I vote test. Can't hurt, right? And isn't the wait just AGONIZING? If tests are too much $$, get a dollar store test. Or five. I love dollar store tests :D or amazon tests in bulk :lol:

I love my lodge cast iron pans. I have a wok and a flat griddle, and I'm in the process of trying to get DH to buy me a saucepan :D I've heard with cast iron that, if you season it badly, you can remove the seasoning, but I've never tried...

http://football.epicsports.com/prod/25313/fisher-youth-football-tackle-sleds-w-man-pads.html pretty expensive, but it might get you started in your search.

I grew up with non-practicing parents/aunts/uncles, but with practicing (Christian) grandparents. I do believe in the Bible, though what turned me off of Christianity was all of the inconsistencies and contradictions, both in the bible, and in every priest/pastor/etc. I have met. I do not believe in blind faith. I found Islam and its clarity and preserved nature. It is the same religion that I grew up thinking that I was following (i.e. Abrahamic monotheism). That the Qur'an hasn't been corrupted from the original, and that it is still painstakingly preserved in it's original state, both through the written and spoken word. It confirms what the Bible and Torah and Psalms brought. There is no such thing as original sin nor is there a "way out" for anyone who does sin, except for by repenting sincerely to God alone. We are told that every person will be accountable for their actions.

:iagree: DH, 3YODS, and myself have a 6 person Coleman tent. It fits a queen size air mattress(that doesn't seem to fit as many people as our queen size bed at home, since you fall off the edge if you get too close to it) with extra room for one adult to comfortably sleep on the floor + suitcases, AND you can stand up in it!

We're Muslim. A lot of our congregation takes month-long vacations over summer break, or 2+ week vacations over winter break. BUT, I find that attendance really picks up in the summer(independent of when Ramadan falls). Mainly because our main weekly service/sermon is on Friday during the school day, and many women/girls either teach in schools or attend high school/middle school. I think the men all come regardless of time of the year, since attendance is a religious obligation for them, though, if the friday happens on a work vacation, attendance will increase since the men(and the women who work) will be attending the masjid closest to them, and we have a lot of muslims in our community. Most of the jobs are in other cities, so the men will usually attend masjids in those cities on working days. And then, in Ramadan, we get huge numbers, no matter what time of the year it is :D

I'm pretty sure swim diapers don't really make a difference re: pee in the pool. I always thought their use is in the poo containment :D

And sometimes, there's a fine line between agressive behavior and wild behavior. Sometimes, my DS hurts someone or breaks something and he doesn't mean to hurt them, he's just "lost control" of his body. But no matter what the behavior is, something needs to be said to the boy. Either to calm down for a bit so he can control himself, or to be nice(in the case that he was actually acting aggression). To add, yeah, I definitely would have (and actually have) said something(to the child) whether it was my kid or someone else's kid (friend or stranger).

My 3 year old DS is like your friend's kid. My DS is so energetic that it's hard for me to leave the house with him because he will run away from me and right into the street. Last night, he ran through our religious center's parking lot, dashing through the cars, me chasing him. He's hard to catch, and doesn't allow me to hold him or his hand most of the time. I find that he acts up more when he hasn't eaten well or is tired (and definitely if he has just been hanging out with "bad kids"), but I recognize that it's my job to make sure he either eats well/gets a nap/stays away from bad influences OR, I keep him away from decent people. So we either stay home or we do "forced" nap time. I also find that it is really really helpful if I(or DH!) take him to a big empty park or field and let him run wild in circles until he decides he wants to go home(or he gets so tired and cranky that you can tell it's naptime again) It's hard being that mom. Did the boy's mom say or do anything when he was acting aggressively towards your toddler? If it were my DS, he would get a stern talking to and some time and space in his room to cool down, along with emphasis on how his actions hurt the toddler(emotionally and physically). Suggest to the mom that she tries taking her son out to a field every day for some running time. Baseball diamonds are my favorite since they're like huge cages, lol.

http://blog.skylighter.com/fireworks/2008/11/how-to-make-chinese-sky-lanterns.html

I became muslim when I was young. My parents were NOT ok with it. In high school, I used to ditch on eid, and have a friend take me to eid prayer ;) - I have a three year old, and during ramadan we tried to make decorations, but it hasn't happened. I'd like to make a paper chain, and DS would enjoy that, so maybe we'll try to do that this week. Eid cookies are on our agenda, but since it hasn't happened in years past, I don't know if it will. We made a grand total of one ramadan decoration this year, and it was more of an art project that I hung on the wall. Last year, I cut out a bunch of construction paper stars, we decorated them with glitter, crayon, and paint, and hung them from the ceiling from pieces of thread. They're still up :D I'd SO love to get some ramadan/eid/hajj/eid lights, but there are no funds for that right now. I especially like the idea of solar outdoor lighting for our balcony(we live in an apartment). Last year, I wanted to try to find christmas lights on clearance, but since it wasn't eid, I had no motivation to actually do that, lol! For eid presents this year, I also went to goodwill and actually bought a lot of stuff (I had a coupon) Mostly it consisted of necessary clothing for the little one and DH. I bought some extras for myself since I know DH wont get me anything. I also got a bunch of games and a couple of books. I got a couple of new things for DS, and I am in the middle of sewing him a couple of toys (this kid is OBSESSED with pirates and superheros, so he's getting an eyepatch and a cape inshallah) It was important to me that he gets to open a lot of presents this year, since he JUST had a birthday, and although we don't celebrate birthdays, my parents were inundating him with gifts to the point where every present is a "birthday present" and all cakes are "birthday cake." So I'm trying to reinforce eid as being our holiday. I've had a pile of eid presents out since I wrapped them a week ago, and the morning that DS saw them, he SO wanted to open them. I'm actually proud that he hasn't yet :D He called them birthday presents, but then I corrected him that they were eid presents. He was so intrigued! Hopefully, we will also have eid cake! With candles! (not quite sure of what KIND of candles to use though. I would like to get individual letter candles that read eid mubarak, but those would be soooo expensive. I'm also considering using number candles for the year, or maybe random shaped candles? we have some star candles) We got a free entertainment book for spending so much at goodwill, so I'm hoping to add in an experience from there (minigolf?) for eid. We live in the middle of a huge community, and so far our plan for eid day consists of eating something sweet, going for eid prayer, going home and talking to the inlaws on skype and opening presents, then going to someone's house, then going to someone else's house. The neighboring city is having their eid carnival the week after eid, and I'm considering taking DS to that since we could also factor in the "city school bus" ride that he wants so desperately to go on. (Our city doesn't have public transport). ETA: we're also planning on starting our eid celebrations at maghrib time. I'm begging DH to buy me a cone of mehndi so me and DS can put some on (he loves that stuff, lol) and we might open a present each at that time as well. (only problem is, I can't remember which box is for which person :P)

I hope not! There are always instances where you will not have autocorrect to help you out. Sometimes autocorrect/spellcheck is wrong. Sometimes you need to write something out by hand. Knowing how to spell the words saves you time. There are some words that I try to write, but don't know how to spell, and spellcheck doesn't even know what to do with me!

Honestly, I wouldn't have a problem with it or think anything weird of it. If she doesn't mind wearing someone's used undies, fine. If you don't want your daughter to wear undies someone else has worn, tell girl she can keep them or just trash them after.

I freeze mine too, but I don't know how to can, let alone have room for cans on my shelves.

Mine is full to the gills with books. Planning on buying another soon!

try supercook.com it's not perfect, so you might have to use some creativity when inputing your ingredients (include all of the spices in your cupboard, along with anything you would be willing to pick up from the store)

I've been drinking green smoothies. I'm a part of a CSA, and we get way more leafy greens than we can eat. Any greens go in, including parts that would be normally discarded (like strawberry greens or broccoli stems). I stick things in the freezer until I'm ready to stick them through the blender. Liquify, then freeze in ice cube trays. When I'm ready to drink it, i mix frozen or fresh fruit with a couple green cubes in the blender or food processor. the only cons for me are the clean up (I hate cleaning anything though, :lol:)

Mine goes on poissonrouge or starfall if I need a short amount of time. If I need a longer amount of time, I can give him our itouch with a ton of educational apps and wifi disabled - that will keep him occupied for hours if need be. Yeah, we rely on much too much technology in this house :) note: on poissonrouge, be sure to keep within view of the screen or check in every 5-10 min or so, my kid has managed to navigate to paypal and other sites (that we don't approve of) from their site. Add headphones, if older children will get distracted.

You have to do it quickly with a light hand, before the mango juice makes the skin all slippery. I used to cut mangos by first cutting off the skin with a knife. Then slice it lengthwise then slice it widthwise (like how you would dice an onion), then slice it against the pit to let the diced mango fall off. But that's messy. Currently, my husband cuts mangos (mango juice makes my hand itchy) He just cuts it like you would if you were peeling it, but he cuts all the way down to the pit. We eat it like an orange with the peel on. My husband's favorite way of eating the mango is to keep it whole, carefully squish it up so the flesh is liquified, bite a hole in the skin at one end of the mango, and drink it like it's mama milk :lol:

I once taught myself braille. It was a lot of fun, although not very useful, since I do not have severe vision problems. Our public library had some kid-oriented books written in braille, and it was really cool to be able to read by touch. I'm sure that the lesson in learning to read braille would go beyond that of reading braille, but that it would teach a different perspective of the world, as well as teaching a sharper sense of touch. Since it is the same as English, with the letters simply represented differently, it might make for a good week long theme, of trying to get through life as if you had lost your vision, maybe including a visit to a nearby community center for the blind. My community has a really neat community center for the blind, which includes a tactile garden that I got to help plant.

*cough* asocial *cough* I apologize, but using the word anti-social improperly is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I'm sure she's not against society(anti-social) (i.e. compulsive lying, shoplifting), so the correct term would be asocial(non-social). and :seeya: since I'm new here, recommended from another forum :)