Thanksgiving will be here before we know it! If you're like us, you have an extra pumpkin around the house right now. I'd like to challenge you to Thirty Days of Thankfulness for the month of November. By the end of the month, you'll have one thankful pumpkin on display to kick off the holidays! You'll also have a family that realizes they have much to be thankful for! I thought of this idea one year when I was visiting family. I was trying to think of a way to use a little pumpkin that my niece and nephew had for decoration. So we sat around the table and tried to list everything we were thankful for. As they contributed, I wrote keywords with a marker all over the pumpkin. Even when we were done with our brainstorming activity, they would think of things to add to our thankful pumpkin. It's a simple yet meaningful activity that encourages children (and adults) to find things they are grateful for in their lives. When you're not writing on it, place the pumpkin in a spot where everyone can see it every day. It serves as a reminder, not only for all the good things in life, but also to continue the challenge with quality family discussions. If you made these decorative pumpkins, and don't want to save them, you could paint them a neutral color and write or paint all over them too. We're going to use a regular picked-from-the-patch pumpkin in our house. The following document gives brief instructions for this activity. You can clip it to the fridge for this year and/or file it away for next year if you'd like. Or, you can make the conversation more interesting by cutting out the prompt strips from the document and placing them in a jar or container. Each day when you sit down to write on your thankful pumpkin, you can have your child choose a strip to start the discussion. Question: What month is the activity supposed to take place? === The answer to the above question is
OPTIONS:
- October
- November
- not enough information
- December
not enough information

Thanks Richard for asking. Yes. I have something to tell. We have record rainfall during 24 hours in Lahore, breaking previous one day record by more than 60%. Our drainage system is pathetic. Other systems such as telephone, electricity, cable etc. are no better. Poor planning has further been aggravated by extremely mismanaged maintenance and operational bugs. This morning, when I was out for our fajr (morning prayers) in masjid, a neighbor told me that the pole laden with electricity meters was under fire. After that he buzzed off for complaint office. When I returned after prayers, I saw fire reaching cable part after meter; one meter had caught fire and other meters (including ours) was in danger of catching fire. It was still dark. I waited for someone to come out. No one appeared. I came inside and told my wife about and went again out to see if I could find someone to go about extinguishing fire. IT WAS DAM RISKY AS DIGGING WAS DONE BY TELEPHONE COMPANY AND RAINS HAD MADE A MESS ON OUR STREET. No one was seen. My wife came out; brought hose pipe. I managed to use it as water gun and there was some post-extinguishing sparking; fire was put out. I want to add here that hose pipe should only be used when someone knows how to send bursts of water so that electric current cannot build a circuit. Later in day we heard about the most stupid thing; people were inside their houses, watching flames from pole but not knowing what to do. THEY DID NOT EVEN COME OUT TO SHARE THE ACTIVITY. That has happened today. I am going to ask everyone about it one by one. Also, I am still looking for the guy who went to complaint office and was never seen thereafter this morning. That can happen to anybody. Question: What does the narrator think about the infrastructure in his neighborhood? === The answer to the above question is
OPTIONS:
- It is substandard and poorly planned
- not enough information
- It is adequate
- It is excellent

Answer: It is substandard and poorly planned

Was it the things she told me or the situation I was in? I was working with someone who, basically, should never have been hired into the job, and then should not have been kept as long as she was. She was entirely inadequate for the role we performed. I was a new graduate and so lucky to get a job in my field, pretty much right out of university. We worked in a small office of three. The third was a sales rep and out visiting clients most of the time. She was, more or less, my superior, though the company made it clear that she was not someone to emulate yet gave me no one else to look to for advice or guidance. She would constantly say "this place will leave you to sink or swim" (amongst other phrases, all along these lines). That's probably the worst saying ever, though I can't really consider it ridiculous because, frankly, I absolutely see why she would say that (for example, I met my manager once during my interview and then the next time was about four months into being hired that should tell you the level of support given). But I cannot even explain to you the way this statement biased me against this company and the job I was doing. I was lost and truly believed that I couldn't do any better (because I was sinking and couldn't figure out how to swim on my own). Yes, you may have issues in whatever job your in but to tell a newbie that they have to figure it out on their own that's pretty ridiculous. If this is something you hear or think and asking others for help or finding a supportive environment is not an option try replacing it with "learn to fly on the way down". At the very least, you won't have such a negative frame of mind. Question: What is probably true about the superior? === The answer to the above question is
OPTIONS:
- She has four heads
- not enough information
- She is 12 feet tall
- She should have never been hired
She should have never been hired