I made black bean burgers with fresh baked kaiser roll hamburger buns. Added a salad and dinner was done.

I love a good conspiracy theory. I find them fascinating. How much I believe in it depends on the day and my mood.

I like to believe that I will be able to take a step back and breathe a sigh of relief that he is protecting himself from STDs and pregnancy. Then I would pat myself on the back for a job well done in teaching the importance of not relying on the girl to provide birth control and protecting himself. The reality is I would probably have a major freakout with dh (who would remind me of the above mentioned things). Tell me about what he was doing at that age and to remember he is not a baby. Then we would come up with an action plan on how/who to discuss this when he returns from camp. And I definitely would not bring it to camp-privately or not-the only thing ds will get out of the moment is "my mom was going through my stuff and possibly ruin a great experience." It is a conversation that can wait until he returns.

I see you have never gone digging for clams by rolling up your pants and digging your toes into the sand at the edge of the surf.

You should see what your insurance covers. Since dh does not have a heart condition our insurance would only approve the home study.

Veggies doesn't bother me. I would ban the word panties. That word makes me shudder. I would also ban Ginormous.

Low flow, regular flow, any flow-my ds can clog them all. Many of the men on dh's side seem to have this capability. It is definitely less frequent since we remodeled the upstairs bathroom. I swish the plunger in the clean water. If it was gross I throw in some cleaner. Shake it off and place next to toilet. Once I used the tub and I did majorly sanitize after.

You people have got to stop. I use almost all of these words daily. I wear blouses and the occasional frock. I also wear trousers and slacks. Sometimes I mention the kin folk (although as a yankee it is said infrequently) I do ask my kids to give me some sugar. Just the other day I referred to my neighbors who live catty corner to me. My current home does not have a foyer but it does have a vestibule. At the end of this past winter I had to buy the boy more jeans because he looked like he was wearing floods. I do not currently have a secretary or a drop leaf desk but my mom does. Now I am wondering what happened to my grandpa's roll top desk. My dh says my family is the only one he ever heard referring to private areas as "your business". For example, when someone is in the hospital in that lovely gown you may rearrange the covers for them so no one can see "their business". I do remember the end table my parents had for holding all their albums. It even had a special slot for the 8 tracks. If I wasn't so sad at the demise of so many words that I still use I would certainly bust up laughing.

Dh's just sounds like white noise to me. I will take darth vader over his usual snore any day.

Gosh, this thread is making me feel old. I have a credenza in my dining room. I suppose most people would call it a buffet. Sneakers are sneakers. Not trainers, running shoes, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, tennies, etc. Thongs-it took me awhile before I knew that referred to something other then what are now called flip flops. I still refer to aluminum foil as tin foil on occasion. Brownstones in the city all have stoops. I remember xeroxing and I remember making dittos because I am that old. I don't ask for cellophane tape anymore but I know what it is. Sometimes I do carry a pocketbook but I usually say purse or bag. I have worn my fair share of dungarees. I have drunk water from the spigot outside. Inside it is a faucet.

In my crowd most people go out to dinner with a couple of close friends and go back to someone's house for dessert. Or they just have friends over for dessert. Or in the case that was my 40th you can spend it celebrating your mother-in-laws 60th birthday (because her birthday is the day after yours) with a family dinner and a big cake and lots of gifts and at some point have your sister-in-laws and mother-in-law hand you a card. Yeah, still bitter when I think about it.

Since I believe that Walmart is largely responsible for driving down the standard of living in this country I choose not to support them with my $$. Costco pays their employees a living wage, offers health benefits, and provides top quality products at a reasonable price. My costco offers a decent amount of organics. I have never had any issues with the quality of their private label (kirkland) products.

There are many things I find unbelievable but your music related ones made me think of the great Dire Straits song Money for Nothing.

Is there any way to fix ANY of this? As if I need one more thing on my overflowing plate...lol I have been in a much better place since I stopped looking at all I am not doing and all that I am doing. I celebrate my successes and make a huge personal effort not to compare my life to my friends. So my question is how often you feel behind, overwhelmed, like you're not doing enough in some areas, that you still have a ways to go to get on top of things, etc? All the time. I am a lousy housekeeper. I will always choose reading a book over cleaning. I hate cleaning. For certain, there are areas of homeschooling where I fall down something fierce. For those of you who feel that way, what do you think contributes to that feeling? Is your to-do list only X% complete each day? Or is it a mindset or something else? There are so many areas where I feel I could be doing better and if I think about it I become paralyzed unable to make the simplest decision. I try to live one day at a time. I do not make a to do list. I would feel like even more of a failure when my list was not complete at the end of the day. I try to focus on one thing for the day. Such as-today I will get all the clutter off the kitchen counter. Small goals work better for me. How do other people view you and your running of life (house, children, homeschooling, unforeseen occurrences)? Do you struggle with that view (either direction)? To my face my friends all tell me how awesome I am. Homeschooling, dealing with my dh's health issues, etc. I always wonder what they are saying about me to each other. No way to know but I try not to think about it because it is none of my business. My own insecurities lead me to think they must be saying what a train wreck I am. Messy house, scatterbrained, flake, nuts for standing by dh and all of his bad business decisions, etc. I think I might be projecting my own feelings of stupidity and inadequacies onto innocent people. Then I think "wow, little full of yourself to think others have nothing else to do but discuss your life."

Baking-Pampered Chef Stoneware. I am a stoneware junkie. Love it, love it, love it. Stovetop-I have a couple of favorites. My cast iron dutch oven and a really large pan that I got at costco but I can't remember the brand. It is non-stick and has a glass lid. For everyday pasta/sauce pans I have the Farberware from when I got married a couple of decades ago.

I think the kid is 14 years olad and shrugged it off due to embarrassment. As the parent I would offer to pay for repair and have my child work it off. Realistically, most people would view it as an accident and expect your insurance to cover it. I doubt I would dissolve the carpool over this one incident.

i am thrilled when dh is not home for dinner. (Gosh, that sounds horrible. How does that old adage go.....I married you for better or for worse but not for lunch). The kids and I can eat anything and everything. Dh can not so making dinner for the nights he will be home is a chore for me.

We used to have a few around here. Unfortunately, they all closed. I always thought it was a great idea but it was out of my budget.

You will most likely not get the plague. If the milk was spoiled dc probably would not have drunk it. I wouldn't stress about it. That is borrowing trouble. I am sorry you are having a stressful time right now. I can totally relate. Lots of health issues and job loss going on around here.

My teens are 15 and 13. No texting/phone use until schoolwork is done for the day. No ipods, either. I will unplug the wifi at 10:30pm if we have a lot going on the next day and they need to sleep.

I have always dreamed of having my own pool. However, since having kids I have realized there are many pros to the community pool. 1. No maintenance. 2. Social. Kids can almost always find someone to hang with. 3. No worries about someone drowning in my yard when not home. 4. Did I mention the no maintenance. 5. Now that my kids are teens they can go to the pool by themselves if I have other things I need to do that day and there are lifeguards to watch them. 6. My oldest is now a lifeguard at community pool-best summer job ever.

I do not engage in those types of conversations. It sounds like a smile and nod time. I do not see public school as this horrible government institution determined to churn out little worker bees. Public School was not working for my kids. I know plenty of kids who thrive in public school. Homeschooling is like every other method. Some good, some bad. If another parent tries to engage me in one of those types of conversations I shut it down. It is just not good for my mental health.

Mr./Mrs./Miss Last Name. If the adult says "Please, call me xxxx. Then the child/teen is free to call them that.

Pancakes. I can tolerate one person eating pancakes but I can not go into a pancake restaurant. The smell is overwhelming and makes me gag.

I am sorry you are on this journey. My father passed away from pancreatic cancer. From some of the stories that have been shared with me I feel blessed that my father's death from this cancer was fairly quick and with manageable pain. I can't say I felt that way at the time but I do now. I did find some of the online support forums to be helpful.