I've never fasted for the one hour test, just the three hour (first time I took one was 11 years ago; last time was 6). If I ever have another baby, one of my dealbreakers for picking a practitioner is that I'm not taking that stupid test again!

We got a kitten last year for Christmas. I had to pick her up from the foster home a couple of days before Christmas, so I had a friend watch her until Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed. I picked her up, and then we set her up in a bathroom (not the ones the kids use when they get up) until after most of the other presents had been opened Christmas morning. Worked great!

Zero. I've been pulled over....three times I think in my life--but none in the past year--never gotten a ticket.

My 10 and 8 year olds are getting a bamboo tablet for the computer to share, and then we're getting tools and a book of woodworking projects for them plus the 6 year old. 10 year old also asked for Perplexus, an Uno robot game, assorted books, and the last Harry Potter movie. 8 year old is getting a Lego master builder kit, the Thames and Kosmos electric generator kit that was on Woot the other day, books, and a gadget that makes guitar picks out of old credit cards.

My eight year old was 9 1/2 pounds when he was born and 20 pounds at 4 months (exclusively breastfed). He's always been tall, and he stayed....round for a good long while, but he's my skinniest kid now. Stays around the 90th percentile for height, and I've been buying him slim pants for the past couple of years now.

While I'm not at all surprised at how, erm....secure in their own opinions, people are on this thread ;), I do think it's a little funny how several people have said they don't want a DVD player in the car because their kids already watch enough TV at home. I'm much more inclined to put strict limits on screen time at home--where the kids can read, run around, play with toys, etc.--than on a 20 hour car trip with such limited options.

I'd love to have one for long trips, but we don't. The kids do all have itouches, though. We drive 40 hours roundtrip to MA every year and then 16 hours round trip to Disney. We do listen to a lot of audiobooks, but they only hold my attention for a couple of hours at a time, so I think 8 hour stretches would be a bit much for the kids. My oldest and I can read in the car no problem, but Dh and the younger boys all get carsick if they try it. So I'd love to have a DVD player whenever our current car finally gives out on us, but it won't be a dealbreaker if we find a car without one.

Disciples of Christ or really most mainline Protestant denominations....except not weekly communion at all of them (Methodist, United Church of Christ...not sure about others)

I like this one: http://southernfood.about.com/od/icingrecipes/r/Creamy-Butter-Frosting-Recipe.htm

Heh--I DO have a master's in English, and it still took me awhile to get the hang of the verbals (I don't remember them ever being taught when I was in school, although I might just have blocked it out!) For us, it got easier and easier as we went though the practice book together and talked about the sentences.

Disney World and Disneyland. Love them both, but if I have to pick, WDW's my place. My observation is that people generally prefer whichever one they went to first or whichever one's their "home park." I would LOVE to go to Tokyo Disneyland and (especially) Disney Sea.

:iagree: At Disney World, we almost never wait longer than 10 minutes (we go in September, which helps a lot). We went to Six Flags a couple of weeks after getting back from Disney this year and were amazed at how much worse the lines were there. We only managed to ride 4 rides in the 6 hours we were there. And then we went to Dollywood this past weekend...the lines for rides were, for the most part, pretty good, but we waited forever for stuff like the tram to the parking lot or the line to get our season pass pictures taken. Disney is nothing if not efficient.

We only have one set of dishes, so that's what we use!

I think the assumption is that women are MOST interested precisely when they can't do anything about it, if they're doing NFP. Hormones and all :)

I cook pretty much everything in either coconut oil or butter....usually coconut oil.

Sigh. I constantly PLAN to get up early and start school at 8 or 8:30. But, really, it makes me too sad. There are few things I hate more than waking up early. So I'm usually up at 8:30 or so and we start school by 9:30 or 10. And, really, that's fine. The only reason I feel bad about it is that DH has to be at work by 7:30 (fortunately it's only a 10 or 15 minute drive), so he has to be up much earlier than I do but usually goes to bed at the same time. But I don't force him to stay up late or anything! If he started going to bed earlier, I probably would, too, and then I'd probably actually wake up earlier.

We used to get a bunch of them because they gave them out with the kids' meals at Zaxby's. They would wind up all over the house, with dog hair stuck to them, and eventually get thrown away. So I'm not a fan, personally.

IME, the spectacle pretty much IS the point. My experience in that sort of church growing up was that they were a lot about shaming people into getting saved because everyone else was. If the idea of going to Hell doesn't scare you enough, how about being the last unsaved kid left in your Sunday school class? Is the school non-denominational? Because I think the altar call suggests a very specific belief system that a lot of the parents and students would be uncomfortable with if the students come from a variety of denominations.

The Cape in September is probably nicer than it is in June, really. We went to Nantucket for a week in early October once, and it was lovely. Hey--I looked it up: average ocean temperature in September in Woods Hole, MA is 68...compared to 72 in August and 63 in June. ETA: affordable might be another story, though.

Here's an FAQ that I'm sure can explain it better than I can: http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/RentTrade-FAQ.htm Basically, DVC is Disney's timeshare system...when the owners can't or don't want to use all their points in a year (you use a certain number of points per night to rent your villa) they rent them out on the private market. I haven't done it myself, but I have a friend who has a couple of times with good results.

If the youngest has turned three when you start the trip, I think the cheapest on property would be two rooms at a value (which is a little less than a family suite at All Star Music). If s/he hasn't turned three yet (they go by how old the kid is on the first day of the trip) Port Orleans Riverside will be a little cheaper...but also more cramped, of course. Your other options (with all kids over 3) are Fort Wilderness cabins or a villa...either direct from Disney or (much cheaper) renting points. If the youngest is under three, most of the deluxes are also a possibility.

Ours is $95 for a regular family membership (2 adults and all children under 18 in the household) or $150 for the membership that includes the ASTC passport reciprocal program. That's the one we have.

The allergist told me he's only had 2 patients get rid of pets because of allergies in the 8 years he's been in practice. That sounds like...not many. I mean, I know more than person who can't be in the same room with cats without having pretty serious reactions pretty quickly. So I wonder if you do just get desensitized to the cats you live with. Of course, I haven't noticed him reacting to other people's cats either.

An update: Well, he's allergic to everything: Or, you know, everything they tested him for. Allergist says the most severe allergies are spring trees, ragweed, dust mites, dogs, and cats. But he also said there was no reason to think about getting rid of the pets. We're supposed to keep them out of his room and get mattress and pillow covers (for dust mites, not pet stuff). He also recommends allergy shots, but that's probably another thread....

I hate to say it, but...yeah. DH is a high school math teacher. He majored in math, minored in computer science, and worked in web development for a few years after college with no intention of ever going into teaching. When he did decide to try teaching, he walked into it, in a good district, with a provisional certification and no education classes or teaching experience whatsoever (stellar test scores, however). He got his certification through a "mentoring" program that largely involved filling out a lot of paperwork (again, no education classes). But. That was in math. And it was 8 years ago. Things are very different right now, and even in math and science it's not easy to find a job. Of course, there's something to be said for taking risks to get what you really, really want. But it is a lot of risk to take for the chance at a job that offers low compensation and a lot of headaches.