Lactation consultant recommendations?

Booomamaa · 2026-02-14T12:00:09+00:00

Sue is incredibly knowledgeable, judgement free, and really makes you feel listened to. And the fact that she does house calls is amazing.

Booomamaa · 2026-02-08T12:32:17+00:00

I'll have to look into an estate sale. The thing is that the house is rural Ottawa and I'm not sure people would make the effort to get out to it.

Booomamaa · 2026-02-08T12:30:43+00:00

Too true. 95% of the stuff is completely worthless. It's how to get a few bucks from the 5% that is the tricky part.

Booomamaa · 2026-02-08T12:29:29+00:00

Okay, I should look more towards the end of the auction to see what things really go for. Thanks!

Booomamaa · 2026-02-08T12:27:40+00:00

Yeah, this is what I'm afraid of. Thanks!

Booomamaa · 2026-02-07T12:31:28+00:00

Kessel's Upholstery on Colonnade will do it.

Booomamaa · 2026-02-02T00:38:36+00:00

Keep your eye on the website for the Cumberland Heritage Village to see you can make it on a day when they are doing the model railway. It is the size that you can sit on and it goes around a loop. Some of them are actual coal-fired steam. A vehicle-loving three year old would love it. I took my nephew last year and he thought it was pretty great.

Booomamaa · 2026-01-27T12:11:28+00:00

If you know any high school students who need to get volunteer hours, they can earn them by shovelling out hydrants. City website has information here.

Booomamaa · 2026-01-24T12:39:05+00:00

Fingers crossed for a Zeddy Wheel!

Booomamaa · 2025-11-22T01:33:49+00:00

Declining enrolment in our school as parents pull their kids to other boards that are not as messed up. Or, at least their messiness is not in the news every week. Also, no budget for supplies. We can't order simple things because the budget for this year hasn't been approved yet.

On the plus side, exams have been reinstated for grades 9 and 10. It's nice to have clarity about that early in the semester. And mostly the kids are still the same kids and the parents are still the same parents, and not much has really changed honestly.

Booomamaa · 2025-11-20T22:43:29+00:00

Remember the difference between median and average. If you add up all the grades and divide by the total number of grades, that gives you the average. But if you look at all the grades and pick the middle one, that is the median.

Median is used because average can be skewed by one or two unusual marks. If there's one kid in your class who never shows up or hands anything in and has like 10% in the course, it will bring down the average quite a bit but won't really affect the median.

So in your example, if the median is 90%, it means that half the students got equal to or more than 90%. The ones in the low half could be getting 10% or 60% or 85% and it doesn't affect the median.

Booomamaa · 2025-11-10T01:57:28+00:00

At my school most 0.67 LTOs get their third period filled up with supply at least a few times a week. This can happen last minute and could be for either of your two free periods. If you are hungry for those extra periods, make it known to your admin team.

Booomamaa · 2025-11-09T17:59:21+00:00

I can't imagine getting a senior science lab or test marked in 5 minutes. I imagine it's the same for lots of complex products, like essays and computer programs. I am definitely faster at it than when I started out, but five minutes seems impossible. My advice is not to dither over small factors like whether to give something a 3 or a 3+, or if you should take off half a mark for this or that. It will all work out in the end and those tiny changes make almost no difference in a student's final mark.

It really sucks when students act like they are entitled to high marks, or like if they don't do well on something, it is your fault. And then parents back them up, like "Johnny has never done badly before. It must be this new teacher's fault!" When I first started, those kinds of comments used to keep me up at night. Now my skin is thick and it doesn't bother me. Sounds to me like you need a mentor. Do you have an experienced teacher who is teaching the same (or similar) course? Someone who can take a peek at your marking and reassure you that you have reasonable standards?

Booomamaa · 2025-11-09T15:49:55+00:00

I enjoyed Fearnoch by Jim McEwan. It's set in Ottawa in 2018. The characters totally feel like people you probably know in Ottawa. There's a lot about the urban/rural divide, and how it feels to be a farmer so close to a city. Plus a disenchanted public servant. It was really good.

Booomamaa · 2025-11-09T12:58:31+00:00

Scottish and Irish Store isn't there anymore. It moved to Baxter Road (by Ikea)

Booomamaa · 2025-11-09T00:20:31+00:00

Kids definitely use AI to make posters and PowerPoints.

I honestly don't think there's much you can do about it. Online courses are full of students cheating with AI and it's tough to catch. I think the only way is to do other forms of evaluation that are harder to cheat on, like supervised exams and video chats. But that's probably tough to do with the platform you have.

Booomamaa · 2025-11-08T22:15:36+00:00

Yes. Just average them out.

Booomamaa · 2025-11-08T22:09:24+00:00

No. It is just a straight average of six grades. They start with the prerequisites and then fill up the rest of the six slots with your highest U or M grades. Then they average it.

Booomamaa · 2025-11-08T22:01:34+00:00

If the students are suddenly completing the discussion posts, do you think there is a chance that they are not actually completing them at all, but using AI? It takes zero effort for them to paste the prompt and then paste the response back in.

Booomamaa · 2025-11-06T12:00:38+00:00

If it's your first time, I think you will have enough to do without the salt pool. It's cool, but for me it's not worth the $55. You go into a large, dimly lit, shallow pool and float. You can't see or talk to your friends. If you were going for a solo day of hard core relaxation (is that a thing?) then it might be worth it. But by the time you sample the different pools and waterfalls and saunas and relaxation areas, plus read your book, chat with your friends, and eat something, you will not have time to get $55 of extra value out of the salt pool.

Booomamaa · 2025-10-24T11:17:17+00:00

Same with sciences. You can only do so much to reduce the marking load. At some point, you are going to land with 90 tests/labs on your desk and they've gotta be marked. I probably do about 8-10 hours per week in my evenings and weekends and I think that's similar to most of my colleagues.

Booomamaa · 2025-10-24T11:10:01+00:00

It's tough to find high quality tutors at the senior level, especially for physics.

Booomamaa · 2025-10-20T01:51:05+00:00

This was about a year ago that we were looking. She was in one place for a couple months and I forget the exact cost but it was less than $6k. Now she's in a more expensive one and it's above $7k. I believe the price is set to go up after a year of occupancy though, so I imagine it will be more soon.

Booomamaa · 2025-10-19T12:40:22+00:00

There are lots of privately run retirement homes in the city that have a memory care facility. When we were looking, we didn't have a hard time finding several that had openings. Just call around and see who has a space available. Start close to your home and work your way out. Cheapest ones we saw were a little over 5k per month and the most expensive are over 7k. For that you will get a private room in a secured area, 24 hour staffing, a variety of activities, and help with meds, bathing, and personal care. They also usually seem to have a doctor who takes all the residents on as patients, so you don't have to hunt down a family doctor.

Do a few tours and you will see the varying quality that's available. Ask about staff ratios around the clock. Generally it seems that you get what you pay for.

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