I know that your question has already been answered. However, to give the history of this, the draft was abolished in the '70s, but registration for Selective Service began shortly thereafter. I have a brother who was born in January of '59 who did not have to register, but there was only a very small window of young men who were never subject to the possibility of required military service. There was a lot of fear about it when the registration began since it was shortly after the end of the Vietnam War, but it has never been used. Thanks for this thread. I have a 17yo son, and I need to make sure he registers this summer when he turns 18.

My ex-husband had a couple of Suburbans and I have driven mini-vans for years and years, so I have experience with both. I prefer the mini-van, but IMO a Suburban would work well for you if you can handle the fuel expense. The Suburban is much better for towing than a mini-van. A Suburban was built on a pickup truck chassis, while the mini-van was designed starting with a car chassis. I don't like having to climb up into a Suburban and it's much harder to get car seats into and out of a Suburban because it's higher off the ground and does not have sliding doors. As a couple of people have mentioned, the Suburban is bigger so if you expect to park it in a garage, you'll need to check and see if your doorway is tall enough and your garage is long enough to hold it.

Yes, it was Martha who had the emergency c-sec with no anesthesia. Her midwife made mistakes and was reluctant to call for an ambulance. The ambulance crew made mistakes, too. In the end, the baby was fine.

:iagree:

:iagree: I've been hanging out with the homeschooling crowd for over 15 years and have seen MANY homeschooling-since-birthers send the kids off to elementary school. I guess they're burned out.

This. This is why I stayed as long as I did. My ex-husband was not as abusive as most of the examples you used. I wish he had hit me, because If he had hit me even once I would have been out of there a lot sooner. My kids have issues. Lots of issues. I wish I had left earlier.

I don't have periods any longer, but my daughters use chlorine-free pads and it seems to make their periods shorter and they have fewer cramps. I switched several years ago without telling them why and one daughter told me that she liked the new brand better. That daughter is really sensitive to all kinds of chemicals, so it may be different for different individuals.

I think you're right. But since I was clueless as to the definition of "together" I couldn't figure out what the relationship was during the early days.

...in the context of a romantic relationship? I'm older than most of you. When I got married back in 1984, people didn't say that they had been "together" for X years and married for X years. I see that all the time now. In the southern/conservative culture where I grew up if you said you were dating someone it meant that you regularly went out on dates with that person. He was your boyfriend. Engaged meant that a wedding was happening within a year to a year and a half. Married meant that you were legally committed to each other. Unmarried couples rarely lived together and if they did it was a bit shocking. If you tell people that you and your husband were "together" for X years, what does that mean exactly? Living together? Engaged with a ring but no date? Dating, but living separately? What event caused you to begin saying that you were now "with" that person? Does your husband refer to the relationship the same way? Or does he only mention how many years you have been married? I'm fascinated by how the terms defining a relationship have changed.

:iagree:

I voted no, but I think I need to clarify/change my vote. My XH's sister spent some time in prison.

Sex. Lots of sex. It makes them happy.

That's fascinating to me. My parents are 75 & 80 and I have not noticed much loss of mental capacity in them at all. Maybe a tiny bit with Mom. Dad has exercised regularly for as long as I can remember. Mom not as much. Dad has maintained a healthy weight his entire life, but Mom is a bit overweight and tends to yo-yo. Dad's family was very poor when he was growing up and he was probably malnourished as a child, but they have both eaten a healthy diet for my entire lifetime. (I'm 51) Dad bought a couple of math textbooks several years ago, I think one was Calculus I and the other was Trig, and he does a problem or two on a regular basis to keep his mind sharp. He does Sudoku puzzles regularly. After he retired, he learned knife making and continues to make and sell knives. Mom is more artsy, but she has continued to learn new things and lead an active lifestyle. I hope I'm like my parents when I am old.

The church I attend normally has two services on Sundays--9:15 & 10:45. On Christmas there will be one service at 10:00 and there will not be any of the normal Sunday School classes. I don't know if the nursery will be open because all of my kids are older.

I agree with sbgrace. My 22yo dd has a tree nut allergy. She has an anaphylactic reaction to walnuts and pecans. It's just the same as any other severe food allergy.

:iagree:

I would ask her how someone is supposed to be saved. Because if she believes that celebrating the birth of the saviour is a sin worthy of going to hell, I don't think I would have any area of agreement with her about salvation. Her "faith" sounds like something that is totally dependent on works.

I just picked up reading and was reading well by the time I started school. Of my five children, one of them was like me. She and I seem to have some kind of intuitive understanding of phonics and we both spell well, too. I remember asking her one time how she figured out the different sounds made by the letter "c" and she told me that she had asked about the word "circus" and I had explained it then. I also had to tell her a rule about when to double the letters in the middle of a word. This daughter is also gifted when it comes to other languages. My other two daughters probably have mild dyslexia, but they were not diagnosed. They had to be taught to read. It took time, but they eventually learned to read well. One daughter was in public school K-2 and the other daughter never went to school until she started college. The one who went to public school did not have good phonics instruction there. I had to do a lot of remediating with her. My two sons have severe dyslexia. If I had waited for them to just pick up reading, I would still be waiting. It took years of instruction for them to learn to read. They finally "got it" and they both read well and read for pleasure. However, neither one of them could spell at all. About 16 months ago, they started tutoring with an instructor who uses the Barton method in order to improve their spelling skills. They have memorized dozens of spelling rules and it has helped a lot. Based on my small sample, I think that there are a few kids who can pick up reading with very little instruction. But most of them need phonics, and a few of them need intensive instruction.

No, everyone does NOT feel that way. I suspect that you are having some kind of food sensitivity problem. Several years ago I tried going on some kind of low-carb diet. It made me feel the way you're describing. It was horrible and I gave it up after about three days. I eventually learned that I am gluten intolerant. Once my body started healing from the gluten problem, dieting got a lot easier.

:iagree: I've lost nearly 30 pounds over the last 10 months. I know that sounds very slow, but some of my friends in my dieting group lost 20-30 pounds quickly and then gained it all back (plus a little more). Then they have to start dieting heavily again to lose those same pounds. You'll have a lot more success in the long run if you make little changes that you can sustain for a lifetime.

I voted Nutella. Which means that I don't have a spouse, but I like to vote in polls. However, my ex has a degree in engineering and works in that field.

Great post! I'm a huge fan of reading aloud, too. In fact, it still goes on occasionally at my house even though my youngest is 15. There's one big difference now...my 22yo dd does most of the reading. She is great with voices. (I'm good, but she's GREAT)

:iagree: My first thought was that your sister is abusive. But when you described the way that your niece acted overly attached to your husband, I then began to suspect RAD. Children with that will act the best for the "new" person and treat the person they know the best very badly. Parenting a child with this disorder is very, very difficult. IMO, your sister and her daughter need to be in therapy with someone who is an expert on attachment disorders.

That could be a legitimate action as part of estate planning. If a married couple has a major imbalance in assets, it helps to get more of the assets put in the name of the spouse who doesn't own much. It's a very reasonable way to minimize estates taxes, IMO.

The last time I got my haircut, I looked at the style books while I was waiting. Their "long" styles were anything that touched the shoulders or below.