I did this about 6 months ago, it was so great! I had an initial garage sales with the 'good' stuff and mde about 500 dollars. Then I put the leftovers in boxes, dejunked everything else that wouldn't have gotten anything at the yard sale, and then put it ALL out on the curb. Believe me when I said that the curb was overflowing, and I was afraid I was going to get a citation for over-filling it. I posted a notice on the craigslist 'for free' section with just a few of the items that were there, and asked they get it ASAP so I didn't get in trouble. Trust me when I said it was no more than 20 minutes later that I looked out there and had nothing left other than a few stuffed animals. After that, I was kinda kicking myself that I even bothered to bring the stuff down to the road myself - I should have just told them to come get it out of the yard or off my porch!!!! :lol:

Google Voice offers this for free. http://voice.google.com :-) P.S. Hi Neighbor!! :seeya: ETA I thought your blog said you LIVED in Aubrey which is about 30 mins from me, but you might not live that close so never mind! LOL

I have only read a fraction of replies so far, but I am a little worried at the amount of people who are criticizing the parents who do not allow their teenagers to open the door or that do not open the door themselves. We have many suburbs of Dallas/Ft Worth that are very safe, however they are targeted by scam artists, salesmen and even criminals because generally this is where the families and wealthier people live who have disposable income, can afford to purchase things without much thought, and generally have nice belongings which are easily stolen. When we first moved here I used to open the door to everyone just like my family has always done living in a small area in PA which admittedly had it's own element of crime, scam artists, etc. but answering the door was NEVER a danger. After having 2 sales people try to VERY HEAVILY pressure me into letting them into my house, 1 person almost force his way in, and countless more try to guilt me into listening to their religious speech, buy their product, etc. I adopted a 100% across the board policy that I don't even attempt to find out who is at the door unless I am expecting someone. My children have been taught to never go near the door if someone knocks, even if they think it is one of their friends. Most everyone I know who lives near me also conducts themselves in the same manner, and at one point there were several home invasions and even a few RAPES due to women answering the door and having men force their way in. In many cases, these were house builder employees who were casing houses and figuring out who was home alone all day, and then targeting those households (anyone who's lived in a housing community that is under construction probably knows what it is like to have as many as 5-10 houses on your street under construction, with multiple people working on them all day every day). The sheriff department issued warnings to NOT OPEN YOUR DOOR unless you know the person, and call 911 immediately so that they can send an officer to your house and question the person if they wont go away or they pound on the door. I know a lot of women (more than 10) who's husbands insisted on purchasing guns for them, took them to Concealed Carry training, and helped them get their Concealed Weapons license. There is NOTHING WRONG with being careful, especially if your area has any problems like this. Please please please trust your instincts if this is the case! The kids have even been told directly by law enforcement officers - if you don't feel safe, if you feel icky, if you aren't sure, call 911 and an officer will be happy to check just in case because they would prefer that it be the UPS man or Grandma coming over unexpectedly than taking a report an hour later because something really bad happened.

My husband is a securities expert and we have used Comodo's free product pretty much since it was first available. You can find out more about it at http://www.comodo.com - he recommends it to both private and corporate clients. Not only does it provide anti-virus and firewall protection, but I'd say it's the most thorough firewall product I've ever encountered - it tells you when ANYTHING dials in or out of your computer, including things that Norton and Mcafee have never identified or alerted to such as Microsoft updates, adware/spyware in well-known commercial products, etc. It is a very very locked down firewall, so remember if you do install it and you become suddenly unable to access anything, right click on the icon in your taskbar near the time/date and tell it to disable the firewall until you can adjust the settings enough.

Sense and Sensibility is great, I've been meaning to read it for a while :-) Looking forward to getting the details when you are ready with them!

What I did when my Type 1 brother was living with us was prepare balanced meals for the entire family that usually included 1 meat, 2 veggies, 1 carb, with a lot of meat so that he could fill up more on that. Sometimes he'd take more than he 'should' for the carbs or 'bad' veggies. Not my problem, he's an adult and if he doesn't regulate well, he's responsible for dealing with the consequences. I'll call 911 or provide a ride to the DR/ER if necessary if you mess up, but I refuse to micromanage or tell anyone over 14 years old how to eat. We grew up in a big family and I have always made enough food to have leftovers so that may be different from how you prepare your meals - some people only make enough for everyone to have 1 'proper' sized portion.

I would love to join an online book club! I have actually been trying to find one. I'd start my own but I don't have the time to dedicate to administering it, sending out emails, moderating etc. Great idea! Count me in if you move forward with it!

What areas/suburbs do you think are the best to live in? - Depends entirely on your personality and lifestyle. There is definitely a town for everyone in the DFW. Dallas proper is ok, but can be a bit expensive and it's a lot easier to get into a 'bad' area as far as housing goes. We liked the Mckinney area a lot (there is also a lot of home schoolers in Mckinney) and will most likely purchase our house either there or in the Flower Mound area. Frisco is for people that love being pretentious and stuckup ;) Plano gets a bit more expensive and is more urban-y without being Dallas. If you like living a little 'out there', there are places like Little Elm and Aubrey. Is it so hot you are miserable? -We don't go outside to play much between June and August, unless its swimming, so most summer activities we tend to keep indoors - but there is def enough to do. Any other month is generally pleasant and we make good use of the outdoors, camping, fishing, etc. during the spring and fall months. How would you rate the cost of living? Gees we are in the Northeast, so anything would be cheaper. -COL is incredibly reasonable in my opinion, and I come from Pennsylvania. Cheap places for groceries, very affordable housing, only thing that I complain about is the electricity, but thats mostly because of maintaining the A/C. Are the taxes outrageous? -As pp's have indicated, no state income tax and reasonable sales tax, higher property tax but is made up for with no income tax Is homeschooling popular there? -VERY VERY popular, VERY VERY easy Any thoughts on the school districts? - Schools in Dallas are horrid. Schools in the suburbs are hit and miss. The schools are known for being very good in Mckinney and Frisco (well, for a public school). I was pleased with the Mckinney schools when our kids were in them. What about the CC programs- my 16 year old has been working on her associates and I am worried about going to a new state. -I have been very pleased with Collin County Community College, its super cheap, professors I've interacted with are knowledgeable (I did look them up on ratemyprofessor first though), they have a program with most of the local universities to transfer CC credits with no problems, questions or arguments. Can't say anything for the other ones but I've heard good things about Dallas CC as well Is there a lot to see and do there? -Yes, tons! Museums, outdoors, fishing/boating, shopping, theater, and more. Most of the small towns have very nice downtown areas that are nice to walk around. Lots for the kids to do. There are a lot of free and cheap things to do, we often take advantage of things like dollar movies, free splash parks, the free beach areas at the local lake, outdoor concerts and seasonal things like the Plano Hot-Air Balloon Festival. Where do you travel when you want to take a road trip/ weekend trip? -We don't do this much, I know a few people that go to Houston often though. Any feedback on what you think of Texas would be great! -Overall we like it a lot. We are a secular/non-religious family so we do feel out of place sometimes but the benefits far outweigh occasionally feeling like the odd-man out.

Yikes! Not sure what's been deleted...probably best :D So far it seems as if the questioning has been adjusted a bit so that Hayward isn't able to evade the questions completely. From his responses, it sounds like he is saying no one that was implementing procedures had to check in with anyone from higher up to gain approval for those procedures. One of the reps mentioned that leaving important decisions to lower level employees is fine for a DEPARTMENT STORE, but NOT for companies that are doing what could be equivalent to deep space exploration and drilling. I'd have to agree with that... All of these emails and memos saying 'this shouldn't be done' or 'this is really risky' etc that had been sent around. He says that HE had no knowledge of them, and it sounds like on review, the lower but still 'high-up' employees that were fingered by other BP employees also did not have any knowledge of the memos. Is there SERIOUSLY no redundancy or safeguards to ensure that, say, Manager A wants to get to his vacation started earlier so he says 'yeah yeah yeah just toss in the minimum required tests and equipment and we will take the fines if we have a leak or some people die, i'll still get my bonus for finishing it early'...:confused::confused::confused: There are SO MANY lives on the line here! GAAAAAAAAAA can he STOP REPEATING the same lines over and over again?!?!?! They should just record the 2-3 messages, put them in a doll with a string, and every time someone asks him a question just pull the string and listen to the same pre-recorded message. At least that way I could accept the reason for the canned responses.

I'm glad to see most of these guys are trying to be tough on the CEO, I think they also need to be tough on the federal MMS people who allowed a lot of these substandard safety rules. I think there's no question BP was negligent and made dangerous decisions solely to make it happen faster and save money. How is it that even though they cut these corners, they were *technically* still following the rules!?! I am disappointed that Hayward showed up to testify but didn't bring the people (or names of people even) that DID make the decisions to cut corners. Ok FINE, you DIDN'T issue the orders, WHO DID?? "I dunno, wasn't me" isn't very helpful. :glare:

I'm watching the hearing, and so is 8 yr old DS, I'm surprised its been holding his interest so far. I didn't really appreciate the little comments these reps are throwing in re: their own pet projects and esp the rep from TX calling the $20B escrow fund a 'shakedown'. BP seems to be publicly agreeable to the terms of that agreement, they were not REQUIRED to do it (although I'm sure it's helping relations between BP and Gov). Plus the $20B is NOT going to be paid all at once. I have to say, Hayward has to have nerves of steel to be able to sit there without throwing up!

I understand where the posters are coming from that are suggesting huge family repercussions re: not inviting grandma. But I really think that this largely depends on what your current immediate/extended family dynamic is. I'll give our family as an example. Both DH and I have several incredibly toxic immediate family members with NPD, as well as some past abuse issues (said family members abusing us physically, mentally, emotionally). We've managed to work ourselves away from these family members over the years and overcome the manipulation and mental games to the point where they are largely out of our life other than maybe an update email several times a year. We do indeed get pressure from other family members to invite these people back into our lives, allow them to step all over us, continue to abuse us and disrespect us, etc. However we are both finally at a point where WE DON'T CARE, having those people largely out of our lives is worth far more than keeping a few people's gums from flapping. I'm of course to blame for DH cutting out the people on his side of the family, and DH is to blame for me cutting out the people on my side of the family. But our marriage is SO much stronger and we are SO much better off since we've made these decisions. Now that being said, cutting people out to that degree is NOT a casual decision or something to be taken lightly, and generally when you make that decision, there isn't really any going back. Does your son regularly converse with grandma? Does he spend time with her? Will he see her or speak to her regularly AFTER the wedding? If the answer is no, your family is pretty much at the same point that our family is (very little contact to no contact) then I'd say it doesn't really matter because the dynamic is that she's not really involved in his life much anyway. However if your family is still regularly involved in grandma's life then it probably would be a better idea to do what the pp's have said re: finding a 'minder'.

No advice, just :grouphug: as I'm in the EXACT same boat as you are! I'm going to be subscribing to this thread, I'm always finding such fantastic advice from this forum so I'm all ears! :bigear:

Congrats, fabulous news and love the pics! Hopefully we aren't too far behind ;) we are still hanging out at 39 weeks!

:iagree: We also found this helped A LOT!

Poor baby, and poor mommy! I have lots of experience with these type of symptoms, it sounds like it might be food related. Are you breastfeeding or formula feeding? We mostly formula fed, and had to use one of the more expensive formulas (similac alimentum) due to intestinal discomfort. Even with breastfeeding, there are also many things that can pass through mother's milk that will cause extra gas and upset tummy.

Oh Nadia, for my sake I hope you are right and for your sake I hope you are wrong! :)

Of course this time I am actually using a birth center and planning on doing this 100% naturally...now I'm beginning to think that was an idiot move. LOL! You know what's even worse? We decided to wait until it was born before we knew if it was a boy or girl. AAAAAAAAAAUGH! Tearing my hair out in anticipation! Don't know about your house, but I'm quite sure that this one is staying put because it wants to delay being around the LOUD siblings all day. :lol: I had some fairly good contractions for all of thursday and now they have just stopped completely. *sigh*

No suggestions for you, only my most sincere apologies! I am at 38 weeks and 2 days and I AM LOSING MY MIND! So I can only imagine how you must be feeling!

:grouphug: I am so sorry you feel overwhelmed and that is a totally NORMAL feeling! All moms need a break, and I've definitely been there before. Do you have any other moms that you know in your area? I often felt just like you, until I met a few other moms in my area who had kids around the same age as my own. It took a while, but after a few months I trusted them well enough to keep my children for a few hours when I needed a break! I like the previous poster's suggestion to have a babysitter take care of the children while you are still in the house - that way you can build trust and get to know the person without the anxiety problems that come from leaving your kids with a total stranger.

As a pro photographer, I agree with the other pro photographers :-) That is the 'right' price range, and in my opinion his sitting fee is very reasonable. That being said, there is always a chance that you can find someone who is starting out and needs portfolio pieces to do it for less. Depending on how large of an area you are from, of course. In the DFW area, it's very easy to find a beginner (usually on craigslist or recommendations from friends) who is just learning the ropes and building a client base and portfolio to do a sitting + a cd of the photos for around $100. You are then expected to take the files to walmart or walgeens or somewhere similar to print. If you decide to go that route, theres a few things you should consider: 1. Because they are starting out, it is possible that you can end up with a flake, a person who is slow or has bad customer service skills, or that is just plain unskilled. 2. They will most likely want to use your photos in their portfolio, and use you as a reference to other clients. Some people care about that, some people don't.

Ahh didn't see he was in a care facility. I can think of a lot of places to go and spend money, I'm trying to also think of more free or low-cost things to do. I know I can spend myself silly going to some of these places around here without even thinking... Here is the DFW 50 free things to do list: http://www.tourtexas.com/content.cfm?id=136 We LOVE to take advantage of 'kids eat free' days at the local restaurants, there are so many of them! Here is a couple websites that list some, although I'd make sure he calls the location to verify it before he heads out just in case they discontinue the offer: http://www.examiner.com/x-10243-Dallas-Single-Moms-Examiner~y2009m5d27-Kids-eat-free-in-DFW OR http://www.metroplexbaby.com/ParentGuides/Kids-Eat-Free-Dallas-Fort-Worth.htm There are a couple of nice arcade and indoor family-fun type places like Dave and Busters, Main Event (they have bowling, rock climbing and laser tag too), and Amazing Jakes (rock climbing, bumper cars, laser tag, mini-golf) that we always have tons of fun at. These can get a little expensive too though.

Ok the dollar movie theaters that I know of are the Cinemark in Lewisville and the Cinemark in Plano. Linking to both. Although the gas it takes to get there might offset what you save. LOL http://www.cinemark.com/theater_showtimes.asp?theater_id=203 http://www.cinemark.com/theater_showtimes.asp?theater_id=193 There is ice skating in a lot of the malls, Info on the Galleria rink which would probably be the closest is at http://www.galleriadallas.com/?#cnt_skating How about taking grandpa out to a Frisco Rough Riders (minor league) baseball game? The Mcdonalds package has 4 tickets, 4 roughriders hats, and 4 mcdonalds meals for $40 - There are 2 dates in August with this option. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/tickets/page.jsp?ymd=20090423&content_id=569163&vkey=tickets_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

Dallas has TONS of things to do with the kids, we are never bored over the summer. How far will he be comfortable with driving? DFW is a big metroplex, and some people don't want to drive more than 5 miles away. Other people (like me) don't mind driving 20-30 minutes if it's a worthwhile destination. Here are some links with a lot of good ideas: Free stuff to do in Dallas: http://www.visitdallas.com/visitors/online_toolkit/free_things_to_do/ A few kids attractions: http://travelwithkids.about.com/od/dallas/Dallas_With_Kids.htm We locals (in the suburbs, so a lot of this stuff will be a drive) heavily utilize places like: Celebration Park Spraygrounds (free): http://www.cityofallen.org/departments/parks_recreation/parks/celebration_rules_and_hours.htm Going Bonkers: http://www.goingbonkers.com/bonkers_tx/index2.html Hawaiian Falls: http://www.hfalls.com/ Studio Movie Grill: http://www.studiomoviegrill.com Most of the movie theaters have free movies every week, or dollar theaters that show slightly older movies (ones that have been out of the theaters for a few months) for 1 or 2 dollars. Great way to get out of the heat and catch a break. I guess they are a good way for the adults to catch a nap too, my DH tends to fall asleep during them ;-) Let me know how far he's willing to drive (maybe pm would be better so I don't miss the message) and I can send over a few things that are closer to where they will be staying.

This was one thing that has bugged me about girl scouts. Our cub scout pack/den doesn't care if its my hubby, me, if I bring the girls along, WHATEVER, they take whatever help we are able to offer. But when I was sick one week and told the Girl Scout troop leader that my DH was bringing my daughters but he'd be happy to help with my volunteer duties, the troop leader basically acted like he was not welcome at all. 'Oh thats ok he doesn't have to stay, he can just pick them up when the meeting is over'. When I said that he wanted to participate in the activities with his daughters (keep in mind he has the adult leader background checks etc already with the GSA which we PAID FOR) the troop leader said she'd have to check with the other moms first to make sure they were comfortable with that....I think that was the point where we stopped participating in Girl scouts altogether.