thank you, this is so helpful. See, I didn't even know keyboard vs. digital piano. Jen

OK, this really truly works. Miracle style, in my case. 10mg vit B6 10 mg doxylamine take them together twice a day am/pm If you can't get the doxylamine by itself, you can use slightly less than half a tablet of regular unisom. You will be a little extra sleepy at first, but your body will adjust. My naturopath prescribed this to me for my 4th and 5th pregnancies. The difference between these and the first 3 was like night and day. Jen Also, eating a lot of protein sometimes made the difference between throwing up or not. (before I was on the medication)

I don't know anything about music or instruments, but I'm ready to get my kids started on piano lessons and so we need to get something. I'm not going to get a real piano, so I need a keyboard, right? I want to get one that will sound nice and encourage the kids to play. So what am I looking at? I'm afraid to go to a store and ask, because they just want to sell you something. I'm fine buying used, but I don't know where to start. Thank you all so much! Jen

I just have to chime and say I'm so happy to have someone else ask about the SAME EXACT problem I asked about a few weeks ago. Makes me feel so much less pathetic:D Jen

Yes you can use the whey from storebought yogurt (plain of course). They whey is the watery part that is on top, yes you can get more after pouring some off, it continues to separate. Also, if you need more than what is right on top, put a cup or 2 of the yogurt in a towel of some sort and start squeezing, you can quite a bit this way. and then the yogurt that is left is thick, like cream cheese. Just scrape it off the towel and put it back in the fridge. And don't worry if a little yogurt is in your whey, it won't hurt the fermenting. I have not done salt only fermenting. I always use whey and salt. My ferments have turned out great this way, so I hate messing with success:D I have not done the yogurt bread since I first got the book years ago and honestly I don't remember how it turned out. So I'm sorry for not being a help with that. I do soak my bread dough overnight in general, just not with anything besides water. If I had to pick one or two things to really get into the habit of, it would be the meat/bone stocks and the fermented veggies. I think healthwise they are so important and you get a lot of bang for your buck. Also, these are not purchaseable, whereas, I can buy good quality fermented dairy products easily. Also stocks make everything taste so yummy and we really love the fermented veggies, they add a lot of flavor. HTH Jen

Hi there, I LOVE this book and have tried many of the recipes/methods in it. It feels like entering a while different way of life sometimes. Some of the things I have stuck with over the years some I just haven't had time to maintain. I buy rapadura at the local health food store. It's just very unprocessed sugar. I really like it, but it is expensive. I've never done the Pima culture, but I do make my own yogurt just using regular plain yogurt from the store. I use the whey that comes off of the yogurt for recipes that call for it. I also have made sour cream, I just put a couple of tablespoons of the purest (least amount of ingredients) buttermilk I could find into a pint of cream and let it sit out on the counter until it got thick. Very easy and very yummy. Yes, you can substitute it for creme fraiche, especially if it doesn't get too sour. The other things I have found very worthwhile are the meat/bone stocks and the fermented veggies (like cortido/sauerkraut). Ghee/clarified butter is very easy to make. Just melt the butter and let it simmer a bit until it seperates. Skim off the top and pour out the yellow clear part, that's clarified. (personally, I never do this anymore, I just use butter for everything) My best advice would be to pick one or two things and really get them down and then gradually add. I tried to do to much when I first got the book and got overwhelmed quickly. I've done much better using the gradual approach at this point. Let me know if you have any more specific questions. I'd be happy to answer whatever I can. Jen

OK, so it is really super easy. Mix up in a bowl or with a stand mixer: 6 1/2 cups flour (I use about 1/2 whole wheat and white), 1 1/2 T salt, 1 1/2 T yeast, 3 c. room temp water. No kneading, just get it mixed thoroughly. Let it sit covered on the counter for about 2 hours. Put it in the fridge for 12 hours or up to a couple of days. Take it out (this is where I differ from their method) I split it into two big chunks. Form each chunk into a round by pulling and tucking the ends under until it is fairly smooth on top. Use flour for this, but no kneading. Then I put it on a big floured napkin, or towel and cover it. Let it sit for a while - 1 to 2 hours. This is not exact. While you preheat the oven to 475. If you have a big cast iron or enameled pot with lid, put this in the oven to preheat as well. When the dough is done sitting, kind of puffy feeling, open the pot, turn the dough over into the pot (upside down, so the seams are showing on top now) put the lid back on and bake for 30 min. Take the lid off and bake for 20-30 min more. Till its really good and brown. This looks like a lot of instructions, but truly it takes about 10 min of hands on time total. And the bread is great every time! If you don't have the pot to use, use a pizza stone, but you have to let the dough rise on a cookie sheet or something to slide it into the oven when it is done rising and slash it on the top. I really like the pot method best, it is easier and more foolproof for me. hope this helps OH and I have two pots, so I do both loaves at once (I also have 5 kids, so it gets eaten quickly) if this is different for you, put half the dough back in the fridge before you form it and bake it later. Jen

Obviously every family has totally different standards when it comes to this sort of thing, but I would wait on the Landover series til my son was older. It had more mature themes in terms of emotional/adult issues. Not necessarily sexual, but his wife (and baby? I think - it's been a while) dying etc. The original Shannara series was more straightforward adventure/fantasy - definitely LOTR knock off type. don't get me wrong - I loved the Landover books, but I wouldn't have my 10/11 yo read them. But check it out yourself, you might be fine with it. Jen

this is so timely. I sent dh with a list of things to get at the store last night after he took ds to his ortho appt. I was really thankful he was happy to go... One of the items was sour cream. He brought home two big tubs of it. I said, how will we ever use that much?!! He genuinely didn't know it came in smaller amounts or that we didn't need two. I just thought it was so funny at the time, and then seeing this thread this morning...

We had some friends that we hit it off with the minute we met them. The couple, the kids, everything. We had dinner within a week and then got together weekly or biweekly after that. Unfortunately, they moved last spring. It was very hard on all of us. We have no one else like that. Everyone else is like twice a year or something. I say, take advantage of a good connection and be thankful for it. It's lonely otherwise.

Well, it's been a long time since I read them, but I do not remember anything questionable in the original series. can't say the same about later books and his other series. Hope you get a more detailed answer. Jen

I guess 8:30 doesn't seem late to a lot of people! I'm used to getting up around 6:30, having the kids have breakfast by 7:30, and getting school started by 8:30, so I was always nagging her to stay on that schedule and it was clearly about an hour or so too early for her. Also, I guess since she's my oldest, it has been hard to adjust from those "little kid" days, you know, when they are up at 6:00 wanting to play? And you are just begging them to go back to bed... Actually, my 11yo son still is up at 6:30 every day, but that's an improvement on the 5:30 it used to be. But that's another topic entirely.

If you missed the original thread, I was looking for advice about my almost 13 dd sleeping late. I decided to give it a go and just let her get up when she wanted. My only rule is lights out at night by 9 -9:15. I know she still listens to books on tape or music until later. She's been getting up around 8:30 on her own, give or take 1/2 hour. It's working out great. Absolutely no conflict in the morning anymore and I can't see that it's messing up our schooling. She gets her own breakfast, does her chores and gets going pretty quickly. So that's my update. Thanks for everyone who gave advice. It really helped me make (I think, so far) a good decision. Jen

No, we don't do any classes or outside activities. My oldest is just 13 and my youngest is 4.5 Just haven't had the time, money or inclination to be honest. We are looking at some music lessons for the older two starting next year. Jen

Well, I quit shaving my legs in college a certain number of years ago (ok, 15) because I was going through my radical femininst stage and I was determined not to be owned by an american western beauty myth which says that women have to look a certain way to be desired or accepted. I also quit wearing makeup, cut my hair short, and wore only jeans in an effort to not look feminine. Sort of gender neutral i guess I was aiming for. It also helped that this was during the grunge stage of fashion:D You know, seattle garage bands... Anyway, now I am a respectable middle thirties mom of 5. No longer a radical feminist. I wear whatever I want to now, dresses or jeans or whatever. I let my hair grow or cut it depending on my mood. I even curl it sometimes :) I haven't gone back to make up, mainly because it's such a bother. But I will NEVER go back to shaving. It is bondage pure and simple. I am sorry and I know many will completely disagree, but there is absolutely NO reason to waste huge amounts of my time and money and endure a deal of discomfort just to present societally acceptable legs and underarms. However, I can say that the pressure that comes to bear against my internal conviction over this is insanely intense. In the winter it's not as bad. More people are covered up and I feel "normal". But I go through the same feelings every summer of seeing how everyone else looks and feeling so odd and having to go over my decision and retell myself that I do not need to SHAVE MY LEGS to FEEL VALUED! I'm yelling, because I cannot believe that this is still an issue and it underscores for me how ridiculous but real the beauty myth is and what a hold it has over us, even when we are consciously fighting it. And I live in a fairly low key, granola type, pacific nw area. I mean it's not like I'm in LA or something... Well that's my 2 cents I guess. Jen And don't even get me started on heels....

Nyquil for sure. But you will feel a little groggy at 6am I usually take it around 9 or so when I'm ready for bed. and it's hard to wake up at 7:00. But it's so worth the good quality sleep.

coconut oil. much better than other lubricant

Well, I know full well at this point that opinions on whether to "make" children eat are all over the board. My own opinions have been all over the board. :D This particular child is the oldest of 5, so she's been experimented on a bit. I guess I've gotten a bit more relaxed over the years. Mainly I require littles to "try" it and let them go hungry if they don't want to eat. I have one kid who will skip multiple meals if he doesn't like what is offered and some who will choke it down and some who like most everything. So I don't think it's the methods at this point. I think it's just personality. And usually for lunch I'm pretty relaxed. I make eggs for the littles and the olders heat up leftovers or have cheese or something. But I hate whining and won't reward it. And I guess it was just the absurdity of having 5 or so perfectly good options turned down that caused my breakdown. Mainly, I was just feeling like complaining a little...:)

no- I never saw that. How funny. There really is a lot of material available in larger sized clothing - way cheaper to buy the used clothing than to buy the yardage new. Plus you usually get buttons etc. this way. Jen I hope I'm not being insensitive. Not trying to say anything negative at all about someone needing larger sizes...

so for lunch we had out: leftover beans with rice and toppings corn tortillas cheese 2 kinds leftover pot roast bread corn chips several veggies eggs my 13yodd "doesn't like" any of this food so I told her she could make a peanut butter sandwich. She did so, begrudgingly, and then whined and said she was still hungry and wanted to know what else she could have :glare: I probably didn't respond as calmly as I should have... sigh Jen I should add in fairness, that she's usually pretty flexible, but today really hit all the wrong buttons somehow - for both of us.

I have saved money by using sheets bought at goodwill for 2.00 and making them into clothes. Pajamas and skirts/dresses mainly. Or altering things I already had that I was going to get rid of. Like some bad pants of my dh's I made into pants for my son. Old dress of mine made into a skirt for my dd. That kind of thing. I also buy extremely large dresses at the thrift store for a dollar or two and make them into new things for the kids or me. So yes, you can save money, but definitely not time. And honestly, I really do it for fun. And to get funky clothes and styles that I could never buy off the rack. Jen

yes, the last page of 5A We've worked through many other problems like this using the bar diagrams. Usually my son has no problem getting them, this one stumped us for some reason. I don't have the teachers manual or answer key. I've only had one other problem this year I couldn't get on my own, so I haven't bothered.

Thank you! And my son thanks you! We tried subtracting $60 from the total for the three rice cookers and it just wasn't working. Obviously thinking backwards Jen

Man, this makes me feel so thick... Here it is: Ali sold 5 toasters and 3 rice cookers for 500.00 If a rice cooker cost $20 less than a toaster, find the cost of a rice cooker. We are all stumped. And this is the last problem to finish the book, so we couldn't just let it go :) Thanks Jen

Well, anecdotal, but... I let her sleep in until 9:00 this morning. Didn't say anything about her getting up late. She started right in on her math after eating and was happy to report that she passed her Life of Fred bridge on the first try. (this is unusual, it usually takes her 2 or 3 tries) And she said "I think it was because my brain felt so fresh from getting so much sleep!" How funny is that. Well, I guess we'll be trying out a new rhythm and seeing how it goes... Thanks again for the conversation. Jen