I've been reading all of the recent threads about wearing make up, dressing better, and new hair styles and I'm wondering if anyone has done a full makeover on themselves? Was it easy? Where did you go? What did you buy? What made the biggest difference? I would like to start wearing make up, get a new hair style and color and a new wardrobe. Not too much to ask, is it? :lol:

Socks by Beverly Cleary is my favorite audiobook. :)

It is a nice feature to get the reading level from Scholastic but Amazon has definitely nailed the algorithm for reading level/interest with their suggestions. I have found so many great books that way. :)

Taylor Ham, egg, and cheese on a bagel but only if I know the bagels are amazing. If it's a new deli then, of course, TH,E,C on a hard roll. :)

I'm a Springsteen listening, Taylor Ham eating, mall shopping, LBI loving Jersey Girl. :D

How old are your kids? My kids didn't play with them much until about age 6. Before that, they just didn't have the interest so the lego bricks sat in the bin and the Playmobile pieces were all lost.

Bay Leaves fennel Ground Ancho Chili Pepper paprika turmeric cumin ground onion and garlic only if you can get very high quality. Sweet Curry or Hot Curry Red pepper flakes (AKA crushed red pepper) Cayenne pepper mustard powder or mustard seeds ground cinnamon whole and ground Cloves whole nutmeg ground ginger cocoa powder cream of tartar Spices I don't use as often but have in my spice rack: Sesame Seeds, Poppy Seeds, Star Anise, Cardamon, Juniper Berries, coriander I don't use any dried herbs that come in jars. I have a year round herb garden for a few things, I dry herbs from my garden for others, or I do without.

The tags are hilarious! Dining with the Queen :lol: Go on unsinkable, resurrect that thread! I'm too shy :D

Burritos are so incredibly common around here (Northern NJ). They are in the same league as hamburgers, hotdogs, and pizza. My kids use all the above ingredients plus avocado, sour cream, shredded cheddar, and seasoned ground beef. Hmm, I kind of remember something about serving beans to kids. Maybe it was bean soup? :lol: I just googled: well trained mind colleen bean soup and the infamous bean thread came up first :p

Interesting! I loved that name too and almost named my dd Leah. I ended up naming her Lauren.

I hate these parties and presentations too but I would like to share a story :tongue_smilie: since this thread triggered the memory! At my son's 5th birthday party, a group of ladies (relatives and friends) were sitting in my living room and talking. I got up to put coffee on and I passed my SIL on the way out who looked at me and said "You knew I was going to do this didn't you?" :001_huh: Me: "Do what?" and she ignored my question and walked past me with some sort of brief case, and I, totally clueless, went to make coffee. I returned to the living room and my SIL was rubbing cream on someone's hands and they were all having a lively discussion of hand cream. :001_huh: After my SIL finished and went outside, I sat down and my friend asked me if my SIL would be upset if no one bought anything from her. :eek: That's when it hit me that she used my son's 5th birthday party to sell Mary Kay!! So, I said "WHAT?, NO!!, I'm not buying anything!!:confused::confused: Her mother bought a hand cream from her. Thank goodness no one else did! It was mortifying! Yes, friends, this is what MLM does to a perfectly sane person.

I did not particularly pay attention to what was going in my cart last week for our family of 4 because our bill is usually pretty consistent. I usually buy the same old things and I needed a few extra things (like cards, laundry detergent, paper towels) but my son (8) was with me and he put a few extra things in the cart. I wasn't really concerned. He put in a 4pack of chocolate milk boxes, a box of GF cookies, Lara bars, one of those Bolt House fruit smoothie things they sell in the produce dept. and some chocolate. I just kind of let it go, not really thinking. (Maybe it was because we left at 7am and I did not yet have coffee! :eek:) Anyway, my grocery bill came to $390!! :001_huh: That was 10 days ago, and I plan to use everything in my pantry for the next two weeks! To make matters worse, my h stopped at Trader Joe's to buy nut mixes for his lunch, chocolate, gluten free breads, vitamins, frozen berries, some seaweed snacks for me and a few other little things. The total came to $125. :eek: Trader Joe's! $125! WHAT?!?!!? My grocery bill is usually about $200/wk. We live in NJ and I buy a lot of fish, cheese, nuts that are a bit more expensive plus gluten free stuff so I realize that it is a bit higher maybe than average but I was shocked at the totals. This is money that I absolutely do not have.

My June 2nd child (7yo) is not a know it all, BUT when she asks about something, she needs to be the only one with the right answer. :001_huh: For example: "Do you think the top can be removed?" If I say, yes the cap can be removed, then she responds with "no, it can not." and she'll just walk away. If I had said no, then she would show me: "Ta da, this cap can be removed!" :001_huh: So I find myself answering her with the wrong answer. :tongue_smilie: I guess I should be nipping this in the bud instead of indulging but why does she do this?

It cracks me up when my kids say this to me! My dd7 actually has the rest of her life planned and it includes her fixing up the house we live in now so that it looks like Pottery Barn or Pier 1 (:eek:) so her and her children can all live here with us!

Isaac. I'm really sad and embarrassed to say that I learned this from Days of Our Lives, many, many, many years ago! :lol:

Dexter The Daily Show with Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Glee American Idol

Target has excellent gluten free graham cracker!

Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts Curriculum. Try it. You'll like it! :D

MCT is a huge, out-of-the-park home run with my 3rd grader. That is really the only new thing I added this year but I need to get science together for my 1st and 3rd grader and get started with a foreign language. I'm open to suggestions! :D

The chance of contracting a parasite in the summer months by swimming in a lake or pond is also extraordinarily small! More people die from drowning than from this bacteria. If you want to increase your statistical risk from a water related death then you need to stop swimming all together. :001_huh:

I won't read those but as horrible as this sounds, I find it's helpful in motivating my kids to learn to read. They can read those books when they can read themselves.

I'm glad this thread hasn't been deleted, actually it's been quite helpful! Maybe her dh will appreciate the advice given more than he would appreciate being served divorce papers. :tongue_smilie:

:crying: I just followed the link from your blog to Stella's Voice and I am in tears for those girls. I can't believe this is real. I am glad someone is giving a voice to Stella because I.have.no.words. :crying:

About the 4 year old and 2 year old, do they hate all read alouds? Even something quick and easy like The Carrot Seed? The six year old and nine year old, what books have you tried? When do you do the read alouds and audio books?

:iagree: :lol::lol::lol: Mama Geek :tongue_smilie: I'm just teasing. I have been where you are and...:D I'll agree with matroyshka -- God has a sense of humor!