Ditto the Danskos. I've worked 12hr shifts for years and they work wonders, and as a nice bonus they last forever. Danskos keep your pelvis tilted slightly forward which takes pressure off the lower back. I'd give them a try.

Ditto Paula Deen's restaurant....it was awesome. We spent a short amount of time in Savannah a few years ago and took a bus tour (one of those open-air trolley type buses) and it was a nice way to see a lot in a short amount of time. You could get on/off the bus and walk around. The squares around the city are beautiful! Enjoy!

We spend Christmas Eve with my family, but reserve Christmas Day for spending with our own immediate families. I will add that my in-laws live overseas, so if we are lucky enough to have them visit at Christmas, we'd probably spend most of the time with them, and my family would be fine with that.

Same here. :) (I'd do almost anything to avoid Black Friday shopping, though.)

Ditto what the PP said, stick with the low-tech knob crock pot. Read on-line reviews and avoid anything that cooks "hot". I also have a Hamilton Beach and it's been great so far (2+ years.)

I have a Cuisinart set (larger set) that I bought at a Williams-Sonoma outlet for $99 several years ago. It has lasted well and still looks brand new. Cooks nicely, too, but I did buy a separate nonstick skillet for eggs. My mom and dad have the Costco set that a PP mentioned. It's really nice....I get pot and pan envy when I cook at their house. :tongue_smilie:

1 hour.

When I lived in VA, we voted at the elementary school. Now we live in PA and vote at a senior living place (that has a nursing home, assisted living, independent living, etc. with a big clubhouse.) This is my least favorite place to vote. Not that I don't love the elderly, because I do.....however....the voting officials did such a poor job of managing the crush of people today, I was sure that some poor old woman was going to get knocked over and break a hip (most likely by my 5 year old.) Wheelchairs and walkers everywhere. It was chaos.

Ditto the AskPauline website, it has all the information you'd need. I found all of the samples particularly helpful when it came to portfolios, etc. Don't be turned off by PA homeschooling laws. I was very intimidated by the PA regulations, but they have not been difficult. Our evaluator is a gem and gave us a lot of helpful feedback. Our meeting with her was very low stress. The portfolio took a bit to put together, but it's a wonderful record of what we accomplished over a year's time. I'm doing a better job of stocking the portfolio as we go, shouldn't take any time at the end of the year.

:grouphug:

Glad so many fared well. We're in south-central PA and doing fine. Less water than I was planning on. We have not lost power (we rarely do.) Our sump pump failed overnight for whatever reason so we had 2 inches of water in the basement when we checked early this morning, but we had anticipated that could happen so everything was up off the floor. Not a big deal to clean it all up, thankfully. We had a generator but didn't need to use it. For some odd reason, our furnace isn't working well today, we may have to have someone come look at it...it's quite damp and chilly today!

We have both, but the playmobil toys have stood the test of time in our house....we've had many sets for 5 years that are still played with regularly. Your kids are a great age for playmobil!

Poor choice of wording, I think. Granted, I wasn't there and don't have a clue what the tone/implied meaning was. Here's how I would have taken it. I have heard similar phraseology used while at work (I'm a nurse.) While I do not have "ownership" of you while you are a patient under my care, I do have a stewardship - a rather hefty, legally binding responsibility for you at that point. In a sense, I take "ownership" of your care. That's how I would have understood it. Again, very poor choice of words.

We had chicken fajitas. Made in the oven, if you can believe it....they turned out quite tasty. (It was a pinterest recipe, as most new things are around here lately.)

I do the shopping with the kids, usually we take my mom with us and we shop together. DH almost never goes. Consequently, he can't find things in the grocery store. Ever. I'd really love to go alone...

:grouphug: I hate Mondays, too. And anytime we have a "visitor", things go crazy. Hope Tuesday is a better day!

We had Uba Tuba in our last house and loved it, now we have a lighter granite (don't know the name, it came with the house.) Kind of a tan/gold with some darker flecks. It's nice, too, and hides gunk like nothing else. I actually have to feel with my hands after I clean the granite to make sure I haven't missed anything.

We have had bamboo in both our old house and our current house....currently we have it in our bedrooms and upstairs hall. Love it. We are not easy on our floors but have very, very few scratches (we put the bamboo in 2.5 years ago and it still looks practically new.) We bought our bamboo from lumber liquidators and installed it ourselves....it worked out to be cheaper than carpet this way. I wouldn't hesitate to use it again.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

I am not a minimalist, I do have clutter in my house...but those pictures made me want to hyperventilate a little. Especially the bedrooms and the garage. And the freezers. And now I'm going to go get rid of some stuff. And thank my lucky stars that no one in this house likes dolls.

I'm so, so sorry you are having to go through this. I agree with PP and removing the "sometimes." And keep requesting a PICC....nobody should have to be stuck this many times in such a short period of time. Maybe they would consider the zofran infusion pump for you? I know a few people that have had good results (i.e. more consistent relief) with it. I think you should take your excellent and concise synopsis to your OB and then puke on her shoes. :grouphug:

Ugh, because OBs routinely put in IVs.....sheesh. I would have one of the infusion nurses (or whoever puts in your IVs) call your OB directly for an order for a PICC next time it's an issue. Let them try to go to bat for you, maybe your doc will listen? People have PICCs at home all the time and do fine, I can't see why you would be an exception. I'm so sorry you are going through this, I hope you can get the relief you need soon!

This is the best.thread.ever. I have a lot of vices. And now I may have to add some new ones. Right now, I'm pregnant, which means that everything in food land is a little weird. I do love (LOVE) Biscoff spread. Like the cookies, only smooth like peanut butter.

The more samples, the better....and see if you can have the samples to look at at home, that way you can better understand color differences with lighting, etc. We have maple cabinets and I'm happy with them.

Hate mine. I'm forever having things fall off and get lost/broken. In our old house, our corner cabinet had a fixed shelf that didn't quite fill the entire space.....I used the shelf area for things I used less often, and in front of it (the tall area) I put things like the blender, mixer, etc. I liked that option better.