Old Dominion Heather! Oh man I thought I had it right for sure.

I love this thread. Lots of creative people here I see. I posted as "Once and only Once" on the old boards once. I just had something quick that I wanted to say to help someone avoid a problem I had with my cat. Almost the very next day when I came back the new boards arrived and were wonderfully accessible. So I stuck with Once. These boards are so...addictive. I love your story about the Blue Lobsters. Very sweet.

Just thought I'd add my experiences. I have found a regular dose of ground flax seed is *very* helpful. It is good for you too for a number of other reasons. I have to avoid corn products or I have serious trouble. Interesting since I ate alot of corn chips as a child. I tried the Aloe Vera drink. It was helpful and I would reccommend it. Mine flares up when I am in a classroom setting. I always sit at the back and look like I have ADD. It is very embarrassing. I wonder why I have so many gaps in my education. :confused: I'm just glad I do not follow after some of my family who have colon cancer and long term colitis. Mine is fairly controlled and remains undiagnosis due to the ease of management. All the best in your journey. I hope you find something that works for you.

I think the wisdom still holds true. After all, one person I know I would not want to mistreat was born in a barn. ;)

I have heard of ground flax as a substitue for eggs. 1 egg equals 1 tablespoon ground flax plus two or three tablespoons water Mix well. It does not raise as well but with the other two eggs you should be OK.

Beautiful Melinda. Just beautiful. Thank-you.

I'm sorry you are going through this. You amaze me with your strength through it all. As I read your post you seem to really have a handle of what is most important. I pray that this will be fruitful. Perhaps now that he is in the hospital you can write to him regularily to let him know how much you love him. This might be a step torward healing. Even if he is not able to write you back maybe he will sense your love.

Thanks to all of you. These links haved helped. I ordered last night and we will see how it goes. Spelling is such a hasel around here I am looking forward to a change to see if that helps.

:lol::lol::lol: Really good. Thanks.

Fantastic. There is hope for me then. :001_smile:

I was in a similar situation several years ago. My choice was to refuse the money sent to me and to allow the kids their own choices. At the time it seemed like such a big deal to me but now I have different feelings. I'm not sure where you stand faith wise but I had nagging doubts about honoring mother and father and all that. But there needs to be "in the Lord' too. If you are being judged about what you do based on values that are not God honoring then you do not need to answer to those judgements. As it turned out, God honored me in many more ways than money. Some of those ways were in a much stronger relationship with dh and dc. However, money was also given *by God* freely and without the guilt and shame that would have been attached if family had been the source. If God wants you to have it, it will be yours. Until then the gift of peace from toxic family and contentment is very valuable. Perhaps more valuable than the money itself. Hugs to you. It is a road no child should have to walk.

Well we started a few weeks ago but took today off. No particular reason. Just took it off. :blush: Enjoy it.

I've been there with two cats that I watched being born 17 years previous. They went everywhere with me and saw me through moves that were so stressful I thought I would never be the same again. When I went through infertility they became even more dear to me. This is my perpective - if your dear dog is not relating to people and suffers (even quietly) then it is time. Your mother may feel like I felt. I knew it was time and I did not want to be the one to make the decision. I cleaned up time and time again thinking there was recovery just around the corner. It never came and truthfully I probably should have taken each of them to the vet 6 months sooner. They went about 6 months apart just after my third one was born. The hormones made me a wreck and complicated it. Hugs to you. You can wait and watch the inevitable or you can take him in and greive before the hormones start making this an even harder choice. OK. Hitting send through my teary eyes.

How very kind of her! It is nice to hear stories of kindness these days. The news can be so depressing. Here's to hoping your next neighbor is equally wonderful.

Here's to hoping you see the light at the end of the tunnel soon. My only advice to you is to take it one day at a time and to be sure to look after yourself. It's not easy but it is essential.

:iagree: Oh do tell us! Please pretty please.

Not much of a secret here. Good food. I love to bake and cook. I like good tasting recipes and I like to share them. Nice to see you on the boards. Is that your flashing avatar? Cool.

Hoping your second day goes just as well!!!

I have twice returned a soft serve ice cream this month because it was "zinging". Both establishments explained that there is a part of the system that is not refridgerated and it needs to be cleaned out every once and a while. Both times they ackowledged that it proably had not been cleaned and dumped. Still waiting for the coupon from the drive through but I got a free one from the mall. :ack2: Maybe I found a new weight loss program. :D

Dd has been diagnosed with Sesory Integraton Defensiveness. But she has worked through most of it without to much OT. One thought I have - Can he describe the feeling that is bothering him? I was thinking it might be sticking to him (especially if you are in a hotter place) then a new chin rest shape would not neccessarily help. One thing that was suggested to me is to use a specialized brush to give sensory input in a controlled way. Maybe this would help to help organise his brain around the sensations in that area. This is one area of SI that dd did not struggle so much with, so I do not have any ideas - only sympathy. Kodos to you for acknowledging he is struggling rather than misbehaving. SI kids often get misunderstood. Hopefully other will be more help!

In our area we can call up certain thrift shops and they come by to pick it up. Especially this time of year with the university students coming back. Maybe you could call around and be flexible with the pick up time so they could take it off your hands with no cost to you.

You rock! I'm sure are very pleased with yourself right now. Don't stop now and let us know how it turns out. :001_smile:

I once stayed at a hotel that served cold hardboiled eggs for breakfast. I was thinking at the time that it would have been a real time saver for them. Take one big pot fill with water - boil for however many minutes drain and douse in cold water. Place in fridge and pull out in the morning. Let the people peel them and serve with DIY toast and fried breakfast sausage (Morrel was on for $1 here just last week for a box of 12). A warning on the noodles. I tried to make noodles on an institutional stove with a stone top. The water took over an hour to heat to boiling on high. I'm not sure if it was the size of the pot and how far it was from the heat or if the stone tops take that long. Next time I was ready and started much earlier. When I did summer meals for our church, I just cut up fruit and put it in a steel bowl. The grapes went the fastest....in our group we needed three containers from Sam's easily for 60 to 80 people. That is with three of four other fruit options. One suggestion I would have is to make one meal a cool veggies and pickle meal with a bun (not sandwich). It is easy to make and easy to clean up. Pickles are cheap at Sam's and I bought fancy olives and gerkins to round it out. A slice of cheese to make some protien and voila. Soup is a winner too but the season might not be in your favor. If you are interested I could give you a good lentil soup recipe that is very ease. The bags of romaine lettuce at Sam's are also handy. They have six heads and it is probably enough to serve two meals with a group your size. I just wash and cut cross wise and put a good dressing on at the last minute. The lettuce could sit in the fridge several hours before dressing it and serving it. Oh and the ever favorite in this area is Tacos in a Bag. Fry up some meat with taco seasoning and break open a small bag of Doritos (Sam's again sells a box of 50 individual bagsfor about $11). Add lettuce, sour cream and salsa ect. No dishes if you give them plastic forks. It is a child's favorite. I really hope this helps! I have a tendency to ramble about food. :tongue_smilie:

We have a school room in the basement too. I just today rearranged a little to make more play room for the soon to be three year old. I am worried about the light in the winter and we can move upstairs if we need to. However, for now it makes sense for us because it is cooler there and we can do without the A/C. Not to brag or anything but I have a really comfy couch to snuggle in when I do read alouds. I brings me back everytime. :D So the end result is we move around according to what is needed. ;)

Last time I tested her I think she was third grade 9 months in. So she was on grade level and SWR was working. I wanted to find a simpler to use spelling program since I am adding a first grader this year. Can the level 1 be done independently? Can dd go aff a do it herself at a faster pace while I help ds do it slower?