And of course Quiver's rolls, also from the old WTM board: Posted by Quiver0f10 on 15:28 Dec 22 In Reply to: Could one of you ladies please share the best cinnamon roll recipe (with icing, of course) you can have? :) tia posted by Pster I got it off the internet somewhere, but I don't remember where. these are fantastic! Dough: 1 T. Dry Yeast 1 Cup warm milk 1/3 C. white sugar 1/2 C. melted butter 1 tsp. salt 2 eggs 4 C. flour Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Knead into a ball. Let rise until double in size. When ready, roll out to about 1/4 inch thick. Spread with filling. Filling: 1/4 C. butter, softened 1 C. brown sugar 3 T. cinnamon Spread butter on dough evenly. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over dough evenly. Roll dough up. Slice roll into 1 inch slices. Place on a greased pan. Let rise again until doubled. bake 10 min. at 400 degrees. Icing: 1/2 C. butter, softened 1 1/2 C. powdered sugar 1 oz. cream cheese 2 T. whipping cream 1 tsp. vanilla extract pinch of salt Beat until fluffy. When rolls are hot, spread lots of icing on them. To make these the night before needed, skip the final rising step. Let rise overnight in the fridge. In the morning, bake! To make slicing easier, I use dental floss. Just slip it under, criss cross and pull and you have nice, even slices. Enjoy! Jean

Here's one that was posted on the old WTM board: Posted by nancypants on 9:14 Jul 30 Gorilla Bread 1/2 cup granulated sugar 3 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese 2 (12-ounce) cans refrigerated biscuits (10 count) 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon. In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar over low heat, stirring well; set aside. Cut the cream cheese into 20 equal cubes. Press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar. Place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the nuts into the bottom of the bundt pan. Place half of the prepared biscuits in the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, pour half of the melted butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle on 1/2 cup of nuts. Layer the remaining biscuits on top, sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar, pour the remaining butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of nuts. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Place a plate on top and invert. And another: Posted by anj on 22:27 Aug 1 Baked French Toast 1 loaf Italian bread (OR semolina is great, and so is challah) 8 ounces cream cheese 1/4 cup maple syrup 10 eggs 1 1/2 cups half and half 8 Tablespoons melted butter 1 Tablespoon vanilla cinnamon (and nutmeg if you like) to sprinkle on top 1 cup chopped pecans (optional) 1/2 cup raisins (optional) Cut bread into cubes and layer half in a buttered 13x9 inch pan. Cut the cream cheese into small pieces and scatter it across the bread. Cover with remaining cubes of bread. Mix eggs, half and half, vanilla, and syrup together. If you are adding nuts and/or raisins, sprinkle them on top of the bread cubes. Pour the liquid mixture over the bread cubes. Press down the bread cubes so that they absorb the mixture. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon to taste. You can add a bit of nutmeg as well, if you like. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

I'd say your kids are old enough at 7 & 10 to know that you don't want them eating at McDonalds. So I'd tell them that they need to thank their uncle for thinking of them.....the generic "Thank you for the gift certificate" will work. Then tell them that since your family won't be using this card that you'd like them to choose a charity to donate them. Our family often donates gifts that we have no use for to a local shelter....and the kids get to see that their gift brings a lot of happiness to someone else. We don't need to replace it for them, but if your children are upset over giving away their gift, then by all means, get them a replacement gc to somewhere you approve. I think this is very close to the regifting thread.....I think it was very thoughtful of your BIL to give them a gift.....it sounds like he's not close enough to them to have known it wasn't exactly appropriate for your family....but his heart was in the right place. Take his gift in this light and pass along his thoughtfulness to another person who can appreciate it more.

:iagree:

I'm sorry that your family treats you so poorly. Sometimes there is nothing you can do to change someone's opinion of you.....but sometimes just the acting of trying to do so will remind YOU of all the reasons they are wrong. Send them photos of your eldest's work in the state park (for that matter, how about posting them here so WE can all admire them). When your other children do something great, be sure to let the family know about it....I think homeschoolers have a tendency to not brag to those who berate their choice, perhaps believing that it just opens up the way for the berating to continue....but I think it would be very hard for Mom to continue to say homeschoolers don't amount to anything when your daughter has her art in a state park....those are probably not easy to achieve! Perhaps you can send these accomplishments by email or snail mail so that you don't have to hear the berating. But the act of showing off their work will reinforce for YOU that they're doing just fine. I'm definitely NOT an introvert, so my way of dealing with it probably wouldn't work for you, but I'd probably be throwing up all the bad things in the news that those "wise and wonderful public schoolers" are doing.......I often use those as "jokes" with my husband, I'll read him a news article and conclude with "Well, that's reason #178293 that we homeschool.". Here is a list of famous homeschoolers....some very current ones who have certainly done well for themselves. The Hive has often recommended the book Toxic People, you may want to see if your library has it. I know it's difficult to not let their comments hurt....sometimes you simply have to grow thicker skin and not allow their comments to hurt you. Be thankful that they are infrequent part of your life, I feel such sorrow for the Hive folks who have these types of people in their life everyday. Allowing them to hurt you is giving them additional power over you that they do not deserve. I've cut myself off from "family" that is domineering and mean....not over homeschooling, thankfully no one seems to think it's that horrible.....but I just don't need people who have to put others' choices down to make themselves feel better in our life. No it isn't fun to do, but you will find when they are out of your life that you're just happier...and that makes it worth it. As for not having extended family, I know that's no fun, especially when it seems like everyone is having 50 people over for CHristmas and your table has just the folks in your house.....so get out there and work to make friends that can become close enough to be better than extended family! That's hard to do if you're an introvert I'm sure, but it's probably also hard because you have some unconcious fear that they'll hurt you too....so pick homeschool families because you know they have the same heart for it as you do! :grouphug:

I think I'd be down at the college president's office demanding that they do something about it. If there were no signs on entry in a locked room that's fairly obvious that it's someone with a COLLEGE ISSUED key. Since it's more than one theft it's not a matter of your son giving a friend a key who then stole from him (unless all the students with stolen goods have a same "friend", lol). It sounds like it's time for the college to change locks on all the dorm rooms and have a little more control over who has keys. Also, use caution about reporting this on your homeowner's insurance. While not all insurance companies ding you for claims, some do it big time.........so if your deductible is higher than the value of the laptop, which I would presume it will be, then you'll have a claim against your insurance but have received no benefit. We changed insurance companies because of this practice.....we didn't realize that this ding can bite you in higher premiums next year even though you got zero out of it! It's best to use your insurance only when the claim is sufficiently higher than your deductible to make any raise in premiums worthy. It's also time for ER's college friends to start looking around at who has either a "new" computer or some extra cash!

Why not? :lol:

We have used http://www.vrbo.com on many occasions (though not for a place in Colorado).

Ok, I think this takes the cake.

Well, my family hates me when I guess what is in my present before I unwrap it. Perhaps she's miffed because you knew her next present was going to be the phone book? :lol:

:iagree: They can check into the phone number and find out whom it is registered.....AND if they deem sufficient evidence they can go further and get copies of text messages this phone received to see if it is even remotely legit. The ONLY scenario I can see being innocent is the wild coincidence that he misdialed when he was returning the other call. Seems like a legit person would double check that before calling an alternate number. Frankly....even if it turns out to be legit somehow...I'd probably have that alternate number nixed. People who need it will already know it (so she can simply say call my house), those that don't know it don't need it. The only bright spot would be that most people who would have harm in their mind aren't going to call and freak her out first. Normally scary, but somehow reassuring in this case.

Well, at least you didn't marry him....think about all the presents since then! :eek: The gift that my husband will never live down was our first CHristmas as a married couple.....jumper cables. He's improved since then.

I just told my kids about this thread....and my teenager says to me "is that how you're going to be when we have kids"? And I said, of course. Seriously....I think we should all cut and paste this thread into our online calendars for 20 years from now. And hopefully we don't see ourselves in it when we open that little time capsule!

Well, you could always send it to my daughter....she recently watched the older Star Wars movies and fell in love, lol. I agree with the others, I wouldn't tell a sensitive person that their gift wasn't appreciated. Some people can take such news, but it doesn't sound like this loving mom can, so no sense rocking that boat. I'm sure you've taught your kids to smile and say thank you for gifts they don't like, so now it's Dad's turn, lol. I would try some gentle manipulation over the next 12 months telling Mom more about things that son DOES like.....and hopefully she'll decide to change her theme for next year, but it will be because she found something new he likes, rather than knowing how much he did not like previous gifts. I guess I'm lucky....my parents and inlaws give us the same types of gifts each year....membership at various zoos, museums, science center, etc. Every year they ask what the kids will be studying next year so they know which memberships would benefit us most. It's not much of a thrill for the kids to open each year....since they know pretty much what it is....BUT...every time we use that membership during the upcoming year I remind them that Gram&Gramps made it possible. Maybe there is something similiar that you can hint to Mom about for your DH......or maybe even the popcorn-a-month club, lol.

Well my dislike of them, or more accurately, distrust of them comes through loud and clear in the statement quoted above. Twist a political issue to make it what you want people to think you are protesting...when in reality they are a Christian organization vehemently opposed to homosexual anything....same sex marriage, adoption, even their very existence. Of course, that's like homeschoolers who say that a day on the beach counts towards their physical ed credits even if the kids only suntanned, lol. Or the argument to the book store that doesn't want to give a homeschool discount on the latest Henry Potter despite the homeschooler insisting it was for literary analysis.....or the low-carb cookbook was for home ec......or the comic book was because it's all her reluctant reader will read....and the list goes on. I like the IDEA of HSLDA.....and in the early years it was much closer to the idea of representing homeschoolers in their fight to keep homeschooling legal. But over the years it has morphed into something that is barely recognizable. Thankfully, I live in a state that's homeschool requirements are to sign/notarize a single page document when you start homeschooling and never again having to deal with the state. The "educational requirements" are simply to state the subjects we are supposed to cover. That's it. Since my state is so easy I've never really looked around at alternatives, but even once in a while I hear about NHEN or something similiar. I'm on a cell phone right now so I can't look it up and still keep this page active, but if you are in a state that has a long list of requirements and you are worried about your rights you might look into alternatives like them. Be sure to investigate them thoroughly too....they may be just as politically motivated as HSLDA. Welcome to the wonderful world of homeschooling!

:iagree: Especially the part I highlighted. All that said, though, it is VERY difficult not to feel the way you do. So if you find you aren't able to change your feelings....at least try not to beat yourself up over those feelings. :grouphug:

nahh, it's ok to laugh at (or with me)....I laugh about it to....except when the mailman is on the street. Then I hide.

We've had a rather consist bedtime for many years, but I have noticed since my teen became a teen that she is getting up an hour or two later than she used to.....that is when I don't go in and get her up because we have an event, lol. I know I've read many articles about teens needing more sleep so I do try to let her sleep when we're not going somewhere. I'd say that if I let her go it's 11-12 hours.

Well, at least they stopped you, lol. I mailed a rather heavy, i.e. expensive, package to....myself. Yep....stood in line forever, had it weighed, got up off the floor after the sticker shock....scowled at the postal worker when he suggested I might want to hand deliver it.....sheesh, dude, it's two states over, I'm thinking. Next day the post office delivers said expensive package to my front doorstep. I was halfway to ballistic on him for returning it without even attempting to deliver it (after all 1 day wasn't even enough time for them to TRY to deliver it 2 states over right???). He politely ignores my rant and points to the TO: address and says he delivered it where I addressed it. I still can't meet his eyes when he rings the bell for a signature. MERRY MERRY!

Here's a pretty thorough review of Blind Side.....so everyone can judge for themselve whether this PG-13 is appropriate for their family. http://www.pluggedin.com/movies/intheaters/blindside.aspx

If you have a fondue pot....works great. Be sure to keep ALL did I say ALLLLLLLL water or grease away from them. Even too much handling by damp or greasy hands can cause them to seize. Be sure that the pan is spotless clean and dry. Or....give up on Wilton and buy Almond Bark in the baking aisle and use Wilton cake/candy colors to achieve the color you want. There are a few other brands of candy melts besides Wilton, cant' think of them off hand, but they are typically harder to find and only slightly less picky. I have never ever had Almond Bark seize on me. I heat it in the fondue pot, do what I need with it, leave the leftover in the pot covered in foil and reuse it the next day. Wilton, if you heat more than you need it's waste because it won't remelt properly. I love Wilton products....DH teases that we should have bought stock in their company decades ago when I started the cake/candy craze that never ends. I have probably 100 shaped cake pans from them. But their food products, except for their cake colors, is crap. Their meringue powder (used to make royal icing to make those beautiful hard flowers) is junk, their premade frosting is so sickening sweet that even the KIDS think it's too sweet. Skip their food, go for their pans and other hardware!

We had a friend who lost her job and was very worried about not being able to pay the rent. We knew she'd never accept money from us, so I went to the apartment manager and paid her rent for her. I asked him to keep my name secret and he agreed. She did speak of the wonder of realizing that someone had done this for her, but if she knew it was me, she never let on. It gave her a great need without humilating her or making her feel less whenever she was around us in the future. Random Act of Kindness. God Bless you for helping.

Many funeral parlors will allow you to have a memorial service in addition to the "viewing". That eliminates the need for a religious service because it's location is a church. It sounds like he had a wonderful, active, happy, and interactive life before the Altz hit him. Was there a place that in those happier days was special to him....perhaps a restaurant, or his business, or the Elks club....whatever......that might be a more appropriate place to have a celebration of his life, rather than a mourning of his death? That is what I have asked to have when my time comes. I don't want people feeling the need to pontificate my life.....it was what it was, seldom even close to perfect but wonderful to me and hopefully to those around me that mattered. So I would like all those I care about to get together and just have a party....loud music (preferably MY favorites, but hey they can throw in some others too I guess), lots and lots of yummy food, maybe some video of all the gaffs and fun I've had....but not speeches and wailing. This is a subject many people don't want to talk about but then when the time comes the loved ones around them struggle like you are now trying to decide what someone else would want. Hopefully this post will help people either talk about it, or if that's too difficult, how about writing it all down and sticking it in with your Will (you DO have a Will of course) so that someone will find it when the time comes. Telling someone that it's there is a great idea if you can do it. My heart goes out to you as you face these unpleasant tasks. May you find peace.

Some of our favorites that haven't been mentioned yet: Peter and the Starcatchers series by Ridley Pearson The Neverland series also by Ridley Pearson Anything by Andrew Clement (shorter books but very very funny) Mary Poppins series - most people don't realize there is more than 1 book...not all are on audio, but start with the audio ones for the trip and move to the non-audio for read alouds at home. Very interesting for kids who are familiar with the Disney movie to read/listen to the original book as it's QUITE different. Story of the World series by our own Susan Bauer are told in such a wonderful story-like manner that they work wonderful as a preview or review of history. Another author that everything he's recorded is excellent: Jim Weiss Most of his are short stories or a series of stories on a single CD, so you'd need quite a few of these for a long trip....but for kids who aren't used to listening to audiobooks, or with much age difference in the kids, it might be a good choice. Then if a certain story doesn't appeal to one kid you can always remind them another story is coming up soon. With as large of an age spread as you have this could be important so as not to bore any age group, lol. You might also just stop by your library and browse their audio collection (since most libraries keep the audios all together instead of integrating them in with the book-books). A hint...pick up several audios, even if you know they'd all take longer than your trip....that way if you find you really aren't enjoying something you can easily change.

Ok....my jaded DH said before we all rush off and buy Pomi tomatoes we need to make sure that they (or their peers) didn't sponsor the making of the list of no-nos! And he's right...it wouldn't be the first time that a "study" was sponsored by someone will a product to sell that will save us all! I'm with others who posted that their potatoes sprout without effort. In fact, I just dumped a half bag into the compost heap yesterday that had tentacles, as my daughter calls them, as long as her arm! (The bag got shoved to the back of the pantry and forgotten). So I'm going to say that my potatoes are safe....that's my story and I'm sticking to it! I think I might send this article off to my state politicians.....maybe they can put a provision in their health care reform to require all tomatoes be in healthy non-chemical cans. Heck, it'd be the most closely related provision wouldn't it? Awww shucks, that means it won't happen.