I use Spray Nine to disinfect instead of bleach when the kids have norovirus as it's one of the few cleaners other than bleach that will kill norovirus. I don't use any chemicals otherwise but I will break this out to disinfect if we've been exposed (I'll clean the car keys or wipe down my phone) or if the kids are actively sick (and when they are done I'll go through and clean all surfaces they've touched). I like that it doesn't destroy clothes if you actually get it on them. I'm able to disinfect furniture as well, without wrecking it like bleach would. I have never used it for mildew, but the link I shared states that it works for that. There is also a marine version. I don't find that it's as harsh as bleach, but obviously it's a strong chemical.

I do. It just seems a bit more hygienic to me- less people handling the fruit itself. Even though I know it would only be the cashier and the bagger, I feel better about it somehow. Lol I always make sure to reuse the bag for something to make it seem at least a bit less wasteful of me. :). Dh does not bag bananas when he shops.

Grief does some very strange things to people. :(. I am sure it was a very uncomfortable situation for you. I'm sorry for your loss. ((Hugs))

I can't tell from text if you are being snarky or not. :o I guess I just wondered when "Mary" stopped being "Mary" and all of a sudden needed to be quantified. Qualified? Ugh. I can't find the word. LOL touche I guess. What to use when you just can't find the word. :p

Yeah. You're right. I do tend to over analyze. :o

But can't we call a neighbor a neighbor anymore? Do they need to be a "friend"?? I'm still just as neighborly and friendly with them. When did being called a neighbor (when you are one) become offensive or hurtful? And what if the person you're with is your sister in law with whom you are friends? Are they "your friend Kate" or your "sister in law Kate"? Or "my sister in law, who is also my friend Kate"? Friend implies closeness and from this thread, invokes fuzzy feelings. "Sister in law" implies a forced relationship by marriage- you may or may not even like the person. And why can't she just be "Kate"? Ack. And what if she lives next door to me? :willy_nilly:

I am not faulting this woman for forgetting a name nor am I stingy with my friendships, I simply ask because I find it a bit confusing at times. In the example of last night, I asked for the "friend's" name because I had hoped to be able to talk to her and ask her a few questions about the local school. The lady I was speaking with, who is my friend ;), then admitted that she's only met this other woman once when she (the other woman) cut her son's hair. I really wasn't trying to put my friend on the spot, I simply asked for more information because it was exciting to have an opportunity to discuss the local school. The term "friend" that she used, in my mind at least, implied that she had some more of a rapport with her than simply having met once, or even twice. Had it been me, I guess, I would have likely just said, "oh, I met someone recently, or I know someone whose child goes to that school" rather than, "Oh, my friend's child goes there." As for the lady at the park, she is in fact a neighbor ;) and we never hang out. She's never accepted an invitation to come over, nor have I ever been invited over to her home. We are friend-ly and make efforts for our kids to play, which I appreciate, but she certainly wouldn't be someone I would call to go see a movie with me or, well, for any reason, really. :) We actually just happened to both be at the park at the same time- we didn't even call each other to get together. ;) Sigh. I don't mean to offend anyone. I guess that's why I ask. Maybe she would have found it offensive had the tables been reversed and I simply introduced her as "Mary" rather than "my friend, Mary". Maybe I offend people because I don't call everyone my friend?? I don't mean to. That's why I ask. Until lately, I always thought when someone referred to someone else as their "friend" that they were people who know at least some personal details about each other or even if it's just a phone number. ;) Please, I mean no offence to anyone. I'm just trying to understand. I felt bad when my friend didn't know the person she called a friend and had to admit it. I didn't mean to call her out on it: It was my own excitement to get a chance to meet someone new or I wouldn't have pursued it at all.

I've been noticing in the last couple years that everyone is a "friend". Last night I was having coffee with someone I've known for 4 years. She starts telling me that she has a friend who goes to a school in my neck of the woods so I asked her what her friend's name was. I got, "oh uhhh ummmm"..... Then a physical description of both her and her husband before she could spit out a name. Evidently they are tight. ;) I was at a playground with someone I know. We don't hang out but our kids do go to each other's homes. She introduced me to someone else as "her friend". We don't know each other! I barely know anything personal about her. :) So I am wondering if this is the new thing. That everyone is just a "friend"? Is it the polite thing to refer to someone as or have relationships simply deteriorated so much that not much constitutes a friendship? :)

So who's using IEW Bible Heroes program this year? What ages are you using it with and is it working out well for them? I've been using it with my 2nd grader. I thought he was a pretty decent writer for his age but he's finding it to be a bit difficult- especially the story sequence part. It was a big jump for him to go from outlining 3 words from each sentence to doing a SSC. :unsure: Is this a typical thing? Should a second grade child be doing this with ease? Would like to hear what others' experience with this theme book has been.

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! I LOVE you!! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE you!!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!! I knew there was a reason I was procrastinating buying this. ;) THANK YOU for sharing!!!!

The Taliban bread made me laugh out loud and wake my little one. Whoops.

Perhaps I should have added a disclaimer that I had to stop reading that site whenever I'm pregnant because I laugh so hard I figured I would go into labor!

http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/

My gallbladder has been giving me grief over the past few years. Since I've had my last baby it has been non-stop pain. No longer that feeling of having a brick under my ribs but outright pain under my right rib and in my shoulder blade. An ultrasound showed no stones but some sludge. My doctor thinks I am fine because there are no stones. :glare: :glare: The pain is getting out of control. It's affecting my mood (I am cranky because of the constant pain) and I'm freaked out to eat lest anything make it worse. Nothing really makes it worse (although I haven't eaten a high fat meal or snack such as chicken wings) but nothing makes it better either. I do have some herbal tinctures I got from my naturapath that help a bit (used to take away the pain completely before it got this bad- this was back before my last pregnancy) but that's it. I have not had a gallbladder "attack" although once I did have very sharp pains right in the middle where my ribs meet that lasted for about half an hour. I think that was the beginning of one. It came early in an evening (not middle of the night) and not after an especially high fat meal (had rice and potstickers). I am totally freaked out. I've heard horror stories about digestive issues once the gallbladder is removed but I'm in so much pain right now I don't know if I can spend the rest of my life in constant pain. To be honest, I'm a bit scared of either alternative. I'm already dairy free, low sugar and not much for carbs. My body does do much better on a high protein diet but I think that's what ruined my gallbladder all the more- all the meat I ate during my last pregnancy to make sure my protein intake was high enough. I do have coffee daily and I'm just not willing to give that up. I know it's not helping but I already have 0 dairy, 0 chocolate, no candies or sweets, eat dessert 2x per year (and only like one piece of cake or pie), 0 pop and few indulgences. Every now and then dh and I treat ourselves and have date night and make some chicken wings. I don't eat much gluten although I am not GF. Some of my kids are so our meals naturally tend towards no or low gluten. My relationship with food is very limited and boring. Borderline depressing, really. My kids have several food allergies, which further reduce our selection of food. There are a LOT of foods my family doesn't eat. Honestly, I'm finding life depressing when it comes to food. I mostly made my peace but now this constant gallbladder pain is like tipping me over the edge. What do I do? Surgery doesnt' seem like the best solution. Has anybody else dealt with this and managed the pain without surgery? I was thinking of trying acupuncture but it's expensive and I am still breastfeeding so don't want to take a ton of herbs. If nothing else, maybe I could just use some sympathy. :o

I can see people using it as a girl name and I am sure many have but IRL I have only met boys named Quinn. I do think it is predominantly a boy name. :) Congrats!!

My ds7 will be turning 8 this spring. He's in 2nd grade and doing ok. He seems capable of the work but is not especially enthusiastic about much. He tolerates all the subjects but has no real area of interest. He's just sort of "there" if that makes sense. He's not depressed, but he has no real passion for anything. My issue with him is that he continues to struggle with remembering things. I posted about this before but can't seem to find my old post and since he's older now I would like to ask if this is a concern or not. When we do WWE he can hardly answer the questions. He's my third child to do the program so I am now aware that some passages simply are less interesting and the kids won't do as well with those ;), but for him, he is consistently unable to answer the questions. It is the same whether I read to him or he reads to himself. Now, I know some of the passages are a bit hard for him to read to himself but it's the same when we do more grade level appropriate passages from readers like Pathway Readers. :) Just the other day, he was working on his element book from RSO Chemistry. They have to write an interesting fact or two about each element. He knows to look in the Basher book and read the page on the element. He got the book out, read it, and then went to sit and said, "I don't know what to write". So I asked him what he had read about the element that sounded interesting. All I got was "I don't know" So I made him read it again. By the end he still would not say or could not say? I don't know what he could write about the element. In WWE he can't answer a question unless I go back and read that sentence again. My older two used to use the McCall Crabbs book utilized by WRTR but this guy is not ready for that yet. I'm ok with that but I am starting to get concerned with the lack of recall. Is this somewhat typical for this age? would you be concerned? Just continue to re-read each sentence as necessary? Oddly, he can do a retelling/summary ok and they match the examples in the book but the comp. questions that come first leave me tearing my hair out. He does know how to read- he reads aloud well. If I stop him every 2 sentences and ask a question he can answer it, but if he has to read an entire paragraph, he will forget everything. I've never dealt with this and I'm not sure what's going on or how to progress forward from here. FWIW, he does really well with the dictations in WWE2.

Does anybody use these? If so, how are you using them? Are there answer keys for them or would one have to work through the books themselves in order to mark the student's work? I am looking at using a couple of them as a supplemental resource because my dd12 wants to dig deeper into a few topics but I'm not sure these would fit the bill of what I am looking for. I do need something less time consuming to mark as having 4 kids to mark work at the end of each day is really starting to add up. Or are these books something that I would do with the student? Any input would be appreciated. We are already doing BJU Life (grade 7) so the use of these books, as mentioned, would be supplemental and because of her own interest levels.

I have a last minute meeting to go to in an hour that will last for 2 hours. My oldest will babysit my littles and I need them to try and get a bit of learning in (I will be home, but in our home office). I am going to put on a Netflix documentary or two so at least they are watching something somewhat educational. We only got Netflix a few months ago and I haven't had the time to go through the documentaries as much as I would like (got sucked in to watching The Walking Dead instead :o ). Can you recommend some documentaries that are "safe" for kids 5-12. Not too much sexual content would be great, so some of the documentaries on the Ancients would be out. I don't want to come out of my meeting to a plethora of questions. LOL I would like something history or science related, if possible. They have watched most of the How Things Work episodes as well as MythBusters. I was thinking maybe something Nova or National Geographic, but not having previewed, I hate to sit them down in front of an unknown documentary. Maybe Drive-Thru history? I think they've seen most of those as well. Please help!

I have a last minute meeting to go to in an hour that will last for 2 hours. My oldest will babysit my littles and I need them to try and get a bit of learning in (I will be home, but in our home office). I am going to put on a Netflix documentary or two so at least they are watching something somewhat educational. We only got Netflix a few months ago and I haven't had the time to go through the documentaries as much as I would like (got sucked in to watching The Walking Dead instead :o ). Can you recommend some documentaries that are "safe" for kids 5-12. Not too much sexual content would be great, so some of the documentaries on the Ancients would be out. I don't want to come out of my meeting to a plethora of questions. LOL I would like something history or science related, if possible. They have watched most of the How Things Work episodes as well as MythBusters. I was thinking maybe something Nova or National Geographic, but not having previewed, I hate to sit them down in front of an unknown documentary. Maybe Drive-Thru history? I think they've seen most of those as well. Please help!

A friend of mine is putting together a Valentines day party for the Co-op she is in (that we left due to scheduling conflict) and asked me for some ideas. I figured there were probably plenty of families here who have been or are currently planning a party like this and I would like to hear your ideas! What has worked and what hasn't and what have been your favorite activities and snacks? :)

Dd12 is hosting a slumber party. Part of the night they will watch a movie or two and I want to be a cool mom and serve the ultimate snack food. ;) I need some inspirations, ideas, and recipes. What would be delicious and impress that age group? I want this slumber party to be a big success. Dd plans to make the snack herself, if that matters. TIA

Sanitizer does not get rid of the stomach virus so if you do that but no hand washing you won't have protection from stomach ailments. Three times in one month makes me think something else is going on than a stomach virus. Maybe one time it was but this seems like a lot. I would take a look at your fridge as well. A friend had that issue - recurring stomach "virus" until her dh discovered their fridge was running at far too high a temperature.

She's not having a shower so this would just be a gift from me to her when I go visit them after they are home from the hospital. :)

Have you considered talking to your vet about putting your cats on a diet of raw meat? Raw is supposedly very good for cat urinary tract health. We've been feeding our two boys raw for 4 years and have never had a single vet visit.

Is the original package still ok if it is clear- it was half if a box that I never used when my last baby outgrew size 1. It's quite a big bag so I don't think I can find a basket that big at a reasonable price. It looks rather ... Lame ... The way it is. :(