Yes, the old potluck classic. DH loves this & I have never made it. I don't think I would like to absolutely eat right away, sounds too crunchy, but what are my options? Thanks!!

If she is not opposed to quite youthful books, youngest Dd & I discovered the Grandma's Attic series by A Richardson when she was a teen. We somehow missed them during their younger years. They are hilarious! We downloaded one after the other onto our kindle b/c we just couldn't get enough. Quite light and fast reading. Although it is a children's series, I reread the stories myself when waiting at appointments and such.

Caution with "My Life and Hard Times". One of the stories portrays a humorous evening when one catastrophe after another plagues a household. I have a vague memory of a bed collapsing - maybe the author makes a quip about what 'activity' could also make the bed collapse or something like that...you may want to pre-read if you want to avoid absolutely any colorful reference for your daughter.

Yes, Lifeprint!

1889, Paternal Grandfather. John - may he rest in peace!

We've had a lot of fainting in our family (adolescent times with vaso vagal hyperactivity), and we gained lots of knowledge regarding fainting. Many people, although maybe not the majority, have seizure like fainting episodes. Many MDs are not aware of what can be this very normal fainting 'style'. For us, lack of MD's knowledge led to way to much work up for one particular child, UGH, it was just simple fainting - bazillion tests unnecessary. Anyway, I hope you get to the bottom of it. Sounds like a rough time for you both this weekend!

I've never watched DTA, but I might consider it. I only clicked on this thread to see if something creepy will happen to me LOL

We have a small Cuisinart Toaster Oven. The family likes it for reheating leftovers, but I think it takes forever and prefer the stovetop. (we don't have a microwave) I have never tried to bake in our toaster oven, though, but some people use them for that purpose, I imagine. You could place your meals in a chicken skillet or small stockpot, that has just a tiny bit of water in it. Turn the pot to medium and flip the contents often. This works for me when I forget to thaw first.

So, I got the Pet Corrector spray. It is just awesome for the 'barking out the window/door and won't stop' routine. It is also very entertaining=) I have hidden it behind my back, and, usually, I am not in the same room. Her searching for the source of the sound is so entertaining, it was worth the cost of the can just for that LOL I purchased it on Amazon. Thanks @Ktgrok Oh, and I updated about all the children visiting in my other thread, but she did very well. The children crowded her at one point, and I had to tell them to back off. I think having her out of sight of them when entering (I put her in her crate) was effective. I read that somewhere, that the dog, at the beginning of training, cannot handle watching people come through the threshold of the door into their space. When the children reentered after going hiking, it upset her (not thinking about it ahead of time as a 'reentry'), and I put her to bed. The vet (and people on here) mentioned stress as being a cause of stomach upset in dogs. I sure hope she isn't so sensitive that the two guest occasions in one week caused her recent illness, but it is certainly something to consider.

You are very kind. The “...you haven’t called them names...” part has me ROFL and cringing at the same time...probably only a time or two. I guess not real name calling, but I have been unkind, but, yes, almost always very nice, and they know I have a short fuse that has gotten so much under control. I remember a decision eldest made to go to not accept an all expenses paid week out west at a camp when he was 19. Without details, I will say that he just didn’t feel that he fit in with the group, even though he was technically part of that demographic. All I could see was the awesome opportunity to go rock climbing and get past an acute problem he was having. I berated the decision, in quite heated terms. The loudness and harshness of my reaction was taken surprisingly well (as I said my children know me), but, I am sure it stung. I apologized fairly quickly. Although I have worked hard to temper my temper (which would even surprise people I know IRL), I have a desire to go further. My (past overall) temper is related to my enthusiasm, of which I have a lot. But, there are a lot of words in me. And, I consider it a virtue, of sorts, to temper the use of them as well. I shoot to be the kind of MIL that will work like a horse (if desired by them) to help and not offend with my words. They may feel like @EmseB or others. I don’t want to take chances, and I want to practice prudence more anyway. I believe in personal sacrifice right down to my core, so withholding unnecessary words is a good sacrifice. I am so glad you suggested I talk to our children. They know I can’t hide things, so I hope they take my desire to respect their decisions while sometimes still not (being able to) holding back my opinion, is consciously my issue. I guess that is why I agree with ‘both sides’ here. I know that expressing one’s opinion may be ‘just talk’, but I do know that respecting how others hear ‘talk’, is an important part of true good communication dynamic.

This is the single most eye opening, soul searching, may-make-some-real-changes thread I may have ever read, and I have read the boards for 15 years! My FOO was just not kind usually. Not always hateful, just living parallel lives or something. Hard to describe, because I had a mom and dad who I absolutely felt loved my siblings & I - never doubted that. But, I thought people on tv celebrating birthdays, giving loving advice, general intentional family dynamics were just that...TV families. I realized through spending time with friends and the families that I babysat for, and later also coworkers, that those types of relationships weren’t just on TV! I did not necessarily think I learned bad dynamics (although patient DH may disagree), until I had children and realized how short tempered or judgmental I was with them verbally. So, I (we) became very intentional in our parenting. Turning the verbiage into loving guidance and respectful openness. This thread has opened my eyes yet again about how other families are! I still have a way to go, because, hearing that there are actually real people like @EmseB who do not share their opinion with others out of kindness, however kindly or jokingly worded, makes me think to perhaps go further in my parenting journey. I do see signs, now that I think about it, that I may be too loose-lipped, albeit kindly, with my opinion. Although, I also agree with the view that @happysmileylady and others have expressed, I am thinking that a little more holding back might be right for our family and our children. They know I am talkative & get over things quickly, but I think, in the spirit of enjoying ‘closeness’ with them, I may have been unkind from their perspective. From the perspective of my FOO, my husband and I and our YO children are just a bunch of sunshine bursts with each other! But, perhaps because our children were raised so different than we were (DHs family was more kind, but still way too opinionated) our children may have the perspective @EmseB articulates here and think I am just over the top! I will be thinking this over. Thanks for letting me express all that. Therapeutic.

@MercyA that is Some Pig!! Too cute=)

Isn’t there a test where you tap the bottom of the afflicted’s foot to check appendix trouble. Ruled out constipation? Hope she feels better soon!

I saw that secular was mentioned by a pp, so not sure if this is up your alley. The Rosary. The item or not, along with prayers found online are meant to be a focused meditation on events of the life of Jesus. My understanding is that many people not even Catholic find it deeply relaxing. I fall asleep to it. In my head.

Keep up, Mama! If this is already a habit, it is easier to keep than begin again. Let any other drop away, but keep this. So sweet and valuable!

I've thought about that, but wondered about moisture condensation when coming back out of freezer causing mold problems...but, I guess, with your success, that is a non-issue.

I just don't know whether to laugh, gag, or cry at these! Completely agree about the worms being better than the pesticides. The worms sparked lively dinner convo about the fact that we want our food free of the worm, yet willingly consume what we know may be scarier biocide! It concerns me that deep in my psyche is a nonchalance about the potential danger of processed food. Yes, frozen broccoli counts as processed food in that sentence. But, on the lighter side, I am (squeamishly) 'enjoying' your stories. I think.

All young adults here. May I please be invited? Thank you!

Just gross - Dd was eating dinner with us, and we had broccoli that was a frozen organic bag from Costco. Dd notices something thin & green on it. I say that it is just a fiber, until she insists and we pull out the old handy dandy Brock. Yes, a caterpillar! Our pieces are full of them, but they blend in so well, I would have eaten it all up without ever noticing. I picked some off, but, despite my open-mindedness about food, just couldn't take another bite! Not sure if I can ever eat broccoli again.. What have you found in food, and did it turn you off that food forever? (this isn't my photo, our caterpillars were more green, probably less mature)

UPDATE She is so much better. 🐶 I took her in for labs after an early afternoon spent curled up. Whenever I took her outside to go, she simply curled up in the grass! @I talk to the trees you got me thinking about my visit with the family on Thursday, and I started to think maybe she had stray grapes that they dropped. And, I knew it would ease my mind to know she wasn't going into renal failure or something. @Pawz4me also helped me discover the wonders of metronidazole ask the Vet about that. Although our pup tested neg for giardiasis, I know that she had it last year with many neg. fecals. Anyway, everything was normal, but all the vomiting yesterday, three liquid stools today, and a lethargic one year old pup prompted the Dr. to have me continue the cerenia for a few more days, give a course of metro, and small meals. I did just that. After I let the cerenia have a little time, I gave a small meal (which included the metro tabs hidden in the soft topper we give), and she crashed into deep slumber for an hour. After that...she was almost her normal evening self, wanting to play chase and bark like mad at the donkey & mule...her favorite evening pastime. Thanks everyone!

@Quill and @Arctic Mama , you are pretty ladies! Quill, I think you would look pretty as well without bangs. You have such thick hair, it almost seems like it would be difficult to keep back while growing out.

Yes, other people's experiences are really helpful. When, in other threads, people said their dogs get sick 'a lot', I didn't know exactly what that meant, for lack of experience. Thanks, @Pawz4me, since you mentioned metronidazole, I looked it up and found this from a vet office in VT, basically giving me the same good advice/signs you all are. Nothing I googled yesterday didn't end in death (only slightly exaggerating). Dogs being sick is so different than children!! For some reason, this is so much worse. I maintain a take-charge nurse attitude with sick children and seemed to know when to call the Dr. This dog is stressing me to pieces. Too high maintenance! BTW, she is more normal acting, but usually sleeps all afternoon anyway.

Forever Erma by Erma Bombeck! When I'd read this to myself over lunch and almost choke on my food laughing so hard, the kids would ask, "What are you laughing at?" and I'd answer, "I'm laughing about us!" Later, they knew and would just yell in, "Are you reading that book again?" I used to send this to friends when they were in the slump with homeschooling and housekeeping. The book is a collection of Erma's columns from the 60s-80s that show the humor in everyday family life.

Thank you @Indigo Blue The Vet said 'never', as in bad practice. He knows me personally, so I would have thought he would know we wouldn't scrape our plate generally & give it to her. I got the sense that he was venting about all the exploration people do feeding their dogs. I thought to myself at the time, that it was advice that was no-fun because our only other dog ate lots of extra foods as treats and training tools - peanut butter wands kept in freezer for walks, cheese as a special treat, even once at a whole loaf of bread that was intended for the Thanksgiving Stuffing with no ill result. When I said my dog through up 1x/month I was trying to estimate. It is not that frequent but it seems to be when it is hot or when given a little Kong spray or another food besides her own. I made chicken thigh into chicken jerky recently & the next day after having just a few bites, she threw up. So, I am making the broad assumption that she is just extra sensitive. So, I am curious, what triggers others dogs to upheave and do they ever go through acute more-than-just-once episodes (including possibly to the point of blood) and it be just no-big-deal? Again, because other signs (labs weren't taken) were normal yesterday (belly still soft now), the Vet was like, "she'll be fine, blood is normal...by this she meant blood in vomit, just got into something you didn't see." But, with the lethargy and diarrhea (although kept down 1 cup of reg food), I am worried and wonder if dogs just can get sick for a few days since this is such a new experience to us.

She is eating today, but not last night when feeling worst. I have heard that about chicken & oatmeal, but she has had minor episodes with regurgitating meals on days with dog treats other than the occasional milk bone that it makes me chicken to try it! In addition, when she was a pup with undiagnosed giardia, a vet said that I must never give dogs people food. Is that really true? Meaning, can a sensitive dog, who never gets anything (allowed) besides her food, tolerate cooked chicken and oatmeal? How does that not break the 'don't switch foods suddenly' rule. I want to be prudent, but not overly so. Just so tempting to try.