I just saw an ad that our local DNR was hiring conservation workers. That would certainly give him the outdoors and hard work aspect.

I actually like the honey oak cabinets. Good thing as that is the theme in the entire house.

Those are both great ideas. If you can upload the pictures here, I would love to see them as you travel to various parks.

Sounds like a lot of trauma issues.

Ok. I view FB 90%+ on my phone. That might be part of the problem.

If you go with CLE get that little laminated sheet for math that has a ruler, vocabulary, math facts, etc. It is very helpful and super cheap.

Is Facebook purity an app?

I am working in simplifying my life in many areas. One of them is Facebook. I don't want to get rid of it as it does help me keep in touch with out if town family and friends and a few local groups have great information on local events, etc. That Said how do you reduced/eliminate the ads you see? Is there a way to only see things that your friends actually post personally vs. all of the million things they share that are lots of videos I don't care about? Any other tips for streamlining Facebook to make it easier to stay in touch with people without scrolling through a million and one extra things?

No one has to follow my "rules" you can just set up a challenge for yourself....new activity at the same park, different trail than you took before, 10 parks this year, a park visit every week (even if it is the same park over and over), etc. I just set the 50 different parks challenge for me. Many of these parks I have been to before but I will count them unless they were one of the 38 county parks from last year. I am blessed to live in an area with lots of parks so this will be fairly easy for me. If you are interested in a parks challenge you are welcome to join and set your own goals/challenge.

I am only on #3 and 2 of those were this week. I have been to a local county Park skiing several times but can't count that as one of my 5. Once the snow is gone and roads are clear we hope to hit 1-2 new places a week.

Last year my kids and I had a goal of visiting all 38 of our county parks. We had great fun hiking, biking,skiing, sledding,horseback riding, kayaking,swimming, etc. This year I have the goal of visiting 50 parks/trail systems. This can not include any of our county parks we visited last year (although we will visit many of them) but can include any other state, City,township, national, or other parks. I was just wondering if there was anyone else interested in joining in. You could decide your own parameters.....number of parks, locations, etc. The goal is just to get outside and enjoy nature and the wealth of free (or very inexpensive) parks. If there is interest we could start a parks challenge thread weekly or monthly. It would be great to upload pictures of our adventures (with or without people in them).....but sadly I am not tech savvy to figure out how to do that on this forum. Last year my kids whined, and moaned, and complained....and then enjoyed every one of our outings. We had family or friends join us at times which adds to the fun. It was a great way to motivate us to get outside and have fun away from technology. We even hope to hit 1-2 parks in Canada this year if we get across the border this summer.

If this is a little one, in general they do not cute the hair at all until age 1 or 2 and often it is a big thing culturally so if this little one is with you for a while you might need to look into that and ask the birth parents. I would also encourage you to work hard on finding same race peers and adults for this little one. Even littles ones recognize the differences in skin tones and like having someone that looks like them. Same thing for books, etc.

There are several great websites and FB groups for learning ethnic hair care. As they get older satin pillow cases and sleep caps, protective hair styles, etc.

I enjoy HGTV. I see so many of the shows and wonder who wants to clean all of those Nic nacs, plants, fancy light fixtures, etc. I would love to see what it really looks like 6 month or more after the family with 4 kids moves in.....white everything is not really kid friendly. I would love to see an HGTV show based on easy to clean and maintain design with budget friendly designs. Like the Din Asslett book How to Make Your House Do the Housework type thing.

I had that with the state once. They overpaid me about $27,000. It took nearly a year to get it straightened out as to who to send the money to, how much was owed them, the fact that I really was overpaid, etc. Hopefully yours is easy to fix.

I have one elderly family member who has been in a low dose for many many years for a genuine severe pain issue. They are being almost totally cut off with very little hope of anything for pain Then I had another family member have surgery that was fairly involved start out with Tylenol 3. That wasn't enough so the doctor went with a larger amount of big guns meds when a smaller amount of a mid level med would have been enough. One dentist wanted to give one of my kids 20 Norco for having crowns. I refused and 2 Advil was plenty and that was only needed for 2 doses. I see a lot of disconnect between the pain level, how long the pain is expected to last, and the amount/type of meds being used.

I am in a similar situation. I would look at taxes, insurance, utilities (are they more due to less insulation/bigger home), added costs like City water/sewer, etc. I am finding that moving into town would cost me same/more in taxes, higher utilities, etc to have a much smaller home/yard. You might find it different in your area.

I agree. It is also brave that you are taking care of yourself and keeping a good support system to help you.

Love all the responses. Wish we lived closer and could walk/hike together. I guess I fall more on side where walk is a paved and/or more level area where a hike is more carried terrain, changes in elevation, more natural areas. I rarely walk or hike alone as most of the time it is in more rural/secluded areas. If I take the dog along it is not considered "alone". I love going with my kids or friends but that isn't always possible. Most of our hikes though are only a few miles and rarely over 2 hours, many just an hour or so.

So glad you can take care of yourself before things get worse.

When I have called 911 for MIL I have told dispatch that she needs to go to x hospital even though y was closer. Never had an issue. Granted hospital X had the specialists she needed for her kidney transplant and heart.

I went for a beautiful 2.75 mile hike in the woods today in the freshly fallen snow. The trail I took was a snowshoe trail but with only 2-3 inches of snow it was better suited to walking (except the sheets of ice hidden under the snow). I was alone and didn't see another person...just one deer I followed for a ways. What differentiates a walk vs a hike to you? And do you walk/hike alone?

I remember that was a pain when a few of mine were under 18. Now our new doctor has immunization hours several times a week where you can walk in, get your shots and walk out....literally I think we were there for 10 minutes for 2 of mine. So handy.

That gives me a great start if I have to redo mine. Thanks

Does anyone have a great printable packing list that they love that you wish to share? I had a great one that I made up in a word document but I can not find it anywhere. I had it listed by each person in the house and then a general list for things to put in the car. It was super easy to indicate how many of each item the kids needed to pack, add gear for various weather/locations, etc. Most of the online ones I see are on pinterest and not easily customized.