Week of 6/26

[thejackpot]

Bring on the good news folks! I miss you guys. Hope life is good.

I just had a great weekend in NY with my sister. We ate well, shopped and chatted a lot. It was wonderful.

[meshaliuknits]

BabyLiu has her recital last night. She did a great job in both of her dances. Even her brother said she did awesome. 😊

[orangeblossom]

meshaliuknits Babyiu is so cute.

Have you heard of/seen this little girl Bella. She's a contortionist who can shoot a bow and arrow with her foot. She totally reminds me of Babyliu

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3780533/Bullseye-Young-contortionist-manages-shoot-bow-arrow-hit-target-FEET.html

[thejackpot]

meshaliuknits she looks adorable. Her hair turned out great. My dd had her recital on last Saturday, she ran on the stage and did a fantastic job. I was all teary. It was so silly of me.

[orangeblossom]

Jun 26, 2017 21:59:29 GMT -5 thejackpot said:

meshaliuknits she looks adorable. Her hair turned out great. My dd had her recital on last Saturday, she ran on the stage and did a fantastic job. I was all teary. It was so silly of me.

Aw, so proud of little miss jackpot. I bet she was the cutest one there.

[redwino]

meshaliuknits she is adorable!

I've been enjoying my very short summer break with dd. I'm at the phase of thinking sah would be kind of fun. In 2 weeks I'll be at the "thank you baby Jesus for gainful employment" phase but I'm riding this one out.
We're doing swim lessons right now and dd sucks so bad. Lol. She's so stiff and hates getting her face wet. I'm looking for our next activity. Trying to decide between dance and tumbling.

[meshaliuknits]

Jun 26, 2017 21:59:29 GMT -5 thejackpot said:

meshaliuknits she looks adorable. Her hair turned out great. My dd had her recital on last Saturday, she ran on the stage and did a fantastic job. I was all teary. It was so silly of me.

Awww! I totally get it. Good job Lil jackpot!

[orangeblossom]

Just got back from vacation. We went to the Dominican Republic. We stayed at Excellence Carmen. It was amazing.

I will say initially, I was feeling some kind of way about all of these beautiful and brown and black people answering to my every whim. I kept thinking about the article someone posted on CEP about responsible tourism.

The employees of the resort were so friendly and nice, yet so many were so far from their hometown and families, going home every 10 days. I remembered @246baje saying for so many islands, tourism is their biggest industry and not going doesn't help either.

Anyway, it was amazing and much needed. I know some people don't tip at AIs, but DH and I did, and sadly, noticed we were one of the few people who did. I met a Black woman in the flight back, who stayed at another resort, and she said the same, only she and her husband tipped.

[thejackpot]

orangeblossom that sounds like the perfect way to enjoy finishing up all that hard work. You deserve to relax.
I get the quandary but I know staying away would only cripple their economy. Don't beat yourself up over it.

[orangeblossom]

Jun 26, 2017 23:00:50 GMT -5 thejackpot said:

orangeblossom that sounds like the perfect way to enjoy finishing up all that hard work. You deserve to relax.
I get the quandary but I know staying away would only cripple their economy. Don't beat yourself up over it.

Thanks it really was perfect. That was our first AI. DH loved it and is hooked. He's ready to either go back there or try their other properties.

Thanks re the quandary. I think it's something that while you can empathize in general, but as a POC, it hits you differently.

[bugandbibs]

My allergies are killing me and it's really putting a crimp on all the yard work that needs to be done. We have several maintance/enhancement type projects for around the house and I'm a sneezy, itchy mess. It sucks.

I finally conquered the paper mess on my kitchen peninsula! It took me 4 hours, but I sorted through each piece and dealt with it. Now, if I could just keep my family from piling stuff there.

[childofhiphop]

Hello Friends!

I've been swamped at work and staying away from some of these boards because the nonsense was getting to me. Like, she's NOT A GIRL. She's a WOMAN and her name is CHARLEENA LYLES. But I couldn't post because I was secretly reading in a meeting and was too busy when I got home. Shame on me.

In good news, we celebrated our 14 year anniversary this past weekend. It's actually this week but we don't have time during the week for that. It was nice and relaxing though. Imagine that - POC of colored married? Happily?

I loved the dance picture meshaliuknits, I wish I could post pics but the BM still trolls and still has her psychic searching for us to get "her" kids back. The unspoken things of adoption. Sigh. But, anything to protect my babies.

Have a good week everyone!

[orangeblossom]

bugandbibs feel better. Congrats on conquering the mess

childofhiphop Happy Anniversary!

[thejackpot]

bugandbibs, Yay for clutter busting. It always feels good to get that stuff done.

childofhiphop, 14 years!! That is awesome. Glad you celebrated your union. Happy Anniversary!

[skwcm80]

My divorce was finalized about a month and a half ago. It was a long time coming, and I got the best outcome I could have hoped for. I'm so relieved.

[skwcm80]

Happy anniversary childofhiphop  !!

[orangeblossom]

skwcm80 I'm happy you got the best outcome. Wishing you happiness and peace as you navigate life post-divorce.

[borinquen57]

Hi everyone! It's been a bit. I'm on a leave of absence from grad school so I can apply/transfer to where I got my BA. It's not a cohort so I can schedule classes that work for my schedule instead of every Wednesday night from 4-10 which is so inconvenient. Today I had an interview for a super part-time, position which would go until the end of November. DD1 starts Kinder in the fall, so if it works out and I get this job, DD2 can go to daycare, I can work 3 days a week, pick up another day or two as a sub for our school district. My new Master's program would start back up in Spring, so then I could just sub 3-4 days a week since the temp job would be done. It's a social service position which would be great on my resume and it'll put me out there since I've been a SAHM for almost 6 years.

The divorce stuff is going pretty well for me. We had parenting mediation yesterday, we reached a full agreement on custody. I do worry about STBXH though because his mood swings are pretty out there. He told me off on Sunday when picking up the girls, asked for reconciliation yesterday at mediation, told me off again this morning, and then asked me out for a date this weekend. Um, what? There is ZERO chance for reconciliation on my end...ABSOLUTELY NOT! I have never, ever been as happy and at peace as I am and have been these last few months.


childofhiphop, congratulations on 14 years!  That is so wonderful!


skwcm80, I'm glad you got the best possible outcome!  

[childofhiphop]

Jun 27, 2017 17:42:30 GMT -5 skwcm80 said:

My divorce was finalized about a month and a half ago. It was a long time coming, and I got the best outcome I could have hoped for. I'm so relieved.

I'm glad you got a good outcome! I hope things continue to go well for you!

[thejackpot]

skwcm80, I wish you nothing but happiness in this new chapter of your life. I am glad you got a good outcome.
borinquen57, Continued good vibes as you navigate through all the aspects of this new life you are creating.

[iammalcolmx]

Jun 26, 2017 22:52:13 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Just got back from vacation. We went to the Dominican Republic. We stayed at Excellence Carmen. It was amazing.

I will say initially, I was feeling some kind of way about all of these beautiful and brown and black people answering to my every whim. I kept thinking about the article someone posted on CEP about responsible tourism.

The employees of the resort were so friendly and nice, yet so many were so far from their hometown and families, going home every 10 days. I remembered @246baje saying for so many islands, tourism is their biggest industry and not going doesn't help either.

Anyway, it was amazing and much needed. I know some people don't tip at AIs, but DH and I did, and sadly, noticed we were one of the few people who did. I met a Black woman in the flight back, who stayed at another resort, and she said the same, only she and her husband tipped.

I tipped LIKE CRAZY in the DR and yes I didn't see the Russians or Canadians doing any tipping. The employees were super nice to me and were curious about me looking so much like them and being American? They may have thought I was from the region and left to marry an American?

[orangeblossom]

iammalcolmx I could see them thinking that about you being from the region. We took the Spanish Classes everyday, and tried to use it as much as possible and a couple of employees asked if we were Dominican.

There were a lot of Brits and Canadians there in holiday right now.


ETA: What I thought was so beautiful about DR aside from the actual landscape, was the varied shades of brown and black. So many beautiful people, inside and out.

[barcelonagirl]

I'm annoyed at myself for showing my ass in another thread and now I have good info and links that no one will consider.

Also I scored a $15 Belle nightgown at the Disney sale!

[andwhat]

I am not one to normally get emotional about DD's milestones, but as I am about to go pay tuition for PK for next year I am suddenly all 'my baby'. Lawd if I cry on the first day of school I will have officially become my mother. I have always prided myself on being my father.

I am scared to jinx it, but if you don't name it you can't claim it, but DD has slept in her bed all week without her daily bribe of a blind bag. I pray this continues. She did get up last night but went right out when I took her to her room and tucked her back in. This has been a game changer for us. And not giving the daily bribe will save us $3/day. LOL

[andwhat]

Oh I forgot. socratic your boys are so damn cute.

[skwcm80]

andwhat I pride myself on not being super emotional too, but damn if I didn't tear up when I took DS to kindergarten round-up. It was my last time going through that process.

I won't tell anyone if you don't. 😉

[sweetday]

orangeblossom - we are so many different shades is great to see.

childofhiphop - congratulations!

borinquen57 , skwcm80 - I'm glad things are working out for you guys.

*poof*

[orangeblossom]

sweetday hugs and peace as you work out what the future holds.

[childofhiphop]

skwcm80, I'm glad your outcome was good and I hope/pray that you have continued relief and happiness moving forward!

[redwino]

Happy Anniversary childofhiphop! We celebrated 10 years on the 9th.

Sending good vibes to borinquen57 and skwcm80 on your new journeys.

socratic your boys are so cute.