ANTHING by Karen Kingsbury. In fact, start with the book called Redemption. It is the first book of many about a family named the Baxters. It's Christian fiction. I love every single one of her books and just cannot put them down.

We just went to Nashville this past summer for a week to visit family. We went to the Opryland Hotel, just to look around. It is HUGE and the gardens, streams, and waterfalls inside are beautiful. It's a neat place to wander around. There's even a boat ride through there, which the kids loved. We went to the Adventure Science Center. That was neat. There is a giant climbing structure in the middle of it. It goes up several stories until you reach a look out point at the very top. It's a looooong ways up (for a play structure anyways). You can see for a ways! We wandered around Opry Mills, the mall there. It's right near the Opryland Hotel. There's some neat "touristy" thing to do there. There's a carousel, we ate at the Rainforest Cafe, and there's an aquarium restaurant and right next to it is where you can pet the sting rays. There's a dam that's neat to see. It's called the J Percy Priest dam. You can drive over it, park near it, and walk around down there. I think there's some trails too. We wanted to make it to the Parthenon, but didnt get the chance to. There's also a water park on one side of the dam. I'm not sure when you are going and whether it will be warm enough, but we thought about going there, but just didnt get the chance. The zoo is okay. Not too big or grand.....but the playground there is awesome!! We let the kids do Build A Bear while in Nashville. We also drove around Music Row, hoping to spot someone famous....but never did LOL.

Oh gosh, I thought the title of your thread read: Power outage killed my PARTNER. I was like "OH MY WORD!!!!!!!" Can you tell I just woke up? Glad to hear its "only" your printer LOL.

I'm not sure if it is weird or not because I cant picture how you are describing your yard set up. But I just would not have answered the door. During the daytime, when DH is not home, and neither are majority of the people on our cul-de-sac, I dont answer the door. Unless I use the peep hole and can see that I know them. The kids know that if the door bell rings, they are to be quiet. And even if the stranger knows we are home, I still wont answer the door. Too risky these days.....I dont want to be a five o'clock news story.

I second the recommendation about Robin Jones Gunn books. Also, Karen Kingsbury. She's a strong Christian fiction writer. LOVE LOVE LOVE every single one of her books. Not fantasy stories, but ones about family.

I completely agree with Aubrey. I've been thinking about this for about ten minutes. I'm a strong, passionate Christian. And I'm kind of grid locked about this situation. On one hand, I understand your side. I would not want my kid to be in that situation. On the other hand, as a Christian, the Bible tells me to share the word of Christ. So it is a catch 22. The blogging about it is sort of strange....but maybe she just likes to write. I dont know.

Another vote for Crocs. We all wear them. Even my nearly two year old can put hers on by herself. They stay on well. You can clean them any which way you wish. And they never stink because they are not fully enclosed. We love our Crocs!

I was just about to post this myself. You have to be VERY careful. There's some crazies on craigslist that will use cats for bait for training their dogs to fight as well. There are animal hoarders on there who will collect animal after animal and keep them in unsanitary living conditions, etc. Charge a re-homing fee, ask for the vet that they use and contact them to see if they have records there and keep their animals up to date, and make sure you meet them before just handing your cat over. I'm highly allergic to our cats, but I am just too distrusting to list them on craigslist yet. That will be my last resort.

Why not try some puppy pads? For the most part, he should be trained to go outdoors. However, when there is too much snow, you could put a puppy pad by the door that he usually goes out to go to the bathroom, and train him to go on that when he sees it down by the door. Only put it down when you know he will not be able to go out. Then you can just pick it up and throw it away. You wouldnt have to scoop and stuff like that. We have two cats and I HATE messing with the litter box.

You just described my story! We have two 2 year old cats. Just last month I had a skin scratch test and it confirmed my suspicions....I'm allergic to cats. On a scale of 1-10, the doctor said I was a 9.5. So I'm pretty allergic. I really really want to get rid of the cats. However, I wont just put them anywhere. I'm NOT a cat-lover. I've never had cats in my life, but two years ago we decided to get them for our daughter. I thought I could like cats.....well, not so much. I dont like them. But I committed to them, therefore, I will not allow them to be euthanized at such a young age. They are WONDERUL cats....the girls can do whatever they want to them and the cats just love them to pieces. I've asked everyone I know....my sister has asked around at the vet she works at....I've looked at craigslist. No one wants adult cats. Right now I'm putting up with the symptoms until I can find a place for them. I'm not a cat lover, so bathing every day and stuff like that is just not for me. Anyways, our huge tabby cat would NOT go for a bath, at all. That thing is huge and would claw the heck out of me if I tried to bathe him. He doesnt even like to be picked up....he will claw to get down. But he's nice in every other way. So I feel your pain. I'll continue looking and asking around till I find someone.

I think it must be a guy thing. I do most of the driving when the family is all together. For one, I like driving. For two, DH is an aggressive driver and I do not like that. And he's always telling me what to do, how to drive....he drives me nuts!!!!!! I'm a GREAT driver. Never gotten a ticket or anything. Yet he feels the need to warn me that the driver ahead of me is braking, or that there's a stop sign ahead, or that I need to get over in the next lane. Sometimes I just look at him and say, with as much surprise and sarcasm as I can must, "WOW....I wonder how in the world I ever manage driving around when you are not here in the car with me? I just dont know how I do it."

I probably would not say anything to mom. I'm a very picky eater, always have been. At 12 years old, I would not have eaten anything that you served. Even now at my current age, I would have only eaten the roll. I didnt learn to enjoy salads until I was 20 years old, and I only like plain iceberg ones at that. I didnt start eating anything whole grain till my early twenties either. And soup, I still do not like. I really think he was just being a kid. He didnt seem to say anything rude. The eating, fanning mouth, and gulping water may have been a bit over the top, but he's 12. When I was 12, if you had smilingly admonished me about the food, I would have been extremely embarassed and probably hiding tears. I was very shy and didnt like to be admonished by adults. So I really think he was just being a kid.....one who has not been exposed to different kinds of foods. I think it is great that your family can eat such a wide variety of things. I wish I could. But not everyone does.

We pretty much do attachment parenting. And we have a pack-n-play. However, we bought a bunch of plastic balls at Toys R Us and made the girls a ball pit. So that's what our pack-n-play is used for. We've never used it the normal way LOL.

www.etsy.com It's a site where people sell hand made items. It is legit and lots of artists sell on there. My girls got AG dolls for Christmas and I got quite a bit of clothes, shoes, and underwear off of etsy for their dolls. I also bought a few things at Michaels. They have "AG-like" dolls and sell clothes there. My DD plays soccer and I found a cute soccer outfit there, complete with cleats, ball, jersey, shorts, and knee high socks.

I dont get it either. I love my kids, I devote majority of my time to them. I actually ENJOY being around them LOL....that's one reason why I homeschool. If this is what makes me happy, then I'm going to do it. In the grand scheme of things, these years fly by so quickly. I want to do it right.

Like you, a few weeks ago I had been feeling "funny". Kinda lightheaded and stuff like that. My oldes is 4 years old (will be 5 in April) so I went ahead and taught it to her. I try to remember to go over it every so often with her so that she will remember. But she is sooooo shy that I hope she will actually pick up the phone and dial it and talk to the operator if ever needed.

We have "dance parties" occasionally. When it is dark outside and the girls are already dressed for bed, we turn off all the lights and pull out our glow sticks, light up wands, small strobe light, etc. We crank the music up LOUD and dance in the dark with our light up things. The girls love it and giggle the whole time. I usually let them (and me) dance through three or four songs, then it is time for bed.

I probably would have called the non emergency number. I think 911 should be called when you think your life could be in immediate danger. I would have been a bit freaked. And if he would have come closer to the house, I would have called 911.

I totally get what you are saying. Moms tend to have more "push" to get the doctors to figure out what's wrong with their kids. A good doctor should acknowledge mom's presence and role during a doctors appointment. I mean, 18 is just a number....an 18 year old is still very much more a teen than an adult. Yes, she needs to gain independence, but having mom at the doctor and adding things here and there is not going to make her incapable or anything like that. There's something about walking into a doctors office and you suddenly forget the mental list of things you need to tell them. Heck, I'm 28 years old and I still do that. I even have MY mother come to the doctor with me at times to help me remember what to say/ask them. And the doctor acknowledges her and answers all of her questions. She asks them things and remembers things that I would not have thought to ask them. Sometimes when you are the patient, it helps to have someone there who can look at the situation from a different perspective and say what needs to be said to the doctor.

Nope, no stick driving for us. I dont see the point. I do not know how to drive a stick and have it has never been a problem. I dont even know anyone who owns a stick.

My girls are 3 years apart, but they are best friends. My oldest is almost 5 and my youngest is almost 2. Even at this age, they play constantly together. Yes, they do argue....but they also love each other to pieces. I would be so thankful if they continue to stay best friends like this. Friends will come and go throughout a lifetime....family will be there forever. What a blessing to have your best friend also be your sibling. When I hear them argueing I make sure that I tell them that sisters are very special and that they will be best friends forever so they need to treat each other nicely.

I have had it before. It was at a time when I was already highly stressed about some health issues. The ringing started and of course, I googled it. And like you I thought I may have it long term. Turns out, I had a build up of wax in my ears. The doctor cleaned my ears out and the ringing went away. That was about 2 years ago. It happened again a few weeks ago and sure enough, I had a build up of wax again.

I thought long and hard about my daughter's names. My husband wanted more traditional names. I wanted something less common. I used to work at the YMCA's after school program and saw how hard it was to have the same name as other kids. We had several different Tyler's at one time. We always had to add their last name in with it. I didnt want that for my child. I wanted something that people would remember. I have gotten tons of compliments on my daughter's names....Paisley and Sailor. Their middle names are both four letters long and are "nature-ish." We'll follow that trend if we have other children as well. Maybe not for everyone....but if you knew me, you'd definitely know that I'm not the "traditional" type.

I voted that I wanted to change my name as a child. I was a bigtime tomboy.....had nothing but guys as friends, played sports, played with "boy" toys, etc. I wanted to change my name to Scott. Thank goodness I never went through with that one LOL! If my children ever seriously wanted to change their name, I think I would be a little hurt. I know that kids go through phases of wanting to change their names, and I would be fine with that. But if I ever knew they were completely serious about it, I would be hurt. I pondered and pondered the names I chose for my two girls and chose something unique that would set them apart from others. So they would definitely need to wait till they were 18 to legally change it.

Personally, I would take her in. Just due to our experience with croup. DD (who is now 23 months) has had reoccuring croup since she was 10 months old. We took her to the ER once in the middle of the night. And at a seperate occurance, she was hospitalized for one night. I dont play with croup.....I really hate it. I would take her and go ahead and get started on the steroids. And if she has problems tonight, take her outside into the cold night air instead of the steaming bathroom. The cold works almost immediately for my daughter and she starts to breathe better. Thankfully, she has been croup free for 7 months now and I'm praying that it stays that way.