The word preggo. My oldest son started saying "literally" with everything he would say. It was pretty annoying and we couldn't figure out what started it. One day I was talking and I realized I used "literally" several times. I turned in horror to my husband and said "IT'S. ME."

You give me hope that it's possible... Congratulations! :D

Do you have a particular interest? Something that while educating your kids, you found interesting? A particular period of history... a certain author... I have things that interest me that I try to read so I don't stay just in mommy zone. I was a history major in college, so I read history to keep my brain alive. :001_smile: I just got a book yesterday on the historical canon of the New Testament. *stoked*

Can you make some muffins or cookies without sugar? Maybe with dates as a sweetener? Bring them in your purse so you can eat them while the family eats the donuts/ice cream. This looks good: http://themommybowl.com/2012/01/24/peanut-butter-fudge-cookies/

:iagree: I occasionally listen to sermons by Britt Merrick from a church in California. He said gave a sermon on Hebrews 1:2 that I made sure to make a mental note of: "The age of the earth is not a test for orthodoxy. Whether you believe God did it in 6 24-hour days or God did it in millions of years, neither camp can reject the other as being unorthodox or heretical... Therefore one camp should not be arrogant toward the other, should not belittle the other, should not reject the other... If you don't believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, if you don't believe in the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, you don't have orthodox Christianity. If you don't believe that atonement is only through the cross of Jesus Christ, you don't have orthodox Christianity. If you don't believe that God created all things, you don't have orthodox Christianity. Some things are a test for orthodoxy. But the age of the earth is not... Neither view is proven with scientific finality and since there are unproven or even unprovable presuppositions associated with earth, we need to chill."

I wonder if I might take a stab at this. I think what LTD might have been referring to is a physical church building. If my local area were to come under a wave of persecution and all the church buildings were burned or destroyed, my faith would be the same, because my faith is in Christ. I also strongly believe in the communal meeting and fellowship of believers. There is no lone Christian, IMO. But, if there were no church buildings, there would still be believers. And those believers would still meet, and the "church" would never disappear. Yes, I agree that the church (a community of believers) is a constant. But again I think what LTD was referring to was the church building, or a physical building to meet. God provides. Yahweh-yireh. Just my 2 cents.

So I don't know anything about GF, but I like a challenge. :001_smile: Would this work? http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes_detail.php?rid=1426

Thanks for that. It's not really anyone's fault, you are just clarifying your theological standpoint. But the frustration comes with our local Christian community. We've been searching (and praying) for a church community for over a year. Week after week crosses one off the list. The thing is, we *know* that there is no perfect community. We all come in with our issues, but... man, there is absolutely nothing out there. Just to clarify, I'm not looking for anyone to solve it or for recommendations. God has us in this place for a reason, I'm just getting impatient. :001_smile:

Yes, sorry. I only read the first few pages before making the statement at the end. :o These threads never seem to end well, so I was expecting this one to end in a lock down.

That's fine. But that's how I feel. Sorry to cause confusion.

It's threads like these that make me want to cry and mourn the state of our faith. Sorry, that's just how I feel. I need to hide back in my hole and continue to ignore all threads that deal with religion.

:iagree: I started saying something similar because by reading the first post it sounded like you said "inappropriate movies," but that's so vague. Does that mean R-rated movies? People naked? But I stopped when a few posts later you said he searched for "tea videos." Because (though I've never done a search) if you do a search, you don't have to look very hard to find it. I'm just wondering what he has physically seen... Though I'm not sure it would make a difference in the level of concern because regardless he's still looking for it.

You know, all my years on Amazon, I just found out about the "Save for Later" feature a few weeks ago. Needless to say, it's now a respectable size to make up for those lost years.

Yeah, I changed it because it sounded harsh. Every place has it's bad parts, that's just what I remember from PC.

I'm between Tyndall and Hurlburt. If your wife wants seasons, then it's a no on Florida. :001_smile: Panama City is blah, IMHO, but I don't know much but from a few TDYs. It's hot and miserable during the summer. It's definitely not a dry heat. Again, my opinion, but I've lived in Florida my whole life and I haven't gotten used to it yet. NW Florida is not *as bad* as central Florida as far as humidity. The weather right now is beautiful, cool mornings, warm afternoons. But still mosquitoes. :glare: It definitely doesn't feel the same year round. It gets hot, and it gets cold (by my Florida standards). And there are a few weeks in between where it's wonderful. Schools are tolerable. Homeschooling is not common, I know of one other person that plans on homeschooling, and one other homeschooling family. But there are hs groups, I'm just not involved because my son's still young. You're welcome to PM me if you have any specific questions about the area.

I call us non-ethical vegans. We do it for our health and the cost. We have 4 weeks of meals planned (5 meals/wk), we eat out one day a week because... that's what we do for entertainment. One dinner a week is left open on Sundays for either "experimentation" or eating at the in-laws (who are also limiting their meat consumption). We decide on a meal we want that day, go out to the store, bring it home and cook it together. It's a hobby of some sort for us. We eat salads for lunch (ds eats a sandwich of some kind). For breakfast we eat fruit, a smoothie or oats. It varies. If you don't buy processed or convenience food, it's cheap. I recommend the Happy Herbivore. Her meals are simple (read: convenient and cheap) and lowfat. Some aren't very good, some are really good, and the majority are alright. :001_smile: She has meal plans for $5/wk, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. My husband lost 10 pounds over the two months we switched our diet. Me, not so much. I have a bad Starbucks soy mocha habit... My advice is to do it slowly. Work on making breakfast vegan. Then add lunch. Experiment with vegan dinners to find what you like and add it to the list of go-to meals. ETA: I have a few go-to vegan meals that we love. Let me know if you're interested.

Switching to prepaid/use ooma for home phone? That's what we're planning on doing as soon as possible (contract). I don't use the phone very often, text most often and I can buy 200 texts from AT&T for $5/mo.

I don't plan on it. :tongue_smilie: I wanted to ask this question because I felt we needed outside perspective. Clearly I'm right. :D I think he might feel pressure from them not to take the money. Like they offered and weren't really expecting me to say yes. Sorry, I know how my niece is. There's no way I'm not getting compensated. But we're fine, I'm lucky to have an incredibly humble husband who will admit he's wrong or unreasonable. ;) That's just how he's felt for a while, and it's accumulated until we finally had it out today. I think he does tend to think childcare is easy. We have an easy kid. If we ever have another, I think God has a special, high-strung child (just like our niece!) to send us.

Haha... I feel a little defensive of my husband. I don't mean to make this sound like he completely undervalues me. I think he has a hard time understanding what I do, and vice versa. I think he sees all the *benefits*: taking E (our son) to the park, to playdates, hanging out with friends (not often by any means, but enough that I don't go crazy), etc. His work is really stressful, he constantly feels unqualified, overworked, etc. I think it's a situation on perspective. It is *comparitavely* easier. From what we can tell (from the outside looking in), they don't. But you never know. They pay me on par with other afterschooling rates in the area. I tried to knock it down, but she refused. I guess what it is is two conflicting feelings. I talk to her (occassionally) and it doesn't seem like an issue. My husband talks with her and he says he gets the vibe that it's an issue (family member paying). And he's usually spot-on with vibes. So, thanks again for the response. I still plan on charging and I'll probably share some perspective with dh tonight. :001_smile:

I agree, I think if we had something to barter, I would do that over money.

That's a whole 'nother thread. She rarely talks to me at all. I think I weird her out with my introversion. It's rare that she does give dh the money, but she gave it to him yesterday, so that's why I think the issue came up again.

I sent him a screen shot of the poll results and he said "Well then, I guess I shouldn't feel bad then." :001_smile:

:001_smile: That's what I asked him when I finally made a point to discuss it today. I don't understand when you would charge and when you wouldn't. I should say that I barely have a relationship with his sister. (They work together) So she talks to him about the logistics and sometimes leaves the money with him. So that makes him more uncomfortable, I guess... taking money for a job he doesn't do.

Thanks for the responses. I think another point is that his mom and dad watch our son occasionally so we can go out on dates. They won't take money, but we try to compensate them by bringing them Starbucks or making large meals and inviting them over. So I think he feels like that's what you do. We're both only 3 years into this parenting thing. But it does make sense that favors are different than ongoing care.

Poll coming. Okay, I'm hoping you all will help give perspective on a point of contention between my husband and I. My SIL and BIL (my husband's sister) have a daughter that I watch after school (she's a ps 1st grader). They asked me to at the beginning of the school year and offered to pay a set amount a week. I took them up on the offer because we have one income. We aren't hurting for cash, but we live with minimal expenses. It's been about 2 months, and my husband keeps mentioning that we should give them a break and not let them pay a week here or there, or not charge for a week, and on and on. Things came to a head today and he feels that because they are family we shouldn't charge them money, or be willing to cut them a break from time to time. I understand that, and I'm fine with giving them a break if they need it. I'm not just sitting on my butt while they watch TV for 2 hours. My niece is sweet, but high-strung and constantly moving and eating. I feel like my time is valuable. If I needed to work and needed childcare, I would pay someone even if they were family. Compensation in some way. So, my question is: Would you charge a family member for childcare? I feel like he thinks I'm greedy and selfish when he says stuff like "They're family." I also think it's a point of pride for my husband. I think he feels his sister and bil are having "pity" on us because we only have one income. We've never had difficulties, we just can't go out to eat every day. And sometimes money is tighter than usual.