Not Another Homeschool Blog

I don't know that I ever promoted the homeschool-hybrid program my kids attended, but now I feel I must.  You see, my kid graduated last year and right now would do anything to spend just one day back at her homeschool program. I picked daughter up from school last Friday, at 4:30 sharp.  It was the earliest she could get out of her on-campus job, and she had me high-tail it straight to the Artios Academies Hoe-down.  It is a yearly square-dance fundraiser the "school" has every fall.  Initially, she was coming home for a doctor's appointment on Monday morning, since she had a couple of days off (and a somewhat serious health issue), but as chance would have it, it was also hoe-down weekend, so that worked for her. She was so excited to go that she had worn her cowboy boots and the ugliest square-dance skirt ever all day (at college), and she jumped in my care excitedly raring to go.  So as any good mom would do, to make my kid deliriously happy, I drove her...

Sometimes things won't go your way.  How will you respond? What will your reaction say about your character? My daughter spent 6 years in a homeschool drama program.  For the program to be successful, parents needed to be on board and needed to each have a role in keeping it successful.  Some years I was the parent organizer.  Some years I was in charge of costumes.  I did the job I agreed upon regardless of the role my child received in the play, even though there were plenty of times I was less than enthused about it.  Meanwhile, from time to time, there was a parent who backed out of their responsibility usually because they did not like the role their kid received in the play.  I had little respect for such behavior. I think my daughter was in about 11 plays over the years.  In only 3 of those plays did she get a role that she sought and that we as parents thought she deserved.  There may have been one other show where she got a role ...

The Democratic process is dead. A law was passed. How does congress have the right to hold the country hostage over it.

Some people think I'm crazy, but I see no reason to have a 3000+ sq house (with a basement that is probably 1500 sf) with just my husband and myself.  We bought this house for our kids, to allow them a place to grow and enjoy and feel safe and entertain their friends, and honestly it hasn't even been used to its fullest potential.  Right now is probably the closest it has come to being utilized fully and that is because I have family members staying with me right now... So, our plan is to downsize. I not only want a smaller home, but I want to put an end to this sub-urban living.  After all, I am a city girl. I grew up in the city, and some of the best homes we have had were in the city... like our Corn Hill apartment in Rochester NY , or our warehouse apartment in New Orleans .  Those places really made us happy, and that is what we are looking for... but I know it is  not going to be easy. The good news is that house prices in our area are above what we pa...

I can tell you that the health club is taking up a lot of time that homeschooling used to... yay! I can also tell you that a certain contingent of health club life is just as annoying if not more so than the worst homeschool parent meeting where they are comparing curriculum and someone has decided to champion Math-U-See as if their life has depended on it... and woe to anyone who likes something else. So there is a large bunch of women (all of the same nationality) who like to take over the locker room with their saggy naked butts dangling about, sitting on the benches with nothing in between their Lee-la's and the benches that other people have to use.  The good news is that they have commandeered one of three sections of the locker room with vengeance, so at least we know that it might be safe to sit on the other two benches... but frankly, I'd rather stand in a pool of piranhas than put my tooshie anywhere near where they are all sitting nude as the day they were born. ...

I've decided that my doctor is an idiot. I was sent to her by the endocrinologist that is taking care of my daughter for PCOS and pre-diabetes.  I thought.. finally, some folks who know what they are doing, I want to go here... but NOOOOO  I needed a referral... go to this doctor first, and I landed in idiot town. So why is she an idiot? 1.  She looked me in the eye and said the only way to lose the weight is to gradually cut your calories to 1000 a day and stay on that for the rest of your life.  Uh-no.  Try typing that into Google, and you get a great big honking NO.  According to WebMD, Reducing calorie intake to 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day for women and 1,500 to 1,800 calories per day for men. Women should not restrict themselves to fewer than 1,000 calories per day and men to fewer than 1,200 calories per day without medical supervision. 2.  The lab techs after my ultrasound said that I had no ovaries.  I know I have ovaries, a...

So I had my call back mammogram today.  I tried to not think of it much since I got my tests back a few days ago and was told that I had an indeterminate asymmetry, or in other words, something was wonky with one of my breasts. So they warned my that the visit would be 2-4 hours, and it was. Another mammogram, this time the technician was much more grim than the last, and avoided eye contact... great. Then I went in for an ultrasound.   I had one ultrasound. Then I had another ultrasound. Then I waited in an exam room on a table alone for a half hour for the doctor who did another ultrasound. All the time, I was staring at a spot on the screen that definately showed that there was something in my breast that did not necessarily belong there.  In the final exam with the doctor,  after he probed my breast using a lot of pressure with the ultrasound machine, then he told me not to worry, it didn't look like cancer, but he just wanted to look at the photos mo...