I tried them when my first was about a month old (I had a c-section and couldn't go up and downstairs and deal with the laundry at first). He *hated* them. He wasn't good at napping as it was, but with the cloth diapers, he'd start screaming as soon as he wet them and by the time I'd get him to the changing table, he'd be so worked up, it took a few minutes to get him calmed again. I figured he might get used to them, so I stuck it out for a week or two, with no better results. With my second, I didn't even try (I had already sold all the cloth diapers anyway).

Here's a list (bottom of page) that compares nutrients in several different sugars: http://www.hwfc.com/CoopScoop/Apr03/manager.html

You could just wait til several of the ones you want to see are out, and then subscribe for a month or two, then put your acct on hold for several months, then unhold it and rent some more movies. That way you're not paying for it all the time, but can still get movies.

I my kids and ds said Brian Jacques and dd said either John Flanagan or Erin Hunter. I'm not sure I've read enough children's authors to really pick one, besides the read-alouds we do in school.

I ended up taking a fanny pack on vacation because of the limitation on carryons and I couldn't fit my purse and camera bag in my other carryon bag. I figured I really didn't *need* everything I usually pack around in my purse, and that actually worked out quite well.

I always bought the 500mcg tablets and they seemed to work for my kids (they don't take them very often anymore). I know they've mentioned that sometimes they didn't seem to work, but then I've found out they took them early and didn't turn off the lights and settle down, but were still up and playing. So I agree that you should start off with a smaller dosage and see how it works and work upwards from there.

We flew in April and I bought a carryon that was specifically made to meet the requirements and not be too big, and packed my camera bag in there, along with some other stuff. They were being pretty strict about carryons - you could have a carryon bag and one small bag, like a purse, but not more than that.

We tried AOPS here, last year, and it didn't fly. We used Singapore through book 6, and tried switching to NEM, and then AOPS, and both caused a lot of frustration for my ds. He's good at math, but is easily frustrated, and both those books caused him a lot of frustration. We are now using Lial's Introductory Algebra and he hasn't had the same issues with it. I think it does have to do with direct instruction vs having to puzzle it out yourself.

I have a difficult time with cilantro too - I've had it come up and grow successfully, but it always goes to seed *so* fast! And when I've tried to plant a row of it to cut and harvest it frequently, it doesn't come up very well (the stuff that does grow is usually volunteer plants in the flower bed. . .)

:party: Congrats!!!

Did you completely uninstall Norton? I know dh has seen people having lots of problems by having more than one antivirus program competing with each other. Sometimes people will just turn one off instead of completely removing it.

Dh charges $50 an hour for fixing computers in his personal time (including recovering stuff off harddrives). So $200 for 4 hours of work sounds very reasonable.

Well, my ds is my very challenging child and is a glass half-empty personality. I've found that, with him (may not work with all children), pushing him only brings out more of that. By not pushing him and going on about my business, and trying not to be drawn into his grumpiness, he comes out of that more quickly. If I push and get drawn into it, we don't ever have a good outcome (and I've tried in the past to do the "redo" until you can do it right technique - it doesn't work well with him and we get drawn into an all day battle). Since I've changed the way I respond to him, we've developed a better relationship and he doesn't feel like I'm out to get him (which he used to think). Sometimes, I don't like having to work around his personality, but no matter what I'm doing in response to him, in some way I have to deal with it. I'd rather let him go about being grumpy and out of sorts than having the whole family have a bad day because things have spiraled downward by pushing him. And honestly, he's been much better to be around since I've changed - he still gets grumpy and irritated, but it doesn't seem as often or last as long, and he's so much more likely to come and apologize on his own for his attitude.

I also try to not interact and push the issue when my dc are irritated. I know ignoring and not responding is rude, but I've found that when I press for an answer or response, things can spiral downward really fast. If I don't, and let them cool down, they will often come apologize later and the day won't be ruined.

Yes, this chicken is intended for soup. I use the water that I boiled the chicken in for the soup (it's removed only to debone it and the meat goes back in that pot). And then I take the carcass/bones (I don't leave much meat on them) and make stock for other recipes. I don't put any of this stock into the previous soup. Now, don't ask why I do it this way - I've just made soup that way for years (after recalling how my grandma made it when I was a child). I didn't always save the bones for stock - that's a more recent thing, but it seems to work out well :)

I make chicken soup and then make stock out of the bones. I boil a chicken in my "chicken soup pot" (I think it's like an 8qt pot) until it's cooked, and then remove it and take all the meat off the bones. The meat gets chopped up some and put back in the pot, along with carrots and celery, salt and some pepper. That gets cooked just til the veggies are cooked, then cooled and frozen for later. I'll usually make homemade noodles when we have the soup, or if I'm pressed for time, dumplings. With the bones, I cook them in my 6qt roaster on about 200F for 12-24 hours with water to make stock. I don't usually add any veggies. I use the stock for things like white sauce, gravies, extra flavor instead of water, etc.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

This is true, but if you're close enough to be flexible with your travel dates, you can call the park and see what rooms are available when. That's usually what we do. We've always had very helpful people when we call and they can look across the park's hotels and see what availability they have.

Yes, as long as it doesn't smell bad.

If you can get reservations, I'd really suggest staying in the park. The Old Faithful Inn is such a neat place. However, I'd be very careful about planning a trip in May. We live about 2 1/2 hours away and have had to cancel one trip in May because of a huge snowstorm. We've also gone in May and although the weather was beautiful one year, many of the trails we wanted to hike were still covered with several feet of snow. Other years, it has been cold and rainy. (And this is usually mid to late May.) You may not have as many people in May, but there is also a greater risk of inclement weather, and so you will need to pack winter type coats just in case.

Ours is about this much, too, but is a business package DSL because we host a server and had to have the upgrade.

We have one joint savings/checking account, but our credit union allows us to have multiple "suffixes" in that account. So I have savings suffixes for bills, homeschooling, pets, clothing, insurance, long term savings, car, vacation and home improvement. I keep the grocery money in the checking account. So it's very much like an envelope system, w/o the envelopes and cash. If we had to move to another bank that didn't have that feature, I'd probably have multiple accounts to keep some of the stuff separate.

I do think this could be a big cause. Dh got a mouthpiece to help with teeth grinding and snoring and ended up with serious gum issues after wearing it nightly for several months (from one dental checkup to the next). He kept wearing it (we didn't realize what it was), and the next dental appt they were telling him to get to a periodontist. After doing some research, he stopped wearing it. It was keeping the saliva from his teeth and letting them dry out, which was causing the mouth bacteria to thrive.

I don't know what it would be per day because we don't eat totally local/organic, but here are some examples of what we pay. We've been buying 1/2 a grassfed beef that lasts our family of 4 about a year (~$1200). Organic eggs that are rated well on the Cornucopia Institute's website are $4 a doz here, but we have 5 hens that are starting to lay. I can buy an organic basket from Bountiful Baskets for $26.50, which varies on how much produce it has, but usually has some things my local store doesn't carry. Our local Fred Meyer does have a good variety of organic produce - I try to buy things when they go on sale, but the last time I bought pears they were $1.49lb, cabbage $0.79 lb, celery $0.99 lb, a bunch of kale $2.50, a package of organic romaine is $2.50, oranges (on sale) $0.88lb. They stopped carrying Organic Valley gallons of milk, so we've been buying local for $4.59 a gallon, but dh is the only one who drinks it, and I just use it in cooking, so it's maybe a gallon a week. The last time I bought local chickens, they were about $20 a chicken. I didn't see the vendor at the Farmer's Market this year, so ordered some online for ~ $4.50lb.

My 12 yr does not have a cell phone and I don't plan on getting him one any time soon (or ever - I think when he wants one, he can foot the bill). I don't have a cell phone - it's just not something I think is necessary and would have to cut something to fit it into our budget. (He did buy himself a used Iphone with his Christmas money, but is using it like an Ipod touch - plays games on it, it has no cell service.)