The only time I've done that as an adult was when I had an undiagnosed kidney infection. It was a good one, put me in the hospital for 3 days, but I had no pain at all... which is why it hadn't been diagnosed. :tongue_smilie: I've also heard a lot of stress or exhaustion can do this to ya. I love dreams and your smurf dream sound interesting... do the smurfs have special meaning for you? Bathroom dreams are typically ridding yourself of something. Lovely symbolism, eh? :D

Is this the sort of info you're looking for? This list looks extensive, I'm gonna check it out myself! HTH http://www.organicgrocerydeals.com/forums/buying-guides/532-sales-cycles-month.html

Of the few I've actually read, I prefer Mayor of Casterbridge. It's on my personal favourite books list.

Well, according to a letter I recieved today inviting me to participate in a research study at a local (top notch!) university... I'm aged 70-85 :blink:

Help! He's driving me insane with not knowing if he should get it. I just told him he's too unsure, let it go. Now he's thinking that means he should get it. *sigh* We actually went through two a/c-less cars when we were first married and I can't believe I've forgotten how it felt! I must have blocked the trauma of it from my memory. Me, a Brit, growing up in a country where 75* is hot! land myself in the Southern USA for years our cars have no a/c, and we were living in a house with no a/c either. Nope, no memory of it, all blocked :D

My dh is looking for a used car and found a car he's been wanting but would not otherwise be able to afford... but it has no a/c. We live in NC, it gets hot in the summer. I don't hardly ever go anywhere so I'm in a car perhaps 1 or 2 hours per week, maximum. Dh and/or dd would be in this car daily commuting to work or college. We rarely travel out of town. Would you go for it?

We love broccoli this way, and cauliflower too. YUM!

What did you think of it? We really enjoyed it. I hope it stays witty and clever through the coming months. "He irks me; he's irksome" :lol:

Yes! And my dh is worse. He was a fun loving guy when we dated in the UK, and now he's around his family here in the US he's serious and stressed all the time. I want to lighten up and enjoy my older age. I really don't want to be the old grump I am becoming... so I've changed my avatar. I looooooooove this picture. It's called HappyCheese. My ds got takeout one day and it was a rough day. He got home and opened the lid to the cheese and saw this. It's still making me smile many months later :D Hope the avatar pic works or all this stuff I'm saying makes no sense. :lol:

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Does insisting on moving back to the UK qualify? In 1994 I'd had enough of living in the US and I insisted we move 'back home'. We sold our house, sold or gave away all our electrical goods and shipped the rest of our household items back to England. Our dc were 2yo and 4yo and I was 6 months pregnant. We had nowhere to go, no job lined up, my dh didn't even have a residency permit for the UK yet. I went alone with the kids to stay with my parents in their little 2 bedroom house and my dh stayed in the US to continue working until closer to my due date. He then came over, ds#2 was born, we sorted his dual citizenship and, were lucky enough to get Dh his work permit as well. Dh returned to the US to finalize stuff here, work his notice and all that... and a week later I phoned him to say I'd changed my mind and thought the best place to raise our kids was the US. :blushing: All our household goods, still packed and held in storage after being shipped to the UK was promptly returned to the US. Dh bought the house next door to his parents as a short term housing solution... :lol: and we're still here 13 years later. That serves me right, eh? ;)

I'm still clinging on and hoping to finish the 8.. (or is it 9?) books I have left. :001_huh: Life this year has been dramatic, stressful and tumultuous. Please let 2009 be dull and uneventful!! I've just not had the mental energy to read so many meaningful books as I had hoped. I did change two of my lists to much easier reads and I now realize a few books were chosen just for ease of reading and because they fit the category rather than being books I truly cared about reading. Why did I do that? Silly really. :tongue_smilie: I do like creating booklists to keep me somewhat guided but I also enjoy the random choices that happen after a visit to a bookstore or after reading a "what have you been reading lately.." post here on the boards. My 888 list is being kept updated on my otherwise defunct blog. http://chrisandlis.blogspot.com/

You could try Trend Micro's Housecall. You can scan your pc using their online scan, it's safe and I use it myself every so often just to be safe. The scan takes awhile, sometimes a couple of hours if you've got a lot of stuff on your pc. Here's a link to the scan page. http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ Here's hoping your pc gets well soon :)

I loved my treehouse toy, I played with it for yeas. Ahh.. memories :) Years ago I wished I'd kept it, I know my kids would have loved playing with it. Here's a pic of one for sale on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-PALITOY-TREE-HOUSE-FIGURES-CAR-DOG-KENNEL_W0QQitemZ270276487841QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270276487841&_trkparms=72%3A984%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ebayphotohosting

I understand exactly what you mean. You're at the place I was a few years ago. Dh and I went through our entire household budget at that time, including averaging a year of grocery receipts. Ugh! ;) At that time I had been adding a lot of extra's into my grocery spending. Unusual ingredients that were often expensive and sometimes went unused after I'd purchased them and then forgetten what new recipe I was going to use. Oops! After averaging what I had been spending we cut the cost of many of those extra's and came up with the budget I've been using for the past few years. It's starting to strain a little now with three teens in the house (two are male and I'm sure they eat enough for 10. LOL) and the ever rising costs at the store, but overall it's worked very well. From what you used to spend versus what you're spending now, I'd say pick a middle ground and call it good. It sounds like you'll be happy knowing you're not being wasteful but not struggling or depriving your family either. For now I'd try upping your weekly amount by $50 and see how that works. It's such a hard call with prices ever changing as they are lately. Good luck! :)

Don't you just love that! When I was a teen at school my parents were struggling financially. My mum would make me summer tops from the edges of our old cotton bedsheets that had worn holes in the middle. A few remnants of other materials that friends gave her and I had pencil skirts and bolero jackets. They were simple but stylish and totally fit the fashion of the time. I never had so many compliments, all thanks to wearing old bedsheets :D

My budget is just slightly higher than yours by $25 per week. My dc are older than yours, dd18, ds16, ds13 they eat full adult sized meals. I'm in NC so our store prices are probably similar and my budget includes toiletries, tp, paper products, detergent, cleaners, etc. I limit buying juices because otherwise my dc would drink gallons each day! I also don't buy bottled water, we have a filter jug in the fridge and keep a few water bottles for filling from the jug when we want to take water with us outside the home. Oh, and we don't use the grocery budget for eating out. That's dh's treat! My budget is about fully gone each week but I feel we're making it okay... so far. I would think sitting down and listing costs of your usual weekly items then adding some more for extra's and averaging the whole lot out might work for you. It shouldn't cost too much more for you now if you've been making it mostly okay on $100 p/week so far. HTH

Have you been to World Market, they sell that stuff. YUMMY! :)

I voted Other. European chocolate like Belgian or Swiss is the most delicious. Hershey's is just at the bottom of my list. It's too waxy and leaves a bad aftertaste in the back of my throat. I'd rather eat any of the UK brands of cheap chocolate than Hershey's. Dh eats far more chocolate than I do... lets just say it's a daily thing for him ;p and we can't afford European, sadly, so he goes with Dove or Ghiradelli unless gifted with something better.

Not sure if either of these qualify as food ;p I loooooooove Marmite, dh won't even come near me if I've been eating it. He loves grits but they're just wallpaper past disguised as a pantry staple as far as I'm concerned. ;)

I can only think of one thing to say to that. WHY?! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I am *LOL* at some of the 'foods' mentioned in this thread. They're quite creative in a sickening sorta way. :ack2:

Awww, the poor and lowly tuna casserole. I only learned about this american delight in the past 10 years. It's one of my dd's favourite meal's. In fact I'm making some tonight... don't suppose you want to join us? :D

EWWWW and :D That is just gross and hilarious at the same time!

No, my mum made delicious meals, oftentimes from very limited ingredients. There were a few recipes I never liked but nothing to put me off a particular food. My mum still enjoys a meal made from cabbage, ham and yogurt. Bleugh. It was edible, just not my taste at all. I still like cabbage, ham, and yogurt though not necessarily cooked together ;)

My budget is $250 per person per year. My older two dc (ds16 & dd18) sometimes buy clothes out of their own money, usually items on sale. When it's their own money they hunt for bargains. ;) I must add that my dd is just starting a job at a new American EAgle sister store so who knows how much money she'll spend on clothes in the coming months. :D