Honestly? I think from what you mention yours might be Candida related like mine is. If it is, these things that will help - cut out all sugars, all grains and pasteurized dairy (possibly raw dairy too especially cheese), add magnesium for the stress and Vitamin C for the ear/sinus. There's more that I would suggest but I know how hard it is for many of us to make changes so I am suggesting the most important. If it is Candida related, antibiotics might appear to resolve it only to have the yeast overgrowth come back exponentially or appear so! Do this (no sugar, no grain, no pasteurized milk, add magnesium, add Vitamin C) for a week or two and see if you improve. I take both magnesium and C and have nearly cut out sugar and grains. I cut out most pasteurize dairy and need to give up any cheese that is pasteurized next. I might even end up giving up raw dairy since it contains lactose and may contribute. When I have either sugar or grains, I notice pain in my left ear or a wet ear or eczema. I can make that go away with Vitamin C, but if I have grains or sugar again it comes back. You think I might have learned by now to cut out all the grains and sugar, but no I struggle, daily at times! About a year ago I had Vertigo and ear ringing. For.a.month. A.month.of.no.driving. A.month.of.feeling.nauseous. So far I've been able to remove the Vertigo and ringing, but until I get free of the Candida I feel this is just going to keep recurring. I am transitioning (again) using this site http://www.naturallythriving.com/basics/cfd.php I'm of step 6 of the transitioning foods part, and I already eat mainly a MOVES diet plus the dairy and the condiments. Ds is allergic to nuts so we don't bring them in the house. There are a few things that I do not necessarily agree with in this plan, and that's mainly that I don't think I will eat the seed oils after seeing Sally Fallon of the Weston A Price Foundation speak on the Oiling of America including her showing the results of the research studies on these oils that were mainly new to the 20th century. I take Natural Calm's brand of magnesium and I get it from Vitacost. Natural Calm with Calcium is one choice, this is the plain magnesium. I rub magnesium oil on my feet at night, followed by coconut oil, followed by cotton socks especially when stressed. Many of us lack magnesium since it is depleted from our soils and modern farming is generally not replenishing it. Vitaglo also carries Natural Calm but it is more expensive but since shipping is $5 or free of $50 it might not be "more expensive". I take 2000 mg of Vitamin C per day, but I need 4000 mg or more when I have sugar or grains. I use the NOW brand of Ascorbic Acid, but recently purchase Acerola. Acerola is a great natural source of Vitamin C that is not too acidic or harsh, but it provides 180 mg per teaspoon and I get 2000 mg per 1/2 of Ascorbic Acid and I think I will purchase Vitamin C Complex Powder (there is also an 8 oz. for $9+ ) next since it is milder but provides more Vitamin C per teaspoon so it is more cost effective than Acerola alone. I have taken up to 12000 mg when I had a cold/sinus infection plus I was eating these foods that contribute to the overgrowth of yeast. I wouldn't take that much for a long time though because it can be hard on the stomach and possibly on the liver. 1000 - 2000 mg per day is likely all that is needed if there is no sugar for it to "manage". HTHs

If I was in CA, I would prefer Organic Pastures Raw milk over any other unless I know the farmer. The were the first raw milk farmers in CA (well first again in this new era of pasteurization) and I've met them and like them. Read more below: I drink raw milk from Birchwood dairy in PA (since 2006) which is run by a Veterinarian, Dr. Mike Tierney, and his son, Mike Tierney, but if I ever go to CA my #1 choice for a raw milk dairy is Mark McAfee's Organic Pastures. I met Mark and his wife IRL at a talk here in NJ at Rutgers in 2008 hosted by Dr. Joseph Heckman (who I also know IRL). Joe is a professor at Rutgers and speaks regularly for the Weston A Price Foundation http://www.realmilk.com/ and http://www.westonaprice.org/ . Joe drinks raw milk. I actually just went to NYC to see Sally Fallon, president and one of two founders of the Weston A Price Foundation speak last Friday. It was my 3rd time seeing her live and I learn something new and make dietary modifications every time. Anyway Mark and his family are well known and well respected in the raw milk community. He used to be a supplier for Organic Valley but since they pasteurize all of their milk he decided to go 100% raw since the demand was there, about 8 years ago. There was of course a conflict since many who believe pasteurizing is the only way don't understand there are 2 types of raw milk - raw milk designed for pasteurization and the other kind, raw milk for direct human consumption. The entire way that the cows and the farm is run may be quite different in these two scenarios. Mark presented a great Powerpoint and has been speaking around the country trying educate people about raw milk and to help others get their state laws changed so we all can legally purchase raw milk in our own state (kind of like what happened with homeschooling not too long ago). When I emailed Mark to ask for a copy of his Powerpoint, he sent it to me on a CD for no charge. A week later he sent me I love Raw Milk buttons, but for those I paid the shipping since we were supposed to have a local rally in a few days and I wanted the buttons expedited. Of course the rally was postponed. One of the true stories Mark shares is about a Maasai man named Kimeli (from the Maasai tribe in Kenya) who had come to the US to be educated at Stanford as a doctor. While here in the US for about 7 years, this man ate the SAD diet (Standard American) and developed Crohn's disease as well as lactose intolerance. He and Mark met and Mark offered him all the raw milk he could drink for free to see if he could be healed. Kimeli also switched to a diet as close to his indigenous diet back home. He was so happy because he had finally come back to his roots, eating like he did at home, especially finally having access to real unadulterated milk. He was healed in 18 months by drink raw milk and raw milk products from Organic Pastures along with Traditional Foods. Although the gov't has tried to shut Organic Pastures down - along with many other raw milk dairy farmers(this has happened in PA recently with at least 2 farmers), each and every test has come back negative for whatever pathogens they expected. Sometimes the gov't shuts down a dairy on suspicion or simply publicly announces that someone who drank raw milk got sick so they instantly blame the milk. Whenever they have searched for a similar pathogen in the milk or onsite, they have not found it at either Organic Pastures or the two local PA farms.

:lol: I met a gentleman tonight while we were both waiting for our ds' in scouts. He is from India and moved here about 3 years ago. We got on the subject of FPU and money since I am taking FPU at my church where we were waiting. When I explained to him what it was about he looked a bit confused and said - we (from India) save 30% of our income regularly. I replied - that's wonderful, just keep doing what you are doing and don't do things the "American" way of using credit instead of cash.

I specifically picked a middle name so my children would have an easy alternative. If they didn't like their first name at a certain age, they could use their middle name as a nickname. I have a child who changes their (improper plural so as to not identify) opinion regularly, meaning they might like a name this week, but then if they found out more about that name they might decide they don't like it next week or next month. For this child I would allow them to use a nickname or alternative name for awhile, like a year, before allowing any legal change only because this child might want to change it every year! I have another child who resists change. I would allow this other child to change their name if they really wanted to. I might also subject this child to a drug screening if this ever happens because it would be so unlike this child.

Yes. In the garage have both a stand up meat freezer, and a spare refrigerator mainly for CSA veggies and extra things that we purchase once a month from a meat/dairy co-op - but no meat. Extra milk, eggs, cheese, cream stay in this refrigerator, plus any unusual things like pies, or other rare treats. The meat freezer is NOT frost free. Frost free is generally incompatible with meat freezers since it will thaw and freeze and thaw and freeze, bad for the meat. The weird thing is that the freezer compartment on my refrigerator in the garage does not work in the winter. It is working as designed. The temperature of the refrigerator is set at about 36 F and this regulates the temp of the freezer. If it is colder in the garage, the refrigerator cooling system will not kick on, and therefore the freezer will not freeze if it's too cold. This happens when it's very cold at night so we decided to not try to use it until March, and stop using it in December.

I still remember when I was about sixteen and dating this boy from another town who was 17 that I met through a church program around December - not my church or his - that he gave me white mittens for Christmas. It seemed to say, I like you, but in a safe way. At the time I knew his mom had a lot to say about what he picked. As a hopeless romantic at that age, I of course wanted jewelry or something, but I got white mittens. I also used to fantasize about marrying each guy I dated. I did wear the mittens often, especially when we went ice skating together. I don't think he was still "my boyfriend" by that summer. Now as a parent, I'm really grateful that I didn't get such an adult type of romantic gift or I might have thought there was more to our relationship than there should have been. So although my son is only 10 now, when he's 12 I doubt I would want him to give a girl anything, but if I did I wouldn't let it be something so romantic at such a tender age.

Coconut milk smoothies are great! - We use frozen strawberries or other frozen fruit, coconut milk and stevia in the blender. I do add coconut oil too.

We are doing Prima Latina so no skills. On Facebook I have friends from Belgium who speak and post in Dutch so I use http://translate.google.com/ . Latin was not an option. So far I have this: When Caesar advenisset(to come to, reach, arrive at) From Rome urbe(a walled town, city) , upon by which route parracida (???) , this at the command of when of a soldier her hostem(a stranger, foreigner) to kill. Using these translators: http://www.stars21.com/translator/latin_to_english.html http://www.lexilogos.com/english/latin_dictionary.htm http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/morphindex?type=begin&lang=la I wonder if he is alluding to the Ides of March and you could respond with "Et tu Brute?" but it might be before that? My other thought is about crossing the Rubicon...http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/caesar.htm

I use the two stage soaking whole wheat bread recipe from Urbanhomemaker Many varieties of bread: http://articles.urbanhomemaker.com/index.php?category=6 I haven't tried these yet but here are Main Dishes - Fast and Healthy: http://articles.urbanhomemaker.com/index.php?category=7 If you believe healthy is traditional foods based there are Yahoo Groups with Recipe files like DiscussingNT.

All my recipes are on my computer in a Folder I titled My Recipes! I can't deal with paper. I will print them if I need them, but if I lose the paper or it is used for a grocery list, then I can always find it easily. I either scan them in as PDFs or I "print" them as PDFs from a website like Food Network. The only other ones I use are in a book like Joy of cooking, Nourishing Traditions, or some of the Allergy free books that I have.

I consider all loans to friends and family to be gifts. We don't always say yes, but if/when we do, we know they might not pay us back. I would be grateful if they pay me back but if not, I expected that they would not. I learned this from my father who ended up in conflict with his brother over a car loan - his brother took the car but never paid, then a similar situation with my father and my Godfather. My father borrowed money and then lost his job can could not come up with the $700 he owed. We stopped seeing them. We no longer visited with them for holidays. I missed them! Unfortunately I do remember them, so when I loaned a friend $400 plus bought her $1000 in stuff for her kids and she said she would pay me back, I remember when I talk to her. I wish I didn't because at the time she needed it much more than we did. The $$ was tuition for school and she graduated 2 years ago. Even now she and her dh struggle because of child support, etc. He pays his ex but her ex never pays. I don't need the money, I think I have forgiven the debt, but I just wish I could forget about it! Maybe I need to tell her it's forgiven but I'm afraid if I bring it up she will think I need her to pay! That being said, I did have one person (a cousin) who was barely making above minimum wage pay me back $300 over a year or two, maybe even more. Each month she would send $25 or $50 - whatever she had. Some months nothing but in the end she paid me back. She wasn't born in the US, in fact she moved here from Cuba in the mid 90s, so it may be that she just has a different mindset about money. My dh and I paid my mother back, $5000 over 6 months. We borrowed that to close on our house with 20% down. We prioritized paying her back over everything else. Prior to that we had been debt free for 3 years, again, a different mindset since being debt free (except our mortgage) was our goal. Most people in this country are in some type of debt. They probably feel they cannot pay you back most likely because their money and their month do not match. That's why so many mention Dave Ramsey or Crown Financial or other programs (can someone name a secular one?) that helps people get back on track. If the same people are running to you for loans repeatedly, it is likely that they are not managing their money well at all and you will not see that money ever. I did send a Dave Ramsey book to someone last year when her dh moved out, quit paying anything and she was in over her head. We also gave her gift certificates to Winn Dixie to cover her food for a month. We consider the gift cards gifts and not loans.

Wow. In my limited years of experience with boys - having a 10 year old and 5 year old and their various friends - I have never encountered this. Yuck. I think I might have gagged a lot!

I flip my Bread upside down to slice with my manual serrated bread knife. Honestly! The top is crusty and I kept having very uneven slices. Somewhere (?Alton Brown?) I read to do this so I tried it. It is so much easier to slice evenly. I only slice what I need for the first loaf as we go, but I completely slice the second loaf and freeze it. This way the kids can pull out a couple slices at a time and toast them in the toaster oven. I do the same with the sub rolls (about 3 oz. each). I leave half as is, but I slice the second half and freeze. This way I only make bread about once a week, but the frozen bread will last longer.

We love Emeril's Penne with Pink Vodka sauce, but technically that is a red sauce with cream so I don't know if you would like it.

He may have Candida, which is systemic yeast. This needs a life change approach, especially dietary. For now he can rub coconut oil (plain but a good kind like virgin, not processed) on his feet at night, and then put on cotton socks and sleep with them on. I also put on magnesium oil before the coconut oil now, but in the past the coconut oil alone has helped. The key is that it is likely systemic and getting to the root cause will make him not have to do this forever. I just have trouble imagining a young man in a college dorm not getting flack for having to rub coconut oil (or anything) on his feet and then wear socks to bed at night! Here is an article which is a start to understanding that Candida can show up as athlete's foot among many other things. http://www.naturallythriving.com/basics/cfd.php

IT STINKS IT JUST STINKS! I wish you didn't have to work or didn't have to go or someone could go with you and keep the girls in the hotel while you go to meetings. Could your Mom or someone go with you? That's how I did it once but my dh was able to take the week off and care for my oldest ds9 when he was only 5 months old. We were going to New Orleans where his sister and grandparents live and we did want to introduce the baby to family plus his mom who lives 5 hours north of New Orleans so we made a mini vacation out of it! FYI- Fashion Bug in Brunswick Square Mall is closing so 60% off everything sale and I just got jeans at $10 each - they might have something that would work IF you have to go. That's a Laconic IF (meant in a good way for you).

How frustrating! I had something similar this summer and it was so annoying. I think I ended up falling asleep with my mouth open and a tissue up my nose at about 5 am my worst night. The day I tried several natural remedies - Vitamin C, garlic, chicken stock, homeopathy. What seemed to kick it the quickest was the Vitamin C in megadoses. What works for me is 2000 mg (1/2 tsp.) of Ascorbic Acid in 8 oz. of water (with a freshly squeezed lime and Stevia if you want), twice a day or 1000 mg per hour until you have diarrhea then back off and take 1000 mg less the next day and each day until it is gone. If the diarrhea bothers you or repeats, take 1 tsp of Homeopathic Arsenicum, 30C, 1 pellet in 4 oz. water - good for diarrhea and clear runny colds AND/OR a probiotic Kyo-dophilus is what I keep on hand. I've gone up to 12000 in one day to kick a sinus infection once, then needed less each day after that. I take about 2000 mg per day now but I do need less if I have no sugar or white carbs. Cut out sugar, all of it. I know it's a tough time to do it but sometimes just having sugar is what triggers the stuffiness! I am planning to switch to Acerola since I know you need less and it is not as harsh but for now I take what I have. I also use homeopathy in water but it depends upon your symptoms. http://drluc.com/colds-caughs.htm

Lots of good ideas already. My answers: 1. Physical Intimacy 2. Physical Intimacy 3. Everything else. A man's self esteem depends most times on the frequency of physical intimacy with his wife. (For Women Only, Shaunti Feldhahn) I highly recommend this study for you and the For Men Only version for him - I got this on audio for my dh who travels a lot and prefers to listen over reading. If you are a Christian then pray for him, first and foremost, but also consider getting together in small group, social group(like a potluck) etc. with other couples from your church. Also if you are a Christian I would suggest you go see Fireproof together and plan for dinner afterwards but it might not be playing in theater around you anymore, you'd have to check. It is coming out on DVD in January so you could rent it. If you are not Christian know that it does have Christian content. Things I do and suggest - I follow WAPF diet (Nourishing Traditions) Winter Blues are quite common and many times are associated with a lack of sunshine and lack of certain vitamins/minerals. Take Cod Liver Oil & Fish Oil in the winter, just the fish oil and lots of sunshine and fresh or cooked from fresh green veggies in the summer. Good fats - Coconut Oil, Butter, Lard, Tallow - these do help too. Connecting outside of physical intimacy - how did you meet? What attracted you to each other? Did you have certain activites you did together often? Can you do those again now or find new ones? Does he watch football? Now is a great time to connect. My dh does a Tivo like thing with our DVD (called SLIP) so if I miss a play taking care of the kids, he can show it to me. Husbands really like their wives to just be with them, even if there is no conversation - watching a game, going to Home Depot or Target. They want companionship from you. Can you get together with another couple or two and watch a game or two together? This helps just put the guys together, but they can focus on the game and not feel too awkward. Game Night. Dinner is okay for getting together, but sometimes the strain of conversation is lifted if there is focus on a group game. Something like Taboo or any of the popular games. Preferably have the kids play together themselves while the adults focus on a game so the men can end of talking instead of just to the kids. Some men don't like games but many are competitive and enjoy it. Watch a movie with him and then lightly talk about it. Dh and I have date movies but just up in our bedroom. They are not okay for the kids to see but we get to lay down in bed together and watch them. I let dh pick most of the movies (Netflix or Library) - more action and suspense and no romance - I don't want him needing to check out scantilly clad women anyway. Go on errands with him. Most men want your company. Not necessarily for deep discussion but just to feel like a friend is along. Sit with him in the car/van and focus on a light conversation with him when he drives. I tell the kids to be quiet or listen to something so he and I can talk. Our conversation is more important than idle chatter with the kids. My dh travels a lot so this time is important to us. Sometimes it's the most we connect, although getting cell phones on a Family Plan also has us talking a whole lot more than before.

I was just coming to post about this site nrg mentioned: http://www.archive.org/details/oldtimeradio Were you can find MANY Old Time Radio Shows and more specifically A great Old Time Radio Show: The Great Gildersleeve BUT the easiest way to download these is at the very (or near very) bottom in the section entitled: Zipped sets (instead of singles) http://154.ca/otr/archive.cgi?program=gildersleeve It's consider the first spin off ever from another show - this one was from Fibber McGee and Molly. We've only listened to about 4 of the Great Gildersleeve, mostly the Christmas ones but ds9, dh and I really like it. We listened to them last fall and dd(then 6) was interested but not thrilled like ds9 was.

I have a new MP3 player so I want to fill it up. I was searching for more of what I had already purchased a year or two ago from http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com/ and I found 3 other sites for old time radio and these are FREE!, it just takes time to download what you want. From this site I had ds9 download all of the Firefighters. We had Episodes 1-23 and found out there were more: http://otr-reviews.com/download-all-episodes/ My dc ages 5, 7 and 9 now love Firefighters, but two years ago dd(then 5) was scared during parts of it and ds (then 3) fell asleep most of the times that we listened in the van. You could pick others in the Children's section or Family section safely I think. I would preview others like Horror and Mystery before sharing with your children. I did have to go here to get the last episode of Firefighters (#140) since the site above had a marker but the mp3 files was missing: http://www.madmoo.nl/otr.htm From this site I just found my missing Les Miserables (#1). They are all there but in M3U format, so I have to convert this one. There are so many more audios! Several are MP3, others are M3U. http://freeotrshows.com/ ** **If anyone can find stories starting with P-Z on this site please let me know! It says they are there but I.cannot.find.them. Finally this site: http://www.kiddierecords.com/ You can go into each year and download one week at a time, sometimes 4 downloads per week depending upon the album size. You could also buy them on CD but they will still be MP3s, it's just that they will do the work for you. I've only downloaded 2005 January through July so far! By the way I am using Media Monkey got it from http://www.download.com/ to change the names, track #s, Album names, Artists, so they can easily be grouped on my MP3 player.

So glad you were able to find her! :D

One of my favorite sites for Birthday Party planning is http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/ I find the best choices were also selected as Winners, Honorable Mention, Special Mention or Runner Up Here is a link to Teen Mystery Party Ideas: http://www.teenpartyideas.com/html/mystery_party.html Here is a link to the Younger version of Mystery Parties: http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/mystery.html

You can download both from here: http://www.download.com Just search for each application. We like this location because it is ad-aware safe. You can also go to each site to download: Cute PDF from here http://www.cutepdf.com/ OR Open Office from here http://www.openoffice.org/ We have both. One of my print options is Cute PDF.

We have Mikasa's Studio Nova Tivoli White which is an everyday china we received as wedding gifts in 1993 but replaced it a few years ago with Corelle's Winter Frost White. We have a different set for formal dining (Imperial Rose which is not all white). The Tivoli White did get a few chips from rough use and is now discontinued (but found on the Replacements website) but I was more concerned with being able to "allow" my children to help with the dishes. I've had no problems with the Corelle and we use it everyday and the bonus is that the kids can load and unload the dishwasher and I am not concerned thatthey might break a dish.

Are you celebrating Festivus with the rest of us? It is time for the "Airing of Grievances" and then the Feats of Strength! I do think you should announce that it is time so they are forewarned. Not everyone "celebrates". :lol: If you truly cannot "Air your Grievances" to that person then please continue you to do so here. We don't mind!