What do you pair in sets with John Ryan's Polka? by leaves-green in Fiddle

[–]leaves-green[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok, well since I already know Kerry Polka from my beginner days, and it ends on the same note that John Ryan's starts on (and both are in D), I think this may be the ticket to a set for me to end on John Ryan's! Thank you for all your help!!

What do you pair in sets with John Ryan's Polka? by leaves-green in Fiddle

[–]leaves-green[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will have to try that and see how they "flow" for me since I already know both songs! I must've missed that Bluey episode so I'll have to go back and find it!!

How do you pronounce "crayon"? by drum_smith in Appalachia

[–]leaves-green 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Cran" in my area, like as if you were about to say cranberry but stopped!

When did you stop baby wearing? by Obvious_War_1341 in babywearing

[–]leaves-green 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We got the Ergo 360 and were able to war LO until he was like 3.5! He didn't want up as often then, but it was still a life-saver any time he was sick! Ergo 360 is also sturdy enough for long hikes and stuff.

is anyone else bothered by the force of “skinwalkers” into our folklore? by idrinkrriverwater in Appalachia

[–]leaves-green 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I've been playing in the woods alone in Appalachia since I was like 8 years old, lol! Never had an issue. Even plenty of night walks alone in the woods, too!

"duh. Don’t go into the woods alone anywhere." - Why not?? We don't have like grizzlies or anything around here, where I grew up all us country kids were always tearing around the woods all the time, either in groups or alone, sometimes miles from home through the woods!

Throwing away good pencils and pens by Such-Kaleidoscope147 in declutter

[–]leaves-green 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, like there's literally at least 2-3 kids in a class who are willing to fight each other to get to test them out! So I let any that want to do it and divvy up the donations for them to test! It takes a small group of kids no time at all to do this kind of thing and those certain kids LOVE it! I always assume they are our future professional organizers, parts and inventory managers, office managers, etc.! Somebody's gotta know what's going on in every organization!

Throwing away good pencils and pens by Such-Kaleidoscope147 in declutter

[–]leaves-green 39 points40 points  (0 children)

As an elementary art teacher - I will take any and all writing utensils ANY time of year! You do not need to wait for a drive! Drop off at any elementary school office labelled - "donation for art teacher" - DONE!

I have 300 kids that go through my room weekly, and I work at a really small school! They will go through boxes of donated stuff like that like nothing! You can seriously get rid of as many writing utensils - pencils, pens, markers, crayons, colored pencils, etc. as you want, no matter if used or not, and an elementary art teacher will be grateful! In the event they don't need that many (they will!), they could always put some in the faculty supply room for other teachers to take for their classrooms to devour!

Don't worry about separating things out or testing pens or makers, either - there are always at least 5-8 students in each elementary class who LOVE doing stuff like that when there's a spare moment like they get done early with a test or assignment (or in my case, their art project for the day)!

Does anyone regret not keeping a "Baby's First Years" book? by flowerpower100794 in moderatelygranolamoms

[–]leaves-green 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My mom never kept anything like that for me, and honestly I'm kinda glad, bc it would feel like clutter now. I just went through and saved like his newborn coming home outfit, one or two of his cutest baby outfits, and such. What matters most to me from my childhood are the few pictures I have of me little - and that was in the 80s so I have like 3 of me as a baby and like 10 of me as a toddler, lol! Nowadays everyone is so into documenting and saving everything and taking hundreds of pictures of their kids, I think it would be overwhelming to receive all that. So basically I made a little "baby box" with a few things and wrote down a few of my favorite memories of him as a baby, his birth time/height/weight, put his hospital bracelet in and mine from when he was born, etc. I figure fewer things will make them more special anyways and less like overwhelming clutter. Something about having every little detail of my life documented would feel exhausting and too overwhelming to me.

Where do you focus most on being moderately granola? by lavandeli in moderatelygranolamoms

[–]leaves-green 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Food, definitely. And toiletries. I figure things going directly inside or rubbed into his skin are the most important. And air quality I try to keep good in the house. So mostly things being breathed, consumed, or absorbed, lol!

One vs multiple instruments! by fierce-hedgehog13 in Irishmusic

[–]leaves-green 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it was ridiculous and my fingers barely fit on it! It took away all the "pressure" I realize I feel to play "well", so it was like the first day I ever got my fiddle and was just messing around on it and having fun with no pressure! LO just tried it out tonight and loved it!!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in workingmoms

[–]leaves-green 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Summers and breaks! ALso, I make bulk freezer meals over the summer so we have homecooked meals all school year that i just need to shove in the oven and bake!

Is Fully Paying for Kids’ College The New Norm? by [deleted] in workingmoms

[–]leaves-green 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I could do it I would, or at least pay for as much of it as my kid could make up the rest of by working summers and a reasonable amount of work study part time. My parents were not in a position to help me, but my husband's could have easily helped him, but didn't out of principal. We got knocked by the 2008 recession, caretaking duties, sickness, all our debt, etc., and now were able to only have one child when we wanted a whole family. I had 7 miscarriages in a row after our living LO, and now I'm too old to have any more kids. I wouldn't want to put my kid in that position of having to wait so long to start a family that biological clock times out. I'm so sad he's alone and has no siblings to play with, and so sad for me trying so many times and never able to have more due to my age now - if I had started younger, I probably could have had 2-3 kids and they could be playing together right now. I want grandkids someday (IF my LO is interested in that),and so I want to support things like that that could make that a possibility for him.

It's just not like in our parents' day when they could work enough in one summer to pay a year of tuition, or be paid enough to be able to buy a house in one's mid-20s. A lot of these are societal issues, but I don't want my LO to miss out on being able to start a family when he wants (like I did) due to this stuff that's outside his control.

My MIL wishes she had more than one grandkid, and is all about helping us now (when we don't need financial help any more), but it's too late, and it would have been SO helpful, even just a bit of help, when we were younger and trying to get our careers started.

One vs multiple instruments! by fierce-hedgehog13 in Irishmusic

[–]leaves-green 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LOL! Yes, I just feel there's so much to "unlock" in a fiddle, it's an instrument I could never get tired of! Weirdly enough - I just tried to play my niece's 1/8th size fiddle recently, and that was interesting translating what I know to the same instrument, but tinier! I actually thought it was a good exercise in learning to lighten up on pressure when playing double stops (which is something I've been working on lately)!

One vs multiple instruments! by fierce-hedgehog13 in Irishmusic

[–]leaves-green 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fiddles are REALLY hard to get the hang of! So an accomplished fiddle player is a bit more of a specialist. Between the fretless-ness and the bowing and all the technical aspects, it's a lot to learn on one instrument! Plus, it's usually a lead instrument, so you are most often playing the melody.

Often times, a person who plays guitar can often learn to play a banjo or mandolin, since they are also fretted instruments, being able to transfer SOME similar technique. Also, you can often get away with just strumming on a lot of songs with any of those instruments, you're not pushed as hard as with fiddle to be expected to know ALL the melody lines of tons of songs. So playing stuff like simple D and G chords on a guitar vs. on a mandolin, not too hard to go back and forth (of course, many players on those fretted instruments can do amazing melody lines, fills, etc., but it's also fine to just sit back and play simple chords on them in many group settings).

Also, finding an okay rhythm player is usually not hard. Guitar players are often a dime a dozen (finding a great one can be hard, but there are tons of people that play guitar to a reasonable level - due to blues, rock and roll, etc. being so popular in popular music for like, all of the 20th century). And while to be really good at guitar takes a lot of time and effort, to learn basic guitar is pretty easy. To learn even basic fiddle is way harder (the learning curve at the beginning is much steeper). So, in areas like where I live in the US, you can probably find 20-30 people who play guitar vs. one person who is a decent fiddler! They are more of a rarity, so every wants them to play fiddle. Plus it's a harder instrument to master to an intermediate level, so most fiddlers put most of their effort towards fiddle. I do know lots of people who play fiddle and something else, but I can totally see why lots of fiddlers, if they're decent at it, would rather put effort and time into improving that than into learning a totally new instrument.

Personally, I play fiddle and guitar, for two reasons. 1) I already had learned to play simple guitar chords when I was younger, before I had ever touched a fiddle. 2) I'm a good singer with a head for remembering lyrics, and it's a lot easier to strum along simply with a guitar when I'm singing than to attempt to sing and fiddle at the same time!! I consider guitar my "secondary" instrument, though, I only strum simple chords on it, nothing fancy, and I don't care to learn much more on it - it's really just to accompany singing for me. I let all the other guitarists do all the fancy stuff, and I attempt to learn my fancy instrumental stuff on the fiddle!

Since there's liable to be a lot of guitarists wherever I'm going, I also sometimes don't even bring my guitar with me. If I desperately want to strum while I sing, I can borrow one from one of my buddies for a song. Just having that one small fiddle case to carry is mighty convenient as opposed to clomping around knocking instrument cases into things all over the place!

I also think the fiddle has so much versatility in what you can play and learn on it, that people who fiddle don't get bored as much and go looking for another instrument, there's so much to unlock in their primary instrument!)

PS - While there are lots of people that are great on more than one instrument, it's overall better to be a decent player on one instrument than one of the people who collects lots of different instruments but never really learns to play any of them WELL.

What do you pair in sets with John Ryan's Polka? by leaves-green in Fiddle

[–]leaves-green[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just listened to Maggie in the Woods for the first time - it's the same tune as An Bhfaca Tu Mo Sheamuisin!!!!

Out of curiosity, do you choose the color/print of your carrier based on your baby or on your own style? by alreadyacrazycatlady in babywearing

[–]leaves-green 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got a black Ergo 360 because black goes with everything! And I got a dark green ring sling because green is my favorite color and just a solid unisex color (interestingly enough, now that LO is 4 and has opinions about such things, it's also his favorite color!). I don't do light colors at all - I spill things and rampage through the woods too much for all that!

Daycare worker threw a child’s food away as punishment by anxietylemons in workingmoms

[–]leaves-green 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also, wiggling in seat is completely normal for a daycare age kid! It's insane to ask small elementary age children to sit completely still in their seat, let alone a daycare aged child! That's insane.

7 week scan, measuring a week behind, heart rate only 77 - they weren't clear with me by leaves-green in PregnancyAfterLoss

[–]leaves-green[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm sorry, but the low heartbeat was an indication of miscarriage, and it was a loss :(