I wouldn't. As for cooking the lunchmeat further to make it ok, "Some research suggests large doses of Listeria can survive heat treatments of 170°F." http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fs102

I might skip some indoor activities that are super congested, but I skip no outdoor activities.

Oh dear. It's going to be a rough week. :grouphug:

The only thing that could have this sort of power over me is a court date, or an order to appear. In that case, I would get a good lawyer. I'm sorry you're having a hard time dealing with the problem. But even criminals who are under arrest still have the right to remain silent and have an "agent" handle things for them.

Continue to ignore or say those are identified as only-cute-to-parent photos. I vote continue to ignore.

I do not necessarily expect a degree. http://www.frenchpastryschool.com/about_us/sebastien_canonne.html See that little red, white, and blue collar the guy is wearing? It is worth more than any degree, title, or laundry list of training he spit out. It is actually illegal to wear that collar in France if you have not received the thumbs-up in a contest given by an elite group of French pastry chefs (MOF). Some guys who have lost in the contest actually run their own pastry academies!

If my kids want to be alone on 12/25 but are happy to have me over all day on 12/24 or 12/26 or 11/24 or really any other day of the year, I would be fine with that. It's one day. It will be okay. OP, tell them next year you made a mistake and should have said another day is better. Or you could go the bubonic plague route but that is being dishonest (and they would have to be reminded about "the ilnnesses" next time they are all together) and not a tradition I would want the kids to adopt.

Glad you found a way celebrate! But why save the drinks for only 12/25?

Yes, compulsory educ ends at different ages by state. Right, and there is a huge payoff to doing so for everyone involved, and even for those who are uninvolved.

A specific way to help your community is to reach out to those hs dropouts and encourage them to go back and finish school. There are at two reports I read recently indicating these souls are just sort of written off. Nobody cares. Maybe if they thought someone cared, they would. HS principals are glad to get rid of them and have no desire to get them back to lower aggregate test scores. Finishing hs is a good idea! And this idea needs to be drilled in if it's not already obvious.

Oh, I see ... it has a 3D topo effect going for it also. Funny! I would warm up a cookie sheet, place the cookies upside down on them, compress with spatula, and sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar

I'm so sorry. :grouphug:

I am most concerned for seniors. According to this report, Seniors and Anxiety Studies have confirmed that seniors taking anti‐anxiety medications may be at increased risk for memory impairment, balance issues, confusion and a loss of inhibitions. The use of these medications has decreased since Medicare Part D was enacted and the medications lost coverage under the bill. All age groups and sexes had significant increases in anti-anxiety med usage except seniors which shows a dramatic 44 percent decrease since 2001. So whether the need for mental health meds are overdiagnosed/misdiagnosed or not, suppose you are on them, and have been for decades -- and now you are losing coverage at age 65 and/or are experiencing serious side effects. Now what?

[Changed the title of previous post.] A mysterious $25 promo credit showed up when I went ahead and bought this wet/dry vac. Some other gb buyers said the same thing.

Am considering getting one. (Especially the one in the amazon gold box about to begin in 6 minutes ...) I have never had a big enough mess, but the kids are young yet. How often have you needed to use your wet/dry vac in the last year, and are certain designs more of a real pain to clean out?

[kalanamak, I was so hoping you'd see this and chime in ... ]

It is 26% to be exact according to the bar chart for women on mental health meds. (but I wonder what the error is in these statistics? Error is never reported)

Reminded me of another interesting thing from the report: for anti-d usage in adults under 65yo, women outnumber men by more than 2X across the board.

Click the PDF for New Report: America’s State of Mind. This report made news a couple of weeks ago. Had a hard time swallowing it at first, and mulled it over to conclude that: 1) maybe PMS/PMDD is being better diagnosed, 2) maybe women are having a really hard time keeping up with impossible standards in a highly developed country [yes, every woman except you keeps nothing but fresh flowers and a handsome knife set on the kitchen counter and (in the words of Steve Carell from Date Night), has a physical appearance "so hot it's like looking through a shimmering jet engine" , 3) social networking reduces the need and opportunity for real social interaction in which your friends could obviously see something is wrong and try to help you, and 4) whatever the reason(s) -- 1 in 4 is nothing to be glad about. There were other surprising stats about anti-d usage in children too. Anyway, would you have believed 1 in 4 women ... or higher?

This -- I am unfamiliar with.

:iagree: Ceramic knives can easily be had for under $25 from Walmart and BBB (w/ coupon) as you mentioned. [The following is a digression on the qualities of ceramic knives] Further, they are VERY useful and a utilitarian item in our house. It is the one knife you need to 1) slice anything, 2) slice anything into VERY thin slices, 3)completely skin and core a pineapple in no time, 4) slice open bagged salad salad in a hurry. They are very useful. Also VERY sharp. I have sometimes found myself with small nicks on my hands after cooking that I don't remember explicitly getting. The nicks are so sharp and clean-cut that they don't even hurt until you wash your hands and some water/soap gets in. The only sort of knife it cannot replace is a cleaver. That said, the cheap ceram ones ($20 sort) can be brittle and break easily when dropped and they do not like to be bent even a little. (Don't even think about trying to pry something open with the knife tip) In our house, I have all the ceram knives locked in cabinet. They are just that sharp and not worth the risk for a kid to grab accidentally. Something to consider if angel tree recipients have little kids.

Of course not. Of all the dumb and harmful things teachers have been accused of doing throughout the history of time, truly this is the least of them. I don't even classify it as dumb/harmful, and I can't build any steam to get worked up about it. Most importantly, not all cultures of people who pay equal taxes for schools perpetuate this myth of Santa in the first place. Finally, the parents can just say the teacher was wrong and bring up a myriad of thousands of other examples of when teachers have been wrong. Easy. Kids have many Christmas expectations ... of stockings sagging from overstuffing ... gifts piled high. The reality is that 18% of the school-age children in my county live in poverty. Increase of +2% since last year. What should such kids conclude --- that Santa, the mysterious red benefactor, doesn't favor them as much? P.S. I had to borrow this from another thead and say that I do agree with this:

Let the Great World Spin: A Novel Colum McCann ... and other bookclub-that-I-dropped-out-of books.

... to drop out completely of a large, local hs support group. Only afterwards, I did I realize how much ground noise it added to our lives. You?

I disagree with this in the legal sense. There is no legal education standard I need to meet. It is the state's burden to prove that I am *not* educating my children. An analogy exists in day-to-day home cooking. Food at home is assumed. Further, there is no active standard I need to meet to prove that I've properly fed the children. But if their doctors and and our neighbors notice the kids especially thin and hungry, then yes, this is evidence that I have not provided enough food. And then yes, I will be and should be legally compelled to provide more/better food or give them up to an entity that will. As far as educating to meet personal potential, that is a moral standard -- one that I, and many on this board, take very seriously. Way more seriously than we would bet our last dollar our ps systems would.