My husband and I really don't have much desire to travel out of the US yet. The only place I would really like to go and soon is Guatemala because my Aunt and Uncle are missionaries there and are not long for the mission field. They are getting up there in age and we want to go while there are people we know that know all about the culture. I think If we knew we had more time we wouldn't feel the need to visit for years. I did go to Guate when I was 16 for 3 months but that is it. We think the reason we don't really have a desire to travel outside the US is because we want to see as much as possible in the US before we broaden our horizons.

This too is a good answer. :001_smile:

Gosh this is a hard one. We have been through many a tough time financially, some of our own making thats for sure. On one hand anon. is so tough as the recipient because you have no way of thanking anyone. On the other hand it is nice because you know (or at least hope) it is an individual who didn't want any credit and therefore isn't going to go blab it all over. Not to say that if you do let them know you would blab it. See?? This is not even easy to think it out. lol Another good thing about anon. is you wouldn't feel indebted to the person that gave it because you wouldn't know who it was. We had money given to us once and it was anon. and the way we thought we could honor that gift was passing it on. We have given $ anon. a couple of times now to others that have needed a little help.

We are in South Bend!

Oh my that is scary! I would have been the same way. I always wonder what my kids would do. I have even gone so far as to think dh should have one of the guys who works for him (that the kiddos have never met) try this type of ploy with them for us to see what they would do.

I feel for ya! So far it is just rain here but it may snow tomorrow. :glare:

Ladies thanks for the replies. It helps to know I am not alone! hehe My Charlie boy is pretty cute isn't he? :-) I try to remind myself when we are particularly tight that we just chose to spend our money on different things. Everyone does. You (speaking about no one in particular) may spend it on new boat, I may think thats crazy but spend my money on something you (again no one in particular) may think is crazy. Again, thanks.

I read SWB response to the one thread asking if we are all cranky or if its the weather. For me its both and I will try to explain why. Please bear with me and try to see that my intention in this thread is to explain myself to ya not to try and cause division. First, it is raining here and cold (northern IN) and I heard a rumor that it may snow AGAIN tomorow. Of course I heard that from dh and he loves my reaction to hearing that we are getting snow and he may have been trying to rile me up, the stinker. :glare: My boys are cooped up and FULL of energy. Maybe they got spoiled with the last couple days of nice weather and are resenting the fact that they are cooped up but they have been fighting non stop today. I haven't had much sleep the last 3 nights for various reasons. I first read the income thread. Well we are on the very low side and have been the last 3 years. It is a struggle and challenging at times and we are trying to improve it. It is not a lack of dedication on my dh's side either. He is a driven self-employed man and I know he will be successful, but in the mean time here we sit. So I read that thread trying to be openminded and it was a stuggle at times, but all of us are in different stages and have different incomes and that is fine. Then I see some college threads. Well I myself didn't go to college and started a thread on that and then explained why. I should have also said in that thread, that at times I regretted not going. I did. Looking back everything wokred out just the way it should be but there was time I regretted not going. Then I opened up the Disney thread. Even with our lower income that is the one place we LOVE to go and we get the money together and try to go every 3 years or so. So that thread I just tried to ignore because I didn't agree with the general consensus on it. I for one allowed myself to let all of the above stew together and I got a little cranky. I admit it. As far as the income, we are happy, but sometimes when I see that others have more I let my human side take over and envy sets in. Yet for someone else looking into our lives they may see that we have more and get envious. Sooo, after all this is said I guess I just want to say, yall I'm human! And admit that YES!! I was cranky about some threads today. :glare: Please forgive me. :001_smile:

I just went back and looked. I think the top number of votes on the ratings is 6. Only 6 people voted and then less on other threads. I don't think that is enough to base it off of. Maybe that will help put it into perspective.

I think it is. ;)

I am just curious. I'll start, ME! For me it was because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, and I needed to save money until I did figure it out. Then I met dh and got married and was still thinking about going to nursing school (took a couple of years to figure out that that is what I wanted to do) but got pregnant with my first ds and then it jsut fell by the wayside.

Why? :001_smile: :bigear:

The ocean, all the smells on the boardwalk. aaahhhhhh When I was a little girl I used to sit next to my daddy on the couch and loved to smell his "Dove soap" smelling arm. My parents used to laugh about how scent crazy I was . Ahhh I miss my daddy thats for sure. Fresh cut grass. Steaks, hot dogs, and hamburgers cooking on the grill.

Thanks Jacqui I will look for that book. Anyone else have any advice too?

<snicker, snicker> ok this made me laugh because I really liked him on 24 too. :lol:

Crissy I am so very sorry for your loss. ((((hugs)))))

(hehe) did you like the build up) start making my own bread. First let me start off asking a question: I figured it up and we spend over $15 a week on various breads. In the long run will it be economical for me to be making my own? If I do decide to do this iwill be starting from scratch, pun intended. So I need experinced bread makers to tell me: 1) What I need to get started 2) What I need to maintain 3) How to's 4) Recipes and anything more you think I need to know. So I am :bigear: let the advice flow! Thanks so much!

Jesus. :001_smile:

Yes, Yes, Yes! I love this book. :iagree:

"Nobody makes a cake as tasty as a tasty cake, A TASTY Caaa-ake!" Ok just remembering my childhood in the Philly area hearing the tasty cake commercials.:001_smile:

:o My husband rehabs houses and he said he doesn't like this paint because he has never had good luck with it. He said it didn't adhere well to the walls and he always had to paint multiple coats. He just told me you might be having a problem because you painted over semi gloss. Anyway, hope it works for ya! Thats a bummer to do all that work and have a problem! :glare:

We eat a lot of Zuc in the summer. What I do is make an aluminum foil pan of sorts. make sure it has side. Cut the Zuc lengthwise in 4ths and then cut that into 2-3 inch chunks. Spread on foil and we pour teryaki sauce on them and sometimes add pads of butter you could use olive oil instead of butter too. We also have sprinkled the Zuc with lemon pepper rather than teryaki. Both are yummy.

Ahhh, that is sad. I really liked him.

Oh my gosh that would be hilarious and..........so cool!!!! :lol: OK I will have to research that dress later. If you do it I need a pic!

My whole family grew up watching 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. To this day we can all sing the songs and quote a lot of the dialogue. :)