No, I think it is the oddest habit. There may be occasional need, I can see, but I know families who take it as a matter of course. Those poor children, IMO. LOL, kinda. But, it is such a good opportunity for one to learn about one's body, tolerance to pain, getting through things alone, etc. Missed opportunity when the parent infringes on this right of passage. My 2 cents. ETA: totally see what @wendyroo is saying. I feel strongly b/c of two families where it hasn't gone well, and they are over-controlling in general. I really should just mind my own business=)

Nightstand, bathroom drawer, living room end-table, kitchen island, next to computer, in purse. They migrate, so sometimes the four indoor ones end up in one place=) I bought a nice pair from Peepers that I keep on a pretty pearl chain in my purse to wear when I am away from the house. My slight spoil to compensate for getting older. It's the little things.

A thousand times, "YES!!" I got rid of my old machine that had an 'infinity' dial so one could choose the water level. Because we needed an electric dryer in our new home, we purchased a matching set=( So disappointed. TIP: To increase the water level, I do this: after the machine 'fills', I turn off the power button and begin again. It re-senses and adds more water! Slight win.

Yes! I really could kick myself now ... I had thought of keeping them ahead of time, but ... we had put the old dishwasher aside; it had stopped at the beginning of a cycle. DH emptied it, drained it, and put it in the garage. Well, after sitting for a few weeks, EEK! Mold!!! We just put it to the curb (where it was taken w/in a few minutes), but everything is washable, and we could have bleached/cleaned it. One of my life regrets.

@Pen That squirrel fun log is just too adorable!!

Can you define shreddable? Because, I have always worried that if she was able to destroy something that would 'stick' in her brain, so have avoided that as an activity. Although we have given empty water bottles for a 10 minute distraction then thrown the about-to-become-deteriorated bottle away. Sh actually likes soft things best, but I believe that, in her crate, she may chew them to bits and choke, so do not provide them there. She will slowly nibble ropes and GoDog stuffed animals to bits, so we give those for play or short times only.

I guess it’s not an option, since DH does not want another dog. She is OUR companion & we don’t want to share her. The comments about the maturation rate make me feel better. I just see what looks to me like a full grown dog at 11 months.

Our dc, who are not home much to care for them, want us to get another dog - I cannot even imagine. Simply getting one extra cat felt like tripling the work; I imagine that would be the same for a dog. Dare I ask, can two dogs share the same crate? We have the Ginormous Crate from Midwest Pets (their description and mine!)

That is adorable. Our puppy sure is more newfoundland than poodle! Clumsy, oh my, YES! Thank you so much for sharing that. And, @Pawz4me it is so sad to me that she is maturing slower, but will live shorter than a smaller dog! There is a dog swimming pool an hour away (everything is at least an hour away=). The swimming is private, one dog at a time, no owners in pool thank goodness! Completely unrelated, but does anyone know if those places are a good idea? She loves her baby pool. I was wondering how we could get her a pool here, but if we get it big enough for her to actually swim, it would be too difficult to maintain.

I guess I am more wondering about unsupervised time in the future. Oh, she chews on and likes her toys fine. Although, seems content many times to just sit w/out putting it in her mouth. Last dog was either chewing a toy or asleep, this dog likes to look around. I think she just likes to mouth some things, try out new textures. We have a wide variety of toys b/c of that. We don't have an issue with her destroying things (the door frame incident was a one time anomaly, and she had her favorite stuffed kong right next to her, so I think she was doing a 'hmm, what's this?' puppy thing) but will she grow out of putting things in her mouth out of curiosity? She spends a lot of awake time either training (short sessions), playing, or being pet. One spoiled dog. We're pretty into tiring her out, mentally and physically. It's fun to think of ways to do that because, maybe it's the newf in her, she is a little too happy to just lay around. Yes, she has toys that are just together play and chew items. In her crate, where she spends overnight and many hours a day (though mostly sleeping) she has a rotating assortment of kong bones and other things she loves but cannot destroy. (btw, she loves, loves her Kong Puppy items, like the ball and the tire, maybe b/c they 'give' a little? So, in the future, would I have to give this particular dog a high value treat - long lasting treat (stuffed Kong) in order to leave her unsupervised for hours? Bully sticks are short lived, not worth it IMO ... raw marrow bones are supervised only. Again, I am just wondering about other people dogs free-roaming routines, so I can see if some dogs just can never be trusted for long periods alone or not.

I was just wondering if our almost one-year-old puppy will ever be free-roam. I am disappointed, because our last dog was trustworthy at a year. This dog is so much more laid-back (part Newfy), but she likes to chew on soft things like threads, clothing, or edges of paper. While we are a very tidy household, those loved textures are still to be found as carpet edging, dishcloths, and books. She licked the door frame right next to me when we were eating dinner, and I was in conversation w/family and only noticed when the sound of actual gnawing began. We teach 'leave it' and she has amazing focus and obedience with that - even trained with dropped temping items in many situations and duration with that. She leaves dishcloths, shoes alone for the most part, but ... the moment we turn our back/another story. I read about people who don't use crates, and many of you tell of your puppies being free all day in the house. How does that work? Are you super at teaching 'leave it' so it sticks autonomously or are some dogs more oral? She is really not that oral overall, as she often relaxes without chewing or mouthing toys on her bed, or when just hanging out with us. But, trust her alone in the house? I can not see it ever happening. Our yard will soon be fenced. (we live way out in the country) She loves to spend time alone in a large pasture we have. No more than 15 minutes or so, but no fuss at all, just happy smelling and looking (laid back as I said). But, when she is allowed in our actual yard alone, I worry about her chewing on hoses, entry rugs, etc. Our last dog begged to lay on the porch snoozing all day. I think, with this dog, she will probably go out to do her business and come right back in. I will be fine with that, but I am wondering about other people's dogs free-roaming habits. Mostly as it relates to trustworthiness of the dog to leave items alone. Thank you!

Now, that made me laugh, because we are exact opposites on why we do & enjoy what we do=) What you do in your family sounds like a nicely working system!

Ktgrok is the Queen of Housebreaking! Our puppy was sick with intestinal parasites, and she helped me get housebreaking under control in even that chaotic situation. Your puppy is adorable!! You sound like you are doing amazing as a first time dog owner. I want to add that, at night, we took her out right away. During the day, at first, we waited for any break in sound from the puppy, in order to open the crate door. After weeks passed, then months, that time lengthened, and we let her out only upon silent time. In no time, she learned to be silent when we entered the room if she wanted out. Our situation is a little different, in that we do not yet have a safe place outside for the puppy to be free, she is not trustworthy free-roaming in the house (still finds trouble/things to chew just like a toddler!), and time out of the crate is our completely dedicated walk/play/train/love-on-dog time. I digress, but seriously, in our house, it is just like having a baby. She, at 10 months old, is pretty much on a set schedule. When she is awake, she is loved to bits & constantly supervised, but she spends at least 5-7 hours a day in her crate, peacefully sleeping/relaxing. It is covered and tucked in a nook off of our kitchen - we even turned it into a desktop! Some of my favorite resources are mentioned above. And, they have chimed in on this thread. I have been helped particularly by @Ktgrok, @Spy Car, and @Pawz4me. You can read their sage words of wisdom by googling “ site:forums.welltrainedmind.com ______________ “ Where the blank is ‘puppy’, ‘dog’, ‘collar’, really....many, many dog topics on these boards that are great...even ‘dog food’ LOL I loved “Crate Games” DVD ... amazing!! If you are into dog training, clicker style, I find ‘Sue Ailsby’s Training Levels’ to be TWTM of the clicker training world. Great if you are into the details and want exactly step-by-step help. Enjoyed Kikopup on YouTube. In the content of this thread will be a description of the important bite-inhibition training that Bill/Spycar recommended - excellent IMO

I did this for each one of our children. As a right of passage when they get their driver’s license, I gave each a $20 bill for emergencies with a lifetime (of mine=) replacement guarantee, no questions asked.

Ah, as I said regarding underwear in the laundry thread, I love the site of a drawer-full of folded money!

Folding laundry is now my sole duty w/out children (at home) to delegate it to. I did not experience the beauty of a neat stack of folded towels/underwear/dishclothes until I was on my own. Or, probably not until in my 30's. Because I am not a BO nor was I born into an organized household, I relish order (although my nature does its darnedest to fight me=) Now, I am never going back - folding laundry is one of the few tasks I do that requires no brainpower and is very soothing. Underwear - yes, I fold it b/c delegating that to DH would be an unfinished job, like @Pawz4me said. To my way of doing things, not putting his underwear away would be like leaving his particular dishes in the sink if I have to load later (we usually load our own as we go) or like him leaving my car in the drive at night when we put the cars in, etc. But, there isn't one 'right way'. It would just be weird according to how we do it. And, I enjoy to an odd degree the organized look of his neat basket of underwear, socks, and handkerchiefs. And, our grown children have sworn-off folding underwear. They do not appreciate what they were given free=)

A dog, yes, fun and distracting and very, very time consuming! I miss knowing what is going on in their lives in the little details. I realize that this is simply curiosity about the ones I love, but I know it is/can be intrusive. So, I accept the little I can know and am full of gratitude that they still ask for my advice often ... so I must not be being over-the-top nosey or they wouldn't confide enough to ask. ETA - I think my response is more answering the 'sadness' that @Jenny in Florida was referring to. You are further along in having adult children than I am; I thought that the having married adult children/grandchildren would eradicate the need to step-back. I see from what you have shared that that is not necessarily the case & I hope the advice of others with more experience helps.

I purchased the highest Bosch available at our local store, but I do not think it was Bosch's highest. The inefficiency of loading it, especially the bottom rack is the only thing that bothers me. We use the third, top rack for silverware, so the large silverware caddy that initially went in the bottom rack leaves an awkward space when removed. I wish, oh how I wish I had kept the bottom rack from my previous dishwasher. The racks from both were/are universal size, so they would have swapped. It cleans fine and is quiet, though.

A sweet, wonderful post, telling a sweet, wonderful story - congrats, MaBelle!!

We would never do a mortgage again, only a HELOC. Takes discipline, since all of the loan amount is available to you. If you are not tempted by that, a HELOC will make your payoff super fast and result in tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars savings in interest.

With round steak and mystery steak from a friend's cow, I made Hungarian Goulash out of it. The pieces were very tough, so were awful cooked as actual steak. Of course, 'steak' isn't the type of dish that I excel at; I save actual steak for enjoyment at restaurants. 6 onions, sliced finely 2 -3 lbs beef, frozen 2 Tbsp butter ____ 1 or 2 cups sour cream 1-½ tsp salt ¼ cup Sweet Hungarian Paprika _____ 1 bag wide egg noodles, cooked, drained and buttered I cook the onions, beef and butter in my crockpot all day - placing the frozen beef on top of the onions. After it cooks many hours, I take the beef out and shred it, placing it back into the crockpot. After mixing the sour cream, salt and paprika, I temper it by adding a little of the hot liquid from the beef and mixing. Then, I add the sour cream mixture to the crockpot with the beef and onions. If I must hold this before service, I turn the heat off or lower it, because the sour cream will separate (the tempering is to prevent this, as well). Serve on top of the hot buttered noodles. YUM! ETA - This would work with all sorts of variations. For example: follow the first part, adding mushrooms in addition to the onions, and still shredding the meat. Mix a beef gravy mix with the sour cream (instead of paprika/salt). Stir that gently with crockpot contents (likely even more juicy d/t mushrooms); allow to thicken. Serve over the noodles, and you have a stroganoff. You could probably also follow the first part and stir in barbecue sauce after shredding the meat. Serve that on buns. This may require some reduction of the sauce from the crockpot, by draining and reducing the liquid on the stovetop. These may not be up your alley if you need strict recipes; I tend to cook on the fly.

I'm sorry to bump, but I didn't want my puppy left out LOL:

It is very boring. Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds, oran-raisins, and sprinklings of wheat germ & parmesan. Pretty much every.single.night LOL ETA - My mother always served our salad with the dressing already mixed with the greens. Either French or a creamy Italian or green-goddess (does anyone remember that?). I yearned for ranch or regular italian. When we married, DH did not want the dressing mixed in. So, the ugly bottles go on the table. I have never gotten over that!

On app: Choose the menu feature at the top (the three parallel line thing at the top L) Choose "Your Account" from this pull-down menu Scroll way down to the "Personalized Content" section where you will Choose "Browsing History"

Make everyone happy with an ice-cream social! Since DH and I were completely on our own for expenses (and we tend to be frugal), we made the decision that the wedding cost less then the honeymoon. We decided to go all out and honeymoon in Hawaii. It was beautiful and wonderful hiking! So, our reception had to be as inexpensive as possible but still pleasant and fun for our guests. It was an early afternoon wedding with an ice-cream social to follow. The venue was a college cafeteria that we decorated ourselves complete with a few rented ice-cream shop tables/chairs where we encouraged close family to seat themselves - everyone else used the cafeteria tables. I had been in 10 weddings at that point, and did not desire to complicate matters by asking each of those girlfriends to attend to me, so each was asked to stay after the wedding for a special photo with me only. Anyway, we hired caterers in black tie to serve ice-cream to our guests, who were then able to chose their own simple toppings from a rose petal filled table. It was lovely, with (taped) classical music. From our understanding, lots of people broke up in smaller groups and went out to dine/dance after our festivities were over. We still hear from young and old alike how much they enjoyed our simple, elegant, yummy reception.