Just a guess on my part....I hear lots of educators say that 10 is the easiest of all ages to teach. It's not without it's difficulties, but the children are still children, still wanting to please others. From after this time forward, they start seeking their independence more strongly. My sister says, after raising 4 girls, that it's the last "safety check" before lunging forward. At 11, each of her girls played with baby dolls for the last time. They go backwards to childlike, then get a little clingy for a while, get their security, then leap forward. It's the ups and downs of adolescent after this. If she misses you, a little indulgence is probably a good thing. For you. I haven't experience it; it's just what others have told me since my girls are 10.

I have purchased from http://www.swimoutlet.com/ the last few years and can find pretty coverage.

Interestingly, I had a reversal of the same when I recently took cough syrup with codeine for a flu and cough, and another time when I took benedryl just to get a good nights sleep. Combined, it was a total of 4 nights on different occasions. On the morning after 3rd night of the codeine I made the connection, thinking it was just a bad flu at first. It only took one of the benedryl. Besides the horrific nightmares, a mean headache accompanied me all day, too, with both drugs. Never happened before last year. I am now trying melatonin and haven't had any side effects, but I can't say it is really helping me sleep either. I am sticking with chocolate. My 10yo became worried about me when she overheard me mention these side effects to my dh and the Nut threw out the benedryl. I had already gotten rid of the codeine.

I have a non sleeper who also rises early. I asked the pedi about it and she advised use for about 2 weeks to perhaps jump start a sleeping routine, then ween off. I tried it with dd and she did sleep better by the end of the second week. After weening her she is back to not sleeping. She started to concentrate better but there is just too much unknown for me to continue. Oatmeal makes one sleepy, but I have doubts about the happiness of my family having oatmeal for dinner or dessert. Chocolate or complex carbs are also suppose to be good before bedtime to induce sleep. Not too much though.

:iagree: I've been to and enjoyed both of these. I don't know which is my favorite, but a plus for VHE is the hotel that is the vending hall is in. The convienice of it being all together compared to staying at relatives, driving, parking, and walking...then doing all that in reverse is a bonus, but both are good in the long run.

I am a subject gal, myself. Order by subject.

How does saying this sound, "Well, if you don't believe in Santa, I guess he won't be bringing you any gifts." and just leave it at that? There is a lot of doubt going on here and I can't believe I said that, but that put their hearts at ease. But I know they really know.

I copied and pasted a blog I read this morning that is somewhat related to this topic, although it is more about premarital pregnancy, but that comes from premarital sex, so it's somewhat connected. A lot of parents go through the act of something like giving a ring as though that is the answer, then go their way. There needs to be more guidance than that. I would wonder if a different set of people were interviewed, if the results would be different. I also think a little bit of guilt is not a bad thing when pledgers fall. I think the study is designed to target parents so they feel inappropriate guilt for thinking it could be done. It can be done. Not everybody succeeds, but it is possible, pledge or no pledge. Is is possible that those who fail make studies like this to skew perceptions and relieve their own failure? To perhaps bring those who try, down to their level? When someone falls, they should be encouraged to get back in the game, and guilt helps with this. Guilt is not bad. I don't think eliminating tv and movie content will prevent young people from partaking in sex prior to marriage, but it's something to consider. If you read, be warned: It's full of Christian thought. Warning: There is Salmonella in Your TV! Posted on November 10, 2008 Filed Under Philosophy/Ethics | I will set before my eyes no vile thing. Psalm 101:3 What do all of these have in common: anchovies, orange juice, puffed wheat, alfalfa sprouts, cantaloupe, jalapeño peppers, pork cracklings, baby spinach, chicken breasts, ground beef, fruit trays and Veggie Booty Snack Food? Sometime during the last two years, their producers have issued recalls due to contamination with salmonella bacteria. People who consumed these products were at health risk. But this is only the list of salmonella recalls. Tons of products have been recalled due to contamination by tiny organisms like E. Coli, Melamine, and Listeria. Many more have been recalled simply because the product contains undeclared ingredients like eggs, sulfites, hazel nuts, peanuts, milk products, or wheat. Since I am an avid tomato soup consumer, the recent recall on October 31 interested me. It came from General Mills, who issued a voluntary recall on a single day’s production of its Progresso Hearty Tomato soup. Why? Because the label didn’t list egg, milk and soy, which could produce allergy symptoms in its customers. There are thousands of other recalls that are underway: necklaces containing lead that could be ingested by children; lithium batteries that might overheat; wooden toys with small parts that could break off and pose a choking hazard for small children; a treadmill that could speed up unexpectantly; etc. The list goes on and on: trailer axles; computer docking stations, boat tops, motorcycles, trucks, cars, tires, child safety seats…and, I kid you not, a pacemaker. That’s not easy to recall if it has been installed. I am actually thankful for all of this. Although I don’t have a pacemaker and don’t consume jalapeño peppers, pork cracklings or Veggie Booty Snack Food, I would like to know that my puffed wheat is safe to eat and when I sit down to enjoy a hearty bowl of tomato soup, I would like to know that there isn’t something strange lurking in the hidden depths of my bowl. This is especially true with my morning oatmeal, when those kinds of thoughts could drive you crazy (oatmeal has a million things in it that look suspicious). Sometimes I have felt that we have gone overboard with these recalls, but in the end, I suppose I would vote for being overly cautious than too cavalier. However, this quick trigger to pull product doesn’t seem to be a part of the entertainment industry. I have heard many entertainment “stars†passionately get involved in social issues and cry for banning products that endanger health, like cigarettes. But when it comes to pulling their own products, there is nothing but silence. Last week, a most interesting article appeared. Maybe you read it. Here is the opening paragraph: “Groundbreaking research suggests that pregnancy rates are much higher among teens who watch a lot of TV with sexual dialogue and behavior than among those who have tamer viewing tastes.†Duh! Groundbreaking? That’s like saying groundbreaking research shows that people who eat chicken with Salmonella are prone to get sicker than those who eat bacteria-free chicken. I remember years ago being floored by a government sponsored study to determine why children fall off of bicycles and tricycles. The heavily funded research found that they fall off because they lose their balance or run into something. Amazing! So, now we have a well-done Rand Corporation study that shows a strong link between behavior and what we watch on TV. This shouldn’t shock us. Advertisers pay millions of dollars hoping that their 30-second “spots†will change our behavior. The Rand study found that “teens who watched the raciest shows were twice as likely to become pregnant†as those who watched few such programs. The study involved 1,792 teens and their viewing habits of 20 TV shows that contained lots of sexual content, such as “Sex and the Cityâ€, “That 70’s Showâ€, and “Friendsâ€. Now, it seems to me that there should have been an immediate voluntary “recall†by all of the producers of the 20 TV shows: HBO, FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, MTV, etc. The headlines should have read: “MTV Recalls MTVâ€, or “NBC Recalls ‘Friends’â€. The column should have then detailed how these producers were recalling their products with an apology and warning like this: “HBO is recalling all versions of “Sex and the Cityâ€, including all DVD sales and issues a warning that these episodes have been strongly linked to teenage sexual activity and possible pregnancy. We wish to apologize to the American public and pledge to insure further TV productions will be screened carefully to prevent this kind of contamination from being released into the public airways. Please be assured that HBO is committed to producing a healthy product and regrets this failure.†Well, that’s what we should have heard. However, selling chicken that might make someone sick for a few days obviously is much more serious than leading our kids into promiscuous sex, pregnancy and, no doubt, abortion. We hold one accountable and turn a blind eye to the other. Someone out there should care about this stuff. P.S. Parents, since “recalls†of unhealthy TV programs will probably not happen anytime soon, you will have to take the role of protecting your teens. Don’t forget to look for contamination in movies, music, teen magazines and, yes, even video games. Guard yourself as well. Set no vile thing before your eyes or the eyes of your children.

I cook frozen meat often and think it will be fine. I hope you're going to be home though. I have noticed that the more late model crock pots dry up faster than the older ones. I have left and come home to a dried up burnt bottom after only a few hours. I used to be able to leave all day without a hitch in the meat, but no more. Friends have said the same.

Did that too. "You were so kind to your sister when she ...., add another quarter to your pay." It's really fun to see them respond so well. I think it'll turn around soon.

This is just their first "payperiod", but yes, if they got the chores done the next day on time, they got their money back. Plus, anything outside of chores, anything that saves me time from my own work, I pay them extra. They have only been at it for 10 days, so they have some adjustments to make, too.

that I don't want to buy them, so after talking things over, dh and I decided to start an allowance system for them so they can earn the things they want. They get $10.00 a month payable on the 15th and 30th at $5.00 each time. For each chore they don't complete by the given time each day, they have to subtract .25. Back talk, failure to obey immediately and other infractions all cost them .25, also. Today is payday and guess what.... they owe us money! :lol:. We've worked in a way for them to earn it back, and they didn't quite make it, but they don't owe us as much as they could've. They are figuring out math quite well with up and downs and the decimals, going into negative numbers (which they haven't learned yet) and other unseen benefits that I hadn't figured in to the plan. It's cool. They don't complain at all about it. There is no mention that it seems unfair. They know they blew it. I'll keep tweaking it as we go because I do want to see them succeed but it was a good reality check for them. I am hoping for the best as we experiment with this idea. I guess having a business for 15 years paying out payroll, we just think that way. Of course as employers we never got to deduct pay for failure to work, but at home it's more of a truer reality.

My girls have always liked boys.??? They don't watch tv or see that many movies or any of the stuff that I thought would contribute to that, so it must come naturally. I have always thought it worth teasing that my 10yo has always "had a boy in every port". One from church, one from the west coast, one from so cal, one from each play she was in, one from where ever she was. Each parent would think it was cute that Kate liked her boy and I have fought saying that he was only one of many. I think the whole thing is scarey.

I think stones are good, we are just used to screens. We used to make only take and bake pizza and had a small 2 shelf pizza oven with stone bottoms and they do make the best pizza. We started making baked pizza years later with large conveyer belt ovens and screens work best in those. Not everybody cooks the same and the belt ovens ensured a more uniform product. We then found them to be extremely useful with many different products we made. We use screens at home for all kinds of things now. If nothing else, they are not heavy in the least and much easier to handle. The bottom cooks right through the screen and comes out crispy. We have heated the stones and put the cooked pizza on it to keep it warm on the table. As to the heaviness of the stones and the stone bottom pizza ovens, at the store we always used pizza peels for removing pies from the ovens so we never had to deal with the heat and heaviness of the stones and once we started using screens, we often put pizza on the screen and then onto the stone bottom oven at out of store events where we used the smaller stone bottom ovens. We cooked at temps above 600 and used par baked dough to crank out faster pies at these events and the screens kept the pie bottoms from blackening before the top was done cooking.

Dh and I watched half a movie last night before we found ourselves asleep, and the picture was high quality. I am very happy with it. Very happy.

:lol::lol::lol: I have been doing that so much lately. I can think of the term of anything in a conversation and even when someone else is talking and draws a blank, but as soon as I need it or someone else asks for it, I am utterly blank. I am :lol: at your good idea of coming here and asking. I got the "yauh" feeling. Sorry I am no help.

So true, so we are adapting out taste buds now that dh sold our pizza business. He refused to make ww pizza no matter how much I or any other health conscience person begged. He wasn't going to waste time and money on a product that wouldn't sell. I've had it in healthy pizzerias and it is like cardboard. I make it at home using 1/2 ww and 1/2 better for bread white. I need to get to the health store to buy gluten because adding gluten really does make a difference in homemade breads. Dh always made dough from 25# bags of flour and I have yet been able to reduce that effectively to single pizza size but I am working on it. There is none better than he made. (Folks used to come in and just buy our dough balls and go home to make stuff out of it.) As he looks at pizza dough recipes and watched you tube demos, he says they all look right, but we just haven't been able to get it the same. So here's my next experiment.... I'm going to make the dough a day ahead, shape it into the dough ball, sprinkle it with flour, place it in a large food bag, let it rise, put it in the frig, and use it the next day for dinner by removing it from frig, get it to almost room temp, extract from bag, roll out, sauce and cheese it, add toppings and cook at high temp. (We use screens, not stones or pans.) That is step by step how we did it in our business. At home I make it and use it right away. So I am going to try it tonight to see if it works. That extra day to cure just might be the trick.

I can't wait to take windows off my Mac, but first I have to get QB for Mac. I finally decided that we are better off buying all new stuff; Mavis Beacon, QB, Write Start, ect than using windows. It's a pain. I have yet to watch an instant movie on my pc because it wasn't a good picture. I am hoping Mac is better.

Netflix just informed me that instant movies are now available on Mac. Yeah!

You are telling tales from my past. I regret that I pushed so hard. You could try to cut down the writing to a four words and call it good. Her little hands might not be that ready and it hurts. It's hard to see the road ahead of you, but don't give up, just back off a bit. When Kate was 6 and 7, she fought, fought, fought with writing. One day she was upset with me because she didn't want to do her chores ( a daily thing to this day) and I found an angry sticky note she had written when I wasn't looking: "I hate feeling like your slave." That sentence says more than words. This girl does respect me enough to never say that. A note was perfect. She often took an hour to write some short sentence yet she scribbled this out in a flash. I didn't know she knew what a slave was at age 7. I didn't know she could spell words like those or use correct grammar. We hadn't studied that much grammar. She is not a big talker anyway and usually demonstrates her feelings and ideas, weather good or bad. I went to her, chores still undone, gave her a hug, and told her how proud of her I was because I didn't know she could write so well. I kept that note on the frig for a long time. At close to 8 1/2 yo, I shortened the amount I made her write to nearly nothing, but still required enough to keep her in the know. Fast forward to age 10. She is writing books. She is writing poetry. She is writing music. She is scheming plays and skits not yet written except her ideas. Anything required is painfully hard and she loses all imagination, but given only a minimum in school, on her own time with her imagination, she soars with no thought given to the amount of time put in. I know I am one mom who expected too much too soon because someone said it could be done. Kids in ps do it. All the curriculum says it can be done. My kid wouldn't do it. It took me a long time and a lot of frustration to finally learn to cut back when I knew she could do it but wouldn't. For this kid, my job is making her able to do what she was cut out to do, not make an A one student out of her. She just marches to the beat of her own drum. She is incredibly intelligent and very talented but that was hard to see at age 6 when she was fighting with me so much. When it comes to reading, I have made the girls do that sounding out thing. I finally made them try just a little then just said the word for them. They got more reading done and learned to be fluid that way, and when they get more fluid, they read and forget that they don't want to try.

I recently read that Netflix is planning on having software by the end of 2008 that will be compatible with Mac.

My sil has not let herself go in the looks dept, in fact, she looks better than ever after 3 kids, but my brother has been disappointed in the rest of the things you mentioned with his wife. They both have their faults but I still consider him lucky to have found her, even though she is a horrible housekeeper, cook, and laundry keeper. I have stayed there and she says it just doesn't float her boat. She gets no satisfaction. She has talked with her friends and they all tell her in time it ends up making everybody happy, but she says not for her. When my brother (construction) is not working, things get tense. Romance is always good for them, and I still say she is a gem. I wouldn't want my brother for a husband, even though he does laundry, cooks and cleans. They still bring out the best in each other. By the way my sil's mother, grandmother and aunts take care of themselves, I don't think she'll ever let her self go, just the house.

Major idiot here....how do you get itunes on your sansa? I can't get it to work. I have found some sort of tool online that converts itunes to make it downloadable, but I am afraid to mess with it. Aside from that, I haven't found any way to get my music or anything else on my sansa.

This is a problem in our house as well. Dd was prescribed Miralax for 3 months before it was OTC. It took over a week to get it all out and then the rest of the time was for retraining. I always hated using that product because it wasn't natural, but one has to do what one has to do to get to where you have to go. Once you get things moving in the right direction, I have a few suggestions to maintain healthy bowels, especially since his bowels will probably never be quite as healthy as one who does not have this ailment. 1. Include flaxmeal in something every day or every other day; ie: hot cereals, home made biscuits, etc. It will force you to cook things from scratch. 2. Metamucil cookies. Dd likes them. They have psylium husks which also aids in elimination. 3. Before sitting down for meals, drink a glass of water. Make a game of it, but it will get at the minimum 3 glasses of water a day down him if you do meals that many times. No sitting or meal until it is drunk. (If I don't do this, I forget to make sure dd gets enough.) I have heard that probiotics are good, but I haven't yet looked into that.