I will keep my carrot consumption at a reasonable level!:lol:

Thanks, I am going to try that this afternoon. What do you do with the pulp? I know this sounds silly, but other than compost it is there a way to use the pulp?

I bought a juicer at a garage sale this weekend. I have plenty of fruit and vegetables on hand, but would like advice and recipes before I just start throwing things into the juicer.

We call them poor man's almonds, but they are just as expensive if you buy them at a health food store.;) Perhaps they are like cashews and toxic in large quantities?

We have run into this as well. I don't know why the military docs are afraid of the nurses!!! I would have your dh follow up and ask for a referral to an endo. You have got to be the squeaky wheel if you want to get proper medical care. I don't know what system you are in, but you might try to get an appointment with another doc. I had a hard time getting my thyroid diagnosed, my dh finally took me to see his flight surgeon and he said, "something is really wrong with her, please fix her:glare:". The doc looked at me instead of my file and said, "you have a goiter, we need to get blood work. I think you probably have an underactive thyroid". I did finally get good medical care, but it came from an unlikely source.

I second this! If your dh wants a facebook account why don't you get one too? Most married couple I know are both on facebook and have befriended each other. If he objects to befriending you, then I would be worried.

I second sweet peas and morning glories, both of which I soak for 24 hours before planting. My f-i-l refrigerates the bulbs that need cold to simulate winter. There are bulbs that cannot handle cold weather and have to be pulled up if you live in a climate that has freezing weather, but can stay in the ground if you live in a warmer climate - gladiolus and freesia come to mind. Also, when I lived in a warm climate I was able to grow Iris without any trouble.

I don't use dividers. I have raised beds which are 4' x 8' and I just tack string across the top to use as a visual guide when planting, then pull it up and take the string to the next box, etc. When I am done I remove the string and save it for tying vines. I find that I only need to do it this for the first planting, once the plants start coming in they act as a guide for future planting.

Or do what I do and pile everyone in the car, wave goodbye, and enjoy some peace and quiet! Happy Birthday! P.S. I'll do the dusting and vacuuming

Well, I am praying that menopause comes early!

Instead of acclimating to jewelry can you just tell everyone you are a violinist? Most of the violinists we know don't wear jewelry (maybe they all have sensory issues?) Probably your sister would know that you aren't a violinist though... My dd tells everyone she doesn't wear jewelry because it interferes with her violin playing. She does play for several hours a day, but the rest of the time she just.can't.stand.jewelry! I call her princess pea because she will not wear anything binding; comfort is of the utmost importance. She probably inherited it from me...I hated jewelry and constricting clothing. I still don't wear tutlenecks or belts, but I learned to wear my wedding rings and one necklace. My dh gave me small aviater wings on a chain when he earned his wings (this was before we were actually engaged). I call this necklace the "will you wait for me while I decide if I want to be stuck with you for the rest of my life necklace?" and I initially wore the necklace as a sign that I would wait, but eventually became accustomed to it and wear it now because I feel odd without it. But I tell my dh that I still wear it because after 20 years of marriage I feel like I am still waiting for him... to come home from where ever he has been assigned to work. Edited to answer your question: Yes, I did learn to wear a necklace, but I don't think I would have learned had the necklace come from anybody else or under different circumstances.

I filled our taxes out in January, knew that I was going to get 4000.00 back, and still did not submit them until last week!?! I don't know why I do this.every.single.year. Maybe I should use part of the refund to get counselling!

Jae at http://dollarsandsensebyj.blogspot.com/ has several posts on kitchen renovations including painting cabinets.

I absolutely love you son's idea! I will be following his blog and trying some of the recipes. I found his blog through yours and actually logged on today to tell people to check out his blog! -Alea (who changed her name in the sig line from the impersonal Ann, to the nickname friends use)

I think there is a difference between fitness and endurance. When my dc were your kids age they were fit, but had limited endurance. We found this out when we took them on a trip for a week of hiking in the Eastern Sierra's. We took day trips to see Tufa Towers, Devil's Post Pile, fault lines, crystal clear lakes, and tour dead volcano's. We also fished, swam, rode horses, and went boating, cooked out, and saw bears. But for years afterwards, my dc described that vacation as the "trip where we walked for miles looking at rocks in the HHS" (short for hot, hot sun - and it was sunny, but not hot!).

Jae at www.dollarsandsensebyj.blogspot.com has a series of articles for the first time home buyer. Here is the first article: First Time Home Buying 101. She has 7 - 10 articles in the series and walks the reader through every step of the process, explaining terms along the way. ETA: Jae has now started aseries on easy DIY home renovations.

I love the chocolate dinosaur egg!

We like See's Bunnies. I buy a semi-hollow version. I always buy their hollow eggs with novelty. It is a chocolate egg with a white chocolate chick on the inside. My personal favorite is their chocolate butter eggs. I should add that this is exactly what my mom put in our basket, so this feels just like my childhood when I do it for my dc.

Oh and travel! I know this seems silly to tell you, but the hardest past of letting my dd go to college early was operating within the confines of school's schedule. My dh is military; we were accustomed to traveling and mostly traveled when everyone else was in school so we did not have to deal with crowds. Oh, and it is now more expensive when we do things because we are always doing them at the peak of the season. Take skiing, we used to go midweek when it is half price and uncrowded, now we have to go on the weekends where we twice as much for half the fun. I will stop now before this turns into a full-blown pity party!:D

If you know what the school will teach (and I am sure you do) I would focus on any gaps that you can see in their curriculum. My dd was going off to college to major in BioChemistry, so I focused on history and literature. I know that seems counterintuitive, but I knew she was good in Math and Science and I didn't need to prepare her for the academics. Instead I felt it was probably the last time she would have a chance to delve deeply into the classics and I wanted to take advantage of my limited time with her to do so. My son is planning on going to college in 2 years to major in art, so I am focusing heavily on math and science. I would also teach them anything that you would be jealous if someone else taught them first. I hope that makes sense. My dh wanted to teach my dc to program. I had/have certain books that I wanted to read and discuss with them. We both wanted to teach them calculus. Basically we wanted to share some of the things that we loved, hoping they would/will share our enthusiasm. I also asked my dc what they wanted to study, realizing that they are never again going to have a tailor made curriculum. My dd wanted to study economics in depth. My son has decided to spend his last 2 years at home learning another language?!? (Japanese?) and he wants to study geology next year instead of taking chemistry or biology again as an AP class.

I loved the book, which is why I think I was so disappointed with the series. I realize that they couldn't put everything in the series, but it did seem that they left some of John Adam's more endearing qualities on the cutting room floor. Sad, but true story: I became so absorbed in the book that I actually cried when Abigail died. At the time, we were between homes camping out in a Navy Lodge and homeschooling from a box. My dh walked into our room and found me crying and assumed it was because of our living situation and said, "oh, don't worry hun, I am sure we will find a house soon". Between sobs I told him that I was crying because Abigail died. It took him a second to register what I said, then he got a twinkle in his eye and said, " I hate to have to tell you this, but I feel I should warn you...John's going to die too".

:grouphug: From a military wife who has felt the exact same way! Do you have a local spouse support group? It made it a little easier for me to occasionally get together with people who were going through the same thing at the same time, IYKWIM? For our last two deployments I have lived in civilain communities and did not have a local support group and it was definately harder not having people around who understood. In the civilian community when my dh is deployed I invite friends whose husbands are on travel over or make arrangements to meet somewhere and then they return the favor on their husband's next trip out of town. I also try to make little easy rituals for me and the kids, i.e. movie night, pizza night, game night, breakfast for dinner night, etc. It gives the kids something to look forward to, instead of focusing what they are missing. We have so much fun on these night together that my dc have actually turned down invitations to stay home for game night. But no matter what I do there are still lonely moments...

I put up a no soliciting sign...right below the welcome sign! :lol: It is really quite effective. My children will often report someone coming up the walk, then turning around and leaving.

My asparagus and garlic are starting to break through the soil. The gooseberries are trying to grow leaves faster than the rabbits can eat them. The kale and parsley made it all winter! The strawberries are starting to bloom. But I wasn't happy with that and decided to transplant the lettuces, broccoli, spinach, cilantro, and tomatoes growing on my counter...and then a fast storm came through and the temperature dropped to the low 20's. Here is my garden story: My $2.00 Greenhouse.

I had two children and then was infertile for 14 years before I had Rew. During that time I lost several babies and had a failed adoption (crossing state lines can be harder than crossing national borders sometimes:confused:). There were times when I felt that I was being punished and times when others suggested that I was :angry:. During those times I reminded myself that God used a lot of barren women: Sarah, Elizabeth, Hannah, Rachel... Yes, he eventually "opened their womb", but that did not mean that during the time that they were barren that He did not love them and have a plan for their lives. When people made comments about my dh and I stopping after having 2 children I would say, "I'll have more children when God opens my womb" - it quite effectively shut people up and started them quietly praying for me! :lol: I had completely reconciled myself to my infertility when Rew came along (I was so old I thought it was menopause and seriously considered naming him Isaac!) I would love more children, but I doubt that I will be able to have any more, so we will probably try to adopt. I will go into the adoption knowing that a failed adoption is as emotionally painful as a miscarriage. If we are able to adopt I believe that my adopted child will be as much a blessing and gift from God as my birth children. I will pray for God's guidance and will, and if he says no, I will know that it is because he loves me and has a different plan, not because he is punishing me.