Dd sat a chocolate chip muffin in the table and before we knew it, our dog Teddy had it in her mouth. I got a small part out, but she ate most of it. Teddy is five years old, about 55 lbs, and in good health. What should I do???

Okay, great. So no black mark against him if he doesn’t answer?? And thank you for the quick response!!!

Help! I just realized that ds needs to register to take the ACT today to avoid late charges (he wants to take dual credit classes next year). When going through the registration process, there are many questions about his schooling, interests, etc. that are optional. It looks like if he completes these questions it can be included in info that will go out to colleges and for scholarships. It says it can also become part of his college record. Should he complete these optional questions??

I would love to know the answer to this as well. I am fortunate that I am able to work remote (from home) most of the time for my job, but my work is time consuming and I am pretty chained to my desk during the day. I would love to hear how working moms do it. There just aren’t enough hours in the day (not so I have enough energy) to get it all done.

I know just how you feel! I have a job, two busy kids, and my dh works out of town. So I’m busy...with little time. But I know this is important and I’ve got to come up with a plan. If you come up with some fabulous idea, please share. I’ll cheer you on!!!

Well, I’m super impressed and you’ve given me hope that it’s not too late to start something. Thank you for sharing your experience with me!

Wow! Okay, so my yoga class is definitely a beginners class! That move is crazy...I’m impressed that you can do it.

That’s my problem as well. I have never enjoyed exercise. I just never found anything that I really enjoy doing. I’ll check out SarahBethYoga as well. Thanks for that tip! And if your “new things” end up working out, please come back and share!!

Thank you! Now I have a goal to reach for. I think I will start out aiming for 3 days per week and then try to work up. This may be a silly question, but is yoga really able to increase strength? Since my class is only a beginners class, maybe I haven’t seen yet more advanced moves.

Okay...yoga it is! I’ve been taking a beginners yoga class, but it only meets weekly and I’ve had to miss a few sessions. I enjoy it but haven’t really seen any results, which is likely due to my inconsistency. I’m glad to hear that yoga may really be effective. I may try to take some additional classes but also look at those videos that Laura posted. How often should I do yoga to actually see results? Some moves daily?

I’m 44 years old and for the first time ever, I’m starting to feel middle aged. I’ve never been super active, but I’ve always felt pretty good. Now I think it’s starting to catch up to me. I’ve been noticing that when I stand up (especially if I’ve sat on the floor, or with my legs curled up under me on the couch), my legs feel stiff. I’ve also had some slight back pain and I’m even noticing that my knees feel different when going up the stairs. I’m at a pretty good weight, although I’d love to drop 10 pounds. I go from eating a fairly low-carb diet to getting lazy and eating whatever. I know I feel better when I’m not consuming sugar. I’ve never been super active but I’m willing to start. I try to take the dog for a mile or two walk daily, but with the recent weather (rain!) it’s been hard. I don’t want to hurt and I’m not ready to feel like this all the time. Can I fix it? Is there anything I can do??

this is exactly what we did when several years ago. It turned out that dh got a new job and we didn’t have to pay for cobra. Definitely worth researching to see if it may be a good option for your family!

Also, there is a difference between the closing date and the payment due date. The amount owed on the closing date is what is reported to the credit bureaus. Because I have been watching our credit scores so closely over the past year, I am careful to have a small balance on the closing date, so the credit bureaus know I am using the card, while making sure that the balance is small enough that it doesn’t affect our debt-to-available-credit ratio. once we purchase our house this summer, I won’t care as much about these things and will probably just pay our credit card bill monthly.

Yes...this. After spending much of our adult lives with some credit card debt (on and off), dh and I finally got our act together and paid it off for good. We started budgeting (yay YNAB) and now we put everything on credit cards. We are planning to buy a house this summer, so we use our best rewards card (Chase Amazon Prime) for almost all of our purchases. The downside is that it has the lowest limit, so if we only pay it off once a month, our credit score was affected. I pay the card off weekly, which helps our credit score. Also, we have earned over $500 in rewards over the past 12 months, which we are saving for “something fun” when we move.

I do THM (which includes both low-carb meals, along with some healthy carb meals) and I absolutely love the All Day I Dream About Food website. Carolyn is amazing and has such great recipes and videos on her site. If you are on Facebook, you should join her group. Lists of great discussion.

I’m super weird because I actually like the taste of apple cider vinegar. I use Braggs brand...I haven't liked any others I’ve tried. I mix it with seltzer over ice. My favorite is orange seltzer with ACV. Yummm!

I also use THM. Their Gentle Sweet is wonderful. It is a blend of erythritol, xylitol, and stevia. They also make a xylitol-free version of you have dogs (xylitol can be deadly to dogs). At the grocery store, I like Pyure, Swerve, or Truvia. If you purchase a stevia blend, watch out for those that contain maltodextrin, as it has a very high glycemic index, yet it is often included in stevia blends.

I’m so so sorry. Praying for you right now. (((hugs)))

We got my mom an Apple Watch 5 for Christmas. Not only does it have an emergency button she can push, but it also detects falls. The watch will automatically cal 911 plus my dad, my brother, and me if she falls and there is no response.

I do too! I assumed everyone did?!

Thanks everyone! I am always a big hand washer and I encourage my family as well. I have taken D3 in the past, but I’m not taking it now. I think I will pick some up for all of us. Favorite brands??

Thankfully, no one in my family has gotten sick this winter, but I feel like lately I’ve been just waiting for it. In the past, we always took elderberry (syrup or gummies) and watched our diets. I always ordered my elderberry from amazon or bought it from a local health food store. I just noticed that Walmart carries them now (they even have an Equate brand!). Do you think the brand matters? Picking some up from Walmart would be much more convenient. In the flu thread, I saw someone mention Emergen-C. Is this a good option? Anything else?

Yes, this. My 12 year old dd is super sensitive to pain and she’s scared of everything! She’s also a super girly girl who wanted to shave since about age 10. I told her she could shave whenever she wanted to but she was so scared. I read and read online about the best options for younger girls. I thought about using an electric shaver, but when reading reviews found that they can pull the hair during the first shave, which would hurt. I use a Schick Intuition razor and love it, so I bought her one (purple!) along with some shave gel that she chose. She decided she wanted to give it a try, but she was scared, so when she was in the shower I had her put the shave gel on her wet leg and I swiped the razor down her leg. I think that by feeling for herself what it was supposed to feel like helped her. She now shaves regularly (well, when she feels like it) and all has been well. She is even had her first tiny cut, and she lived through it. Good luck! Everything with preteen girls seems like A LOT (my preteen is so dramatic but also so sweet and wonderful!). So many things for them to have to learn and do!!!

I’ve just started shopping at ALDI some myself. So far, my favorites are: berries, fancy cheeses (they sell a cranberry cheddar cheese at Christmas time that I love!), heavy whipping cream, milk, butter, eggs, apple sauce, and sprouted bread. I’d like to do more aldi shopping, so can’t wait to read others’ lists!