Oops! I'm not the first to mention Shadow of the Wind. Maybe that's a good sign for you?

I love the books you mentioned, and often find myself looking for more like them. Going to check out some of the suggestions above. Here are two more, that you may or may not have read (or rejected): The Shadow of the Wind Song of the Exile DH is not a big reader, but he loved the Historian, and the two above. He likens them to eating a very rich dessert. :)

Annie, I saw your post before you deleted it, from my phone (can't respond from there) ... I got your humor! And I hope you feel better!

Oh no... She has a Man Cold!

Ours are all addressed and ready to go tomorrow! They've been arriving here to much excitement. :) We're making a valentine holder tomorrow, and will stuff them all in until the big day. Thank for doing this! Very cool!

Oh no!!!!! We survived that last year - the vomiting started right as DH boarded a plane for Europe. Nightmare of nightmares. I'm so sorry. Hang in there. You will survive. Focus on what has to be done, and let all the little things slide.

I'm in this month. Have planned a few school purchases, and a large purchase that's planned which may or may not happen this month - depends on if we find exactly what we need. Other than those planned items, I'm in for low spend! Also fighting the urge to buy Montessori supplies, and looking to find busy bag activities to make... So if anyone has some brilliant links, I'd love them.

Thank you! I think I can pull something together now, and will save more ideas for another night. Big, big thanks for speaking slowly and being very specific on how/what to do with this chicken... :)

Ok... garlic and lemon... that I can do. Do I then bake it? (Yes, I really am that clueless re: cooking meats!) BBQ sauce would be yummy but I don't feel like making it. We don't have a safe store-bought brand for the house allergies here, ditto bread crumbs. So garlic and lemon it is!

Bone in chicken breast. I need to do something quick and easy, and googling has not rendered anything appealing. I don't care for cooking meat, was a veggie most of my life, so cooking anything carnivorous is always daunting. The less I have to touch it, the better. Any ideas?

I wouldn't let him take your copy of the lease out of your home. But I see no issue with making a copy for him and mailing it, or scanning and emailing - if you want to be kind. Sending you some good house hunting juju. Your current landlord sounds a like whacko.

Pictures! Both of you! Perty please?

You guys are too fast for me - this is one big thread. Reading it is the highlight of my day! Just had to pop in and say that. :) My amazon list is getting really big, too. Amazon should be giving kickbacks to the thread contributors. Oh, and we also use SOTW, but skip the overly religious chapters. Some of them we'll do, but just address it as myth. "Some people believe..." is a big phrase here. I've also chosen to skip the bible based crafts and coloring pages if they are too much.

Yay!!!!!

DS started really getting into Rube Goldberg machines at that age. Marble runs, domino runs, etc were played with daily. We have a ton of different sets, but if we were to do it over, I'd buy all Haba ball track components - there are so many, and you can add on and on and on. They are beautiful, well made, and will last forever. :) DS is 9, and still loves Rube Goldberg machines. Playmobil is big here, too. A castle set with knights would have been good at that age. Nerf guns? (I'm not much help there, I don't have a gun boy.) What about some outdoor toys - sports toys?

Just to share a bit more... We didn't start out wanting open adoption either. It evolved that way, organically. We initially wanted closed, with the option of opening it up if a child had questions when they were an adult. Somehow the more we read... We just sort of moved into, hmmmm, semi-open would be okay... (Pics, updates sent through an intermediary, maybe)... Then, I don't know how it happened. Clearly, it was the right choice for us. But it was a lesson in love. We have learned a lot about love. :) And all levels of openness are different. My understanding is that most families view pics and updates as open. Technically, just knowing identifying info makes it open. For us, we could not help but love the young woman who gave DS life. How could we not? Basically, we started with an agreement (non-binding) that we would do X number of visits per year - but that has changed over the years. Some years we don't see birthmom at all, as she is busy and just finished grad school, got married, etc. Some years we might see her more often, if we can swing it. Birthgrandmother always sends Xmas gifts, and tries to visit when birthmom does. She is a special lady, and has embraced our younger daughter as a grandchild as well, and always includes equal gifts for both kids. Very sweet. But... It was not an easy road, and it took tremendous commitment on all of our parts to stay true to what we felt was best for our kiddo. Seeing him at 9, secure and confident, makes me know it was right for him. Oh, and thankfully we had access to health info when we needed it a few years ago - really helpful. It was a good choice for our family, maybe not for everyone's family. It certainly was not easy. Our latest adoption is not so open, not by our choice, but by the birthfamily's choice. I have grieved the lack of contact, because I wanted both kids to have equal levels of contact with their birthfamilies. If you had told me years ago that I would grieve for lack of contact, I would have been shocked! We still send pics and updates, and I have a box of special momentos to give to birthmother, if she appears. Whether she will or not... I don't know. Oh, and I did not think to mention, in my previous post, the transracial issue. :) I guess you were asking about that too? Yes, we have adopted transracially. :) However it happens for you, however you grow your family... The soul that is meant to be your child will come to you.

2 adoptions, both domestic, both open. We specifically wanted the opportunity for an open adoption, as DH is adopted and his was closed. DH had a bio child already who lived with us half time. First adoption - super fast. We used an adoption agency that matches birthmothers to waiting families. We were matched within 5 weeks, and got to know birthmom very well during the pregnancy (she was only 10 weeks when we matched, we had plenty of time)... attended all doc appts, and were at the birth, roomed in the hospital with baby afterward. Birthmom is beautiful, and though when we met her we didn't expect the level of openness that it evolved into... we are thrilled. She is our family, too. Great experience. We love her entire family. Second adoption - longer story. It was a word of mouth type thing, though we were doing foster-adopt at the time, so we were waiting on a placement, just from a different area. Right at the time our foster home was approved, this came up - and baby was due in just a few weeks. So it was quick as well. But our homestudy, etc, was finished since we'd been planning on foster-adopt. Different from our first adoption as the birthfamilies are not the same, and this one has more issues - they are not open to being part of our family at this time, but we hope they'll open it up for DD when/if she is ready later. But still a beautiful experience. (Oh, and yes, we were present for labor/delivery for our second one as well, and roomed in during her hospital stay - it was an honor, and a wonderful experience.) You are more than welcome to pm, if you want more info. :)

:001_wub: I'm in love. Will you share the recipe, please?

We call it the music truck. I don't know how old DS was before he figured out they sold ice cream. :) The ones that cruise through the neighborhood at bedtime really drive me crazy.

Is he thinking Hashimoto's? It's when the immune system attacks the thyroid. It's treatable. :) So it's not so bad. I have it - and just take thyroid meds for it. It does have a few other things that it can go hand in hand with ... mostly autoimmune stuff. I totally relate to the "my body hates me" feeling at times! If it turns out to be Hashi's, I think there are several of us with it here. You won't be alone. Glad you went in, and are getting answers!

You might consider having your Vit D level checked, along with thyroid. Vit D deficiency is fairly common these days, and a major contributor to fatigue. Easy fix, too.

I have been present for 3 births - and I am *not* a doula or midwife. The first was a dear friend, who just wanted support. I thought she was nuts, as I've never given birth, but I read up a lot, attended birthing classes with her, and we got really clear about expectations and what she wanted/didn't want, and how I could help. It was a good experience. I was also present for the labor/delivery of both my kiddos - at their birthmoms' request. Again, we read up a lot together, attended birthing classes, and got really clear on expectations. We talked (well, I did) about it being totally okay for me to skedaddle, too, if she wanted privacy, that my feelings would not be hurt, and this was all about her. ...In the end, both birthmoms opted for me to stay the entire time. One c-section, one vaginal birth. Vaginal birth was a bit frightening, as DD wasn't breathing and had cord issues, but I stayed with birthmom and focused on her since she was essentially abandoned by all staff at that point. (DH was with DD and co.) Your friend is probably looking for an advocate, someone she trusts, and she trusts you.

I have a 9 yr old who is very attached to things, even things that are no longer used. I understand the dilemma. My latest tactic was to clean his room for him, while he was not home. I sorted, and purged anything that was clearly not going to be missed. Then I gathered most of the items that *might* be missed, and put them in bins. The bins are labeled "toy library" and put into the garage. DS had a hard time with items going into the bins, until he was assured that they would stay in the library, and he could access them later. For now, DS has approximately 3 types of toys in his room - playmobil (huge collection), magic (again, lots of pieces), and costumes. Oh, and books. My plan is to leave the toy library bins alone for a few months, and then slowly purge items that haven't been missed while DS isn't home. I'm not a fan of "disappearing" toys, but honestly can't come up with a better solution. Not sure you have time for that, but maybe staging the "loss" in a similar way will make this easier on your 10 year old? I also like the idea, in theory, of giving her a set number of boxes and having her choose what can fit. Offering her the option of selling toys, and matching the proceeds to buy new items is great, too. Or, if she's really like my DS, offer her the option of re-buying the old toys. :) Not that she will, but the thought might be comforting. Oh, and don't watch (or re-watch) Toy Story 3 any time soon!

Hasn't hit here yet, but we're expecting it any time now. It's dark and cloudy, wind is picking up. There are 14 or 15 robins on the house across the street, and we've been hoping they have a safe place to huddle up during the storm.

Disgusting. I can't fathom anyone living that way. (No, I've never seen Hoarders, only heard it discussed here.) I accidentally clicked on the bathroom pics, and saw one. On that note, I am now nauseas. I hope the parents get the help they need to get it together, so their family can be together in a safe, healthy environment.