Go without him and enjoy yourself. My 21 mo old just spent the night for the first time with grandma. She doesn't know grandma that well because we don't see her that often. But she had a blast and only missed me at nap time. Leave him and he will have tons of fun with his cousins and you'll have a more relaxing trip. Oh, and when the older kids were at camp and it was just us, she was insufferable. She was used to having all that attention and fun and only mom was left to give it. Assuming your ds is the same way, you'll all be better off with him at home.

I didn't know about cove moulding. That would look nicer. Perhaps he'll go for it. :lol: it is crazy talk! Sigh. Now to convince him that there's nothing wrong with the doors.

OT- Before you buy a new microscope, check out any colleges in the area. (Or maybe ebay?) We got our microscope from a college selling off equipment on ebay. It'll last them through, since it's college level, and I only paid $50 for it.

That's an idea, too. Do you know someone who knows cars? My uncle fixes up cars and found us a used Buick for $1200. It'd still be running strong, if it hadn't gotten stolen and gutted.

Oo, yeah, that wouldn't be worth it.

Thanks for the caulk/wood putty suggestions. Perhaps he'll be more willing to try that. :D I told him last night that he could try with the small section behind the door.

First time multiquoting. Let's see if this works. Thank you for this. The voice of experience! The gap isn't even, so you're right, it's still not going to have gaps. Plus, some of the floorboards are short. So, we'll still have gaps in the floor without the quarter round. I have a sink like that in the bathroom I want to replace with a pedestal. I have no idea how we'll find matching molding. I love old houses, too!

That sounds scarier than the moulding! Not a diy project! I assume the gap is from settling, though i really don't know. It's not even, bu it's not terribly uneven, either. We do have clay here, but the foundation seems fine.

We're not putting in hardwoods, we're refinishing the existing hardwoods. So, no raising the floor. I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't think this needs to be fixed!

We're getting the hardwoods refinished soon. The house is 80 yrs old and has plaster walls and 6" baseboards. (I like it, character) the problem is that the baseboards and the floor do not meet. There's a small gap that is 1" wide in some spots. What are some ways to resolve this? I know we could put up quarter round. DH really dislikes this idea. He hates quarter round and thinks it'll look bad. -But- his idea is to take off the current moulding and reinstal it at the floor level. :scared: This sounds like a disaster to me. The house is 80 years old, with 80 years worth of paint. Even if we did manage to get the moulding off without ruining the plaster wall, there will be a noticable edge where it used to be. And I can't imagine getting that off without ruining the walls. We cN't be the only people who have had a gap between their baseboards and floor. What are some practical ways to solve this, without ruining our home?

If you're planning on repaying anyway (parent loan), have him get the 0% and help him with the payments. You could pay a set amount each month, and he will still have the benefits of payments/responsibility/ect. (though personally, I'd go with delaying it a year to prevent the debt in the first place. ;) )

Apparently, I've worried about this before. :lol: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=393067 So, can I freeze potatoes? :)

Can mashed potatoes be frozen for later, or will that make them gross? I've got a few ideas for freezer meals, but what sides are good for freezing? Of should I just stick to casserole type dishes? Any chicken ideas? I have lots of beef ideas... Thanks!

Car seat? Onesies if you're in a cooler area. Does your remodel include plumbing? I'd probably have a pack of disposables on hand just in case. Food in the freezer. I'm two days ahead of you. Getting a little nervous about everything that's not done yet. (and feeling like crap today, so having a lazy day.)

When my older 3 were little, we used white cloud or Luvs and they worked fine. Not as good as Huggies or Pampers, but good enough. With this one, the quality doesn't seem to be what it was. The Luvs just don't hold enough to make it through the night and tend to fall apart. So, I've been switching between huggies and pampers depending on what's cheapest. Buying through Amazon, I have been able to get them at 20c a diaper.

You need to talk to a lawyer or someone who knows this kind of thing. It's yours. I think you are still liable for it and can't just abandon it. I don't know. But if someone slips on the ice this winter because you left it and weren't taking care of upkeep, i believe they can still come after you. Yes, let it go in your heart. Give up any idea that this has any value anymore. But do what you need to do to get this out of your name.

:D I was looking at the blueprints and thinking the same thing! What kid needs his own bathroom? Get rid of one and add living space. :)

Ticket to Ride is very fun and pretty easy to just start playing.

Interesting read. I kinda had the opposite reaction. (maybe because we weren't living in complete poverty.) i did have to relearn eating habits. In our house, if it was there, you ate it. It won't be there later, so there was no saving/waiting until you were actually hungry or craving chocolate. But, it's also made me an extreme saver. If I didn't have dh, my savings account would be huge, my pantry overflowing and my closet empty. I would buy nothing that wasn't absolutely neccessary and stockpile things that were. Dh does keep that in check. But he grew up poor, too, and has more of the tendancies on that list. I guess we balance each other out.

Ok, thanks! I know you're only supposed to keep raw meat a few days, and stuff we get from the store would be stinky by now, so I wasn't sure.

Is meat good for longer if you get it directly from the farmer? It then doesn't have to be shipped or spend days in the grocery store fridge, so it should, right? I buy meat from the farmer, who freezes stuff right away. I have a roast that's been in the fridge a week. (was going to cook it to freeze, but things came up.) It's still pink and smells fine. Is it ok to eat? Those of you who have animals, what's the rule on this?

We helped organize a church yard sale early in our marriage. Someone donated a toilet plunger. :confused: We probably should have just tossed it, but the other organizer put a 10c sticker on it. No one bought it. :lol:

I agree with renting for a year. That way you'l get to know the area and have more of an idea of where you want to be. Right now you just don't know enough to buy and possibly be stuck somewhere.

I like the idea of having them all share the room for sleeping. We were in a very similar situation and had my oldest 3 sharing a room. Not ideal, with mixed genders, but you do what you have to do. I knew a family of 9 that had a house fire and only 4 survived. (oldest two kids were out, so really only 2 survived the fire.) they had basement bedrooms and no egress windows. Because of this, I will not put any of us in the. Asement without an egress. Gotta have two exits.

If KBB is 5300 and carfax $5,600, I wouldn't pay more than 54-55ish and would try to negotiate down a little. What do they need to add a fee for?! I wouldn't pay that either. Used car prices are not set in stone. Negotiate or walk away and find something else.