No, but I would like one even though the only thing I really have to worry about is the fridge and freezer. We have a gas grill with a burner so we can make some food (if I have the right things available). We can manage to live without heat for a few days. My neighbor has a whole-house generator attached to her home's gas line. She may never even notice that the power is out because it just comes on automatically. When we had an outage for several days one year, we took our devices over to her place to charge.

My mom gave it to us for upset stomachs when we were kids, mixed with a little honey and water. I guess it helped, but man was it hard to take! Recently I tried it for GERD but it only made it worse. My doctor confirmed that it works for some people and not others. GERD can be a sign of too much or too little stomach acid, apparently.

Sure, you are being more than reasonable. Just because you have done something in the past doesn't mean you are obligated to do it forever.

I guess I have been able to find good doctors. I can only remember one doctor in my adult life who I intensely disliked and thought was useless. I quickly found another. Maybe it has to do with the places I've lived but there seem to be lots of good practices. My favorite was the "faculty practice" at a teaching hospital near our home in Oregon. I saw a resident, and a teaching doctor. I loved having young new doctors with the backup of the seasoned veteran. My general anxiety has kept me on top of things because I have worried about dying and leaving my kids semi-orphaned. That's not good. But, while I don't overdo going to the doctor, I keep up the recommended pap smears, mammograms, etc. Last fall I had my first A1C hemoglobin test that showed me as prediabetic. I cleaned up my eating and amped up the exercise so am anticipating a good or at least better followup test - scheduled for tomorrow. If I had not bothered to see a doctor for something else, I wouldn't have known how high my blood sugar was and wouldn't have changed my habits. Don't be martyrs, Mamas! Take care of your health. To me, that doesn't mean going to the doctor every year or running in every time you feel a little off, but don't neglect the necessary visits and tests either.

Did you look at the full menu or just the "favorites" menu? They have more than waffles and burgers. Salads, chili, pork chops... I don't know why I want so badly for you to go to WH. Maybe because I like it but only get to one every couple of years or so. We got to eat at one last week and I had been studying the menu so I could make a good choice. :-)

If we lived anywhere near a Waffle House, that's what I'd pick. Go there if you want to. Moms give up so much for their kids. Surely there is something your son can eat there.

Chateau St Michelle Sauvignon Blanc Frontera Malbec Mondavi has a line that is between their "regular" wines and Woodbridge. Coastal? We don't happen to have any right now. Anyway, Mondavi is a reliable name in my experience, though the Woodbridge I don't think is all that great. Ravenswood wines are usually below $20, I think. I rarely will spend more than $15 unless it's for a very special occasion. We like their Zinfandel in particular Malbec is my new favorite red wine for general drinking. By that I mean, not matching up with a meal. I haven't tried it mulled (heated, spiced) yet but plan to this weekend.

Always, every time I'm turning in any situation. My dad was adamant about that when he was teaching me to drive, and if I'm ever tempted to skip it, I can still hear his voice talking about it. I have been driving since 1974.

I used to walk indoors following Leslie Sansone dvds. I still have them, somewhere and should dig them out, even though perky exercise ladies drive me a little crazy. I'm pretty sure you live in a colder winter area than I do, but yesterday I had to put on two long underwear shirts and a wool sweater under my parka to be warm enough to walk, so I get it. I hated it so much. Wish I had room for a treadmill. I'd join a gym but I know I won't be successful if I have to drive somewhere to walk. Not sure what I'll do when the early spring downpours hit. :-)

Yes. Still, individuals can and do have kids naturally later in life. It can be a gamble. I married late in life and had my kids at 41 and 42. It's not a strategy I recommend though it has worked out pretty well for me. Lately I've discovered that I am ready for the empty nest before my kids are ready to leave it, so that's a negative. (I did not set out to have kids in my 40's. It just took me a long time to find the right husband to father those kids.)

Going on a few college tours solidified my daughter's desire to stay home and go to community college for at least a year. I *thought* that taking tours would make her more eager to go away to school! But it turned out just the opposite. So, it wasn't a waste, I don't think (even though I would have preferred that she go away to a 4-year school right away). Just as an aside; she was having a lot of headaches and feeling "stuck" in a few ways; once it was settled that she would stay home next year and we stopped talking about tours and applications, all that resolved. Nothing to do with the OP but just thought I'd toss that in the mix. She is looking at transfer schools and will tour some of those at some point.

OK, I'll join! 30 minutes of walking 6 days a week. I lose weight and feel healthier when I walk regularly; added bonus: listening to audio books so I get more reading in. Also, I've been diagnosed pre-diabetic and am working on controlling the blood sugar, and exercise helps with that too.

Just want to say I appreciate this thread. My oldest is at community college, not quite full time, and really uncertain what to do. He is interested in the mechatronics program at the state technical university but we're not sure he can manage the math. I'm not sure what will happen. He is a natural for the military but takes ADD meds which disqualify him. He has a part-time job cleaning and doing odd jobs at a welding shop. My youngest is a senior this year and wants to have a career in art. She has been accepted into the art department of two universities based on portfolio review (still needs to apply to the schools) but is hesitating. She hates school, and pretty much always has. She said she doesn't think she wants to do more school after she graduates in June. She has a part-time job at a cafe. Surrounded as I am by high-achieving college-bound kids (here on this board, and in real life) it is nice to hear of some people who are not necessarily jumping right into college. (I delayed college myself, in a way. Went for 2 years as a business major at my dad's insistence. Loved the general ed classes, hated the business, so dropped out and went to work; eventually worked my way into career-level positions at a high-tech company, and finished my degree in English at night when I was about 32.)

My daughter and I were talking about this today. I told her that I plan to stop buying clothes after preschool age but she is to go ahead and correct me if I forget to do that. I am confident that she will But my kids and and I are able to communicate very directly, whereas my husband and his parent do not. Our families growing up were very different. His were careful to be super polite and would never comment negatively on a gift. Mine were more direct; saying "hey, thanks for the gift but really I can't use this" has always been perfectly acceptable. I am 60 and when I only shop at Chico's for stuff for my MIL. I feel it is too old-looking for me but I think more than that, it's just a different type of style. I don't like large prints, and in my experience they sell a lot of that sort of thing.

My husband and I both got starling. We have two feeders that regularly host nuthatches, chickadees, goldfinches, flickers, another small woodpecker whose name I don't know, cardinals and blue jays. But today it was all starling. Sigh.

We listened to one of those presentations; it was Cutco knives. It was presented as "not a sales call" but it clearly was one. It also had nothing to do with his major; it was a way to earn money for college. We were also asked to give some leads for the kid to follow up on. We didn't know anyone we would subject to the presentation, so we were a big disappointment to the kid, I'm sure. (It was a Scout friend.) Just maintain your resolve and let him go away disappointed. As for nursery, can't you say no?

Ah! Of course!

I'm sorry but I have no idea what this means. Mourning doves seem like stupid birds to me. Those tiny pin heads on that body. Yes, I'm showing my bird bias. :-) :-)

My FIL has a passive-aggressive streak but that is more food-related. :-/ (We had some fun over my daughter's vegetarian diet this visit, even though she brought her own food and asked for no accommodations from them.) I think it's like this: they live in a small town so selection may be limited, so if a preferred color/style isn't there, they will just grab something so they have a gift. But I also think my MIL thinks she knows best what people will like and what is in style, and doesn't get that there are some differences among age groups (not to mention that what's in style in a small southern town may be different than what's in style in a large northeastern metro area). We do think that gifts is one of my MIL's "love languages" so that may explain the desire to get gifts, any gifts, just so there is a gift, kwim? One year when we were first married, she gave me a multi-colored jacket, short (like, to the waist), bright colors, horizontal stripes. It was hideous, but particularly so on me, with my apple shape and thick waist. She happened to ask my husband if I'd liked it, and he said "well, she doesn't really like to wear bright colors, so, no;" her response was that my wardrobe needed brightening up. I made sure to wear lots of blacks and grays next time we saw them. :-) Maybe that was a bit passive-aggressive... but actually I like black and gray clothing and have a lot of it. :-)

I just checked our feeders. The starlings have arrived! Just in time. There are also a lot of mourning doves out there. Ugh. Boring. Maybe the goldfinches will be there in the morning!

Oh, a wish list would be a great idea if they would use it. My MIL has asked in the past what kinds of things my kids like, and when given specific ideas, does just the opposite. Full-zip fleece, favorite color red turned into a quarter-zip in robins-egg-blue. (Probably not everyone is picky about full vs quarter-zip, but my son and I can't stand to pull the things over our heads.) Advice that jewel-tones are preferred elicits pastels. "Please don't attempt to buy jeans or other trousers for the girl; she is hard to fit" ... it's like a challenge to find jeans, and they never fit. :-) I don't believe they are being passive-aggressive. I think they just buy what they like in their stores (which are not local to us). They don't buy from Amazon. Yeah, it's a losing battle. That's why we wish they could just stop. OTOH, the local clothes closet gets a few things from us every year. :-)

We've passed another Christmas during which my kids (ages 19 and almost-18) got several items of clothing from their grandparents. Every item of clothing, in style and color, screams "old person." My kids don't feel entitled to gifts. In fact, we would all prefer that my in-laws would stop buying gifts for us, because we get the impression it's a burden and the only person who can wear the stuff they buy is their own son. They do no better with choices for me than they do for the kids. But really right now I am just musing on the phenomenon of people nearing 80 buying young adults clothing that an 80-year-old wants to wear. Reminds me of a visit once where my MIL tried to hand down some of her baby-pink mock turtles to my daughter. Daughter was wearing an oversized black Led Zeppelin t-shirt, leggings, and combat boots at the time. :-) I've made a vow to my kids that I will not attempt to buy their as-yet-hypothetical kids clothing once they are past preschool age. Anyone with me, or any exceptions to my observation? This is meant to be a light-hearted thread, btw. I have more serious complaints about the in-laws but this is what is amusing me at the moment. (Nothing wrong with baby-pink mock turtles if one likes to wear them. It was just an example.)

How fun! I think we have that book; I should look for it. We love birds, and have a couple of feeders. I will try to remember to look out tomorrow morning and see what my bird is. I like the idea of "bird of the year" better than "word of the year." :-) (No offense to word of the year people. Just never worked for me.)

I tend not to be successful in any sort of accountability group, but I think I'll give it a try. I'm sort of in the middle of a Bible-reading plan, and want to be intentional about incorporating some extra-Biblical reading into my year... hope that fits in with the group. If not, you can kick me out. :-)

Why do I always forget about Mere Christianity? Yes, a very good choice.