I live in the Ouachitas. Late December is usually pretty temperate. We don't usually get snow until January/February. It's about an 8 hour drive from northern Kansas, we used to have to make that drive monthly, it's not too bad. Tons of hiking trails and campsites around here. Cabins and air bnbs of every type everywhere around here. Lots of rivers, streams and lakes for fishing. The nature centers around here rent kayaks and boats.

I make this vegan pumpkin cheesecake. We aren't vegan though so I use regular vanilla pudding and such rather than the vegan items listed that I can't find around here. I've used almond milk and regular milk, both work fine. Regular or light cream cheese both work. We use regular whipped cream or Cool Whip on top. I leave out the cayenne as I don't like heat in my desserts lol. I do add the mayonnaise though, regular not vegan. Don't know what it does in the recipe but you definitely can't taste it in the finished product. Not super out of the ordinary but it's always the first pie to be gone. I wish I could see that snickerdoodle cheesecake bar recipe (it's behind a pay wall for me). I might have a bit of a cheesecake problem lol.

Another vote for run, she's trouble with a capital T. I also have PTSD and once had a therapist that tried to address everything but the PTSD. She tried to say I didn't have PTSD, that I was bipolar. She said many hurtful and crazy things. I always felt attacked and like I couldn't let my guard down around her. She set me so far back in treatment for the PTSD that I do have (I am most definitely not bipolar) that it literally took me years to get to a point where I felt like maybe I could trust a different therapist. All I can say is if a therapist is raising red flags in your head, don't hesitate to find someone else. The damage they can do in even a short amount of time is all the reason you need to find someone else. The reason I gave for seeking another therapist when I did finally go back is that I didn't feel safe enough to open up to the bad therapist. No one batted an eyelash at my reason.

Same here. We can't get off our hill when there is more than just a dusting of snow. And our well freezes in subzero temperatures despite insulating everywhere we can possibly get to. The heater in the well house just can't keep up if it stays 10 degrees of below for days in a row.

Do you want dual monitors or charging ability for the laptop? If so, a docking station would make sense. If you just need to be able to plug in your mouse and the bluetooth dongle, then a USB hub is what you want. I have this usb hub https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003M0NURK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and this bluetooth dongle on my computer. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DJ83070/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It has worked well for me for years.

I have roasted red pepper minestrone on the stove at the moment. 3.5 cups chicken broth 3 - 16oz jars of roasted red peppers, drained 1 - 2 cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I used 1 can today but I think I'll use two next time) 1 tablespoon minced garlic paste (or 2 - 3 cloves of garlic minced) 1/4 cup dried minced onion (or a medium onion, finely chopped) 1.5 cups of shredded cabbage 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables 1 tbsp dried basil 1.5 tsp parsley flakes 1 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp pepper 1 cup ditalini or elbow macaroni Parmesan cheese Puree two of the jars of roasted red peppers. Chop the remaining jar into bite size pieces if necessary. Add everything but the noodles and parmesan cheese to a large stock pot. Bring to a boil. Stir in the noodles, reduce heat and cover. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Top each serving with shredded parmesan cheese. If the soup gets a bitter aftertaste, add a tsp of baking soda to the pot. Sometimes, jarred red peppers over cook really easy and the baking soda balances it back out. My plan is to freeze this, without the cheese. Someone on these board mentioned Souper Cubes and I ordered some. They have been life changing for me. I've been making soups and stews and freezing individual portions for me since I'm the only one around here that likes soups.

I love Bath and Body Works Twilight Woods but you can only get that scent online now.

Here is the article on the way back machine. HTH https://web.archive.org/web/20190123093529/http://holistichomeschooler.com/comparison-a-gentle-feast-vs-simply-charlotte-mason/

We have a guinea pig. She doesn't do well with other guinea pigs so we just have the one. It's not common but it does happen that you may find a guinea pig that prefers to live alone. Generally, you want at least a pair of guinea pigs if not more. We have hand tamed her, she doesn't always like to be picked up though. She will usually run from you. I wouldn't call her a cuddly pet the way you can cuddle a kitten or a puppy. She is cute for sure and makes a cute purring sound when she's happy but cuddly she is not. When holding her, it's a good idea to either keep it short or keep a small fleece pee pad under her. A guinea pig needs a lot of horizontal space to run, they don't like multi-level cages in general. I clean her cage at least once a week if not twice a week because she is a poop machine. We have fleece liners in her cage so it's pretty easy but it is something that needs done consistently. They also need their nails trimmed which can be a hassle, they don't like it, lol. I am allergic to her hay. I have to refill her hay box about every other day and it makes me itchy and a little wheezy at times. They need a box big enough for them to root around in the hay. They play in it, hide in it and eat it. She can be loud when she wants her daily veggies. You need to provide daily pellets, unlimited hay and daily fresh veggies for a balanced diet. There are lots of guinea pig channels on youtube to give you an idea of what having a guinea pig is like. Squeak Dreams is one that I like to watch. Los Angeles Guinea Pig Rescue is another one. Overall, as a low maintenance pet, I'd give guinea pigs a B+. We've also had rats. They were lower maintenance than the guinea pig is and really fun to watch. We had a hamster named Roadrunner. They are so small and delicate though, hard to handle without extreme care both in gentleness and making sure they don't escape your hands. And they bite and draw blood. The guinea pig will nibble at our fingers occasionally looking for treats but the hamster we had would draw blood when he bit.

I'm in a land locked state. Fish around here just doesn't taste right to me. Plus, I would be cooking it for me only because dh and ds don't like fish. 😞

Is there a fish oil option without fishy burps? My doctor wants me to start taking fish oil and vitamin e. But I know I won't be able to take the fishy burps from fish oil that my husband described when he had to take it. I figured if anyone would know the best fish oil to take, it's the hive. 🙂

My husband's grandmother does this and she is in her 70s. I agree that it looks a bit off that her hair color doesn't match her face. Plus she keeps her hair in a short cut typical of older women so the roots are very obvious when she goes to get them redone once a month or so. I just don't have the mental energy to care enough to put that kind of effort into my hair and I'm 25 years younger than her.

I've always colored mine at home with whatever looked good at the store. My natural hair color is a medium brown with a strong tendency for strawberry blonde highlights if I spend anytime in the sun. With serious streaks of white/grey now that I haven't colored in a while. Darker shades don't look good on me because I have a very fair complexion but as long as I stick to lighter shades of brown or auburn or go with something like purple, blue or red it comes out great. I've used just about every brand on the shelf of permanent and temporary hair color. I usually just pick whatever floats my boat, and suits my pocketbook, at the time. With all this talk about hair coloring on the board recently, I'm starting to get the itch to color my hair again lol.

When I color my hair, I do so for me, not anyone else. When I was younger, coloring my hair was fun. Now that I have enough greys that one might want to hide them, I'm just too lazy and don't care what anyone else thinks. I come as I am, like it or not. My husband likes when I get the itch to dye my hair wild colors like purple. But he never says anything about my hair when I don't feel like dyeing. I do like pedicures and wish I could justify the cost to go more often. But again I'm doing it for me, not to fit in somewhere or impress anybody. I just like the way my feet feel and look after a pedicure. I can never do as good a job myself as they do at the nail salon.

As long as you wait to add the cream or milk ingredients until you reheat it should come out fine. I just made a double batch of roasted red pepper spaghetti sauce and froze the other half. I also make BBQ sauce and freeze half. I double batch taco meat when I make tacos and put the other half in the fridge. Ds(10) likes to make himself tacos for lunch or as a substitute dinner when he doesn't like what I'm making lol. I have a cast iron skillet large enough to do two pounds of ground beef at a time. If I need more than that, I just make it in 2lb batches. I'm going to have to try @Ottakee's way with the oven though. Sounds much less stressful on my back lol. In the freezer, I double wrap raw meat, in plastic wrap or a plastic bag and then in heavy duty foil. It keeps for at least 3 - 4 months that way without freezer burn. I buy ground beef 10lbs at a time and I usually cook about half of it and then freeze the rest raw, double wrapped. I don't thaw it out when I cook the frozen raw ground beef. I cook it in my cast iron skillet from frozen. Just flipping it like a hamburger and scrapping the cooked bits off the frozen chunk over and over again. Then once it is all cooked, I let it cook just a few minutes longer to make sure there is no pink left anywhere. It only takes about 10 minutes to do 1lb this way.

My experience is the same as @Pawz4me. The university teaching hospital where dh has had his major surgeries always allows me back when he is in the PACU. It's an L shaped room with rows of beds and curtain dividers just big enough for the bed and maybe 2 people to stand. They also send dh to the PACU after his spinal taps because he has to lay flat on his back for 2 or 3 hours after the procedure. I'm with him for the full time he's back there. When oldest ds had tubes put in his ears and youngest dd had eye surgery at 13 months, they brought me back to the PACU before they had woken up so a familiar face would be there when they woke up. This was back in the early 2000s though. Youngest ds(10) may need surgery soon so I guess we will find out if anything has changed about children and visitors in the PACU.

Lots of great ideas! I'm going to have to sift through them all and come up with something. We aren't tied to any particular food on Christmas so that makes it easier.

Ds would love Great Wolf Lodge, but staying there is not in the budget this year. Can you eat at the restaurants without being a guest? I've never actually been to one.

That nothing will be open Christmas day. 🙃 Of course this occurs to me AFTER I've made the hotel reservations. So it's a 4 hour drive. We can have brunch at home Christmas day and then leave for our trip. But what about dinner when we get there in the early evening? I had planned on Chick-fil-a since that's one of ds's favorite restaurants and this trip is for him (and we don't have one locally). But I find it highly unlikely they will be open Christmas day, yeah? Nothing is open around here on Christmas day. Even Walmart is closed. So how can I find out what will be open on Christmas day in the Grapevine, TX area? Or what is a creative solution of something we can do for dinner? We will have a refrigerator and a microwave in the room. The most creative thing I can come up with right now is to bring leftovers from brunch, lol. Anyone have any better ideas?

To me, and my opinion is colored by dealing with many manipulative people in my life, it almost seems like a manipulation tactic. It seems to me like she was trying to set up a situation where she could say, "You let so and so cousin in to see the baby but you wouldn't let me?!?" It's like she thought maybe if cousin just showed up they wouldn't turn them away for fear of seeming rude but it backfired on her because they did turn cousin away without any qualms about seeming rude. Like I said though, I'm a bit biased in my opinion having dealt with so much manipulation in my life but that's what it looks like to me from the outside looking in.

This thread brought up a memory I had almost forgot about. When dh's grandma had double knee replacement surgery, we traveled with her to the hospital in a larger city about 90 minutes away from where we live. But ds was 3yo at the time and she (grandma) didn't want us to have to sit and entertain him in the waiting room so she gave us some money and told us to take him to the zoo while she was in surgery and when we got back she should be in a recovery room and ready for visitors. When we got back from the zoo, we went to the information desk in the surgery waiting area to find out what room she was in and the volunteers that work the desk kept giving us dirty looks. Apparently, we had not been there when they called out for Grandma's family to come to the desk and they assumed no one had shown up to "support" her. It was rather offputting and we didn't understand their gruff manner towards us at the time. But this thread has shed a little light on what their problem may have been.

Unschooling is the exact opposite of institutional schooling. I suppose you could unschool in the afterschool hours by providing a learning rich environment at home but if he is already turned off to learning, it probably won't help. If he's back in school, let the school determine his learning issues and what needs to be done. If he is significantly behind, I imagine you will be called in for an IEP meeting soon. Late September and into October is when first IEP meetings typically occur. Once you know what the school considers to be his areas that need the most help, you can then decide if tutoring afterschool will help or hinder him. I put my youngest in school last year knowing full well he was significantly behind in reading. I tried my best but I just could not get this kid reading, after teaching all of his older siblings to read, and we were butting heads over it every. single. day. Putting him in public school has been the best decision for him. I have considered tutoring him in reading to help accelerate him but honestly, he hasn't needed it. He is making significant progress with what the school is doing with him in his IEP. I think tutoring him myself would just cause us to butt heads again. In your case, I would say what's done is done and wait to see what the school says before making any more decisions about his education.

It was a military hospital.

They wanted her in the delivery room with me and she was, though she was standing by my head the whole time so she didn't see more than either of us wanted lol. The odd thing was, she wanted to cut the cord and I didn't mind if she did, it didn't bother me. But the doctors said no because she wasn't the father? Umm, okay, lol. I have no idea who cut the cord, probably a doctor or one of the nurses.