I'm so glad to see this thread. I have seen some people who praise the GG like it's the best thing ever and I've always wondered if it was really that worth it. I felt guilty or lazy for not giving it a try, but this confirms my suspicions. I know it does work for some people and good for them! But given my personality, I can see getting pretty obsessed and buying stuff I don't need.

Hello! I also don't have advice or even experience with such an event, but I have experienced loss and something you wrote made me want to share with you. The grieving process is not a straight line from a low point to a high point. You could be going along just fine for months then one day something will hit you in a certain way and you feel as raw and terrible as you did the day you experienced your loss. That is just the way it goes. It's perfectly normal. :grouphug:

See, I worked before I decided to homeschool and my MIL thought I was so evil and selfish not to stay home. I guess it might really depend on where you live, because I get more positive reactions from most people now that I stay home as compared to when I worked outside the home!

Honestly it sounds like you are overgeneralizing. You are reporting one incident that did not happen to you and you are saying that people are calling you a racist because you do not support Obama. Sure, it happens but it's not the norm by any means. And sadly, there are in fact some people who do not support Obama simply because he is black. Again not the norm, but it is still a fact.

I don't think you need to BE a Christian to read, understand, and teach about the Bible or church history. I see what you're saying, I just wanted to point out that a Biblical scholar can be quite competent without being a Christian. So as an academic subject matter, I don't see why you'd have different hiring standards for Christian-based topics than for English or Math. But I DO think it's a right of any privately-funded organization to establish whatever hiring guidelines they see fit.

:iagree:

Haha, I've been getting those too! They keep saying 'This is the second notice' um, no it's not it's at least the 10th!

Well I always heard the expiration date is for unrefrigerated milk. That's the reason most refrigerated milk lasts beyond its expiration date.

:iagree: Also, I've read the studies that show that using plastic leads to disinhibition...that people end up buying more when they use their credit cards. But did you know that merely seeing a credit card symbol also has the same effect? Next time you go out to eat and the wait person brings you your check, chances are it will come in a small folder thing, and it will have something like the Discover Card logo on it. Guess what? Even if you pay in cash, you are more likely to tip more than if you did not see that logo at all. Just something to think about. ETA LINK: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-793833.html (I really wanted to find the original article but kids are getting hungry and I gotta get going...here's something I found that hints at these findings. I saw something else online saying the tips increased from 15% to 20% when diners were randomly presented with pay trays with credit card logos, compared with trays with no credit card logo). Personally, I do think it's better for me to pay cash for things, but I use my rewards card at times too and pay it off each month. Discover ran a promotion this summer, 5% cash back bonus for gas purchases! Now in this situation, I used my credit card and I KNOW I didn't spend more using it than if I paid cash, because I fill up my tank no matter what. And I got almost one fill-up free this summer just using my card.

So, this economy has got me thinking about some poor financial decisions I've made in the past and how laughable they are now. I can't think of a single big chunk of change I've wasted but I do think about how I've maybe nickel and dimed myself out of a fortune. One thing I couldn't stop spending money on in my youth was cheap exercise equipment. If there was a fun-looking gadget that I thought would be *the thing* that motivated me to exercise, I'd buy it. The worst thing I can think of is the Orbitrek elliptical machine I got off an infomercial. I loved using the elliptical machines at the gym when I was a college student, so I thought great! I could have one in my home for $200! Well, you get what you pay for. I also bought lots of other cheap things like a $20 stepper. Yeah, that lasted one exercise session before breaking into a hundred pieces (actually, it leaked oil everywhere). I also sometimes wonder if it was worth it to get into student loan debt to complete one year of post-graduate study. I thought I would complete my masters degree, but decided after the first year that I wasn't into it. But sadly, I'm still paying off the debt. So what decisions have you made that you wish you could go back in time and stop yourself, knowing what you know now? :bigear:

No, sleep is too precious. DH has a business that keeps him out late at least once a week (always after midnight, which makes me feel old to think that's late). And on the rare occasion that I get out with some friends on a weeknight and stay out until after 10, I'm not surprised to find him in bed. He usually gets up at 5, so I don't expect him to be up.

One of the reasons I love being able to homeschool is that I hated to see the way that my kids were encouraged by the school system to mindlessly accept what authority figures told them to do. Obviously, respecting authority is necessary to an extent, but I think it's good to question authority too, to encourage critical thinking. As WendyK wrote, I think questioning authority is a sign of a more intelligent populace, not a sign of disrespect.

DD gets night terrors on occasion. The reading I've done on them says that these are NOT the same as nightmares. It is best NOT to interfere with them in this state. They are still in a sleep state (unlike if they've woken up from a nightmare). This is why comforting them is not helpful...you are not in the same reality as they are. As hard as it is (and I know that it is really hard), it's best not to hold them, just kind of monitor them so they don't hurt themselves. And do not bring up the incident the next day. Since they are in a sleep state when they're occurring, when they wake up they have no recollection of it. So when you bring up the incident, it can just scare them to know they were so terrified.

I think it might be worth mentioning, but it's not clear that the advisor actually knew how long you were waiting. I'm not defending her behavior at all and she should have ended the conversation immediately when she heard you were waiting, but try not to get too upset. (That only hurts you, right?).

So true. And also, as someone else said above, location makes such a difference. In my case, this is a little different from the traditional meaning of location in real estate, but we used to live in a pretty cheap house in a pretty rural area. Due to a number of factors (like kids in diapers!), we found it so overwhelming to live in the country. We didn't have a dishwasher (I know, boo hoo) and dishes would pile up and sometimes, way more often than we should have, we decided we were too exhausted to face up to the dishes and cook. So we drove into town and ate out. While in town, since it was a relatively long drive, we would shop. Even if we just needed to stop for milk, we bought more than milk, I guess in a sense to justify the long drive. Don't know if that makes sense or not. So a few years later, we moved into the town. The house was a little bigger and a little more expensive, but I don't regret the move one bit. (Maybe I will once I get entrenched in the DR program). This move was before the current gas crisis, but if DH had to drive into town for work like he used to we would really be hurting. Now he works less than 2 miles away. We don't go shopping for entertainment anymore. We stop at the store for milk and buy only milk (between our larger shopping trips, of course). For entertainment, we go on walks. We couldn't walk near our old house because it was too darned scary on those windy, hilly two-lane country roads with limited sight distance. We have a dishwasher at the new house and never let dishes pile up, and we only eat out now on the most special of special occasions. I can go on and on like this, but basically for us, moving represented a change in lifestyle that made it easier to be frugal. I haven't done any comparisons (and it was several years ago so it would be hard to do) but I would guess we at least broke even in terms of our lifestyle change paying for the increased monthly mortgage payments. Sorry, OT again?

Thank you for posting this. A line from one of the links: "It is not okay to eat mouldy food even after the mold has been cut off, as surface mold is more than what you see. It actually has hyphae or roots which can penetrate deeper into the food." See, I'd heard that before but I could no longer remember the source and thus, I was not sure if it was true. But this is a good reminder that it's not often safe to just cut off the moldy part.

Well, it seems there are several issues here. First, it's perfectly understandable that you don't want to be frugal or green. We all have different passions in life. For example, I hate the outdoors while so many other people love it. I feel like I should like being out getting fresh air, but I don't (okay, except for the occasional perfect spring or fall day). Even in grade school, I preferred to stay in at recess and read and resented that they sent us out to play. So I think everyone has their lists of should's, and it is different for each person. You don't like what you don't like. Now, I consider myself "green" in the sense that I think it's a great idea. I try to remember to turn the faucet off when I'm brushing my teeth. When light bulbs blow, we replace them with the more environmentally friendly ones. We reuse what we can (still trying to get on board with recycling). I'm not doing anything major to help the earth, but I'm trying to at least be responsible. It sounds like you're the same way. Same with the frugality issue. I actually enjoy, when I have the time, to look for deals and use coupons. I'm still working on being more frugal because we can definitely stand to save money, and I like to look at it as a game. But I don't really beat myself up if, for example, I need to buy milk at full price because it's not on sale at the store I'm at, but I know it's on sale at another store. It's just not worth it to me to stop at 3 different stores to get the best deals all the time. Again, it sounds like you are being pretty darn frugal. So the final issue I see is that this is apparently something your DH is passionate about, and he's failing to see that you don't share the same passion. It sounds like you haven't yet shared your feelings with him, and no matter how hard that might be, you just need to do it. Encourage him to challenge himself to be as green and as frugal as possible, and tell him you'll do what you can but that you don't anticipate being able to make any further changes in your lifestyle. Tell him how you feel about being able to go for a long drive. If that's your only vice, well it could be much worse!:lol:

Yes, I'm going too with a group of friends...it's been so long since we've had a girls' night out! I loved the show and my only "moral" issue with the movie is that I thought the show ended perfectly. At the time when it ended, I remember talking with my mom and we both agreed that they shouldn't bother with a movie. Oh well, I'm going to see it anyway!

You can be clinically depressed even if you are able to function. I remember a time when I went to work every day, accomplished tons, had social engagements, and couldn't help but cry at least once a day. Months later (after some larger issues) I went on anti-depressants, and I've been on and off them since. Basically my doctor told me the last time I asked to go back on them that there is really no reason for me to be off them, because I just have a depressive personality. (And my A-D of choice is Paxil, because it is the best one to address both depression and anxiety).

OK thank you all! I'm sorry for having hijacked this thread. :blush: Just one more question about signing up for the forums...if you do the year package...what "gifts" do you get? Dave Ramsey books? ETA (Again...where is my mind today)...Never mind. I found the more detailed info on his site. I think I'm going ahead and joining though!

OK, here's my question (for anyone here, not just in response to this quote). I'm dipping my toes into the Dave Ramsey thing right now so I admit I haven't read anything by him. But why wouldn't he suggest getting a 30 year loan and just making double payments? Is it because that gives you an out and people wouldn't do it? It just seems to make more sense that way, especially in these difficult economic times, so that if you had to make only a single payment a month you could and not risk losing your home. ETA: I went and looked around the Dave Ramsey forums. Is anyone here actually a registered user? Is it worth the $99 a year? I'm half really wanting to join and half angry that there's a fee.

I recommend a book by Robert Cialdini: Influence: Science and Practice. It's research-based but written in a very interesting way. The author actually went "undercover" in a variety of sales professions to learn the tricks of the trade, and he presents them all.

Honestly, I just read the story and thought "How nice." I think it's great that homeschooling worked for this girl. I'm willing to bet she would have done just fine in school too. I also know that if I were the perfect homeschooling mom (as if that existed), my dear kids would probably not get into Harvard. Nor if they were to attend the most expensive, prestigious private schools. They'll do just great in life and probably get into selective schools if they try, but I just don't think they're Ivy-League Bound.

Oh, thanks for the elaboration! I'm having a rough day and overreacting to everything, so I'm sorry too.

I'm sorry but I've spent some time running an in-home daycare business and I take offense to this. It isn't true. I've had babies come to me from mothers who were returning to work after a year off (starting a new job) and the heads were flat already. I've had babies come to me from other daycares with perfectly round heads. I think your statement is an over-generalization and I really hate statements like this that aim to get the mommy wars going.