MIssing Mass on Sunday is a serious thing, but please understand I am not saying that to make you feel horrible. If we care about each other in the Body of Christ, we will speak the truth in love. If you have a serious reason such as illness or extremely bad weather (a blizzard, etc.) then of course it is not a sin to miss Mass. If you are traveling, you should make every effort to attend, and can look up info about parish schedules at http://masstimes.org/dotnet/churchlookups.aspxmasstimes.org. Here is some info: http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/sunday_mass.htm We have seven children though no little ones anymore. (Youngest is ten.) We had many years of taking toddlers and babies to Mass and almost always attended as a family. Yes, it was trying sometimes but so worth it! Here are a few ideas for you: Sit in the front row so your little one(s) can see and hear what is going on. I have known quite a few families who have done this. OR attend a parish with a cry room that has a large window and maybe is hooked up to the sound system so you can still be aware of the Mass. OR consider a parish with a nursery. If it works best for you and your husband to attend different Masses, do that before missing Mass! As other posters said, if you believe in the Eucharist, it doesn't really matter if you feel like going, if you are in a prayerful spirit (though of course that is ideal, but doesn't always happen!) etc. Jesus is there no matter what! He welcomes you with open arms. Find a good and holy priest to talk to about this, and go to confession to him also. If we really understood what the Mass is, we would be running there! Of course, being fallible humans we don't always have full awareness of this. I hope you will keep going every Sunday, and perhaps on week days also, as you are able. God bless you and your family!

I am sorry about what happened to your brothers. Yes, quite a lot of govt $ gets "lost along the way" or is just not used well at all, as in your brothers' cases. When there is big govt bureaucracy, you have what my dad calls "slippage". The money gets passed along and part of it "slips" out at each step. When it finally gets to those who need it, there isn't much left. Holly, thank you for your opinion. I am for less govt as well, and wonder if privately funding this stuff would be the way to go. I am willing to bet there would be much less "slippage" and red tape and bureaucracy. My parents have both been in health care for years...well, my mom is deceased now...but their major complaint was more and more paperwork, so that RN's and others spend many hours just doing that instead of on the floor with the patients. My mom hated it when inspectors would come and go over the paperwork with a fine toothed comb but barely look at the patients.

Wow, I am simply amazed that everything is SO expensive. WHY would a certain therapy run $60,000 a year per child??? If this therapist (okay, maybe it's a team, I don't know) treats, say, 10 children at a time, that would be $600,000 a year!!! That would pay several nice salaries. Is there waste somewhere in that figure? Is it contract work? I know many contract workers (in social services, engineering, lots of fields) are paid several times over what they would make if they were salaried. Everything from education to health care just costs way too much IMO. How can we afford it all??? There's no magic money forest somewhere. I wish every child could receive the intervention they need, but I wish it wasn't so darned $$$. And how do we decide what's covered and what's not? A cousin of mine who is a teacher said it is known that many children would benefit from vision therapy but the schools can't require it because then they'd have to pay for it. (So I'm thinking it's never written into their ISP's?) Another lady I met who now homeschools said her son's dyslexia (he's been diagnosed by professionals) was not addressed by our local school district, because they don't even acknowledge dyslexia. It's so complicated.

What all the other moms said! You are the one in charge of your own school, so YOU decide the schedule. That said, does your family enjoy audio books? That's a lot of driving every week. My family would be listening to books on tape. It's fun and requires no advance planning except maybe a trip to the library.

That is terrible! I hope you called back to complain to a manager.

I know. They are SO annoying. I will call the company and ask to talk to a manager. Once the cable company called and was trying to get me to sign up for HD because "EVERYONE in your area is doing it". I said, "Really? Everyone???? I don't think so." Even if they were, does that mean I have to do it? Satellite TV companies call and tell me they can provide me with 200 television channels. I tell them I don't NEED 200 channels, thanks.

I learned NO history in school...all we had was "social studies" and ONE YEAR of American history in high school, but the teacher was a joke and wasted class time telling us stories, talking about himself and his family, etc. I know he did occasionally talk about history, but I remember NO history from his class. I even went in after school once to ask him about it. He was surprised because he thought I was so "quiet". He said he told stories, etc., to keep kids from being bored. Now that I am homeschooling...my kids and I LOVE history...boring??? No way. Well, maybe if all we did was read a dry-as-dust text book. I always thought I hated math, too, but I've learned the beauty of math from homeschooling my own kids. (I still don't know any calculus, but the ones who got that far in math took it outside our home.) You are not alone! I read in one homeschooling book that moms who homeschool their kids for years can take up a second career winning money on game shows like Jeopardy. :)

We had the SAME telemarketer (different sales people, but same phone number on our caller ID) call THREE times in the past 24 hours about upgrading some credit card that my dh has but rarely uses. The first time I told the lady we were NOT interested. What do you have to do so they won't call you back? Do you ask to be put on their "do not call" list? So frustrating...especially when they interrupt school. I'm going to be more careful about checking caller ID before answering. We did sign up for that "Do Not Call" registry a few years ago, but maybe I need to do that again.

Make very sure you are taking good care of YOU first. Are you getting enough sleep? Eating healthy? Exercising? Getting fresh air? Do you get at least a little alone time once in a while...even if it is just soaking in the tub or reading a book while your hubby watches the kids? You have to take care of YOU so you can take care of your family. This is not selfish, and you will have a more positive attitude if you are refreshed and healthy. If you can keep a positive attitude about school you will be way ahead of the game and your kids will pick up your attitude. Please don't misunderstand...I'm not saying they will never whine or be negative...but if you can be at least a little enthusiastic it will be contagious. Also...the thing about motherhood and homeschooling in particular is, the days are long but the years are short. When you have a bad day or a series of them, it seems like FOREEVVVERRR but trust me, it isn't. The years whiz by at lightning speed. This is our seventeenth year of homeschooling (yowza!) and I remember very well dealing with moody, complaining, dawdling kids who were distracted by younger siblings or their own thoughts whirling in their brains. Things were far from perfect...I lost my patience at times...I changed my methods and strategies...I wondered if I was ruining them. But you know what? We now have young adults who are wonderful people and have gone on to college (one has graduated) and though not perfect, they are finding their way in the world and using their God-given talents in ways I never would have dreamed back in the days when they were little. Sometimes you just need to see the bigger picture. It's HARD to look that far down the road when your oldest is...eight you said?....but believe me, it will amaze you how fast that day comes. Make the most of the time you have with them; you will not regret it. Whatever strategies you use to deal with the difficult days...and the ladies here have given great ideas...I hope you will remember this...to treasure these times. Blessings to you and your family.

No, you don't have to buy that special concentrated detergent for a front loader. We've had our front loader more than two years and the only time I used the special stuff was when we had free coupons for it given to us by the store where we bought our washer. I asked the salesperson if we *had* to use that, and he said no, just use less of the regular detergent. I've never had any problems.

We haven't used it, but another homeschooling family we know has. They were not that thrilled with the quality of the service...LOTS of static, so much that when I talked to her it was hard to hear what she was saying at times.

I knew a couple of single, divorced moms (I have nothing against divorced people!) who each hsed a daughter. Neither one really did anything for high school. In the first family I knew, the mother and daughter butted heads and the daughter refused to do much of anything. In the other family, the mother had serious issues and was always wrapped up in some great cause or another, and when she wasn't working she was constantly on the phone. EVERY time I ever tried to call her I got a busy signal; if I went to her house she was on the phone...working on the Great Cause. She was totally focused on her own interests and ignored her daughter's needs. Once when I was riding in their car the daughter (then going into 9th grade) picked a fight with the mom because she was three years behind in school. (They used a correspondence school.) They looked at me, and I suggested calling someone at the school. The mom said, "Why would I do that???" :001_huh: A few months later I asked the daughter (when the mom wasn't listening) how school was going and she said they hadn't done any school for months. I went to their house to speak to the mom. She was angry with ME for coming. I did not yell, but calmly stated that I thought education was important and also said there were people (including me) who would gladly offer free tutoring. She flatly refused, saying they'd been "focused on other things" lately. The mom was extremely religious and legalistic (I share her basic beliefs but live them out very differently) and was very controlling with the daughter. Eventually she was not allowed to spend time with my girls anymore. She wasn't allowed to do much of anything; she had no outside activities of which I was aware. My dds told me that this girl had said when she turned 18 she was leaving. At age 18 she had a long, mysterious, grave illness that was thought to be malaria. When she turned 19, the mom came home one day to find a note. "Don't come looking for me," the girl wrote. I hope and pray that she is okay, and that she's found a way to complete high school, learn to drive, and do something with her life. This situation was not the fault of homeschooling, but rather the dynamics between the mother and daughter. She'd have been better off going to school, but the mom was as adamantly opposed to that as anyone I've ever known.

A good breast pump would be your best bet. Other than that, you might try drinking a glass of red wine and getting into a hot bath...as hot as you can comfortably stand...and then try expressing. It worked for me when I had a clogged duct. Your body will adjust to whatever amount the baby is eating, but sometimes it takes a while. I hope you find relief soon.

Are they in an aquarium? We didn't get our snails from a pond; we bought them. They grip onto the side of the aquarium or onto rocks, etc., on the bottom. They move veerrry slowly but you can sometimes see a clear trail they leave where they slide along the glass and eat the scum.

Mmmm...it was good. The only thing I forgot to add was a diced onion, but i did put in some onion powder.

I didn't expect it to be done at 4.5 hours, but it wasn't pink at all anymore and seemed on the tough side. However, now it's nice and tender. I just needed patience. I shredded the meat up, put it back in its mushroomy yummy beef gravy and started the noodles. Now I just need to stir in some sour cream right before serving.

It seemed to be pretty lean...maybe too lean for the crockpot? Or I just overcooked it? I'm going to check it again and maybe try cutting it up.

I have purchased yarn from WEBS...their address is yarn.com I think...and also from elann.com. I've had good service from both. Elann has very reasonable prices. WEBS is a bit higher but they always have something on sale.

Rats...I don't think I have any in the house... I'll check just to be sure.

I never buy sirloin but found some on sale and put it in the crockpot about 4.5 hours ago with some beef gravy. I added chopped, fresh mushrooms later. I cooked it on high...would have cooked it on low if I'd started it in the morning. It's about 1.5 hours till dinner (though we don't have anywhere we have to go tonight). I did turn the crock down to low, hoping the lower temp might be better for the meat but at this point I'm not sure. What should I do? Cut it into smaller pieces and return it to the crock? Or is it hopeless at this point? What should I do next time? I've cooked lots of roasts and different chicken recipes in the crockpot and they are always tender. Do I just need to be patient? I want to serve it over noodles, maybe adding some sour cream at the end so it's more like beef stroganoff.

I know one person suggested throwing away unwanted stuff, but if it still has use in it, donate it instead of filling up the landfill. I suggest that you keep your bagged up/ boxed up stuff you're going to donate right in the trunk/back of your car so that the next time you are near the Goodwill or whatever, you can drop it off. I also keep rubbermaid tubs for recyclables in the back of the car so that I don't forget them. Happy organizing!

though we might bump it down a degree or two sometimes. Gee, I wonder what we would do if there were NO ac...I mean people did survive. We just watched a DVD on the Oregon trail yesterday, about how so many walked on foot the entire way, through heat, cold, rain, snow, rivers, etc. Makes me feel like a wimp. My fil said in the days before AC they would hang a wet dish towel in the window at night, and when the breeze blew through it, it cooled them off a little.

It's been several years since I discussed it with him. For the past five years, until our mother died this spring, he was caring for her...so Dad depended on him. He was doing the best *he* could do, though his cleanliness left much to be desired, putting it VERY mildly. I don't know if he's thought about his situation and the fact that yes, he could be more independent. It's nearly impossible to know what he's thinking. I used the word "deadbeat" because it was the best way I could think of to describe him in a brief way. Deadbeat...one who is lazy, a loafer. I do wonder whether he has some sort of personality disorder, something diagnosable, but since he refuses counseling who knows? I *do* look down on the fact that he hasn't worked for the past twenty years or so, that he has not used his mind or his education. He did take some kind of test at social services to see what kind of job he'd be good at (several yrs ago) but never went back for any kind of follow-up. Yes, of course it's possible that it comes across to him that I look down on him. I try not to, and I do care, but it's a very frustrating situation. It's frustrating for my father as well. He doesn't know what to do. My brother won't open up to him either, and he can't bring himself to just kick him out, though he did do this years ago, in the 80's, after my brother had been there a couple of years. Now Dad is older, more tired, and has a heart condition. I think it may come down to something drastic happening, like Dad dying suddenly, and my brother not knowing what to do, or surprising everyone by suddenly being responsible. I just don't know. I did see them 2 weeks ago and will be going back in another couple weeks (they live 3 hours from me) to help with the house. That's another whole story. I would like to try to talk to him then.

Exactly. The thing is, he did live on his own and he *has* had jobs...the restaurant job, working at a health food coop, and also for two years being an assistant teacher while he was in the math graduate program. When he was a teenager he had jobs...construction, working at a greenhouse. So it isn't that he's *never* worked. He has also had friends, just not for a long time. I don't even know how to bring up the situation. He is not one to get angry...but he will be very uncomfortable. I sometimes wonder if he even KNOWS what is the matter. I'm glad your daughter has parents who are doing their best to support and understand her. Thanks for listening.

Thank you for your concern, and yes, I do need to live my own life...BUT...the situation is still worrisome and it bugs me so much that my elderly father who will be 80 next year is still supporting my bro. I do not live in constant anxiety about this; it is not disabling to me, but IS a concern.