The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[donaldtoo]

Good Grief!!!
How the heck am I 29-ish pages behind again already...!!!!!
Woof!!!
Sorry, but, gonna' hafta' skip ahead again if I wanna' stay relatively current on this thread...!

 

[donaldtoo]

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[Gabe1]

Half of my mom’s recipes are in short hand. I can’t decipher that mess.. asked her to translate all of them for the future.

The ‘cursive not being taught in schools’ thing makes me feel ancient.



It’s so weird that there’s two complete opposite ends of the spectrum.. a group on one side who starts interviews at preschool.. and then district funded preschools available to all (in some districts or states).. and then you have everyone else in the middle doing more traditional preschools.

I wonder if this will eventually make kindergarten less competitive, or more competitive. I also wonder if eventually all American kids are going to be required to start school at 18 months of age.
I hope it gets left to the parents to decide.

Our kindergarten students are mostly full day. There is one half day classroom that is mornings only. IL State law requires the option of half day kindergarten and one in 5 parents choose half day. The additional curriculum focus since going to full day kindergarten is reading which is a build at your own pace and test out curriculum and mainly in an interactive playful way. When the student has mastered that section it moves onto the next concept and words. Sentences lengthen with the addition of words. While the teachers can see the scores and such the students do not. They can be shared with parents so they are aware of how the student is doing or where they struggle. During the morning hours the standard Kindergarten curriculum is followed, learning, sight words, letter sounds, art, pe and music along with media center, each once a week for 25 minutes.

So so far the state is allowing for choice. My DD had an IEP and was non-verbal. She went to the school 3 times a week for 40 minutes a day for speech therapy from the time she was 3. Once in first grade they just pulled her out of the classroom. It was my choice, they likely would have waited until Kindergarten or 1st grade to offer school services if she was not evaluated by the school district at my pediatricians and my request.

My guess is parents are going to have few choices overall. Locally most policies are modeled after state and federal mandates. There is some wiggle room for some policies but everything from dress codes to length of school day and year are pretty well mandated by laws.

 

[donaldtoo]

Ditch the hat, though. Adds nothing to the ensemble.

Yes, this one would be much more appropriate...

 

[donaldtoo]

That's ok I have a pair of these waiting to be worn once we get some normal weather View attachment 268790

The like is for the Mickey's, but, I just can't do the hot pink...!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

View attachment 268793

 

[donaldtoo]

You're welcome! I'm so tired of snow and cold. I've been watching lots of cruise videos of warm places.

Hahaaa...! Awesome!!!
Our next cruise is in July. Don't y'all have one comin' up soon, too...?!

 

[donaldtoo]

Oh no. You know things are really bad when the boxed wine comes out.

Or really good, depending on your perspective...!!!

 

[Gabe1]

I keep thinking about that too. Losing a parent is close at any age but to be so young, she was truly robbed of a good Daddy.

Heartbreaking. And a woman now with a whole new journey with her Little Princess. Do they live close to you guys?

 

[donaldtoo]

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The like is for the first image only...

 

[donaldtoo]

Ok who decided to share the snow with us?? It was sunny, blue skies, and 35 when I got up. Now it turned cloudy and it’s snowing??? What the ??

Sympathy like.

 

[donaldtoo]

No.. snow and rain. Apparently wind as well.. I left my garbage can sitting behind my car last night.. wind somehow took the lid straight back onto my car.. completely shattered the glass . I put an inflatable pool, plastic, and salt bags to try to protect from the snow and rain. I have to drive it like this to the dealer- (with window out.. not with the inflatable pool lol)
Maybe this is a sign that I should clean my garage so I can actually park in there???
View attachment 268804

Woof!
Sympathy like.

 

[Gabe1]

Glad my post made you feel better. Sometimes it is nice to get a break from news. Watching just makes you feel brow beaten when most of what they report is bad news. They get ratings based on reporting negativity. Seems like they thrive on it actually. I find just avoiding news for a couple of days makes me happier. There should be a news program that only reports good news so that people realize there is some humanity left in the world.

I'm a news junkie pretty much gone cold turkey. I watch WGN Morning News at 9am, it is light hearted and makes me laugh. Prior to that is 4am to 9am news and some lighter heart stuff so you don't want to jump off the roof before your day starts. But at 9am until 10 am they pretty much do weather and fun story segments unless of course something horrid is happening. So now I really limit myself to that one hour a day. I might hear something on the radio when Im in the car. I can glance at trending news and that is enough on my iPhone and I have a news push on my phone if something critical is happening. I've just tried to bow out of the daily crisis of things I can't control. Healthier.

And I sure did love your story about your DD and her Minnie Ears, Make a Wish and the Ears themselves. Great Kid!
Proud Mom moment! Kudos.

 

[donaldtoo]

OK, so I'm channel surfin' and I come across Guy's Grocery Games...!!!
One of the contestants starts talkin' 'bout slaughterin'/butcherin' chickens and hogs, which reminds me of a story my dad told us years ago when they were butchering a hog on their back porch on the farm. A rag that was totally soaked with pigs blood was tossed off the porch by one of my uncles, and before it ever touched the ground was quaffed down by one of their dogs...!!!!! And, then, that reminded me of this old Far Side cartoon...!!!!!

 

[MOXOMUMD]

 

[Gabe1]

+++++

Yeah, we've been paying well over our mortgage for A's daycare since she was born. It's so expensive. Now that she's in the preschool classroom where all the kids are potty trained, the price is finally below our mortgage, but only by about ten dollars.

So basically, you can buy another house, or send your kid to daycare.

++++++++++++++++++

My kids are technically old enough to be As parents (though being parents the farthest thing from their minds)
my son started in the infant room at 4 months old at $125 a week. When it was 2 kids and skyrocketing infant care for my DD by round #2 I was over $1200/month.

I giggled inside the cobwebs of my head at that point as we were receiving mail about investing and putting money away for college.

 

[donaldtoo]

Only 40 pages behind. I need to borrow some ketchup from @donaldtoo!

View attachment 268812

Hahaaa...!!!
I get further behind every day...I honestly just can't keep up anymore...!
All I can do is the best I can with the little extra time I have available.
I can be logged in, but, I don't really have time to post during weekly working hours. I could do it at lunch, but, tend to just cruise around different threads without replying...much more relaxing that way...!

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Now that I can't breathe through my nose, I'm realizing that breathing through your nose is something too many of us take for granted. I mean, I truly miss the days of breathing through my nose. It will be a wonderful experience when that feeling returns.

 

[donaldtoo]

OK gang, I'm outta' here...for now anyhow...!
Y'all all be cool and the sweetest dreams to all...!!!
See y'all reeeaaaaalllllll soooooonnnnnnnnnnn...!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Gabe1]

I'm sick, but something weird is happening. Instead of running a fever, my temperature went down to 95.6. I checked the thermometer five times, and it ran normal for the kid, but showed me at 95.6. now I'm up to 96.7.

I guess i never realized your temp could go down with a sickness instead of up....

I'm sorry. Feel better.