I'm trying to send money to Guatemala using Western Union. I have tried using two different credit cards and the transfers will not go through. The message says I need to take cash to a local WU office and send it from there. The people on WU chat are less than helpful and say they can't tell me what is wrong due to privacy concerns. Does anyone have any experience with Western Union? Any idea what I am doing wrong? I really don't want to have to go to town to do this.

We are avoiding everyone. Dh is on chemo and Hannah's immune system (chemo ended 7mos ago) still isn't fully recovered. I run errands in off times. The children go no where. We have a friends and family that visit, but they know to inform us if they are sick or even think they were exposed.

My favorite way to cook a whole chicken it to let 17dd do it. Matter of fact, she is making rosemary roasted chicken for supper tomorrow night.

17dd and 14dd make mayo, ketchup, bar-b-que sauce, salsa, dry mix to make ranch, and salad dressings.

I'll start with the clutter part first. We can't declutter because we need everythiing in our house and our house is too small. Seriously. We have no shed, garage, attic, basement, etc to store things and we live on a farm. The incubator, canning stuff and all of dh and ds tools/construction stuff is in the hall closet. The ham radio is in a corner of the living room. The extra plywood for the shelves dh is working on is behind the hampers in the hallway. I have two 2x4x8s leaning in the corner of the bathroom for a repair I need to make. My hoe is leaning on the washer. The box of slippers and the outside gloves and hats are in the corner of the living room. All of the animal supplies for castrating, to kidding, to vitamins are in the bathroom closet. We are out of room and some things have no place, but we have to keep them. Since I can't declutter and things don't have a home, it make things hard to clean.

Praying.

UPDATE Steven did well today. He is awake, eating icechips, and talking. His head hurts some, but not much. He is passing the tests like wiggling fingers and toes, squeezing hands, and tracking wiggling fingers. It's too soon to see if this has helped his clarity or vision. The surgeon was able to remove all of the visible tumor. They are pretty certain they know what it is, but will know for sure by Wednesday. Steven will likely need oral chemo and radiation. He'll probably be in ICU until Sunday.and then a regular room for four to five days. Thank you so much for your prayers.

They took Steven back at 7:30. UPDATE Steven did well today. He is awake, eating icechips, and talking. His head hurts some, but not much. He is passing the tests like wiggling fingers and toes, squeezing hands, and tracking wiggling fingers. It's too soon to see if this has helped his clarity or vision. The surgeon was able to remove all of the visible tumor. They are pretty certain they know what it is, but will know for sure by Wednesday. Steven will likely need oral chemo and radiation. He'll probably be in ICU until Sunday.and then a regular room for four to five days. Thank you so much for your prayers.

UPDATE Short version. Steven was in the hospital Saturday to Monday. The tests show that this tumor originated in the brain and is there are no other tumors. Steven will be getting a craniotomy on Friday morning at 8am. This is tumor removal not biopsy. He will be in ICU for a couple of days, then regular room for four to five days. If this tumor is what the doctors think, Steven will get radiation and chemo. The longer version is on Hannah's Caringbridge. http://www.caringbri...t/prayforhannah Thank you everyone for your prayers, hugs, kind thought, and well wishes. They are greatly appreciated and much felt. These last few days have been hard, but we're getting through them ok.

Please pray for my dh, Steven. Short version is this. Steven has been having bad headaches this week and having some vision problems. I took him to the er tonight and they did a ct scan. Ct scan showed a tumor in his brain. You can read the long story on Hannah's Caringbridge. http://www.caringbri...t/prayforhannah I don't know if I can do this again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE Short version. Steven was in the hospital Saturday to Monday. The tests show that this tumor originated in the brain and is there are no other tumors. Steven will be getting a craniotomy on Friday morning at 8am. This is tumor removal not biopsy. He will be in ICU for a couple of days, then regular room for four to five days. If this tumor is what the doctors think, Steven will get radiation and chemo. The longer version is on Hannah's Caringbridge. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/prayforhannah Thank you everyone for your prayers, hugs, kind thought, and well wishes. They are greatly appreciated and much felt. These last few days have been hard, but we're getting through them ok.

Weekdays I get up at 6:02am (Since 6am is way too early.) Weekends I "sleep in" until 7:02am.

Dh is doing this with our children so I asked him for his experience. Dear Colleen, I'm a homeschooling Dad who started feeding my children's interest in electronics. Our journey started when my son Joshua got a Snap Circuits kit at age 6-7. I'm an RF engineer, and over the years I've found the brightest technicians and engineers are amateur radio operators (after all these are the guys that design and build their own transmitters, receivers, and antennas for fun). I start my children off with ham radio, our two boys got their Technician license (the entry level ham radio license in the US) at age 8. Once my children get all of their amateur licenses I get them involved in studying for commercial radio licenses (in the US many of the licenses require electronics knowledge, and study guides are available). Currently my 14 year old daughter (which has every commercial and amateur license available in the U.S, is studying for her Certified Electronics Technician certification with the ETA-I. The backbone of her learning electronics (after amateur radio) is by reading “Electronics for Computer Technology” by David Terrell (2003). You can find a copy on amazon fairly cheaply. After she reads a chapter in the book, we watch the free videos that go along with it on the allaboutcircuits.com website (link below). When you get your book, try to find one that still has the CD in it. The CD has a version of Electronics Workbench along with sample circuits that go along with the book. With electronics workbench you get to see how circuits would work, using a computer program. You can even design your own circuits and test them out on Electronics Workbench (saves money in burnt components). If your child wants to go on to an electronics certification the ETA-I has a study guide available. I would recommend going through the Terrell book first. Also, you can get the US. Navy electronics curriculum downloaded for free off the internet, the NEETS series. We start with the Terrell book and use the NEETS modules for specific areas we need help in (like motors and alternators, radar, etc). You will also find some good electronics videos at learnersTV.com. Their basic electronics videos are good, the instructor teaches physics in India. I bring home electronics things for the kids to take apart as well, but I don't let the children take apart CRT monitors. Also, make sure your kids wash their hands when they are done (lead). http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/videos/index.html Hope this helps!

Dh shouldn't have goals for the employee. He should have expectations and it should be the employees goal to meet/exceed them.

Sounds like dh is putting up with a substandard employee. Is there any reason (special training, relative, ?) he has to put up with this employee? Dh gets bonuses because he works hard. He would have been shown the door long ago if he had acted like your dh's employee.

This is a serious question. WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE SWAGBUCKS? Swagbucks is a search engine that doesn't search. Correction. The site I'm searching for will almost always be the sixth thru eighth result. I understand liking the free giftcards, but having to search my search is ridiculous. Especially when I can google it and it is almost always the first result. Is it really worth the time and extra effort for a $5 Amazon card?

This happened to us too. I took the children with me when I went to vote this afternoon. Everyone in line was friendly and visiting with the the children, and the man at the door gave them all stickers. The ladies who checked my card were friendly to them. I went to one of the tables and had about halfway filled out my ballot when a lady came up and ordered them from the room. She said if they weren't voting, they couldn't be in there. She wasn't nice at all.

Weekends are the only time dh is available to help around the farm, so planning for it is serious business. Saturday is the busiest day of the week here. Sunday we still work, but I try and make it less busy and end the work early so we can get ready for Monday. Planning for the weekend starts on Tuesday. I ask dh what he wants to do for "date night in". Usually he wants me to cook us something special, but sometimes we get takeout. Occasionally he asks me to pick up a special treat (aka ice cream). I also ask if he has any special projects that we need to do. With these two things in mind, I plan our weekend. Weekend time is precious, so we try and maximize it. No errand running unless absolutely necessary. Wednesday the children make the feedstore list and I keep it. Thursday or Friday dh will go by the feedstore on his way home from work. When he is on his way to the feedstore, he calls me and I email him the list (Dh is notorious for losing lists). I also decide the main focus of our weekend on Wednesday. I talk with everyone involved and make a supply list. If dh needs to get the supplies I keep the list and email it to him when he is ready. If I need to shop for the supplies, I go on Thursday night before I buy groceries. Sometime during the day Thursday I will make the grocery list. Thursday night after dh comes home, I run an errand and buy groceries. With the exception of the feedstore and groceries, we hit most other stores one or two times a month. This is like Hobby Lobby, Target, or the fabric store. Our weekend starts with Friday night date night. The children are in bed by eight at the latest, seven if I can manage it. The big ones read until nine. The little ones listen to a special cd. Dh and I have the living room to ourselves. Dh gets a movie ready while I cook our meal. We eat and watch our movie, then do internet for a bit and go to bed by ten at the latest. Saturday, we sleep in (7am instead of 6am). We get up, get ready and do normal chores like making breakfast, milking goats and feeding the animals. Then 17dd and a helper get lunch and supper prep going while the rest of us start on whatever our project is. We take a short quiet time after lunch, but other than that, we work continually. All of us from 5dd to dh are helping. Saturday night the children may be in bed a bit late (by 9) but dh and I try and go to bed on time. Sunday we sleep in until 7am again. If we need to, we continue to work on our project. For sure, by mid-afternoon we start slowing down. After supper, I am excused from doing dishes and I get the homeschooling prep done for the week. By bedtime, I have any remaining grading done and the assignment sheets printed and put in the notebook. I also have dh's lunchbox out and things ready for the next day. I look over the calendar and remind dh of anything going on the next week. We keep the laundry running on the weekend, but the folding and putting away of it is low priority until Monday. Meals are hot, but easy and we use the crockpot a lot. No errands unless it is an absolute emergency (in the middle of fixing the kitchen sink and you have the wrong whatever). Other than the kitchen and taking out the trash, no normal housecleaning is done on the weekends. Occasionally we have the project for the weekend to be cleaning and emptying all the kitchen cupboards, but that is the only way housework gets done on the weekends. Monday is our recovery day. Laundry is folded and put away. House is straightened up. Any loose ends from the weekend are dealt with. Then, I start over again on Tuesday planning our next weekend.

We really like this. You can also use honey instead of maple. http://thischickcooks.net/2012/06/01/chocolate-avocado-pudding-for-non-avocado-and-avocado-lovers/

This is what we have and it works great!

7dd is a lefty. When she was little and just learning to cut, she found it easier with left handed scissors. Now that she is a bit older and has more practice, she usually grabs the nearest pair even though she has left handed ones in her school box. She is a bit neater with the left handed scissors, but can cut ok with the right handed ones as well.

Our home is very small so the boys things are scattered here and there. The swords and shields are in the dress up baskets. The bow and arrows, crossbow, stomp rockets, and rifles are behind the front door. The mashonga swords are in a corner of the living room where I can keep an eye on them.

One dog, one cat, one goose, one cow, one calf, three steers, three ducks, one hissing cockroach, two millipedes, pillbugs, two bessbugs, lots of crickets, one praying mantis, a bunch of toads, goats, pigs.

I get up at 6am when the alarm goes off. I do whatever I need in the bathroom (we only have one), and then go shake dh. He has bathroom time and then starts waking the children. He wakes them one at a time, starting with 9ds (he's studying for his GMDSS Operator Test and does flashcards before breakfast). The last two up are 5dd and 17dd. 17dd is so hard to get out of bed. Before breakfast, everyone is expected to get dressed for the day, put away sleeping clothes, make their bed, comb and put up their hair (simple pony tail), and brush their teeth. I help the little girls brush their teeth and hair after breakfast. While dh is waking the children, I am cooking breakfast. I always make breakfast, but five days a week we eat the same exact thing. Scrambled eggs, oatmeal with maple and blueberries, some kind of meat and rice grits for dd who is allergic to everything. My children don't have to pack lunches, but growing up I did. I don't think I could eat a sandwich that had been sitting all night. We made our lunches in the morning. Everyone first grade and up made their own. Mom checked the younger ones to make sure they had a variety (My mom got a phone call one day from my brother's teacher. She wanted to know why my brother had been eating nothing but a bunch of snack size bags of chips each day for lunch.)

Dh wants to start drinking a coffee substitute. He likes really strong coffee. The three we can get locally are Pero, Cafix, and Kaffree Roma. Has anyone tried these? Which one is the strongest flavored? Any other recommendations?

A few years ago, we checked into having a second residence on our property. We are outside the city limits, but inside the jurisdiction of the nearest city. They do not allow two homes on one property. For us to have a second residence on our property would require splitting the property and $35,000 in fees. That is just permission and paperwork, nothing toward the second residence. You would still have to have another septic and have it inspected, tie the new electric line off of our line and get it inspected, etc. I do know someone who built two homes side by side, built the car port between the two to connect them, and called it one residence. The inlaws live in half and the son and his family live in the other half.