From cutting out recipes in magazines to printing up recipes from websites, blogs, etc...I'm inundated with paper! How do you handle all the paper? What do you do with your recipes?

I really suggest you try So You Don't Want to go to Church Anymore...I mentioned previously it's written in a fiction format and you'll be riveted! (My mom read it in a day.) I liked Pagan Christianity...I loved the other book (SYDWtgtCA).

Ah, parenting a parent...very familiar with this (on my side of the family). It's hard. :grouphug: To me, at 37, it's unbelievable that I'm in this time of my life...I feel too young! To boot, my wonderful MIL just passed away a few weeks ago at 73 from lung cancer. This is incredibly hard for my FIL. Sigh. I'm grieving with you, as this is a new stage of life for us both.

ROFLOL!!!!! They do both look young...yay for them! He looks a little Matt Damon-ish if I do say so myself! :D

I didn't realize there were so many different names for it! I like the flask suggestion...makes me think of alcohol! I was writing an email to someone regarding it, and I could not for the life of me think of the word...but as soon as I started the thread it came to me! Murphy's Law, I guess. Thanks!

Carafe! Right???

I cannot think of what that jug is called! You know, it holds hot water, tea, coffee....what is it???

This would be similar to my schedule....generally I have found up until grade 4 or 5, it's an hour a day/grade for the main stuff, then there's the extras, which would be history, science, phys ed, reading, etc. We're up to gr. 8 now and after gr. 4 it's a gamble...it just depends on the child's learning style, how many children you have, etc.

Aren't these cysts normal? I just had one...3cm...the ultrasound tech and doctor said every time you ovulate you get one of these cysts out of the ovulating ovary. I had a follow up ultrasound 6 weeks later to see how it was. Now this is where I'll differ from your daughter b/c I went on the pill right after I had my first ultrasound, so I don't ovulate anymore...and my follow up ultrasound showed no cyst.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I have a friend who's pulling her 6th gr. ds and 7th gr. dd from school during the winter months and going to Switzerland to work. She wants to talk to me about materials so she can homeschool them during this time. I thought it'd be fun to have a list of books her kids could read while there. Any thoughts?

I can't recommend it highly enough...and I doubly like it because it's SUCH an easy read and an interesting story (he could have written it in non-fiction form, but having done it in fiction format makes it even more memorable!).

I have felt this way for years, thinking that it was wrong thinking. Then I read So You Don't Want to go to Church Anymore by Wayne Jacobsen (http://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Want-Church-Anymore/dp/0964729229/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287419827&sr=8-1) and it completely changed my thinking! This book had JUST been bookmarked on my wishlist last year when I went on vacation. I came home and it was sitting in between my doors. What?!?!!? My friend had no idea that I was interested in it and bought it for dh and me. It's a great fiction book - easy read - and explains to a "T" what I was thinking and why I was thinking it. I've left "the institutional church" in my heart, knowing now that I AM the church and can do it anytime, anywhere. Having said that, we still attend the institutional church, but not for the same reasons we once did. I think we're phasing it out, slowly. Along with a poster's suggestion of Pagan Christianity, I wholeheartedly recommend the above book and would say it should be read before Pagan Christianity as it gets you in the right mindset (just my opinion!!!). Definitely a MUST READ!!!!!!!

I've never heard of this mag...I will look it up. Thanks! To the other posters that I have no personally responded to....THANK YOU for your words of encouragement and advice...I'm feeling like the mountain isn't as big as I once thought.

When I eat sugar free, it means everything, including maple syrup, agave, honey, etc...the only sugar I'd eat is Stevia. But I find it extremely limiting... I could do gf pancakes for the kids, but MY particular gf pancake recipe which is sugar and dairy free is quite expensive to make! (what with the rice flour and all the goat yogurt that's in it....)

I've got some email addresses for friends that have changed, but aren't in my address book. When I start typing their addy into the TO field, a list of similar addresses pop up, then I choose the one I want. The problem is I can no longer remember which address of theirs to use, and I have no idea how to delete that addy that seems to be in my computer's memory! Do you know how to do this? (These addresses definitely aren't in my address book, only "pop up" when I start typing in the letters.)

Sigh. As it is I'm not a great cook. I think this is something I'm really going to have to tackle. I'm sure if I can be feeling better with more energy (with eating gluten-free...and iron issues, so hopefully that'll be resolved soon), then the ball will continue rolling and I'll be encouraged to do this!

So, Ladies, what are you eating for breakfast and lunch, especially? We either have cereal and milk (out, now), toast (out), muffins (out) or eggs...and we can't have eggs every day...we'd like some variety? And lunch...sandwiches are our mainstay...now what?

Technically I can't have nightshade veggies and legumes, either. LOL So basically I'm eating sawdust. Ok, fruit, veggies, meat, eggs (YAY!!!!), rice, and sawdust. :) So I guess I need to be thankful I can eat eggs, when I shouldn't be eating legumes...easier to work with! Sigh...still...I have a hard time getting around the mindset that I'm LIMITING myself from the crap (thus being punished), when it's actually a GOOD thing...good to my body, etc, to be eating healthy. Why is this mindset so hard to break??? (For example, if my whole family goes gluten-free, I "get" that I can buy substitutes for "yummy" treats like cookies and muffins, but in my mind I feel that it's every child/mother's right to be able to bake these treats with their children, kwim?...and by not baking and having these things, I'm taking something away from my kids.)

I'm supposed to be going gluten/dairy/sugar/yeast free. Though I don't find going dairy free that hard (I can have goat substitutes), gluten free just kills me. What the heck are people substituting for gluten? I get that it's a lot of non-processed foods, but it just seems to kills me...I miss those yummy carbohydrates (in a way...yes I feel better, but they call my name!). My friend's two children are celiac, so she's buying a lot of gluten-free substitutes at the store. Not only is it expensive, technically I still can't have it because it's got one or a combination of other ingredients in it that I still can't have. So really, am I just to be eating a lot of fruit, veggies, rice, and meat? Just a bland diet? It seems quite bland to me! If I can get enough suggestions with food ideas to entice me, then I can keep it going...and I need to. I'm absolutely exhausted an need to lose 20lbs minimum. Thanks!

*Note: lyrics aren’t guaranteed not to offend. The songs simply get you through your exercise... ;) Warm Up Glen Hansard — Falling Slowly & All the Way Down Linkin Park — Leave Out All the Rest Verve Pipe — The Freshman Run/Cardio or Weight Portion Mika — Grace Kelly & Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) Black Eyed Peas – Pump It, Let’s Get it Started, Boom Boom Pow Coldplay – When I Ruled the World Fergie -- Big Girls Don’t Cry Green Day — Time of Your Life Eminem — Lose Yourself Nelly Furtado — Ching Ching & Give it to Me Nickelback — Rockstar Run DMC — It’s Tricky & Mary, Mary & It’s Like That & Walk This Way Superchick — We Live & Highschool & Perfect Day Third Eye Blind — Semi-Charmed Life Crazy Frog — I Like to Move It Smash Mouth — I’m a Believer & All Star TLC — No Scrubs Toby Mac — Hush Little Baby Tone Loc — Wild Thing & Funky Cold Medina Usher — Yeah Young MC — Busta Move 311 — All Mixed Up Everlast — What It’s Like REM — It’s the End of the World Rob Base & DJ Easy Rock — It Takes Two & Joy and Pain Cool Down Damien Rice — Cold Water Glen Hansard — Lies & Leave Daniel Powder — So You Had a Bad Day Other Artists I Like Josh Groben & Neil Diamond Christian Artists I Like Third Day Tenth Avenue North Casting Crowns Tim Hughes KJ 52 Toby Mac

:grouphug: My condolances...my MIL passed just 11 days ago, so the pain is still very fresh and though I don't know exactly what you're going through, I have an idea.

Thanks, Astrid. :)

Thanks to both of you ladies. My dd is wearing my black scarf that'd match, but I think a scarf may be too much...the edges of the cardigan are VERY frilly, and it'd be too many ruffles, I think. Seinfeld would be doing an episode on me! When I bought the skirt, I never thought that the skirt bling would compete with a necklace...but in a way the outfit doesn't feel complete without one!!! LOL (You guys are right, though, it's just too much...it looks like I'm wearing necklaces everywhere!!!!!)

Thanks to all for their words of encouragement and condolence. My MIL started coughing about a year before she passed, and it took about 7 months before they diagnosed it. She lived for 6 months after that. She tried one round of chemo, but just couldn't do it. I really think she knew her time was up and she spent quite a bit of time, by herself and with one daughter "getting her house in order." Her one daughter still has more to do to continue getting the house fully ready for her dad to live alone (completely of the generation where Mom did EVERYTHING domestic). What surprised us all was how quickly she deteriorated not only in the last 8 weeks, but in the last two weeks. We thought we had WAY more time. Bloodwork in the last couple of days showed that her white cell count was through the roof, which indicated leukemia.