I won't be bringing any Judy Blume into this house at all. Part of the reason we (my family) homeschool is to keep this twaddle out of our house in the first place....and yes, I have read Judy Blume....i can talk to my daughter about menstruation by myself and without all the garbage...

How about a neigborhood where large bears roam in the yard and cayotes walk down the street at dawn? probably you wouldn't want to live in my neighborhood then....but i still let my kids play outside!

weight loss itself has never changed how much my dosage should be, but other things have....every now and then, for some reason, my body throws me a curve ball and I find my dose needs to be lowered or sometimes raised. I wouldn't stop dieting, but I would go in for a blood test.

I put the potatoes and carrots at the same time as the corned beef. the cabbage I cut into quarters and put it in 1/2 an hour before I want to eat. The potaoes and the carrots have never yet, turned to mush. I put my crock pot on low...it usually takes 8 hours to cook.

I'm pretty sure that she is just 18. I don't think speaking skills are passed down from one generation to the next.;) However, at 18, I don't know how well I would have done on a national interview. We have cuurent politicians who cannot say even one sentence without say "um" at least once or twice. And these people are considered educated and very intelligent.. I only saw a snipet of the interview, but i would put my money on nerves and inexperience.

When my dh is home the kids and i do not, in all honesty get as much work done. That being said, once I got over my routine being interrupted, I realized that his being home is a wonderful blessing. (On occasion I can even run a few errands and not take the kids). So, Dh works from home during bad weather ( the ice storm in december he was home for over a week). Mostly he works from home maybe 4 days a month. okay, when he does not want to be disturbed, or when I need the kids to really focus..one of us shuts the office door. The kids know NOT to open it and go in. We also usually have to move some of our lessons upstairs to the largest bedroom. There is a chair in there where i do read alouds and there is a desk for the kids to do math or other workbooks. We move up there so we can be a bit noisier. The rooms we normally hold lessons in are very close to our home office. I arranged our lunchtime so that we can all eat together. Part of his day he usually finds some home project to complete outside, so the kids go with him...they may not be doing schoolwork, but they are with their dad. I imagine if he worked from home all the time, we would settle into a normal routine after a few weeks or so. As of right now, when he does work from home, I let him know what we are doing that day, and I make sure to find out when his important conference calls are. This is the time we are quiet...upstairs or outside. Good luck to you!

Gluten is in wheat. it is what helps bread to rise. Since there is no wheat in Chicken or veggies I would prepare them just about however you like..as long as you don't add flour or bread anything! personally, I would steam or braise the veggies and i would marinate the chicken in either an italian dressing or whatever your favorite marinade is and grill them. if you are looking to make gluten free chicken nuggets or gluten free "breaded" chicken I would try this: Mix 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese (the cheap kind like Kraft or a store brand) with 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 1 tsp dried oregano, one tsp garlic powder and 1 tsp paprika. this is your breading. Cut up your chicken into the sizes you want. beat 1 or 2 eggs in a bowl. put the parmesan cheese mixture into a separate bowl, now, first dunk the chicken into the beaten eggs and then directly into the cheese mixture...then place in a frying pan with a little oil in medium heat. do this for as many pieces fit into your pan. Turn them after a couple of minutes or when they are golden to slightly brown. One can also bake them in a 350 oven on a cookie sheet. take them out when they are cooked through (I forget about how long this takes, but no more than 20 minutes or so). HTH.

Oh I forgot to add this; we recently were givien a cooler chest that plugs into the wall and acts as a small refigerator. I wouldn't use it all the time, but every now and again it comes in very handy when i have bought too much at the store! i have no idea of the cost, but it would be cheaper than a fridge if all you are looking for is occasional use!

we have an upright freezer in the basement and a spare refigerator right next to it. My freezer is chock full of meats bought at very low prices. I love being able to buy 4 turkeys around Thanksgiving at rock bottom prices! it is almost time for my annual corned beef buying spree! Our spare refrigerator only gets used about once a year. We keep it unplugged until, usually around Christmas, we have a party or a family gathering. I love having it, but we just put our old one down there. we certainly did not go go out and buy a spare refrigerator. keep in mind when you are looking, that chest freezers are cheaper to run, but food has a tendency to get "lost" in there! I also like to freeze pies and other baked goods as well as prepared meals. I think those are better off in an upright freezer. Of course, my opinion is very biased toward uprights, since that is what we use.;) good luck with your descision! I do love being able to stock up on food when it is on sale!

The low carb comfort food cookbook (Drs. Eades). or anything from Dana Carpenter. No soy flour. there are some good recipes and support at the forums of Proteinpower.com

If you have a food processor it is simple, if you don't it just takes a little extra work. the ingredients are sugar, softened butter and flour. basically just about equal parts of sugar and flour....if you make too much you can actually freeze it to use later. 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup flour 1/4 cup butter, room temperature 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional) Mix together all ingredients until the mixture resembes coarse crumbs. with a food processor just add ingredients and pulse a few times. thats it.

I think that is funny! Here is my 2 cents. i have not seen the ad. But, any company, NBC included has every right not to run any add they don't care to run. I am going to assume that they do not want to be boycotted by any major groups of people...hey, it is all about the ratings...not just for the Superbowl, but for all of their shows. They are probably assuming that it would be riskier for them to run the ad (PETA's add too) than to just turn it down. I just think it is all a marketing decision.

I think anyone who follows an educational path ala The Well Trained Mind would agree.;)

FWIW, not all of Poe's stuff was scary. I loved "Annabel Lee" That was sad, but not scary.

.... when your six year old begs to watch history documentaries and fights with his 8 year old sister because she really wants to watch a documentary about volcanoes. ...when your two year old can, and does pronounce "Odyseuss" correctly! next...

I usually end up falling asleep for about 20 to 30 minutes in the afternoon when I put the toddler down for a nap. Most nights I get to sleep through, 7 or 8 hours...I still don't want want to get up in the morning though.....I am not a morning person!

:cheers2: Now why did Cocktail never occur to me???? I've been think of movie titles and just couldn't come up with that one! Is there a smilie that has a hammer hitting me over the head????

Definately read The Hobbit before Lord of the rings...The Hobbit was written for a younger crowd and if he does like that, then he will be much more interested in TLOTR. Without the background it gives, Rings can really drag on and on....

Thanks...when we moved here there were none, we had this mountain all to ourselves.....then a piece of property went up for sale....we should have bought it....now there is actually a house on our road that I can actually see! I really hate that part.....they are about 2000 feet away... oh well, civilization and all.

We had something similar tonight! I made a big batch of burritos on large whole wheat soft enchilada shells. I made a few for a couple down the street that still doesn't have their power back from the ice storm. We ate the rest. I do hope our neighbors enjoyed them. Again, it's great to have you back!

I've never seen it, but welcome baaaack! it's good to "see" you here! Jenny

okay, I just read the entire thread, and I have to say... Please, please do not do this! Find something else! Why on earth would you want to make yourself get upset/mad whatever..on purpose! plus, books that one hates are usually terribly slow to read! Learn how to cook Mandarin or something, but why waste effort on bad books.... (and just in case you don't listen to me...... don't read Rush Limbaugh...he is funny, easy to read...and you might just find yourself slipping on over to our side of the aisle!;) wouldn't want that!:D) Jenny

I don't really have too much to add, except...I don't even want to think about that aspect of parenting yet! Of course my oldest is just 8. We will probably lean toward a form of courtship...probably a reaction, maybe even an over reaction to the way I was raised, but so be it.... One of the biggest reasons we homeschool is so our kids don't get "sexualized" so darn early.....

I totally agree! Poetry, art music...are all so subjective. I didn't like this poem ( I know I already said that), but I don't like any modern poetry I have heard or read.....just not my cup of tea. and, i have to admit...I like a good rhyme in my poetry...it doen't have to be simple, but I love memorizing poems, even very long ones......The rhymes don't have to be childish, I just don't Haiku (did I even spell that correctly). ETA: FWIW I don't think I was the target audience of that poem anyway. Middle aged conservative white woman, was probably not the main target audience yesterday! lol

Well said Elaine!