Check out http://www.car-seat.org/ They have answers to a ton of carseat questions.

Tillamook Udderly Chocolate or Tillamook Chocolate Peanut Butter. Yum.

I'm sorry that the ER did not take your daughter's issues seriously. We'll be praying for your daughter's speedy recovery.

I'm on day 5 of the Man Cold and my head is ready to explode.

I have walked out of a movie and requested a refund because someone had little children watching who were hiding their heads and crying. I think it was one of the Saw movies as my husband is a fan of them (I spend most of the time plugging my ears and covering my eyes as I think it is just gross). It ruins my moviegoing experience but that is my problem, not the parents. We now go to movies during the 21 and over times at the theatre pubs. For me, I would never take my children to a movie like the Hangover and I honestly might shoot a few dirty looks toward any person who brought children into it, but I would not presume to tell them off. Their children, their choice. My 15 yo ds asked to go see it and I laughed my head off. He couldn't keep a straight face either as he knew just how likely it would be! And yes, I plan on going to see it!

Absolutely. It wouldn't cross my mind to challenge a book at a public library, even if I found the subject matter extremely offensive to me. I actually use banned books as a great lesson for my children in free speech and censorship. My little ones aren't quite there yet but I've had discussions about banned books with my oldest (15) and he has read some banned books that I've obtained for him. I might request reshelving if I thought something was truly too graphic for my little ones to deal with but it would have to be pretty extreme.

:iagree: I just learned the Noxema trick last year. Use it liberally and it really works. Otherwise, I've always used vinegar.

My oldest son hated getting up and was a super slow poke in the morning and he attended (and still does) PS. For the majority of his grade school years he walked and did not have to leave until 8:45ish. It was still a struggle. I had to get him out of bed by 7:00 to have him even be close to being ready. What helps for him (and me), is to jump into the shower straight from bed. By 8, he had already learned that when mom woke him up (usually singing a silly song and opening blinds, pulling covers off, tickling, whatever), he had to go straight to the shower. I also made it his responsibility to get up and get out the door on time, with reminders from me. If he didn't get out the door on time and was tardy to school, that meant he must not have gotten enough sleep so he needed to go to bed earlier the next night. His bedtime was 8 so that meant going to bed at 7. He was only tardy three times. He has been completely independent in getting himself up and going off to school without me since 6th grade. He still (at 15) knows that if he is tardy to school or fusses about getting up in the morning, that means he has to go to bed an hour earlier.

What we did with our oldest son when he was getting bullied years ago was role playing, lots and lots of role playing. We tried to think of a million different scenarios and played them out with him. He thought of scenarios and we played them out with him. We helped him be ready for anything and everything we could think of. We taught him how to decide when it was appropriate to ignore, when to use words to fight back, when to joke around to lighten the mood, when it was appropriate to involve the authorities, and when, if necessary, to use physical violence. He has never had to. We actually still do role playing even though he is 15 about how to deal with peer pressure on drugs, sex, stuff like that. We role play scenarios all the time in the car. We had a neighbor whose boys were/are bullied mercilessly at public school. The parents involved the school authorities and it just got a million times worse. It went underground, but got much worse. The bullies learned to do it sneakily. They waited until the teacher's back was turned. The majority of the kids in the school see these boys as boys to make fun of. The boys just don't know how to deal with it. I also have a friend who has tried to bully proof her son by teaching him not to EVER allow anyone to "take advantage". Unfortunately, now this boy is a bully because he perceives that everyone is out to take advantage and so takes offense at everything. She is a good mom but her child is now a huge bully. My kids and I all have a pretty high tolerance for differences in personalities but this child is no longer invited over. ETA: All of this to say that I think it is super important to teach children how to deal with bullies if there are no authorities around. There are bullies at every stage of life (who hasn't had a bully for a boss or coworker at some point) and I think it does a disservice not to teach kids how to deal with them. It is also important not to give kids a complex that everyone is out to get them!

I love http://nourishedkitchen.com/ They even have a recipe for homemade Cream of Chicken Soup. It is a traditional real food website. They are also great for people who have to avoid dairy, gluten, etc.

We recently had this happen. Our ragdoll kitty is older, a little over a year, but we hadn't gotten her spayed due to a bad reaction to anesthesia. She became an inside cat. Of course, she escaped and came back pregnant. I just could not spay her so she had her kittens. They have been such a blessing. A pain in the rear - but a blessing. We had made the decision that if we couldn't find homes for them, we would provide a home for them. Luckily she only had three. We have a home for one and as they aren't even 6 weeks, we are looking carefully for a home for the other two. We insist on knowing the people who are adopting personally, they have to sign a contract in which one of the provisions is that if they are unable to care for kitty they have to return it to us. Also, everyone has to give us a $50 deposit which we will return as soon as we get proof of spay/neuter.

I'm so sorry. :grouphug: I was diagnosed with MS last October and can understand a portion of what you are describing. Living with the brain fog, the inability to speak sometimes, the injuries I cause myself, the fatigue and the constant pain is incredibly frustrating to me and to those who love me. I love the blog post above. My husband still doesn't believe the doctors. I understand his disbelief as I've been wrongly diagnosed before but it can make things more challenging for me as he is of the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" camp. I ended up finding a counselor who specialized in counseling those with a chronic disease and she helped me work through some things. Anyway, this is to say you are heard here and we are all hugging you from a distance. Everyone needs time to be weak. Everyone needs support. We are here to support you!

We also had this experience when we called our doctor's office during the day about something. They instructed us to go straight to the ER and the ER was ready for us.

I can remember arguing with the 911 folks when my husband called them 4 years ago. I was 7 months pregnant and hemorrhaging but was certain I didn't need an ambulance. In my mind, if I needed an ambulance, that meant there was something seriously wrong with my daughter (which we already knew there was). I talked them out of coming to pick me up even though I was laying in a pool of blood. I passed out on the 10 minute car ride there and almost died. It is extremely odd how our brain works in an emergency.

Life is very interesting. We lived paycheck to paycheck for years after we made the choice for me to be home with the children. I finally learned budgeting and how to save (thank you Dave Ramsey) and we paid off our debt and saved a down payment and a large emergency fund. We lived a very frugal lifestyle. My husband's job was assured and life was grand. We signed papers on our new house last year (well below what we could afford). My husband was laid off the day AFTER we signed on the house. Awesome. We've been living off unemployment and some side jobs he could scrounge up and our emergency fund. Our insurance ran out which is horrible as I have a chronic disease that is very expensive to treat. All of that to say that we ended up starting our own business as we had no other choices and it looks like things are going to go well. We've been wanting to start our own business for years but with the economy the way it is, my husband wanted to stay in a safe job. Now, my husband can make in a week what took him a month to make before. And he has more time with us!

No for two reasons. I'm not one who believes in much woo-woo ness but I definitely wouldn't buy one if I knew about a situation like that. I've lived in a house that had a horrifically violent past that we were not aware of when we moved in and, although it sounds weird, it had a different feel to them. I don't do ghosts or psychic stuff but there was some type of bad feeling to that house. My husband and I almost divorced after that year. We moved as soon as possible and right after we moved, things went back to normal between us. It was very odd. Second reason would be resale. Expecially if the history is well known and recent, the majority of people will not even look at it.

My cats have caught colds before and then passed them around to each other. They were sneezing and snuffling for a few days, possibly even a week or two, and then they were fine. Here is a handy dandy flyer from cat care about colds and cats: http://www.catcare.com/publications/oc-register-112309.pdf I think they can have serious health issues that can be indicated by sneezing but I doubt they would all be stricken at the same time. Good luck and I hope your kitties feel better soon!

:grouphug: So sorry. I really dislike stomach bugs.

This is my oldest son's problem. We've worked and worked with him to try to clear things out but he still has a ton of issues. Never diagnosed with anything specific (except encopresis) but in the past few years, we've been trying to get him to do food elimination diets as I do believe it is a food sensitivity. His breath has always been horrific! He brushes his teeth and tongue, uses a Water Pic, flosses, and uses mouth wash 4-6 times a day. Personally, I think it would be easier for him to try to eliminate the cause rather than treat the symptom but at 15, he doesn't want to listen!

These look almost exactly like my pair! Mine are a bit more cat eye shaped but super close. And they are light and very comfortable. I don't wear glasses that often but these ones are very attractive on me. Good luck. I hate shopping for glasses more than I hate shopping for a swim suit!

I second, third and fourth all of the above suggestions. You can't go wrong at the Oregon beach or in Portland. I am a native and I still haven't hit everything I want to. We just went on a day trip to Silver Creek Falls (I live 15 minutes away) to finish up our tree studies unit. One major thing to remember about weather is that typically it is windy at the beach. In the morning, if it is decent weather, it won't be too windy but by mid-afternoon you will need to hold onto your hats. One of our favorite sayings here is that if you don't like the weather in Oregon, wait five minutes because it will change. Above all, have fun!

My aunt was a school teacher for many many years in a very small logging town. She is and has always been a huge public school proponent. She recently retired and is now doing a paper pushing type job. She no longer feels that she can do her job. She felt she could no longer teach the children, because she was so busy teaching the tests. I am in a district where all of the librarians have been cut for next year, drama and PE have been cut from middle schools, all of the assistant principals are being cut from elementary, they are shutting down 6 small schools but opening three or four very large ones. Next year, we've been told to expect at least double the cuts we are seeing this year. I'm on the good side of town so my high school child doesn't have to pass through metal detectors to get into school yet but I hear talk about that for next year. Out of the 7 high schools in my city, two of them do not have metal detectors. Out of the however many middle schools, 4 or 5 don't have them. My high schooler is in the IB program and even that program seems to be failing. I think that the teachers that know me, and many do as I've been very active with my older child's schools, respect my decision. At least I've never encountered disrespect to my face!

Quality.

I am assuming your DH was treated as well? Males and females can pass yeast infections back and forth and a male yeast infection can go undetected.

Yes and yes. I don't make a habit of it for our family but I wouldn't think about forbidding it. I live in a city where the water is somewhat safe and I think being exposed to some germs is good for kids. I'm sure my hoses are lined with all types of nasty PVC but I'm okay with my children drinking out of them a few times over the summer. I wouldn't send them outside to drink out of it every time they were thirsty though!