Be yourself! Find stuff that you love! I love a good excuse to shop! I'm pretty conservative too, but love to dress up...so I'd probably look for something like this: Club: flashy, fun skirt in a cool fabric...something really trendy and fun...but for me, it would be longer...like around knee length I'd probably wear a fun, solid colored top with it...I like a basic, fitted t-shirt style...and cool shoes and earrings Picnic: It would depend on what was going to go on at the picnic. If it was going to be games and such, I'd wear my cargo shorts and a t-shirt. If it was just sitting around chatting, it would be a pretty pair of pants from my favorite...J Jill, and a light top. I'd wear my leather flip flops and my freshwater pearl necklace with either outfit. Dinner and Dance: I'd go with the little black dress for this one. Never can miss with that choice. Strappy black heels, and my diamond jewlery. I'm pretty casual (semi-granola), and come from the sticks...so that probably shows up in my suggestions.:001_smile: Have fun! My 20th is, yipes, only 3 years away!

Thanks so much! Went to the library this morning and got 20,000 Leagues and Journey to the Center of the Earth! Ds is thrilled and excited! Thanks for the great ideas!

Dh loves to read to my son. They finished "Old Man and the Sea," one of dh's favorites, and now ds is begging for more adventure-type books. My ds is academically ahead of the norm, and loves a good plot, and something to really discuss. Thanks!

I gained about 80 pounds when I was pregnant with my youngest. I did WW online for about 6 months, and lost every pound. That was for the short term though. I wouldn't want to keep that close of track every day of my life. For the long term, nothing works for me but a 3 or 4 mile run, 5 to 6 days a week. If I do that, my bmi stays around 18.5 to 19. That's it. I can eat what I want, which is no small thing for me. If I'm not running, I can gain 10 pounds a week if I don't watch it REALLY close. It is a big swing in results, for the 30 or so minutes that it takes to really work out hard each day. I come from a family of very obese people. It is not easy for me to keep a "thin" mindset. Running overcomes that. Also, sadly, being around my mother, who must be close to 300 pounds. I love her with all my heart, but there is no way on earth I want to be like that. It is a choice I make every day.

Hi! I've got the Teaching Co. lectures on the sale board right now, if anyone is still interested. I really need to clear out the space, so I'm very open to offers.

Thanks everyone. I'll do more reading and go from there.

Hi! I'm in a dither about what to do about immunizations. I do believe in immunizing my children. All of them have had their normal shots, at the perscribed times, except for my youngest two. (The more I read, the more I worried.) I've spaced those out a bit. Well, ds is going to go to public school (probably) in the fall, and will need his shots for registration. If I'm going to be as cautious as possible, and still get the shots, what would you recommend? He is already older than normal (is 6.5 years now). Is there anything to worry about about at this older age? Is all the worry over the infant shots? Thanks so much.

I was just slightly over 11, and was beyond thrilled till dd's didn't start until nearly her 14th birthday, this month! Hoping the rest of my dds follow that pattern, rather than mine. It is so much easier if they are older.

We saw a change of about 25 dollars per paycheck on Fedral withholdings, as of dh's March checks. I didn't realize that, until I saw your post, and looked it up! Thanks!

My mom had very dark brown hair in her youth, and it started graying in her 30's. She used henna for years, before it got really, really gray, and she loved the henna, and it looked beautiful. She did go to a salon to have it done, every 6 weeks or so, but I'm sure an "at home" treatment would work well too. (She is allergic to regular dyes...hives...so now that she is all, all gray, she lets it be natural...but she is 60 this year...so she doesn't mind it...and she looks great natural...it's silver!) I keep saying I won't dye mine either...but somehow, I have a feeling, when I'm faced with reality, I will be hitting the salon! My hair is really dark brown too, and I think I've got a gray hair on top of my head, but it's a loner still. I'm secretly hoping that since I'm 35 and only have one gray, that I won't have to deal with this until I'm like, I don't know, 70! Lol!

Goodness, thank you so much everyone! We are only at the beginning of looking at the area, and the job, but I sooooo appreciate the good vibes! We were going to go back to public school (kids' choice) if we stayed here, like we were planning. However, if we do a move, it is possible that we will continue to homeschool. So, I appreciate both the homeschool and public school info! We are from small towns in the western states, so Indianapolis seems enormous to us, and it is nice to hear that it has a "small town" feel. Seems like a wonderful place. We hear that the job dh is considering, is on the North side of town, so everyone from that office lives that direction? I did look at housing prices yesterday, and was astounded at how low they are! It looks like we would be rolling back the clock about 8 years, for what we are used to out here. That would be wonderful. It all looks very lovely too. That was nice to see! Thanks!!

Hi! What is it like? Good place for kids? Housing? Things to do? Interesting? Boring? Economy? Etc? Anything, and info at all, whether personal experience, etc, would be very highly appreciated! Thanks!

Yes, we knew it was going to happen. We've lived in a place that was ahead of the curve, for the last 3 years, and before that, lived in a place where there was an enormous housing bubble. The reason why we moved from bubble-grand-central, was because dh knew that it would not last, and knew that when it went bad, it would all go bad. Very bad. He tried to tell people that. He wanted us in a more secure location. This "more secure" place, was ahead of its time, as far as a recession, and we've been coping with that, since we moved here. We did sell our "big, expensive" home, last spring, because we knew we wanted a smaller payment, and that the housing bubble was going to pop soon, and then our expensive home wouldn't be worth much to us, as a sale goes, anymore. We signed the papers on the sale of the old house, at a nice profit for only 2 years, and our new, more modest, and in-town house, in August. (We were in a state of panic all summer, hoping and praying that the house would sell, asap...saw it coming.) We also cashed out a large portion of our investments last spring and put the rest into long-term, "safe" stocks. So far, we've hardly lost anything. In fact, we are in better shape this year, than last. One note of hope. Our little town has been in a housing recession for a few years, and dh is in that industry. Things are looking up this winter. Way up. Like I said before, we are ahead of the curve here, for one reason and another, and things are getting better. This will be our best year, as far as income, in 3 years. Life is gonna be ok. It's going to get better. I don't know if any of us will ever really be the same again, but sometimes a good learning experience is worth the pain that causes us to grow and understand. Hang in there.

http://www.modbeclothing.com Love this company for cute swimwear! My 13yo dd won't look anywhere else!

Dh works for a major paint and coatings company, who rode out the GD, and everything else, for the last 100 and some years. Our money is staying put. We've got 30 years till retirement, and a lot of hope for the future. Also figuring that, if in the end, we loose everything, we'll be far from alone, and it won't seem so bad! Lol!