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Friday morning ramblings. Anyone even here?
I am. For a bit. Need to go bag up the rest of the discarded clothes for Goodwill. It's looking like its going to be a 7 bag trip, at least. And that's just the clothes I've purged. I have a massive pile of other stuff. Old jewelry, old purses, electronics, cookware, a toaster, and every other kind of randomness. I have to organize that and find out if Fent is missing anything post-divorce like mixing bowls, etc. Plus, I'm not done cleaning out. I may have more to add to that pile.
Couple of boring questions for you. I have a lot of old binders. Is that something you would give to Goodwill or just throw away?
Do you fold every item before putting it in a bag for Goodwill? I have, but it feels silly to fold up clothes and then put them in a hefty bag. Like, They're not going to stay nicely folded. For some reason it just feels rude not to fold them.
I cleaned out a box labeled "CHRISTIN'S COLLEGE EDUCATION" today. Full of papers I'd written, and mostly all of my class notes. Any other hoarders out there keep this stuff? I'm getting rid of it, but going through it made me sad. Sad that I'd once known so much about statistics and economics and finance and philosophy and now I'm all "Whaaaa?" The only thing I seem to remember from college is how to do a water bong. I got straight As, I just didn't retain very much. I had to fight the hoard urge to keep all the notebooks so I could relearn everything. "Christin, all of this information can be found on the internet, and without your lame doodles and half finished thoughts."
That leads to my last question. Can you put a whole notebook in the recycling? Would you have to remove the metal binding first? What if it has a plastic cover?
Re: Friday morning ramblings. Anyone even here?
I'm here. I don't fold the clothes I give to goodwill, I guess I'm rude.
I'm mad that I forgot my GC to Charming Charlies, I was going to use it after work before I met some stinky hookers for drinks.
First, let me say thanks for inspiring my trip to Goodwill yesterday.
I'm not sure if Goodwill could use the binders but do you have any teacher friends or a local school nearby? A lot of times teachers/schools will try to supplement the necessities for kids that can't afford them.
I folded the clothes I donated but the bag went into a big bin and I'm sure someone has to sort and refold them anyway.
Whenever I recycle notebooks, I tear off the cardboard back and then the paper for the recycle bin and toss the binding and the plastic cover in the trash.
Eye yam.
I would toss the binders.
I also fold the clothes, but similarly feel it is a waste of time.
I keep some notes, but not others. I've used my vector calc notes in my grown up jobs and I use some of my programming / Electromagnetic fields books regularly. I guess my point is, keep the few actually relevant ones, but toss your Early American History notes.
I think you probably need to separate paper/plastic/metal for recycling, but I suppose that depends on your recycling center's rules.
I've done 3 big purges of school books and notes over the years. The most recent was law school stuff. I was initially reluctant to get rid of my law books because I took meticulous margin notes in all of them, but then I forced myself to admit that I will never use them again. At this point, I think all that remains of my school materials are hard copies of some old papers/my thesis, my French and Spanish books, and the novels I particularly enjoyed in high school and college.
Excellent. I realize I probably need to remove the metal rings from the binders. I just think its going to be difficult and I was hoping someone would tell me otherwise. Wha wha.
I don't know any teachers off the top of my head I could give the binders too. I hate throwing stuff away. I had some huge trash bags going already and just kept looking at them with all this guilt. But what are you going to do with an old stained down comforter and jenky old pillows?
I'm also getting rid of an old giant trapper keeper (for real) full of notes from high school between my best friend and I. We were freaking weird. She was especially weird. Every time I go back and look at them I cringe and think I would die if something ever happened to me and someone went through this crap. So, I'm preserving my legacy really.
None of my college notes really have any bearing on my job now. I did keep the philosophy binder and the Women's folklore and feminist theory, because those classes were really fascinating to me.
Good god, I'm writing novels today. The difference of me posting on my laptop vs. the iPad I guess.
For the record, I don't think you're jerks Mashed and KB. Well, Mashed is, but not for this. I just wish I had gotten this non-folding validation BEFORE I folded 5 trash bags of clothes. I still have two bags to pack. I shall not fold! I still have my law school text books on the shelf. They're kind of nice looking. And I have such memories tied to those books! Gah. Damn me.
I have added "book purge" to my to do list for 2012 after Fallin or Bethie mentioned it the other day. I'm not looking forward to the task, but I know it should be done. Future me insists upon it.
I have a box like your trapper keeper. That needs to be destroyed next time I have an afternoon alone. I've meant to do it for years and never got around to it.
Since there's nothing going on, I want you guys to resolve a recurring argument for me. Kevin works 4-12. When he comes home he usually watches a few movies and goes to bed around 3-4. This means he sleeps until 11-12. When he took this job his plan was to sleep 2-10, but it hasn't worked out that way.
So the point is, on weekends, I have to keep Connor corralled and quiet until ~11. For people with small children, am I wrong to think its unreasonable to expect a preschooler to be capable of this? I feel like I spend the whole morning chasing him around punishing him for making noise (because there's no way to really PREVENT a kid from yelling every time they get excited except possibly the constant threat of being in trouble). I feel like its not fair to punish him for being a little kid.
Kevin, on the other hand feels like Connor should be able to be quiet and understand that it's mean to wake people up. He thinks it's unfair for him not to get a full night's sleep because of his schedule.
Am I being that "my kid can do no wrong, leave my baby alone!" parent or is he expecting something that just isn't going to happen?
3 out of 4 dead babies agree! pepsi is better than coke! - EdithBouvierBeale
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So any suggestions? We both want to find a solution that works for everyone, but I'm at a loss here.
Wendy, I think he's been unfair. Connor is a little kid. He is going to make noise.
Does Kevin have a white noise machine or even a fan he could run to block out some of the noise?
Yeah. I think you can ask Connor to be quiet and not yell, but kids are inherently noisy and expecting him to tiptoe for hours is not fair, and he shouldn't feel like a prisoner in his own house every Saturday morning.
Can Kevin use earplugs or a white noise maker or something to drown out some of the noise? I'd be inclined to grumble to myself "Get your ass to bed earlier and it won't be as much of a problem" but that's probably not fair to him either.
Oh, and Christin, if the binders are in good condition, you could probably just even contact your local school and I bet the office staff would send out an email asking teachers if anyone needs them. We are in a budget crunch right now so a lot of my coworkers and I are snatching up things wherever we can get them.
And I had about 2 boxes of college notes, etc., but then our basement got water in it over the summer and took care of that problem.
When Bob has to sleep during the day, he uses a box fan to drown out the noise. Anytime I've made noise, I'm all apologetic when he gets up and he usually asks "What noise?"
Also, could you suggest going to bed a bit earlier? I get the need to unwind a bit before going to sleep but maybe pointing out "You know if you went to bed even an hour earlier, it would be that much easier to keep Connor contained until you're ready to get up" might help a bit.
I have and not just to myself, and I realize that's probably unfair. It's just compounded by my grumbly I don't want to get up this early either, but losing sleep is part of the deal with kids attitude in the mornings.
Theres always a fan (and humidifier with even louder sound) running, so I think we've got the white noise covered. He's agreed to plan to get up at 10, and I'm sure the suggestion of earplugs may not be well received, but I'm ready to try anything at this point.
Is he working with you on it? How much experience does he have with kids prior to living with you and Connor? He may just not really get it since he didn't go through all of the baby stuff leading up to this point.
I think this is really the root of it all. He doesn't have a lot of experience with little kids before us, so I think he has unrealistic expectations of his abilities sometimes. They're not miniature adults. I totally understand why he doesn't get it, I just don't know how to explain it so that he really believes it without sounding like a condescending a-hole.
I think he is trying to work with me, but our ideas of what constitutes compromise here are a little different (i.e. get up at 10 feels like a huge "give" to him, but not to me).
I totally can sympathize with being a light sleeper, and how frustrating it can be to wake up before you're ready. But really, his expectations are more suited for a7 year old. Is there any way to babygate C away from the bedroom area?
I'm here until 3:00 when we're going to go close on our house refinance. We'll be saving $250 a month, woot woot! It's going straight into an ING savings account (even though I've already mentally spent most of it...).
I was at my parent's house last night and saw my mom had bought a Knot magazine and had printed wedding info off on a place around here. My sister and her boyfriend have gone ring shopping but I don't think they will get engaged until the spring. My mom already seems to have half the wedding planned though! I wonder if she did that for my wedding and I just never saw it... Momzilla, party of one!
Lim working on it! That house won't be completed for another year and a half though. Though, actually, I wonder if moving Connors bedroom to the other side of the house (swapping with guest bedroom or current 'man cave') might actually be a workable solution. I don't know if a kid would totally freak out at that though.
In the long run, he's going to love it.
Mucho likes purple nails and purple cupcakes
Husbands should be like Kleenex: Soft, strong, and disposable.
I bet her FUPA's name is Shane, like the gunslinger/drifter of literature.--HappyTummy
I am working until 6:30 which meant not being able to meet some fantastic ladies. I had excepted my fate. Then I just found out management let everyone else leave at 4pm....including my department's admin. I am still on though in case any of our West Coast clients need something. Which they will not because everyone is closing! I am ragey.