No idea!

My husband has major depressive disorder and is on multiple medications. He had to obtain a letter from his psychiatrist to be able to remain on permanent day shift at his job. (They usually rotate shifts. He's unable to cope with that.)

I'm a natural night owl. I have been since I was a teenager. I agree that he should live his off-days on the same or similar schedule. I naturally do not get up early even on my off days. (Early to me is pre-noon.)

I just had to take one of our cats to the vet for a "wolve worm" in his neck/chest that abscessed. Total? $55. (I drove an hour to a country vet across the state line because the vets here would have charged me $200 for the same visit.) We spent over $600 on a dog hit by a car and the vet wouldn't let us pick up her body until the bill was paid. I never went back tehre again.

We only pay the fees that go to BSA. That's $15. Add another $12 for the magazine if you want it. Everything else comes from begging, oops I mean bagging, for tips. Each boy makes an amount based on the total amount of money brought in divided by the number of boys and hours and multiplied by the number of hours that boy worked. 60% goes to the scout and 40% to the troop.

:iagree: I missed the Crock-Pot wars, so I'll just put my 2 cents here: I love my crock pot!

Every nurse needs real med-surg experience. Peds is med-surg for children. A regular pediatric ward will give her both adult and pediatric med-surg experience. I graduated from nursing school and went straight to peds med-surg. I suppose one day, when my schedule doesn't have to work around homeschooling, I'll finally get that PICU job that I really want. Priorities, priorities.

:iagree: That. Sorry about the confusion. I kinda figured after I wrote it that someone else might not recognize what I meant. It is the "pre-asthma" terminology we use until we can diagnose a kiddo with asthma. It's what I like to call a "wastebasket" term.

And then we get to see those kids over the next 4-5 years with RSV, influenza, pneumonia, RAD, asthma, croup and more.

Ok, we're having all out WWIII at our house. My three are not getting along. They're being rude to each other and just generally vile and nasty and mean. So, I want to start doing a bible/character study on love and kindness and good character. Treating each other with respect, etc. I know the small size of our house contributes to the problem, but we can't just up and move. So, they're going to have to learn to get along even living on top of each other. Help? They're 13, almost 12 and 10.5. (I know hormonal issues aren't helping either!)

Many hospitals have new grad programs. They're sort of a paid internship. There are more classes plus they work on each unit in the hospital and then choose where they want to go from the available openings. If she goes into a specialty area, there's more orientation and classes.

;) That's what I was getting at. I was a lot older before I figured out that Scooby and Shaggy had recreational pharmaceuticals in that Mystery Machine.

That's ok. I grew up with Scooby and Shaggy seeing things and being constantly hungry and scarfing down "Scooby Snax".

My eye ... it's twitching ...

2 8oz. pks. philadelphia cream cheese 1/2 cup sweetener (I use spenda) 2 eggs 1/2 tsp. vanilla Soften cream cheese about 40 seconds in microwave. Add other ingredients. Beat with mixer till smooth. Pour into 12 muffin pans lined with the papers. Bake at 350 for 20 min. I love these! I also make egg quiche things in muffin cups and put them in the fridge. They're just as fast to heat in the microwave as a poptart or a bowl of oatmeal.

mint.com?

Fish-fry!

Disboards can be overwhelming. TGM can have some catty people. I love Josh's EasyWDW. LOVE it!! Also, Touringplans.com is worth the price for the crowd calendar alone. I use it every time I go and we go 1-2x/year.

Using the USDA's thrifty meal plan budget and subtracting the amount of WIC she gets, I think she'll do ok with a slim grocery budget of <$200/month. She's going to have to do a lot of food prep work and meal planning, but it's doable. Also, she can check into day care assistance programs. She might qualify to have some of her son's day care paid.

Those prices are from 2006? or 2009? I think. So, double it basically. (Or in her case, she'd spend the $40-45 to feed two instead of the 4 listed on the menu.) More frugal resources: http://www.afullcup.com/ and http://www.frugalvillage.com/

I forgot to say that Hillbilly Housewife also has some impoverished meal plans: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/70dollarmenu.htm They're certainly not wonderful or gourmet and I'm pretty sure they're very poor quality nutrition. But if you're broke, you're broke.

What's a quest bedroom?

It is very sad to see a young woman struggle with trying to raise her children alone. Holding men accountable for supporting their progeny is abysmal in this country. He gets to go tripping off with his new distraction while she's left to struggle to raise the children they both contributed to making.

If it makes you feel better, you can write the letters, put in the pictures, etc. You can give them to your husband and ask him to "mail" them for you.

Is she receiving WIC for just herself or just her 3yo? She can get WIC for both of them. http://www.mealsmatter.org/cookbooks/wicrecipes/wic