I came across this one online recently. The whole inside is Hello Kitty! So cute! Wendi

quesadillas tacos spaghetti baked potato soup chili grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup stir-fries with premade sauce I'll try to think of some more. Wendi

Typically, I only cook dinner, as we all just get our own cereal, bagel, sandwich, etc., for breakfast and lunch. I usually spend 30-60 min. on dinner. I enjoy cooking. Wendi

$125 a week for three of us. This amount works well for us. This includes typical grocery store purchases like cleaners or toilet paper. Wendi

I cook usually 5-6 nights a week. Thursday is "Tacos and Electronics Night" for dh and ds; they go out to Taco Bell (which I hate!), then dh teaches ds about electronics (a passion they share). So I stay home, watch something they don't like, and eat whatever (last week, I had a quesadilla and edamame). We may eat out once a week, usually on the weekend. The rest of the time, I cook dinner. I had gotten into a rut for awhile of using a lot of frozen stuff from Trader Joe's, and not cooking from scratch as much. But for the last several months, I have been back into the swing of cooking, trying new recipes, etc. I love Asian food (mostly Japanese, Chinese, and Korean). The weekend before last, I made miso soup, gyudon, and kitsune udon (not all at the same meal!). Then the family asked for something non-Asian, so for the rest of the week, I made baked potato soup, chicken quesadillas, etc. Last night, we had bulkogi (dh grilled it), steamed rice, and roasted broccoli and garlic. Why didn't anyone tell me sooner about roasting veggies? Green beans are also delicious roasted! I have been getting lots of new recipes from a new cookbook (Steamy Kitchen), http://www.steamykitchen.com, http://www.rasamalaysia.com, and my friends via Pinterest, plus my Cooking Light magazines. Wendi

Jane Austen Connie Willis Isak Dinesen Elizabeth Peters Wendi

English: Literary Analysis syllabus from IEW (using Window to the World and Teaching the Classics) Math: Kinetic Algebra plus Key to Geometry books (ds wants to do geometry) This will be 10th grade for ds, who will be 16 in the fall and has Asperger's, ADHD, and OCD. Wendi

Thanks! I just ordered it. Wendi

I am planning to buy this program to use with my 9th grade ds. Do I need both the book and Cd? I couldn't tell from the website whether both are needed, or whether the Cd is optional. Thanks, Wendi

Hmm. Probably the interest rate on the credit cards and personal loan are higher than the car loan, right? I think the best plan would be to do the Dave Ramsey snowball idea: put everything you can on the smallest debt until it's paid off, then attack the next one, etc. Also, how about selling the expensive car and getting rid of the $600 payment that way? Then you could buy either a junker (what Dave Ramsey would recommend) or at least something more reasonable with a $200/mo. payment. Then once the other debts are paid off, start paying that car loan off early. Wendi

I think since Congress opens with prayer, it's fine for schools to open an event with prayer. Wendi

The gulf beaches are lovely, very clear water. However, it's a 2-hour drive from Orlando to the gulf, more depending on which beach you go to. Depending on where in Orlando you are, you can be at the Atlantic coast in 1 to 1.5 hour. If you do want to drive to the gulf, Clearwater is beautiful. If you decide to stay closer, New Smyrna (on the Atlantic) is nice. Wendi

Mmm! Your dinner sounds yummy! Wendi

Thanks, y'all. I'll call in the morning if it still feels weird so they can take a look. Wendi

Chicken quesadillas with Chipotle-style rice. I cooked a lot of Japanese food over the weekend, so I'm avoiding Asian foods for a few days. (No one but me likes kitsune udon, apparently) Wendi

I got two fillings this morning. Because the are opposite each other (top and bottom) on the biting surface, my bite feels weird when I eat. Will I get used to it, or does this mean I need to go back in? Wendi

Thanks, y'all. Since I have OCD, sometimes I can't figure out if my concern is reasonable or not. I asked dh when he came home (showed him the ever-so-slightly greenish tinge on a couple of peels), and he said it was fine. The parts I put in the soup had no green on them. Wendi

Ugh. I was peeling some yukon gold potatoes for soup, and a couple of them were faintly greenish-yellow in the skin. Peeled, they look fine. I find conflicting advice online. I also have OCD. Help me decide if we can have the soup! Wendi

According to government statistics, only 3% of workers over age 25 are making minimum wage or less. So the situation seems about what it was when I was young: when just entering the workforce (or going to college), you tend to need to live at home or have roommates. After college/further training/experience, you can usually get more than a minimum wage job. Has there ever been a time when someone just out of high school could expect to earn enough to rent a two-bedroom apartment on his/her own? Wendi

I love to cook Asian (mostly Japanese and Chinese) foods. Here are some of the products I use most: Goma shio (mix of sesame seeds and salt, great sprinkled on rice) furikake (also for sprinkling on rice, comes in lots of varieties) sake mirin Chinese black vinegar (might be labeled Chinkiang vinegar)(Here's a great recipe for Chinese broccoli beef.) Chinese rice wine hondashi (instant dashi granules) miso paste dried noodles (udon, soba) sesame oil chili paste ginger (chop into chunks, peel, and freeze -- or buy a jar of it; keeps for awhile in fridge) garlic (I recently tried minced freeze-dried garlic, and it's very convenient) With these ingredients, a good rice, and a variety of meats and veggies, I find I can make a lot of dishes. Here are my two favorite websites for recipes: http://www.steamykitchen.com http://www.rasamalaysia.com Wendi

I agree that it's not right (and probably not legal) to take unemployment if you are not actively job-seeking. It sounds like you should look for a way to work from home or work fewer hours. I'm sure you could get some ideas here. :grouphug: Wendi

I just asked my fifteen-year-old. He said, "It's something to do with money. They take your money. And people don't like them!" Wendi

According to that website, groceries are 8% more in Seattle than here. Which means I'd need $540 instead of $500. However, housing is a shocking 48% more there! Wendi

No. I wouldn't give him money. I would have loved to have my parents pay for college (they helped, but couldn't pay it all). I would have loved to have studied abroad! We can't always have/do everything we want. The student will either have to find out if he can make payments or take out a loan, or decide he can't do that, at least this year. Maybe he can start saving up and participate in something like that his senior year. Wendi

Depends what you mean by "modest". Service workers make about half the median income for the area, so they wouldn't be able to afford the median rent. With income tax credits, and renting at half the median, it's doable, but it would definitely be tight. If you don't have debt, and know how to live frugally, sure. But a medical catastrophe can easily bankrupt such a family. Wendi