I think the plateau discussion is everywhere. Last week we discussed the basics and this week we're supposed to discuss attitude plateaus. Even though the topic is the same, each leader will probably have a slightly different take on it.

IME, no one likes unsolicited advice. Sorry, I don't think there is a way to give any without causing some tension. That doesn't mean you need to keep your mouth shut, but I do believe you need to be prepared for that eventuality.

Well newborns just drink milk, right? Butter is churned milk...so I figure babies just churn milk into a butter-smelling substance!

I could have written this exact post about 10 years ago (only I was across the country, not the world). She was my only living grandparent (my father's mother). My father died of cancer when I was 10 and she did all but blame my mother for it. Not a good situation, but to make matters worse she lived in the same town as us. She would not contact us directly but we saw her drive her car past our house (obviously to check up on us, we didn't live that close to each other). This was hurtful to me, as a 10 year old girl who could not drive to see her myself. My older brother at some point in his late teens sent her a Christmas card, and she sent one back to him, not to me or my older sister. All I could think, even then, was "I'M 12. Give me a break. Take the high road, woman." Sorry, I didn't mean to turn this into my own vent! Since I still have no trouble feeling upset about everything that happened, so I have to think I was not necessarily evil for not being sad about her passing. I mostly felt bad that I didn't feel bad and I felt like I should. Now that I have kids I am sad that I can't tell them great stories about my grandparents or even understand the bond grandparents have with grandchildren. But honestly, that is the extent of the grief I feel about her passing. So no, I do not think you need to beat yourself up about how you feel. :grouphug:

A cousin I haven't seen since we were around 10 due to some family issues just friended me on Facebook, and I happily accepted. I know there are critics of social networking, saying it only decreases the quality of relationships but I have found the opposite.

Thank you for the encouragement and suggestions! She is a librarian and so I am hoping some of her coworkers will keep her stocked with books and other goodies like that. I think I might send a needlepoint kit and some giftcards for fast food/pizza so her husband can get them food easily. And I'm so glad to hear that you all had great outcomes!

My best friend called last night, she has been in the hospital since Thursday night for contractions. We live in different states and she didn't want to talk much last night so I don't know ALL the details, but here is what I do know: She is at 27 weeks. She started in one hospital and then transferred to a bigger one. They gave her some medicine that didn't stop the contractions, but a second one did. They are going to evaluate whether she can possibly go home today, which I guess is good news. They don't know what might be causing the contractions, they suggested dehydration but she says she's drinking tons of water and going to the bathroom constantly. So, has anyone been in this situation? I would love to hear happy endings. :) And what can I do for her? She is going to stay with her mom for a week so she will have someone to care for her, and I do live in another state so it's hard to just "be there." And I don't want to force her to chitchat on the phone, neither of us are big on phone talk and she really wasn't in the mood to talk much last night. Thanks so much!

I don't blame you-I saw an episode of Deadliest Catch involving the release of pus from a fingernail and it is burned in my brain. Ick. I'm just very curious about things when I have an issue. I had a scrape get infected a couple years ago, complete with the pink streak up the arm, so now i'm really vigilant about infections. I remember how painful that was! Hope your DH feels better.

Here's more info. Sounds like he'll be fine but watch for signs of the infection spreading: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001444.htm

DH owned a modular home built in the 70s when we met and I moved into that home and lived there for a few years after we got married. I wouldn't have guessed it was a modular home-in fact, it had a basement! It was a good sturdy house, no problems at all.

Due to some plumbing issues we've found it's easier to do most of our laundry at the laundromat. This has forced me to think about how I do laundry more than it ever has since I've been married, and this very poll question has crossed my mind. I actually do wash our underwear and our towels together, but only in hot water. I don't take bleach because I want one less thing to carry. A load of laundry costs me the same whether I wash it on hot or cold, so I definitely use hot for its germ-killing properties (and I have read articles suggesting to do this) for my combined underwear/towel load but warm and cold for my other loads. Before I had to take my laundry elsewhere I would have run smaller separate loads but when you just want to get in and get out, you find your standards of cleanliness drop. You are able to stomach much more.

A few months ago I found out a former coworker of mine named her baby Maverick Tripp. I suppose she was moved by the political spirit of our times, but it just annoys me. It's a BABY, not a political statement.

God I hate that. I remember it happened to me a couple years ago around 8:30 at night. It was some recruiters for a local Baptist church.

Wow, I would hate to be a census worker just trying to do my job if I had to deal with some of the stuff I am reading here.

It's funny you ask that now. I noticed in the past year that oh, once a month or so, when I login to my regular message boards I start poking around in threads I know will annoy me. Then I argue with people in it. I really don't do it consciously, it's more like I get AF and then I'm like, OH, that's why I was arguing with so many people online! I always do it following the rules of the forums--I engage in civil discourse for the most part I think, I am just more argumentative than usual. I don't think this counts as troll behavior, at least I don't intend for it to be! On a side note, I am really looking forward to menopause.

I've given up and bought the reusable filter. I tried a box of 80 K-cups from Sam's Club for about $35 but they only offer one variety (at the one near me, anyway) and it's not that great. With the filter, the $10 worth of coffee I bought a couple weeks ago is about halfway used up. Since I can easily use an entire box of 18 K-cups in a week, and these are usually about $10/box at Target, I figure the cost is down to about 25% what it would cost to use the actual K-cups. If you get a filter, you will need to know this about a trick I read about on Amazon. You should save some K-cups after brewing and cut off the top rim. Empty the K-cup, get rid of the filter and everything. Clean it out, and nestle the filter in the K-cup shell. This prevents the water from going through the filter too quickly and making your coffee taste like poo. I tried it without this addition the first time I made coffee with the filter and it was nasty. And of course, the better quality coffee you buy and the more you use in the filter (it is recommended to use 1-2 Tablespoons per cup, I ALWAYS use 2 TBSP), the better it will taste. I can't say that it's quite as good as most of the actual K-cup coffee I've tried, but for daily utilitarian purposes, it passes. I will still indulge in the real K-cups from time to time but I think those will be more of a treat in the future.

Well I use Facebook, Twitter, and I would be happy to text if I had a more modern phone. And I always use proper grammar and complete sentences, as do most of my friends. I just think it might be a tad closed-minded to assume that texting is a bad thing, when I just think it adds an option for communication.

How is it in the best interest of the child to be left with parents who for whatever reason have elected to give up the child for adoption? In other words, I think single parents in many instances can do a remarkable job raising children and I do not think a single status should be a red mark against him or her.

DVRs, like TiVo, will change your life.

I wonder what you skeptics call the time you spend on these message boards. Is this not a form of communication? Is this not a form of social networking? I think, like it or not, this is the way society is going. Some things will never replace face-to-face contact but there are more options out there for communication, which can be an extremely positive thing for developing minds who may be reluctant to speak up for any variety of reasons. That's why I love to see innovative programs like this. This program is a pilot, not a full-fledged rollout-so maybe in the pilot they'll discover this is not a good way to teach and you'll all be right about how this is another indication of the hell-in-a-handbasket nature of our current society. But maybe not, maybe they'll find some students thrive when they are allowed to text their thoughts. I can only see adding new options to the classroom as a positive thing.

I think it's a good idea because students can answer anonymously (I assume) and the teachers can immediately see how many students are on track or off track. By correcting the students who have submitted their responses anonymously, no one gets embarrassed, which seems to be a good thing.

I'm not a church-goer anymore but I imagine if I were I would still want to dress up at least a little, like I did growing up Catholic. Going to church in jeans would feel wrong to me, just like many things that go against how I was brought up. But I wanted to share something I learned in a history of religion class in college. It was a survey of American religions. I don't know how true it is, but at the time the professor said that people going to churches in communities where most people are blue-collar workers tend to dress up ("Sunday best"), while people going to churches in more white-collar neighborhoods tend to dress down. The thought was that people basically like to dress differently for church from what they normally wear. From this thread it doesn't sound like that's the case, but maybe it is. An interesting thought, at least.

Malcolm Gladwell addressed this issue (at least in terms of math success) as part of his book Outliers. Interesting read. IIRC, his argument was based around the kinds of agricultural practices in America vs. Asia. In America, we have a highly defined schedule of when to plant, when to sow, etc. (I'm not a farmer so I don't know all the correct terms). But in America back in the good old days, children were needed at home in the summer to help with the farming, and to help with the harvest in the fall, and the school schedule was basically built around this. On the other hand, in Asia where rice is grown, it is beneficial to work hard consistently all year because rice can be grown year-round, and the education system/culture there reflects this. This also reflects in math mastery, where persistence is more important than anything else to get all the concepts. Sorry, it's been about a year since I read the book but I do believe that was the gist of the argument.

Wow, this is striking at an interesting time for me. An acquaintance from college just died on Saturday due to brain cancer. She had three children and even though I never knew the woman that well, I do remember her and I have this complete sadness for her family. My own dad died of cancer when he was 43. I was 10 and I am sure I was shielded from a lot of details, but I know that he found great comfort in talking to an acquaintance at work, a woman he wasn't really that close to. I think he probably felt like he could tell her all of his worries, the ones he didn't want to share with us. I don't know if you could be that person for your neighbor, but if you can try that would probably be such an amazing source of support.

No suggestions, just wanted to be sure I saw any responses you received since I'm going through the same thing.