These stories have me ROFL. Dh wasn't the first to marry, so knew his parents were off the deep end with having their children stolen away from them (none were allowed to have a social life when they lived at home; all were called at bedtime once they moved out until they married). Consequently, we haven't let it impact our lives too much. The highlights: The illogical persuasive argument 2 months before the wedding that I convert to their religion, which they had recently resumed practicing after at least a 30 year absence. The look on the wedding photographers' faces when FIL and MIL informed them that they wanted a shot of the extended family for their album. Shot was not to include spouses or bride. Needless to say, there are no pictures of any spouses in their home...all family pics are just them and their bio children. The latenight hang up phone calls checking up on us.... MIL telling us when we returned from riding our bikes with the kids in the baby seats that we 'looked just like a real family'.... MIL sharing her retirement dream: all her children would move back into their old rooms.... Some people just never mature. Good cartoon material :tongue_smilie:

How about crudites, three bean salad or another marinated veggie type of salad? http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes is where I go for new ideas.

I'm with Yvonne on the jobs; know a few people in the last 2 years who took the entry level position in grocery, retail, and entertainment and moved right up into a management position commensurate with their degrees. It's the situation where the opening wasn't immediately available, but it opened within a year. In the meantime, the people had benefits, were able to get familiar with the corporate culture, show their skills, and start building a network. I'm fuzzy on the constraints here - no family childcare available, so job must pay enough to cover 4 in daycare?? How much would the job need to pay? What shift would the job have to be on? (most daycares here are 6 am to 6 pm) An immediate idea if the food/ins needs are a priority: paraprofessional in the district..gets you back in the loop professionally and you'll be able to see those internal job postings, especially the short term quick extras. Perhaps it will lead to finding a homebound teaching position. Also consider seasonal and waitressing if cash is needed quickly.

#1- unload dishwasher, set table, sweep/vacuum floors, dry handwashed dishes #2 - load dishwasher, clean counters, handwash anything needed, take garbage out #3 - ass't cook - preps veggies, makes salads, mixes dough, and/or cooks a dish, and once/week does entire meal if teen working on mastering of timing dishes to be ready at the same time also takes prep scrap out to compost bin

The DP brochure is helpful to planning: http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw/images2003/languagespecific/eng/nontheme/tickets/2009Dining.pdf Late Aug, early Sept has always been nice for us...very little waiting right after Labor Day. The exception was last year, when MK was very very busy (we took the monorail over to Epcot to find no waiting though). During the late August free dining promos, it's been hard to get reservations at restaurants we wanted. My strategy was to book all sit-downs, then call and try for a cancellation at the time and place we really wanted. Second strategy was just walk up, which worked well at Crystal Palace with about a 20 minute wait for seating. A lot of QS desserts are wrapped and sealed; we just take them and save them for the ride home. The kids love to have the rice krispy mickey treats on the way back, and hubby likes CC cookies. Counter service - a lot? Yes. If we did a buffet for lunch, we'd split the counter service for dinner. Trading - yes, if it is so crowded that Disney can't accomodate the requests for table service. When we we there last Aug/Sept, Disney put on a buffet at Tommorrowland Terrace for selected meals/days to provide another option for TS. We've always been able to use a few snack credits at the Main Street Bakery instead of using a QS...the cashiers usually tell us which options they can ring up and ask which we prefer. It is nice to use early entry, go to the bakery and get bagels and drinks and sit down at a table outside while the park is calm.:001_smile::001_smile: