The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Figgy1]

Nope, doesn't sound stupid at all. DWifey and I have talked about the 4th child we never had, but, we have never dwelled on it. And, we agreed, mutually, based on the situation at the time, that 3 kiddo gifts were enough.
They are awesome kiddos, but, one has special needs, and as a few others here can attest, it ain't no cakewalk.
Sorry it wasn't a mutual decision with you and your husband.

BTW...
DS started his first real job at a local Salvation Army store on Tuesday.
Apparently, from the reviews we've been getting from his supervisors and the social worker, he's been doing great...!!!
This has not been an easy road for him, and never will be, but, as when we brought him into the world, we knew it woudn't be. But, he has always been so full of life...even the NICU nurses and Docs said that is the only explanation they have for him surviving in the first place...!
This is a major step for him...!

Congrats to your ds.

 

[Figgy1]

Good morning not really but we need the rain. I just wish it didn't wake me up last night. I may try and get one of those so called power nap things today.

 

[MinnieM123]

Nope, doesn't sound stupid at all. DWifey and I have talked about the 4th child we never had, but, we have never dwelled on it. And, we agreed, mutually, based on the situation at the time, that 3 kiddo gifts were enough.
They are awesome kiddos, but, one has special needs, and as a few others here can attest, it ain't no cakewalk.
Sorry it wasn't a mutual decision with you and your husband.

BTW...
DS started his first real job at a local Salvation Army store on Tuesday.
Apparently, from the reviews we've been getting from his supervisors and the social worker, he's been doing great...!!!
This has not been an easy road for him, and never will be, but, as when we brought him into the world, we knew it woudn't be. But, he has always been so full of life...even the NICU nurses and Docs said that is the only explanation they have for him surviving in the first place...!
This is a major step for him...!

That's wonderful news for your son. Good for him.

 

[MinnieM123]

I thought about getting a calculator but decided against it. I'm cheap $7 not spent on a calculator equaled $7 extra for groceries that week. $7 equaled the cost of an overflowing half bushel of eggplants. See math no calculator needed

I fought the urge to buy one for a long time, but I kept making stupid match math mistakes in my checkbook. Finally, I caved . . .

 

[Figgy1]

I fought the urge to buy one for a long time, but I kept making stupid match math mistakes in my checkbook. Finally, I caved . . .

Doesn't your computer or phone have one built in?

 

[MinnieM123]

Yep, I too remember churning the home made ice cream on the front porches of both sets of grandparents farmhouses...sooo good...!!!
No electric churns either, all hand-cranked...!

Yup, families worked together, and worked hard back in the day (see happy family photo below).

Kidding aside, I"ll bet there's nothing quite as good as enjoying delicious, hand-cranked ice cream either!

 

[FutureCEO]

And now for the feel good story of the day

 

[MinnieM123]

Doesn't your computer or phone have one built in?

Yah, but it's a pain in the neck to keep switching screens to get to it. I like the little portable one, because I can sit on the sofa with my checkbook and do the math there, with the TV on in the background. (Maybe if I turned off the tv while I was doing the math without a calculator, I might not have made so many mistakes? )

 

[Songbird76]

My kid was in 7th grade when i received one of 'those' phone calls from the middle school media director, a lady who at best was a bit cockcoo. Complaint and advising me my son was being silly and she wanted me to deal with him.

OK, what did he do? I told you being silly. Me, silly how? and repeat. Finally I said sure I'd talk to him but I need more to go on than one word 'silly.' She went off on me saying I thought you, being a board member would be more supportive of the staff. blah blah blah Never did find out what 'silly' warrented a phone call. So when the manchild came home I said Mrs. X called today, he looked confused vs guilty and I repeated the conversation, still same reaction. Be careful not to be silly in school today as he walked out to the bus the next morning.

Well how are you supposed to even believe her if she can't even describe the behavior to you? There was a little girl in my son's class who kicked him and pushed him down. Multiple kids saw it so I asked her why she did it and she said he was mean. I asked her what he did that was mean and she just said "mean" and I asked her what he had done. "He was mean!" but WHAT was mean? "MEAN" and he had only been out of my eyesight for literally 5 seconds...he couldn't have had much time to do anything, which the other kids said he hadn't....he was just walking by and she kicked him and then pushed him down. Obviously, DS hadn't done anything and she was just trying to get out of trouble but couldn't think of a lie because there were a bunch of witnesses who could attest to the fact that he hadn't done a thing. Turned out she was doing stuff like that all week to various kids and her parents had already been contacted about it. But to me, if you can't give me a single example of what he did, I don't believe he did anything.

 

[Songbird76]

Yes, my kids needed work permits too. If their grades slipped the work permit was pulled and they did have restricted hours here in IL. My kids started as swim instructors and lifeguards, there was a set pay rate that was about 50 cents more than minimum wage. My kids need to work but I also believed they should work because they had to build up a work history. They both were able to move up pay categories as time went on which also looked good on their history. By the time they both graduated college they both had a pretty plump work history.
It is not to say they were absent of being civic minded, they as did we their parent volunteered all over our community and my DD mentored and tutored in local school districts and my DS 2 days a week in a high school in Wisconsin. But I think the difference is giving back in a civic way vs working for free at a for profit business. The park district where my DD works part time still pays their college interns.

Student teaching doesn't pay. I lived with my mom while I did my student teaching and worked as a waitress on the weekends to make money. Then my mom was diagnosed with Cancer and I needed more flexible work so I could take her to appointments, so I quit at the cafe and took over my mom's cleaning business since she couldn't do it anymore. But I really hate the idea of unpaid internships. It would be one thing if it was only a couple of hours a week, but when it's full time and you also have to pay for a place to live, food, clothing, etc....you have to get ANOTHER job on top of the internship. It's just not practical!

 

[MOXOMUMD]

31 days until Halloween!

 

[MOXOMUMD]

That is one tasty lookin' spider...!
Now, there's somethin ya' don't hear very often...!!!

Reese's....

 

[Songbird76]

Nope, doesn't sound stupid at all. DWifey and I have talked about the 4th child we never had, but, we have never dwelled on it. And, we agreed, mutually, based on the situation at the time, that 3 kiddo gifts were enough.
They are awesome kiddos, but, one has special needs, and as a few others here can attest, it ain't no cakewalk.
Sorry it wasn't a mutual decision with you and your husband.

BTW...
DS started his first real job at a local Salvation Army store on Tuesday.
Apparently, from the reviews we've been getting from his supervisors and the social worker, he's been doing great...!!!
This has not been an easy road for him, and never will be, but, as when we brought him into the world, we knew it woudn't be. But, he has always been so full of life...even the NICU nurses and Docs said that is the only explanation they have for him surviving in the first place...!
This is a major step for him...!

Congratulations to your son! That's fantastic. I'm curious...is it a work program? I only ask because my cousin's son has autism and is part of a program where he lives in an assisted living facility and they provide him with a job, etc. He would never be able to live on his own, and my cousin is in his 80s...he won't be around forever to take care of his son, and he said it's such a relief to him, knowing that his son is taken care of, even though he won't be there one day. You mentioned your son having special needs, so I wondered if it was a program like that.

 

[Songbird76]

And now for the feel good story of the day

I love that they paused the game while the little girl was missing. That's fantastic.

 

[Wrangler-Rick]

Yep. Sad isn't it. I know the government gave them a very short timeframe to install the collision avoidance. Realistic. Add in funding. You can't just raise public transportation fares that much to cover all this.

I wonder if you are recalling our similar instance here in Chicago with our light rail a year ago spring.

Yeah, but in that instance I seem to remember the Engineer saying she was over-tired at the time. I think she was trying to get a little closer to the escalator so she didn't have so far to walk...

 

[MOXOMUMD]

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Getting the hiccups when you're trying to leave a message for a candidate is most inconvenient...

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Student teaching doesn't pay. I lived with my mom while I did my student teaching and worked as a waitress on the weekends to make money. Then my mom was diagnosed with Cancer and I needed more flexible work so I could take her to appointments, so I quit at the cafe and took over my mom's cleaning business since she couldn't do it anymore. But I really hate the idea of unpaid internships. It would be one thing if it was only a couple of hours a week, but when it's full time and you also have to pay for a place to live, food, clothing, etc....you have to get ANOTHER job on top of the internship. It's just not practical!

Our unpaid internships are part time for that reason. I have one intern who's here Monday and Wednesday mornings for three hours, and that's it. I'm in full support of them as long as it's clear upfront that the internship is unpaid.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I have officially decided there will be no more technology at work for today. We will be sending out all job ads via snail mail and they will be handwritten. That is all.

 

[Gabe1]

BTW...
DS started his first real job at a local Salvation Army store on Tuesday.
Apparently, from the reviews we've been getting from his supervisors and the social worker, he's been doing great...!!!
This has not been an easy road for him, and never will be, but, as when we brought him into the world, we knew it woudn't be. But, he has always been so full of life...even the NICU nurses and Docs said that is the only explanation they have for him surviving in the first place...!
This is a major step for him...!

I am so excited for him and your family.

One of the woman on our school board real life job is to place young adults in positions of local businesses throughout the surrounding communities depending on their abilities. She also places them in special apartments to live independantly though there is a house Mom that also lives in the buildings. The jobs greatly vary from bagging groceries, bringing in shopping carts, stocking shelves, some bus tables and deliver food to tables, many different forms of employment.

Wish him the best.