Happy Opposite Day, everyone! It's finally here and all of the packages have been received. I think that makes it a good day (... or do I say a bad day?) The creativity in this swap was outstanding! I hope we get to do this swap again one year. I think some of us may look for some other weird days to celebrate for future swaps. I haven't done a bit of winter sowing this year so I hope my back allows for that soon. Of course, it has been extra cold here lately so I might now want to be out there anyway. Do some of you prepare your winter sowing containers indoors and then move them outside once they are planted? I've done that if I want to plant them on a really cold day. Of course, bringing the soil inside is kind of a mess! Usually I just prepare everything in the garage and then move the containers so they are totally outside. Thanks, everyone, for participating. Sharon, I'm glad you are starting to feel better and your package arrived okay. It won't be long and the February swap will begin. Of course, keep chatting here if you like. I think only the game prizes are still "in flight." Jeanne

Answering three at once here... We also thought that 100 reasons was too long, but we weren't about to go against BM's instructions for this. If she had made him come up with 100 reasons to finish his lunch, then we probably would have shortened it, but fighting is a big deal. Since you all think that his negative/defeatist/self-loathing reasons are a part of being 9 and knowing he did something bad, I'll try to not be too concerned. And we'll just try to emphasize the individual behaviors as single incidents. We often bring up a past good incident as an example of what he should be doing, and to remind him of that has made good decisions in the past, so we know he can do it in the future. Once in awhile we bring up a past bad incident as an example of what not to do, but that's rare. He's generally pretty confident and proud of his academic and sports achievements. Once in awhile he'll say "I only got 24/25 my math facts because I'm pretty dumb." We reply something like "24/25 is not the grade of dumb person! You did great on it! Nobody knows everything all the time, and everyone is allowed to make mistakes. You're smart and don't you forget it!" I don't know if keeping consequences non-personal would work... I've mentioned before that I suspect he has some ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder) on top of his ADHD. Well, he REALLY blames others for his own mistakes and problems. For example, there was a recent battle to get him to admit that HE left his bike on the driveway (he insisted that Papa moved it, the neighbour moved it, a thief came to steal it but then changed his mind halfway down the driveway, etc) even though Papa and FDH saw him leave it there. We're trying to get him to take responsibility for his own actions at this point. My 4yo niece is that same as JNM's DS though. If she thinks that anyone is disappointed in her, the waterworks begin and she is apologizing left and right. She's also VERY well behaved, but she feels absolutely awful when she does something wrong. I like the idea of writing some of the scenarios we talk about. I'll suggest it to FDH and maybe next time we have something we have to do hypothetical situations for, I will write them too and he can write down what he will do in each case. This idea just keeps getting better - it could be photocopied so BM knows EXACTLY what we've talked about at our house. I think this could work well. I'll also talk to FDH about the diary of how A__ should behave at GM's house. Since it's her mom's house, she obviously gets to make the decision. I think it probably would be helpful to have a list to refer back to of what he needs to do. We wrote down his grounding rules this time and that made it easier for him to remember/understand when he was restricted from something he wanted. Rewards for checks hasn't worked in the past for him (he cheated on his star chart), but the last attempt was a few years ago, so maybe he's old enough now to handle it. Thanks for the help and encouragement!

I agree I thought I was at the Lisa show I was waiting for her to start issuing blessings to the crowd! Way too much time on her. I was surprised she won the sprint money. I did think it was funny when abi asked Jeff "did you watch the show" lol I think she had a reality check. I almost didn't recognize Penner wow he cleaned up nicely. I too think all votes should be shown and show who voted for who like the other tribals. I am happy Denise won, I was a little sad for Skupin, he really pulled it out and played a good game once he got past all the injuries and bleeding lol. All in all it was a good entertaining season. Will be interesting to see who returns next season, I predict Malcolm will return at some point since Jeff so pointedly, asked him. I still think Jeff the ball player is a jerk. Sounded like his closing comments may have come back to haunt him by the comment he made, would serve him right. I wish Jeff's wife had come out and byotch slapped that Dawson girl when she went running to Jeff for that kiss. I was happy Jeff said his wife's were much better!

I am hoping it warms up a little next weekend. If it does, I will plant a few perennials still in pots on the deck if the frost doesn't kill them. Planning to move them in the garage for tonight and tomorrow night. I will plant them no matter how they look, though. I also plan to try to put down some clover seed where the dogs have destroyed the grass in the back. Not sure if this is a good idea or not, but the seed isn't too expensive, so worth a try. I also would like to try to get the back hill cleared a little, but it it so difficult to navigate that I may have to pay someone in the spring. I don't have a lot of annuals at all, so no worries there. I am debating whether to cut back the coneflowers this year now that the goldfinches have cleaned off all the seed. I rather like the look of them in winter, so we'll see.