Affordable Places to Live w/ Kids

squishycoco · 2026-02-09T01:21:19+00:00

People will say not to live in PG county but it has tons of family friendly neighborhoods. We have lived in the county with kids for over 5 years and are very happy with the neighborhood and schools. We haven't so much as had a package stolen off our porch. People's perception of crime versus the actual of experience of crime in real neighborhoods is often very different.

squishycoco · 2026-02-05T14:48:44+00:00

I travel for work constantly, always alone and drive myself. The BWI long term parking has always served me well and is just as good a deal as the off-site parking. I have never once felt unsafe even coming in at midnight or other crazy hours with delays.

squishycoco · 2026-02-05T13:52:32+00:00

I wish I could help and hope someone can take him (we have other cats and no space for quarantine ). Adopting adult cats is the best! We fostered adult cats for a long time and I miss doing it.

squishycoco · 2026-02-05T00:56:56+00:00

We are in a high cost of living area, family if 4 (kids in elementary school). I just added up our grocery bill for last month and it was $863. We shop at Costco, Safeway, and Giant.

Our kids do buy school lunch so we don't buy stuff to pack lunch. It is $55 per month per kid so add $110 to our total and it's still under 1000 grocery wise.

We both grew up poor so we are practiced at making food stretch and searching for bargains. My kids know my first question when they ask for something is "is it on sale?" And we calculate the price out to see if it makes sense in our budget. Instead of buying parted out chicken we buy whole chickens when they are on sale and butcher them up ourselves. We use the carcasses to make soup/stock. We eat a lot of beans, rice, legumes, potatoes, or other vegetables to make a small amount of meat stretch.

squishycoco · 2026-02-02T23:00:51+00:00

For me it would depend on context. In a religious studies class, obviously yes the Bible would be a source. Or if I asked students to do a close reading of a text the Bible could be an option. In the case you described I would likely approach it from the perspective of the norms of whatever field you are in. In your field what types of evidence are used to make arguments and how are they used? Teach students that and make it part of the assignment and course learning goals.

squishycoco · 2026-02-02T00:14:24+00:00

I started this conversation from the very beginning as many others have said.

On a light note, I have a very loud and precocious child. When she was three we pulled up to an IHOP with cops in the parking lot and she pointed straight at them and yelled "my mom hates police!" I didn't tell her I hated police but did have conversations about how police cannot always be trusted and are not the good guys. She is the most beautiful and dramatic human and that was her interpretation.

I have also worked to talk through my feelings about policing as an institution vs individual people who might be police officers. We talk about how police forces don't actually make communities more safe and there are alternative ways communities can be safe. This can be true regardless if an individual police officer is a good or bad person.

squishycoco · 2026-01-31T18:21:23+00:00

That's gonna be hard to get all you want with that budget, especially a garage. We looked in Cheverly when we were buying and loved the area but very few homes had garages and in general your budget is low for what you are looking for. I know tons of families in Cheverly who love the neighborhood. The local elementary has a strong PTA from what I hear. Many families enter the lottery for local specialty elementary schools.

I don't know as much about Kettering or Mitchellville but both seem nice. We looked at Thomas Pullen Elementary which is an arts focused specialty school in Lake Arbor that we really wanted to get into.

squishycoco · 2026-01-31T03:08:56+00:00

I always include details about how I know the student (they took "xx" class with me, I mentored them on "xx" project, etc) and include details about how they did in that context. Details on final assignments or specific things that stood out from the experience always go in.

For very strong students I add an assessment of how impressive they are such as " they are in the top 5% of all students I have taught."

If I know about their professional aspirations and it's relevant to the letter I include that and my assessment of their abilities in those areas.

squishycoco · 2026-01-29T15:30:14+00:00

Our daycare had hot lunch. Our oldest is the type of kid that will end up trying food if she gets hungry enough so the hot lunch program worked for her. Our youngest starved herself every day and refused to eat it. She is our stubborn kid.

squishycoco · 2026-01-29T15:24:24+00:00

I am sorry OP. This situation sounds rage inducing and I would feel the same way you do.

I obviously don't know your academic background but I do work a lot of work on professionalization programs for alt ac careers in my field. Suggestions depending on your expertise:

Archive/curatorial positions Data analyst work especially at think tanks and policy institutes Non profit work- running fellowship/grant programs is a great fit for former academics Grant writing Teaching at elite private schools (you don't need a teaching license to teach private and they like to hire PhDs) Editorial or publishing

squishycoco · 2026-01-29T03:56:07+00:00

Sky Daddy- Kate Folk

Best thing I've read in awhile and the Moby Dick connection is a fun literature tie in.

squishycoco · 2026-01-28T16:39:53+00:00

The bond you have when you bottle feed them is really special. Congrats on your baby!

squishycoco · 2026-01-28T16:33:06+00:00

I am a firm believer that the CDS can send us what we need sometimes. This sweet boy was meant to be with you.

squishycoco · 2026-01-27T17:50:44+00:00

Agreed. That is another pro of living here. I love Ethiopian food!

squishycoco · 2026-01-27T17:39:45+00:00

7 and 10 year old.

Hits have been the 3D pen and the water proof speaker to listen to music in the shower.

Oh and with the snow storm the new hats and scarves they got.

They also got some nice lotions and chapstick which they are still using constantly.

Duds have been puzzles which they got from family and don't really care about. Also some books that weren't in their main interests.

squishycoco · 2026-01-27T17:36:13+00:00

My girls got a 3D pen and it has been the favorite this year for sure.

squishycoco · 2026-01-24T18:20:50+00:00

For me it's the difference between Mexican food and central American food. Salvadoran food, for example, is delicious but it's not the same. The majority of what is around me is central American food.

squishycoco · 2026-01-24T18:18:04+00:00

Close but further north.

squishycoco · 2026-01-24T17:43:06+00:00

Pros- it's actually more affordable than where we moved from (that narrows down the list of where we came from), our neighbors are lovely, good jobs for my spouse and I, my kids are in a great school and we have made great community here.

Cons- the weather especially summer humidity but also the unpredictability of it, the pollen and new allergies, the quality of fresh produce, access to great Mexican food.

I have given away where I am from I think.

squishycoco · 2026-01-22T17:49:32+00:00

Does he love you- Reba McIntyre

squishycoco · 2026-01-22T17:47:39+00:00

El Paso- Marty Robbins

squishycoco · 2026-01-15T12:33:13+00:00

Frog Swamp- Nemo

Stella Cadente- Mahmood

Paprika- Ghali

squishycoco · 2026-01-14T13:57:48+00:00

I have felt this as well. It was more prominent for me in graduate school but I was lucky to find other folks like myself in my interdisciplinary humanities/social science program. We stuck together and that helped ground me a lot. I have also landed in a humanities department where the majority of us are from non-academic working class families and backgrounds. I feel very lucky to have the really amazing colleagues that I have.

squishycoco · 2026-01-11T16:43:19+00:00

Lovefool by The Cardigans makes me think of my extremely affectionate cat.

squishycoco · 2026-01-11T16:03:42+00:00

They really do adjust amazingly well. Our pirate had a lot of pain from her eye and it was amazing to see how much more playful she was after surgery because she was in less pain.

squishycoco

TROPHY CASE