I have a couple favorites: Alton Brown's brined turkey Rachel Ray's honey-lime marinade for chicken (I think the recipe is for breast sandwiches, but I use it for chicken tenders - fabulous even though I rarely include the fresh cilantro)

In addition to geographic location, age and number of children are going to play a role. I think that in most locations, $200k for a family with a few kids doesn't exactly mean jet-setters or people who frequent the spa. Many people at that income level are still shopping at Target and Walmart a lot of the time. If they spend their money un-wisely, they will not ultimately be able to live off their investment income, at least not much prior to retirement age. Just today I realized that our youngest (baby #6) will go off to college when DH turns 60. So much for his dream of early retirement :tongue_smilie:

I don't know anything about Presbyterian and maybe this was pointed out above, but I'd keep in mind that in many churches, a *whole lot* (a whole whole lot!) more people show up on Easter (and Christmas, etc.). So for Easter I'd advise that you (a) pick a church with a congregation on the smaller side, and (b) expect that the service or mass likely will not come across as it would on an ordinary Sunday. I hope you have a lovely Easter! :)

There's a book called "The Millionaire Next Door" http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stanley-millionaire.html http://books.google.com/books?id=ldpaww5kkmoC&dq=the+millionaire+next+door&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=mNWwS5meGoWKswPp16WIDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false food for thought!

So Stephanie, did you ever end up buying the P90X? How is it going? I had my DH order it for me but it's not here yet. I'm hoping I'll like it. Usually I prefer running and lifting on alternate days, but I like the fact that with P90X I don't have to leave the house, i.e., have someone around to watch the kids. And I'm just starting to get back into lifting after breaking a couple ribs in January. I really need to be whipped into shape. I'm starting to think that my Mirena IUD is making me fat, but that would be a whole other thread.:tongue_smilie:

We use Klaire Labs http://www.klaire.com/probiotics_cat.htm

Well, you might have her pretend she's just playing for her teacher, as in a usual lesson. Or draw her attention to whatever happens afterward - will there be cookies or something, etc. My kids had their first recital a few months ago (they were 8 and 6; my other 6 y.o. declined to participate) and it was in the piano teacher's home, with about five other families. A couple of the other kids were a little freaked out. One had her mother sit on the bench with her. Whatever works! My dd made more mistakes than usual. All in all, I think it's a great way to help kids learn poise, etc. from a young age (gotta start somewhere!). I wish I had advice. Good luck!!

A federal takeover of student loans was included in the reconciliation package. The reason, supposedly, is that cutting out the private-lender middlemen will save money. (The supposed savings were necessary to make it appear as thought the reconciliation package wouldn't raise the deficit, I believe.) As explained in the WSJ: No bid service contracts, sounds great :glare:. There are plenty of news articles to google if you're interested in further info.

I agree with you. Now I understand what you mean by painful, in the short term, especially for certain sectors (e.g. auto), and for the economy it would be ripping off the bandaid. And IMO by now the recession might have been over, with the correction having occurred and there being certainty re: gov't policy.

I'm just jumping in to this discussion without having read the whole thread, but patient education brings up the issue of informed consent. I wonder how a minor can legally consent to the procedure, since the broad parental consent form would not have included the specifics of the risks of the procedure, i.e., the parent did not give informed consent.

Yes. I recall an attempt at spending stimulus by giving away a couple hundred dollars to the majority of taxpayers, and it had no positive effect. I can't remember if that was 2008 or 2007.

You might find this little tidbit interesting, and somewhat surprising, from this study I cited a few posts ago: from http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/alesina/files/Large%2Bchanges%2Bin%2Bfiscal%2Bpolicy_October_2009.pdf

There are economists on both sides of this issue (indeed even when I was studying economics over twenty years ago, some of my professors were obviously to the left and some to the right. Back then it was about Reagan's tax cuts). A couple of Harvard economics professors released the following paper last fall, in which they study the issue. http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/alesina/files/Large%2Bchanges%2Bin%2Bfiscal%2Bpolicy_October_2009.pdf They determined that it was more effective to cut spending rather than to increase taxes in order to reduce the deficit, and that tax cuts lead to more growth than spending increases: IMO, the problem with Bush and the deficit wasn't the tax cuts, it was the spending, particularly in the later years. He didn't have the [insert discipline/guts/political capital/whatever] to stop the increases in spending.

I wouldn't be so sure that most private policies will meet the requirements - currently private policies come in many different shapes and sizes, so to speak, and by the very nature of the one-size-fits-all approach, other types of plans won't qualify. Our current plan will probably qualify but it's extremely expensive, so expensive that it would fall under the Cadillac provisions (it's group insurance through an employer but we pay the premium, >$30k. I don't know whether our family size affects that - we have six kids - I suppose it does). We've been considering going to a higher deductible/lower premium plan, on the individual market, as some of his co-workers have found to be much more cost-effective for them. However, according to a section of the bill that was being discussed on one of the threads here last night, such high deductible/low premium plans will ONLY be available to those under 30 y.o., provided they meet certain requirements. I don't have numbers on this, but I would imagine that lots of people on the individual market have such a plan. I have no idea whether the federal employees' plan would meet the requirements - indeed I'd expect that they have a menu of choices like a lot of others who get employer-sponsored coverage. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the choice will be gone.

Mike, you asked about the latest news - apparently the congressional staffers who DO have to deal with the exchange are unhappy about the exception made for other types of staffers. Apparently there are emails circulating among them discussing this. That's according to an article that, at the moment, is the main article on the Fox website, FWIW. I don't know if the email flap is discussed elsewhere yet. What I don't understand is why some of them have to switch to the exchanges at all, if their current federal plan is a qualified plan (other than to avoid accusations of congressional hypocrisy, I guess - except that it would seem to be the height of hypocrisy to exempt some staffers and not others, particularly staffers who wrote the bill). What I also don't understand is the unwillingess to pass the amendment fixing that if they are agreeing to use the exchanges voluntarily. Although you and I may have opposing viewpoints re: this bill, I appreciate your interest in a rational discussion.

My new protocol involves probiotics, as powerful as you can find. (I use ones by Klaire Labs but I have to buy them over the internet and have them sent. Their infant probiotic worked like a charm for my baby when she had a recent mild bug that had her 22-month old brother throwing up. The diahrrea was brief and she never threw up. If only I could get toddler boy to take it, but that's another story.) You can also try rooibos tea (red tea). I buy the generic supermarket brand.

I don't know much about shoulder dystocia except that it scares me. Statistically, c-sections are more difficult to recover from. But when you ask for personal stories, you'll hear plenty from both sides, since every delivery is a bit different. Anecdotally, I had a rough recovery from my c-section. I went on to have 4 vbacs, including twins, which were all far, far easier to recover from than the c-section (especially my fastest vaginal delivery - traumatic in the moment but easy to recover from). A piece of cake by comparison, really.

Not to stir up trouble, but I just wanted to point out that some people believe factcheck to be biased.

I might look into whether you are digesting fats properly. To oversimplify, you can see a nutritionist who can run tests to see if that were the case and recommend supplements accordingly. I second the recommendation for avodado.

Last year in K, my son was in a nut-free classroom. He is severely allergic to peanut. He was given a Kudos bar at snack time - they forgot to check the label. Thank the Good Lord that it was a flavor that didn't really have nuts as a primary ingredient (other flavors of Kudos have lots of peanuts) - it was just there on the label as a rear-end-saving measure. But he could have died. OMG when I got that phone call... Anyway, his current classroom (gr 1-3) is peanut/tree nut free. But his sister's classroom has a table for those eating nut products (dd had to sit there with her soy butter sandwich). Each classroom is different. The teachers there do not allow cupcakes for b-days. They do allow cookies that are nut free. Unfortunately there are also kids with egg and dairy allergies, and that all seems to be dealt with on a case by case basis - some have a personal stash of cookies for this. I made dairy-free mashed potatoes for the Thanksgiving celebration, but the allergic kids' parents didn't allow them to eat them anyway - and I totally understand why. As annoying as it is, in many ways a bright-line rule may be simpler for the school to administer. When I was first looking into preschools, one I called told me that ds would have to sit in the hall during snacktime. Seriously. But I digress...

I believe that Congress is not exempt from the bill generally but certain Congressional staffers are not required to participate in the exchanges. The amendment he was talking about failed to pass the Senate. The Senate bill has already been signed into law. It is only the reconciliation package that is held up due to the student loan issues. (I admit I don't know whether the Congress exemption issue is in the main bill or in the reconciliation package - so please correct me as necessary!) ETA, I believe the "hole" is in the main bill, and the proposed fix didn't pass.

There are polls that go the other way. Today there is a Quinnipiac poll out with 49% disapproving of the legislation, 40% in favor (see Real Clear Politics website). As for the polls that proved the components are popular, it seems to me that by and large people take issue with the cost. Free ice cream for all is wonderful, but not if it costs a hundred dollars per cone to cover the ones who can't afford to buy their own. Though it is true that the percent opposed fell from Sunday, apparently. And I agree with you that a percentage of the opposed felt the law doesn't go far enough.

My dd turns 9 next week. She LOVES the American Girl series. Though I haven't purchased any for her because she's going through the library ones rather quickly!

My understanding is that the Senate bill's plan is extremely similar to the MA plan. I don't know about the Congress being exempt issue. But as for most major medical plans, they may or may not be "qualified" plans at the moment, since ultimately what qualifies will be a one-size-fits-all plan, with virtually no choice in terms of plan components.

I heard of it a long time ago. According to a quick google search, the name of the film was "Death of a President", which premeired at the Toronto Int'l Film Festival, I think in 2006. ETA: oops, I hadn't read the whole thread. I see the title has already been identified.