I am so, so sorry. There are no words. I will continue to pray for you and for Monkey.

Praying!!

No, we are not vaccinating with Gardasil. My doctor is pushing it, but we are resisting. Our reasoning is partly the rush to market and scary news reports, partly the fact that my daughter has an anxiety disorder and is terrified of needles. Even our doc admits she doesn't need to be forced through this one at this time. I declined for my son as well. I want them both to be older and the vaccine to be around longer before I would consider it. I have a close relative who did get cervical cancer from HPV, and no, this does not change my opinion. The vaccine is simply too new. Otherwise, we do fully vaccinate, pretty much on schedule.

Praying!

Look at Paleo recipes. They often avoid all of those items. Try this site (the one with the pulled pork recipe I listed before) for other recipe ideas| http://everydaypaleo.com/

What about a big crockpot of slow cooked, shredded bbq pork butt, spooned out onto hamburger buns? A big salad in one of those foil pans, some bags of chips, some liters of soda...easy-peasy! Here's my favorite recipe: http://everydaypaleo.com/beyond-easy-pulled-pork/

Prayers and hugs! I am so sorry you are going through this!

Oh, my. I cannot even imagine. I'm nauseous just reading about that! You poor thing...I am so impressed that you had the courage to do the surgery! I'll pray for your recovery.

Does a cupcake show here for you? It shows on my computer but not the iPad. If you can't see it, so sorry! The kids send you a cupcake!!

Deleted pic

The students collected around me are sixth grade and below. For me, there is no excuse! ;)

The children and the math deficient teacher say a loud chorus of, "thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" And don't worry...I won't be teaching math above middle school! ;) Off to find a virtual cupcake. If you have one, amuse the children gathered around my ipad and post!

Explain for the children and math deficient teacher, please! ;)

Ok, so I look like an idiot here, but at least we are having fun! I have six kids in the house right now and none of us can figure out this pattern! How exactly is this pattern increasing? 1, 8, 27, 64, 125.....1,728 Somehow this has blown our collective minds today! Whomever gets this answer for me gets a virtual cupcake!

Absolutely lovely girl and a beautiful slideshow! I am so sorry for your loss...I cannot even imagine. Thank you for sharing this with us!

Early bedtime and no lapse in daily responsibilities would be the consequence here. Yep, we've been through this before! I make the offender (same one every time!) continue with his regular responsibilities until he is not longer able to do so (usually happens about the time we get to math computations!). Then, it is off to his room unless he can be pleasant. If he feels badly as a result of staying up too late, he has to live with it. If he makes ME live with it due to his attitude, it's extra chores the next day. Regardless, he still has to keep up with chores and schoolwork, even if that means double work the following day. I agree that the issue isn't reading (love that he enjoys it so much!) but rather the disobedience. One time, I understand. Repeatedly, with massive whining the next day....not so much. Suck it up, buddy. Reading can happen during the day as well as at night. You made the choice, fine. The rest of us, however, do not need to live with the results! ;) I wear the mean momma badge proudly on this issue...BTDT, for sure!

Thanks! Yes, I do have a free long distance option, so the irritation was the biggest factor and, yes, I did use speaker phone ( (and obviously played on the computer while I was on never ending hold!) I just continually find it amazing that little things can be so difficult when dealing with govt. agencies! I mean, really...it was just a phone number update! Poor lady on the other end of the phone could not make her new computer system work and had to bring in several helpers and a supervisor just to get it entered. Oh, and did I mention that he did not answer his phone when they called to do the SNAP appt.? Oh, yeah, I ended up having to do that for him, too. Ah, well. I guess I didn't have anything else to do this morning (not!). :)

Total elapsed time, on long distance: 44.18 min. I'm not sure if I feel worse for myself or for the lady trying to get the phone number into the computer system! Arrggh.

I have been on the phone with The TX Health and Human Services Commission now for 38 minutes and holding. Why, do you ask? To report a phone number change for my mentally ill BIL. A simple phone number. I am tired and I need to go teach my children. That is all.

My DD lost her mind around 12 and has yet to fully regain it...I am sorry, I know this age is SO hard!! She seems to forget everything, get sloppy, eat too many carbs (I think this is a attempt to help her with mood swings...) and generally sulk around. It's part hormonal, part her issues. I do remember DS30 going through the same thing in his preadolescence, and he did grow out of it by around 15-16! To a certain degree, we have to suffer through it. To another degree, I choose to hold beloved privileges (phone, Internet, activities) hostage until I get compliance...depends on the issue and how important it is to me. As for the ABA: We have a similar problem at our house with getting THREE boys away from DD when she is having a meltdown. It's crazy...two of them have spectrum issues and one just simply talks.too.much! They drive her crazy and she will curse at them or hit them during a meltdown. Getting them to move away seemed like a punishment and a curse until the magic words, "go play Wii" came out of my mouth one day. Then, moving when told became a privilege rather than a punishment. Now, when they need to leave somewhere because of DD's meltdown, I make sure it is rewarding to them to do so. It's not always the Wii...sometimes smaller good things...but there is a reward, even if only a verbal one. They feel like the ones in control now and are rewarded accordingly. Don't know if this will work in your situation, but I HTH. I always get better results around here with a carrot rather than a stick.

I get most of my recipes from the Everyday Paleo website and cookbooks, including the chicken/cabbage slaw. She has fantastic recipes!! As for cherries, I believe they are fairly low carb. I do remember talking to you! We live in a great area for great veggies!!! You can get great organic stuff at the local farmer's markets, lots of great locations around for grassfed beef, etc. Farm fresh eggs abound here, at least in my neck of the woods!! You should do great.

It sounds like you are thinking you have to give up plant foods to eat LC. No, you don't!!! I eat more vegetables than I do anything else. I eat veggies of all sorts, but stick to the lower carb ones when I need to lose some weight. For example, almost no tubers, since potatoes, carrots, etc. can have a higher carb count. When I want to maintain my weight, I do eat those but stick to sweet potatoes and as another poster said, stay away from white things! ;). As for fruit, it is a no no when losing weight except the occasional green apple, but fine in moderation when I am maintaining. Berries are a great lower carb option...bananas find me cutting them in half! Here's an example of what I have eaten almost every day this week, since DH is out of town and I don't have time to cook every day: Breakfast: Coffee with a small amount of organic, pastured raised cream "Kitchen sink" cage free egg frittata with cut up, leftover veggies (zucchini, tomato, Spinach, bell pepper and broccoli). I cook a big one and eat it all week! Lunch: Chicken and cabbage slaw salad...includes chicken, red cabbage, sun dried tomato, Sliced almonds, diced green apple, olive oil, balsamic vinegar Dinner: Grilled zucchini and grilled bell peppers with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, meatloaf (Made with almond flour), or zucchini lasagna, or something like that. HTH!

For me, if I want to lose weight efficiently, I have to cut out ALL grains and stick to low carb veggies and meats/eggs only...healthy fats like olive oil or coconut oil, no fruit, very little cheese, occasional nuts, etc.. I've dropped 13 lbs since Christmas by doing that alone. Seems to be that my body works best on a low carb\high protein diet. I learned how to do this while on Medifast last year, and I've chosen Paleo-style eating as a general way to maintain my weight loss. Went off low carb over Christmas and immediately paid the price in terms of immediate weight gain and a feeling of general malaise. Back on the wagon now and feeling great again! Lots of great, yummy LC recipes on Paleo sites, if you are wondering. I love to cook! We are eating much, much better now than before I made these changes and my grocery bill has even gone down somewhat. You can eat a lot less when you are concentrating on high quality foods. More bang for your buck, so to speak.

That's what we ended up doing, but managed to make it to 1 1/2 years old before they figured it out!

LOL, they actually make something sort of like this! It's called a crib tent. I have twins who could launch themselves out of anything, at any time, in any place! Truly unbelievable, really...and they are still that way at 10 yrs old! For a long time, I had to use a crib tent on everything...their cribs, a pack and play next to my bed, wherever they slept. Crib tents are awesome and are the only way I got any sleep for at least their first two years!!! ETA: I just googled them and unfortunately, they are off the market. Bummer. I didn't read the safety concerns, but I'm sure there are some! For us, they were the only way our kids safely made it through infancy and early childhood!