just send it here - I'll taste it and let you know how it turns out! :lol: seriously....a thin brownie crust should work great. Or make your brownies as usual. Eat half the pan and then crumble the remaining brownies and press into the bottom of the pie dish for a brownie-crumb crust.

We have used the Sansa Clips for years. Very rugged. DD9 has used one fairly heavily since she was about 4yo and the volume switch just wore out recently. I replaced it with another Sansa Clip.

I want an mp3 player for me....not probably an Apple. I think I can find a Sansa reasonably priced. DH wants a Roomba for Christmas (that's the little vacumn thing that goes around the room by itself and scares the cat). A couple stores here are going to have those on sale. DS14 needs shirts and DD16 needs pajama pants, so I am going to take advantage of one store's 50% off sale on clothing before 7am. And I'm going to drink lots of free coffee while I shop.....

Tacky. I would probably not attend and just send a nice (cash-less) card.

Fur's "in" here. Lots of people wear it all the time - mostly winter, but you see some nice fur-trim on jackets in warmer weather. Not me....but that's because real fur makes my nose itch and run.

It's 6pm and and I am feeding dd9 frozen Eggo waffles for dinner. Well, they aren't frozen now - she put them in the toaster - but it's not exactly going to win me the "healthy lifestyle" award.....

CD with kid-friendly music. Each of my olders got one of these as a toddler from a friend and we literally wore the CDs out in the car. Or a CD of stories/poems read-aloud. Also good for this age are hand-puppets.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I don't think Friday is ever a good day to get caught up on schoolwork. Tuesday or even Wednesday is much better. Especially while you are baking Thanksgiving cookies. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

I'm so jealous! DH wants to see this one, so we are going tonight. This is the first midnight HP opening I missed in years!

I like crockpot scalloped potatos better than mashed potatos and they are much less work. I peel and slice potatos, then layer them with cheese and cream of chicken soup in the crockpot. Let them cook all day and they make an amazing side dish. My kids love it even more with crumbled bacon in the layers. And.... don't tell..... but I buy gravy in a jar. Everyone thinks I still make it from scratch, but I just pour it in a pan and add some turkey drippings and warm it up. Poof - instant gravy. And better than what I used to make.:tongue_smilie:

Donna Andrew's mysteries - the Meg Langslow ones (she's a blacksmith). Definitely a good fit for those Calgon Moments!

You can get a free turkey here at Fred Meyers if you spend $150 or more. Since the price of groceries is a little outrageous here, I suspect lots of people will be dragging away the free turkeys this week.

I would worry that they would dry out in the oven - even turned on low. I would use the crockpot on low instead.

About that age, I found that having a chore list made my kids feel a little better about helping out. They got their "free time" to play when the chores were done. I would write out a list and they would let me know when they were ready for me to check it. The list made them feel more in control. Our fix for general all-the-time whining was an earlier bed time. Maybe that would help? Actually - this works really well now that they are teenagers, too!

I think it's fine. In fact, there have been several years where all 3 of my olders got the same thing for Christmas (they are barely 2 years apart) because they were all interested in the same thing and played together. Those gifts tended to be longer lasting, because the youngest continued to use them after the older 2 lost interest.

Sounds like your older son is suffering from the green-eyed Jealousy Monster. Sure...seems like a reasonable discipline for being rude. I'd tell him straight out that he can leave the room, but can't be rude. That's never ok. Of course, you will have to make sure that the adults in the family aren't contributing to the jealousy problem. It would not be fair, imo, to require your older boy to feed the younger one's ego, just because the younger is "super-sensitive". If your older one doesn't care to listen and watch, he should be allowed to (politely) opt out.

I would go now. Then, I would plan on driving Friday afternoon to the audition and stay in a motel so your DD gets a good night's sleep. That let's you go help out your mom for the next few days and still get your DD there Saturday in good shape. After the audition, you can figure out if you need to go back for a funeral or head home and wait some more (not too likely). :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: You have my sympathy.

Quiche freezes very well - bake it, then cool, wrap, and freeze. Just pop it in the oven in the morning. Muffins also freeze up very well - pull them out of the freezer the night before and they are terrific in the morning. I also have a friend who freezes her muffins before baking right in the muffin tin. She pops the frozen tin in the oven in the morning and bakes. You can also mix up breakfast cassarole of eggs, bacon, dried hashbrowns, onions, etc and freeze. Thaw and bake in the oven. My DH says this is called Mountain Man breakfast and he got the recipe by googling it. Waffles, pancakes - make up the mix the night before and leave in the fridge.

My go-to for unexpected potlucks is cornbread muffins. If I have extra time, I will mix up some honey-butter (just whip butter and honey together), but the muffins go just fine without it. If I have to bring a main dish, I like chili or macaroni and cheese for quick, low-effort dishes. For sides, I like to just bring a bowl of steamed white rice. Always popular!

This is EXACTLY how we handle it for our teens. We invite the boy/girl friend to dinner. Frequently. And make them feel welcome here. DS19 is off at college, but his girl friend still comes over and "hangs out" with our other kids. For DD16, she can go out to a movie or similiar activity with her boy friend or she can hang out with him here at our house. Occasionally, she can go over to his house, but only if his mom is home and willing to chaparone. That sounds more restrictive than it really is - DD16 is pretty busy with school and sports and her boy friend is busy with school and work, so being able to hang out at our house when they both have free time works out just fine. We provide food and non-invasive chaparoning while they play video games, board games, or watch movies.

Yes...if you are making the turkey the day before, you can also make the gravy then from the pan drippings. As the pp said, you may need to thin it a little when you warm it up, but we like thick gravy here and it comes out fine once it's warmed up.

cornbread muffins. Easy to serve and go over well for all ages. And will be just fine in the cooler for 5 hours.

I freeze raw eggs all the time. Very handy. I take them out of the shell and put them in ziploc freezer bags. When you want to use, just take out of the freezer. I like to thaw the bag a little in water, but you can just dump them in a pan and scramble them. They are good for baking after being frozen too.

I think it is helpful to have a high-school level education to home school. I don't think it's necessary, but it is helpful to have context on what the child is learning. But a friend of mine never finished 8th grade and she has homeschooled all her children. When the older ones reached high school, she used computer-based curriculum and the occasional tutor. So it's possible. The minimum education level? Well, it would be hard to get a little one started reading if you couldn't read yourself, but I bet there are some really creative homeschoolers who would figure out a way around even that problem.

I think you CAN have the perfect bedroom for them - just don't let them spend any time in it when they are awake. Eventually, we were able to convert a room to a play room and then the playroom got messed up and the bedrooms stayed neat. I agree - when my boys were 2yo and 6yo, they enjoyed playing with toys the same way yours do. And we had to do the clean up together so that it didn't get overwhelming. One small task at a time. If it helps - my boys are much more tidy now (19yo and 14yo). Dirty clothes still escape from the laundry basket and run around the house, but the rest of it is pretty good. Just keep working on it with them.