I haven't tried this recipe specifically, but I'd cut the xanthan gum down a little... it might make them less chewy but I've found too much can give a strange bitter flavor. FWIW, I typically use a regular recipe and just substitute in some other flours. Lately it's been brown rice flour and sorghum flour with a pinch or two (at most) of xanthan gum. The Neiman Marcus cookies are always a hit (but you must get gluten free oatmeal!). Also, I tend to lower the temperature by about 100 degrees below what the recipe says and extend the baking time by about 10 minutes. They come out crunchy on the surface and chewy in the middle, and are perfect the next morning.

He was hired to come on at what he knew was a church in trouble. He's trying to get to the root of those troubles. Spiritual commitment means he's worried you're not committed to the church. You're not. Life circumstances means he's worried you might be in dire financial straights and might need support. He wants to find out. If I were you, I'd 1) listen to a few of his sermons and see if you're learning anything. If you're in the right church, the lessons the Holy Spirit is teaching you all week should be reaffirmed in some way in the sermons. 2) I'd respond either by letter or in a meeting, and express the concerns you've had, and that as a family you've been considering leaving. See how he handles it. It seems to me he's trying to get to the root of a lot of problems that were left when he agreed to take over. If he's hostile or anything that doesn't seem acceptable to you, leave. If you're going to stay, you should fill out the pledge card. They need to work on budgets for the next year. It's not pressure, it's a budgeting concern.

:iagree::iagree::iagree: Except, more have come forward. Now it's 14 boys.

Call the hospital and ask. Typically sitters are reserved for people who will get up and endanger themselves. Some of them are just sitters. Others are CNA's and can do a lot more for the patient.

Technically, the biblical thing to do would be to go and confront a pastor about the problems you're having in your current church. I'm guessing you've already done that? I'd go with the big church anyway, and just talk openly and repeatedly to your DD about politics. We go to a church that is much more conservative than most of our friends. Well, most of our friends aren't Christian, and they'd have huge problems with our denomination, even if the head pastor is wonderful. But we don't really discuss faith matters unless someone is in despair or is asking about it or is critical of Christianity in general. If someone who's part of boy scouts would be critical of you making the best choice for your family, just compare it to boy scouts. Different values or not, both the church and scouts have resources not available elsewhere. You have to do what is best for your family. It sounds like you already know what is best, you're just looking for reassurance.

If a kid in a social situation was talking too much, his friends would tell him he talks too much. They would then make faces and start to ostracize him if he didn't slow down and speak at more appropriate times. I wouldn't do that as an adult, but it's not inappropriate to tell him he is speaking too much. It's not inappropriate to have him read Proverbs. And to focus on the verses about how the wise are slow to speak. It's not inappropriate to give consequences for completely rude behavior such as interrupting or speaking for someone else who is in the room. This is a character issue. Not being self-centered, not thinking the world revolves around him or his every breath is important. Having said that, he needs someone to talk to. He needs some friends. He needs some time that you focus on him and listen to him every day.

Yes, even 3 weeks of a vegan diet makes a difference for years, for me. But according to the below articles, some people are much more sensitive than I am. I no longer see the article at the PCRM website on the exact diet, but here's an article on endo and estrogen and food: http://www.pcrm.org/health/health-topics/endometriosis Here's an article on using foods against menstrual pain: http://www.pcrm.org/search/?cid=165 Here's another (that probably references the diet I follow when I do this, given the time period it was published): http://www.pcrm.org/search/?cid=1165 FWIW, I don't recommend a long term vegan diet. It's too hard to get all the nutrients you need unless you work very hard at it. Also, it tends to be very deficient in things like iodine, and contain lots of things that block iodine (soy, cruciferous vegetables), so in my case at least, it set me up for thyroid problems. If I were to decide it made such a difference that I wanted to stick with it long term, I would get the free app called cronometer and track all my food to make sure I was getting enough nutrients. I know too many sickly vegetarians who refuse a little meat or seafood but who eat a lot of soy cheese (basically flavored crisco). Yuck. Here's some links on B6 and estrogen imbalance: http://hoghugs.com/2011/03/17/vitamin-b-complex-b1-b2-b6-b12-to-combat-estrogen-and-endometriosis/ http://www.drlam.com/articles/estrogen_dominance.asp I've been contemplating going back on it because after a miscarriage in January I've either not been ovulating or had a very short luteal phase, which is apparently also due to estrogen issues. Right now I'm just trying 200mg of B6 a day, plus a B12 and prenatal supplement.

I've been diagnosed with endo & ovarian cysts. When things get painful for me, I go on a low-estrogen diet I found at the physician's committee for responsible medicine website. To sum up: It's vegan, fat free, and sugar free. I last 3 weeks if I'm lucky because I have no self-discipline when it comes to dairy (Also, I'm allergic to wheat, so the diet basically means eating tons of fruits and veggies and brown rice and beans and little else). Even 3 weeks makes a huge difference in pain levels for years. The reasoning is that any fat consumption triggers estrogen to be released, dairy and animal products contain estrogen, sugar affects insulin which affects estrogen. Oh, and I think you're supposed to eat organic if possible too, because pesticides can act as synthetic estrogen. But I couldn't afford it the last time so I ignored that part. I've recently learned vitamin B6 has a huge impact on estrogen balance too. Try a vegan diet for one month, and take a B complex supplement too for a month. See if it doesn't make a massive difference in your next cycle. If it doesn't, drop it. If it does, only you can decide how strict you want to be.

For something light hearted and snort-soda out your nose funny, Nature Girl, or anything else by Carl Hiaasen. So funny, engrossing, page turning and clever plots. For something intense you can escape into, The Bourne Identity, and the other Bourne books by Robert Ludlum are amazing, and different enough from the movie series that you won't anticipate the page-turning deliciousness. I couldn't get into the Bourne books written by other authors.

Trying to reason with people defending Paterno or who hate the idea of any sanctions is a little like trying to reason with people you want out of a cult - reason is never going to work. You can possibly force them out of the cult by kidnapping them and surrounding them with regular people from the real world, and they might eventually change their minds, but they may never change their minds. When you take out the cult leaders but leave thousands of members behind, the cult doesn't disappear. It continues to exist, in a weakened form. I think the same culture will continue, like Warren Jeffs and the FLDS. The culture may continue for generations.

Have him read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. If you're super concerned about social skills and not that concerned about the moral issues that may arise from developing those social skills (Meaning: if you're religious and against the idea of unmarried teens developing any skills or knowledge that might give them an ability to have sex, stop reading NOW), you might also have him read something like The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by Neil Strauss. Not that you want him to EVER become a pickup artist, but that you want him to know the social skills involved in any human interaction are not magic, they are a skill, and they have a purpose. In fact, I might have my daughters read something like that before they go off to college - just so they don't fall for manipulative behavior like that. At some point the guy who writes the MarriedManSexLife blog is going to come out with a book for teens on social intelligence and cover a lot of this stuff in a more appropriate way, but it's not out yet, and won't be for a few years.

I'd switch reading, writing, and math to a curriculum that's more self-teaching for the older ones. Look into RC (Robinson Curriculum) methods. You can do this for free with similar literature online. An Old Fashioned Education and Ambleside Online might help a little too.

The culture that tells you it's okay to think of someone who condoned repeated child rape and repeatedly helped to cover it up as "a great coach" is what everyone who is NOT part of the Penn State culture finds completely abhorrent. A "great coach" would have helped to confront the evil and actually enforce the values he said he had, not to be a giant hypocrite who allowed evil to continue for more than a decade. The players will transfer to other schools if they want, and they will be fine.

Yeah, he has a stomach ache. He might have a mild allergy to something in the food. Try giving him 1/3 steamed rice, 1/3 steamed veggies (not onion or garlic), and 1/3 protein (chicken, beef), and see if that makes a difference.

I've been washing dishes but my heart has been with you and your sister. You should know something about nursing home patients - there are three types of people who move in there. 1) Hospice patients who are so sick they aren't aware of their surroundings most of the time. 2) Elderly people who realize they can no longer care for themselves as well as they should and who think getting help at a home will give them and their families more dignity than relying on family so they choose to go. 3) The VAST majority, who are in some stage of dementia, are at a stage where their families are overwhelmed, they refuse to go in, and eventually are forced to anyway. After a few weeks of adjustment, their anger dissipates and they are fine. If their families put them in a home before they were totally overwhelmed the families are relieved and come to visit often. If they waited too long and took the family member's dementia personally, sometimes they never come to see the person again. I think it's VERY important to put someone in a home before you are so hurt you don't love them anymore. If your sister can't do that, try and put your mom in a nursing home closer to you. Realize that even though your sister is exhausted, she may lash out at you if/when you take over your mother's care. Do not take this personally, she will be struggling with her own feelings of failure EVEN THOUGH SHE SHOULDN'T. Find one with as few state deficiencies as possible. Find one who specializes in dementia care if possible. Being in a nursing home often gives people MORE of a sense of dignity than they would have living at home. If you're not able to do something at home (for example, if you're incontinent), it might feel like a failure. It might be a huge inconvenience for a caregiver. If you need a little help from a person wearing medical scrubs, it's not personal, they're there to help you. It's a different dynamic. And then family members get to still see the part of their family member who is still them, not their disease process. There is a several week or several month adjustment period though, when they may be angry. Be prepared for that and do NOT take it personally. Also, you should probably educate yourself on dementia, and on what the stages are, so when you see her getting worse you'll know what to expect. Someone with dementia who is also diabetic and who refuses to eat right or take medicine will probably progress through the stages of dementia a lot faster than the average person with, say, alzheimer's.

In the live press conference, the rationale for the $60 Million was that it was only ONE season of football revenue - the money explains why football was treated as a god.

I've figured out what teA means, but can someone please tell me how it came to mean that? By PM if necessary.

At that age it's probably a polyp, but it could be a sign of sexual abuse or something serious such as an autoimmune disorder or cancer.

One other brief note on dementia- oftentimes a patient will not remember 90 seconds previously, but they remember their mood. They don't know why they are angry, they're just angry. They don't know why someone in the room is radiating hostility, but they feel it and will defensively reflect hostility back. If you put a hot pack of rice around their neck to warm them up, and give them candy, and relieve any little discomforts they have to the best of your ability, they are happier. They don't remember why they're happier, they just are. And they're much less likely to be combative when you suggest they sit in their favorite chair and watch their favorite tv show.

Your mom's opinion no longer matters. If she is in a state that she is harming others or threatening to harm herself, she should be in a locked dementia ward. Most nursing homes have them. In the event that someone is so violent in a nursing home that they are dangerous, many times they will be sent to the hospital, and many times the nursing homes refuse to take them back. In that event, those patients live in the hospital until such time as the social workers there find a place that will take them. Most importantly, your sister needs a break. In my case, with my nursing experience, if someone in our immediate family developed dementia, I would probably take them into my home. Having said that, I have enough experience to not take any hurtful things they might say personally. If this person was in the wandering stage of dementia, where they were likely to go for a walk and get lost, or leave a stove on unattended, or threaten to hurt themselves or anyone else, I would put them in a locked unit of a nursing home until they reached the point they were no longer mobile enough to harm anyone. This is not giving up on someone. You can go visit them every day. In fact, I'd go visit them several times a day some times, and always vary the time I went. Nursing home residents whose families show up often, and at varied times get preferential treatment. They get cleaned up first, they get clean clothing first, they get fed their favorite foods more often. It's time to figure out who should make end of life decisions for your mom. You do not want to be in a situation where your extended family is fighting over whether to save her or let her go. This will probably be years down the road, but you need to figure it out before it's an issue.

They did not say anything about stripping individual players of awards. It just means Paterno is now the 5th most winning coach rather than the first. It just strips him of his achievement for the years we can prove he knew about child rapes and did nothing to keep his team's reputation. I would have felt better with several years of no football, but DH thinks this is worse. He says it will ruin recruiting for decades rather than a few years.

Well, the NCAA issued their ruling. No death penalty, primarily because they saw this as more of a university wide issue than specifically a football issue, and because they wanted culture change. There were many punitive measures, and the football program will be deeply damaged, probably for decades. And I heard the Big 10 was going to have a decision by 10am, though I haven't seen what that will be yet. The university wide culture was my primary concern when I posted this.

I have, although then I found that everyone except me was using way too much soap and it wasn't getting rinsed out, so now I have one bottle of concentrate and one old detergent bottle that I use. I figured out how to dilute the concentrate so that one cap full of the old bottle is a full load. That way no one has to think about it except me. I did the diluting math once and wrote it with a permanent marker on the side of the concentrated bottle (an old gallon vinegar jug).

Hi. I only read the first 5 pages of discussion, and I haven't read any books about Paul being gay, but I have to admit I've wondered MANY times while reading the New Testament if he was gay. It just makes sense. Background: I am devoutly Christian, non-denominational, but spent a lot of time in different denominations growing up so I've studied a fair amount of theology and done a lot of bible reading on my own. I am straight, and while I can definitely appreciate the form of women, I'm not at all attracted to them. I have had some gay friends in the past, though I am not close to any of them at the moment, mostly because of where I've moved. I've known some gay friends who were certain they were born that way, one who had very feminine mannerisms who was rather asexual and realized he was gay when he was older because that's the first place he fit in with a society, and one woman who'd had some trauma as a child, was afraid of men, and so was a lesbian, but it was not so much that she'd been born that way as that men terrified her. I genuinely believe some people are born that way and some choose to be that way not so much as a matter of free will but from the consequences of life circumstance. Most of Paul's views are much like Jesus' - very liberal with a lack of judgment for sinners, anger at poor church management and hypocrisy. The law is made to serve us, not us the law; we have freedom to do ANYTHING, but not everything benefits us; do whatever you want, but don't be a stumbling block to others who don't feel free. Mostly he seems focused on knowing God, on having a relationship with Him, on obeying the holy spirit. All of that with the exception of this problem he has, that he will not discuss, an almost obsession at times with sexual sin, a refusal to marry, having great affection for Timothy, and occasionally writing as though women repulse him (even though when as compared to the rest of society, women were practically equals in church matters). I think that the problem he wrestled with was being gay. I think in that time and in that culture, that was not remotely okay with early Christians, though the hedonistic culture of the Romans was okay with it. I think he was repulsed by the idea of cheap hedonistic sex but being in a committed loving relationship wasn't an option at that time, but that he wrestled with it a lot. As for whether being gay is a sin - orientation and desire are definitely not. Hedonism and being promiscuous probably are. As for committed loving relationships and marriage... I honestly don't know, but I would tend to think not. I think that what is more important is to encourage someone to have a relationship with God, and that if the Holy Spirit moves them out of those relationships, they should obey. I think the relationship and humility are much more important than behavior. And as for someone on page 5 who commented what that should mean when it comes to public policy questions - I don't think that the government should be involved in any marriages at all. I don't think you can legislate morality. I've become more and more libertarian as the years go on though. There was a Southern Baptist who supported Ron Paul in the early days of the Republican primaries who had some interesting takes on why being libertarian is more Christian. I don't agree with everything he said, but he did talk about things I had never considered before: http://ronpaulflix.com/2011/12/the-bible-ron-paul-13-part-series/

On the subject of letting a kid go to a midnight viewing- Some of my favorite childhood memories are from when my dad would wake us up at 2am in the summer and take us on "midnight adventures." This happened 2-3 times a summer from about ages 9-11. He worked nights at the time and would wake one of us up for special one on one time when he got home. Sometimes it was a midnight horseback ride, complete with pointing out constellations, telling their stories, and ghost stories. Sometimes it was taking us out to a bridge in the salt marsh and fishing as the tides changed (we'd catch some freshwater fish, some saltwater fish, and sometimes an eel or two). This didn't happen often, and it didn't happen when we had anything important to do the next day, but we did get one on one time we wouldn't have otherwise had. If my kid really wanted to go see Spiderman, I wouldn't have had a problem taking him to the opening midnight show, assuming it was summer, he was old enough to stay awake through it, and someone was home with the other kids. We normally have very strict bedtime rules, but I really don't see the point in not flexing them for a very special occasion. Are we the only ones who feel this way?