For those of you that have maids, you may notice this. My dh got me a weekly cleaning lady after baby 3. I had her for 3 weeks, she was awesome... I felt guilty and we let her go. BUT, her methods were great and she completely cleaned my 2200 sq ft. home in 3 hours. If she had time left over, she did the windows. She brought her own rags and cleaners. THis is what she would do Bathrooms. She would spray something in the tubs, showers and sinks, using a non scratching scrubby she washed everything with lots of water. Wipe all surfaces down with towel. Scrub toilet and around toilet. Sweep floor dust into carpet. MOp floors. She would change sheets on beds if I left out linens, and make beds. WIpe down all surfaces (except walls) with damp rag. She dabbed lamps with damp rage and beat curtains, then dusted with a damp rag. She would fold laundry and leave on bed. If it was clothing on the floor she would assume it was laundry. Toys, books and papers were stacked neatly on bed or dresser. She swept the baseboards and the crown molding. She did this for all bedrooms, then den, living room, and formal dining. Finally, in the kitchen: wash dishes, scrub counters, wipe down cabinets. Sweep dirt into carpeted area. Mop floors. And in the end.......vacuum from room to room. All the stuff she swept into the carpet got vacuumed. She also emptied the garbage into one bag and threw it in the dumpster on her way out. So her methods, her procedures allowed her to quickly and efficiently clean my house........ in only 3 hours. She only had maybe 2 or 3 cleaning products for the entire house. She used lots of water and 4 or 5 hand towels for wiping down. I learned a lot about efficiency from just watching her (sweeping the baseboards? Genius!)

:iagree: My ds 12, just yesterday, asked me if he would ever learn to use a stick. Of course you will!!!!!! My first car, a VW bug, was a stick, and had only 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear. No reverse or 1st. A year later it lost 2nd. I became a very good driver and didn't quite know how to handle the luxury of having 4 gears and reverse in my next VW bug! In Houston, I chose a stick because of the horendous traffic....you need it to zip in and out of situations. I love my automatics though and as long as I'm dealing with kids, I'll keep it. But, like I tell my kids everyday, the more you know the better off you are. You need to learn how to; use a chainsaw, a roto rooter, a drill, a car jack, replace the heating element in a dryer, a lawnmower, a winch, a trailer hitch, etc. The list goes on and on. Recently my stick driving skills were requested to help a relative retreive a truck that was a manual, across a town I didn't know, to prevent it from getting towed..... I was pleased that I could be of service.....

I do remember this. However, all the big guys on the financial channels were advising against it. I never had a mortgage lender try to sell me one. Suze Orman, one of my favorite voices of reason, (often directed to women) advised not to take out an adjustable rate mortgage and for years she said if you want a cheap house, wait around for when all these houses purchased on adjustable rate mortgages reset. Of course, Dave Ramsey is a fave and his advice may not make you rich, but it will make you secure. We have a close friend who works for a large Brokerage house with clients with 25mil or more. Just before last year, in lieu of the stockmarket, he put his bonuses into paying off his own house..... I thought he was just a doom and gloomer and we didn't follow suit. Too bad I wasn't his client. Voices of reason were out there.... Plus, think of all the folks that were given down payment assistance. They never even put down any of their own money. It was fed money. Unless you have a stake in your house, why would you feel like you need to work at it. Many foreclosures came from Illegals given loans who had no down payment or low income folks who had no hope of ever being able to come up with money. BUt the referring entity (non profit advacates) get referral fees for those bad loans. Although, the news likes to cast all foreclosures as a tragedy, a lot of folks were used to being kicked out of their rentals, so being kicked out of their foreclosure was no different.

I do remember this. However, all the big guys on the financial channels were advising against it. I never had a mortgage lender try to sell me one. Suze Orman, one of my favorite voices of reason, (often directed to women) advised not to take out an adjustable rate mortgage and for years she said if you want a cheap house, wait around for when all these houses purchased on adjustable rate mortgages reset. Of course, Dave Ramsey is a fave and his advice may not make you rich, but it will make you secure. We have a close friend who works for a large Brokerage house with clients with 25mil or more. Just before last year, in lieu of the stockmarket, he put his bonuses into paying off his own house..... I thought he was just a doom and gloomer and we didn't follow suit. Too bad I wasn't his client. Voices of reason were out there.... Plus, think of all the folks that were given down payment assistance. They never even put down any of their own money. It was fed money. Unless you have a stake in your house, why would you feel like you need to work at it. Many foreclosures came from Illegals given loans who had no down payment or low income folks who had no hope of ever being able to come up with money. BUt the referring entity (non profit advacates) get referral fees for those bad loans. Although, the news likes to cast all foreclosures as a tragedy, a lot of folks were used to being kicked out of their rentals, so being kicked out of their foreclosure was no different.

Just two weeks ago!!!!! I got a call from CC company about suspicious activity on my debit card/credit card in another state. They purchased close to $1000 at a Target in AZ. The CC company blocked the card. I had to go in to my Credit Union and fill out paperwork, but I got the money refunded the same day. The odd thing is that they had a Credit Card with my number on it even though I still had my card. So they got my number from somewhere. My husband was reading just this weekend about a computer hacking incident with one of the largest Credit Card payment companies. Apparently they knew they'd been hacked but didn't report it. We were wondering if we were part of that. What ticks me off is that Target didn't ID them! I think retailers have a duty to check IDs when someone is using a credit card. (not when they are using a PIN of course.) Luckily, the CC company called me right away.

I have no sympathy with the woman Donna Hanks from that article whose home was foreclosed. This is from a site that investigated the news story "According to real property data search information, Hanks bought the two-story home in the summer of 2001 for $87,000. At some point in the next five years, she re-financed the original home loan for $270,000. " So do you see what she did? When property values went up she cashed out her equity (cash) then spent the money. When she couldn't afford the new $270,000 payment. The site that showed her paper trail said she was allowed to make alternative payments, which she failed to do as far back as 2006. THis wasn't even a recent event. There is something to be said for someone who loses their house because of the economic downturn forcedthem to lose their jobs. I sympathize with them. So many of us could be foreclosed upon if we losed our jobs. However, a lot of people cashed out their equity by refinancing, took vacations, bought cars, clothes, etc with the money. They bought homes they knew they couldn't afford using the Interest only loans, knowing full well (but hoping they would keep making more money) they wouldn't be able to pay once the adjusted rate kicked in. They just thought that surely in the next three years after buying the house, they would either a: be able to sell it at a profit with the housing market ever increasing, or b: they'd get a raise at work which would cover it..... That's gambling.......and when you gamble....the odds are always against you. Now they want a bailout........

I'd see an endocrinologist if your insurance permits. My doctor did a larger panel than just the TSH. Plus, she said she like to get the level to 1.0 even though the range can go up to 4.5. Some doctors just like it below the 4.5 She felt it made a big difference to get it to one. So whatever that's worth. After a few days of Levothyroxine, I felt soooooo much better, not so grumpy!. THe doctor said it was very satisfying treating thyroid issues since folks can feel so much better so quickly! Good Luck!:)

I borrow from friends. Once I went out a few days before a small but flashy event, got a great dress! Of course, another woman at the party had bought the same dress!!!! The event was too small for us not to be standing next to each other a few times. A friends dress with a new wrap, I knew no one would be in it. I went to a vintage shop a few times and found some great evening dresses that had a "modern" look to them and looked new. My Jackie O dress is my favorite....can't fit in it anymore though. Find something that Grace Kelly would have worn and you look like you have your own taylor! Have fun!

We have been very happy with the Kia Sorento. We chose it over the Rav 4 and Ford Edge and Liberty because it seemed to have less road noise (quiet) The Edge was a good ride as well with a little more zip than the others but it was more expensive than the Kia. The Rav 4 was about $10000 more for the features we wanted. The Liberty was nice but noisy. They are a lot alike, so it may come down to those little features you find important. We wanted 4wdrive and bun warmers.

I use a laptop exclusively as well. I bought a Maxtor One Touch. Once you plug it in it will automatically set up a backup for you and ask you if you want to backup every time you plug it in. I bought a 2 GB for about $60 at OfficeMax on sale. Its very small and can fit into my husbands back pocket (if he were so inclined to do so.)

There is a Heritage farm there, close to downtown but east and south of the University. Its very large and can take all day to visit. It has old homesteads and farms and shops from days gone by. On some days they have volunteers there to answer questions. I've been to a bunch of historical parks and this one was by far the most intersting. Temple Square is really worth seeing as far as architecture and art. Our favorite restaurants there were the Santa Fe (Mountain views, southwestern cuisine) Red Iguana (Mexican) featured on Food TV. Moles are their specialty. Red Butte Cafe (burgers and bistro food, good desserts) There is an extensive indoor mall by the Temple Square and the ZCMI shopping center which has really good shopping. THe Joseph Smith Memorial Building has two restaurants upstairs that serve casual or fine cuisine, if you are stuck downtown. The Lionhouse Restaurant is a historical place that serves homemade foods and desserts. The train is fun to take south then back. They have all of the facilities left over from the 2002 Olympics so there is always that. Ice Skating is downtown, as well. THere is always the Great Salt Lake....If you have a car, its something to mark off your list. Oh, and my kids loved seeing the Bingham copper mine, west of town. The Red Butte Gardens make for a nice walk if the weather is nice

We are very lucky to have two discount second run theaters here. Tickets are $3.50 after 4 and only $2.50 before. There are coupons for buy 1 get1 free on our grocery receipts. The popcorn and refreshements are cheap, as well. Our family of 6 can go for $20 including popcorn and drinks. Its very close to my house. I have only taken my kids to one "real" movie in 6 years and that was a matinee. My husband and I only do discount movies on our date nights, as well. I promised my two oldest I'd take them to see Twilight as soon as they finished the books. Luckily, it just went to the discount theater! We are just patient and wait for the movies to get there.

I love the "crocs" that don't look like crocs, more like Mary Janes with the Croc material. I bought mine at Kohls. But, I also bought my daughter some at Walmart. They are going on their 2nd year!!!! So the velcro is really holding out! Mine are going on close to their 3rd year!!!!! If they have them still, I might buy some more. Remember the lawsuits against Crocs and escalators....maybe that's why Target isn't selling them?

In Texas and other southern states where I spent time. NO ONE ever took their shoes off in someones house. I remember a friend got new carpet and had a sign at her door requesting shoes be removed. Folks thought that was very rude! However, after moving to mountain states, I discovered that everyone removes their shoes upon entering a home. We thought this was an odd thing. You open the door and they start stripping right there! Of course, we are indoctrinated and we always take our shoes off at the door f any home we enter. Going back down south, I remember a SIL asking me why we all take our shoes off at the door, "Is that a Mormon thing?" My guess is that the shoe thing is very cultural. I don't know a lot of older Texas women or men that would feel comfortable removing shoes in someone's house.....but you may not need to worry about a bunch of Texans. Have you thought about purchasing that plastic wrap stuff that lightly sticks to carpet. Its transparent and very thin. Then, maybe request shoes be removed. If they just "can't" for cultural, or hygiene reasons, then its not that bad. Here, surgical booties are often provided in a decorative basket at the door to go over shoes, in homes that are for sale. I think you should try not to stress to much over it. I can't imagine who would ever remember your shoe policy.:)

I discussed this with my kids, and we all kind of feel sorry for him. But once he starts taking sponsorship money, its like he is being paid for being a role model. Once he starts showing up in ads with compnay logos on them then he becomes a spokeman or "agent" for that company. I pointed out to my kids that sometimes when money or fame comes too fast, the celebrity feels bulletproof and feels like the rules that apply to all of us don't apply to them. I think he will redeem himself over time and end up back on cereal boxes (but I bet it takes a lot of community service and advocacy to sway sponsors) and we will all be as proud of him as we were 6 months ago.:bigear:

I liked the movie for what it was. However, if you read the books, then I'd buy the soundtrack! ( not the score) We love listening to the unique mix of songs from the movie!

Boy,people sure are quick to judge on here! Iguess I should have included more smiley faces and popcornboxes. :chillpill:I will try to clarify my position. Perception goes both ways. If you want to keep your religion a secret then fine, but if its part of you and you intend to be friends with this person beyond the occasional "howdy" in passing then you need to be upfront or they will sense you are hiding something from them. And when people sense you are hiding something, they fear the worst....right? Oh, those friendship traps we can get ourselves into when we assume we know what the other person will do and say! The author sounds like a righteous girl wanting to do the right thing and avoid the possible disappointment. But what about the friend? Your wording can really offend the friend! Something to consider since you mentioned how it could hurt your husband's standing. Wasn't that the glue that made the initial situation "sticky" in the first place? And no, I was not calling the author, conceited, snobby or any of those things. Just the perception. My point was about how she is already condemning her new friend when she doesn't really know what she will do. In addition, those feelings of exclusion, derision and condemnation she has felt from others in the past may be just the feelings she gives her new friend. The new friend may be really hurt if the friend doesn't have a clear idea of why. She may think that her assumptions about you are wrong. (we don't have much in common, she doesn't really like me, she only puts up with me) You don't have to embrace her faith, but it seems to me that judging her faith already, is doing to her what you think she might do to you. Golly, a homeschooling group is already filled with a group of women used to being made fun of, you know you must have something in common with them. It depends on how close you'd like to be with this friend....Maybe you can put off any kind of refusal for a while until you know her better and her feelings about religion in general. Feel her out a little more, get her to know how great you are before you share with her. I was invited to dinner to a person house of a different faith. They seemed edgy and nervous. They were apologetic because they didn't have anything to drink other than juice. I felt weird because I didn't know how to act in their house or at their table. Toward the end of the evening the wife said almost sadly "You must think we are a little silly." She was worried of my perception of her conservative, religious, non drinking values, etc. when I was worried about her perception of me, drinker, smoker, worldly type!! Of course, when we realized that we were both being paranoid, we became the best of friends, still are over a decade later. Everyone out there has a story about how miscommunication or a wrong assumption has ruined a great friendship! Marriage! Superbowl! Stimulus Package! I'd hate for anyone to throw some relationship away, in its infancy, because you already know how its going to turn out! Maybe any action at all is premature! Anyone?:bigear:

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned how exclusive and "Snobby" your attitude sounds. You said that you both have many things in common. If you would like to pursue this friendship then it will require YOU to understand and respect what makes up her personality. Do you really think she wants to convert you or do you think that maybe she wants your companionship when she goes to these things. Maybe she thinks that since you both have so much in common that you might enjoy these events, as well. If you give her the "I'm above organized religion" or "I'm not into that Christian Crap" and no matter how politely you try to explain that it how it may sound, then you may make her think that its YOU who are judging her, for being unsophisticated. If you haven't noticed, practicing Christians aren't too popular these days. Earthy religions are certainly the good guys these days. Perhaps a "You know, I'm not Christian, do YOU still want me to come? I'd like to know more about your interests though." sounds better and doesn't alienate her. She invited you, after all. It takes reall Huevos to invite someone to something like a religious event or outing. Are you so intolerant and closedminded that you can't enjoy a Homeschool function where they might invoke the G word or the J word? Are you so shaky in your beliefs that a Christian Barbecue might just ruin you? I've never turned down an invite to a religious event, ritual, ceremony from someone not of my faith and in return I've eaten some of the best food, had the best laughs, and made the nicest friends. I've been to Buddhist weddings, Hindu events that I didn't even know what they were, suppers with Muslim women where the men stayed in another room, harmonic convergences, feast days...... Like I said, it takes guts to invite someone to something as intimate and personal as a religious event. Take it as a compliment. Its awfully exclusive to just outright reject any invite because you (push up your nose) just don't believe in it. Do you want folks to think you are friendly and open or one of those Pagans that hides out in their homes, who looks down on religous people? Perception works both ways.

When we do poor week, beans and rice everyday, we buy dried beans, rice and a little onion and tomato (canned is good). The tomato and onion is for flavor. ALso, carrots, potato and onion fried is considered a treat by the end of poor week. If you are looking for nutrition then protein is key. Add veggies as possible. Lard is more flavorful than oil if you actually want to saute or fry anything.

Oat flour is a good substitute, and for a while we made pancakes with rolled oats, cottage cheese and eggs and the kids really loved them. Arrowroot is a good substitute for a thickener. We use Splenda almost exclusively for a sweetener in drinks. If you are trying to get away from the high glycemic levels of flour and sugar then be sure to looke at carb contents of other sugar substitutes. Other sweeteners may be "natural" but they still are sugars and have the high glycemic effect and carbs. We tried to use soy flour in bread type items but I could never get them to come out right. Also, they had a fake sour taste to them. However, you could try this and see if you get better luck.

Monday night (tonight) Bean soup with homemade bread and side salad Tuesday: Chili with cornbread and side salad Wednesday: Chicken Curry with rice and side salad Thursday: leftovers or French onion soup and salad Friday: homemade pizza and side salad Saturday: meatloaf or burgers homemade fries and you guessed it, side salad Sunday: Pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit We eat oatmeal or CHeerios for breakfast. Sometimes an egg burrito. We always have OJ available. Husband gets an Atkins drink for breakfast. Lunches are usually sandwiches, corn dogs, salad, potato, etc. I can get our budget as low as $100 per week for family of 6, if need be. It helps that my husband gets an elk every year that we use primarily for burger. We usually have a spaghetti night, sometimes a salad night, and occasionally if we are busy a grilled cheese and canned soup night.

I throw my lonely mates (usually white) back in the whites basket to be washed again. They only get 3 or so washes before they get thrown out...yes in the garbage. Firstly, my kids are pretty good and mating their socks befoe putting in laundry. Second. I saw on "Clean Sweep" the tv show, the guy explaining the craziness behind keeping unmatched socks past a few weeks. Third. Once, sometimes twice, depending on the filth factor, a year, we throw out all the kids white socks and get them a pack of new ones.

I was going to write the same thing! One of the best things we ever did for our oldest son was to have a baby. Because of the way kids have to set aside time and provide service to their siblings, they all have a real special sense of what family means. My oldest ds already exhibits excellent parenting/baby skills and shows great respect for girls. i know its because we had a baby girl that he diapered and bathed and dressed and held and pushed in swings and read stories to. I hope our dd bonds as well with our next baby.

Just as an aside. On YouTube there is a cute animation by Tim Burton circa. 1980's called "Vincent" about a little boy who fancies himself to be Vincent Price... references to EA Poe tickled my older ds. on youtube search Vincent and Tim Burton

After going over the summary of what this bill wants to fund, it looks just like politiicians are trying to pay back the organizationst that got them elected. I see very little in "job creation." I see more, pork spending on pet projects. This is far worse than what I was expecting. I just read where they expect it to cost $223,000 in overhead to create one job that pays less than $50,000 I had heard rumors of someone suggesting that we have a two month tax holiday where we wouldn't pay taxes for two months, instead of this boondoggle of a stimulus package. This sounds like a better way to stimulate the economy. If we get a stimulus check we will put it in the bank to save it for the "what ifs." If it just slips in to our paycheck then it will get spent. We spend everything in our paycheck. Lump sum payments like the stimulus checks get put into savings. Its like the people in Washington have no clue how real households spend and save money. They drive around in their private jets and haver personal secretaries pay their bills. There are days I can't figure out why I don't drink......