I love liver! Am I the only one? I loved it when I was pregnant and the "What to Eat When You're Expecting" book recommended eating liver at least once or twice a week for the iron & protein. I made my family suffer so that I could get my liver fix. ("It's for the baby!") :lol:

My parents were southerners, and I was raised calling all adults Sir or Ma'am (especially my own parents - woe to the child in our house that responded "Yeah?" instead of "Yes Ma'am?" when called!)... but when I went to college I discovered I was the only one my age that did that! :lol: When I had kids I didn't make them call me or their dad ma'am and sir, but I did teach them to respond to other adults that way. It's just polite, IMO. I've never had anyone be annoyed by it (we live on the West Coast now); more often people tell me how unusually polite my kids are! :)

I scramble up some eggs nearly every morning. We discovered early on that it's just as fast as pouring/eating a bowl of cereal, and has way more protein! My daughter and I love to sautee some spinach with our eggs too (even more healthy - and super low-calorie). My son makes a face at that, but he's happy to have some onions and peppers with his. :) We chop up a pile of veggies once a week so there's always something to throw in with the scramble. Sometimes I'll add some sliced sausage as well. It's fast and easy, and the house smells great. On weekends I'll often make a batch of pancakes or waffles (from scratch) and freeze the leftovers. We'll heat them up in the microwave or toaster if we get tired of eggs.

I'm happy with apricot scrub a few times a week, and Aveeno daily moisturizer (SPF 30), which is a great moisturizer and sunscreen and doesn't cause breakouts. :)

Thanks, I will definitely ask about gluten. Because of his constipation issues, we've been having him eat a lot of whole grain foods (whole wheat bread & crackers, etc.) to get more fiber into him, so if he has a gluten issue that would definitely cause a problem. His gastroenterologist wants to give him an endoscopy next week to rule out ulcers and see if there is evidence of allergy. :( Poor kid!

I took my car in for routine servicing yesterday and it turned into $600 in repairs, and today my husband reminds me that he won't get paid if the government shuts down. Oh boy. :rolleyes: I also have a $470 college tuition payment due in a week for my oldest daughter. Gahhh!!

My middle daughter was very much like this. I found that ignoring her was the best approach. I was afraid that paying too much attention to her would just reward the behavior ... but at the same time, I didn't want to be harsh or punish her when she was obviously so upset. Benign neglect turned out to be the right approach for us. FWIW, mine is now 17 and she's still absurdly over-emotional. I often have to walk away and leave her to her histrionics. I hope yours grows out of it! :)

What's wrong with Quicken on a Mac? I've used it for years. (I've never used it on a PC, though, so I don't know how it compares.)

Thanks ... they did put him on an inhaler for awhile, but it didn't seem to help. We haven't tried allergy medication, though. The pulmonary guy that we're seeing next week is also an allergy specialist, so I'll ask him about it. It's just strange because he's never had any allergies in his life, and this cough started with a respiratory infection - it just won't go away! That's good to know. His pediatrician couldn't hear any wheezing, so she didn't think it was asthma, but maybe the pulmonary specialist will have more insight.

Thanks for all the suggestions ... he's vaccinated against whooping cough, and the cough he currently has is a dry cough. It gets a bit better if he sucks on cough drops constantly. The pediatrician thinks it's caused by irritation, which is basically caused by coughing! :rolleyes: We're seeing a pulmonary specialist next week ... maybe he'll have a better idea. They did a chest x-ray and ran a bunch of blood tests when he was at his sickest, and ruled out most bacterial infectious diseases. Everyone seemed to agree the initial illness was a bad virus (it didn't respond to antibiotics, which seems to reinforce that). They also tried prednisone - no effect. The gastro guy felt that reflux could be causing the continued cough, and put him on daily doses of the PPI drug Nexium. It has had no effect that I can see. (He's been taking it for two or three weeks now.) He doesn't have post nasal drip or allergies. He doesn't have anything anymore, really - no fever or symptoms other than incessant dry coughing, and vomiting which is not prompted by the cough. Sometimes he dry heaves when he first gets up in the morning, with no food in his system at all, so the vomiting is not always caused by food, either. He's been taking stool softeners along with Miralax for several weeks now, and I try to get him to eat fruits and veggies and high fiber grains (whole wheat bread, crackers, and cereal) but there are so few foods he finds appetizing after all the vomiting that it's hard to get him to eat anything at all. :( I've had a few people recommend acidophilus and probiotics - I think we're definitely going to try that. He has been eating yogurt (the high-fiber Activia sort, which is supposed to aid digestion) but I'm sure the other stuff couldn't hurt. Thanks ... any other ideas are still welcome!

Dyed-in-the-wool liberal, spent my early adulthood in the People's Republic of Massachusetts, active in numerous progressive causes. :) Former homeschooler. Still liberal, though.

That's exactly where we are! My husband makes well over $100K/year and we own our home (a modest place on less than 1/4 acre). Looking at the income scales, I'm supposedly upper class??!! :rofl: But I shop at thrift shops and buy food in bulk because I have three kids, two of whom are in college and we don't qualify for enough financial aid to make their tuition affordable. It's hard enough just to cover the regular bills, mortgage, and property taxes - the college costs are killing us. :( Now that sounds much closer to reality. We live in Santa Barbara County, which has a higher cost of living and higher incomes than many other areas (probably not quite as high as the Bay Area, though).

Hi everybody, I'm hoping someone out there might have some useful experience for me. My 12 year old son (13 next month) has been sick for almost three months now, and I'm about at the end of my rope! His initial illness was a nasty respiratory virus. He had a horrible wet cough and ran a high fever. I was afraid it might be pneumonia, but he had an X-ray at the hospital and they said it was just a bad bronchitis. They prescribed Promethazine cough syrup, with codeine, which at least allowed him to sleep at night. Two weeks later he was mostly over the congestion, but still coughing unless he was drugged practically unconscious with cough syrup. At that point, he started running a fever again, and throwing up. The pediatrician put him on anti-nausea medication, which didn't help. He continued to throw up daily for almost a month. The cough continued as badly as before. After a month of this, they sent us to a pediatric gastroenterologist, who took an X-ray of his abdomen and said he was SEVERELY constipated - probably from the Promethazine/Codeine cough syrup that he'd been taking every day. He put him on daily laxatives and said as soon as his bowel movements were regulated he should stop throwing up. Three weeks later, on practically an all-fruit smoothie diet and triple doses of Miralax daily, he still wasn't pooping! He would occasionally go a few days without throwing up, but the constipation didn't appear to be getting any better. The doctor finally prescribed a GoLytely colon cleansing, which is what they give to people before a colonoscopy to completely clear out the bowels. That was yesterday. The poor kid drank a gallon of that nasty stuff, spent six hours on the toilet, and apparently completely cleaned out his system. Today he ate two pieces of toast, and promptly threw up! :( :( :( I'm waiting for a call back from the gastro doc. I'm at the end of my rope. We also have an appointment with a pulmonary specialist to try to get the horrible cough under control (which continues unabated now that he's not taking the codeine cough syrup). Any ideas? He has no allergies, he's always been active, healthy, and happy. At this point he's been almost completely homebound for months, and it's driving us all nuts. If anyone has had a similar problem and found a solution, I'd be very happy to hear what you did.

Your tastes are almost exactly like mine ... except that I also like Stargate and Doctor Who. :) I'm embarrassed to admit how much I liked Roswell. I don't know if it's available on NetFlix, but the miniseries Sherlock is awesome (a modern Sherlock Holmes, set in the present day). Have you tried Fringe? It's a bit gross, but has great stories and characters - very reminiscent of the X-Files. Bones is a lot of fun. Not overly serious, but extremely entertaining (I think I like David Boreanaz more in this one than in Angel). If you like Leverage, I'd also suggest White Collar - fun caper show, with a similar feel. Good luck!

I heartily second the recommendations for Jim Weiss' Greek Myths CDs. :) My kids listened to them non-stop - Greek Myths, She and He, and Heroes in Mythology. I'd also recommend Odds Bodkins' audio version of "The Odyssey" - it's amazing! Possibly a bit intense for younger kids, though. My 8 y.o. and 10 y.o. adored it. http://www.oddsbodkin.com/store/page.php?page=dd_theodyssey

I considered myself a Christian through college, but after awhile I realized that I was going to church out of habit (and because I really liked the parish & singing in the choir), but I actually didn't believe it anymore. When I married my husband (a devout "apatheist" - :D) in my late 20s, I pretty much admitted out loud for the first time that I really didn't believe in God. I still go to church, though. Weird, huh? :) We have such a great one here - lots of community charity events, free music concerts, movie nights ... I absolutely love singing in the choir, and we have the only gay pastor in this entire very conservative area. :lol: It's worth it just to be able to mention our priest and his husband when people ask what church I attend. :thumbup1:

My girls loved everything in "Catch Me and Kiss Me and Say it Again" by Clyde Watson. The poems sound like old-fashioned nursery rhymes, but they were actually written in the 1970s. It's a lovely book, unfortunately out of print now, but you can find it at the library or from secondhand book dealers. http://www.amazon.com/Catch-Me-Kiss-Clyde-Watson/dp/0399209549

We used Reader Rabbit and really liked it. My daughter learned a lot, and it's very entertaining. They have different levels for Preschool, K, and early elementary - if the first ones are too easy, you can try the more advanced software. I seem to recall Jumpstart Phonics being pretty dull when we looked at it, but I haven't seen any recent versions.

I remembered another great movie - "The Secret of Kells" (nominated for an Academy Award for best animated film a year or two ago). Wonderful story about the monks protecting the beautiful illuminated manuscript of the Book of Kells. There's a children's coloring book of the Book of Kells as well. :)

RenFaires are a blast when you're studying Medieval times! Google "Renaissance Fair" and see if there are any in your area. :) I second the Jim Weiss audio stories - my kids all loved them. There are DVDs that go along with Macauley's "Castle" and "Cathedral" also. My 9-year-old son particularly enjoyed "Castle," which combined an animated story with documentary footage.

We're secular homeschoolers, and we used "Latin Road" and loved it. There's nothing particularly religious about it, aside from the vocabulary including many religious words. And it REALLY teaches grammar! :)

Check out Leverage! It's great! If you like White Collar, I'm sure you'll love it ... it's a caper/crime show, with great characters. I'm also a huge Doctor Who, Torchwood, Buffy, and Angel fan ... if you like Firefly you should try them! My hubby and son enjoy Castle ... I find it a tad too fluffy, but Nathan is cute. :D I call it "Murder, He Wrote."

I totally second "How to Train Your Dragon"! What a great film!

Singapore Math Rod & Staff English Vocabulary From Classical Roots

Honestly, for me it's the Teacher's Edition of Rod & Staff English Grade 8. I just sold all my R&S books, but I kept that one because it's an absolutely comprehensive step-by-step guide to all things grammatical (including in-depth diagramming). I doubt I will ever need another book on English grammar! :)