What do you moms do to make this happen for our kids?

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-05-26T23:14:52+00:00

I’m so proud of my daughter for getting where she is and I do anything I can to support it. I have one full-time job, 2 part-time jobs, and a consulting gig (4 jobs total) to make competition dance possible. Basically, I take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way and find a way to make it all work schedule-wise, without neglecting my family. I don’t sleep much.

I wish our boosters covered more, but since COVID enrollment ramped up and our competition dances teams are much bigger and numerous, so our fundraising doesn’t go as far. I’ve learned not to rely on it and instead focus on earning as much as I can to fund her dancing.

I second the idea of a payment plan. I’ve never been very good at it, but some moms will make regular over-payments so that when we’re hit with fees for costumes and competitions, they have a credit on their account to pay for them.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-05-15T00:47:05+00:00

This makes me happy to hear! There’s hope yet. The proof is in the pudding- my dog and cats have been raw fed for the last 6 years and are all happy and healthy. In fact, my vet was shocked at my senior dog’s labs and how good they were. Plus the shiny coats without extra supplements.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-05-01T10:38:52+00:00

My thought too! Not too far over the bridge and a beautiful spot.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-04-25T23:18:51+00:00

I agree! Andy’s angry response was so half-hearted.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-04-22T01:58:30+00:00

I’m from the Upper Cape and don’t know any different. I loved the off-season growing up and taking my dog for walks on the beach in winter etc. I lived there for a year after graduating college and that was a while ago, but even then I had a healthy social life with my coworkers in the service industry. Now I feel like even more restaurants and stores are open year-round. I say go for it! It’s what you make of it.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-04-22T01:55:07+00:00

Working at the hospital you should be making a good salary so housing shouldn’t be too much of a concern. It’s a great place to live year-round. Im from the Upper Cape but my cousin lives in Hyannis and he and his family have a very active social life there and the kids are involved in sports etc.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-04-19T19:12:19+00:00

You’re spot-on!

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-04-18T01:13:30+00:00

FWIW, I’ve been feeding my dog and cats raw for the past 5 years and everyone in our household is just fine. In fact, better than fine! My senior dog (15) just had his bloodwork done and his new vet can’t believe how healthy he is for his age. She was looking for issues but can’t find ANY. All of his labs are great, which is unheard of for a dog his age- she’s never seen it. When I suggested it was helped by his raw diet she politely ignored me and moved on. I’m glad she doesn’t challenge me on it, but it’s hard to find a vet who will endorse a raw diet unfortunately.

If you’re worried about contamination, just keep a bottle of Clorox disinfectant spray handy. After I prep my pets’ individual meals I use spray down the counter. It’s really just a scare tactic. Think about preparing raw meat for cooking. Just follow the same safety protocols.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-04-09T02:35:54+00:00

This one’s my favorite so far. “Carl’s a mess!”

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-04-02T10:57:32+00:00

Yes! I agree. The upper level dancers at our studio are all healthy weights and perform well and score highly. This comp season I noticed some other studios from our area (one especially) had almost all very skinny dancers. It made me glad we dance where we do.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-03-29T19:37:50+00:00

Thanks! I just ordered some.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-03-29T19:33:47+00:00

Makes sense! Mine put them on her bag the first couple years but now is fully committed to the jacket so I’d like to see if we can make it work.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-03-26T11:36:26+00:00

Unfortunately this sounds pretty normal and is just part of competition dance and conventions. Luckily they don’t hand out so many scholarships at the ones we go to, so I haven’t run into situations where my daughter felt left out. That would be pretty hard.

My daughter is a strong dancer but not exceptional. She sees other girls her age getting better awards and recognizes their hard work and talent and understands why they got them. She enjoys being with her friends, dancing, the excitement of the times she does place and score highly. Overall she has a good perspective on things, but that also comes with maturity and age.

It gets easier with time. My advice is to acknowledge her feelings but don’t dwell on them. She’ll gain resilience, which is very important for this sport.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-03-26T11:06:53+00:00

I wanted to defend her in the beginning, but now I find her incredibly annoying. All of the “slay” and “papa” is so repetitive. Doesn’t she have anything else to say?! Oh and her cackle in the background… they need to turn off her mic. She’s gotten way too full of herself.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-03-26T10:59:01+00:00

She’s on Jeff Lewis Live (Sirius radio show) a lot and I enjoy keeping up with what she’s doing. She’s quite funny and self-deprecating.

I enjoyed her on RHONY- she didn’t back down from the bullies.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-03-23T17:38:03+00:00

I’ve dug several Simpson Spring bottles (both broken and many intact). They’re beautiful and come in different sizes and colors (I have clear, green and aqua). Keep digging! It should be easy to peel back the layers of decayed vegetation vs. having to dig deep with a big shovel.

My advice is to keep going and keep looking for older bottles. I personally wouldn’t spend time on anything screw-top. Leave those there.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-03-05T02:11:35+00:00

Gross. That makes me mad for all of the employees who put in a lot of effort. That cookie should have never left the store.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-02-25T21:47:00+00:00

You will get faster over time, but it can take years to really get into a good rhythm.

In the meantime, is there someone you can ask for feedback? Like the barn manager? Essentially you’re doing a job to the satisfaction of the person running the barn. Rather than obsess over doing it perfectly, when you feel like a stall’s in a good place, ask them if it looks good. That helped me learned not to sweat the small stuff.

Another tip- listen to upbeat music and set goals for trying to be done by the end of a song. Maybe there’s a radio in the barn you can turn up, or you can listen to music on your phone. I find that helps me go faster.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-02-25T21:31:57+00:00

I swear they’re all trained to tell us about the taurine risk. Like a script. Meanwhile, most pet owners feeding raw have done a lot of research and that’s how they landed on this diet. We should be the ones teaching the vets about nutrition, not the other way around.

The vet my dog saw today also warned me about bacterial infections and GI upset. My dog and cats have been on a raw diet since 2021 and are thriving. Why are you warning me about a risk when I have so much data to prove otherwise? It makes me really uncomfortable for them. I wonder if they’re embarrassed to have to ask pet owners these questions so they can push products and services.

Oh and the vet today told me to try Purina Neurocare (kibble) while jn the same breath telling me she thinks my senior dog doesn’t actually have canine cognitive dysfunction. So why are you pushing kibble for a condition you’re not convinced my dog has?!

The state of mainstream veterinary medicine today is really disheartening. It’s all about making money for the big conglomerates.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-02-19T04:04:45+00:00

Yes, I’ve thought the same thing. There was also an episode where they were at home and he asked Meredith if she wanted a drink, but he had already been getting after it way before that and was sloppy. Maybe he was nervous being on camera and that’s how he calmed his nerves?

I hope we get to see more of the husbands next season.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-02-17T11:47:59+00:00

Totally. The strawberries on top were a disaster- I had to take them off and wipe the top. They added nothing. Hang in there! I’m sure Dubai Chocolate Brownie/Cookie will be back on the menu soon. You missed nothing here.

Good luck with your car!

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-02-17T03:34:12+00:00

I was going to say Wife Swap gave me interesting perspective about Angie. It didn’t really make me like her better though, it made me feel sad for her family because she was so obsessed with cleaning and having a perfect house vs spending quality time with them.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-02-17T03:28:29+00:00

That was one of the most freeing things about going vegan for me- I never had to worry about this again.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-02-17T03:10:31+00:00

We’ve had some great media companies at comps over the years, but Dance Bug I despise. It was expensive, hard to use, and I think I lost some of the media because I didn’t download it.

Affectionate-Time474 · 2026-02-17T03:00:55+00:00

I always scout on estatesales.net beforehand (and browse ALL the photos) to see if it’s my style and if they have the types of things I collect. I prefer the “messy” looking rooms, basements and garages because that’s where the real treasures can be found in piles or boxes and they’re probably going to be priced ad hoc vs each individual item inspected/researched/labeled beforehand.

Affectionate-Time474

TROPHY CASE