he ever studied. Things turned around for him in about 10th grade. Not sure why. I keep reminding myself of the "advice" my cousin gave me, who had 5 boys. Their brain disappears around 12/13yo and then a few years later you will suddenly look at them and wonder where this amazing young man came from. Keeping my fingers crossed. :D

Edited November 3, 2017 by Susan in TN

[AMJ]

Is it possible for siblings to NOT bicker endlessly?

 

 

:grouphug:   I'm not sure.  When they don't I wonder what is going on.  Mostly here it is minor stuff, at least.

[AMJ]

Class time is accomplished.  DD13 has agreeably taken over the kitchen table to trace out some things as a project for her Dad.  She is also running her laundry, and DD16 is content, at least for the time being, on the geometry arrangements she and DH made.

 

I'm going to run away and shop for shoes shortly.  I can start tackling other things off my list when I get back.

[Paige]

Good Morning!!!

 

COFFEE!!!☕ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸

 

Friday!!!ðŸ‘

 

I've got a meeting today with the Intervention person at DS's school. I'd love to be able to call her Ms. W, but she's a former student of mine, so my tendency is to call her M. 😜 We just gotta find out what's going on with this kid. I've been in contact with his teachers and they tell me exactly the same thing his junior high teachers told me, "he needs to turn in his work and study for tests and quizzes". There's no mystery here. He's intelligent enough to do the work. We don't expect high grades. Basically, just no D's or F's. We just feel so helpless with this kid. We've read all the books, gone to counseling....and yet we don't know what to do.

 

:grouphug: Krissi  :grouphug:  Our boys sound similarly high maintenance. Mine has really seemed to turn around at 16 (10th grade). What is your DS doing instead of homework and does the school post homework online?  I doubt you want to, and I can imagine all the reasons why you wouldn't because I didn't, but would making him sit at the table until he was done like a 3rd grader help? My FIL used to make his DS sit at the table after school for an hour. He told him he could sit there and twiddle his thumbs or study and do his homework, but he'd be sitting there regardless. He claims it worked well and his DS started studying and did brilliantly.

 

I did not have the emotional energy for that- DS was no longer homeschooling for a reason! Instead, I placed my faith in natural consequences and it seems to have worked out. DS, who is very intelligent and capable and thinks he's even more intelligent and capable, had an epiphany and decided he needed to actually do his work when he was not allowed to take AP classes because he had bad homework habits. His grades were acceptable in the end, but he had too many assignments not handed in and the school said "nope." It hurt DS's pride and threatened his goals for college and now he's doing much better. 

[Paige]

I have a roomba knock off and forget to use it. My laziness apparently has no bounds!

 

I want to try Stitch Fix but I think I could never spend so much $$ on clothes for myself. And then, I think, where would I wear these new nice clothes? I go nowhere. Perhaps I should find some interests/a life first. And then, I think, Stitch Fix won't be able to find clothes to fit me anyway. I'm super hard to fit. And then, I see other people's Stitch Fix successes and I get jealous and want to try them...

 

Questions: Aren't the items from Stitch Fix way expensive even with the discount?

 

Where are you wearing these clothes? Dresses? Ppffft! Where would I wear a nice dress or even blouse?

 

Do you consider yourself hard to fit and do they succeed in fitting you?

[Paige]

The subject matter is always minor. It's the heart attitude that bugs me. Yet every mom I talk to about this just rolls her eyes and cracks a joke, like it's to be expected and nothing can be done about it. I dunno, it may be expected, but that diesn't make it right. I don't want to ignore it, but I don't know quite hiw to address it, either.

 

Mine don't fight much. They never have. I'm not sure why- it could be lucky genes, the age gaps, or maybe I'm awesome.  ;) We're pretty quiet people here, so I think it may be largely personality. My older kids are horrified by the loudness and wildness of kids in school. They like to be chill.

 

I think my twins don't fight much because they are twins and are in sync with each other. 

 

My DS doesn't fight much because he's older and a boy and has little reason to fight with the girls. 

 

My youngest DD will fight with anyone, but the older ones are pretty good about not taking the bait.

 

My kids are older than yours, I think, and older kids naturally fight less. My brother and I were terrible when we were younger but rarely fought after about age 12.

 

When they were younger, I used to encourage non-fighting and cooperation through bribery. Maybe it helped. I would want to take a shower, for instance, and I would want to do it in peace, so I'd gather the kids and give them a project. I'd say something like, "I want you all to build the best block castle you can while I get a shower. Everyone has to help and make a special part, and if you can do it without any crying or fighting, you'll get/we'll do (insert something they like) when I get out." Then, I'd make a big deal about how awesome their castle looked like when I got out. 

[JoJosMom]

Good Morning!!!

 

COFFEE!!!☕ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸â˜•ï¸

 

Friday!!!ðŸ‘

 

I've got a meeting today with the Intervention person at DS's school. I'd love to be able to call her Ms. W, but she's a former student of mine, so my tendency is to call her M. 😜 We just gotta find out what's going on with this kid. I've been in contact with his teachers and they tell me exactly the same thing his junior high teachers told me, "he needs to turn in his work and study for tests and quizzes". There's no mystery here. He's intelligent enough to do the work. We don't expect high grades. Basically, just no D's or F's. We just feel so helpless with this kid. We've read all the books, gone to counseling....and yet we don't know what to do.

 

 

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

[Susan in TN]

The subject matter is always minor. It's the heart attitude that bugs me. Yet every mom I talk to about this just rolls her eyes and cracks a joke, like it's to be expected and nothing can be done about it. I dunno, it may be expected, but that diesn't make it right. I don't want to ignore it, but I don't know quite hiw to address it, either.

I bicker and fuss when I'm tired and/or stressed and/or overwhelmed.

 

Dd11 has a pretty strong bossy/competitive streak in her, and tends to nitpick at the way others do things.

[73349]

Krissi, I was that kid. My advice is to keep giving lots of warm fuzzies and working with him on the how-much-structure-is-helpful and let him get the consequences from the school as needed. (I matured in time to be co-valedictorian, but boys tend to be later.)

 

 

 

I need to do all the things. The fairies are not here!

[prairiewindmomma]

Ugh.  I can't stay away from ITT.  Hello, all! I have a snapping turtle to give away.  He doesn't cook, clean, or remember anything you tell him, but he is well read on medieval armor and weaponry. :)

 

Just kidding, I love him, but there's not enough caffeine for today.

[Susan in TN]

Oh, Cool! Didn't know you used it. Do you have any thoughts about using it behind or on grade level or other? Level Two says 7th or 8th grade.

 

So far we have only used it on grade level and that has worked well (ds12almost13 is in 7th grade and is doing level 2; dd14almost15 used level 2 last year in 8th grade.)

[prairiewindmomma]

Spudater, based on our experiences, I think I would look at getting her into counseling.  Sometimes, an outside pair of eyes and a few coping skills lessons really helps.  I kind of wonder about anxiety...

[73349]

Is it worse when she's hungry, Spud? (I think kids can be extra sensitive during a growth spurt and not necessarily even realize what's going on.)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Good morning. I woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning.

 

 

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[Slache]

That seems like such a hard age for boys. Makes me wonder if they could use a “gap year†where thwey do nothing but eat, sleep, and do hard manual labor.i mean, I know you couldn’t really do it, but...

Hard manual labor, math, writing & reading. I could do that.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Krissi- have you ever looked at the Smart but Scattered books? (There’s a normal one and one for teens).

 

 

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[Slache]

I am so late.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Re. Sibling bickering. I did a lot of redirecting with my kids when they started to bicker. A child who is off doing a chore can’t bicker with his sibling. I kind of figured that bickering was a sign of boredom.

 

 

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[Paige]

So.....what would you think of a six year old girl whose tantrums are getting worse with age? She was slightly on the easy side of normal as a toddler, but now when something sets her off or she thinks someone is mad at her or she has to go to the bathroom by herself (this one I really don’t get, she’s fine playing outside but ask her to go brush her teeth alone she just loses it) she really melts down. If I don’t drop everything to hold and soothe her she often works herself up to screaming rigid body type stuff...forget sending her to her room, just makes it worse. I think dh thinks I’m spoiling her, but I’m starting to think this is not normal.

 

It’s like we need a cross between Mary Poppins and Dr. Phil. Except we’d turn her into Sherry Bobbins.

 

I'd think it was normal. Some kids have terrible 2s and 3s; others have frightful 5s or shocking 6s! She needs skills to calm herself and being sensitive and talking through her hard times instead of punishing will help her outgrow it more quickly, IMO. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Eep.  Lots of people have had early snows this year.