This doesn't have to do with pricing, but don't hold anything for anybody. That can get so complicated, and then sometimes the person who asks you to hold never shows back up. So whoever pays, gets it. (Of course, there can be extenuating circumstances, but it's a pretty good rule to stay strong on.)

I'm sorry. (I'm ready for the huggy emoticon to be back.) This may not be much comfort, but in my experience, 20-year-olds can be very easily irritated. They sure have their fun points as well, but sometimes the prickles hurt a bit.

You can also bake pound cakes in loaf pans (my recipe makes two loaves). Then you can freeze them and they are easier to freeze than sheet cakes if your space is limited. I like pound cake with the strawberries and cream much better than other kinds of cake with them.

I was thinking along these lines, but then I saw she put the word "realistic" in there. :P

I was going to say that in many countries overseas, this is very common. You are the host and provide the party.

I said every other month, but probably monthly would be more what I'd do. As kids get older, it gets more difficult. We have nearly always been much further away, personally. If I went every couple of weeks to monthly, I probably wouldn't stay as long--maybe a couple of hours.

By the way, even at Great Clips, if you find someone you like, you can tell them you want to wait for that person.

Thanks for the heads up! I downloaded them all, and will look later to see what I got, lol.

Exactly. Scarlett lives in OK, where the land is mostly flat and the cities are more grid-like. There are other places with lots of hills and curves and trees, where it is much more difficult to know the cardinal directions. I grew up in one of the latter, and was shocked at how I actually did have a good sense of direction--once I lived in a flat state where cities were more on a grid.

Yes, it's certainly a winner. I don't think I have used another chocolate cake recipe since my ds discovered that one about 20 years ago. If you add nuts to the icing, it's even more amazing. (If you like nuts or aren't allergic to them.) Oh, and you should try to find the diet that works for you, because our bodies do not all respond the same to the same diets. (Hint: it probably does not include the aforementioned cake or cupcakes.)

Is it the same recipe as for the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake?

Of course you are sad. I am so very sorry. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

My first big bout with insomnia was related to thyroid issues, and I had to get that straightened out. My second one was due to sleep apnea. It got to the place where I was waking so often during the night (and even during a nap), that my anxiety over going to bed made things even worse. It took some time to get used to the CPAP, but it has made a huge positive difference for me. I fall asleep pretty quickly most of the time, and sleep much better. I've always been a light sleeper, and tend toward anxiety, so that still affects my sleep from time to time, but the CPAP is what has made the biggest difference for me. And I couldn't sleep enough at the sleep studies for them to get a good measure for the pressure, but it was enough to show them I had sleep apnea. ETA: Melatonin did not help me. It made me feel draggy and in a fog, and I still didn't sleep well. Magnesium helps, but the opposite from some people--I take it in the morning rather than at night.

I personally don't like the newer classroom setups. They seem chaotic and overstimulating and distracting. I grew up in the desks-in-rows era. I really don't remember the desks being uncomfortable, or that setup causing classes to not be engaging (I had both good teachers and bad/boring teachers in that setup). The pods where everybody sees what everybody else is doing would distract me even now. And all the stuff on the walls makes me unsettled. And yes, the textbooks are so cluttered; you can't read more than a paragraph or two without being drawn to lose your focus with the sidebars or diagrams. It's hard to concentrate on the meat of the material. I don't want to be an old fogey, but I think simpler was better. I was just talking to my adult dd about our youngest 2 ds, and how the Hive's saying, "You teach the child you have," has been so helpful to me with them. Homeschooling has not looked how I wanted it to look with them. One ds is very happy using a straightforward, no-frills plan for his core classes (for high school), and adding lots of exploration in Master Class and other areas for his special interests. The other ds started ps this year, and is much happier. I didn't want it to be that way. I wanted him to be happy at home. But he wasn't, and I couldn't seem to make him that way. He is engaged in ways I couldn't engage him, and it seems to be a good fit. I'm so glad it is working out for him, but I feel sad sometimes, and a bit of a failure sometimes, that I couldn't make it work at home. On the other side, it's a relief in some ways, because I didn't know what else to try, and now it is out of my hands.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

You shouldn't give up on it, because it eventually really does pay off. However, with your pregnancy and the stress you are under right now, it wouldn't hurt to put it on hold for awhile. :grouphug:

The Mysterious Benedict Society and sequels. They are children's books, but my older teens also enjoyed listening to them. ETA: I thoroughly enjoyed this series myself.

We do not curse. Our kids grew up overseas. So at one point after moving back from overseas, we sat down our youngest teens and took them through a list of words and what they mean. We didn't want them embarrassing themselves (or us), because there are words and expressions that sometimes slip through that kids who grow up in other cultures miss. Then they hear them, and assume they are regular vocabulary. Some are fine. Others are not.

Not arguing with those who say you need to see a doctor, because the lack of breath is concerning. I had a bad respiratory virus a few weeks ago that lasted about 11 days. I never ran fever, but felt pretty flu-ish otherwise. My nurse daughter told me there is a bad virus going around that takes about 10 days to clear up, so I ended up waiting it out. I kept wondering if I should go in, but after she told me that, I waited and finally got over it. I was very tired, had days I thought I was getting better, then would get worse again, had a lot of congestion and a bad cough, had aches, etc.; however, though I used my inhaler regularly, my breathing wasn't quite as you describe.

Yeah, I read the lists and think about how I can wear pants a couple of days in a row, but not shirts. Not socks. I've travelled a lot, and washed clothes out in sinks. Only to have them still damp the next day. Or still not be able to get the smell out. Or... Yeah. So I try not to pack too much, but to spend a couple of weeks in Europe, unless I had a washer readily available, I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it all in a backpack.

I'm so sorry for your grief and other burdens. Mine are mostly repeats of others'. I like to be outside, especially around water. I'm not a strongly "outside" person, but it does feed my soul, especially if a river, lake, ocean, or stream is involved. Drinking a hot cup of tea or coffee while enjoying sitting outdoors is a plus. Fresh flowers. Reading the Psalms. Listening to Fernando Ortega (his music is so helpful to me when I am stressed).

I understand packing light. But some of you just must not stink as much as I do. :mellow:

Oh no, Melissa. I am so sorry. This, after all you did to try to save that child. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: What does this mean going forward?

I hope you have a wonderful trip! I have found in many cities and countries, that if you ask nicely, you will nearly always find people who will do everything they can to help, even in places that don't have that reputation (NYC, for example). I say "nearly always" because I'm sure there are a few who are rude, but I can't remember finding those people myself.

Well, I don't want to share too much about it from that angle, because I think going through the thought processes as he reveals them is part of reading it. I think the benefit of reading it would be that yes, I think they would feel heard. If you want to know more, send me a pm.