Webster4Eva 10: If Alyssa Doesn't Record It, Then Does It Really Exist?

[Keys]

12 hours ago, zee_four said:

 On the mask front, in Hawai'i they're still required inside everywhere. I live on the lower socio economic, higher concentration of Native/Filipine and other Pacific Islander, part of the island so I haven't seen anyone pitching fits and not wearing them in stores for quite sometime;. Every time I had before, the offender was always a Baby Boom generation haole. Earlier every time the news had a story about someone making a scene at a store it was a haole on the more well off windward side of the island. We do have a lot of tourists in our area ever since the Disney hotel Aulani was built and a couple other hotels on some open land on the ocean. A lot of people who were residents got pushed out of my dad's building when some sleazy mainland owners bought places only for renting and violated all the rules about no short term rentals and things like that. We had a lot of problems throughout the quarantine with tourists being jerks and refusing to wear masks and worse tearing down the signs that say that it's a state law to wear them inside and whenever you'd explain that many of us who live and work here live with extended families including kupuna (elderly) and many are sick in various ways, they'd laugh. Last Spring Break was awful because it's suddenly so cheap to fly here and because international travel was limited, it was like Palm Beach with all the rich college kids partying with no respect to other people. We're not a hotel we're a residential building yet some people have no respect, leaving trash in the hallways, partying on the lanais super loud at midnight. Beh.

Luckily the Christmas/New Years rush has petered out a bit. I still make a big deal about not letting anyone maskless into the elevator with me. I take care of my 75 year old father who was diagnosed with cancer last year. He was cleared on the cancer front this fall after months of radiation but is still weak and I won't risk it. 

However on base like the Commissary and NX/BX you now don't have to wear masks. I used to shop there a lot at Pearl Harbor with my dad  but haven't for at least the last 6 months or more. It's mostly because I've gotten so much busier with FT school and two jobs. We usually shop at Costco and then Wal-Mart or sometimes Foodland since we have SNAP and that helps a lot. At the regular grocery stores here a gallon of milk can be like $8-9 so going to the base would mean a huge difference in price. SNAP in Hawai'i is tax free so that helps extend our food dollars. But yeah it is frustrating that on base they don't require masks but the state of Hawai'i does. To me it's disrespectful to locals to not follow our laws. People don't solely stay on base, most live in regular civilian communities, go to regular public schools and are mostly interacting with locals off base. But I guess the Navy getting really close to poisoning the only available watersource for most of O'ahu because they refuse to move their jet fuel tanks which have gotten into the water supply more than once, and the most recent is right now, there's a lot more coverage because it's mostly effecting base housing instead of local Hawaiians. So we should probably fight that issue first.

I can't tell you how many tourists get shitty about having to follow our mask laws. I have no problems with calling them out. They always pull "Well in ___ Arkansas/Georgia/Indiana/wherever they're from" we don't have to wear them so why should we have to here? I say well if I decided to go visit Texas and walked down the main street in town smoking a massive joint, I doubt the cops would let me go on my way because I whined about  how weed is legal in Colorado, so why should we give them special privileges. Argh. There's a colonialist mentality too which is what makes me extra frustrated, like these tourists think they "own" Hawai'i somehow, that it's their right to come here and do what they want and they don't have to follow our laws because they're above them or they don't apply. Add in a healthy dose of whenever locals complain we get told that the only reason we have jobs and houses and food is because of tourists so we should thank them. It's not as commonly said explicitly these days, but there still is a racial undertone to the whole thing. I guess we're one of the few places in the US that requires them everywhere indoors and technically outdoors in really crowded places but that's usually disregarded because most big crowds are in Waikiki and other touristy areas.

I heard Colorado was going back and forth on the issue and I know where I grew up when I was on the mainland with my mom, in a ski area west of Vail but in the same county, that masks are required indoors now there, so mostly restaurants and the indoor parts of the ski mountains, as well as stores in town because of the skyrocketing rate after the biggest tourist time of the year. 

Wow, that’s all horrible! Masks are mandatory where I live, in every public place (and we also have vaccine passports for non-essential places like the theatre and restaurants). Thankfully it’s not super common to see people not wearing a mask in public. I’m shocked by how disrespectful some tourists are there, though - you’d think they’d respect the rules and regulations of the place they were visiting. That’s sad. 

[neuroticcat]

3 hours ago, Expectopatronus said:

I’m not sure that Alyssa knows how to make education a top priority. I give her credit for at least using a boxed curriculum and videos (better than say, J Rod) but it’s gotta be had with four little girls. My daughter’s daycare is shut down for the next 10 days (Covid exposure), and I’m guessing at toddler appropriate curriculum: we sing the colours while pointing to Duplo blocks in English and French, use formula cans as drums to count, today we finger painted and we read books etc. Experienced moms, is that okay for 25 months or should I be doing more? 

You might take advantage of being home to try Montessori style preschool activities. Pouring water into cups, counting/sorting beads, kid-sized domestic tasks. Lots of ideas that don’t have to be complicated. 

[HeartsAFundie]

18 hours ago, zee_four said:

 I can't tell you how many tourists get shitty about having to follow our mask laws. I have no problems with calling them out. They always pull "Well in ___ Arkansas/Georgia/Indiana/wherever they're from" we don't have to wear them so why should we have to here? I say well if I decided to go visit Texas and walked down the main street in town smoking a massive joint, I doubt the cops would let me go on my way because I whined about  how weed is legal in Colorado, so why should we give them special privileges. Argh. There's a colonialist mentality too which is what makes me extra frustrated, like these tourists think they "own" Hawai'i somehow, that it's their right to come here and do what they want and they don't have to follow our laws because they're above them or they don't apply. Add in a healthy dose of whenever locals complain we get told that the only reason we have jobs and houses and food is because of tourists so we should thank them. It's not as commonly said explicitly these days, but there still is a racial undertone to the whole thing. I guess we're one of the few places in the US that requires them everywhere indoors and technically outdoors in really crowded places but that's usually disregarded because most big crowds are in Waikiki and other touristy areas.

 

As someone who had the good fortune and privilege to visit your beautiful state in 2016, the attitude of these tourists to the residents saddens me.  I was there for eight days and in no way did I ever feel Hawaii was my personal playground because I was so grateful to be there.   I feel that when you go to a different state to visit, you are there for the most part because you want to be and therefore should comply with their rules and regulations, no questions asked.  If masks are required, so be it.  These tourists probably complain about signing the mandatory government forms about not taking native plants home that are handed out on the plane before landing in Hawaii too. 

I would highly suggest to these tourists to use the Waikiki Trolley while in Honolulu to get around and to listen to the drivers-many who are generational Pacific Islander natives-tell their stories while pointing out landmarks and historical sites.  You will come away with a new level of respect to all the people working up front and behind the scenes to make your Hawaiian experience memorable and wonderful.  It was these drivers who clued us in on what island life is really like for many folks that make Hawaii their home.  We learned how many working-class Hawaiian households are multi-generational.  We learned how expensive milk, bread and gasoline are.  We learned about Hawaii's housing shortage and homeless problem and that many people working 40 plus hours per week live in tents year-round and simply pay $100 per year to the City of Honolulu for a camping permit.  We saw a small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 800 sf house for sale and learned from the driver the asking price was 900K.  

I will end with this:  If I had the chance to return to Hawaii right now, I'd grab my masks, get on that plane, sign those forms and give the people working their butts off to show me a good time the respect they deserve.   

[zee_four]

5 minutes ago, HeartsAFundie said:

As someone who had the good fortune and privilege to visit your beautiful state in 2016, the attitude of these tourists to the residents saddens me.  I was there for eight days and in no way did I ever feel Hawaii was my personal playground because I was so grateful to be there.   I feel that when you go to a different state to visit, you are there for the most part because you want to be and therefore should comply with their rules and regulations, no questions asked.  If masks are required, so be it.  These tourists probably complain about signing the mandatory government forms about not taking native plants home that are handed out on the plane before landing in Hawaii too. 

I would highly suggest to these tourists to use the Waikiki Trolley while in Honolulu to get around and to listen to the drivers-many who are generational Pacific Islander natives-tell their stories while pointing out landmarks and historical sites.  You will come away with a new level of respect to all the people working up front and behind the scenes to make your Hawaiian experience memorable and wonderful.  It was these drivers who clued us in on what island life is really like for many folks that make Hawaii their home.  We learned how many working-class Hawaiian households are multi-generational.  We learned how expensive milk, bread and gasoline are.  We learned about Hawaii's housing shortage and homeless problem and that many people working 40 plus hours per week live in tents year-round and simply pay $100 per year to the City of Honolulu for a camping permit.  We saw a small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 800 sf house for sale and learned from the driver the asking price was 900K.  

I will end with this:  If I had the chance to return to Hawaii right now, I'd grab my masks, get on that plane, sign those forms and give the people working their butts off to show me a good time the respect they deserve.   

Mahalo nui for such a wonderful response! I realize my comment mirrors some of the anti-tourist comments I had in a previous post about Colorado and got some constructive criticism about my language and I'm making efforts to incorporate those changes from now on. I want to clarify that here I'm only talking about a subset of bad tourists, some are from the mainland, some are international, it's not one area, the only qualifier is that these individuals are selfish, consciously ignorant and close minded tourists. On the other hand, there are some amazing tourists that come here and we're happy to have people like that as long as it's in an environmentally, economically and culturally healthy and sustainable way. All your suggestions definitely include this! There are some Natives running culturally appropriate and authentic luaus for tourists to counter the much larger, commercialized fake luaus for example. There are tourists who seek these sorts of experiences out and that's phenomenal. Unfortunately the affordability of plane tickets and the inability to leave the country because of COVID has led to a lot of the former type of tourists.

Being indigenous there's major issues our people deal with because of the post WWII tourist boom that is just a continuation of the subjugation we experienced under the plantation era, when missionaries gave our stolen land to their descendants who created major corporations and further exploited our people. "Defiant Indigeneity- The Politics of Hawaiian Performance" by Stephanie Nohelani Teves, a fellow Kanaka maoli scholar who is now a professor on the mainland, is an amazing book that describes the problematic aspects of tourism as it exists today in Hawai'i. We have a unique situation unlike many other indigenous communities that our homeland happens to be highly coveted resort land, as opposed to lets say the Dine' with the Navajo Nation. This means many of us are employed but we're still impoverished despite this. Multi-generational houses are the norm. I know when I lived with my aunties when I was little and lived here for a year, we probably had 10-15 people on average at one time living in the house. Aunties, uncles, cousins,  some would come and go, the couch was always taken. The youngest keiki including myself had mattresses on the lanai or inside the living room/kitchen area, that we shared. COVID has decimated us because of these living situations, that often have many kupuna (elderly) and working adults in the service industry where tourists who refuse to wear masks effect whole ohanas as a result.

It's kind of off topic but if anyone has specific questions I'd be happy to answer. I just want to thank Hearts again for being such a cognizant visitor, you're always welcome back!

[zee_four]

6 hours ago, Expectopatronus said:

I’m not sure that Alyssa knows how to make education a top priority. I give her credit for at least using a boxed curriculum and videos (better than say, J Rod) but it’s gotta be had with four little girls. My daughter’s daycare is shut down for the next 10 days (Covid exposure), and I’m guessing at toddler appropriate curriculum: we sing the colours while pointing to Duplo blocks in English and French, use formula cans as drums to count, today we finger painted and we read books etc. Experienced moms, is that okay for 25 months or should I be doing more? 

That sounds really good to me! My son is 8 1/2 and no longer lives with me but I had sole custody up until he was 3 1/2. I had a low income child care voucher in our rural county and he later went through Head Start preschool. I read to him every night, he knew how to count and do his colors in ASL and English and Spanish (he was one of the few non Native Spanish speakers in his day care and later at Head Start) So I wouldn't call myself an experienced or expert mom in the slightest. I do know from when I used to teach special needs Head Start preschool prior to my son's birth and prior to some very poor life decisions I made, that what was really important at that age was creating a positive learning environment for the child, where they can create, explore and learn in a safe, healthy and positive environment, which is what leads to further engagement in education as they get older. Obviously reading to children is important, but it's less about making sure they can read by X age or whatever than they have a positive experience with their parents that encourages the things I mentioned before. That's why Head Start is so important because a lot of low income parents are working multiple minimum wage jobs just to pay rent and have food on the table, they aren't able to do as much of this kind of stuff, not because they don't want to or aren't capable of it,  but they're so busy trying to ensure other more basic survival requirements. 

Pretty much, don't stress if what you're doing is right or wrong. I get the worry, I was waiting tables 40+ hours a week when I was pregnant and when my son was young, I had mental health issues that were only being started to be medicated properly and there was some getting used to that, and I definitely felt like an inadequate parent. Even as a former teacher. As long as you and your daughter are spending time together, having fun, and you're creating a positive learning experience and letting her be creative, ask questions, engage in the world around her, etc. in a loving supportive way, that's all that matters! ❤️

[Heidijoey]

I’m not sure that Alyssa knows how to make education a top priority. I give her credit for at least using a boxed curriculum and videos (better than say, J Rod) but it’s gotta be had with four little girls. My daughter’s daycare is shut down for the next 10 days (Covid exposure), and I’m guessing at toddler appropriate curriculum: we sing the colours while pointing to Duplo blocks in English and French, use formula cans as drums to count, today we finger painted and we read books etc. Experienced moms, is that okay for 25 months or should I be doing more? 

If you have Instagram check out busytoddler . She has a ton of activities!

[just_ordinary]

9 hours ago, Expectopatronus said:

I’m not sure that Alyssa knows how to make education a top priority. I give her credit for at least using a boxed curriculum and videos (better than say, J Rod) but it’s gotta be had with four little girls. My daughter’s daycare is shut down for the next 10 days (Covid exposure), and I’m guessing at toddler appropriate curriculum: we sing the colours while pointing to Duplo blocks in English and French, use formula cans as drums to count, today we finger painted and we read books etc. Experienced moms, is that okay for 25 months or should I be doing more? 

I don’t get the question to be honest. No, you don’t have to do MORE or build an elaborate curriculum. You are not prepping your child for a test/competition in those ten days? Either you are working yourself, so you will have enough on your plate to balance work and child care without parking your child with tons of snacks in front of the tv (which I think can almost always be done but it’s hard and not sustainable especially if you have a full time job!) or you can concentrate fully on your child. Sure it’s nice to do some educational activities but why not enjoy this extra time and make it more weekend/holiday like? Just play together? I mean I don’t know how the weather is were you are right now but there are tons of things to do that are just as stimulating but don’t require a curriculum or money. Go to a playground, museum, do puzzles, read, the indoor pool,  library, zoo, a hike, paint with colours, play doh all day long, balance bike/scooter with no rush to get somewhere, chalk…

Or have them involved in the normal day activities that have to be done anyway. Especially if you really let them help. It’s always surprising what they are capable of doing if we have the time and patience to let them try and try again (because unloading the dishwasher for over 25minutes is definitely not a practical concept on a normal day for most). They just love to spend time with you. Or go fully in join them if they have an activity they are really into atm. We did the same puzzle for half a day once. Let me tell you after 1h it was beyond boring for me. But for whatever reason there was a need for it. Especially because I was more a watcher than playing along and only needed as conversation partner about what was pictured. 
Your activities sound very all nice. Maybe your child loves them, maybe suddenly they don’t anymore. But please don’t beat yourself up over it. If your child doesn’t have special needs which you have to extra support they will neither fall behind or suffer from ten days of just fun (whatever little children deem fun). If you want stuff to keep them entertained try whatever you like and sometimes good to step back and see what THEY like. And you don’t have to be their entertainment instructor 24/7. 
My biggest advice would be a balance between physical (running, long walks - basically physically exhausting), practical („helping“ you with your chores) and „intellectual“ (singing, reading, painting - basically were you sit more still and concentrate) activities. It’s always good to have activities to try on the back of your head (we have the emergency cookie dough four cookie cutter fun) but in the end it’s not always easy to know what will be a hit today. Maybe I got your post all wrong though and that was all you were asking for. But there is really no need to stress about a curriculum. She is 25 months and it’s ten days. Not three months for a kindergarten child. From the ideas you picked up yourself I think you have nothing to worry about. You and your daughter will be just fine. Enjoy this extra time if you can and if it’s going to be stressful because you have to work- my experience is they still are just happy to have more time with us  and those ten days will be over at one point🤷‍♀️ but I get the mum guilt.

[GreenBeans]

11 hours ago, Expectopatronus said:

I’m not sure that Alyssa knows how to make education a top priority. I give her credit for at least using a boxed curriculum and videos (better than say, J Rod) but it’s gotta be had with four little girls. My daughter’s daycare is shut down for the next 10 days (Covid exposure), and I’m guessing at toddler appropriate curriculum: we sing the colours while pointing to Duplo blocks in English and French, use formula cans as drums to count, today we finger painted and we read books etc. Experienced moms, is that okay for 25 months or should I be doing more? 

I really don’t think you need a “curriculum” at 25 months. I mean, seriously, as long as you don’t put your toddler in front of a screen all day, you should be good. At that age, I don’t think everything needs to be about education. Kids learn so much through play, singing, and simply participating in every day activities! Let her “help” you in the kitchen by opening/closing cupboards or pouring ingredients into a bowl/pot, while you explain what you are doing. Or, if your daughter has not been exposed to COVID herself and is not in quarantine, take her to a zoo or an outdoors wildlife park (no crowds during the week) or even just a playground to have her run off her energy.

[just_ordinary]

Double post….

Edited January 26, 2022 by just_ordinary

[HereticHick]

19 hours ago, HoneyBunny said:

Agreed! I’m 62, and took “touch typing” the summer before my freshman year in high school. It’s probably one of my most often used skills. Typing papers in school, obviously, but then with the advent of the PC about the time I graduated university, keyboarding was one thing that just came naturally.

Me as well. I know I've dazzled more than one young colleague when they come to talk to me in my office and I can KEEP ON TYPING while turning my head and talking to them. What sorcery is this?? 😃

[fluffernutter]

So Alyssa put a birthday post up for one of the kids. She has what looks like a Charlie Brown thanksgiving charcuterie set up? But so much stuff. Like so much. Like charcuterie for 30. And I’m sure it’s enclosed somehow but it looks like everything’s teetering on the edge of the table. Can you imagine loads of kids coming through and touching a bunch of food? Not with Covid. 🤢

[CanadianMamam]

 

52 minutes ago, fluffernutter said:

So Alyssa put a birthday post up for one of the kids. She has what looks like a Charlie Brown thanksgiving charcuterie set up? But so much stuff. Like so much. Like charcuterie for 30. And I’m sure it’s enclosed somehow but it looks like everything’s teetering on the edge of the table. Can you imagine loads of kids coming through and touching a bunch of food? Not with Covid. 🤢

It is a grazing table. Super trendy right now. 

She gets points for it being all kid friendly food. 

And I'll be honest, we do charcuterie for dinner sometimes and what looks like a TON of food gets devoured by the 6 of us, my kids can eat their weight in kid-friendly food. Especially if it is on a board. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Leave it to Alyssa to be super trendy on Instagram. 

[HereticHick]

7 minutes ago, CanadianMamam said:

 

It is a grazing table. Super trendy right now. 

She gets points for it being all kid friendly food. 

And I'll be honest, we do charcuterie for dinner sometimes and what looks like a TON of food gets devoured by the 6 of us, my kids can eat their weight in kid-friendly food. Especially if it is on a board. 

Yeah, it does look like half of it will be ground into the carpet, but it really isn't that much food--if the chips, pretzels, etc. were in bowls it wouldn't look like that much. Maybe only a few Websters came over to celebrate.

[fluffernutter]

Learn something new every day. A grazing table. Huh. We've been doing charcuterie forever, but I am oldish and we always just called it "pick-y food night." The kids got me a charcuterie board last year for xmas and every time I try to put stuff out on it, it looks ridiculous. I guess my trendy days are over. Oh, lets be real. My trendy days were never. Wait that's not true! One year, in high school, I wanted black penny loafers. Didn't have them in women's so I got them in a men's size 5. At Tom McAn. Then I put a dime in it because I thought I was Making A Statement. Sure enough that swept through my high school. I don't think I came up with it, probably saw it in Sassy or Young Miss. So, I was trendy that one time in 1987. 🤣

[neuroticcat]

I don’t get this trend. I see posts where people basically put out fancy butcher paper and spread the food with no plates, etc. I mean, the no clean up appeals, but it just feels like a dressed up food trough to me. Maybe it’s because I have done this with Lucky Charms for the kids in years past and felt horrible about it; at any rate, I am not the demographic - haha! 

[Keys]

Woah, I’ve never heard of that before! When I saw it was just on the table without any plates, I was shocked haha. Didn’t know this was a thing. Seems super messy!

[Maggie Mae]

34 minutes ago, Keys said:

Woah, I’ve never heard of that before! When I saw it was just on the table without any plates, I was shocked haha. Didn’t know this was a thing. Seems super messy!

Looks like she put plastic wrap down. 

We've done this for camping.  You cover the table with plastic wrap (or a disposable tablecloth, whatever) and then put down tons of food. Like boiled crawfish, chopped up mangos, corn, rice, grilled vegetables, just whatever you have that is easily cooked outdoors and able to be eaten with hands. Then you let guests go first, then everyone else goes and calls it a food fight. It's fun for kids and grownups! (Guests get plates and most everyone wears gloves.) 

[Keys]

38 minutes ago, Maggie Mae said:

Looks like she put plastic wrap down. 

We've done this for camping.  You cover the table with plastic wrap (or a disposable tablecloth, whatever) and then put down tons of food. Like boiled crawfish, chopped up mangos, corn, rice, grilled vegetables, just whatever you have that is easily cooked outdoors and able to be eaten with hands. Then you let guests go first, then everyone else goes and calls it a food fight. It's fun for kids and grownups! (Guests get plates and most everyone wears gloves.) 

That’s so interesting! I feel like I could never get behind it though cause it still seems so messy without plates and serving utensils lol, especially for foods that are juicy/greasy/wet. 

[HereticHick]

2 hours ago, fluffernutter said:

Learn something new every day. A grazing table. Huh. We've been doing charcuterie forever, but I am oldish and we always just called it "pick-y food night." The kids got me a charcuterie board last year for xmas and every time I try to put stuff out on it, it looks ridiculous. I guess my trendy days are over. Oh, lets be real. My trendy days were never. Wait that's not true! One year, in high school, I wanted black penny loafers. Didn't have them in women's so I got them in a men's size 5. At Tom McAn. Then I put a dime in it because I thought I was Making A Statement. Sure enough that swept through my high school. I don't think I came up with it, probably saw it in Sassy or Young Miss. So, I was trendy that one time in 1987. 🤣

OH my gosh I was wearing penny loafers with dimes in them too! (circa 1983-85) Then I got a hold of --wait for it-- Canadian dimes--and thought I was SO.CUTTING.EDGE.

Also, I wore safety pins as earrings. Ouch. Would not repeat.

[JermajestyDuggar]

My sister had Penny loafers in the early 90s. I was young and thought they looked like mom shoes. 
 

I will never get behind the charcuterie trend. I’m a plate and bowl person. My food platters will always go on plates and bowls. I guess I’m not cool either. 

[backyard sylph]

3 hours ago, HereticHick said:

OH my gosh I was wearing penny loafers with dimes in them too! (circa 1983-85) Then I got a hold of --wait for it-- Canadian dimes--and thought I was SO.CUTTING.EDGE.

Also, I wore safety pins as earrings. Ouch. Would not repeat.

I had penny loafers around 1980-81, for the days I did "preppy" style. I put Le Mans Family Fun Center game tokens in them. Now and then I entertain the idea of doing that again, and I did have some green penny loafers around 2006, but with no coins in. And, I suppose, there aren't game tokens anymore. 🙂

[Audrey2]

Penny loafers we're also my thing! I started wearing the Dexter penny loafers in about 1985 or 1986 and would get a new pair each School year. During the summers I wore the penny loafers without socks. While in college I got my penny loafers re- soled each year at Christmas. Once I graduated and started making my own money I splurged on a pair of black penny loafers as well as the regular cordovan ones. I wore them as much as possible until about 2000 when they weren't the best shoes for teaching as I was on my feet most of the day. (During my first few years of teaching I would wear comfortable shoes for teaching but anytime I wasn't at work I was in my penny loafers.) I miss them but I don't know that my feet would be happy in them anymore.

[fluffernutter]

1 minute ago, Audrey2 said:

Penny loafers we're also my thing! I started wearing the Dexter penny loafers in about 1985 or 1986 and would get a new pair each School year. During the summers I wore the penny loafers without socks. While in college I got my penny loafers re- soled each year at Christmas. Once I graduated and started making my own money I splurged on a pair of black penny loafers as well as the regular cordovan ones. I wore them as much as possible until about 2000 when they weren't the best shoes for teaching as I was on my feet most of the day. (During my first few years of teaching I would wear comfortable shoes for teaching but anytime I wasn't at work I was in my penny loafers.) I miss them but I don't know that my feet would be happy in them anymore.

I got a pair a few years ago from Eastland and omg my feet are not 15 anymore. 😬  My go-to shoe now is a comfy wool clog that may or may not be considered slippers. 

[Mrs Ms]

I am just glad there was a fundie birthday party with enough food! After reading about “2 animal crackers” Maxwell family and “diet every January since I was 9” Claire (Spivey) Duggar, this is nice to see. Not my cup of tea, but nice for the kids.