I like mine. it cleans really well on the speed cycle which is only 60 minutes total. I never have to use the normal setting. If you are having cleaning problems in any washer (at least all of the ones I have had) you may have to check the water intake screen. I don't know if yours has one. Under neath the washer in an impossible location to easily access is the water intake hose. Where it goes into the washer is a screen to collect...who knows, it only causes problems. Ours gets filled with scale from the water heater.....(which we just replaced so it shouldn't scale up anymore) I have/had to clean it out once in a while because the dishwasher tub wouldn't fill up with enough water so there wasn't enough water spraying around. Also, the wholes can get clogged with scale. Home Depot and Lowes sell a product that removes scale from inside the dishwasher. It does not clean out the screen, if your dishwasher has one. We have to clean the screen on our washer as well.

I have found, from living all over the US and in travelling that gentlemen are found in higher numbers where there are higher numbers of pickup trucks. In Texas, you will have your door opened for you, get "Howdy, ma'am" more than you will in say Colorado. You'll even get hat tips and the like. In Texas (for instance, but I think you could insert any southern state and the cowboy states) a flat tire or car problem by a woman will have a man in a pickup stopping in good time. It may even be by a 16 year old boy who says little more than "Let me do that for ya'" Especially expect this treatment in the hinterlands. In Colorado, for instance, there are few pickups and many Subaru Outbacks the official Colorado car. You could die on the side of the road, or faint while nine months pregnant waiting for a seat on the train. Learn how to change a tire there or get AAAor better yet ONstar. You may even learn a few more curses just going through the line at the grocer. (Although, if you go to the hinterlands of CO you will find pick-ups and folks gracious enough to help) But on the corridors, forget it. Texans and you ladies that live in highly pick-up laden states know what I mean. A pickup doesn't mean gentleman.....I'm just pointing that little observance out. On the flipside.....Texas has more roadside XXX theaters than any state I've ever visited or lived in.:)

What are you all talking about? It has something to do with paper vs. Plastic. What?

Those places with the lowest divorce rates are also the places with the lowest marriage rates. Ya gotta' get married to get divorced. More living to gether couples end in break ups than marriages..... Also, consider this, Evangelical Christians and their ilk are more likely to divorce a spouse who is cheating and doing other nefarious things that more progressive marriages would think okay. For instance "swingers" have a very low incidence of divorce. When nothing is a no-no, why get divorced? Heck, when you can get your spouse to agree to have your girlfriend move in....why bother spending the money on a lawyer? Also, I'm thinking their motivation is self preservation.... you and your spouse may deserve each other and it may be difficult to find someone else out there so willing. Oh, and if you actually look at the stats, the different rates are very low 21% to 24% with a margin of error of probably 4%-6%. remember there are lies darn lies and statistics gotta love them statistics!

:iagree:I don't think this was a hoax.....and I would hate to condemn my own friends and neighbors based on things their kids say. Who knows what question the boy was actually answering....he wasn't even paying attention to the questioner.... I refuse to be a part of the mob.

Though these folks may be vulgar, eccentric, and enjoy the media, and many of us wouldn't invite them into our homes....I don't think this was a hoax. They stand to gain nothing from this. They just aren't the Duggars.....so our first instinct is to condemn them. My opinion. ( I love the Duggars)

My vacuum died and I borrowed my friends Dyson. Wonderful vacuum. I couldn't afford to buy a Dyson, but I bought a Hoover that said it cleaned better than a Dyson. $149 at Wal-mart. Now, remember, I've been using my friend's Dyson. I thought my carpet was clean! The thing keeps sucking up dirt! I vacuum a room and dump the bin then vacuum again and dump it. My carpet is recent so one wouldn't think there was that much buildup. Maybe its sucking through the cement in the basement! It does well at pulling up my pile to keep the carpet looking new. For $149... I'm blown away. I think its sucking dirt from underneath my carpet and my subfloor!!!!

I hardly call this a publicity stunt..... If you were watching live, then you would see that when they interviewed the family in their front yard minutes after he was found, the anxiety and tears from the parents were very real and the situation was credible. The father was obviously shaken. He didn't want to talk about his inventions or himself and as hesitated as he described the craft as if it was not worth talking about, as if nothing was worth talking about beyond his son. A man who obviously had his heart wrenched out for most of the day. He broke into tears as he said he was sorry for yelling at the boy earlier in the day. He said he was going to talk with his family before resuming any of his projects. As we were listening live, just south of where this happened, no one was talking about this family's youtube stuff or the Wife Swap stuff. It wasn't until later on in the day as folks started wanting to know more about them did any of their family activities come out.... I found it particularly disappointing to hear different folks on the news and radio call them odd and strange, the only evidence being that the father likes to involve the family in projects and tries to involve them in thought beyond what they get in the Public School. Many of us on here could be called strange and odd because we involve our kids in family activities other than watching TV. Oh, and there's that homeschool thing.

No!No!No! What is this world coming to? I'm sure that will be coming soon to a park near me, as well.

netnanny.com easy to use and customizable.

craigslist and ebay. On ebay you may be able to find one that just needs her hair brushed for not a whole lot. Also, Madame Alexander came out with a 18" doll this years. It is $20 at Wal-mart. They sell clothes as well. I bought two of our American Girl dolls at garage sales, I paid hardly anything....Look on craigslist at garage sale ads, sometimes they will list items. THe girls I bought our dolls from were my daughter's age but seemed appalled that grandma would buy them something so unsophisticated as AG dolls....they were nearly brand new!!!! ....with clothing......and a bicycle......and tea set......and Coconut!

Are you kidding?

Heck, at home we can get everything done and more in 4.5 hours a day 3 days a week. THe schools need 3 times that much time with our kids? There is no way the teachers union would go for this... just news candy! I can't wait to hear their opinion.

Detoxing from sugar stinks!!!!. the first time we did Atkins, we both felt lousy but I figured it was from the yeast die off and which he talks about then our bowels were in an uproar. Subsequent Atkins attempts only made us kranky those first few days until the energy kicks in. Hang in there, there are very few highs out there like the first 14 days of Atkins.

:iagree: Also, I have nuked them in the microwave before roasting. When i had a gas range, I'd lay the pepper directly into the fire and the skins would just burn right off leaving the meat intact or at least bubbled up enough to just peel off. Also, if you don't want to wear gloves, run hands in veggie oil....

:iagree:I would try this first? You may be the biggest positive impact she has. I do remember lots of kids in high school say they wer "Bi" but really just liked to say it... because its part of the new liberal free love culture..... Let your daughter in on any plans that you have and your concerns...then she'll know what's going on if you happen to say "Gosh, we don't talk like that here." or "Please don't talk about that, we believe in the love between and a woman" or whatever. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Then you can always end the relationship later. Honestly, I've only had a few issues like that with friends. But we always bring them into the family, make them adhere to our rules in our house but then they always are treated with love and hospitality once they are here.

I remember when I was in 5th and 6th grade I was bussed to a minority school. It was a poor area of town. We were actually lower middle class but mostly white. If one of the bussed kids cursed or acted inappropriately the teachers would send us to the principal or send a note home, if it happened to one of the neighborhood kids, they would let it go. Only if it was an offense like hitting would they get the same treatment. My best friend, who was much bolder than I, eventually asked our teacher why this was. She said that it was their "culture" and they weren't going to interfere and it would be racist to try and make them like us. One of my teachers was black. It was two years of the strangest classrooms I've ever seen... Talk about a dividing line that couldn't be crossed.....The neighborhood kids were allowed to bring their boom boxes for "break" and do dirty dancing in the back of the school room. We basically sat in our seats in little circles for break...I didn't even own a boom box. Once again, the teachers said it was a culture issue. I couldn't believe it, since all my life my parents said all people were alike but at school we were treated differently. Now I look at those years and that behavior as one of the biggest most backward injustices to that neighborhood that ever could have happened. What sociologist was behind that? That being said......because there may be a perception of injustice if the principal is white or black or hispanic and the student is different, maybe they are trying to eliminate that variable as an excuse not to punish severely to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Maybe not such a bad plan, especially if they include parents, though it seems like we may be heading into segregation again if this becomes the new norm. What do you think?

I write late at night when the kids are asleep. Of course the problem with that is I'm tired and cranky in the morning. Ideally, I'd like to write at the table while the kids work, but I'm always doing other things and I have to put myself in the book, kids asking questions pulls me out. I would love it if my dh sent me away for a few days without a phone or anything! Then I could catch up!:tongue_smilie:

Recently, we've discovered the library again! I love it! TO save time, I put holds on books so I don't have to go find them, they are waiting for me on a shelf with my name on it. Everything at our library is self serve so its very quick, I don't even have to interact with a human unless I need to. I get online and renew my books, I've actually utilized their tech services that they provide! My current overdue book fee for the last six months is .40. I was going to buy a new hardback of the last Pendragon book for my ds's birthday. Instead, I got them to put it on hold for me. He said he was totally okay with giving it back.....he'll have it read in two days anyway. $14 saved! Its like I've discovered a whole new free world!!!!!! I think we will only purchase texts in the future.

After sewing on patches for my 1st ds, I purchased the no sew iron on stuff from the scout store. $8 You can even buy it for cubs or scouts and the stuff is already cut out for you. I'm really cheap so I butt all the patches together and cut them out myself to maximize value. Its double sided fabric stickers. A few minutes in the dryer and Voila! they are permanently stuck. We haven't had any of the dozens I've affixed, come off. Also, when they start getting the arrow heads....its so worth it not to have to handle those small hard little arrowheads that are impossible to penetrate with a needle. Plus...when the boys are done, we pull the patches off, put them in a shadow box and give the shirt away. Easy!

I bought a Compaq laptop with a huge screen and a 10 key for $299! I just checked my receipt! 3GB Ram and 300 GB hard drive. Plus I got a $30 rebate! Office Depot! Its now the fastest computer in the house!!!! My last laptop has officially become the drink stand next to my bed.

Snow yesterday! THis is the earliest I remember it snowing in 6 years. Cold summer. Folks predicting a cold winter.

Foxnew.com, Wall Street Journal, Arts and Letters Daily, and news aggregators like hotair.com, that pull articles from newspapers and tv news from all over the country. I hit the NYtimes to see what they are avoiding to print or what spin they are pushing and then I check CNN to see what they aren't reporting. I used to go to CNN first but they don't actually report anything anymore, they seem to stick to all human interest type stories, no world or us news of any consequence. I think you have to go to more than one place nowadays and always try to find the source.

Chilli on baked potato? with the fixin's green onions, sour cream, cheese?

I've always thought that Democracy Now was the most insipid and ingnorant "sixties" style radio show I've ever heard. Also very misleading... ...."Lets just leave out the facts because they are unimportant. Anectodal and hypothetical evidence is better".... type show I can't recall how many times I've said "are they on drugs?" while listening to that show. Talk about medical intervention....are they medicall intervening themselves?:tongue_smilie: Like someone said on the radio yesterday......you can't lie on radio for three hours everyday before people start figuring it out......The shows that have credibility and the huge research staffs to check facts are the ones on top. IMHO