If I didn't have any plans for New Year's Eve (and I never do :glare:), I would have the party on New Year's Eve and let the girls (try to) stay up to watch the new year in. I think that would be lots of fun and be nice for the parents to maybe get a night out! Second the ideas about having pie instead of cake. How about Pizza Pi for dinner?

I had lots of chores growing up. I don't have problems with doing these same tasks now. BUT.....when I was 9, my mom had to go back to work suddenly to support the family and I was "assigned" the chore of cooking dinner each night. She would leave written instructions and I would try to follow them. It was a disaster. And the worst part was that my family would sit around the dinner table each night critisizing the cooking - informing me of how terrible each part was. This went on until I was in high school and got a job so I was out of the house every evening. Yeah - I know - dysfuntional family I'm sure. But I still hate cooking and to this day I am a lousy cook. But not because it was a "chore", but because of the negative feedback I recieved. Today, I give my kids chores, but I try not to couple it with negative experiences. If something isn't done quite right, we fix it together - no big deal.

Whoa....shaming? Unkind parenting? I would definitely not shame a child on Christmas morning. Or be unkind! That's not what I meant at all - I'm sorry it sounded like that. I see it as taking care of their basic needs as a priority. A kiddo who is counting other people's presents and is unhappy has a problem - over stimulated, too tired, hungry, something. Removing them from the unhappy scene, feeding them, and giving them a chance for a "do-over" is all I meant, rather than handing out what might be more usual unpleasant consequences in our house for total rudeness. Sorry about that!

I would probably go to the local ice cream place - our Baskin Robbins is pretty big. I'd buy a small ice cream cake for the kids and then if parents/sibs tagged along, they could buy their own ice cream (saving your budget). Even with water bottles, party plates and hats, you can probably keep the total budget under $50 for the whole party.

We have a set that we purchased 20 years ago. Other than a few handles coming loose (which were replaced under warranty without a hassle), the pans are still doing great. They even replaced the big pot that got ruined when our electric stove shorted out 18 years ago and arc-welded a hole right through the bottom of the pot. But....I looked into the cost of adding another pot to our set a couple years ago and my-oh-my the cost is insane now! We paid nowhere near what they are asking today. Ours was about $150 for a full set - not a bad investment for 20+ years of service on a set of pots. I love our set, it's amaxingly durable, the electric frying pan gets used nightly here, and we actually use the little shredder device all the time, but I think you can get equal quality sets now for less money than they are asking.

I am not a nice mom. The child (regardless of age) that counted presents and complained about number or quality would be sent away from the Christmas tree to eat breakfast and not allowed to return to the festivities until much much later. I might even make a comment about said child being over tired and ask them if they needed a nap before rejoining the family celebration. Oops - forgot to add - I do NOT purchase presents baszed on fairness of quantity or $$$ amount spent. I think that's a bad trap to get into for parents. I think it's better to purchase things that each child will enjoy based on their own personality.

for every pound of hamburger, I use 1 egg and 1/2 cup of bread crumbs (or oatmeal), 2/3 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 3/4 cup milk. Plus mustard and worchester sauce. It seems to hold together just fine. 4 eggs seems like alot.

Speaking as one who had her tonsils out at 18 - the longer you wait the worse the recovery is. But....I would get a second opinion, if you haven't already. We talked to 3 different doctors before I had mine removed and that was a million years ago. That being said - having my tonsils removed made a huge difference in my overall health. It was definitely worth it!

Land's End. Not cheap, but long wearing and warm. We like their fleece for winter and long john styles for summer (it's chilly here at night!). They have sizes all the way up to 16. Bigger than 16, I order men's small for my boys.

Your DH should ask if they will voluntarily release him from the non-compete. It's worth asking anyway.....

I do! I do! I do! Got this one from Allrecipes.com. It's far and away the BEST chocolate marshmellow fudge we've ever had. And you boil the stuff for 6 minutes, not to a certain temperature, so all you have to do is watch the clock. Very easy and very yummy. ANd it freezes well too. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/German-Chocolate-Fudge/Detail.aspx And yes --- that is 12oz (3 bars) of German Chocolate. It's not a misprint.

At our house, it would be the snow sliding off the pitched roof. It comes down in an avalanche - literally! Rumbling roar and crashing thuds. Happens everytime we get alot of snow and it warms up just a couple of degrees. The other (seasonal) possibility would be the cat knocking over the Christmas tree, but that would have more of a tinkling sound as all the glass balls break (ask me how I know!). My tree is now tied to the couch!

Where I am Today: Daylight : 10:02 AM - 3:43 PM Ick! Vitamin D defintely helps. All the other advice is good - get outside during the day. Exercise. Keep busy. I just keep reminding myself that summer is coming and we will have 20+ hours of daylight......

I had the very best luck ever by googling LaLeche League (web site is www.llli.org) - and clicking on the Find Local Support. They are nearly EVERYWHERE and have experienced ladies on call who can help you. When DD(now 8) was born, I was struggling with getting her to latch on properly and a lovely and very experienced lady came right to my house to help us out. DD is my 4th kid, so sometimes even those of us with plenty of bf experience need a little help.

At home, any condiment addition is acceptable. I have one DD that drowns her eggs in ketchup, tobasco, and hot sauce. Bleck. When eating out, my children are taught to only use the condiments that are placed on the table by the host. Period.

We get this type of behavior from time to time with DD15 especially. I think it gets worse when she is either too tired or not getting enough physical activity. So when she starts up her rant, I either send her to bed early or start passing out physical chores (hauling firewood seems to work wonders, as does scrubbing showers). This seems to help lots in our house!

DD8 had these types of headaches - better in the morning, worse by the end of the day. Turned out to be food allergies. Removing her trigger foods (potatos, rye, barley) made alot of difference. Then we discovered she is also sensitive to cat hair and dust - she now takes singulair at night and we keep the cat away from her bed. I wash her bedding 3 times a week and use an large air filter in her room to keep down the dust.

I second the local food bank/pantry option. We have volunteered for years with our local food pantry and my kids have always helped. Often, bulk foods such as oatmeal or rice need to be repackaged into smaller bags and this is something kids can can really help with. Also, stocking shelves with canned goods after food drives is a great task for kids.

Our local grocery-plus store (Fred Meyer) has Memorex MP3 4GB Video MP3 players for $19.99. Walmart has a similiar one here by Phillips for $20 too. I bought 2 from Fred Meyer yesterday. We've had mixed success with the 2GB Sansa Clips over the years. They are fine for occasional use and can take a beating, but if you are a heavy user the control buttons wear out fairly quickly. When they refurbish, they replace the buttons, but you have the same problem eventually.

The inability to keep a mop in the house unless it is under lock and key. :tongue_smilie: Mops with spring mechanisms get taken apart. Mops without spring mechanisms make their way to the back yard to fullfill their true destiny as lances, jousting sticks and pole vaults.

I look awful in black (makes my skin look yellow and nasty), so I would buy a sweater dress in the lovely rich russet brown they have out this year and pair it with leggings (black or grey) and a pair of great low-top boots with medium heels. And...no, I am not skinny or 6 ft. tall. I am barely 5-5 and curvy.

My oldest DS is like this. Always has been. Long ago, our Dr attributed it to DS being lactose sensitive. DS does have to watch what he eats due to the sensitivity - if he eats much dairy, he gets quite a tummy ache and then gets miserably constipated. So - it might be weird, but your DD is not alone.

Yippee! DS's wonderful girlfriend just brought us a pumpkin pie! Now we can nibble on pie all day! Yippee!

Nope. You can leave the apple out on the counter like I do and my DH and teens finish it off before morning :glare:

My instinct would be to protect my kiddo from the situation (since he's so young - just 7!) I would try to never mention my son as the reason not to go somewhere or do something. I would probably beg off saying that "I" was too tired (for another outing) or laugh about how controlling "I" am regarding food for him. When your son is older, he will probably develop better skills for waiting (and kudos for him for being able to warn you that he is approaching a melt-down! That's terrific!) and will be able to handle things better. But for right now, I would still be in protective mode - especially since she is not going to believe you anyway! We had this for YEARS from my mother who refused to believe that my son was hearing-impaired because he was unable to use hearing aids! She was determined that this was a behavior-issue! Sheesh!