there's more lawn than driveway and sidewalk.. I vote hating mowing the lawn more. Plus the mowing season lasts longer than the snowy weather season here where I live.

I'm confused... The OP said the boy had not intented to discriminate.. He was just a stupid, clueless teen. How does what he did fall under #2 & #3? (esp. 3)?? I'm honestly confused.

The protocol would be to call and say your family is sick and you cannot come. Even doing this after the fact to explain your unexpected absence is nice. I think it's rude to just not show up and never give an explanation. This is what happened to us. And, I've talked with this person 2-3x since the wedding. Certainly people understand illness and other unexpected things...but letting the hosts know is polite.

I think that since the caterers had already been told a head count this is what I would do. That said, at my dd's wedding, we had people RSVP that they were coming and they didn't show up! Never said anything about why...just didn't come. I was not happy.. Catering a wedding is not cheap. We still had people who never RSVP'd that showed up to the wedding too, and the caterer made more because apparently that happens more often than not. Also, there were a couple people who brought a "date" even though their invitation didn't state +1. RSVP is no guarantee.

same problem here. If you find a good source please let us know!

I haven't been to FB yet... so thanks for the heads up.

I've very overdue to be called too and I'd welcome it as well. I hope you get something interesting

I second these... esp. the Cadfael & Lord Peter Wimsey (Sayers) series. I'll add: Margery Allingham's Campion series - along the same lines as Wimsey. I also recently enjoyed Gil Cunningham series by Pat McIntosh and the Gregor Demarkian series by Jane Haddam.

Yup... allergies suck. I go between feeling sick and sleepy all the time during allergy season.

While I'm impressed that she followed through, I think the kids were way too young to make that kind of threat/decision -- unless of course her name was The Great Santini :huh: Maybe not the world's worst mom - but not cool in my book. But, I see way too many parents making threats that they never seem to follow through... I think a childhood of "i can do whatever I want an mom won't punish me" is just as bad for a kid.

wow, that's great.. how do you encourage that? And, I agree. I about being willing to engage in IRL as well as on FB.

me too. and it is hard to figure out what is best.

I love learning new things too... and they don't all necessarily stick, but I'm always glad I've learned it. So I'd say go for it if you have the time to pursue it.

Cake - definitely. Chips, pretzels, dips for them. crockpot with meatballs a bbq sauce stuff. Fruit either sliced or as a fruit salad. That's all I can remember, but I know we served more. Any kind of appetizer type thing is good. And of course, drinks.

But, since GSD are highly trainable can you look into training her not to go crazy on the tires? We have a GSD and she's the same...sweet, mellow, lovable, long suffering with toddlers... but she sees another dog and goes bonkers. We're working with her (only had her 3 months) and it's slowly getting better.

So funny that you are asking this as I was talking about this very thing with a friend at church this morning. :) Except for a very, very few occasions, I cannot sleep in anymore. It makes me sad.

I've been to the one in Bethesda but it's been a few years. I can't remember which ones I got. I'm not a big cupcake fan and they seemed a bit pricy. But still good. I went with a friend who was really into them...so I just enjoyed her enthusiasm.

I hope your health stays steady or improves and the baby stays put as long as he needs to be.

how frustrating.

Can a 13yr old use such a credit card? I'm not sure, but that may be an issue to look into. Otherwise, I think either is fine. And the extra small gifts are a nice touch.

I agree with everything.... esp. Ellie. She was well written and the actress's performance was outstanding.

We also like to have our mechanic look it over before buying, if possible. Some people don't want to do it and it is an extra hassle, but it does help a bit. Also, for the title - make sure it doesn't have a lien on it. There should be some kind of box the indicate if there's a loan and who the loan is to (bank usually)... it should say "no lien" in the box...otherwise they cannot sell the car.

thanks for linking.

We applied this year via FAST. Although I know they have to ask these questions I found it very intrusive. If you've ever done FAFSA it's quite similar. The school also wanted 2 prior year's worth of tax records. We didn't get the aid... I'm bummed because the school is very expensive. Our son will be in 8th next year and we won't be repeating the application process...it's just too intrusive and I doubt it will do any good. We're fortunate that we'll have 2 grad. from college this year so no more expenses for that... But, we plan to find another school for our son for high school. If they'd have thrown us a bone I probably would have considered staying, but not after going through the process, jumping through their hoops, and then being rejected. No way.

I didn't like it as much either. I thought the courtroom drama portion was the weakest. I wonder where if they're planning another season because it seemed to offer complete closure for everyone. SPOILER ALERT: Don't read if you haven't finished the 2nd season. So I have questions about British law/court procedures. It seemed like every darn week there was a new revelation on the stand! I found it very annoying and so sloppy on the lawyers' parts, but I'm only familiar with UK law as it has been portrayed on TV :) . In America lawyers for both sides see all evidence and statements by witnesses prior to going to a jury. There are really no surprises...Everybody knows what evidence is being provided and there's no... "oh look what I found last night in this pile of papers, that no one else knows about, that proves you were paid off by your sister...." And, there are no confessions on the stand. It seemed like the lawyers were constantly caught off guard by what their own witnesses were saying or confessing on the stand. Does that happen regularly in the UK or just done to make more drama like on US tv? I'm glad they resolved the earlier case that haunted Tennent's character. It was equally a sad outcome..no winners and the deaths were just as sad and senseless as the first one.