To make it easier on you, I might just set out the makings for the sandwitches and let people make their own sandwitches. I would increase the amount though, and add a salad of some type.

I suggest gentle walking, water aerobics and swimming and keep up with the weights. The nice thing about weight training and weight loss is that weight training is what builds muscles, and muscles eat calories even when you sleep.

Why don't you approach the library about locating the unfiltered computers in a way so that it's not easy for passerbys to observe the screens? They might also be willing to locate them in a a separate room.

Algebra is so much a part of everyday living for me, that I couldn't come up with a single example. It's a tool that I have in my backpocket that I pull up frequently in all sorts of situations -- shopping, investments, major purchases, evaluating choices. I'll even occasionally just do a hypothetical problem or two just to keep my mind trained. But most important is that it has trained my mind how to approach difficult problems. There are very few problems that I don't think can't be analysed. And algebra has given me the tools on how to approach it, even if algebra isn't the exact tool that is required for analysis.

My ds rarely gets the flu shot. He's gets them if for some reason I can't get mine or if there is a more dangerous than normal flu bug. Dh and I always get ours -- dh because of habit from working with the military and I have cancer. For those of you with cancer patients in your family. Why is it that everyone in your family needs a flu shot? My doctors see no need for my family to get their flu shots as long as I can get mine in the early part of the flu season.

I don't know about Curves, but I do know that I frequently didn't feel a workout until the second day. Also I also recognised it as being a sign that I didn't stretch sufficiently afterwards. What would concern me is that proper form isn't stressed.

It's not only the first responders who have to view the splattered brains all over the accident site. I used to work for a consulting engineer who had to inspect an accident site AFTER the first responders had cleaned it up. The brains were still all over the bridge abuttment. Bad accidents have a lasting impact on the people who are trying to rescue people, or in my ex-boss's case, design safer roads.

I haven't gotten it, because I'm happy with an alternative that is mostly excercises so the student practices and internalizes different styles, which my ds needs. It's Sentence Composing by Killgorn (sp) and has books for grades school, middle school and high school.

No, the questions are at the end of each chapter and chapters can range from 11 pages to 40 pages long. Most chapters are around 20 pages long. I also find it lacking in important concepts. It skips both classic genetics (Mendel) and evolution, a major problem for me. It also doesn't list biomes or ecology in the index, which is also important. But he does include the evolution of the microscope and spontaneous generation. This is interesting, but I feel his priorites are wrong for a stripped down, introductory bio text. I don't have recommendations for you because I haven't found anything I like for my ds. I'm waiting for CPO's life science which I'm considering using as a spine with additional readings. (Think of WTM logic stage history with labs) I'm going to use a SAT subject test study guide to help me decide what to cover in more detail. Ds has found CPO's other books clearly written, so I'm thinking with the CPO as an intro, he can then get more out of selected high school text and additional readings.

For your youngest, have you asked her VT how much reading he recommends for at this stage? Also, does she need to have her phonics or 3 and four letter words retaught because she can now see them? She may need work in developing her short term visual memory, because until now that was a weak imput. What reading I did require would be very, very short. To be honest, my ds did little reading until his VT and ST was completed. That's when we found out that his visual working memory needed work.

My dh will be so jealous of your ds! He loved his time there.

My favorite source for camping recipes is The Hungry Hiker's Book of Good Cooking by Gretchen McHugh. A large portion of them call for dehydration. The only caution is that we need to increase the size of the portions. Her hungry hikers aren't as hungry as mine. :D Some of my favorite recipes from that book include a basic dried ground beef with built-in gravy mixture, and my favorite use for it, Mock Shepherd's Pie, dehydrated spaghetti sauce and dried fruits. I also dehydrate shredded carrots to make a carrot raisin salad and cabbage to make slaw. I won't write down those recipes because of copywrite. That book has a lot of other recipes I haven't used, like a basic white sauce, rice pilaf, sea food dishes, ....... On my own, I've dried canned refried beans and crumbled them. In camp I rehydrate with an equal amount of water and serve as burritos or a breakfast dish. I've also dried various bean soups for use in camp. I also take my favorite canned spaghetti sauce, cook it with my favorite extras like ground beef, mushrooms and olives, dry it and rehydrate it in camp. Dehydrated fruits are always good, and may be eaten dried or rehydrated and cooked in your favorite sauce. I also dry vegetables to add to soups. Because I don't like ground beef or beef jerky in my "beef" vegeable soup, I'll use a very good beef bullion or soup base to get the beef flavor. I've also found that books on how to dry foods will sometimes have recipes that would work well in camp. ETA I realised that I missed your request for menus. Instead of menus, I have guidelines. Breakfast is often instant oatmeal, so dried fruit and dried milk is added to it. You can make your own instant oatmeal by grinding about 1/3rd of the minute oatmeal you would normally use i the blender, add the flavorings(fruit, sugar, cinnamon, nuts) and dried milk. I've lost my original recipe so my one third may be off. I'm never too sure just how hungry people will be, so I always have soup that can be quickly rehydrated in individual serving sizes. Hot chocolate is a good warmer for breakfast or supper that adds milk & calories and can be made for each individual. I'll also have baby cut carrots and gorp for snacking. Leftovers are to be avoided, so I try to have plenty of individual servings that take only a cup and a minute to rehydrate to fill the hungry. Lunch is typically summer sausage and cheese on crackers with gorp for fruit and desert.

My dh said that Ft Belvoir USED to train engineers in demolision and construction, but he doesn't think that they're trained there anymore. Belvoir is getting ready to do some major building, but it's on the coastal plain and shouldn't have much rock that requires blasting. So I'm not sure what you're hearing. And since DH retired last year, he can't check on it.

I've found that most foods will hold for a day and a half drive if packed in a cooler and the ice is replenished. Some of my favorite salads don't hold up, so I've learned to just pack the raw material for them if I question their availability. I also check on the internet to see if there are nearby specialty stores. Sometimes they may be an hour or so from where I'm staying.

Some I see as a function of age. It happens more as ds becomes older, but it's never as much as I would like. :D The other part depends on ME. Do I sincerely thank him. Do I secretely wish he'd done it better. Or do I truly wish he'd not done it it all, like reorganise a cabinet or a mess in my room. My ds can pick up on these feelings, even when I hide them and it discourages him from trying again.

As an ardent women's liber as in women can do anything (or darn near anything) they want to, I found it extremely shocking to realize that I did have a feeling that it just wasn't right to have a female minister. The feeling wasn't Biblically based, or logically based, it just didn't feel "right". (Every now and then I do tend to be a traditionalist. :D) So I spoke sternly to myself and straightened myself out. :D:D Since then my dm had a female assistant minister she much preferred to the senior minister. The female minister didn't have the baggage the senior minister had. I've also had a female hospital chaplain that was great in dealing with both the emotional and the intellectual sides of religion. She was Hispanic and raised in several countries as a Catholic. She later became a protestant. We had some great discussions while I was in the hospital -- which that summer was monthly. But I agree with the other poster who said that ministerial differences is more a personality thing rather than a gender thing. I've seen massive differences between male ministers. My favorite minister took current events and then checked to see what the Bible had to say about how we should deal with them. My second favorite almost never spoke of current events, but he could teach the Bible and hymns as no other minister I've ever had. I just wish I could have both of them again. Our current minister typically isn't as good as either of my favorites in the pulpit, but he outshines both of them with kids. And don't get my best friend started on certain Catholic priests. She found these priests had NO sympathy, empathy or tolerance for young mothers with young children. I think she would require that all priests be married with children so they would KNOW what half their parishiners are going through.

Land's End - I once asked if a certain shirt would go with a certain pair of pants. They sent someone into the warehouse to check! They've helped me with other coordiation and fitting questions, but the first one is the best. Sportsmobile - I don't have the new vehicle yet, but the staff at Sportsmobile is really working with me to find the basic vehicle we want and design the interior to fit my family's needs. They can't yet do a Harry Potter style tent, but they're working on it :D My doctors My broker And the piece de resistance - my auto mechanic

As the sister who moved away, I have 4 requests to make on behalf of your sisters: 1) Don't be too busy to visit with them when they come. It sounds like you are visiting with them, but it took one of my siblings close to 2 decades to realize that maybe she should set more than 2-3 hours aside to visit with siblings, nephews and nieces she saw only once a year, because her social/shopping/church/whatever schedule was too busy to spend any time with us. Strange, we could set aside our busy schedules AND spend lots of money traveling. 2) Don't gripe about what a pain it is to deal with your parents because they want to see you a couple of times a month, or they couldn't babysit with your dc when you wanted them too or they wanted to..... The siblings who aren't near to mom and dad would give their eyeteeth to be closer to be able to have the relationship you're griping about. Plus they might be hearing the other side of the story. :D 3) Because you're only a few hours away, why don't you ask if there is a particular weekend where you could see something special that all (or most of) your neices and nephews are doing? It may be that a weekend like this would make it difficult for your sisters to house you, but it might be possible to find an inexpensive motel for the night. Alternatively, check into the possibility of a long weeked vacation together. BTW, this is much easier when the N&N's are young. 4) Tell them your thoughts about visiting them as you stated them here. Let them decide if they would like you to still visit, or if they're happy with the current set up.

Unfortunately, it's the ones who move away who must make the bigger effort to stay in touch with family. Partially it's just logistics. It's easier to move one family than to move several. It's also cheaper and easier to house 1 family than multiple families. Finally, when the bulk of the family is in one area, it's a lot easier to see more family members by having just the one family return. I have one other sister who moved away from our home state. We've both been to each other's home only once in over 24 years. Yet we see each other at least once a year by coordinating our visits home. Plus we can see our other sister's family, aunts, uncles and cousins at the same time by meeting at home. I've also found out that many relatives don't take "blanket" invitations seriously. These are the polite relatives who don't want to impose. Or my in-laws who refuse to spend more than 3 days at our home. Because it takes a solid day of flying to get here, with one day to recover from jet lag, they don't come often. I never could convince them to stay longer. Even if I moved back home, I would have to spend more time to re-establish the close ties I grew up with. My relatives have spent 23 years developing a daily, weekly and monthly routine that don't include my nuclear family. Though I would be welcomed back, I would have to make a concentrated effort to work back into their routines. And as our young children mature and develop their own active teen lives and even their own families, it becomes harder and harder to schedule time for more distant family. So like it or not, it's the ones who move away that have to work harder. I've seen it with my df's sister, my sister, my cousins, my in-laws, and me. We all have had relatives visit, but its the one's who moved away that do most of the work.

Thanks, I may try it whan I'm preparing for our next trip. But I just couldn't imagine drying the standard 9"x13" lasagne.

Some things you post about make me think of sensory problems. Some of your ds's actions remind me of my ds's actions before he had therapy. Have you read The Out-of-Sync Child? It might help you decide if this is a possible problem.

How are your drying your lasange? Are you making it the normal thickness or are you adapting it for faster drying? How long is it taking to dry? Inquiring minds want to know. :D

Did you mean mAsectomy? From my sisters and my experience, there's no reason you're mom could't use a seat belt. I was wearing one going home from the hospital. I have discovered sometimes there is pain due to an udetected infection. If you mom's still having problems, maybe she should ask about an infection. They aren't always accompanied by fevers or red streaks.

I just remember how a jury awarded damages against a car manufacturer because the minvan owners placed their child in the cargo area of the van. They were rearended, the rear hatch sprung open and the child fell out and died. This was the equivalent of placing their dc in the trunk of a sedan! Yet the automaker lost the lawsuit and the parents got to salve their concious with the fact that the jury awarded them lots of money and blamed the automaker for their not using seatbelts and placig passengers in the cargo area. Sorry, but I don't trust another jury not to do the same to me some day. With a law, I at least have a fighting chance in court.

If there are others reading this thread with only a small amount of produce or meat to dry, I recommend the American Harvester Snackmaster. It has a fan to force the circulation, aiding in drying and a setable thermostat so you can dehydrate at the recommended temp for the food. You can start with a relatively small outlay and add on, or switch to a really large system if you decide you want to dehydrate on a large scale. I used mine primarily to dehydrate vegetables and meats for camping so I didn't need the large systems.