Then, I think I’m going to smile, thank her, bring my stuff home and straight to the trash. *g* I’ve already got a garage full of my kids stuff.

This is why digital cameras were invented!!!!

Last year we moved from Washington DC to Maui. We had a house full of 30 years-worth of, well, crap. Both my husband & I are packrats. Then we had kids, and I saved all of those art projects, dioramas, etc.

But no f&*^% way was I going to pay to ship it all over here. Voila: digital camera. Took lots of pics, burned onto some disks, then put the “stuff” into the trash.

Well, I did transport son’s diorama of the “Legend of Isis & Osiris” and a ceramic medallion of Cleopatra that my daughter made, but thousands of finger paintings . . . nope.

I know that since i live alone it has a feminine feel to it; and because i had similar feelings in my grandmother’s living room i have deliberately included touches that harken back to the 30’s and 40’s which is when she purchased most of what she had when i was growing up. plus a water fountain. floral and bird prints.

and food. always food.

A round of antibiotics finally did the trick and now I am enjoying life and people once again.

Good luck. Don’t suffer in silence and do ask your doctor for help if “normal” recovery takes too long.

Flash forward to the 1980’s and we faced the same decision with my son. He was reading at 3rd grade level when tested in kindergarten. The school psychologist recommended against skipping ahead, especially for boys as many don’t mature socially and emotionally as quickly as girls. He said it would become more obvious in junior high and high school. Fortunately we lived in a very progressive school district with split classrooms. The kids worked in small groups of equal academic ability for part of each day. Each group was studying the same subject matter but their reading material, vocabulary and math projects were geared to whatever the individual academic level was.

An Air Force move sent us to another state, schools were way behind and after testing and teacher conferences we decided to opt for a private school. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but in retrospect I’m not sure it was. There were too many trade-offs. The school was 23 miles from home, my son’s nearest classmate was 10 miles from us. I spent untold hours in the car for various school activities. The Air Force kept my husband out of town for months at a time, so I had to find a job with very flexible hours. The school was very expensive even though we received financial aid. We were financially strapped the entire time, no matter how frugal I was.

By the fourth year, my son was miserable socially. He didn’t know any of the kids in our own neighborhood, the kids that he did know and like lived 20 miles away. As he got older, he also realized that his school friends came from wealthy families and he did not. They all had big homes with swimming pools and other amenities. He was embarassed to invite them to our home. Fortunately, at that point, the Air Force sent us across the country, just in time for him to start at a public high school.

Not sure it was the best idea, so be sure his parents weigh all options carefully. These days, schools have much better enrichment or gifted programs.

I felt a real need to watch everything political during the Bush years, to be witness, if nothing else, so I was here a lot. Now, while not all is as I wish, I feel that I can relax a bit. And send money to someone who really watches everything. Not to rest everything on her shoulders, but please send more money to Marcy, the inimitable emptywheel.

Heading out gang, thanks for the advice all.

Yes, it’s high time we paused to absorb the wonderful aroma of… broth. I’ve still got a dozen quarts in the freezer. Plenty to share, folks. Help yourselves. The freezer’s not being moved with us, since it won’t fit through the door. It’s an enduring mystery how we got it down into the basement in the 1st place. *g*

Demi! Job. Books. Fabulous!!!!

Ad Astra, will you still be communicating with us via the Lake? I will work on the guest list for dinner when I get back. But…but…but, you’ll all be gone! (snif!)

Au revoir, mes amis et ma soeur!

Tough call on moving up a grade. Our son is young in his class — in PA it is fairly common to hold back boys, but his reading tested at the 3rd grade level when he was 4 and it didn’t make sense to hold him back. He just finished 1st grade and even with enrichment classes he was bored enough to cause some trouble. OTOH, he is one of the smallest boys in his class (some boys are two years older) which causes other problems. I think it helps to have outside interests — Suzuki music classes, age-defined sports groups and the like. He makes friends more easily with these groups, and we’re watchful with the school dynamics.