[Going to visit Brehm School]

My brother in law works there! He and my sister live in one of the dorms- he runs the dorm at night and is the activities director and does PE classses. He's awesome and so is the whole place! 

[An unhealthy relationship with food....]

I would recommend the podcast Primal Potential by Elizabeth Benton. She delves into the psychology of eating/food choices etc and talks about changing our language and thoughts about food. She also does classes and other things and has a website  primalpotenital yuo can check out. 

[Motivation for long term, significant weight loss]

Not to derail the thread, but for those that have lost weight:

 

Do you find it challenging to prepare meals that are good for your weight loss efforts but also accepted by picky children?  (I do realize my children should be developing healthy eating habits, blahbitty-blah, however I'm a lot more open to new vegetables and such.)

 

Do you prepare 2 meals or adapt the meal that is served to the family (just picking and choosing the healthier bits for yourself)?  Sometimes I think I could lose weight more easily if I was meal planning for just myself, but I tend to fall back into comfort food ruts when I look at what others in the house will eat...

I have to stay strict Paleo for digestive reasons. I cook dinners differently for my very picky family. I rotate making freezer/simple meals for one and a  more detailed meal for the other. So, if I want to try a new more involved or time intensive recipe for myself- they get something simple like hot dogs and mac and cheese. Or I make things that can be eaten by all of us- like I grill some chicken and I use Paleo bbq sauce and cauli-rice and they get regular sauce and white rice. I am finding a balance so that I dont feel like I am cooking two involved dinners every night. I batch cook paleo pancakes for myself and regular pancakes for them and we all do simple lunches.

[Could you recommend a good Paleo cookbook?]

I love Juli Bauer's but my all time fave is Danielle Walker's Against All Grain Meals Made Simple. Best cookbook I own. I have loved everything I have made and they are simple and easy and have all turned out well!!

[Poll: Parking in the garage]

I live in south Texas where its expensive to live per square foot and there are no basements. Most people use their garages for storage or an extended living space/mud room/home gym. Almost everyone in my neighborhood uses the garage door as their entry and exit door also. So I park in the driveway, hit the garage door button and go in the garage. I have never parked in it and won't even if there was a storm or whatever. But then again I drive a piece of crap and don't care if it gets damaged  :lol:

[Amazon shipping, a vent disguised as a question]

I had the same problem with Prime shipping. Call or chat with customer service and complain EVERYTIME. Each time I got one free month of Prime and after calling 6 times in a row on late shipments, they magically started coming on time. I argue with them that they are running a scam and false advertising shipping time. Its a game they play. 

 

 

 

 

[What TV show have you watched multiple times?]

the Office. I'll probably watch it 100 times all the way through in my life. I LOVE it

[If you have a word of the year....]

Mine is freedom. Freedom from debt, freedom from food issues, freedom from stress. freedom to say no,  

 

I put the word up on my mirror and write it in my planner. Every decision I make, I ask myself if its taking me toward my goal. 

[Period. Does 12-14 days on, 14-15 days off sound acceptable even if I'm 45?]

Mine is the exact same way. I'm 38. Went to the doc a bunch of times for this- they don't seem concerned and only offer Mirena or an ablation. 

[Airport shooting in Florida]

My sisters best friend and her family were there. In the terminal :( Thankfully they got out to the tarmac and were then transported to a fire station and then to a safe place and hope to get to fly home soon. She was also in the same building as the shooter at Purdue in 2014. This world just sucks.

[If you did a long distance move with pets, how did you manage it?]

moved from IL to south Texas with a lab, a 12 year old cat and a parrot. 17 hour ride. They all did fine. We put the cat in a carrier but left it open and she came out a few times but slept most of the way. 

[Would you go to the ER?]

I wouldn't go- I have the exact same issue right now ( I have asthma though) going on 3 weeks. I had 3 doc appts and she said my lungs are fine, the pain is probably from inflammation and to take Ibprofen. 

[Would you go to the ER?]

I wouldn't go- I have the exact same issue right now ( I have asthma though) going on 3 weeks. I had 3 doc appts and she said my lungs are fine, the pain is probably from inflammation and to take Ibprofen. 

[Where were you on Sept. 11, 2001?]

Home sick from work so I saw every single thing about it on the news all day for days. Watched the plane hit the second tower. Had family in NY and an uncle who worked near the towers- we didn't hear from him for hours and hours- that part was real scary. 

[Whining...my unborn baby hates coffee.]

Have you tried Teeccino? It's an herbal coffee that is heavenly. It's brewed just like coffee.

 

I quit coffee cold turkey after drinking it for over 20 years by replacing it with this tea. I love the vanilla nut. Tastes just like coffee to me. 

[How much was your electricity bill last month?]

$148 2000 sq ft house in south Texas- I guess I chose a great electric company and got a great rate :)

 

[Not liking life right now]

This is my first Texas summer and man it is HOT. I take a little comfort in seeing the temps back where we used to live in IL have been just as hot and I live on the gulf so at least we have a breeze lol. One of my friends said she gets super depressed here in the summers. 

 

I cannot stay locked inside or I'll go nuts, so I get out early in the morning and right before dark. It helps a ton that I live on the gulf and go to the beach though. If I wasnt near the water I would be dying. 

[Moving during teen years]

We moved 17 hours from the only home my kids ever knew last year. We lived in a tiny town and now we are in a big town. My 13yo dd has not taken it well.

 

Homeschooling where I live now is AMAZING. We live right on the gulf so we can go to the ocean everyday, we have found a great church and met awesome friends right off the bat, have tons to do and a beautiful house.....none of that matters to my teen LOL. We sent her back home for the summer to travel around with family. She comes back next week, so we'll see if her attitude is better or worse. SIGH. 

 

I make sure she knows her feelings are valid, but that she has to deal with our situation and she is not going to make us all miserable :) I had to make her get involved in youth group and co op and field trips and she made some great friends right away so that helped a little. If she had it her way she would never leave the house though. This year I am going to find somewhere for her to volunteer to remind her that her life is not so bad and that God put us all here for a reason. It hasn't been fun with her poor attitude (the rest of us love it here) so I kinda just make her do stuff and ignore her when shes whining and have fun with the rest of the family.

 

 

 

 

[So a sex offender just moved into my neighborhood...]

I am blessed- my town of 15,000 has strategically placed 13 parks around town so there is only 1 trailer park on the edge of town where an offender can live and there is currently only 1 there. 

[Married men and strippers]

I see it as live porn and I would never be OK with dh going to one. He doesn't go to bachelor parties either for this reason. I would see it as a betrayal if he ever went to one and yes I would leave. I have a zero tolerance when it comes to this stuff and my sons will be told that it is not right and I will explain what it leads to. I have zero respect for any man that goes to strip clubs. 

[Need another Series to Watch]

The Good Wife (although I thought the series finale was HORRIBLE) but a great show up until then 

The Office 

 

I second White Collar and Bluebloods- awesome shows!!!

[Elusive housecleaning goals - we're fine with the surface, I want to actually plan an attack of the depths]

Ok, look at the picture of the bed. Is that her real bed?! She has 10 pillows on her bed! 10! That right there, imo, is a waste of time taken to move and arrange those pillows every day. 10 pillows. Does anyone here have that many pillows? I have 4 on my king size bed and that is almost too many for me.

 

Ok, I went to her videos. Yes, she does have 10 pillows on her bed.She also has a video on how to simplify your life. I'm sorry, I will show my prejudice here, but I'm not going to take advice on how to simplify my life from someone who has 10 pillows on their bed. 

 

 

Her simplifying your life video is actually pretty good. She doesn't have a lot of stuff otherwise- I wouldn't judge her on her pillows LOL

[canister vac for carpet]

Love my Shark!!

[Speed Queen Washer Users]

family of 5- also LOVE ours and agree with all the above comments!

[Hugs needed. ETA Question in post 1 UPDATE Post 1]

Appeal!!! When I had BCBS they did that to me and I called and got the charges down to the in-network price. I basically told them either do that or I'm never going to pay. The hospital I went to was actually in network but the doctor and lab and basically everything else were not. 

 

Horrible. Sorry you are dealing with that.