My Boomer Tips

My Boomer Tips

have very rigid parents. Their dad is a big time lawyer, there mom is a nurse/stay at home mom. They are the types of parents who think their children need all the best of everything. They buy 0 jeans for their 2 yr old. These girls have EVERYTHING. They even each have their own toy rooms separate from their bedrooms. They do not need toys. I cannot afford 400 dollars for each girl to have an outfit. Yes that is truely what their parents spend. They have this intimidating personalities. Its almost eerie for me to walk into their house. Not that I am poor but I am a nursing student paying my own way through college so money is tight of course. I have thought about books but their grandmother (who I am close to) says there mom is too picky and only allows certain kinds. I am totally at a loss.

Their girls just seem like something out of a primp and proper movie. They are in total control by their parents in every senses of the word.

Someone PLEASE help.
Not to be picky but we moved here when my son was 3 months old. This is our 3rd Christmas with them. Every year we spend about 30-40 dollars on each girl. But last year they gave my son a flashlight that was 6 dollars (I know because I bought one for a stocking stuffer). Just seems a bit off that spend well over 100 on them and my son gets cheaped out. But my son gets lots from us to make up for it. But he is growing to the age where things are said from him and I dont want him to think its ok to be stingy. I am a bit worried he might say something soon. It is very obvious. My mother in law and their grandmother get offended by it and give my son extra gifts to try to make up for it.
I have thought about the donation to someone or some organization in their name but I am not sure. I asked their grandmother (my husband's aunt) what she thought because their mother is her daughter (mind you not the person her parents raised her to be) and she said she would fear that next year they would refuse to have us for Christmas because it is always at their house. That would break my son's heart because he loves to see all my husband's cousins (one is a firefighter who he oozes love for). I guess more than anything I don't want them to make my son feel excluded. I thought about giving them a gift certificate to build-a-bear. Their mom is not hip with stuffed animals - she thinks they make children immature. But I am tempted to buy them in hopes their grandmother will take them and let them be a kid just for a little bit at least, ot keep them at their grandmothers house. She is at least allowed visits with them when their mom is scheduled to work (which is rare).

My Boomer Tips

My sister and I are a year in half apart (I'm 18 and she's 20) and were best friends up until we turned 9 & 10. That's when my parents started fighting again and we silently took sides ( I wanted them to divorce; she didn't). It drove a small wedge between us and we were constantly criticized by our parents and grandmother for not wanting to be around each other as much. Then when we became teens, we drifted even more due to separate friendships, hobbies, personalities, etc.

We are both intelligent but I did better in academics so I was placed in the gifted program, Beta club, got principal's list, and what not so I began to really shine more educationally. This was, however, the straw that broke the camel's back. My father (more than my mom because she didn't want either of us to feel inferior to the other) praised me for doing well academically and even told me I was the smartest of my three siblings. At first it made me feel good but then extremely bad and guilty and pressured to stay that way. I felt bad he didn't tell my sister that but at the same time, my sister was the one everyone said was the prettiest and the most outgoing and likeable so I felt it was my own compensation for not being the favorite, pretty daughter. I was smart. She was pretty and a cheerleader. We kept our place in our household and excelled in them. And if we did something to try and break free of our "roles", whether they were good (me hanging out with friends or her getting an A) or bad (me getting a C or her hanging out late at night ) my father would swiftly make comment of our changing ways, inevitably putting us back in our place.

Eventually we didn't really talk anymore and if we did, it was five minutes of bickering. I thought she was stuck up, selfish, too talkative and superficial. She thought I was lame, ugly, too shy, a bookworm, and unlikable. We were and are night and day.

I worry that our relationship as sisters will never be ammended especially after a recent conversation between my father, myself, and my sister. He made note of all my previous academic accomplishments and how I've had to struggle more for my goals than her, basically belittling her and her accomplishments. I stuck up for her and praised her accomplishments but she just condescended me in the end like always. I know she does it because she feels bad about herself when my dad talks to her about her life but he's done and does the exact same thing with me by making me feel bad for not having a lot of friends or being pretty like her or being liked by everyone. He even told her he was so proud to have her as a daughter. He's never told me that, just that he was proud of my accomplishments.

My Boomer Tips

Continuing my character summaries for the story I am writing. Please let me know what you think of these characters, along with any improvements I could make.

Zachariah Michael Anderson (Everyone calls him Zachy) – 18
• Has been at the school since he was 8, his older brothers Raphael 20, Michael 22 and Gabriel 24, have left the school by the time the story has started (But they will make appearances and be referred to) and is actually very well liked among people. – He doesn’t talk about his parents much.
• He’s tall at 6’5, has a head of dirt blonde hair that falls over Sapphire blue eyes. He has creamy pale skin and a big grin to match.
• He’s a happy, cheerful but deep person. He’s considered to be a joker, and is always quick with a sarcastic and funny comment, more often than not at an inappropriate time – This probably covers up underlying issues, such as his parents leaving him and his brothers to grow up at the school rather than with them.
• He’s smarter than he looks, and gets through all of his normal classes easily. However, he is also very insightful and observant; he seems to always be able to read people like a book, whether they are happy, sad, angry, tired, hungry ect, he knows it, except for Griffin, and Alice when she arrives, he has trouble reading her (this is due to the extensive shield that she’s built up around herself from so many years alone), and that’s what draws him to her - the two become gradual friends over the course of the story.
• He doesn't really trust Arthur, as from the moment he arrives with Alice, he can sense that there is something lurking beneath the surface - but he can't tell what.
• He has the ‘Gift’ of empathy and can read aura’s; which proves useful to people when deciding if someone is untrustworthy. He’s also a decent fighter, for hand to hand combat, so can be useful in a fight.

Lake Tyler Montgomery – 17
• Lake grew up with his Grandmother in Vancouver Canada, like Alice, his parents died when he was very young. His Grandmother sent him to the Home shortly after his thirteenth birthday, when he started displaying the same ‘Gifts’ as both his parents. – His Grandmother is a Witch, as was his Mother, but she believed herself to old to teach him magic by herself.
• He’s small at only 5’3, slim and baby faced with lightly tanned skin, curly mouse brown hair and ice blue eyes. With a lop-sided smile, and a scar under his right eye from the night in which his parents died.
• He’s quiet and shy, and doesn’t really talk to those outside of his social circle. He’s good friends with the twins, Riker and Rydel (when they’re not teasing him), and he likes to hang around with Iris and the girls, because they don’t pick on him for being small. He likes Alice when she arrives, because he sees them as being the same, though he feels sorry that she had to grow up not knowing who she was, and without anyone there – This in turn makes him appreciate his Grandmother more.
• Griffin gives him the creeps; He gets bad vibes being around him.
• He is descendant from a line of Witches’ and Sorcerers, and so can use forms of magic and invoke the spirits; though not powerful one’s – he can only cast a few spells, for levitation and blast forces.
• His father – a French/Canadian Marine - had the ‘Gift’ of sensory location, meaning if given time, he can find anyone or anything anywhere, only however, if he knows exactly who or what it is he is looking for. – His powers work best when angry, but Lake, being kind natured and very reserved, has trouble finding anger to use (until later on in the story).

Let me know what you think!

My Boomer Tips

I asked this earlier, but did it so late...wanted to get a few more opinions on it:

So my 9 year old is asking about an allowance. I was just given one as a child, but I really want him to learn how to work for and manage money, so I want him to earn his allowance. He also doesn't have any chores except to put away his school things etc but no specific chores in the household. He's terribly forgetful and although he has the best intentions, mess up often. So should he get punished if he doesn't do his chores? No tv? I don't want to tie money to his chores specifically.

Someone suggested a chore chart, which I think is great. He gets a star when the chore is completed, but I don't really want to reward him for doing what he should anyway. Should I coach him through it for the first few weeks and then let him take over gradually? I'm really undecided about it and guess that's the reason I've procrastinated with him helping out. Besides the fact, I feel I'll have to monitor him and it'll be quicker and easier to just do it myself.

I'm looking to change that. I want to separate chores (free due to obligation) activities from "work" or earned activities. I'm not sure what earned activities he should have because everything we seem to do around here is for the common good. We take care of his grandmother, but I refuse to "pay" him to do anything for her. I can't pay him for folding his own clothes it's his responsibility, if you get my meaning.

He has these math sets he does or doesn't want to do (a bit like going to work). He's supposed to do them anyway, but oftentimes between homework, projects and dinner it doesn't get done. I was thinking of giving him a dollar a set- per set. In addition, I want to teach him about saving and charity etc. but I'm not sure what the allotment should be for each thing. Like how much do you put aside to give to charity/church out of . How much should he put aside for Christmas presents (long term savings) and how much for short term things like video games.

I was also thinking of giving him a bank book to work out his money etc and myself serving as a bank. If he "borrows" money, how much should I charge in interest? And should he be able to work it off? or should it all be cash? When I say charge interest, the point is for him to learn to really think about whether a nintendo game is worth "borrowing" from his own bank for - of course, I'm not going to keep any interest that's charged, I'll just put it into his account at the end of the year as, I dunno, interest earned. I have a friend whose parents did that with him from about 10 until he left the house. It seemed really harsh to me in high school because he only got clothes or gifts or anything on Christmas and his birthday. His parents would give him like 2 pairs of shoes for the year, if they were "uncool" and he wanted a different pair or even more shoes, he would have to borrow or take his own money and save to buy them!! By 13, he was buying almost all clothes except for 7 pants, 7 t-shirts for school - thats all his parents bought so he had to buy ALL his clothes himself!!

But when we were in college he knew exactly how much he had in the bank to the penny, paid every bill on time, knew exactly when he would pay off every cc charge and was never a "starving" student simply because he knew how to ration his money perfectly. I don't think I can ever be that harsh, but I want to instill that type of financial awareness.
Wow this ended up long:

Not sure how to negotiate this.
Appreciate all input.
Does he get in trouble if he doesn't complete chores then? What is reasonable? NoTV that evening? or losing Nintendo for the night?
Thanks Caroline - I like the idea of having the envelopes too. Is your daughter punished for not doing chores or leaving something undone?

My Boomer Tips

ok so im transferring from a school that i made a lot of good and bad friends with, had a lot of fun moments at, and besides the fact that the teachers didnt care i loved it because i was popular and known as the cool girl. i was so excited to go back to this school for 7th grade thinking that i would see cuter boys and more awesome people and cooler teachers, but my grandmother was pushing me to go to this snobby school where all the kids are white and i did NOT WANT TO. but it is a private school so when you register you have to have good grades and everything to get in. so my 5 year old cuzn got in about...2 weeks ago. so here i wuz thinkin that i wuz gonna go back to my old school but that changed when i got a call from the school this morning saying that there was an opening for me . so i have to start school on thursday which sucks cuz my old school is supposed to start on the 25th. and i am not excited or anxious at all becuz i rilly did not want to go. my grandma always said that god knows best, and that i would not have gotten the call if it wasnt where i was supposed to be, but still im a teenager and 13 yeaars old...itz not that easy to make friends at my age becuz of how mean and critical kids are these days . the only reason she wants me to go is becuz all the classes are college bound, and they have a lot of after school activities, and they are nice people but she hasnt met the kids. i would love to go if my friends were going, and also becuz it is a gifted school and they will put me in even more advanced glasses, but since they are all goin back to sun valley and i have to go to this new school called union academy and i might get stressed by the amount of work, i dont think im ready to go. i know this is long but im just very thorough with situations. plzzzzzzzzzzzz anybody on yahoo answers that has transferred schools before and knows how hard and sad it is, plz help me and tell me what to do to let go of my fears and make myself believe that everything will be ok. i really need help too because i dont wanna go there in two days and look all scared and wimpish becuz my real personality is SUPER outgoing, nice, and goofy...not to brag sorry but im just giving you an idea of who i am so you can tell me if people will like me. so plz help me people

My Boomer Tips

I would like some opinions on this please! It's a young adult love story thing that silly old me decided to write. It probably isn't any good and will never get published, lol.

***

Leaving America was the hardest decision Mairhee Siouh had ever had to make. She knew that it was for the best, and there was nobody who would miss her. Nobody but her grandmother, and her extended family, and her best friend, and her dog, and best friend's dog. But nobody else. She felt so unloved sometimes. As she stepped off of her plane, clutching her bag, she looked out at the sea of foreign faces, wondering if she had finally truly found her home.
Mairhee gazed at the faces, not really knowing what she was looking for. Hope, perhaps. Or some kind of encouragement. But there was nothing but cold stares, as though everyone in the world was against her happiness. Holding her wooden box which held her parents' ashes, Mairhee walked through the crowd. Her parents died in a car accident. But she knew better. They had been chosen to die; she knew it in her heart by some supernatural force.
She knew this because, despite being perfectly ordinary, she had mystical gifts. She pressed through until she reached the front door, where a flood of taxis waited. A man in dark clothes stood by one of them, holding a sign with her name written across the front in sprawling letters. She paused - nobody had known she was coming. So who had sent for her? She walked up to him. "I'm Mairhee Siouh," she mumbled. Plainly.
"Come on in." The man opened the door and helped her with her luggage.
"Who sent you?" Mairhee asked.
The man ignored her and continued packing her bags into the trunk. When she pestered him some more because of her strong will, he relented with a few words. "A very important man." Mairhee took that without further question because she often trusted random strangers because they knew her name. Staring out through the window, she saw her reflection. She wasn't pretty, but others often said she was. With her porcelain skin and sea green eyes, many said that if her hair wasn't a beautiful hue of caramel, she would look like a mermaid. Mairhee never believed them though, because they were only coddling her.
As she was driven down the divine roads, she watched the passers by who lined the pavements, like a majestic crowd.

They were all staring at her; their widened eyes staring at her. They probably had never seen someone so plain, so normal, so insignificant before. When they all smiled a large, singular smile in her direction, she knew their positive expressions to be mocking her. She felt like a stunning mandarinfish, being judged by her new audience in the astounding aquarium that was Spain.
She didn't speak to her driver, instead ducking her head down and away from the horrendous joyous stares. They finally arrived at a lavish hotel.
"Excuse me," she said. "This is...this is way too much..."
The driver didn't say anything. He just stepped out of his car and came around to open hers. Mairhee felt a surge of annoyance; she was a strong, liberated woman. That was the sort of thing she could do for herself. She got out of the car, holding tight to her prized possession; the portfolio that held all of her artwork. It was her one talent; the one thing she was capable of doing in a life where she was incapable of doing anything.
The moment she stepped out she immediately fell over. She was so clumsy. Her drawings scattered, blowing into the wind. It was a tragedy, as if the Mona Lisa had been destroyed by a fire the very day that it was finished.
"Help me!" she pleaded in a voice that people had told her was sweet high and lovely. But it sounded scratchy and haglike to her.
The bystanders turned and regarded her with bland stares. She clutched the ashes in distress and then sank to the cobblestones, weeping.
As she sat there, trying to gather the nearest of her drawings, a hand appeared. She paused, glancing up at the glorious stranger standing over her. His hair, cut so that it fell around his glorious chiseled cheekbones, glimmered like spun gold as it shone in the midday sun. His eyes sparkled with the same luminescent quality of sapphires beneath heavy lidded eyes that regarded her with quiet amusement and, she was certain, disgust. He glanced down a the drawing he held, sniffing, then threw it down at her. "It's all right," he said.
Mairhee felt her heart quiver. This glorious stranger thought her artwork, her life's calling, was all right. It was too much to bear. She momentarily forgot how to breathe.
When she discovered her lungs, she forced out the first two syllables she would ever say to the godlike creature: "Thank you."

He shrugged, and his effulgent hair bounced around his head, like Autumn leaves dancing in a gentle, Summer breeze. "You're welcome,&quot

My Boomer Tips

I have a very unique birthing and life. Before I even remember I was crawling in circles and worshiping the Goddess/God. My children do as well. But, my Mother was of Vampyric lineage and my Father was of a very strong line of Wiccan heritage....as per my very strong Wiccaning at Birth and a lifetime of teachings, I suppose. My Father was Saintly to me. I loved my mother dearly, but she was different. I am, as well. I am Ordained for both Christian and, of course other Spiritial beliefs....Although I remain strong to my Wiccan Spiritual side. I have been initiated into a high degree over my lifetime and served as a High Pristess...not to impress, but just to inform. Nothing too impressive with that responsibility. Many Many Many years of study amidst feeling different, which I was in so be it, "normal" society, but loved by many. I have been blessed with the gifts of, as my father called them, the Knowing. Not movie. And I used them, with respect to the Wiccan Rede. I worked with the Houston, TX Police dept. a few years in lieu of my psychic abilities, which include telekinesis. But, in the secular world I am a RN...Master's degree...a Trauma Nurse for many years. I am very much into Holistic Healing through energy expressions, and, well too much to detail, but in worldly life and death IS the best way to help others through fear, death, and grief. Just interested. Seen many interesting websites this eve after the Leo Moon.....Just looking and testing others thoughts and REALNESS!..We are not monsters and we ARE REAL and humane. Odd to see so much on the world web about the occult. It was always just Natural to me. But lately, I have been studying the rational of the Vampyric Community, since I hail from that as well, related to family and some friends of like mind. But I fashion after my Father and Grand-Ma Ma....I AM A REAL WITCH as was he and my grandmother and aunts and family before he and me. We hail from Scotland, originally. I know my mother's family very well, but was heavily raised to embrace my Wiccan heritage. So, DO VAMPYRES and WITCHES MATE WELL. There was so much love and controversy in my upbringing. It was hard to tell...where the strengths and weaknesses laid. I just knew I was loved and cherished by all. Told I was special, and yes I have seen and witnessed many strange brewing and miracles which I give grace to my heritage, life teachings and upbringing. And, I guess to this day I still seek some answers that only I will be able to see. Maybe I have already seen them and I am on the path to another Rite Of Passage. Well, Merry Part and Blessed Be.....

My Boomer Tips

I want to name a star as a gift from my grandmother due to the very recent passing of my grandfather but as I was looking I came across a couple different websites and I am not sure which one to buy from. Does anyone have any advice ...cost isn't an issue I just want the best. Thanks
I am aware that you can't actually own it like property ...i was asking more so about naming it because that's where I was somewhat confused. Thank you for your answers i appreciate it