I have several of the commercial timeline figures...and they are beautiful....but because they are so similiar in design/style they eventually seemed very "same" on our timelines....date I say boring and run together. So, we now hunt for what we want on the Internet....just type the name of the person, event, place, etc into Google or yahoo, choose images, and you'll have many to choose from. It takes a little more time and effort than just choosing the image off a premade CD, but it comes out much more creative and the kids "own" it a lot more. When we can't find what we want they'll attempt to draw it, or if we have a book with something they like in it I'll scan the image and print it. Since we're using these only for our own use and only scanning an image or two out of the book there is no copyright violation. The other advantage to not having all the images with as close of a "sameness" is that it helps implant the image in the child's mind.....the can see the distinct image in their mind to help them remember. It's all part of the reason that logos tend to stick in your head.....who could ever see a yellow M and not think McDonalds? So, my vote....go for finding your own images and make them personal.

Hmmm, I never had a shower for any of my kids....not that friends/mom didn't want to give me one, but I was just not comfortable with the whole concept that seems only about gifts. Instead, once said baby was born we invited friends over for dinner and to meet the newest addition.....while we never expected gifts, they almost always brought something. The best guests however, also brought a small something for the older kids, so they didn't resent baby, lol. Hmmmm, I wonder, would it be tacky for me to have a shower NOW.....after all my first born just turned teen and well, we have a lot more clothing needs NOW than we did when she was born, lol.

I LOVE the way you think.

Yep, Kirk is a perfect gentleman....and honestly you never ever want to be his "girlfriend"....they always die! He does "get the girl" quite often, but most of the time it's a lot of longing looks and the times that they do kiss it's the hokey grab her and plant your lips on her upper lip kind......unlike today's movies where you wonder if she can still breathe! Ewww. If he finds the bad acting and very 60's sets and old technology to be unappealing, don't give up on the Star Trek franchise.....Star Trek Next Generation is a wonderful show that tackles a lot of ethical and moral dillemas....a bit hokey at times, but much better acting than the Original series. There are a couple of episodes that you'll probably want to skip, but I'd say less than a dozen over the course of 9 years of the show, and the descriptions will tell you which ones to avoid. Some of it may go right over his head even if you let it slip through. Voyager is another in the series that probably has even less romance. Deep Space 9 isn't so bad except the episodes with Quark's "bar" and his "dabo girls and the holosuites".

I surprised my kids by having "Cinderella" call and invite them to come visit. Now, she called months in advance (summer, inviting them to visit during the holidays to see all the Christmas decor)....but I did that so that we could use the upcoming visit as part of our studies......budgeting, planning, research, history, and learning about each country in EPCOT, including how to say a few things to the cast members in each country. Since you don't want to tell them until you're ready to leave....how about packing the bags after the kids are in bed and then having Cinderella (or their favorite character) call early that morning and inviting them to visit that same day. Then you pull out the bags hop in the car and get going immediately. Would make the getting out of the house a quick affair, lol. The part of Cinderella was played for us by an Internet friend so that the kids wouldn't recognize a local friend's voice.

Yes, 90% of the insurance companies out there will consider a diagnosis of diabetes as a pre-existing condition and either refuse you coverage altogether or make it so expensive that you can't get it either. Yes, many of your symptoms do sound like diabetes or related....and yes, going untreated is not normally recommended. BUT....your life situation is NOT normal right now. You need to take a long look at what your future holds before deciding if you really can afford to have a preexisting condition hanging over your head. Some things to consider: Think about DH's past employers.....is your family always covered under the employer's group insurance? Or does he sometimes work for smaller companies that don't have group coverage or perhaps have plans that do not cover preexisting conditions? Most medium to large companies have a group policy that doesn't care about prexisting...smaller ones often don't cover preexisting because of the higher costs involved. If his typical type of employment is a company with good coverage and no concerns about preexisting, then it's really a matter of getting him employed again and then you can get your diagnosis. If however he either typically, or even sometimes, works for smaller companies that might exclude your preexisting or not provide coverage at all, then you definitely want to avoid having a preexisting until he finds employment somewhere that will cover you....which might mean it takes him longer to find employment, but considering the costs of self-insuring a diabetic, it's a necessary. Many families have to take their medical needs into consideration sometimes over salary or even working conditions....many a husband has had to stay in a job he'd rather not because of medical coverage (not just diabetes but many special needs kids have conditions that insurance companies may not cover as a preexisting condition). You might want to look into individual insurance. I know most people think it's outrageously expensive, and it really depends on your family's current health (which for YOU does not include diabetes because it has NOT been formally diagnosed). My Dh works for a medium sized company that when he was hired provided excellent coverage....but each year since has raised the deductible AND raised the share the employee has to pay.....last year we finally started looking around at individual coverage and found that we could not only save money but we'd have a lower deductible....so now we pay our insurance ourselves. DH was able to negotiate with his employer to get them to pay US the same amount they'd have paid the insurance company for our coverage, so we're actually saving quite a bit over their coverage. DH's friend at work looked into this as well because of our experience, but friend's wife has had numerous health problems, and several mid-term miscarriages so their rates were nearly double ours and they only have 1 child! For his friend, it was worth staying under the umbrella of "employers insurance covers anyone". We found our rates through e-insurance.com, but there are quite a few other places where you can compare coverage and costs. Preexisting conditions like diabetes will preclude you from many of these. If DH's career is the type where being laid off is a part of the work, then you definitely want to look into insuring yourself, because COBRA is a ridiculously overpriced stop-gap. It has governments way of putting a finger in the dam of people losing life-necessary insurance because of job loss....but sadly like many government finger-plugs it falls well short. I'm not sure I'm really an advocate of this health care proposal, but it's gotta be better than COBRA which costs more than unemployment pays leaving nothing for food, housing or other bills and yet covers very little. Diabetes is not something to ignore....and it's also not something that you can completely regulate without medical supervision, but there are many things you can do while you await the ability to visit a doctor having to do with your diet and exercise. If you are pre-diabetic instead of actually diabetic, these changes can actually stave off the actual disease. For the typical person it will mean a major change in your lifestyle, but if you are pre or actually diabetic, it's going to have to happen anyway. Your library probably has several books about controlling diabetes.....follow their diet recommendations and exercise routines as those you already had a diagnosis. As another poster suggested you might want to purchase a monitor to check your numbers to see if you are pre or post diabetic....but also to monitor how the changes in diet/exercise are working for you. When/if you are diagnosed you will find that you have to do this anyway....you're just doing it before diagnosis as a stop gap so that you don't have the label of preexisting until you can handle it. Obviously, if your symptoms get worse, or you have some of the more serious diabetic symptoms (look online for a long list of them), then you may have to just bite the bullet and seek the treatment you need and deal with the labels. The consequences of diabetes that isn't treated can be life threatening. Diet and exercise are a major part of treatment, but if they don't make a difference, then professional intervention is inevitable.

We've moved quite often and always get people shocked that we'd move "there". The East Coasters thought the West Coast was still the wild wild west and uncivilized....West Coasters thought the mid-west states were all hicks or hay farmers....and the south apparently should still be annexed from the USA, lol. The reaction this last move to Arizona was that we'd all die of heat exaustion or scorpion bites....well, we have had 1 child stung and did have some serious adjustments to the heat....but each move was an adventure, a new set of friends and just enough changes to stir things up so our lives are never dull and the full of sameness. Enjoy your new adventure! For us, we can't figure out why people want to stay in the same house in the same town their entire life.....we've got 11 more states to go and we'll be able to say we've lived in all 50! Yes, the actual move is a pain but the new discoveries and adventures are so worth it (once the boxes are unpacked...until then it's grumble grumble, why did we move AGAIN). There is always more to see for us....whereas our friends who have lived here forever tend to be very "been there done that" and have to leave the state on some expensive vacation because their own state doesn't hold any attraction anymore. I consider us on extended vacations each house we live in! We seldom vacation outside the state....of course that's probably because we know we'll eventually have lived in all of them, so we wait! I think it's the "how could you leave ME" reaction as much as the town. Or, for some it could be "wait, I want to leave too, but can't". My reaction is always a silent "you could leave if you really wanted"! It takes a bit of courage to uproot everything you know and move clear across the country to a new life. Imagine the reactions the Pilgrims must have gotten!!

We did a tea party when my now-teenager was 5. It was a wonderful time! Some of the things I remember doing: I picked up floppy hats at the dollar store and lots of fake flowers....the craft was to glue the flowers around that big wide floppy hat. We then wore our creations the rest of the party. I do recall that the glue didn't quite hold/dry and we had lots of flowers falling off.....but we'd just glue it back on. In retrospect, think I'd use hot glue and have each child just telling me where to put it....then we wouldn't have the falling off problem. We did dress up as well....we already had a ton of old prom type dresses from cousins etc, but I stopped by the thrift store and picked up enough so that there were 2 or 3 for each child to choose from. High heels, dresses, boas.....I have some of the most adorable photos of these little ones in their grown up attire and those hats we made. Also at the thrift store we picked up a bunch of teacups and saucers...again enough so that each child could choose and no one got the "last" one. We served pink lemonade in it. The girls got to take these home as party favors, and I know several of the girls have kept them all these years. These were "real" teacups so that excited the girls to get to use and taking them home elicited squeals of delight. It also saved my worrying over them using my good tea set! I don't know what the prices are like today, but back then it was 25 to 50 cents for the cup/saucer so it was very cheap to get a ton of them in all different designs so everyone could choose....and the choosing took a lot of time as everyone had to admire and debate each offering. It was really adorable to watch these 4-6 year olds check out the cups. The leftovers were used for Christmas presents to all our female friends by putting a small cloth bag of loose tea in it and mailing it to them with a poem about even though we couldn't be together for a tea party we could pretend to share a cup of tea together. I seem to recall finding the poem online or maybe from an online friend. Grandmas, aunts and honorary grandmas/aunts loved the idea of a specific day and time that we'd "all have tea together". Lovely memories done long distance. We too made a teapot cake....used a Pyrex bowl to shape the main pot and marzipan to make the spout and handle. I won't say it would win any cake decorating contests but the birthday girl was very proud of her creation and her guests ooohed and aaahed. I'm sure there are now cake pans to make this easier and probably many different instructions online if you don't want to use a pan. We had tea sandwiches with the crusts cut off and cut into different shapes....some were simply triangles but some we used cookie cutters to make fun shapes. Siblings got the scraps as their lunch in another part of the house on party day, lol. We made mostly PB&J but I recall having some tuna and chicken salad ones as well...and maybe something else, but I can't remember what anymore. There are quite a few books available about having tea parties (both for kids and for adults)....you might check your library as they may have even more ideas. The main event was really the dressup.....throw girly girls and adult dresses together and you don't really need anything else, lol. The food and cake were definitely secondary to all the pretending that was going on. Have a wonderful birthday party! Some days I really miss those simple times......hmmm, wonder how my teen would feel about a tea party with mom and siblings?

If you go to Goodwill.org you can input your zip code and find the location nearest you and their website, which will have a phone number. They don't seem to have hours on the websites I looked at, but may have that info on their phone message. If not, many of them have a spot to leave donations when they're not open.....you can''t get a donation receipt for taxes if you just leave it outside, but at least the stuff will be donated. Have a safe move!

:party::grouphug:

That book was a free give away a number of years back, as I recall....I think it was the first in the series and you could buy the rest if you liked that one.....obviously more people just chucked the first in the series and did NOT buy the series, lol.

I don't think I'd use a starter that has been ignored for a year....especially if you can easily get a fresher one. It may be fine, but why risk it. A website that will tell you more than you need, lol: http://www.sourdoughhome.com/starterprimer.html (this website has lot of advertising that is put on the site by google, etc....while I've never seen anything actually offensive, be aware that just now when I went to get the correct link to share it has a diet tips advertisement with a cartoon woman in a tiny bikini.....not offensive, but a bit unexpected for a bread website, lol. )

Contact Rival....it's possible that they can honor the warranty without the receipt. I can't imagine that most people keep receipts for small appliances, I sure don't. I have never had to have the pot itself replaced, but the handle came off the glass lid and all I had to do was pay shipping, I think it was $10.

Best deal ever....unopened copy of Rosetta Stone (full version not those demos) Spanish for $5.00 at a thrift store.

:iagree: We left the Bay Area because the media housing price was over $400,000. And that was almost ten years ago. OP...remember also that because the cost of living is higher in that are the employer is likely to offer a salary that may seem quite a bit higher than you'd get where you're living now. We got very lucky, when we moved from the San Francisco Bay Area (high cost of living) to Arizona (much lower cost of living) we did it as a transfer in the same company and actually got to keep our higher salary. Now the cost of living here has increased quite a bit because all the Californians who can't afford to keep living there are coming to Arizona, but for a few years there it was very very nice for us, lol. Be sure that DH does some research to find out what his job skills are worth IN THAT AREA. And don't be afraid to ask if that's the best they can offer....the employer knows what DH is making now and may not offer him their highest amount at first. If he's had 3 interviews then it's pretty clear they are very interested, so he should do a little negotiating on his salary, benefits and maybe even get them to pay for the move. It never hurts to ask, and they aren't going to pull the offer just because he hopes for more. My DH is sooo good at this part of job hunting....he asks for a higher salary than they offer plus a few extra benefits (usually an extra week of paid vacation and more of the health benefits paid by the company) and then says he'll have to talk it over with his wife. The next day almost ALWAYS the employer calls and offers one more tidbit. I absolutely hate this part of it, but it's the best way to get as much as they have to offer. Of course, I will refrain from bragging about how great my DH is at his job and how employers always are wanting to take him away from his current employer.....that helps in the negotiating of course! We always rent for a short time (typically trying for a 6 month lease, but sometimes we've had to take a year) when we move to a new area. Not only do you want to take your time looking for the right neighborhood to buy a house...in this economy you want to get a firm grasp on how the town and surrounding area are doing so you can decide if the downward spiral on housing is done yet. Here in Arizona we continue to see housing plummet as more and more people are facing foreclosure which saturates the market so the buyers can lowball and desperate homeowners or banks that just want to get the house off the books are accepting the low offers. This of course makes the next house for sale in that neighbor have to start at this lower value. We're praying hard that the value will eventually come back up...but right now after 4 years of living in this particular house, we've lose almost all equity....but thankfully it's not upside down yet! Whereas a year after we'd bought this house it was worth almost 70% more than we paid. I thought housing was wild then, it's crazy now! Good luck to you on your move....we have moved 11 times in our marriage....this is the second longest we've stayed in one place, lol. I hate the physical part of moving, packing and unpacking, etc....but I love the new adventure of exploring our new state and finding all the hidden treasures. I hope that you have a wonderful journey of fun and discovery.

Here's a recipe I found on the Internet that claims to be a copycat of Stuckeys....haven't tried it yet, but I loved those as a kid so maybe I'll try it for New Years. http://www.recipezaar.com/Stuckeys-Pecan-Log-Rolls-106586

Chicken Queso Dip 14 can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chile 1 pound Velveeta (if you like it a little spicy use the Mexican Velveeta) 2 chicken breasts, cooked, skinned, shredded 1/2 cup sour cream 1 packet taco seasoning mix 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno (optional) 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed Put everything except the black beans into the crockpot. Cook on high, stirring occasionally until cheese is melted and everything is hot (about 2 hours). Stir in the black beans cook about 15 more minutes. Serve it right from the crockpot to spoon over tortilla chips, Fritos, veggies, pita bread triangles, etc.

:iagree:

Yeah...but he's a guy so what did you expect, lol. I like his methods, not him.

This sounds like a loving and generous idea....but the practicality of it has me worried. How do you pick a style of china for someone who is only a toddler right now. I'd find it hard to pick china for anyone else honestly. And even more worrisome is what if the style you pick stops being made...then you either have to scrounge antique stores/auction places and pay huge sums to finish the set...or it's never finished...and even worse, how would your neice replace broken pieces? Or, what if the pieces you buy now get damaged in storage. Perhaps what you could do is put away a certain amount of money....something equal to what you'd pay for a piece/place setting each birthday/holiday/event. Then when you learn that she has become engaged you can invite her to lunch to celebrate and take her to the store to choose her set and be able to but something current.....something she gets to chose and love......and buy it all at once. When she's a teenager and perhaps cares about such things, you can tell her of her impending gift.....so she can have it to look forward to, and start to think about such things (ok, most teens who start dating probably already ARE thinking, but they're thinking practical Corelle or something, not china!). Or perhaps she will grow up to be a very logical very practical type who despite your hopes could care less about china...and instead hope that she could move into her new home with some really cool electronics, a complete kitchen set, or an ultra luxurious bedroom set....and you'd be able to use the money saved for her to make that wish come true (after taking a couple dollars out to buy yourself tissues to cry into!). Or maybe she'll choose not to marry and instead could really use the cash to help her finish medical school so that she can become the leader of the research team that not only cures cancer but the common cold as well! You'd have helped not just her, but mankind! Ok...so I get a little carried away when I think of the possiblities of a toddler and the future, lol. Whatever you choose to do....they are very lucky little girls to have an aunt who loves them so much now that she's looking out for their future before they're even old enough to know what a future is!

Ok, I had suggested in the earlier thread miracle in Malay is keajaiban. How about naming her Kea? It would be pronounced K-ah. Doesn't work with your not wanting a hard K sound, but Kea Sarah has a nice sound to it. A Few other ideas: Sarah is Hebrew for Princess. Celeste and Leilani both mean "Heavenly". So Leilani Sarah would be Heavenly Princess. Nasya (alternate spelling Nasia) means God's Miracle. Nasya Sarah = God's Miracle Princess Lilibeth = God's Promise....so Lilibeth Sarah = God's Promised Princess Levona = Frankinsence....she was born so close to Christmas and that is part of the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus. Levona Sarah sound lovely, though Frankinsence Princess isn't quite right so you wouldn't want to use both meanings to describe her, lol. Most people don't actually know or care about the meanings of their middle names anyway. Levana was a Roman Goddess and protector of infants.

Gotta agree that the Don Aslett books are probably going to be what you're looking for....check your library. He has a ton of different books, but honestly, having read several they seem to cover just about the same information just presented in a different format. So any of them should get you off to a good start! Another favorite is Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson. It's subtitle is Art and Science of Keeping House and it really goes into some wonderful detail about WHY you should do this or that......a little more concept-y and less step by step than Don Aslett, but a wonderful read none-the-less. This one is a favorite to give as a "first house" warming gift.

This is part of that public mentality that if a child is x years old then this is exactly who/what they should be like. But reality is that we are not cookie cutter people and what is right for this child isn't the same as what is right for that child of the same exact age. I joke with my husband that I'm going to buy 100 copies of that Stepford Wives movie and force idiots we meet to watch it. Each of my children have their own talents and struggles....none worse or better, just each their own person. I have a very intelligent and logical child, and I also have another that we joke was supposed to have been a part of the 60's flower power movement. And the other kids are somewhere in between. Yet you can't put them in order by age and intelligence....it doesn't work here! Oops...off that soapbox since I'm preaching to the choir!

If it's still gnawing at you, then yes, you probably should follow your instincts and see if you can get help for this child. If the other family members choose not to speak to you that would be very very sad, but perhaps the help that might come to this child will soften their hearts toward you......or might be worth it to you if it meant the child would have a better life by getting help! :grouphug: Abuse happens everywhere, look to the Catholic Church for a prime example of someplace that you'd think should be "safe" but isn't. Public schools report abuse but the news media doesn't see any except the most serious cases as newsworthy....but homeschooling is still something of a novelty or out of the box enough for the news media to glam onto. Churches with abuse get media attention because of the sensationalism.

Welcome back! Care to share the sewing forums/boards that you enjoyed.....we seem to be sewing more and more the last couple of years because finding decent clothing for teens is almost impossible!