We back up to the expressway. We didn't really notice it when we moved in. We started noticing it when our kids couldn't hear us in the backyard. About 12 years later. A few other things that we must have: first floor master (or ranch) Laundry room on the main floor Nice size front porch and a lot of what other people have already stated; 4 bedrooms, basement, yard, NO HOA, 2 car garage, and a nicely equipped kitchen.

I used unjury after my bariatric surgery. It was doable. I don't remember any icky taste. The one other thing that I drank was Isopure. They come in different flavors, sort of like kool-aide. SORT of.

We are doing the 15 Day Reboot. While I like the idea, I am not good at preparing meals at mealtime. I cook mostly on the weekends, in bulk. I know I can't fix the juices too far ahead of time, but I am wondering about the salads and soups. How long will a salad last in the refrigerator? Most of these things cannot be made weeks in advanced, frozen, and reheated in the microwave. THAT I do know. This is going to be quite a challenge for me. UGH Well, that and going no dairy.

I was concerned about being cornered about homeschooling. With several teachers questioning my reasons and telling me what a mistake I am making. In the end, the party ended up like high school. We knew one other family. And DH and I sat and watched the kids swim. NOBODY spoke to us, aside from the other family. But they knew LOTS of people. So DH and I sat alone for 90% of the time.

Does one of your kids play drums? :D

The guys on our street talk sports and cars. One of our neighbors just took a trip to Europe, so I'm hoping we can talk about that. A lot. :).

And DH doesn't understand why I'm stressed. It's the family down the street, and they have a big 4th party every year. So I figure she'll have some friends from work there too. Guys don't talk about kids so he has no clue. And to top it, their kids are the neighborhood whiners. As in, yesterdsy, her 4 yr old daughter was in the street screaming at the other kids (including her 2older brother) that they were all losers, stupid etc. And she' telling mommy. I asked my girls what happened and they had no clue. But said she always acts that way... I'm sure my two girls act like freaks to her.

I was going to post asking if he was constipated. Constipation is what caused my dd UTI. She never cried, but had no symptoms other than a temp of 103. She was always constipated and it pressed against her bladder and kept a pool of urine up in the top, or something like that. I, on the other hand, had ONE UTI in my life, never had a fever with it, but had severe pain and blood. It looked like it was my time. But no fever. I'm glad your little guy doesn't have a UTI. They are horrible! After our experience, we started giving DD about 2 oz of prune juice every night with her bedtime bottle. Watch the fiber content though. One time we bought a 'store brand' juice. We discovered that the fiber content was HALF. And we could tell....

DH and I don't wear much white clothing. The girls do, but it doesn't last long enough to get dingy (they out grow it). We use to sort everything, but after reading this, I'm thinking I really don't need to be wasting all that time. My clothes will probably be sorted by hang-up loads and don't care loads. We have a washer dryer combo. I put the clothes in and about 3-4 hours later, it's FINISHED. I love it. I put jeans in before bedtime and they are ready to wear in the morning. I didn't think about delicates. Bathing suits, dry-fit, and certain lingerie items do get washed alone. Sheets get washed by themselves, but they are a whole load anyway. And clothes that don't get dried (microfleece, delicates) are washed alone. But by color, I do NOT sort.

I have 2 friends whose sons had this surgery. I would HIGHLY recommend that you follow the doctor's orders to a Tee. One boy was very humble and let his mom help him shower, etc. One was unable to let his mom help him with that stuff. The first boy healed MUCH quicker. Also, don't be surprised if the surgery takes longer. I don't remember how long it took, but I believe it took longer than that. I will pray for you and your family. The boys were both much better after their surgery.

Make sure you send them a copy of the college acceptance letters too :tongue_smilie:

You are right when you say the are kids and this stuff happens, but I CAN believe an attribution to food allergies/sensitivities. My daughter reacts to Red & Yellow food coloring VIOLENTLY. She has only hurt herself so far, but that's only because she is isolated when she has an artificial color meltdown. She bangs her head on the (hardwood) floor, chews on her headboard (also wood) throws things (not balls) and tears things up; slicing with scissors, ripping, or however she can destroy it. Without red and yellow food coloring, she talks about tearing things up, but the red pushes her over the edge.

I have done something completely different this year. I schedule us for 4 days a week (the kids have 24 weeks of co-op one day a week) and I have downloaded this semester planner from Donna Young. I printed it out on color coded paper (green for Pip, orange for Zip), for each subject. Then I went through each work/textbook and wrote down the assignments for each day for the next year. Yes, we are going through this summer and next. We are a bit behind because of some medical/psychological issues and treatments. It took a full afternoon, probably the better part of 4 of 5 hours. BUT it has been So Much easier to write up their weekly schedule.

I was the same way this last week. But I think it shows that we are human. I normally don't let the kids play in the house during the day. But this past week the temps were SO. HOT. And they can't swim at neighbor's house because neighbor's parents aren't home. So, I let them play inside. I think what you did was good parenting. It was hot and 'the brothers' were at the other house. And it didn't really affect you adversely, because you weren't entertaining them. jmho ;)

I'm sure I'll get in trouble for this one, but Pilgrim's Progress, original version.

Ah, you mean no SHAMpoo! Sorry, but I was a bit confused as to what a BM had to do with your hair. :001_huh:

This is what we use. I really like it.

Our daughter found bones behind the neighbor's shed. And dug them up. Our neighbor was horrified. Her son and the girls brought them into the kitchen while I was cooking and started laying them out on the floor, sort of re-assembling the skeleton. I was stirring the soup and pointing with my toe and talking about different things. They neighbor came in and was getting ready to tell her son to get those bones out of the house but then saw what was going on and laughed. She looked at me and said 'Science Project?' I nodded, she had a smile on her face, but shook her head and went back home. I know she was thinking 'NEVER in my kitchen!' But she wasn't upset or weirded out.

Our kids have relatively unlimited access to the screen, (time-wise, not content-wise!) The past few days, with the temps in the upper 90's+ I've had no problem letting them play the wii most of the day. They did go out in the morning for a short bit, but it was already uncomfortable. usually though, they play outside in the summer. They will watch TV at breakfast and lunch. Same goes with their games. When I tell them it's time to turn it off, I seldom get any whining. I will let them finish what they are watching or get to a stopping point on their game.

Nothing. Our power was out and it was 100 degrees, so I spent the day laying around trying to stay cool. I could have been VERY productive a) if it hadn't been so hot, and b)if the power had been on. I needed to do stuff in the basement (which was probably very cool) but I had no lights. We were without power for about 24 hours. Fortunately, we have a generator so we didn't lose any food, and we could keep the games, nooks, ipads and phones charged. Priorities! ;) It actually was good, because the kids were BORED. The pool was FULL of carp from the trees, and the filter was full. But we couldn't run it, so they couldn't swim. And it was HOT and HUMID. So they didn't want to spend much time outside.

SPAM!! Thanks for all the ideas and recipes for salads. I am not at all creative when it comes to salads, and mine tend to be very boring. I'm anxious to try some of these! We are also looking into juicing. We have a juicer that we inherited, and we just started watching fat, sick and nearly dead, on Netflix. I don't think we're going to do the juice fast, but at least drink 2 or 3 glasses a day, just to get some nutrients into our bodies and hopefully, get some health & energy back into our lives!

:iagree: Your kids are still young. I would brush over it, keep it VERY general. I know in my case, my oldest (almost 11) would STILL have nightmares if we went into great detail. She can't get the 'then' and 'now' concept separated. Just as she can't get the fact that the war is 'over there' and not 'here'. Especially if they understand that they are Jewish, it might really terrify them. You might just mention it as you discuss WWII, and just say that Hitler was a bad man who wanted to kill a lot of people. (Don't mention that he was after the Jewish) But he's dead now. (At least that's the theory I believe ;) )

I've toyed with juicing. We have a juicer that we inherited from MIL. We're both just not sure what to do with it. I want to eat healthy, lose weight and feel good. I have a friend who recently switched to vegan and she looks and feels great. But when she tells me some of the stuff she's eating, I just want to barf. I think I have some serious issues to work through here, don't I?

:iagree: AND we want to move in the next year. The thought of packing up all this carp just makes me shudder.

one hates most green foods, fruits and vegetables? I know some people that crave healthy foods. I don't. I never have. If I'm craving something, it's usually chocolate and creamy. Salads do NOTHING for me. And I don't like most vegetables. I'll eat corn on the cob, but seriously, I do not like squash, peppers (red, green or yellow bell peppers AND hot peppers), lettuce, root veggies, and most everything in the produce dept. fruits aren't much better. Berries, to me are sour. Apples are ok, but I really do get tired of them, same as bananas. I don't like citrus, and I can eat a few grapes and peaches, but again, I get tired of them. I do NOT like pineapples and oranges, and kiwi are too slimey. Ideas or suggestions, PLEASE!!!