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!

My VERY well read 13, almost 14-year-old daughter, read the book when she was in 3rd grade. She still remembers it, and says that the book was indeed, horrifying, and will have nothing to do with going to the movie, and insists that her younger sibblings not go. This daughter is certainly not as "protected" from some movies and books, as some children of posters here. If she thinks it is scary...it probably is. This is a kid who absolutely adores Harry Potter and Edward Cullen. She doesn't shy away from fantasy fright...but this movie is absolutely not one that she wants anything to do with. That being said, I'm sure the movie is not as scary as the book...books let your imagination run wild. Also, she was only 8 when she read it, and may feel differently about it now, but won't read it again, or go to the movie, to find out.:001_smile: HTH!

Thanks everyone! I really want to get this figured out. Lasik is what I really want to do, but it isn't in the budget this year!:001_smile:

Nope. I weigh the same as I did when I got married, and am in way better shape...but my rib cage is way bigger, after 5 kids. I can zip it up to my ribs, and that's it. I'd have to be a total twig, and even then, I'm not sure it would actually zip.

Yeah, me too...I could easily go back to exactally half the square feet, in my favorite house from 5 years ago, and not miss a beat. All in the layout.

Also...Pearle Vision or Sears Optical?? Those are the two providers of our insurance plan here in town...which is less expensive and/or which do you like better? We have a couple independent places we could go to also, but we move so much, that I'd rather go with a national place, so that I can move my account from one location to another easily.

My eyes are so dry, and we live in a really dry place. I tried contacts once, nothing made for dry eyes, and quit wearing them because they were so uncomfortable. I felt like I had gravel in my eyes all the time. I'm sick of having to wear my glasses all the time, and I'd love to try contacts again, but wonder what brand to try. Any suggestions? Thanks!

No, I wouldn't do it. Mostly because I would never trust anyone to give my dc an environment that I felt was appropriate for schooling. I would rather have them in public school, under known and monitored conditions. Even my friends that homeschool, have a vastly different idea of how a day should go, than I do. Further off my target than the public school system tends to be. However, our public school system here is excellent, and my children have actually chosen to go back, to be with friends, after 3 years of homeschooling, next fall. So, take that with a grain of salt. It so much depends on your specific circumstances, who would be doing the tending, what materials you use for homeschooling, why you homeschool, what the ps's are like, etc, etc.

Hi! I'm certainly not an "expert" on this one...but I was in your same boat last spring, and have done about the exact same thing, so I'll let you know what I've done, as it has worked very well. Last April I started out by walking in the mornings...about 6am. We lived out in the coutry still, and there were very few people out and about at that time of the morning, so it kind of gave me the creeps to be out there alone, but everything was totally fine. It was totally light out at that time of the morning, by April, here. Lots of nice people waved to me! I have scoliosis and a bum knee and foot. So, I decided to start out by walking. I walked about 2 miles to begin with. Then, I started jogging as far as I could. So, after about 1.5 months, I was jogging most of the time, and only walking when I thought I was going to die. My back and knee and foot held up very well to this. By the end of the summer, I was running about 2.5 miles, slow for most people, but great for me. So, I let that take me about 3 months to get to that point. Then the bad weather hit and we moved into town, and it started getting dark early. I took about a month off completely. That wasn't good for me, but I didn't know what to do really. At that point, I bought a used treadmill, and pretty much got on it and was able to pick up where I left off. After a couple months, I was able to run a 10K on the treadmill. (Our weather is horrible here in the winter...major wind and cold...so outside is NOT where I want to be...I'd love to live someplace much, much warmer.) Anyway, now days, I pretty much do a half hour to 40 minutues on the treadmill, running the whole time. Definately not a 10K every day, but I don't have that kind of time either. Some mornings I get up and do it at 6am, and some days I just can't make myself do that, so I put on my sweats, brush my teeth and hair, wash my face, and wait for my shower until after I'm done with my workout...which usually comes at lunch time. My kids are getting older, so it isn't so hard to do this anymore. Actually, I think it is good for them. They see mom taking time out of a busy day to care for herself...and since I have 4 daughters, I think that is a good thing to teach them...my son too. As far as the weight goes...I had about 10 pounds to loose too. I was at 127 and in a size 4/6ish, last spring. Now I'm about 117-119 and a size 2/4ish. Honestly, it has taken almost all this time to loose those 10 pounds...but I didn't diet really at all. Just eating really healthy. My stretch marks will never go away, but my tummy is as flat as a pancake. Oh yeah, that reminds me...I do 100 crunches and 50 push-ups every morning too. Recently my oldest dd decided to loose the "baby" fat that she's been dealing with since hormones hit her a couple years ago. She's been getting up and doing Denise Austin at 6, followed by yoga at 6:30, and then treadmill later in the day, when it fits into her busy schedule. (She trying to loose about 30 pounds by mid-summer, so she's hitting it hard.) I've been getting up and doing the first 20 minutes of the Denise thing with her at 6...and then jamming in a run after that. It's been working out good...and wow has she changed in looks in only a couple weeks. I'm just so happy that I could be a good example to her. Big advice is to get a great pair of shoes...you just have to go try them all on to see which ones fit best. If your feet aren't comfy, it's miserable. I turn my one ankle pretty bad too, and my shoes help with that a ton. Also, if you can get or have an Ipod...that's awesome. I run way faster with my tunes, than without! Biggest thing for me is to do it in moderation. I realized that this is something I need to keep up for the rest of my life (I'm 34) and if I go too crazy with it, I'll burn out. So, it's nice to know I can go over 6 miles at a time, but it certainly isn't something I'm gonna do every day. I simply have no time or desire for that. It has never been my goal to run a marathon, just be healthy. I think you need to look at your life and decide what your goals are, and then stick with that. Hope that helps a little.

Where I live, that one day would cost a lot more than 20 dollars.

I used to drink Coke and Pepsi all the time...with crushed ice please. That was when I was a kid. When I was 18, I cut out all caffinated drinks, and anything that mimmicked them. No caffine-free stuff either. I figured that if I had the cf version, I would crave the other more. Anyway, it has been almost half my life ago now, and I wouldn't change it. We have milk and water in the house to drink. Juices are for special things only. Drinking sugar, caffine, and calories is not on my to-do list! I still, however, crave a Coke with crushed ice at times, but figured if I've survived for this long, I'll do just fine for the rest of my life, and don't let myself indulge in thinking about it too much! I think I am healthier than average, and in better condition than "most" people my age. I frequently compare my health, weight, and fitness level to that of people 10 years younger than I am. It isn't all because of the lack of soda and such, but I do think it helps. I think if you are eating a healthy diet and exercising moderately, and long term, your body just doesn't need the unhealthy "boost" from sugar and caffine. Oh, and cold turkey was how it worked for me. I still remember the last Coke I drank, and that was it. Never had one again.