azucena
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Post by azucena on Aug 1, 2022 16:56:12 GMT -5
I would wait on the calculator. I know our district has moved to using the desmos online for stuff as that is what is also integrated into the state testing programs. By all means, see if the calculator is even needed or some other tool is used. I knew my kiddo would need it the very first week and they are now easily found (get sold out pretty quickly around here, although, there's always Amazon) and are actually on sale ($100 is better then $150) I'll be sad if a graphing calculator isn't needed. I was planning on geeking out with it particularly bc DD14's eyes will roll so far back in her head. Might be tempted to buy one anyway. I really think DD9 could get into it. I used to program mine to do all sorts of things.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 1, 2022 20:01:59 GMT -5
Ds only used a couple pages of his planner in 6th grade. Pretty sure it was the days the teachers made him use it. I'm not sure how he keeps things straight but sylabus, grades, and a lot of lessons are online which I'm sure helps.
One of our biggest things for middle school has been encouraging him to ask for help when needed. It was probably exasperated since we homeschooled for 5th grade but it took him a while to find his groove on expectations compared to elementary school. Both kids lean a little too doomsday if things aren't "perfect" so figuring out how operate with less oversight and not freak out is a work in progress.
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justme
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Post by justme on Aug 1, 2022 23:26:37 GMT -5
By all means, see if the calculator is even needed or some other tool is used. I knew my kiddo would need it the very first week and they are now easily found (get sold out pretty quickly around here, although, there's always Amazon) and are actually on sale ($100 is better then $150) I'll be sad if a graphing calculator isn't needed. I was planning on geeking out with it particularly bc DD14's eyes will roll so far back in her head. Might be tempted to buy one anyway. I really think DD9 could get into it. I used to program mine to do all sorts of things. Oh man. Kids these days have so much tech they probably won't bother with the "hacks" to get games on your t83 so you can play tetris or other games and such during class.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 2, 2022 17:26:54 GMT -5
How much baby/little kid stuff is everyone keeping? I've purged a lot, but saved a playpen, blocks, a couple young toddler and older toddler toys, and the big Melissa &doug ice cream truck.
We never babysit my nephews at our house. Literally twice in 5 years, and not at all since 2020. I should get rid of this stuff... or at least pare down again to maybe just 1 toy for each age group and the playpen?
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azucena
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Post by azucena on Aug 2, 2022 21:42:27 GMT -5
I'll be sad if a graphing calculator isn't needed. I was planning on geeking out with it particularly bc DD14's eyes will roll so far back in her head. Might be tempted to buy one anyway. I really think DD9 could get into it. I used to program mine to do all sorts of things. Oh man. Kids these days have so much tech they probably won't bother with the "hacks" to get games on your t83 so you can play tetris or other games and such during class. This is where limiting my kids' screen time a la old school parenting will pay off. Dd9 will be entertained by programming. And it's less about games and more about looping formulas and messing around with the graphing. A couple weeks ago DD14 entertained her by teaching her binary numbers. I couldn't believe what I was overhearing during wfh.
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taz157
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Post by taz157 on Aug 2, 2022 21:47:02 GMT -5
How much baby/little kid stuff is everyone keeping? I've purged a lot, but saved a playpen, blocks, a couple young toddler and older toddler toys, and the big Melissa &doug ice cream truck. We never babysit my nephews at our house. Literally twice in 5 years, and not at all since 2020. I should get rid of this stuff... or at least pare down again to maybe just 1 toy for each age group and the playpen? Most likely, we'll get rid of most of the girls things as they get older and DD2 outgrows them. There are some clothes that I want to keep as they bring back the memories. I liked the idea that NomoreDramaQ1015 had of getting a quilt made of them. I would need to find someone to do that, but I do really like that idea. FWIW, DD2 turns 1 in 1.5 weeks and we haven't gotten rid of anything yet. Right now, I think we are still in the overwhelmed stage for a variety of things.
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azucena
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Post by azucena on Aug 2, 2022 21:58:02 GMT -5
How much baby/little kid stuff is everyone keeping? I've purged a lot, but saved a playpen, blocks, a couple young toddler and older toddler toys, and the big Melissa &doug ice cream truck. We never babysit my nephews at our house. Literally twice in 5 years, and not at all since 2020. I should get rid of this stuff... or at least pare down again to maybe just 1 toy for each age group and the playpen? My immediate family won't have any babies for a while, and I think play pens and other needed baby gear is built to travel now. We've held onto a dinner table booster seat as my youngest niece is a tiny 5 yo and neighbors are still have toddlers. Makes it easy to host meals. Doesn't take much room in the closet. One of the nice big plastic bibs is store with it. Also kept the flat potty seat that goes on toilet. Keeps niece from falling in LOL along with collapsible step stool for washing hands. Handy when we host parties. Puddle jumper for neighbor pool for same niece. Have used a few times with friends kids. Our playroom is our drawback...partly a job hazard from DH teaching preschool. He liked our girls to have open ended play toys - nice wooden block set, Lincoln logs, potatoe head with lots of accessories, many magnatiles. DD14 and 9 have aged out of those but niece5 and niece11 (who is spec needs and plays about K/1st level) love them and are entertained for hours. They are just about aged out of our duplo set and moving into Legos which our girls still love so the duplos may go in a yr. Little people sets take up a ton of space so will also likely be done in a year. Everything else stores in bins in a giant ikea cube block. We have the space and love to host so I can see keeping a lot of the rest for years. My personal favorite is the marble run. We have enough to build taller than me and take up most of the playroom. We also have 30 marbles to race. It's quite a ruckus, but such a good engineering exercise without them even knowing they are learning. During covid we got into K'nex and bought a ton on marketplace. Snap circuit kits interest dd9 still.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Aug 3, 2022 13:39:11 GMT -5
I got rid of pretty much everything. All clothes and baby toys for sure as well as all the "big plastic crap" and smaller bikes. I might have some cloth books and I have a tote of toddler toys as well as a ton of Duplo Legos. Where I am overwhelmed is the older kid toys. The Legos and Knex and Snap Circuit sets, the tons of board games and Nerf guns. There is SO MUCH of that stuff.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 3, 2022 13:51:20 GMT -5
I got rid of pretty much everything. All clothes and baby toys for sure as well as all the "big plastic crap" and smaller bikes. I might have some cloth books and I have a tote of toddler toys as well as a ton of Duplo Legos. Where I am overwhelmed is the older kid toys. The Legos and Knex and Snap Circuit sets, the tons of board games and Nerf guns. There is SO MUCH of that stuff. I'm making the kids go through nerf guns today. And my kids will only do lego sets (I don't know when that changed) but I promised myself I would get rid off the boatloads of loose ones at the end of Summer if they weren't used.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Aug 3, 2022 15:37:38 GMT -5
So a few weeks ago my son (who works at the same company as me) went to HR to file a complaint about one of our Sr. engineers after overhearing him make some comments about transgenders. I don't know specifically what the comments were. I got upset with him and told him he should have just said something to him in person before escalating it and this would only cause more problems than it would solve. But, I don't know what I should have said?
I do know that part of the reason I was upset is I've worked here for nearly 30 years and so has that engineer, the supervisor DS reported him to and the HR person and they're all friends that hang out together outside of work. There is no anonymity here for the kid that's been here 3 weeks. I've heard about it from two different people already. He may as well have just said something to his face, as it would have honestly been received better that way. All I keep thinking is, "well, cross this place off the list of future engineering jobs along with the place you walked out of the job on a couple years ago". The two biggest employers in the county...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2022 17:00:35 GMT -5
So a few weeks ago my son (who works at the same company as me) went to HR to file a complaint about one of our Sr. engineers after overhearing him make some comments about transgenders. I don't know specifically what the comments were. I got upset with him and told him he should have just said something to him in person before escalating it and this would only cause more problems than it would solve. But, I don't know what I should have said?
I do know that part of the reason I was upset is I've worked here for nearly 30 years and so has that engineer, the supervisor DS reported him to and the HR person and they're all friends that hang out together outside of work. There is no anonymity here for the kid that's been here 3 weeks. I've heard about it from two different people already. He may as well have just said something to his face, as it would have honestly been received better that way. All I keep thinking is, "well, cross this place off the list of future engineering jobs along with the place you walked out of the job on a couple years ago". The two biggest employers in the county... I hear you and understand your concerns. But what if DS doesn’t come back there to live after he graduates college anyway? And even though I understand your concerns (again) because you know how things tend to work with jobs, I think there’s room to be proud of DS for standing up against something he felt was wrong. In a perfect world, it would be addressed without repercussions for your son, be we all know this is far from a perfect world. If it doesn’t go well for him, at least he’ll learn something about how the world really works now, vs after he’s an adult with a bunch of responsibilities. Not to say he should just ignore such things in the future, just that he’ll be a little smarter about how he goes about such things in the future. People like to bash these younger generations, but one thing I admire about them is they aren’t as willing to put up with the shit my generation and the ones prior to mine did, just to make a dollar. The more they reject and challenge some of the old ways of doing things, the more hope I have that they can help bring about change. My employer had members of management take mandatory classes on how to deal with millennials lol. So change really is happening in the workforce, although it might not seem like it.
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Aug 3, 2022 17:27:13 GMT -5
So a few weeks ago my son (who works at the same company as me) went to HR to file a complaint about one of our Sr. engineers after overhearing him make some comments about transgenders. I don't know specifically what the comments were. I got upset with him and told him he should have just said something to him in person before escalating it and this would only cause more problems than it would solve. But, I don't know what I should have said?
I do know that part of the reason I was upset is I've worked here for nearly 30 years and so has that engineer, the supervisor DS reported him to and the HR person and they're all friends that hang out together outside of work. There is no anonymity here for the kid that's been here 3 weeks. I've heard about it from two different people already. He may as well have just said something to his face, as it would have honestly been received better that way. All I keep thinking is, "well, cross this place off the list of future engineering jobs along with the place you walked out of the job on a couple years ago". The two biggest employers in the county... I probably would have told my kids the same thing, although I wouldn't have been upset with them. Is your son working in an engineering role there? If he's not, then maybe it won't be a major issue for him? On one hand it's good that they aren't afraid to speak up. On the other hand, I'm not sure how you make them understand it may not work out so well for them.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Aug 3, 2022 18:03:23 GMT -5
He is not working in engineering there now, but wants to apply for an internship next summer. Uh...guess who one of the people deciding if you should get the job is? I'll admit part of the reason I was upset is that I don't like being placed in the awkward position of someone above me getting turned into HR by my kid. I mean he is my acting boss when mine is out. He is going around telling other people in the engineering team about it and telling them he knows who did it, and I'm getting the "hey did you hear G got called out on the carpet by a newbie" texts in Teams. I'm just such a nose to the grindstone mind my own person and crank out the widgets person on the job that this is not comfortable for me at all. It's been weeks since this happened and I haven't talked to him at all about it since that day, but today people bringing it up at work brought it all back and I thought I'd run it by you guys.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 3, 2022 19:46:45 GMT -5
I think he did the right thing. It isn't what I've done in those work situations, but I'm not proud of how I've handled them which is usually to pretend like I didn't notice or don't care. After years of passing for straight I've heard anti queer/anti Trans statements in various settings and regardless of how its called out or it comes up as offensive, its pretty much always the persons fault who spoke up, not the person who said something offensive.
If ds had called him out in person and in the moment, would the gossip be less than it is now? Or would it still be tossed around as ds speaking out of turn? It sounds like HR handled it badly which is common and a life lesson too. I hope it blows over soon for both of you.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 3, 2022 19:53:08 GMT -5
When do kids not need to be reminded to brush their teeth?
Asking for a friend....
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 3, 2022 19:57:24 GMT -5
How much baby/little kid stuff is everyone keeping? I've purged a lot, but saved a playpen, blocks, a couple young toddler and older toddler toys, and the big Melissa &doug ice cream truck. We never babysit my nephews at our house. Literally twice in 5 years, and not at all since 2020. I should get rid of this stuff... or at least pare down again to maybe just 1 toy for each age group and the playpen? My immediate family won't have any babies for a while, and I think play pens and other needed baby gear is built to travel now. We've held onto a dinner table booster seat as my youngest niece is a tiny 5 yo and neighbors are still have toddlers. Makes it easy to host meals. Doesn't take much room in the closet. One of the nice big plastic bibs is store with it. Also kept the flat potty seat that goes on toilet. Keeps niece from falling in LOL along with collapsible step stool for washing hands. Handy when we host parties. Puddle jumper for neighbor pool for same niece. Have used a few times with friends kids. Our playroom is our drawback...partly a job hazard from DH teaching preschool. He liked our girls to have open ended play toys - nice wooden block set, Lincoln logs, potatoe head with lots of accessories, many magnatiles. DD14 and 9 have aged out of those but niece5 and niece11 (who is spec needs and plays about K/1st level) love them and are entertained for hours. They are just about aged out of our duplo set and moving into Legos which our girls still love so the duplos may go in a yr. Little people sets take up a ton of space so will also likely be done in a year. Everything else stores in bins in a giant ikea cube block. We have the space and love to host so I can see keeping a lot of the rest for years. My personal favorite is the marble run. We have enough to build taller than me and take up most of the playroom. We also have 30 marbles to race. It's quite a ruckus, but such a good engineering exercise without them even knowing they are learning. During covid we got into K'nex and bought a ton on marketplace. Snap circuit kits interest dd9 still. Just to confirm - you wouldn't keep the playpen because new ones are more transportable? Probably makes the most sense- thrift shops won't take those things because of possible recalls. Better to rehome them early to get the most use out of them. I really, really wish we had dnephews over regularly. I have too many rules to be the cool auntie, but we would have fun and I hate how little we (but specifically me) are involved with them. We have lots of kids on the street but no Littles. We're a land of tweens and up.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Aug 3, 2022 20:22:32 GMT -5
If ds had called him out in person and in the moment, would the gossip be less than it is now? It was in the lunchroom and they were sitting at the same table or something (which may be why the guy figured out who told and not HR blabbing). I am pretty confident if he would have said, "Hey, I have a couple close trans friends and you're wrong about this point or I don't appreciate hearing you talk about them like that", he would have shut right up and it would have been over. But, my kid is the least confrontational person around and he didn't know him well like I do, so I get where he was afraid to say something directly.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 3, 2022 20:51:24 GMT -5
If ds had called him out in person and in the moment, would the gossip be less than it is now? It was in the lunchroom and they were sitting at the same table or something (which may be why the guy figured out who told and not HR blabbing). I am pretty confident if he would have said, "Hey, I have a couple close trans friends and you're wrong about this point or I don't appreciate hearing you talk about them like that", he would have shut right up and it would have been over. But, my kid is the least confrontational person around and he didn't know him well like I do, so I get where he was afraid to say something directly. I struggle with every kind of confrontation that might be perceived negatively. I'm slow to translate my feelings and thoughts into words and I overthink everything so I miss those in the moment opportunities and usually talk myself out of trying for anything after the fact.
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finnime
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Post by finnime on Aug 4, 2022 4:57:18 GMT -5
I am coordinating support for NoMoreDrama's family in the wake of the loss of her mother. I know shw some times participates in this thread, so if you don't venture into YMOT this may be news to you. PM me for details and I'll let you know what, specifically, would be appreciated by the family or if you want to contribute to a larger gift, we can discuss that.
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azucena
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Post by azucena on Aug 4, 2022 6:04:01 GMT -5
Yeah, playpens seem to get better and better. Plus take up space to store. I figure any friend coming with a baby will have the gear they need and be used to packing it.
Why don't you have your nephews more? I can't recall details. I'm a more structured parent than my sister but my nieces do okay with my rules. I spoil them in other ways. Wish I had them more too esp my nonverbal goddaughter but my sister doesn't let anyone watch them much even though she could really use the break and always says how nice it is when someone does keep them. I've actually had them a few more times than my mom and she's more than capable too and she and sis get along great.
MPL from your son's point of view, the Sr guy is way older and authoritative so it'd be even harder to speak up in the moment directly. Plus son is likely straight off all the hr new hire training videos that say get them involved if there's problem. Ideally they're supposed to handle with care and help.
Situation is complicated since you're there too and have history. If he were somewhere else and came home with the story, wouldn't you be 100% proud? I would. Make that clear to him first and foremost. And then fill in the life lessons about hr, thinking ahead to his full time employment needs, playing the game, etc.
Here's hoping their generation keeps showing us the way. Eventually they will end up being hr too and just maybe some of their crap gets fixed too.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 4, 2022 7:50:01 GMT -5
Yeah, playpens seem to get better and better. Plus take up space to store. I figure any friend coming with a baby will have the gear they need and be used to packing it. Why don't you have your nephews more? I can't recall details. I'm a more structured parent than my sister but my nieces do okay with my rules. I spoil them in other ways. Wish I had them more too esp my nonverbal goddaughter but my sister doesn't let anyone watch them much even though she could really use the break and always says how nice it is when someone does keep them. I've actually had them a few more times than my mom and she's more than capable too and she and sis get along great. I think it mostly comes down to more convenient babysitters are available to them. Bil's parents live 4 minutes away and are perfect grandparents (truly - so much like my folks). They can spend the night at sil/bil if they're going to have a late night so the kids sleep in their own beds, are retired and available on a moments notice. Sil's parents are also super close and like the short visits with 1 kid, so if sil has a meeting and 1 kid is in preschool kind of thing. They didn't babysit my kids much either, ever but only once after ds was dx. Sil really misinterpreted treatment for a bad low at a birthday party (so I was there thankfully) that frustrated me and scared me enough to know I'd never be able to leave him with them alone. So who knows. When dnephew2 was on the way I tried offering ways I could babysit dnephew1 like including him on our weekly pool trips but it just never worked out. Then covid and they didn't take precautions like we did, blah, blah, blah. Dnephew1 is old enough to join our dojo and I've been wanting to offer to pay and drive him for that so I should get my butt in gear. The baby stage is so good, but as they get older there are ways to bond on different levels.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Aug 4, 2022 8:02:32 GMT -5
When do kids not need to be reminded to brush their teeth? Asking for a friend.... When you find the answer let me know. Follow up question why do kids need constant reminders to wipe their behinds?
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azucena
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Post by azucena on Aug 4, 2022 10:13:23 GMT -5
And showering. Realizing that we've been way too lax about a bathing schedule with DD10. She's not stinky yet and she gets so weird about showering or taking a bath. Says she hates the way the water feels but then swims like a fish at the pool and runs in the sprinkler all the time. We're only about a year past forcing DD14 to shower daily - she's finally doing it on her own every day without request. Thinking the start of school is when DD10 needs to do at least every other night.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Aug 4, 2022 10:50:45 GMT -5
And brushing their hair. I don't care about picture perfect but I don't want to hear whining about the rat nest you generated.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 4, 2022 11:36:22 GMT -5
Dd brushed through her hair by herself for the first time 2 weeks ago. The carrot/stick was Ren Faire hair braiding. I really didn't think it was possible before now. It's still so much work though. I wish she'd cut it before school.
I don't shower everyday, definitely not asking the kids to. I'm not being fought on that much lately but I am the reminder factory. Of all things.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Aug 4, 2022 11:59:35 GMT -5
Carrot is 12. He does not shower without me pretty much forcing him to (a couple times a week), doesn't brush his teeth unless I remind him (he is getting better about at night) and I don't think he's ever done anything with his hair, nor does he let me touch it...or get it cut. I'm sure I was much worse at that age because I was vehemently opposed to bathing AND I was outside at the farm working or playing with the horses all the time, not sitting in an air conditioned house watching youtube.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Aug 10, 2022 13:25:42 GMT -5
Yay! Our school is changing hot lunch providers this year. No more $5 lunches, they're now $3.10!!! I'm hoping they also got rid of the a la carte options as well. Carrot was sometimes spending $7-$8/day at lunch with all the extras.
It's also more normal kid food. The last one was meant to expose them to all kinds of new "fancy" foods. For awhile Carrot loved it, and he probably wouldn't have ever gotten something like stuffed portabella mushrooms otherwise, but eventually he just wanted me to send food everyday or he'd buy a crap ton from the a la carte. Now the menu is things like hamburgers, pizza, chicken alfredo...
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 12, 2022 22:30:59 GMT -5
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 14, 2022 14:12:46 GMT -5
Ds has planned our first family d&d campaign for tonight. He's so excited and it's so fun to see. I think it could become a regular thing.
I'm dreading the start of school. Rushed mornings, packing lunches, back and forth interruptions to drop off and pick up. I'm sure it will be fine once we get in a groove, but one thing I loved about homeschooling was the relaxed schedule.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Aug 14, 2022 15:32:53 GMT -5
I'm actually looking forward to school starting up again, but, I don't work from home, and it's a pain having him 15 miles away at home while I'm at work. We do better with a more set schedule.
And now cheap lunches to boot! I may never pack again!
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