I am so happy to see this discussion. Right now we are living in a nightmare with these very issues. The Dr said no more driving for my dad and he is more than angry. He has done everything from try to drain bank accounts (on the phone to the bank with the lady who lived around the corner from him) to trying to get his 92 year old friend to ship his car down from up north. He has told many many people that we have stolen both his car and his money... even his mail. After all of that, we were told that he can no longer live alone. He is living here with us but with nothing but anger and bitterness. In his mind, it is all my fault, "You're taking everything too far". He has yelled at us, he has been swearing at us (and he doesn't swear), he's been slamming doors, or lately, just getting up at 7 am and staying out walking until 6 pm. It's awful!!! I am praying daily that he will adjust to his loss of independence but last night he told my husband that he's going to "do something about it" and we will see what that is. Can I tell you that my stomach is an absolute mess? After watching my poor mom go through alzheimer's and actually die of the disease, this combativeness is tough in a whole new way. I, too, have stuck to my guns on the driving issue once the Dr said no more. I could never forgive myself if someone else got hurt. But I am paying a huge price for my stand.

Our intensives were fantastic. We did Biology/A&P and Writing and both were excellent. The Biology intensives was far beyond what I even did in college (and I started in nursing school) as far as the number of experiments. Ds learned so much and I will NOT ever have to feel like we didn't have a full high school lab experience. The writing intensives was also awesome! I was a little hesitant on this one because ds does not enjoy writing and I didn't want to throw him into something overwhelming. Mrs. Barnaby was an amazing teacher. She made it clear that she understood that students were there with different levels of interest and gifting. She told some stories about her own kids that just relaxed everyone completely, but she had SO much to teach! She has a very easy manner with teens and yet I have to say there were things that even I learned (I was a mom helper since this was the first writing intensive). She made things fun, gave out prizes, and appealed to different learning styles. The second day exercise was VERY cool! I hate to give anything away, but I thought it was genius. Ds was up working on a story until 12:30 am the first night because he WANTED to. Whew! True test there!

I just started something I'm really enjoying. It's a delivery service that delivers organic fruits and/or veggies once a week to my door. I can leave a cooler outside or they include a cold pack in the box. This seems to be a new thing that is popping up in different areas of the country. I order the medium box of veggies only and then I add fruits to my order or use some of my 3 allowed substitutions to add fruit. So far I love it! Everything is VERY fresh and come straight from local organic farms. With my add-ons my price has been about $50/week. I do have to by a few things here or there from the store (celery,etc) but most has been coming this way. http://www.tampabayorganics.com

:grouphug:

Yes! Sorry..... I am freaked out by lice and would absolutely avoid them!

I don't believe in evolution. It just makes no sense at all to me and I really think it takes way more faith to believe that than it does to believe in a Genesis creation. I also believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. That being said, I think you'll find that there are others who have faith in God and yet believe in evolution and/or the big bang. I'm guessing there may be people in many churches who believe that way and may or may not share their beliefs with others.

Kuh-rib-bee-un

How terrible for them! Praying right now!:grouphug:

I was leaning towards house 2 until I saw the pictures! That said, I don't like HOA's either and I am thankful that we don't have one. We're not in a "neighborhood" which as been great for our stress level and our finances.

Very sorry to hear this. I know how tough it is to lose a parent. :grouphug:

I was also a huge Monkees fan. As much as I loved them, I don't think Margaret did anything wrong by sharing her experience. A celebrity is still just a person. They should be remembered not just for their time in the spotlight, but for who they were as human beings. It reminds me of the part in Scrooge where Scrooge is in the future listening to how people will remember him after he's gone. That can be changed by how we lives our lives and how we treat people. Or not.

Here's mine... I have also substituted crushed or pureed tomatoes for the tomato sauce. It's makes enough to freeze half and it tastes so fresh! http://www.plantoeat.com/recipes/155013

We compared and ended up saving a LOT of money! Another thing we did: we enrolled ds in American Dental Plan (as an individual). They supposedly offer discounts to dental specialists. I say supposedly because a lot of the orthodontists on their lists admitted that they only discounted their most expensive rate, making it similar to the rate they gave everyone who had no insurance. We did our consults before enrolling with ADP so that we made sure it would be worth it. In the end, we found a Dr. who gave everyone the same rate, so her discount for ADP was a real one. We save about $1500 or more! It was really worth the time and the orthodontist was excellent! I am thinking that I'm going to edit this in a day or two, just because I don't want it coming up with a google for ADP, so let me know that you've seen it. :-)

We don't have tons of money and we have a vacation scheduled for the end of this month to take ds snowboarding. Dh knows I am a bit stressed about the money and he also knows I don't like to spend money on things unless we have the money AND can get a good deal. Tonight he came home and had ds help him (he doesn't use the computer) buy something online secretly. I told him not to forget that we are going on vacation and I hope he's not spending money, etc etc etc. He said he wanted to get my daughter and I something nice for Valentine's Day. It was supposed to be a secret, but I got the email confirmation (since it came to my email address) and it was almost $70 for roses, a teddy bear and a small box of chocolates. It looks like it might have been advertised for $39.99 (I've heard the ads on talk radio) but then they added charges. I'm kind of wishing we could cancel this. On one hand, I'm thinking it was a nice gesture and I should just keep my mouth shut. On the other hand, I'm thinking that if you really want to give someone something, shouldn't it be something that they would want or at least feel good about? He also knows ds and I will be out of town Tues-Fri for lab intensives this week, so even if they come Monday I won't be able to enjoy them. Still, it was a nice thought. I just feel a little sick about that much money. Anyone want to chime in here?

Military bases must be much safer than I'm used to. I would never allow young kids to be out by themselves. Not even at 7. For the 2 year old, besides kidnappings, etc., they could climb something and fall (or be in the road near cars). I just would never do that.

I have this... http://www.teavana.com/tea-products/tea-makers-infusers/p/teavana-perfect-teamaker I love it! It allows the tea plenty of room and make 1-2 cups at a time. When it's done steeping, you set the bottom on the top of your cup and the tea "magically" pours into the cup. I have fascinated more than a few adults with this. lol

I wouldn't say that it annoys me really. BUT... I would NEVER do it! I used to have nightmares when I was a kid that I forgot to get dressed and showed up at school in my pajamas. lol I find it incredible, though, that someone would even think to regulate something so trivial. Big government at it's best.

I have decided one thing for sure... it doesn't work well if I am the foreign language teacher. We tried Powerglide, then Rosetta Stone, beginning Latin and then Henle. My oldest ds and I made it through Henle, but it was hard (for me, anyway). For my oldest kids, there was a woman in our area who held high school Spanish classes in her home one day per week. That was all they needed to be able to work on their own the rest of the week. After that, they did dual enrollment at the college. With youngest (9th grade ds), we are using Landry Academy with the same great results. I wish they had been around for grade school and we would have started earlier.

Praying for her. I hope you'll let us know how she is. :grouphug:

I am not even remotely a "fashion person" and I loved every minute of this. Thanks for posting. I just love seeing older people do WHATEVER it is they love to do and it's so nice to see them dressed in something other than standard for their age.

I'm just trying to add more raw not 100%. Today I tried some eggless egg salad wrapped in a collard leaf for lunch. Not bad. http://plantoeat.com/recipes/387618

I can't see the picture. BUT.... my son and daughter-in-law have a black girl golden/lab mix puppy and she is just the greatest. I LOVE her! So... sight unseen, in honor of her, I have to choose the black girl puppy.

If you look at the list of what is covered, you will see. I went to the Landry Mom's Science Retreat and we did many of the labs there that will be covered in the intensives. They were awesome. To tell you the truth, we did more than I did in my college A&P labs! Ds is signed up for February.

Be sure to let us know what the winner was at your house! :001_smile:

Here's my favorite... It's served over spaghetti with cheese on top http://www.plantoeat.com/recipes/226321