.

Could you give some more information on this? In our area, that isn't true, but do you have information that confirms what you said for other areas/situations? I thought it only mattered if there was Medicare or Medicaid coverage or if there were coordination of benefits issues. We never give any of our SSNs out to medical offices. I've had some secretaries do a double take on forms or question it, but ultimately no one has refused us and we've never had any issues with them filing our claims. don't need it? No false sense of security here. But we still don't give out our numbers to medical offices. We had one major issue with possible identity theft because of a hospital billing system breach of security. Do I feel like I'm 100% safe because I don't give out my number? No. But I take the precautions that I can. I'm not going to leave my wi-fi unsecured. I don't let waiters walk off with my credit card. And there are still other ways for identity theft to occur even though we take these and other precautions, but I don't see a problem with taking these precautions anyway. And I don't judge or people that choose to do so either. Maybe I misjudged your tone? :001_smile: No one suggested that protecting a SSN was above getting good eye care, and the people that said they had to make the choice, gave the number.

.

..

I'd do a happy dance that she only had one problem and that she was encouraging in her attitude, not argumentative. If I mentioned Mass to some Baptist friends, I'd get a long list of problems with Catholics. As mentioned, she is simply repeating one of many misconceptions taught about Catholics. (Disclosure: I am neither, but have been learning about my own misconceptions about Catholicism.) I don't want to hijack, so I won't list all the misconceptions I used to believe, too. But to answer your "how" question ... you've gotten some good ones already and I'll just reiterate ... answer patiently. This could be a good opportunity to clear up some things. :001_smile: Understanding the frustration. But, hoping you might meet someone with those misconceptions that isn't looking to argue, and have a golden opportunity to let a Catholic speak for Catholics. (Ironically, I got the idea of "letting Catholics speak for Catholics" from a protestant hs catalog, Sonlight. That helped me realize that I'd been hearing all about Catholicism from Protestant sources. Not the best source, eh?) True. Unfortunately, the people perpetuating these ideas about Catholicism have been taught these things as if they are fact and sometimes poorly catechized people with a Catholic background back them up. Some of them sincerely believe these misconceptions and really want to "help" but time might be better spent getting the real information. :iagree: She's may have heard this misconception over and over from her church leaders, along with tips to witness to Catholics. Hoping this turns out to be a good opportunity to share the truth and that you'll be able to patiently and gently help her see through this!

I'm sorry you don't know anyone around you going through this. It is hard! We follow our allergist's recommendations. We have some severe allergies that we have to be strict about. We have some mild ones, too, though, and it's on a case-by-case basis. For example, we strictly avoid whole wheat, and that allergy has been getting less severe. One of us has a mild chicken (but not egg!) allergy and had a bad reaction to the flu shot (given before we knew about the chicken allergy). Given our history of both mild & severe allergies (and ER trips), our doctor wouldn't even consider a flu shot again for us. If you have a good allergist, I'd follow what they say. At first, I drove myself nuts restricting things that we really didn't need to worry about. And at the same time, if my doctor says we must avoid something, I take that seriously, too. We have enough that we have to absolutely restrict. If my MD says it's ok, I follow the recommendation unless I notice new symptoms or worsening of the allergy. Everyone responds differently and hopefully your doctor will guide you through this!

I pretty much agree, except we wanted private, but would have done public if we couldn't homeschool this year. I've been trying to keep it under what we paid for pre-K class. A lot of what we got may be reusable with our second, although I keep finding other stuff that I think about trying with that one instead. But I really should reuse what I can if my second has a similar learning style!

Thanks! I know someone with TS. She is an example of strength that developed through her struggles. But she was an award-winning athlete and is now a hard-working mom that I admire very much.

Good point! Cultural backgrounds are important to consider. I went to a foreign family's house for an short visit that included a spread of food. I ate a little of everything offered to me even though I was not fond of most of it. It would have been a huge insult to refuse and the family was excited to share their food with us. It was a lovely treat even though the food itself was not to my taste. And I grew up in a family where food was an expression of love or kindness. My family could think of no better way to love or give a gift that with home-cooking. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit their mad cooking skills. But as for the people that I mentioned -- definitely not German and it was definitely not a show of gratitude. The mom warned me as I cooked that they would eat a lot and while I was happy to share, I had no idea that they could eat so much. And to clarify, only the girls were bragging about their bellies -- not the mom! She seemed a little flustered about them but not sure what to do about it. She's talked about how food-fixated they are when they visit. It was a little weird to me but I know I've done some weird things, too. Going back to the OP, I would not be particularly thrilled to find out my child was eating that much at someone else's home. Given our situation, I do much prefer to have kids over to our home and we keep reasonably healthy but inexpensive stuff around for those times. We haven't had to deal with your situation, though. Hope things work out.

Some kids are just clueless. Some are greedy. A lady and her kids came over for the first time and after a full lunch, they still wanted more. I threw together some more food and they took seconds and thirds. Then, they pranced around bragging about how big their bellies were from all the food they had eaten. They are definitely not hurting for food at their own home, either. I enjoy sharing and especially giving to those who don't eat well at home, but that incident was a bit odd. I understand how you feel. It's tight for us and we like to share. We don't want to feed junk food but we can't offer fancy stuff either. I enjoy baking so I try to have cookie dough in the freezer so it's no big deal to pop in a batch. I don't know if it was mentioned, but bananas are cheaper around here than tangerines. A dollop of honey or PB to go with it sometimes makes it more appealing.

nm.

.

If you are using a Kitchen Aid, this is one of the first recipes I ever used: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/white-sandwich-bread-recipe I use several different ones now and make no-knead bread most weeks. To the left (on the webpage), under yeast breads and rolls, you can find a lot of other recipes. They have ones for whole grain, sweet breads, rolls, gluten free, and more. You can call their free hotline and troubleshoot with them, too. I've even emailed them pictures of things that didn't turn out right and they helped me. This blog entry from their site also talks about baking bread. I started out always using our mixer. I got a machine as a gift and I use it for just the dough kneading and rising, always oven-baking. I use the machine for pizza dough, jams, desserts, and bread doughs, so it is worth the space for us ... but we have to do a lot from scratch. Using a mixer is great and a lot of my recipes give instructions for that method. Enjoy whatever you end up doing! I never thought I could make bread and now I can't imagine not doing it!

I'm so sorry to hear that you are dealing with this. We had a tough time when we realized most restaurants are off limits for us. But in the end, we've been doing a lot of cooking and baking from scratch and enjoying it (well, mostly). We went through a hard adjustment time, though and it's tough when we travel. I try to think of all the money I save by not eating out and how much better I tend to eat now that I can't just grab a candy bar or so many other things. I'm sure you know to be careful with ice cream. One brand used to only list possible contaminition concerns on its website. Restaurants have so many opportunities for cross-contamination, we don't usually go to them. But we always balance out our avoidance procedures reminding ourselves that my last anaphylactic reaction happened at home. With something I made myself. I developed an allergy I had no idea about. Scary, but it comforted me to know that emergency training worked and is the best defense. I'd always been told it's a when, not an if, it happens and death is rare if you get the correct and proper treatment. Best wishes to you and your family. My poor husband had no idea what he was in for. My allergies didn't manifest until later in life and didn't require an Epi at first. It's been an adventure!

Hey, there! I think you know now from my visitor message, but I think you did your second post while I was typing mine, so I hadn't seen it yet. But I do want you to know that even in my first point I understood your point (I said I appreciated it!), and I was not accusing you of diminishing or polarizing. I thought I made it clear I realized you weren't diminishing anything, sorry I wasn't clear about that. I was trying to say that all of us (me included) need to beware of polarizing and understand that most people are either trying to relate or just don't get it, and that's ok. (I should have noted that I was done responding to your post) I especially said it b/c I saw some disagreement with your initial post and if anything I was trying to show I understood what you meant. :confused: From your first post I thought you dealt with mild allergies, but that's why I asked for clarification. Hope we are ok now!!! I definitely agree with being gentle. I think that's what I expressed when I initially said allergic parents need to be careful and not make unrealistic demands or we lose hope of getting the support most people are otherwise happy to offer until they encounter harsh or rude people. I also remind myself that I'm the one that deals with our combo of allergies every day. Even someone with severe allergies to just one thing asks me how manage to eat. In no way can I expect non-allergic people to understand or work around our allergies like we do. Because even I make mistakes with our diets. Allergy skeptics, as Joel Stein, also need to be gentle too or they might find themselves in the ER, as he did, realizing he was now one of "them". ;)

I appreciate your message. I don't think all people are trying to diminish our struggle and totally respect people who are trying to relate. It means a lot! :001_smile: Can you see, though, how it hurts when people say they have intolerances (and not all people with intolerances do this) and impose the same, alienating food restrictions out of preference? Intolerances (which I've dealt with) are no fun, I know that. But I'd take my lactose intolerance over the allergies that put me in the ER any day. That doesn't mean intolerances aren't hard. But wouldn't I rather have my children allergy-free? Yep. If someone accidentally feeds them milk (and accidents happen no matter how careful we are), they will live -- uncomfortably. If it's accidental alllergen exposure ... I don't even like to go there, because I've been there already. Also, I think anyone with allergies realizes that anaphylaxis isn't the only way allergy manifests. Did someone say that? We also know that it is rare to die from it and proper treatment is key. No need to be an alarmist, every need to be careful and prepared if you have severe allergies. Stomach pain is one symptom of a milder allergy for me. Most allergies don't get as far as anaphylaxis. There is no need to polarize. We all face struggles! Joel Stein wrote an article blaming parents for nut allergies. He wrote a stunning mea culpa for Time after an ER visit. Here's the link. I agree with you. No such thing as 100% safety. We've had three scary experiences. We had no idea about the allergies the first two times. The last anaphylactic episode was to something unrelated to the the other food allergies that we knew about and let us know that a new one had manifested. It was in my own home, food that I made for myself. We've asked for education and emergency preparation, not for eradicating peanuts from the world. (Well, peanut is actually a mild one for us, but you know what I mean!)

nm

[

:iagree: I've been using them for at least five years, maybe more for my torics. No problems so far. For some reason, I tried a different site (and I just can't think of its name!) and it was a disaster. They charged my cc but weren't planning to ship for at least two weeks, if that soon. They never notified me about a backorder and it was a hassle getting my money back. Back to 1-800-contacts! I think my optometrist was the one who told me to go through 1-800.

I was going to warn about allergies, too. But I don't know what kind of property the person lives on. We live on wooded property full of the very pollen I am most allergic to. My allergist said I'd be nuts to line dry and she was right. Then, I have the sort of allergies that made the office nurse's eyes get really big and call her to her co-workers, "You've got to come see this!" If the allergies were milder or I lived in a desert, my husband's dream of line-drying would come true!

[

Promise, this post will be shorter. I need to go eat an allergen-free lunch. :D One of many sites that I've learned from is Allergy Safe Communities. This in particular speaks to the responsibilities of both the parents and the community. The group emphasizes collaboration & reasonable expectations grounded in the reality that nothing can ever be guaranteed to be 100% allergen free, but we can all work to be safer and prepared for emergency treatment.

[ t

:iagree: It really makes it tough on people with true allergies when those who are picky or intolerant call themselves allergic. And may I say that people with allergies that make unreasonable demands of the community really hurt proper awareness, too. I didn't understand allergies 'til my family's life was changed by them. I really try to be patient with disbelieving people that need to hear about our anaphylaxis stories in order to imagine that we might possibly have a real medical issue on our hands. We used to struggle to understand, too.