I see nothing wrong with it. When the boys reach the point of it bothering them, they will let you know. Until then don't sweat it. Or you can just mention to them that it's okay at home but not around girls. We have girls so dh has been covering up for a long time. I think our oldest was about 3 or 4 when it was clear it was time. And since then he's been modest, and they have when they reached that point. But not me with the girls. I have been the one to not have to worry about it. But I did just realize that in a year or so it will be time for me too since my oldest boy is growing up - he's a preschooler right now. No more bathroom doors open or running to the laundry room to grab something in my bra.

:iagree:

The package date is a sell by date. And then as long as you cook or freeze it it's fine. Packaged correctly meat stores a long time. (You have to repackage the stores packaging - that stuff doesn't last long at all.) We put up all our meat once a year. Every fall we process, wrap and freeze the game dh brings home. And we eat it from the freezer until the next fall. None of our venison has ever tasted or gone bad. We store our frozen chicken for a good 6 - 9 months. But it must be wrapped well and stored well. We use a deep freeze.

For us, it's eating beans (mostly black) and rice (brown) together in various forms with various things: We have never done an entire week of just beans and rice. I will add pasta nights. And since dh hunts we always have meat in the freezer. But we do rice and beans often - burritos (tortillas with beans and rice - maybe some cheese, sour cream etc) rice bowls (beans - black, red or other and rice in bowl with something - salsa, sour cream, cheese, chicken, seasonings - pretty much whatever you have on hand. The combinations are unlimited.) We love to add cilantro and lime to the rice for something different. Or cumin. We could days of rice bowls by mixing up the beans and stuff... We also do chili with beans - black, pinto, kidney, etc, rice and corn. Soups - black bean or rice soups. We also like to add some onions and use chicken broth instead of water when it's cooking. (Or just add bullion to the water.)

Yum! We love these - I have seen a lot of them, but I haven't picked up any.

Yep never changed! For me, it's more the let down after the surprise/anticipation. I hate the let down after the surprise - rarely has a surprise been worth it. If that makes sense. There is definitely a sense of anxiety with it. I would have cleaned the whole house to find out. And when someone says - hey call me later I need to talk to you. I can't think straight or function until I know why. I hate phone messages - saying call me I need to talk. It causes me great anxiety - eps when I can't reach them after that. Just leave a gosh darn message saying what you want!! And gifts were an issue in my household growing up. My family loves surprises. Even as an adult it's an issue - my family gets upset with me because I don't save presents that come in the mail. They stopped sending gifts here because they were afraid I would open them before Christmas. :glare: That made the process awful and almost painful for me. I don't even want gifts anymore. As a kid, I peek at everything. I would open my presents and rewrap them - I learned to get things out without damaging the paper. It stems from things with my family. But yeah it's awful. Don't torture the kids for your joy. It's still a joy when you give it. I don't buy gifts early because of this. I like to get it/give it right away.

If you don't do punishment, it's not fair to her if you punish her. That sends a completely mixed message.

I would ask your dh. If he's okay with the drive, I would go with the land. We have 10 acres and love it. My kids love it. We don't do a lot with it, so it cuts down the time. It does take time to take care of land. You have to evaluate the location and things available which is sounds like you have done. We choose our location carefully. We have friends who moved to the middle of nowhere just to get land. There nothing anywhere near them. Well they hated it and moved back to a neigborhood, and they say the would never live on land again. Well I never would have bought the land they did. I don't know what they were thinking.... We bought land 30 minutes from the big town we lived in but with a small town 2 miles away. We did it for dh - he hated the burbs. So he is happy here - he doesn't mind the drive to work. But the drive isn't in traffic - it's country roads not highway. And my dh loves to drive. So he's happy. When gas prices spiked, we bought a cheap commuter car that gets 40mpg. By cheap I mean $500. Dh has been driving that for 5 years now - he's been making the commute to work for almost 10 years. And it doesn't bother him at all. But he is also the one who wants to live out here. I like being in the city - I love being here because we have this quaint little town where I can anything I need. Our land is beautiful. And this location put us a lot closer to a real city not just the town we were in before. So I am closer to the museums, airport and all. So look at your life and how the move effect you, but an extra hour a day in drive time wouldn't bother my dh at all. Doesn't bother me and the kids either.

I just wrap them and use code names - so I store them in plain sight.

Yep same here - it was crazy. We were just exchanging money or gift cards. So dh and bowed out. We only give gifts to our parent and kids - no other extended family (unless we see something or really want to.)

My dh bought his own gift this year, and he's using it. I will maybe stuff his stocking with somethings. I think your idea is great.

My dd 11 is doing Helen I with Latin and Classics - www.latinandclassics.com The M/W class was full so she added a T/Th class which is small and has openings. And I think there is room there. Although, we are halfway through the year. She also does summer camps online. Email her.

Costco has some and they are inexpensive.

:nopity:

We tend to do by number roughly because of the age spread in our crew. One present different and I wouldn't buy another one. I do think it's important for them to learn gratitude. But I try to stick closely to the same number of things even though I spend vastly different amounts on the kids. It such a bummer to have 2 gifts while sibling has 8 or something. But my kids love giving gifts more than getting them, so they never notice. My oldest has 3 gifts already for each of her siblings - they are small, some where made, but she's not done yet. So we focus a lot on what we give each other not what we get. We tend to buy the same gifts - everyone got a bike the same year, or on certain years ~ like everyone got a DS when they were a certain age etc. This year - #4 is one and frankly doesn't need anything expensive. So I picked up a few needed things and spent very little. #s 2 and 3 got roughly the same things in the same number for the same amount of money. #1 needed something expensive - so we are getting it for Christmas for her. And that's about all she's getting. I spent more on her one gift than all 3 of the other kids combined. But I would have had to buy this anyway...

We use these for that sort of thing - they have plastic lids though. http://www.snapware.com/maindept.asp?dept_id=12000

Nothing like leaving us hanging! thanks!!

My guesses would be it's stress related or an allergy/intolerance you have developed to something. I would start with dairy as the first thing likely to cause these symptoms.

That was my issue with GG. And by Sunday the stuff is gone and the rain check limits were always lower than what I could have bought.

Oh no. I have never had a problem before.

My advice (seriously!) is Dave Ramsey. Dh and I were struggling because of the economy and a down turn with his job. Our church offered Financial Peace U, and we were very skeptical because our issue was simply income not outgo. We did Larry Burkett years ago and were doing well. But FPU was still life changing! I am shocked at how much it helped us. Job situation is still the same, but we are doing so much better. Also look at "serious couponing" you can save a lot. Just do some internet research.

Here are some more articles: http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/whylatin.html http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/why-Latin-Greek.html I agree with reading Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek & Latin. In addition to all the great things - SAT scores, vocab, English, prep for learning other language, Latin trains the brain in a way nothing else does. It's an amazing language to learn!! We are 3 years into studying Latin, and I am thrilled what it's giving my dc.

Yep - they got "forked"

For a 7 year old girl a DS! My 7 year old dd has one. And she's done fine with it.

We don't go into detail - we simply teach "facts" and memorize things. (By facts, I mean - the Greeks had the following gods....) We keep the stories light and simple. For example - my kids know who some of the gods are and what they were the god of. But we keep the mythology light until they older. We just move right on.