Before reading your post, I was going to recommend Altoids. :p The cinnamon Altoids are my favorite, and they definitely freshen your breath!

I live in the Rocky Mountain region (Colorado Springs area), but my heart's home is Freiburg, Germany (where I grew up). Close second is the Oregon Coast. I lived in Portland for 10 years, and am wishing I would have spent way more time at the coast while I had the chance. Pagosa Springs is beautiful. I hope you get to visit again soon, and perhaps permanently someday. :)

I blow every homeschool mom stereotype out of the water. People don't really know what to make of me. :p

Haven't been able to watch yet tonight (have to get the kids to bed first), but I loved the two-night premiere last week! So many talented singers. Glad to hear Detroit is bringing it too! :thumbup1: I'm much, much happier with the judges panel this year than I've been in awhile. Love me some Harry. :p

I voted "pretty good". Some years were excellent and others were just ok. We moved a lot (several different cities/states in the U.S. and then Germany) so I attended a variety of public and private schools. Kindergarten - excellent education at a Catholic school in the U.S. 1st - average education at a public school in the U.S.. Moved to Germany that summer. 2nd-8th grade - excellent education at three different public schools in Germany. 9th-12th grade - pretty good education at a private American high school in Germany. Graduated in 1989. The education I received in the German public school system was far better and exponentially more challenging than what I experienced in the private American high school or later on in college (back in the U.S.).

I have a very common first and last name, so no one ever mispronounces my name here in the U.S. Growing up in Germany, there were all kinds of fun pronunciations. My name is Julie, and people called me everything from Yoo-lee, to Choo-lee, to the French pronunciation of the name (which I rather like). DS's name is sometimes mispronounced. If the person is someone we'll be seeing on a regular basis, I'll correct them.

I'm not seeing it either.

As Sadie said, it depends on the sector. The well-paying jobs in our area are predominantly in military contracting, high tech, electronics, aerospace, and healthcare. The military employs ~20% of the workforce in our city. Outside of those sectors, we have the same $9-11/hour average wage as noted in the OP.

So sorry this happened, but am glad to hear he's in less pain today. :grouphug:

That sounds miserable. Hope you all feel better soon. :grouphug:

I can totally relate. :grouphug:

Funny Freecycle story: A few years ago, I gave away something to someone on Freecycle. This past September, I got a really nasty and super-long email from this person accusing me of "bad-mouthing her" and so on. For context, I don't know this person at all and never had any interaction with her outside of exchanging emails and then setting a box of stuff outside my garage for her to pick up (I wasn't even home when she picked it up). As I was reading the email, I became more and more horrified about all the terrible things this person thought I had said about her. Until I got to the last paragraph, which finally cleared things up. Turns out she had accidentally sent the email to me instead of another person named Julie in her email address book - and the other Julie was the ex-wife of this woman's new husband. Thankfully, the last paragraph of her email made reference to the new husband, etc. so I was able to piece things together. I responded to her email and let her know she had sent it to the wrong Julie. The tone of her reply was considerably nicer than the tone of the original email. ;)

I see pricey items both requested and offered quite frequently on our town's Freecycle. While some of the requests strike me as a bit over the top, I guess it doesn't hurt to ask. :)

My response depends on who is interrupting whom. If the kids are interrupting Auntie or me mid-sentence to show us something, I would gently ask them to let whoever was speaking finish speaking first and then they have a chance to share. If the kids are not interrupting, but then Auntie just starts talking over them, I would say "Excuse me just a moment, Auntie..." and turn my attention to the child.

We have an Anatolian/Lab mix we adopted from a shelter. He's a wonderful guard dog, and only barks at squirrels and when people come to our house. He does have a special howl for greeting us in the morning and reminding us to feed him. Sounds very much like Chewbacca. ;-) Don't know if this is normal for this breed, but he acts like an overgrown puppy even though he's already 4 years old. Not in a problematic way, but just in an overexcited and playful way. He's a great dog.

How fun! I used to love watching Mayim Bialik in Blossom (I had a crush on Joey Lawrence :p ). Name dropping is perfectly acceptable when you're put on the spot like this. :)

Glad all the WV boardies who have chimed in so far are doing ok!

This topic reminds me of the hitchhiking scene from There's Something About Mary (warning: some language at the end of the clip). :tongue_smilie: Spoiler (in white font - put your cursor over the space after the colon if you want to read it): Wondering what's in the red bag on the hitchhiker's lap? A dead body. Can't get the video to embed, so here's the link to the "7 Minute Abs" scene: http://www.viddler.com/v/c8809791

Congrats on your posting milestone! :) Your "strange childhood near Hollywood" comment intrigues me. Did you grow up in the movie industry? Do you have any fun behind-the-scenes stories about famous actors? What was strange about your childhood? I wanted to major in Psychology but was talked out of it in favor of a Business degree. Do you plan to work in the field at some point (maybe after homeschooling)?

Do you give rides to hitchhikers? If not, then don't give this woman a ride. Realistically, you don't know much more about her than a stranger you might pick up on the side of the road. All you have is a dubious-looking business card. That means nothing. Don't do it.

It's a letter from his boss/work. It's his mail, even if it's addressed to both of you. I'd give him his mail and wouldn't say a thing. Chances are he's probably already seen a picture of her through his work, and if not, he will sooner or later. I worked with a geographically dispersed team for many years, and we all knew what everyone else looked like (through team photos, video conferences, LinkedIn, etc.) even if we had never met in person. I think you're overthinking this.

We're going in 4 weeks. Guess I better start reading up on this.

Yes, talk to your brother and give him a chance to do the right thing.

Could it be candidiasis? While it's less common to have a candida rash on your face (usually these rashes occur elsewhere on the body), a quick Google search brought up all kinds of results so it's not unheard of. Increased blood sugar can contribute to candida infections, so if your DD consumed way more sugar than usual over the holidays, that could be part of what caused it. I actually had what I presumed to be a candida rash on my legs right around Christmas a year ago (lasted for about 2 weeks). I had been completely overindulging in sugar. After cutting way back on sugar for a few days, the rash finally cleared up. I tried a few topical treatments but they didn't really help. I had to address it through my diet. Recent antibiotic use can also be a trigger for candida. http://www.healthline.com/health/skin/cutaneous-candidiasis?toptoctest=expand (not sure why the formatting is all funky - you'll have to scroll down a bit to see the Candida info)

That book sounds really interesting. I just googled it and am not finding it under that title by that author. I did find Living with Intensity by Susan Daniels and Michael Piechowski. Is that the right book?