Satisfying Saturday PWYC

[Lady Maverick]

Thank you for taking the time to give your thoughts on the books.

I really feel old. I recognize the younger generation has different ways of accepting actions that my generation wouldn't have considered. I admit to being shocked when I found out many of the kid's friends were choosing to have s*x at an early age. It seems WAAAY too much for children to process physically, mentally & emotionally but it is becoming common behavior now. The kids and I talk openly about the decisions they will be making. All this to say the s*x part in books is reality now, but when combined with the other heavy topics - domestic violence, abusive relationships. suicide, rape, murder, etc. It just seems to be an unhealthy mental combination for 11 year old. Added to that is that DD11 has blocked out all memory before she was 10 years old which gives me an uneasy feeling that her brain is protecting her from terrible things that happened to her. The topics in the books could be a trigger for her. I truly hope that I am over thinking this. At this point, I can't put the genie back into the bottle.

I monitored & mentored DD11 in the kitchen as she made peach hand pies. She did so good! Her skills are improving.

DS14 and a friend have been in/out/in/out/in/out so many times this morning. The only thing more energy filled than one 14-year-old is two of them with a mission (working on a Harley & a honda motorcycle). It is nonstop motions, chatter, and a frequent need for teenage boys to eat.

Cletus (male rabbit) got out of his cage and went on an adventure. He was running as fast as he could go zigzagging all over the yard. But then he discovered the female rabbit cages and stopped to visit them. We were able to capture Cletus and safely return him to his cage.

[Nancy]

I got s pen pal letter done and out to the mail box on time.
Did some journaling.
Zone work goal of getting the spare room spiffed & reclaimed the desk in there.
Took my planners out of there and put new un - used journals & books in there.
[Dgd maybe here 2 days a week every other week this summer.]
I've had my lunch.

I am now re situating the planners in order of priority now.
The dining room has been cleared.
I have a few to shuffle and put away in the living room bookcase.
The there is the creativity room. It will take several rounds.
I need to do one round before this afternoon in there.
Got the planners put where I wanted them.

Walked ddog have most of the steps in now.90% of them done!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm with LadyM on this. Due to dd's situation, dealing with unpleasant life situations in movies/tv/videogames/books needs to be handled with attention and support.

We sometimes roll our eyes at "trigger warnings" on college courses etc, but I remember one of ds's girlfriends freaking out when 5 month old dgd grabbed onto her collar and pull herself into the gf to give a hug. She didn't throw the baby down but she also starting screaming for help from ds (and I grabbed the baby). She was really upset because a baby shouldn't trigger that PTSD. (She had been raped and choking was part of it so her neck being touched was the trigger.)

I remembered that experience when some women felt they couldn't wear masks during Covid. It isn't hard to imagine an attack where smothering was part of the violence and that a mask might trigger that PTSD.

LadyM is just being careful as she should be.

That girlfriend was devastated despite my rocking her and saying how proud I was that she put the baby's safety first and managed to get the baby to safety before fully falling apart. I kept telling her it was a sign of her getting stronger and she should be proud of herself.

*****

I took a full shower and got dressed, ate breakfast, then ripped apart the living room. Pierre is now moved to a sunnier location, hopefully slightly less drafty but within range of the fan of the radiator so I'm a bit concerned. The dead branches were trimmed off. And incandescent mini lights were put back on him (he needs a bigger set but these will do for now.) I had put LED lights on him 17 months ago and he's actually done worse since then so I think he really liked the heat and different sort of light the incandescent offer.

The living room is not yet returned to being even manageable for us, let alone company ready (congrats on that part, Twins!) but now that the baseball game is over, I'll get back to work on that. Dh came in at one point to say it was scoreless in the 8th and so I offered to let him watch the last innings in here. That confirmed everything was plugged back in correctly and worked.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Living room is back in order.

Dh and I went for a walk that turned out to be 50 minutes. He's asleep now on the couch (he didn't mean to fall asleep so his neck might be sore when he wakes up.)

Dinner is heated up stuff from the freezer.

[CathyS]

Although it was a cool and mostly overcast day, we had BBQed steak and baked potatoes, along with corn on the cob for dh that I cooked in the microwave.

The sun is out now, which is a nice end to the day.

[Lady Maverick]

I made 4 packs of chicken ramen. The hot savory noodles on a chilly day were a good combination according to the kids. We have several leftover choices available also.

I harvested the last 5 tomatoes from the plants grown indoors over the winter. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to transplant the indoor tomato plants back into the raised beds. I've never heard of it being done so I will probably give it a try just to learn if it is possible.

[lucylee]

LadyM — I would DEFINITELY be cautious about an 11-yr-old reading Colleen Hoover. I loved the plot twists also, but there were abusive situations, sex scenes, just a lot of stuff that probably isn’t appropriate for any one below high school age, and especially for someone who may have personal experiences that could be triggered by some of this.

You might ask dd’s school librarian for suggestions of young adult literature that might be more age-appropriate. Or the public librarian, also.

Certainly if I were you, I would try to speed-read/skim through any thing like this she’s reading so you might notice anything particularly concerning for her specific background.

I’m absolutely not for book-banning or anything, but I have remarked to my mom before that my reading skills MUCH exceeded my emotional maturity. I still remember some stories I read in grown-up magazines, waiting on my grandmother at the beauty shop.
The kidnapping where the girl was buried alive in a box absolutely TERRIFIED me. I fully expected to be kidnapped at any given day. A school bus was hit by a train… horrifying. Even through there weren’t any train tracks in my whole school district!
There’s no way to protect her from everything, but right now, she’s young enough and respectful enough of you that you can probably keep her sheltered a little longer.

[Harriet]

LadyM, I'd just say if that wasn't what you meant to buy, don't keep it. You might as easily have come home and realized they were books by a different author, just a similar name. Or an author of the same name but on a random non-fiction subject. Why not put them with receipt in bag and return when you can, enjoying the use of the money for something you and dd actually planned and expected.

Transplanting - everything I've transplanted to a second-choice place this spring has been fine (and I've changed my mind a good bit, lol). A nice soaking and their feet were content. My only tip would be a watering can with tepid water, if not even somewhat warm, to avoid extra shock at the same time as transplant.

Nancy, I think cheerful shower curtain designs are great, and cactus (cacti?) is a fun choice for bathroom shower. My grandboys love their shower curtain that has the world map on it! My own is very sensible, however. A gift from dstepdil, who was buying for sturdiness, mildew resistance, practical, practical. (smile)

Attended online prayer meeting and it was really happy and encouraging tonight. Especially so since we'd missed last week while pastor was on a trip. Prayer was requested for the ministry folks at Dr. Charles Stanley's organization. A couple people complimented him for "walking the talk". Some didn't know who he was.

I sprayed my usual mixture of liquid fertilizer, wetting agent and nutrients over all my plants this afternoon. My only concern is that after I'd already started, I realized they were still moist from a shower previously. Hmmm... .. If I had it to do over again I'd wait until tomorrow, but actually it couldn't hurt.

Doing my mending this evening.