I did this! You have to send them by next week I think, but they’ve also partnered up with ToysRus to have a small online store that ships directly to the family. The letters are only ones sent to a specific Santa address, meant for the operation Santa.

It took awhile to find a letter. Like some of the comments said there’s a lot of expensive stuff on there. But they’re kids. They just want what their friends have. They want to fit in. They’re writing a letter to Santa, who can gift them anything. I tried to cut them some slack for their wishlists.

The most heartbreaking one was a letter that said their house had just been foreclosed on and they had to move. They asked for beds, mattresses, and bedding for their two kids.

The letters can be from anyone. Kids, parents, even just adults without kids. I also appreciated that it wasn’t religious or military affiliated.

I struggled with this a few years ago when my mother told me over text that she had an incurable disease and had a year to live. I struggled with how I should feel and how I would feel if it happened. She ended up being “healed” by going on a camping trip and praying (though I’d bet money her not-a-real-doctor gave her a false diagnosis). So while I don’t have the conclusion to how I will feel when my mother passes, I will say that my grandmother passed earlier this year and we weren’t that close but it hit me harder than I would’ve thought. I think when my mom does pass I’ll be upset. Either because of the loss or because I’m upset that I don’t feel more from the loss or I’m mourning what we relationship we never had

The small testing for mastery isn’t the issue and is really all that should be done. It’s the hours and hours of state testing that we require of nine year olds that’s the killer. We do quarterly testing starting in third grade with a major test at the end of the year in both reading and math (plus history for 4th and science for 5th). So leaving elementary school kids have completed 30 state assessments that each take several hours to complete (not every kid needs over an hour but you’re still in the testing environment until everyone is finished). Then, there’s no consequences for failing. You still get promoted to the next grade and you’re invited to summer school but not required to attend. If I recall correctly, the data shows that testing is effective and beneficial if its short term, like a unit test, and not long term like a midterm or final.

I was in a sign language class (ASL) around Halloween and the instructor asked if we had ever encountered a ghost. We thought he signed tornado so we signed about times we were near tornadoes while he’s looking on with disbelief and shock and awe about all of our supernatural encounters. We had a good laugh when we figured out the confusion.

Some places are more mayonnaise-based and some are more ranch-tasting, because it’s just a Virginia thing I don’t think anyone has standardized it

A lot of places will only give it to you if you ask for it now. But yeah, don’t ask for white sauce outside of Virginia because everyone else will look at you crazy. (Similar to being from Pittsburgh and just wanting some French fries on my salad…)

For most of my life whenever I felt shitty for a few days but hadn’t cried yet, I’d put on a sad movie and just bawl during the whole thing. Felt much better after a good cry and a good sleep.

AI. If people want to use it to help them rephrase a letter better that’s totally fine. But it’s shoved in my face at every turn and in 99 cases out of 100 it’s useless with several of those being downright dangerous.

NASA has already sent out emails to their teams and contractors about what implications this can have on their departments. Shit’s bad.

My uncle landed himself in jail after getting drunk and beating up his 19 year old son. His wife has refused to leave him so while we haven’t cut her off completely it’s weird now. There was a big rift when my mom said he wasn’t invited to Christmas. Also, my grandmother (my aunt and my dad’s mom) died a few months ago and we found out that my aunt had been taking a lot of money from her over the years as well.

We live far away from family so it was just us and a doula with us in the hospital. I wasn’t even induced, just my labor (but the epidural really slowed any progress I had made). I was probably close to a C-section, I pushed for 3.5 hours and I don’t think I could’ve done much more.

I was in labor for 40 hours, so probably that. Then at the end of it I had a baby that didn’t sleep either.

We have threat assessments at our elementary school but we go through MANY channels before police are involved. Like, is the threat credible? Is anyone fearful? Does the child have the means? Is there motive? Someone making a comment that says “because they’ll blow up” would be a freaking conversation about school appropriate language not arrest and suspensions, for ANYBODY but especially kids with documented disabilities.

I got these almost every morning when I was pregnant. Thankfully they only lasted a few minutes (besides a soreness for the rest of the day), but they sucked. I had to train myself to not move my legs in my sleep.

Our division does DARE with 4th graders still. Officers come in and spew that shit for a few weeks and kids get a bunch of swag and cupcakes for signing a pledge. I’m not a fan of any of it, but it’s above my pay grade.

At home: 3 squares, folded. At other places with different paper: 4-5, depending on quality. Out and about with the tissue paper that exists in public bathrooms? Maybe the length of my arm.

From the article: “Anyone who lived within 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of the derailment can get up to $70,000 per household for property damage plus up to $25,000 per person for health problems. The payments drop off the farther people lived from the derailment down to as little as a few hundred dollars at the outer edges.”

My parents and my brother live in the 2-4 mile range and when they got their paperwork it was up to $45,000 per household.

So the money isn’t divided equally between the 55,000 claims.

When my parents and my brother received their paperwork it was a different amount depending on how close you are to the wreckage site. 2-4 miles away was initially listed as $45,000.

Yeah I wasn’t sure how to word it because I know that different places have different naming mechanisms. But from 6-18 years old I was homeschooled. There was a co-op or two where I technically did classes with others, and I did a year of Cyber school before it was cool but most of my education came from me self-teaching from textbooks and “curriculum”.

Homeschooled 1st-12th grade with the exception of 4 months of public school in first grade.