The USDA does not generally inspect chicken houses unless they are given some reason to. I can guarantee you that the chickens in those houses are eating bugs, flies, and each other! You can't keep a chicken from eating things in the environment. My guess is that vegan feed is to prevent animal by-products, not bugs. I don't know. It probably depends on the company, but why would any company kill them for the sake of killing them? Worst case they go to dog food. And dog food is a whole 'nother topic you don't want to know about.

Laying hens are only used for one laying cycle and then sent for meat. This is the meat that ends up in things like chicken noodle soup and frozen chicken casserole types of meals.

Free range simply means that they have access to the outside - even if that access is a 25x25 foot yard at one end of a 400 foot long chicken house that most of the 10,000 chickens in the house never venture into. Never heard of "free-farmed" but cage-free usually means still in a chicken house but on the open floor as opposed to in a cage. I could give you all kinds of details regarding the nastiness that goes on in the commercial poultry production world, but I will spare you the details...:D

The biggest benefit to "vegetarian chickens" is that they are not fed chicken fat or chicken by-products - both of which are fed to conventional chickens.

He's right in that they are not the largest. A man that helped build my house was one of 24 children (from the same set of parents.) He had 7 and one of his sisters had 18!:D

For my boys, I have waited until 6. My 4yo dd will be just turned 5, but she is more mature academically. I don't know about the youngest yet.

I think you *should* start them! With a dyslexic child, it isn't simply a matter of "getting them a phonics program and getting them reading." It could be YEARS before they can read and I wouldn't limit content until they can. I don't know how helpful copywork will be, but I don't think it can hurt (as long as it isn't causing huge amounts of frustration.) Narration and oral composition would be great!

I am not sure about the book you are reading - I have never heard of it or the author, so I can't comment on it specifically. However, I would not give that much control over a situation to a child. There is a balance between authoritarian and permissiveness. I don't let my dc decide whether they want to obey or not, BUT I don't try to control every aspect of their lives, either. If you mean what you say and say what you mean, eventually they do learn that you mean it! I am not sure how old your dc are, though.

End of January. Thank you!

I post from our store - we don't have internet at home.;) I am one of those that works to bring in money - right now in our own business, but in the past (and the future) I have had actual jobs.

:D I never really "announced it" because, well, there have been too many threads in recent months about people having children they can't afford and all that.;)

Right now we own a struggling equipment rental company. Before this my dh worked in a warehouse, a tire and lube place, and drove a truck. As he said this weekend - he doesn't have many skills and at this point isn't in the running for any well-paying job. I hope that will change soon. He isn't middle aged, though - so maybe he falls into that "young" crowd. Most 31 year olds aren't expecting their 7th child.;)

I know for a fact that we have several of those types on the board - maybe they just aren't comfortable saying so with all the lawyers, engineers, managers, etc. You are right that they don't make enough to support a family, though. Awhile ago someone posted an income poll and the answers were definately skewed where most families were in the over $50K for annual salary. I wonder if it is just that classical education is more attractive to those with upper middle class incomes?

He didn't, really! He admitted it, but the reality was that we were already married by that point and I couldn't just "undo" it, KWIM? It doesn't matter now - we have been married for almost 11 years and have had 5dc (and one on the way) since then. I bet you he doesn't even remember - I had forgotten until this thread made me think of it!;)

Let's see... My dh was in the Army, and one of his buddies was getting married as well, so this other guy's girl friend decided that we should have a DOUBLE wedding! I didn't even *like* the girl! All my family was coming, we were having a reception at a restaurant, and now I had this latched on couple. I felt sorry for them because they had no one coming for them, but I really didn't want a double wedding. Thankfully, the wedding place would not do both at the same time, so I did get a little ceremony all to myself. We went to our reception, and the other couple decided it was their reception as well - used our cake to feed each other, etc. It was a disaster - they were rude and obnoxious and my uptight family was having a hard enough time with out unconventional marriage! That night, we decided to go to the movies with the other couple and the now wife threatened to beat me up because I looked at her wrong!:confused: Needless to say I tried not to see them much at all after that. After the wedding day, dh had to go in the field, so I told him that I would move his stuff from the barracks to our new home. As I was moving his stuff (and NOT snooping!) I came across some evidence that he had actually gotten engaged to his high school sweetheart when he went home for a visit a few weeks before we married! I was devastated that he didn't just call it off with me. My dh didn't tell his parents he had gotten married until 3 months later when my mother tried to call and tell them. Dh's father removed all but $200 each pay period because my dh was so bad with money and he continued to do that. We were literally going hungry because of this! Of course, they were SHOCKED because they knew he was engaged to the other girl. I don't know what he finally told her - if he told her anything. Our 11th anniversary is next week.:D

We own a mobile home on a rented lot.:D

Have you priced individual policies for young adults? If they have no pre-existings, coverage is pretty cheap.

I wouldn't be worried about that kind of stuff - their time will most likely be so structured there won't be time for that.

Did you try applying for financial aid? Maybe it could save you enough that buying another math grade ($95) mid-year will be doable.

My ds went to a camp at Duke University at 12 where he stayed in the dorms and was overall pretty responsible for himself. He got himself up, showed up in a dining hall for meals, didn't lose his keys, etc. I imagine a 16yo will be fine.

You need a zero-based budget, which may change from month to month. So, as Joanne said, write down all the bills you have and when they are due - just for August to start. Write down when you will get paid, and how much. Now, take the two, and decide where every penny of the income for August will go. You have to pay the insurance, so it has to come from somewhere. What are you going to cut for August in order to get it paid? You don't need any going to savings yet, because you are technically still in Pre-Step 1 - getting current. What can you sell to raise the insurance money? Can you eat out of the pantry more in order to lower the grocery budget (just for August?) Do you have *any* money in savings at the moment?

HI CATHMOM!!!!:D

:lol::lol::lol: We finished the day with some GREAT customers who were the most friendly outgoing people you could imagine. My dh is usually very good at deflecting people's anger. After the "offended" incident, a guy came in and was ANGRY - not at us, but at the other 3 places he'd been that morning. My dh was able to calm him down, sell him what he needed, and the guy ordered more. This is why they make me stay in the office - I can't stand people!:tongue_smilie:

If he had worked on equipment all his life, he would be calling me, not his wife. He wouldn't have been offended because some blades CAN go on both ways. Besides, I never talked to him - I asked her the question and SHE asked him. LOL I don't care if he has confidence in me or not - I was trying to save them a trip up here and $30 if it was unnecessary. It's one of those can't win situations - if I *hadn't* asked and that's what it was, he would have been offended that I charged him $30 to flip a blade around!

Have you taken a sample of water to a pool company for testing? My friend did that when her pool water kept turning brown and it turned out she had too much iron or something. They sold her a chemical to add and it worked WONDERS!