I'm trying to decide what to do with the boys next year. They haven't touched on foreign languages yet in school, and I don't know anyone who's even thought enough about it to bother teaching another language to a child on the spectrum. How difficult is it? are there any good programs out there for Auties/Aspies? I'm considering Latin or Mandarin - possibly both if we can find a program that works well for them.

My library is very small, but you can order books online from any other library in the region and they'll send it right on over. It's one small city block away - about a 3 minute walk with toddlers in tow. Don't hate me. ;)

Just one, my all-time favorite The Power of One (South Africa at the time of Apartheid)

My husband did that for a while. One of my friends sent this video to me and I cracked up so much that my husband wanted to watch it, too. Now, on the days when he's suddenly ill out of nowhere, I just say, "oh, poor little bunny". ;) He'll often laugh and realize that he's being a bit of a drama queen (king?), or he'll laugh and say, " i know, but I really DO feel sick this time." Either way, he thinks about it and smiles. It's turned in to a light-hearted way for him to honestly assess what he's doing. But your DH would probably have to have a particular sense of humour for him not to take it personally.

Nope. I won't say never, because every time I say that I end up eating my words; I REALLY don't want to eat my words on this one. ;)

No, you are not sinning. Unless you feel God is calling you to do something and you choose not to act on it, you're just fine. Your "friend" is using biblical language to try to turn you into something you're not. God created you to be shy, unassuming, and likely serve Him in a supporting, background capacity. That's incredibly valuable. Fear of man isn't stopping you from doing ANYTHING that God has called you to do - although if your friend keeps judging you, you may very well DEVELOP a fear of man due to her comments! If it comes up again, just tell her, "I've questioned myself about that, and I've decided I'm right where I'm supposed to be, serving in the capacity he's called me to." Frankly, I think a meek, sweet, unassuming wife is a good thing for an elder to have. It shows people that you don't have to live life on a pedestal or self-exultantly to be godly. Just keep being you. Your DH was chosen to be an elder with you being just the way you are.

Yes and yes. My kids are EXTREMELY picky about what they eat, so if they show an interest in eating something other than pizza, ham sandwiches, hotdogs, and apples, I automatically say yes.

I'm just curious how you knew it was her?

I just re-read your original post. Am I right in thinking that THEY brought this up out of the blue? As in, a few years ago you and your step-brother came to the agreement that he would get the dining set, and then your father out of nowhere said, "by the way, your step-brother and I decided that...."? Because that would mean they were making plans about it behind your back and then decided your father should be the one to tell you what their plan for your stuff is.

ITA with the others. Yes, they are asking too much. You were being generous in offering it to them, and they are being EXTREMELY presumptuous and entitled to think they because you offered them a matching set, you "owe" them the value of it. I just wouldn't mention it again. Sell the table and keep the money to put towards a new one. If they realize the old table is gone and they never got "their" money, just tell them "oh, I just thought it would be nice for them to have a matching set, but since they weren't interested in the table itself, I made sure it went to someone who was." If they actually have the cahones to tell you that they're OWED that money (would they actually do that, you think?) laugh a little and tell them, "I don't know where you got that idea. I offered you the possibility of having a matching set, and you declined. The table was still mine to sell or do with as I pleased. I suppose if you'd wanted to you could have taken our offer of a free table and sold it yourself, but that certainly doesn't mean that I owe you money for a table that was never yours and that you didn't do anything for. That would be so strange!" and laugh a little again. That's just my personality, though. Do you think they'd actually go far enough to "call you out" on not giving them money for YOUR stuff?

Yes, I am - even a few exes where the relationship ended on friendly terms. My DH is well aware of it. If you think your DH might be concerned about it, just ask him, and if he's okay with it then I see no reason not to.

I really, really, really don't like it. My house is generally is varying states of disarray. There's ALWAYS laundry in piles waiting to be folded, a few dishes in the sink, and toys scattered everywhere. If I know people are coming, I'll tidy up a little bit to be "presentable", but if people come by unannounced, I feel uncomfortable the whole time. Friends my own age I don't mind so much, because they all (or mostly) have kids around the same age and 'get it'. But if my MOM dropped by unannounced, I'd be hearing for the next two years what a slob I am, so I'd prefer to avoid that. ;)

I would have anticipated iTablet. Either way, I won't be buying it. Which SUCKS, because I actually am in the market for something just like this (I need something small and laptop-ish), and I was hoping this would work for me. But without the ability to multi-task and without flash support, it would pretty much be a brick for me. It's an awesome concept, but I REALLY think they should have waited to release it until they had a more capable unit. The name won't stop me from buying it at all, but the fact that it's a lousy product will. Cool, but useless for my purposes.

I use the same recipe as Katie, but with mustard instead of ketchup. Something about the brown sugar and mustard works together well.

Check this out (it's on Onion News, so it's "fake" news - but pretty funny).

I don't know where it is, but I'm more than willing to come over and help you search for it... ;)

Not a refused abortion, but I had the same thing you described. I was p/g with identical twins, and was told on the ultrasound (at 18 weeks) that neither of them had a heartbeat. I could have SWORN I felt them moving, before, during, and after the ultrasound. Obviously they weren't moving DURING it, so I told myself I was just making myself crazy. I will always wish that I had demanded a second ultrasound before having a D&C (I wouldn't miscarry naturally - we waited a LONG time for that to happen).

:lol: Nicely done.

They talk about it and push their opinion because they're unsure of how they're doing things or unhappy with how things have turned out. When you talk about something with an air of authority, it seems to lend some validity to it. In other words, they say it because the more they say it, the more they believe it, and they want desperately to believe it. I know because I am frequently one of those people. ;)

Absolutely. Most companies will, when they refurbish something, they go over it with a fine tooth comb before they send it back out, so you're actually LESS likely to have problems with a refurbished item.

You are not wrong. Honouring your parents does NOT mean letting them do whatever they want with no regard for how it affects yourself and your children. Honouring your parents means that you, WHEN you talk to them about things, you are calm and not demeaning or rude. It means you don't shout obscenities at her as you kick her butt out the door. it doesn't mean that you let her walk all over you. this is you and your husband's home. THAT is an authority - actually, not an authority, a responsibility - bestowed to you by God. To neglect the responsibility you have to your family out of fear of upsetting his mother isn't what God would want. Aside from that, I also believe that honouring your parents also means taht we have a responsibility to help them through unbecoming behaviour. Eg - if your MIL was going to go out to a classy restaurant and was dressed in tattered jeans and a T-shirt covered in stains and asked for your opinion, it wouldn't honour to say, "you look great, Ma. You should go." Honouring her would mean that, even though it might be difficult, you say, "You know, I'm not sure you'd be comfortable at the restaurant dressed like that. Why don't we help you find something else?" By the same token, if a parent's BEHAVIOUR is sinful or blatantly inappropriate, it is more honouring to them to (very kindly and sympathetically), point out the issue and help them correct the behaviour than it is to sweep it under the rug and pretend nothing is wrong. JMHO!

I don't know if I really, like, believe all that stuff, you know? Maybe, I guess. Whatev.:tongue_smilie:

Highly recommend this link - it lets you input all the factors, then takes them, sees what cameras fall into the range of what you'd like, and compares them with customer's reviews of those cameras. http://www.myproductadvisor.com/mpa/camera/inputSummary.do

I'm just down the street from there! I have to say, it's an AMAZING camp. Your daughter will love it. :D

For myself, I'd by the larger one. I don't often make bread, etc - but I do occasionally, and to try to do it with the smaller one would be a little annoying (probably so much so that I wouldn't do it again, whereas I might do ti more often if I had a good experience with the larger one). I jsut like to keep my options open.