I love the idea. Would love to have ZERO house payment and would gladly trade a large house for ZERO mortgage. Right now, our house is rather small but it fits us. I like our lot. I'd LOVE to one day demolish the house and build a new one in it's place. That is really a good idea...downsize to just what you NEED and you would be surprised what little that is :D

My potty-training 3yo peed in my ds8's box of legos. :001_huh: Ds8 was NOT happy when he found out. My ds8 himself will go outside if he doesn't want to take time out from is playing to come inside. :001_huh: I think it's a boy thing.

:grouphug: Chris. I have been praying for you and your family and will continue. Saw Dana on Sunday and asked her how you were doing. She, of course, did not share personal details but just told me to pray. If you would like to PM me or call me, I would be happy to pray with you. Hang in there, Chris. You are going through a storm right now, but God IS right there with you. I promise he is. I love Mandisa's new song, "Stronger", b/c it speaks to situations just like this. Love you.

Lawyer. When we rented, we re-painted some walls (with landlord permission) and he told us not to worry about paint spills b/c he was replacing the carpeting b/c it was old. Well, we were careful but a bit of paint did get on the carpet (a small little spot). When we moved, he charged us for the replacement carpet saying that he changed his mind and decided the carpets were good enough, but had to replace them since we spilled paint. :001_huh: Without any written agreement, we were screwed. We had to pay...luckily it was only $500 but still. Get a lawyer. Check your lease over with a fine tooth comb. Check out the lease laws in your area. :grouphug:

:grouphug: Passive aggressive people are no fun. It's so tough to deal with people like that. I had a good friend, my doula for 3 of my births, just go AWOL on me after the birth of my 5th child (whose birth she was supposed to attend but never got our phone call :001_huh:). Anyway, we lost touch after that and I find out from my midwife that my "friend" was angry with me for something I said or did to her. :confused: I honestly have no clue what it was. She recently found me on FB and "friended" me. I accepted and wrote her a note asking what it was that I did way back when...so that I could apologize and we could move on. She then "de-friended" me. :confused: So I wrote another note saying basically, what the? You friend me and then next day de-friend me? She friended me again. Crazy. I'm sorry your friend is letting this get between you.

In almost 16 years: my surgery for possible ectopic pregnancy (it was not) miscarriage of first child filing chapter 7, losing our home and moving miscarriage of 3rd child Dh surgery job loss major car accident after moving here to PA landlords trying to evict us for no reason another car accident my depression ds9 major behavioral issues church loss several financial challenges (to put mildly) 3 more miscarriages many marital issues custody battle over a niece in foster care which we lost :( death of mother of my godkids and losing them to the grandparents. :( It's a lot but not as much as some. We've grown from our challenges and trust that God will redeem them all. :)

Sounds like me...back when I first had children up until about 5 years ago. I had severe anger issues (like my father) and was constantly on the verge of blowing. And I did...frequently. I am thankful that I never hurt my children in my fits of rage...as my father often did. I finally sought counseling and it has helped. I also had to take an anti-depressant. Zoloft works on my depression but mostly on my volatile temper. It is just like a :chillpill: for me. I'm more mellow, patient, less cranky, etc. I hate taking meds but when I'm not on them...I am that volcano on the verge of erupting. :grouphug: It isn't fun. Do seek counseling...much of my anger, I found, was due to the underlying depression and lots of past hurts not yet dealt with.

I became coupon obcessed about 2 summers ago. I purchased enough toothpaste, shampoo, toothbrushes, facial cleanser, soap, razors, femenine products, cosmetics, etc. to last us until, well...about now! :D I only coupon now when I need something. It was too time consuming. I use store coupons in combo with mfg. coupons at our local grocery store (we are too far from the other major stores), Target and only do CVS or Walgreens now when I am running low on something. My advice is to start slow. Get inserts from one or two papers. Choose 1 or 2 stores to start with and learn the system. Only buy what you NEED and USE! As for cutting my bill in half...umm...not really. BUT I do save quite a bit. We also have a discount store nearby where I can often get stuff WAAAYYYY cheaper than if I used coupons. It's fun to save and get bargains but I get tooo consumed.

Happiness is so fleeting. Generally speaking, I am what most people would call happy. I call it joy. I have joy because I have Jesus and I have hope. On the days I feel "down" I have to remind myself that this is all temporary. There are some days I feel downright ecstatic! Others where I feel totally opposite. If I went by "feelings" I'd be a mess, LOL! I guess as a pp said...I have to choose to be happy in spite of circumstances. Lately, I've been feeling less than "happy" with my life...wondering if that is b/c I'm not where God wants me and if so, where does He want me? I am blessed so there really isn't any reason not to be happy. I'm rambling. It's late. :D

:iagree: with Jean. Sounds like you set some boundaries and that is healthy. Some people just can't accept/respect boundaries. Praying this opens up the channels of mature and healthy communication for you both. :grouphug:

He graduated years before me, though. :D

Mike Rowe went to my high school. :D

Praying for you my friend. :grouphug: Call me if you want to chat. I'm always here.

Dd14's bff from church is a bunny owner. She bred her male and female and we were going to take one of the babies. Well, tragically, several days after the babies were born, neighborhood dogs killed the mama bunny and 2 babies during the night. 4 survived. Out of those 4, 1 remains and is doing well. Aaannnyway, dd went camping with the family and got a 2 mos. old bunny from a breeder there at the farm. :D Then, today, as we were looking for a cage, I saw the sweetest little bunny at the local pet store. I couldn't resist. So, now we have 2 little bunnies and they are very happy together. One is all grey, and bigger than I expected her to be. Dd's named her Dusty. The newest one is only 6 wks old. and white with grey flecks all over. Smaller than Dusty. We named her Oreo. Just had to share. Dh his allergic to all furry animals so we were soooo shocked when he agreed to the bunnies. :D I don't know who loves them more...me or the kids. :lol: Anybody have any tips for first-time bunny owners?

My girls wear caps when they swim so not a TON of chloring gets in, but enough. I also have them wet it before they put it under the cap. We don't have a Whole Foods close by. There is a Trader Joe's about an hour from here and I can always order online. My dd14 has medium-dark brown hair and dd5 has "dirty" blonde.

Have you tried Book Samaritan? You can write to them with a need and they try to fill it as best they can. http://www.booksamaritan.com. I've never used them myself, but might need to in the coming years.

My dd14 and dd5 are on the swim team..starts in a week. We've always used Loreal Swim and Sport, but I'd like something a bit more natural for removing chlorine from their hair. Any suggestions? I'm all for organic/natural or even something that isn't a typical shampoo. Thanks!

Our team practices are not mandatory...encouraged...but not mandatory. :D But we go to almost all, unless we have a more important conflict (i.e. church). Our club has a playground and so my littles hang out there during practices. Same with meets. Most clubs have a playground nearby. Otherwise, we just bring card games, coloring books, iPods, other handheld games, etc. I love/hate swim season. It's intense but short. :D And this year I actually have more than just one of my kids participating!

July 1 is our end date, unless I can combine days in our HOD guide. We have 8 Units left to do. Dd has more in hers (MFW AHL) but she is combining days in order to finish by end of June. We are also beginning a school year-round system. We'll take July off so I can plan and then start in beg. Aug. Kids get soooo bored anyway and the summers can be hot.

Dd is using SYRWTL Spanish 2 and I am assigning her 1 credit after completion. I make her write out all the vocab on index cards and test her on the words periodically. Since I know Spanish, we converse a bit daily as well as use the Auralog's Tell Me More for extra practice. I think SYRWTL Spanish is credit-worthy used alone, but I just wanted her to have more practice.

I'm sorry. :grouphug: We went through that about 4-5 years ago and I am STILL grieving the loss of that church family. There was a "mass exodus" where half the church or more left and scattered. I lost friendships that were near and dear to my heart, women I counted on for spiritual support daily. It was heartwrenching. It gets easier, but for me...it hasn't gone away completely. We've been attending a new church for about 3 years, but never really "settled" there. And now, we are considering leaving. I have never felt like I "belonged" anywhere after my old church "blew up". :grouphug: and prayers as you go through this hard process.

Can I join the club? Last week I felt like I got hit by a truck. We can't afford the really expensive allergy meds so we tried Alavert...it doesn't work very well. :glare: Allergies are killing my ds13 so I might just have to bite the bullet and buy a better med.

I would purchase a second-hand Mac over a new PC any day of the week...if money were the issue (which it typically is around here). I love my MacBook and cannot wait to ditch our desktop pc and get an iMac and then laptops for each of the older kids.

It's not about the expense of the gift. It isn't even about getting a gift or not getting a gift. He got here pierced earrings and she DOESN'T HAVE PIERCED EARS! For me, it is about her dh, after being married for a number of years, not realizing/knowing her enough to know that she doesn't have pierced ears! That would hurt...just as much as no gift/no "Happy Mother's Day"/no mention at all. Does anyone get that? As a pp said, it's more about being "known". She isn't bashing her dh, she is venting. She was hurt. It is understandable. Jane, :grouphug: to you my friend. I love you. I'm sorry this thread, as many others, has gotten out of hand and you were attacked.

Awww, Jane. I'm sorry. I would say it was the thought that counts, but I'm not so sure that is appropriate. I hope you have a wonderfully blessed day, anyway. FWIW, maybe he thought you didn't want to spend the money for earrings for yourself and that's why you didn't wear them? Maybe? :grouphug: my friend.