Yeah, my younger sister is the favorite and my older sister is more the victim. Mom has done some really rotten things to her that she didn't do to me, such as destroying her relationships. Mom *tried* that nonsense with me when DH and I started dating, but I would not back down. Of course, that earned me wrath for a while. Then she went through a long period of liking my husband, mostly because he would do whatever she asked of him and was very helpful. Now after 20 years of marriage, he is tired of her crap and now that he doesn't jump when asked, she's pretty openly expressing her dislike of him. Last summer, she told our oldest that DH is a lazy bum (totally not true!) and that she doesn't like our youngest child because DH and I have made him "too wild". Of course, SHE decided that our family should only have two children, and never shared our joy over our third blessing. Her loss. Anyway...didn't mean to make this about me, but yeah...I agree with the OP--it is a LOT to think about. I hate it. I hate that so many of us here know what it's like to deal with a mom like that.

Oh man...this is my mom! We have a weird situation where she is in town a couple weeks, then out of town a month or so, then back again, etc. When she is out of town, she refuses call me. Why? Because I stopped answering the phone when she called during school time...and now she's "punishing" me with passive-aggression by not contacting me at all. I had to because every time she called during school time, I'd tell her we were in the middle of school work and I only had a minute. Naturally, she didn't respect that, and would drone on and on about nothing, and I got tired of it. So I stopped answering the phone. She would leave the MOST pathetic voice mails you ever heard...either dripping with agony or sharp and snippy. Both of which made me ever so eager to return her calls, don't you know...:glare: Of course, after a few weeks of this, she saw that I meant business and to her that was total and complete rejection. My sisters tell me that she is mortally wounded and hell will freeze over before she ever calls me again. Fine. I have better things to do with my time than play games with a narcissist. I call when I have to...today, I needed to know what their plans were for their trip here for Christmas. When she answered the phone, she sounded like she was dying. I was all chipper, and like, "Oh, are you sick or something?" and of course, she wasn't. At the end of the conversation, she moaned, "Thank you for calling to see how we're doing..." I hear from my sisters that she vents to them pretty much daily about how shocked she is that I don't care enough, and I quote, "to call and see if her parents are alive or dead". I think if one of them died, my sisters would probably pass along that information. :lol: Both of my sisters are still sucked into the vortex of trying to appease her. But, they're single, without kids...I guess they have the time for it. I don't. It's a mess...a long, painful history...I dread Christmas because of her behavior.

I hate it when people are that inconsiderate. I'm so sorry your DD is sick and hope the rest of you are able to stay germ-free. I know that's a long shot with tummy bugs, though. And I would definitely call the "friend"... The best site ever for stomach flu information is http://www.stopthestomachflu.com. That is where I learned that people with stomach bugs remain contagious up to two weeks after they feel better. :blink: That is why they spread so fiercely--most people follow that old 24-hour rule and end up making everyone around them sick. So, keep up the disinfecting for a few days after she's better. I agree with the PP who said that after she started doing these things, the tummy bug didn't always go through the entire family. I had a nasty one a year or so ago and only three of the five of us caught it. I think that was a new record! LOL

Now THAT sounds like a plan! :001_smile:

OMG...that is my mother!

Ha! I love that! Soooo true! I forgot to mention the toddler who has NEVER slept through the night. I'm tired. LOL

Just venting about my sisters...both of whom are long divorced, and neither has any children. One is also unemployed and being supported by my parents. The other's job is such that she ends up with three to four days off in a row most weeks. Can I just say how tired I am of hearing them complain about how exhausted they are and "how much" they have to do? I homeschool three active boys, work at least 20 hours a week as a freelance writer, another 20 hours a month or so is devoted to my cake decorating/face painting business, I serve on our local MOPS steering team, and of course am kept hopping all the time with co-op class, homeschool group, and all the other things involved in raising a busy family. We volunteer as much as we can as well. You don't even want to know what my house looks like at the moment...I hate that it's often my house that ends up at the bottom of the priority list, but it just does. Now, here we are, one week before Christmas and my tree is up, but naked. The dining room is a mess--nowhere near decorated. I bought new stockings--they are still buried in a bag somewhere. You get the idea. And everyone is coming to my house for Christmas Day. Anyway, when asked earlier this week how I was doing, I admitted that I felt like I was drowning...I asked my sisters if they could come help me get the house together this week while they're both off. One sister is always pretty point-blank (ironically, the unemployed one) about not volunteering her help...she makes "helpful" suggestions about how I could improve so that things could work better for me. :001_huh: The other always promises help, but about 1 time in 10 follows through. So I just heard that tonight, they are both at one of their houses, decorating her Christmas tree. :glare: This news has done nothing to improve my already Scrooge-like mood this week.

:iagree: As a freelance writer, I have gotten several well-paying gigs from friends-of-friends on Facebook. For me, it is mostly about easy communication, but real, valuable connections are made there. My family has been able to help an orphanage in Africa due to Facebook connections. I can't imagine I'd have ever known of this small organization otherwise. So it's not all evil! LOL

I have a couple of part-time jobs that help pay the bills. I'm a freelance writer, and just landed an excellent long-term position as staff writer for a successful local web designer. I also make cakes and other festive food items (caramel apples, candy pops, etc.) and paint faces for children's birthday parties and corporate events. I have my first wedding cake on New Year's Eve and I am nervous! :) I love what I do, and it's easy enough to flex homeschooling around my commitments with these jobs. Good luck! I've heard a good site to check for work-at-home jobs is http://www.ratracerebellion.com.

Fruit Ninja is FUN! We just finished playing. My arms are going to be SORE tomorrow! LOL Kinect Sports is a ton of fun, too.

I eat a bowl of Kashi Go Lean maybe twice a week, when I'm dieting. Otherwise, I don't touch the stuff. (Made to eat entirely too much cereal for dinner while growing up with a clinically depressed mother and workaholic father. Yes, I have cereal issues...LOL) But the guys in this house go through at least 4 boxes a week. It kills me, but they love it! I always feel guilty when they choose cereal on "fend for yourself" dinner nights...but they have no qualms at all about eating cereal at any time of day.

We have what we think is a pit/lab mix. Let's see if I can figure out how to upload a pic... In this first one, I think you can really see the pit...in the second one, you can see the Lab: She is a really awesome dog. We got her around five months old and she had significant chewing issues her first couple of years. But she is so sweet and loving...just a happy, good-spirited dog. She's 5 years old now and we've never had any trouble from her at all...and that's even with adding a very rambunctious toddler to the family. I think pits and pit mixes can be loving, loyal pets.

We are having... Roasted Apple Cider Brined Turkey (with gravy made from the drippings) Southern Cornbread and Biscuit Dressing Green Beans with Bacon Homemade Jellied Cranberry Sauce Baked Sharp Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese Candied Yams Collard Greens Cherry Congealed Salad Hubby's Yeast Rolls Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream M&M Cookies All washed down with a bottle of Two-Buck-Chuck and a whole lotta Southern sweet iced tea!

My friends and I call it the "Saving Your Child's Life Every Five Minutes" stage of parenting. And it's exhausting. And like the OP, I can't believe I survived two of these already! This youngest one is killing me! But that's probably because now, I am old...

Let us know how it turns out. I am intrigued, too. Researched it last year (butterflied or spatchcocked turkey) but didn't do it.

I'm glad someone else suggested rutabaga. I've never tried turnips or rutabaga raw, but now I want to. I got two gorgeous rutabagas at the farmer's market the other day--so much fresher-looking than the ones I usually get at the grocery store. I love turnips slow-cooked with a pot roast, along with the carrots, potatoes, etc. So good that way! I've only ever cooked rutabaga the way my grandmother did--boiled til tender, then mashed with a ton of butter, a dash of salt and a good bit of sugar (though I try to use agave, honey or another sweetener instead of white sugar like she used).

I voted "other" because I use all of it: butter, margarine, coconut oil, olive oil, canola oil...just depends on the recipe, the usage and what my budget is like at the time I go shopping. My favorite spread is Land O'Lakes spreadable butter with olive oil. I just can't always afford to buy it. My mother is die-hard anti-margarine and after hearing the "one molecule away from plastic" thing countless times from her, I had to research it myself. It's false...along with her claims that canola oil is toxic, and about a dozen other things she steadfastly believes. I figure it all balances out in the end...

Each of the kids' birthdays is a no-school day. If it falls on a weekend, they get to choose whether we take Friday or Monday off. And of course teacher's birthday is a day off, too! Birthday holidays are one of the things that makes homeschooling fun! We would also take the principal's (Dad's) b-day off, but his falls in July when we're off anyway.

So sad for that girl's family, and so sad to hear that so many kids here have been bullied. We, too, began homeschooling when it got to be too much for my son in 3rd grade, and the school did nothing to stop it. Like so many others have said, they blamed him....in his case, it was largely complicated due to the fact that the bullies' (twin boys) parents were good friends of the administration at the school he attended. :glare: When we went to pull him out, we were told that HS was a bad idea, that it wouldn't teach him how to "toughen up", that we were doing him a grave injustice by removing him from school. Yeah, she just didn't want to lose our money. He's flourished with homeschooling and we never looked back. Stories like that make me shudder to think what could've happened if we hadn't been proactive with homeschooling him. :(

That when he starts bringing in more income after the start of the year, he didn't want me to have to work anymore. :lol: Ah, I can hardly stop giggling! It has been SO utterly amusing watching him struggle through working with our ADD 9-year-old and attitude-rich teenager, while the 2-year-old wreaks havoc around us. Call me mean, but I've deliberately saved a couple of subjects this week for later in the day, so he can handle them when he gets home (from his truly low-stress job) knowing that it was probably the only way he'd really grasp what my daily life is like and why the house stays in utter chaos. I only work from home, p/t, freelance writing and I also bake cakes and paint faces a couple times a month. So it's stuff that I enjoy and won't give up entirely. But his whole "OMG" response these past couple of days has been truly priceless! :lol:

Just offering sympathy--I have it, too, and I am 43. My last pregnancy was tough and my DH is worried that another one would be even harder. I always wanted to have four kids...I have three wonderful boys and of course, would love to know what it's like to have a daughter. (Obviously there's no guarantee of a girl, but it would be nice to try once more, just the same...and if it's another boy then I know I'd love him just like the others!) We're leaving our options open but I do wonder sometimes if we just need to go ahead and decide we are finished. My mind tells me that being done is best. It has failed to convince my heart, however... Hugs!

My recipe is similar to Mrs. Mungo's, except instead of a baguette, I use a dozen buttermilk biscuits along with the cornbread, and all chicken broth instead of a combination of evaporated milk and broth (but I just might try it with milk this year!). I also use about twice the amount of onion as celery. It's always very moist and people just gobble it up! Great...now I want some! :tongue_smilie:

I'm seriously considering getting one for my teen's birthday in January. I can't decide between it and Nook, though. So many choices!

There's not. ;) Signed by a decent writer, good artist and fantastically terrible mathematician!

:iagree: My now-deceased husky/shepherd mix did the same thing once. We were out on a walk and though she looked like a wolf and her appearance often worried people, she was always friendly to everyone. But this group of teenaged boys were walking along the other side of the street and she went nutso! I could barely hold her leash--she was growling and lurching and her hair stood on end. They cursed and ran away from us. It was the only time she ever did that. I definitely think she knew something that I didn't, and possibly saved me from it!