You cannot improve upon perfection. I say we stage a very public boycott, call the news people, and throw the new movie off the cliffs of insanity! (Anybody know where the cliffs of insanity are? :D )

Real food only. A little bit of everything, including butter, cream, meat, sugar. Lots of veggies. A variety of grains, some of them whole. In fact, lots of variety in general. Avoid artificial sugars, artificial colours/flavours, MSG. The 80/20 rule: Eat well 80% of the time. Enjoy indulgences. Moderation. Most importantly: Enjoy food! Life is not a diet.

:iagree:Yes, my thoughts exactly.

Yes, me and my trusty, shark-proof Diva cup!

My dd is 10, and in our family we start medium to late-ish, so I'm hoping not to deal with this for a couple more years. Anyway, I've already started to make it a normal part of the "landscape" around here. It helps that they're made from cool fabric patterns! I've shown her mine and talked about it casually. She also knows about my cup and what it's for. I make sure to talk about the benefits I find (more comfortable, good for environment, no cost each month). At one point I asked her if she would like her own special set ordered for her when the time came, and she said yes. I love http://lunapads.com/pads-and-liners.html Another thing I'd do would be make sure they're very comfortable with the logistics, such as how to deal with them while out and about. You can get a simple lined bag to contain them. Just like a pp said, I'd NEVER go back!! It is bliss, comparatively speaking. :)

I've only read about the first 5 pages. I do agree that might sound annoying in the context described above, but hellish to ME is waking in the night and having to stumble out of bed to heat up a bottle and then hold it upright for the baby, instead of just grabbing the baby and getting to stay horizontal! Also, the thought of all that cleaning and disinfecting of bottles and nipples (by hand--no dishwasher!)... not my thing.

This brings back a memory for me... I was in my best friend's backyard playing with her, probably about 7 years old, and having a great time. I said something to her along with a nickname I called her once in awhile: Nicki. Her parents overheard, corrected me in an off-putting way, saying, "Her name is NICOLE. Nicki is like a dog's name or something." I felt hurt, because I was just having fun with my friend. Somehow, that comment has stayed with me all these years. And Nicole herself didn't mind the nickname. Harrumph.

I guess if it was me and it was super important to me, I'd wait until much later in the conversation to approach it. Then I'd try to bring it up in an offhand way as part of a story about how much my daughter enjoyed her full name and really appreciated it when people called her that. I think the woman could draw her own conclusions.

:iagree: Unless I had a prior friendly relationship with the mom, I would not have had my first contact with her be about correcting her dd for something that really (I'm sorry) *isn't* a big deal. I'm sorry she wasn't more gracious about it though. ... and with this.

My daughter had croupy coughs with some sicknesses at a much older age than I would have expected--even at age 8 and 9. I agree with the honey suggestion. Have him suck slowly on a spoonful every few hours. Sitting in a steamy bathroom definitely helps. If he'll drink fairly hot herbal tea with a squeeze of lemon and honey, I'd try that. A humidifier in the bedroom may help. Aside from that, I'd boost the vitamin intake with as much fruit and vegetable, as well as their juices, as he can handle. Also supplement with vitamin C and D, plus probiotics and omega oils if you're into that--just a little boost to help his body fight the bad guys. :001_cool:

It's a verrrry tough call. I think my top favourite of all time is the Perogi Pizza (at Boston Pizza). It has thinly sliced spicy potato, ricotta (I think), cheddar cheese, bacon, and after it's cooked it gets topped with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkled with green onion. I bet it's a lot like the OP's baked potato pizza. Second is probably spinach and feta, sometimes with roasted red pepper. Or green olive, pineapple, and hot pepper. Ohhhh, almost forgot my California Shrimp pizza--thin crust, with shrimp and pesto.

Oh, one more thought... If you did like the idea of learning to follow instructions to make a finished product, there is a Kumon book that has these really neat cut-and-glue things to create. It's ALL in the book; you just supply the glue stick and scissors. And the products are really cool--each of them moves or does something neat. At this age, though, she'd still need a lot of support. Maybe best in a couple of years.

Yuck--I hate those types of crafts, too. I also don't like colouring pages. If she has lots of opportunity to use her hands and her creativity in a free-form, inventive way, she will be at least as well off--probably better. If you really need to fill the follow-the-steps niche, when she's older you can do some origami, which feels a lot more elegant than gluing cotton balls or pasta. I'm big on real crafts over those busy-work type of crafts. At her age, maybe she could learn to weave with really thick yarn on a simple cardboard loom. Or she could sew on a piece of very loose weave fabric with a plastic needle. At that age, my daughter loved to use her watercolour set with blank paper. She'd mix and mix and mix colours to her heart's content. Modelling shapes, letter, or creatures out of salt dough is good at this age, too. You can smoosh them at the end, or bake them and paint later.

Hotdog sweaters are about as respectable as it gets, but I'm pretty much a hooligan. :D Sorry 'bout the neighbourhood. :001_smile:

My 500th post. Hot dawg! A milestone this important had to be celebrated in this Thread of the Year contender. :spam: <----- This guy wants to see how he looks in a little sweater, too.

I have limited experience with gp, but lots with rodents in general (hamsters, mice, rats, gerbils). Gp do tend to be a bit squealy, and when I held friends' gp, they struggled a bit. Basically, rodents want to feel safe. Approach them slowly, so they see your hand coming. Stroke them for a while (I think gp like a nice rubbing behind the ears). Scoop them slowly and gently, so they feel supported under their entire body. Sit on the floor so they don't have far to fall if they did. Let them sit on your lap while you pet them and feed them little treats by hand, so they can begin to trust in your relationship. Handle them daily!

Ok, here's where tipping doesn't make a lot of sense to me: A couple goes out to a casual place, get the veggie fajitas to share (it's a two-person platter), and drink water because they feel it's healthy. Bill comes to $15 plus tax. Server brings water, refills them, brings all the dishes that go along with fajitas, takes order, cleans up. Tip at 20% could be $3. A couple goes to a fancy place, get steak dinners, and drink wine. The plates are $30 each and the wine is $40. Server does perhaps the same amount of work as at the fajita place, or probably somewhat less. Tip at 20% is $20. And what if they had ordered the $80 bottle of wine? Why would that be worth an extra $8 for the server? Did they really do anything extra to deserve it? So why the huge difference? Does one deserve it more than the other, just because they found a job at a fancier restaurant? People should be able to use their discretion.

Ahhh. Agreed. I always felt I should have been born somewhere where siestas are the norm, or multi-course relaxed meals, or "island time". I would be happy.

That's funny... I can't sleep (if I have somewhere important to be in the morning) unless I have at least two separate alarm clocks set, one of which is across the room or in the hallway. Otherwise, I stay awake worrying that one may not go off due to power outage, or I'll turn one off in my sleep. Fortunately, now that I'm homeschooling we don't have to be anywhere important in the morning!

They make regular minimum wage here in Ontario, Canada, which is currently $10.25. I was a server before I finished my schooling. The money was decent. I worked in so-so to o.k. type places. If you worked in a nice place, or did some bartending, the money could be quite nice. I'm all for generous tipping in places where the base pay is around $2 or $3. It's more silly to expect the identical level of tipping here.

:iagree:and great advice! eta... not to belittle some the experiences of pp on this thread. Absolutely, anything is possible. Being alert, aware, and mentally prepared is essential.

Below freezing the whole time? I'd probably use it.

You may already do this, but I always use my printer on "draft" setting to save on ink. It looks just fine. I also try to print on both sides when possible.

My mom was a little ahead of her time. For breakfast, she would do things like make 1/2 white / 1/2 whole wheat flour pancakes. We often had porridge--usually Red River (a blend of grains made into hot cereal). We only had healthy cold cereal, except once in a while she'd get a box of Fruit Loops for us to use as a topping for the healthy cereals, to sprinkle on top. :tongue_smilie: My parents gardened in those days. I have memories of sitting on the back porch shelling endless peas so we could freeze them. We also had corn, beets, carrots, onions, and lot of potatoes. We even had a cold storage room in the basement, and before supper many nights I'd be asked to go down and pick out six big potatoes for supper. There was no such thing as instant in our house. We did a lot of meat, potato, vegetable, and salad type meals. Our veggies were either fresh or frozen; steamed beet tops from the garden is one I remember. Sometimes we'd get spaghetti or soft tacos--properly spiced and with all the toppings. We had beef, pork chops, chicken, various types of fish as the meat part. I remember my dad bringing home gorgeous, delicious salmon fillets and amazing steaks he'd get as some kind of work bonus. He even brought home live lobster once. Because he traveled for a living, he'd even bring home treats like key limes from Florida, pecans from the southern states, pecan logs (to die for!!), things like that. My mom was/is a really great cook, and she's even gotten better over the years. Some of the specific dishes I remember: Apple Dumplings, lasagne, scalloped potatoes, baked chicken, angel food cake with whipped cream and berries, stew with dumplings on top, salisbury steak, creamed white beans, poppyseed cake, homemade muffins. In the summer we would sometimes have burgers or hotdogs and eat them outside at the picnic table with a jug of Kool-aid. Even though we never had excess money, we always ate well. I remember scrounging around the house for spare quarters and dimes so we could go through the drive through and each get an extra-small soft serve cone as a treat. Eating out was a rare treat. If it was fast food, we had to share large fries rather than have our own. But regular, healthy, mostly homemade food was always a priority with my parents, and I've kept up that tradition in my own home (and we still share large fries!).

Lyr as in lyrical I how I always saw it!