I live in NE Florida. I pay $4.00 per dozen at the farmer's market. Honestly, I would be willing to pay more but that is apparently the rate they have chosen to charge. For comparison commercial eggs are $2.89 or more per dozen at the store.

I agree. The bolded bit (bolding mine) in particular. Everything is so separated now. Not just people by age groups but the separation of food production from the eater, entertainment (even simple playing music) from the hearer, etc.

My wonderful father (86 years old) watches way too much Fox News. Trying to talk about the future, even benign chatter about my daughters' potential career paths can be a mine field. I am angry and fed up with Fox's fear mongering.

Ruth Beechick the Three R's, and then later "You can teach your child successfully" Alfie Kohn - Punished by Rewards John Taylor Gatto: Dumbing us down Growing Without Schooling magazine (John Holt) and snippets of "Better Late than Early" I read portions of the delayed academics / readiness theories

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: We have moved in and out of the horse world, but the only advice I have is to let your grief settle before you make any decisions. So sorry about your horse. Best wishes

Best gift was having both girls home for the holidays! We had a sweet slow day with gifts, food and movies. My favorite gifts received: Shawl from Prague Christmas Market and yarn from Ireland (girls were in Europe right before Christmas). I am looking for the perfect pattern for the yarn, I plan to make a felted bag. Dh gave me a bunch of craft items from my wishlist so I am all set for the new year. :) Favorite gifts given: Gave dh a kit to make a belt buckle (wax form to carve and a pouch to mail it to the foundry to have a brass buckle poured). Gave dd24 a Hawkeye t-shirt and gave dd22 a Winter Soldier t-shirt. Thank you Hive for the Redbubble suggestion. :)

So sorry :grouphug: :grouphug:

It made me laugh too because I have actually done that as the gift giver. Seen something odd on the wishlist but 'hey! they must want it so why not give them something they want.' oops :)

Kudos to him for remembering a personal detail you told them. :) I have received many perfectly nice but 'generic' gifts from in-law types. Nice people, nothing to complain about but totally interchangeable if you know what I mean. :)

Yes, I have many happy memories of Midnight Christmas Eve candle services and Silent Night. I always found it so moving especially with young children.

Both DH and I originally from the SouthWest now in the South (North Florida) We did many more of the items on the list when the girls were younger (Christmas plays, nativity sets, etc) We still do a lot of them (Tree, stockings, favorite movies, special meal) We stopped traveling home for Christmas after our children were born, traveling with infants at the holidays is too stressful. And I wanted our family to have our own traditions and memories. We would see extended family around Thanksgiving or New Year. Only two 'strongish' feelings about the list. 1) Christmas tree up no later than one week before Christmas and usually on Christmas Eve and stays up until Epiphany (otherwise it is an Advent Tree) :) 2) No birthday cake or happy birthday singing. Christmas celebrates Christ's birth but it is not his birthday. This one I felt strongly enough about to instruct my children not to sing Happy Birthday as part of the children's or youth program when they were young. "Be polite but no..." Fortunately our church does not do the birthday party thing, so I don't think it came up or was a big deal.

fresh spinach and mushroom. Wash, chop, saute in butter, and salt and dash of basalmic vinegar (optional) and throw a few almonds on top.

Sadly there are people who become offended because "happy holidays' is pc and anti-christian. It puzzles me too. But I have heard people say they will never shop at xyz again because the clerk said 'happy holidays' instead of 'merry Christmas'. They then usually go on to explain the War on Christmas and the War on Christians. sigh

I found these and purchased one for everyone in the family to put in our christmas stockings. Practice handcuffs to learn to pick locks. http://www.makershed.com/products/practice-cuff

I currently have six cats (not on purpose :glare: ). The oldest one is blind in one eye. It doesn't make any difference to her, doesn't slow her down a bit. I have not noticed any difference between her and the two eyed cats as far as who is in charge on any given day.

As a general heads up. One of my dd's is gluten intolerant and she had issues with painful rashes after her periods. She discovered that most feminine products are not gluten free and can cause contact reactions. She uses o.b. now and says it is much better.

good point

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!! Shriek I currently have a Dr Who Weeping Angel Tree Topper in a 'shopping cart' AND a "Team Bucky" t-shirt and "This looks bad" t-shirt and an "with you till the end of the line' and more . help! arrrrghh :)

Thank you, now I just have to decide which!

Thank you so much I have found several perfect items. "With you till the end of the line"

Think about the advice you will give your dd when she heads off into the world. :) You will tell her 'go with your instincts' and you won't care two hoots if she feels 'rude' or 'weird' about it. Actual quotes to my college age dds "If you don't want to get in that car, don't do it!" "I don't care if you offend your friend!" and yes I have had calls at midnight that her friends went somewhere she would not go and I went and picked her up.

I have not read "the Gift of Fear" but now I am going to look it up. I have told my girls (age 22 and 24) many times to listen to their feelings if they are uncomfortable, and not let fear of seeming rude get them into situations they don't like. Instincts are important, you don't need to explain them to anyone else. It doesn't have to be a 'judgement' of anyone else in particular just 'no, thank you, I don't xyz"

I will second the epson salt baths, and the loose fitting clothing. I have had similar issues and I will say lying in bed with no clothes on and letting everything 'air out' seems to really help.

Does anyone know where I can get 'Winter Soldier" stuff. Action figure, sweatshirt, t-shirt... anything with Bucky on it?

Like some of the others have said, a lot depends on which issues you choose, no one company is going to do everything right or everything wrong. If I use 'decent to their employees/nice benefits' as the criteria I would choose: Starbucks for ethical, Papa John's for unethical. If I use 'makes a positive impact on people lives' as the criteria I might choose: Salvation Army for ethical, Goodwill for unethical. If I use 'high environmental concern/sustainability' as the criteria: Tesla for ethical; Exxon for unethical.