joannqn
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Posts posted by joannqn
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I have the usual ones....
Spending time with the kids.
Seeing them grow up, learn, and mature.
Giving them the education they need, especially since both of mine would have issues in public school. One would be bored and the other left behind.
Life is so much less hurried. We don't have to get up or be out the door early. Our evenings are spent at home or having a fun evening together because our extracurriculars are during the day and we have no homework.
My kids have time to play and enjoy childhood.
But I also have selfish ones...
I find what we learn in history and science interesting. Why didn't I learn that in school?
I like our read alouds. I'm missed most of the classics when I was a kid so they are new to me too.
I like going on field trips, day trips, live theater, etc. Now I have an excuse to spend the time and money doing these things.
I like doing craft projects. I have the excuse to do them now.
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My newspaper carrier throws me two extra papers at no charge because she knows I use the coupons. This allows me to save so much more money which I really appreciate. I'd like to give her a small gift to save thank you. I don't have a lot to spend and need ideas.
Last year, I gave her a gift card to a local grocery store, thinking anyone could use that. Wouldn't want to chose a gift card to someplace she's not interested in.
I was thinking of putting together a Thanksgiving box...you know a turkey, bag of potatoes, couple boxes of stuffing, couple cans of corn, couple cans of green beans, etc. Do you think that would be well received?
My thought behind that idea isthat I could put it together by Sunday when she comes and get $40 or more worth of food vs. a $25 gift card. So more value and it's something nearly everyone will be needing in a couple of weeks.
Or do you have any other ideas?
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I've read every response and I think it is clear that with creativity, it can be done. I'd like to encourage you to rely heavily on God and His Word. It does and can work.
My husband and I nearly divorced five years ago. He retained an attorney without my knowledge and had her start drawing up papers before I even knew he was planning on leaving. I read divorce busting books and books by a Christian lady who had her marriage restored after he married another woman. I combined the two bits of advice. Some of which was get my own life, go out with friends, be happy in his presence, not retaining my own attorney or fighting in court. I helped the kids celebrate his birthday (bought gift, made cake) even though he completely ignored mine the month prior. He didn't even suggest the kids tell me happy birthday.
He went from: I want a divorce. You can stay long enough to get a job. I'm keeping full custody of the kids.
To: I'll move out. You can have the house and custody of the kids. I'll pay full child support. How much do you think I'll be able to have them.
To: I don't have to move out. Can we work things out?
Five years later: Our marriage is better than it has ever been due to the book Love and Respect. In fact, I just realized that this is the first year that the anniversary of the date he asked for the divorce passed without my noticing it.
I pray that God will work miracles in your life and show you what He desires for you.
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Everyone feels things differently. They might have different pain tolerances or just using different words to describe the same sensation. I'm sure it is totally normal.
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Great job! I do the same thing.
I cut everyone's hair except my own. It took awhile to learn how to cut regular hair (as in my daughter's) but I finally got it.
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I'm thinking I might actually be able to cook the whole thing next time, and just put half of it in the fridge right from the get-go -- snagging my leftovers before they get a chance at 'em.
That's what I do. When I'm dishing up meals, I dish up the leftovers too.
In addition to the three meals per chicken. I do 20 meals per turkey.
I also make homemade refried beans which can be frozen.
With other meats, I cut it up into bite sized pieces before cooking them. They cook faster and I can get away with using less. I use 2 half breast of chicken or 2 pork chops to feed the five of us and usually still have leftovers for a lunch or two.
I also make my own alfredo sauce for pasta. $2 makes a pasta alfredo meal for lunch. Add $1.88 of chicken to that for dinner.
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I was like that for a while but not so much now. There's a few things I do to keep my life interesting...
I go to a weekly support group meeting where I have wonderful friends every Monday night for a 3 hour break. I also go to four day retreats twice a week with the same group. We have a ball.
I structure our homeschooling to be fun for me. I love outings and day trips so we do lots of them. I think I enjoy most of our field trips more than my kids do. We go to museums, zoos, science centers, nature places, live theater, etc. I love live theater, especially now that I know it doesn't have to be expensive. We get in to community theater for $5/person or free.
I've also been reviving my marriage with flirting. It's been so much fun. I read in a book that men like side-to-side companionship and recommended that wives just sit with their husbands while they worked on projects. No "talking" just sit with them. I've done this and my husband asks what I need and I just say nothing. He usually asks a few times. It baffles him but he smiles and starts talking about stuff. I listen and comment as appropriate but don't start or carry the conversation. I've even done this right out of the shower, sitting in a towel. I wasn't at the table long before he wanted to "help me get dressed." My flirting has led to more smiles, a happier and more helpful husband, and more action in the bedroom. It's been a lot less boring.
So, what I'm saying is find some time for yourself, do things you enjoy, and flirt with your husband. It will feel weird at first but it's worth it. He'll probably like it and maybe even ask where his wife went like mine does.
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Don't give in to him. Because he declined your information and getting a police report, he has nothing against you. The only thing he can prove is that he has your business card, which he could have gotten anywhere. He said it was no big deal. My guess is that he or someone he knows figured out that he could profit from your obvious feelings of guilt over it.
He's probably betting on you not wanting to involve your insurance. Which means cash in his pocket if you pay him off. If he does try taking you to court, let the insurance company handle it. They have the know how and lawyers to handle this type of person. Then if they raise your rates a ton, shop around for another company.
My own accident/greedy person story....
I was in an accident 13/14 years ago where I was at fault. I had a teeny, tiny car that crunched. His huge 1970's steel Ford pickup had a dented fender. The guy refused medical care at the scene, drove straight to his very physically demanding job, and worked 14 days straight. He went to no more than three doctor's appointments over three years and his girlfriend never knew he was hurt.
Three years later, I received a summons. It was 2 weeks before the statue of limitations was up. He was suing me for damages, long term disability, and reduced quality of life. My insurance offered him $10,000 to settle out of court. He refused.
During the 3 day case, he claimed he couldn't ride dirt bikes anymore. The fact that he hadn't ridden dirt bikes in more than 30 years came out in court. He claimed he couldn't ski anymore. We learned he had only skied once in many years. His lawyers showed the jury this graph of suggested compensations for his reduced quality of life that started at $250,000 and went up from there.
He technically won the case but the jury only awarded him $3,000. Had he been less greedy, he'd had gotten so much more. I'm glad my insurance was involved knowing what kind of guy he was.
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I was exposed to shingles when I was pregnant and no one was concerned about it except the person who had accidentally exposed me. Because I had a bad case when I was older (age 11), the doctor wasn't worried about me being exposed.
My kids haven't gotten it yet. I'd like them to before they are too much older. They've been exposed once but didn't get it and we've missed every other opportunity. Most of our friends have gotten it already.
If my kids had it, I would keep them home rather than deal with the wrath of the parents. My son would definitely have to stay away from taekwondo because two of the kids there have immune system issues. I'd let our friends now about it.
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Audrey - Thanks, I'll check it out.
Bumbledeb - I wouldn't count on it. I've been sick with every pregnancy that went past 7 weeks. That's four times. We're pretty sure high estrogen (it goes up in early pregnancy) is what makes me sick. I get super ill if I take birth control pills with estrogen in them, too.
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I'm with newlifemom. Our three families should get together. I'm in western Washington.
We've tried having Thanksgiving dinner in Portland with my dad, aunt, grandmother, and whichever other family members show up but it isn't a fun place to be. My dad is usually grouchy as he hates holidays so we have to listen to him complain all day. Then everyone else is doing their usual dysfunctional stuff. When I'm there, I often feel like my family is "white trash" because of how they talk and act.
We went, though, because my kids like their grandfather. He is a good grandfather...it's just that is negativity can get trying.
Then there's the fact that my aunt smokes in their house. Cigarette smell/smoke makes me physically ill. I'm nauseous, can't breathe (get very stuffed up) and my eyes itch. I've even had my conjunctiva swell up from being there too long.
So, we stay home. I make a huge meal...all the usual stuff...for just us. It's quiet and a little boring, but at least it isn't miserable and doesn't make me ill.
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For literature, we like to go to see a play based on a book we have read or are reading. A museum exhibit can often be found to go along with a book's topic as well.
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Thanks! My kids are still too young to cook much of anything. My DD is just now learning very simple things.
Any ideas of what freezes well. I don't do a lot of freezing other than milk and raw meat.
I'm thinking of making up refried beans to freeze in meal sized portions (about a sandwich-size ziploc each). I could probably precook seasoned ground beef. What about seasoned chicken breast....does that freeze well? Maybe if I undercook it so that reheating doesn't dry it out. We eat a lot of Mexican food with beans, ground beef, and chicken.
Chilli. Spaghetti sauce. Soup freezes well...right?
Any other ideas?
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These are our favorites. I gave links to my blog or eHow articles as appropriate. I've been focusing on money saving recipes/tips at both.
Burritos made with homemade refried beans & seasoned chicken
Burritos made with homemade beans & ground beef
Chicken taco salad
Ground beef taco salad
Rubber chicken (Whole chicken used for 3 meals)
Rubber turkey (Thanksgiving turkey stretched into 20+ meals)
Sub sandwiches on my homemade bread
Chicken fetticini alfredo using homemade alfredo & cup up chicken breast
Homemade popcorn chicken & mashed potatoes
My homemade refried beans cost the equivalent of 35 cents a can and makes about 8 cans worth. Beans can be frozen after they are fried used later. To reheat, bring to room temperature and heat in sauce pan. Add water if they are too thick.
I stretch both whole chicken and turkey to get as many meals out of them as possible, making both very frugal choices, especially the turkey. Turkey meat can be substituted in almost any chicken soup recipe.
I buy my chicken breasts when they are on sale for $1.99 a pound or less. Then I use two half breasts to feed all five of us. That makes our chicken about $1.99 per meal.
Pasta alfredo makes a great, quick lunch or dinner and is cheap when you make the sauce yourself.
Homemade Alfredo Sauce
Melt 2 T butter in sauce pan over medium heat.
Add 2 T flour. Stir to make roux.
Add 1 cup milk. Stir constantly until thickened.
Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese. Stir to melt.
Salt and pepper to taste.
If I don't have parmesan, I add grated cheddar instead.
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My husband, an IT professional, likes Lenovo. If you go with Dell, get the in-home warranty. It's nice to have someone come to your home and fix your computer there rather than having to take it in or mail it in some place and not have it at all for a month.
I run Vista and haven't had any problems with it. It just took a while to get used to it.
I do NOT recommend Acer laptops. They are poorly made and require you to mail them your laptop for repairs, which you'd probably need. I've had three problems with mine: space bar, left click, and the thing the cord plugs into. My blog gets a lot of hits from people searching about the same issues with Acer laptops.
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Just found out I'm pregnant again. Only 4 weeks. I usually get sick around week 7 and stay that way for a long time. I have to take anti-nausea medicine from 7-40 weeks. Anyway, we usually end up eating out A LOT when I'm pregnant because I'm so tired and sick but we can't afford that even occasionally right now.
Any ideas of how to continue being frugal when you are too tired and feeling yucky to put as much work into things like cooking and cleaning?
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My husband is very much for homeschooling and me staying home with the kids yet I still worry about both laws forbidding homeschooling being passed and financial issues.
Right now our finances are impossible. My husband's job cut his pay 25% without warning. We were living pay check to pay check before so it put us under what we needed at a minimum even with frugal living. There was no hope of it getting better so he quit to focus on getting his part time business up and running to full time. DH cashed out his small 401K to help pay the bills until we are able to get enough income to pay them. We expect to have enough money until around April. Hopefully, he'll be able to grow the business enough by then.
I'm doing everything I can (except drop our World Vision sponsored child) to cut expenses and trying to bring in a few dollars from online sources. All of my spare time is going to increasing those few online dollars.
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Kris, Elaine,
Either of you want to be my neighbor? There's a house for sale three over. The neighborhood IS getting better. How else would I know about half of these things...they are getting caught and new people come in. We have a neighborhood group too and have made the neighborhood a special zone where high octane malt drinks can't be sold. They are working on historical status now.
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Tea tree oil WILL get rid of it. You can find it at health food stores. You are suppose to mix it with a carrier oil...olive oil will work. I'd do about 1/2 and 1/2...so maybe 1/4 tsp olive oil with 10 drops of tea tree oil or so per application. Then just paint it on. I used a paint brush actually. Q-tip would probably work too.
When my son had ringworm on his scalp, the prescription meds didn't work but rather spread it worse. I used tea tree oil straight out of the bottle. You're not suppose to use it straight but we had been fighting the stuff for 4 months and I really really wanted to get rid of it. It stung but my 6 year old tolerated it fine. It was gone pretty quick even though scalp ringworm is notoriously very difficult to treat.
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Great job cathmom!
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I don't have to think about it for another five years. I'm not sure if I will bother with them or not because my risk is lower.
I've had three children so far and have breastfed for six years. According to studies my risk is reduced 7% for each child and 4.3% for each year breastfeeding. That works out to be 46.8% reduced risk for me. And I'm not necessarily done having children or breastfeeding so my risk may still go down more. Plus no one in my family has had it, I don't smoke, don't drink much alcohol, etc.
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It doesn't bother me if people don't like animals as long as they aren't mean about it.
I had a neighbor who didn't like animals and wasn't happy about cats using her garden as a potty. She assumed it was my cats doing it even though there are many cats in our neighborhood, not just mine. I offered to buy and apply cat repellent to her flowerbeds for her but she refused. Instead she made some remark about eating my cat. She was Vietnamese.
I don't really understand the not liking pets thing although I do understand the not wanting fur or other pet messes in the house. I'm nearly positive I'm mildly allergic to my four cats but I don't think I'll ever live without cats.
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I hung inexpensive heavy curtains from IKEA, covered a few window with plastic, washed clothes in cold water, reduced my showers to every other day rather than every day, lowered the thermostat and changed how we dressed indoors (without wearing a lot of bulk), and wearing clothes more than once if they aren't obvious dirty or smelly. The changes really weren't a big deal at all and cost very little to implement.
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With the changes we've made, I've been waiting to get my heating bill which is always very high in the winter. We saved $40, or 30%, in the past month!!! And it isn't even our most expensive month. Our heating bill steadily goes up until February, which is our highest bill, before it heads back down. I'll be interested in seeing what February's bill is going to be. : )
Poll: Animal allergy poll
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I have a mild allergy to cats. I produce tons of excessive mucus. It used to be that I was stuffed up and couldn't breathe through my nose for years. I suffered chronic sinus infections. Then I found out that I had a deviated septum. Fixing that helped a lot. I can breathe now but still have all of the excessive mucus production that comes from being mildly allergic to my cats. My eyes itchy sometimes and every now and then the white part of my eye swells. It's worse during the fall/winter when the cats are in the house more often.
I've kept all four of my cats anyway and don't plan on living cat-free anytime in the future. I'm a HUGE cat lover.
I take claritin but only when it gets bad...like when my eyes are itching and threatening to swell. That's not fun.
I guess what you do would depend on how much you think the cat is affecting his asthma (ie. is he better when away from home where there are no cats for a few days) and how much you like having the cat.