Don't do rice crispies unless you find some that specifically say gluten free. I don't think the name brand gluten free ones are on the market anymore. Their regular rice crispies have malt made from barley in it.

If there is anything she really likes and would like a gf recipe for let me know and I might be able to help.

Keep it simple...non marinated meats, fresh veggies, fresh fruits, some types of ice cream, several types of candy, regular potato chips, eggs, white or brown rice, cheese, some brands of nuts, there are gluten free bread mixes, brownie mixes, etc if she has an oven. For seasonings start with using non mixed seasonings...salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, ginger, etc.

I need to update my sig. Dd is 5 1/2. Yes he would stay home with her and not work. In our case contracting means we are not direct hires and we will work through a staffing agency and be paid by the hour. Usually the rates are higher than they are for directs because the benefits aren't nearly as good. In our case we are able to collect per diem because of working away from our home. That makes a big difference over all when it comes to taxes, since we can live on much less than what they figure for per diem.

It's mixed emotions, it would be good to get back to being current and it is a job that would likely run less than a year. I don't mind that type of work but I don't love it like staying home with dd.

Dh has often said he would like me to work a contract job now and then so he could have some time off and get to be the stay at home dad for awhile. Currently he is out of work and I just stumbled across a job that is in what I have the most experience in. It is the thing that I would be most comfortable jumping back into after being out for a long time. It would also get a foot in the door in an industry that pays well and that we haven't spent any time in. The pay rate they are advertising is very comparable to what dh was making on his last job. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Do you chop the apple and onion or just stuff them in whole?

I don't think that I have done that in the past.

Looking for new turkey recipes. I will probably end up cooking 2 turkeys this year and am looking for some great recipes. I am not going to put a bread stuffing in them and need them to be gluten free. Do you have any great recipes that you really love?

What are your home practice sessions like? I am trying to learn how we can do better. My dd is 5. Yes I know that quitting right now is an option and I am very close to that.

Our house was a foreclosure a few years ago. Where we are the foreclosures were listed on the MLS and the banks were ready to sell. We had cash so it was fairly easy. I am sure how hard it is probably varies by state. My dh and FIL are both really good at assessing what work needs done and estimating costs and then we also had an inspection done. We also did most of our own work with the help of a family member that was out of work at the time. We were able to walk through the house and have inspections done. Our realtor had lots of experience with foreclosures by the time we bought our house.

We don't own 2 homes but dh contracts away from home for months at a time and we go with him which means we rent apartments or stay in hotels. We made decisions to change from working direct to working contract a couple of years before dd came along and we changed which industry we were working in to a much higher paying industry. That got us totally out of debt and now several years later we have a pretty good amount of savings and only dh works. There are good and bad to the way we have been doing things. Right now the market dh is in is really down and he is unemployed. We are happy about having time to be home over the holidays, but after the first of the year things are pretty uncertain as far as what the next job will be. So far he has gotten all his work through his connections. We hope that will happen again this time. ETA We have retired family and friends that bought houses in a low COL area with no state income taxes and moved their residency there and kept their other place. This was cheaper than paying state income taxes on their retirement income to their original state. They are snowbirds.

One more thing I thought of and it only happened to us once. We got into an extended stay for a week or 2 and were trying to get stay longer and they were just plain sold out already. We ended up in a panic to find another place to stay. It was a popular tourist destination, there were lots of contractors and there had been local flooding from a storm, so there weren't tons of rooms.

I have treated myself for a couple of burns from spilling hot food on me. There is a product called burn gel http://www.waterjel.com/consumer-products/burn-jel-plus/ I would mix this with triple antibiotic ointment and keep it loosely covered with gauze and tape. The burn gel really helped with the pain. Hopefully they have given you this or something similar to it. Lidocaine is the ingredient that really helps.

Dh hated school, he ended up in lots of fights, he barely passed high school, by the way he now has a Master's in a STEM field. Before dd was born, I got to know several people who homeschooled their kids and was really impressed with what they were doing. We travel a fair amount since dh does contract work and we usually go with him. We try to expose dd to as many different real life things as we can and we do stress academics and character both.

Do things like speech and debate usually involve young children. My dd is only 5. I can see that being something that would be beneficial as she gets a little older. I have been to a Toastmasters meeting and that would seem long for any elementary school kid IMO. Also the one that I went to, I would not classify the person leading the group as a a good presenter. In fact I was probably a better presenter than their leader was and I would not classify myself as an adequate speaker. Maybe this isn't true with every toastmasters club, but it was my first impression experience. Something I was discussing with my dh was that in presentations you usually put together an outline for notes and knowing how to to a good 3 or 5 paragraph essay is almost a necessity in forming a presentation. Not that you write out essays for presenting but it is kind of the same thought process. Dd is very social and very confident in most things. She has performed a couple of numbers with her ballet and gymnastics classes in a big auditorium that was full and she has done a violin recital in a small group setting. We have also had opportunities where we go to dinner with dh's coworkers, so she is learning to have appropriate conversations and to shake hands and to be confident. Of course she is only 5 and still acts like a 5 year old but we still work on it.

This is something I have been interested in for awhile. I just finished watching this ted talk on authoritative speaking I have seen some great speakers and have occasionally seen a great leader. I have read tons of books and still don't consider myself a great leader or a great speaker. I worked in a job before becoming a parent where I had to give presentations from time to time and still am not comfortable with it and am not effective at it. How is this something that can be taught from an early age? I would like to help my daughter develop some of these things. Is it something that mostly just gets passed down because you have a family member exhibit it all your or is it something that you can make an effort to teach and how would you do that?

My favorite Christmas Carol is the George C Scott one followed by Mickey's Christmas Carol

Luanne, you may find it cheaper to get a mattresses and then shop for kitchen stuff and seating online or in thrift stores. Extended stays are pretty expensive per month. I don't know how long you are talking about having to stay in one, but it might be a consideration.

A christmas carol, I don't remember if it references Jesus, but it does reference God.

Candlewood Suites, Extended Stay, Residence Inn, a few new Red Roof Inns and a couple others all have rooms with small kitchens. They aren't cheap but will give a better rate for longer term. Probably Extended Stay will work out to be the cheapest but not necessarily the nicest. We have stayed in all of the ones that I have listed.

I lived there for 8 years and moved away 7 or 8 years ago. Do not live on the opposite side of the tunnels. There are nice areas in both Hampton and Newport News but there are also really bad areas. I do think that it will cost more than $250,000 to get into the nicer areas, but I haven't been there in a long time so maybe that has changed. Find a good realtor.

I didn't answer the poll because I will probably change this year. I usually have had photos taken at Christmas of just dd, but 1 year we did all 3 of us. This year I am going to take the pics of dd myself just because I am unhappy with the last 2 years. Maybe we should get a family picture done at some time other than Christmas again. We usually bought the digital and the physical pictures and paid less than $200.

Our is paid off. We paid off our last house which had a 30 year mortgage probably 20 years early and when we sold it we bought this one for cash.

My dh has been off gluten for many years. He was always sick before he got off it. Now if he gets a small amount he is in great pain for hours to days. He will likely never be able to go back to eating it, the only other foods that he has problems with are ones that bother his ulcer. ETA: I have heard for peanut allergies that are anaphylactic that the new thing is to start introducing them into a diet in very small quantities.