Nothing happened or is about to happen to my knowledge. I was referring to the threat of rising global temperatures caused by normal planetary climate changes. That area of Florida was once under a lot of water, and it may at some point reclaim itself as part of the ocean. Don't cancel any short range plans to go there. Anything over 200 years you may want to think about.
No, thanks for asking, but, everyone has down times now and then. I just happened to be in one of those lower ends of the loop and philosophizing in a more negative way at the time.
Thank you!! Me too
I can get it year round but it's in season from fall through early about Thanksgiving
Thanks. Some of the work is being done as a precaution as it's something that's not seen until there is a problem
Sympathy like. I'm lucky we live in a good district so it's live here go here for us. Is there one or 2 schools that would best fit her needs and interests? maybe if you could get the list of choices down to 2 or 3 it might make things easier for her. Good luck
THNX we have the rope already strung so it's just the wire that needs to be changed out before dropping it in. There isn't anything else that can be changed so today should be much easier. I'm still knocking wood and keeping my fingers crossed. At least it happened with all of us here to do it without having to pay somebody and if we do it we know it's done right.
That's great at least your commute should be good on Tuesday.
I hope happier days are ahead.
Time out with the kiddos and SonIL was great!
We ate at a place downtown called True Food Kitchen, on the site of our old repurposed Seaholm Power Plant...
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I had the grass-fed beef burger with umami mushroom, caramelized onion, arugula, parmesan, and mayo on a flax seed bun (medium rare, of course
I could have had one or the other, but, decided to try both at the suggestion of our waitress.
I'm not normally a fan of sweet potatoes (as y'all know, one of very few foods
DWifey had same, but, of course, had them kill the beef to death!
Fortunately, she didn't like the sides as much as I did, but, I now have a snack for tomorrow.
DS had a chicken curry dish that was awesome and wonderfully spicy...he shared some of it with me and we were both sweating...!
There was also a shredded chicken lemon soup that we ordered a coupla' bowls of and passed around. It was really good, too!
Great meal, we'll be back!
Here's my burger and sides...and a portion of the glass of my local microbrew IPA...!
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I hope all of you are having a great weekend! Me not so much. It's been a mix of fun farm market time and hard work. trying to get all the items to fix our water issue on a holiday weekend wasn't fun! The local plumbing supply place had the pump we needed in stock and that was easy but they didn't have the pull rope or wire that needs replacing. We got the pump pulled out finally after a lot of pulling. . If that sucker ever needs replacing I'm paying somebody to do it! Once it was out the pull line and wiring looked pretty bad so we decided better safe than sorry and decided to also replace them as well. So off to a big box store to get both (who ever thought going to one of those could be considered a break) of course the first store only had the rope
Any way we stopped at home and fed the boys before heading off in the opposite direction to get wire. Of course having to make extra stops means we lost daylight. Everything is laid out and ready to put together with any luck water will be running before noon. Guess who has sangria put together and in the fridge to go with dinner tonight. At least our friend who considered coming up here isn't going to get hit hard enough to need to come up.
Well, there are only 3 schools here, but the thing about the Dutch education system is that it's split into various levels, based on academic performance. So each school has all three levels, and 2 of those levels are also split into a few different categories. The way it works here is that the school gives them advice in 6th grade, based on their previous academic record, and they also take a test, which used to determine which level they were allowed to choose, but they changed that last year, and now it's just used as a guideline and the teacher's advice weighs more heavily. So you have VMBO, which is the lowest, and split into trade-like schools, and a kind of regular high school, but at a slightly lower than average level. Then you have Havo, which is like a really high quality American high school. Then you have VWO, which is the highest level and is for the most gifted students. It's split into Atheneum and Gymnasium, the difference being Gymnasium has Latin and Greek added to the curriculum. Then one of the schools ALSO offers a Dual-immersion (English/Dutch) VWO level, and a Technasium, which is a science and technology based program. So first you have to know which level school you can go to, then what you want to eventually do with that diploma, because options are limited for the lowest level, and streaming from the middle level to the high level so you can go to a university takes a bit more time. So you have to know what you want to do, what you are capable of, and then look into what each school offers and how the environment fits with your personality. Some schools are bigger, or smaller, or have extra resources in an area that you might need it. The school with the dual immersion program and technasium is the only one that offers those...BUT, it doesn't look like they offer Gymnasium. So if you want Latin and Greek, you have to go to one of the other 2 schools...but then you don't have the options of Tech or English-based instruction. One school offers a program for students who are top talents in something like music or sports, etc, because those kids need extra training to stay competitive in whatever their hobby is, and they might have to go quite far away for that training, which is not conducive to a normal school schedule. So they get more flex time and independent study hours rather than classroom time. And then another one offers homework classes that teach kids how to manage their time and get homework done, and also offers classes for kids to learn how to socially interact. So there ARE only 3 schools to look at, but they all offer quite different things, and not knowing yet for sure which level DD will have the indication for, we can't actually pick yet. We've got a year and a half...DD is only in 5th grade this year, but this is when they have to start learning what's available and getting an idea of what they might like. It's just really overwhelming for her...she knows that her choice will dramatically affect her future career. And she's terribly afraid of failure. She's one of those kids that, if she doesn't get 100% on every bit of homework and every quiz, she kicks herself in the behind for ages. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, she's very hard on herself, and she doubts her ability. So she will probably get advice to do VWO, but then she's scared that she's not up to that kind of challenge, so she wants to do VMBO, which is WAY below her level and would mean she wouldn't have as many options later. She'd not be allowed to go to University, which you can only do if you've completed VWO level. So she got really upset because she wants the options, but she is afraid of failing at the harder levels. So we are just going to have to expose her to information about what's available in small bits and in a way that she doesn't notice she's learning about schools. And then by the time she has to make a choice, she'll have all the information without all the drama. Right now, she just shuts down when the subject of secondary school comes up. She puts entirely too much pressure on herself.
How to boil a frog.....you put it in a pan of warm water...the frog is comfortable in the nice temp. Then you turn up the heat JUST a little....the frog doesn't really notice the difference...he gets used to it. Then you turn it up a bit more....you keep doing that and the frog doesn't really notice it until it's too late. Just about the time he's thinking "Wait a minute...this is getting a bit uncomfortable" he's cooked. So the frog-boiling approach is kind of feeding her information without her noticing it until she's got all she needs to make the decision and she can't un-know it. Little bits across a long period of time.
It IS a lot of pressure, especially at an elementary school age. I can't even imagine having to make that kind of choice when I was her age. And we can't make the choice FOR her...it's GOT to be what SHE wants and is comfortable with. We can give her the information, we can take her to the open houses for all the schools and ask questions, and help her make pro-con lists, but the choice eventually comes down to her. She would benefit from the classes the one school has for the fear of failure/test anxiety.
I'm not too worried about my job. It's only part time through December, then I'm travelling for a month, and then I'll need something full time, so if they make me a decent offer, I'll stay, but if not, I've got the experience to move on elsewhere. Plus they called me basically out of the blue to ask me to return, so I'm guessing they liked me when I was an intern.
