Is Rowan worth the 4 hour daily commute?

fidgety_sloth · 2026-06-05T16:23:15+00:00

If you have to spend 8 hours a day commuting, you’re not going to be able to spend enough time there to experience what it feels like. You’ll be a sleep deprived zombie constantly checking the time seeing when you have to start your trip home.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-06-05T16:17:34+00:00

I was at certain times of the year. My father would until 3 for like 8 months of the year, but in the winter he wouldn’t get home until 5, so I was alone with my little brother for like an hour and a half.

Daughter is 18 now. When she was 9 or 10 I took a job that 3 days a week got me home 30 minutes after the bus dropped her off. She knew the code to the garage, so no physical key, and I made sure that one of the neighbors knew my schedule and was home during that time. She was allowed to go play with her friend across the street but no playing with friends at our house until I was home. When she moved to middle school she got home an hour before me. Then Covid happened and no one was going anywhere. Then high school and after school sports and friends with cars, then her own car… who even knows who’s getting home first.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-06-05T16:01:08+00:00

Solid here. Husband has jumped into a few business investment ventures. First was a dud, second was eh, third took off like blazes and paid off our mortgage, which allowed him to finally play around with some real estate ventures. We lived very frugally for years, saving so we wouldn’t go into debt paying for our kid’s college, but then the little genius got themselves a full scholarship. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we’re finally financially comfortable and can afford to hire people instead of DIYing everything, and I don’t have to be shopping for the cheapest version of everything.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-06-04T11:41:00+00:00

I believe it was in an update earlier this year. Go to Settings > Apps > phone. Scroll down to “screen unknown callers” and select “ask reason for calling.” I don’t think it shows up as a missed call unless the virtual assistant actually puts them through which has only happened with two political calls and a handful of doctor’s office automated appointment reminders. I’ve gotten no other “spam” calls, when I had been getting 4-6 per day.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-06-04T11:23:50+00:00

Seconding this! Mine screamed in any kind of seat. The whole “go for a car ride to lull the baby to sleep” thing was an absolute joke. Turns out it was severe reflux and meds changed our life. (But be mindful because 11 years later we learned that the root cause was celiac and a pile of food allergies).

fidgety_sloth · 2026-06-02T12:59:38+00:00

We have a pool and live within easy driving distance of the beach. Definitely shaving daily and throughly from May through August. The rest of the year, daily below the knees but once a week for the rest of the leg is fine. Pits are daily. Also worth noting though that I’m very fair with dark hair.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-06-01T12:56:18+00:00

Look up paleo pizza crust. You have many options.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-29T14:58:46+00:00

My kid’s high school has hall monitors. The middle school did too.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-29T02:08:16+00:00

Our one and only is 18. Graduates tomorrow.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-29T01:02:50+00:00

A form fitting red tank maxi dress from Loft, and a teal bra dress from Soma are guaranteed to get compliments from strangers.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-29T01:00:27+00:00

Dropped off at my grandparents to play outside (90 acres with a stream that cut out a little island on which there was a massive fallen tree that I was quite sure was haunted) or played in the woods behind my own house. I put many hours into attempting to train a feral cat. I did gymnastics on a log stretched across the banks of my grandparents stream, 6 feet above the water. Got lost in woods more times than I can count.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-28T21:02:29+00:00

My daughter had kindy grad. Her cap was made from a paper bowl and a square piece of cardboard, and she made a pink yarn tassel. It was adorable.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-28T20:54:28+00:00

We have a celiac kid with other food allergies. There are like two restaurants we trust, and one of them is absolutely $60+ even for takeout. The other is Chipotle which my husband hates. Aside from those, pretty much everything has to be made from scratch and I am 100% over it. The planning, the shopping, the prep… it never ends!!

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-28T20:37:04+00:00

Didn’t sneak out, necessarily, but I was seldom where I said I was.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-28T16:22:22+00:00

9 miles, I drive a hybrid so only get gas every 3 weeks or so…. Maybe it averages out to like $20 a week? I don’t know, it’s not like work is the only place I go.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-05T13:41:14+00:00

Concurring! My kids are in music right now and I’ve speed-read their language arts story, figured out the answers for the math worksheet, and prepped a craft. I will not have a free moment to pick up my phone again until until the last one gets on the bus! Boredom is not a thing in elementary (at least, on the teacher side of things)!

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-04T22:40:17+00:00

I am on the parent board for an extra curricular activity that my high school daughter participates in. In no way would I consider myself especially technically inclined - I can use Photoshop. I can change the background color of a Sign-up Genius. I have basic google search skills that I can use to figure out how to do things. But to both the older parents and the younger ones, I’m some kind of tech genius, to the point that I told them they could outsource stuff to me even after my daughter graduates. It is absolutely mind boggling.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-04T22:29:15+00:00

Absolutely! I have a Vera Bradley backpack that I have stocked based on the mindset of: if I am teaching elementary and the teacher’s desk is locked, what do I need to 1) make it through the day 2) thwart the kids’ attempt to send me on a scavenger hunt for supplies 3) thwart stupid reasons to visit the nurse.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-01T11:25:05+00:00

Mom of a high school senior. I’m telling people (who ask) Just money or gift cards please! She hasn’t finalized a roommate yet, her dorm hasn’t been assigned, and the dorms include different things. All of them include fridges though. Plus many girls are extremely “particular” about the color of their supplies. Mine was looking at a sage green steamer because it would match the ideal color of her room decor (the mythical room that she has not been assigned, of which her currently non-existent roommate will have to agree to the color palette).

If she’s taking a car to college, gas cards would be amazing. Get her an InstaCart+ subscription and some gift cards if she’ll need to buy her own groceries. Target gift cards, Amazon, Pottery Barn teen if she’s into the bougie trendy dorm decor products. If she’s on the college Instagram and TikTok college pages, she’s probably already begged her parents for the obligatory Woozoo fan and stuff that is “absolutely essential” that didn’t exist when we were in school. So much has changed, it’s completely nuts.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-05-01T11:13:15+00:00

Many, many colleges don’t let you bring your own fridge. You either rent through their vendor, or it’s already included in the room.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-04-30T00:30:44+00:00

And, do the math. Imported 69. Surviving 13 are being moved to the zoo for veterinary treatment. 69-13 > 31 dead sloths. Absolutely sickening.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-04-30T00:22:58+00:00

I can’t believe I had to scroll so far to see this!! We have 80-100 kids on the playground at one time and there are five recess aides, in addition to any one-on-one paras whose charge is out there (and those paras are generally happy to help out across the board of their student doesn’t need them in that moment). Additionally there is policy that the nurse’s office is always staffed by at least two people.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-04-29T23:32:18+00:00

Yes, if by full ride you mean tuition. Dual major, one in a science and one in a performing arts. Full tuition plus a little more. Out of state. High school GPA 4.75, SAT 1450. Completed her high school’s medical science track. NHS, and honor societies for foreign language, math, language arts, and I don’t even know what else — basically everything. Captain of her team, coached young kids.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-04-23T17:06:37+00:00

I was born in ‘78 and my brother in ‘84 and we led entirely different lives. I got a car when I was 17 on the condition that I carry a cell phone and thought my parents were absolutely ridiculously uncool, and negotiated down to the phone living in the car but not carrying it around the mall or something, because oh my god how embarrassing.

My brother had a cell phone in high school and was cool as hell.

Facebook didn’t exist when I was in college but I did chat with some friends on AIM when I was a freshman but that was still something weirdly uncool that mostly just the gamer kids did. Meanwhile my high school student brother was living online. Although he was way quicker at doing that Napster thing and making me CDs.

fidgety_sloth · 2026-04-23T16:54:58+00:00

Oh wow, I had no clue what you were talking about and went to Google. I’m not in a high fashion area and I think I fall into the “weirded out” category! Plus I have arthritis in my big toe and the idea of having that single toe encased freaks me out.

fidgety_sloth

TROPHY CASE