Have you ever socialized with your neighbors? Ie. actually gone to their house or had them over or gone somewhere with them? Generally, no. We are on speaking terms, but we each have our own social groups. That said, we are all friendly toward one another and will help each other in times of emergency. What do you take when your tummy is upset? Mint tea How is next week looking for you? Proofs for book due, test/homework for class not yet done, Board meeting, two birthday parties, one dinner party, tea and chat with sick friend, volunteer at library, volunteer at sports booster club, 6 hours of class time, husband going overseas this week and child going overseas for sport competition this coming weekend. I'd like to get three 5k runs done this week and an evening out to a concert scheduled. Oh and I need a dentist appointment for a tooth that's bugging me and I have a several sewing projects that need finished. Is that enough?

Yes, My astigmatism ebbs and wanes with the amount of reading and computer work that I do. The more I have eye strain the stronger it is. Stick with your prescription as written.

You say nothing, your daughter is eight. It shouldn't be on her radar at this time. It is my personal opinion that the woman's due date and wedding date are really none of my business. I only can affect my actions and not those around me. I would tell them congratulations, once on their wedding day an once when the baby arrives. I would heartily mean it both times and then leave it be. It's not about me and my views at all.

General rules for "stuff". 1. Consider the area and it's function. Look beyond the stuff for the moment and consider the physical space you want to organize and in your mind decide what function that place in you home should have. For example: Front hall closet: This is the place for getting dressed/undressed for leaving the house. 2. Remove all items from said place and sort the items. One pile for garbage, one pile for donation, one pile for this doesn't belong here, and one pile for this belongs here. For example: Garbage - it's worn out, junk, doesn't work and broken and I'll fix it someday----all this goes into the garbage. Donation: - too small, the children have grown, don't need it for this particular house and I simply don't like it any longer. Doesn't belong here: Christmas decorations, off-season clothing, cleaning supplies, library books, AND your donation pile. What does belong: I want coats, hats, mittens, boots, a boot tray, raingear, and perhaps one or two spare book bags. 3. Look carefully and the space and the pile that should now go back into the spot. Will everything fit? Consider repeating step two if the answer is no. Now, go shopping IN YOU OWN HOME FIRST! What have you already got that will help you put everything back in its place. It doesn't have to look like "Martha Stewart" lives here, just functional. A VERY important step...the donation pile goes into a bag and into the car/van right now. There is no stopping in the garage with this stuff and certainly not in the attic or basement. It goes now! 4. Now live with it for a while and put a little note nearby for the real shopping list of boxes, clips and whatcamacallits that will finish off that space. You'll be surprised by what you DON'T need. After a little while you will have a very clear idea about what is absolutely necessary, and have a coupon from Bed, Bath and Beyond for the sale. ;) So bending this for homeschool, identify your homeschool "space" withing your home. Sort your stuff so that only what is need for the year is out and what you are saving for another child or for next year is in boxes and labeled for storage. What is finished toss, give away, or if possible sell. (I put the emphasis on toss or give away. The most expensive bit about anything is your time. Consider this in the cost of selling items. Don't you have something else to do other than boxing, labeling, and driving to the post office, setting up garage sales, and organizing used curriculum sales, dealing with paypal, bad payers and "lost" deliveries. Every single one of you has better things to do than that. Bless someone with nicely offered give away and be done with it.) Put away only what's needed and avoid like the plague homeschool conference halls, Rainbow Resources, and for sale boards. ;) Shopping for the latest organizing system should be the very, very last step. You need to know what space you have and what you need to store. You can't answer those questions fairly if you have sorted and junked first. Stay away from pineterest and the like, it's marketing where the work is done by unsuspecting unpaid worker bees...sorry users.

I'd consider yourself lucky. In the rental houses in the US, the repairs were done so badly it was less hassle to do it yourself. With our luck, the landlord would come to paint the deck on a day that I'd want to use it for a luncheon party. He's spill the remainder of the stain on the grass and plants and my kid would get into it ruining his clothes, the bedroom carpet and three bath towels in that order. I insist we do all the repairs necessary, I notify the landlord that the problem is taken care of and I don't mention the cost. Even without reimbursement, it is often cheaper than dealing with the landlord if I factor in our time and the other costs of shoddily done work.

A porridge with a small bit of cream. A boiled egg with one slice of wwheat toast. Fruit in season. If lucky, mackerel, herring, or trout with the egg.

I agree that you should have been informed so that you could make the right decision for your family. You are not being old fashioned. That said, given that there were four of them and in one room, I'd say odds are that nothing serious happened. We are in a much different situation and our son has traveled with his companions, both boys and girls, all through out Europe for competitions. I don't worry. These kids have been together since being 12 and 13. They have shared alot of personnal stuff due to training conditions, not one of them is interested in each other after coming in from racing. Food yes! Each other no.

Awwww. He wants your complete and undivided attention. Play with him, then offer him some catnip. He'll sleep the rest of the afternoon.

You're fine. If the lids are sealed, you're good to go. As the sauce sits on your shelf over the year, it will settle out even more. Turn the jar a couple of times before you open it.

Having very recently traveled... I can tell you this. Everyone should have a carry-on. Check and MAKE sure you are undersized on this. The airlines are getting really nasty about this. One leg of my recent trip had the airline people trolling the waiting passengers looking for oversized bags. Oversized carryons were taggged for checked luggage and get this ....as we were the last flight out that day...all gate checked luggage would be forwarded on the first flight out the following day. You didn't have a choice. Either the luggage got checked ($50 bag fee also) or you gave up your seat. I was glad to have a small duffle for me and my son's back pack for him. Now the good news. Select you inflight luggage to be just large enough to hold 1 pair PJ's, 2 changes of underwear, and 1 set of "street clothes". You should pack you necessary electronics, necessary meds, necessary travel papers, toothbrush, small tube of toothpaste, small tube of shampoo, comb, razor. Amusements for the plane: book, crosswords, or my favorite...valium. All the remaining stuff gets divided among the checked luggage. Check with your airline, usually you get one bag per passenger. USE IT. Doesn't mean that you need all gargantuan bags, but if you have five in your family...Check five bags. Now, distribute the clothing and shoes evenly through those five bags. That is to say if everyone is going for two weeks, then each person should have one pair of shoes, and 2-3 complete outfits in each bag. Break up the remaining checkable toiletries also. That way if one bag goes missing no one person is out all of their clothes. The likelyhood that all your luggage goes missing is small, but you've got that covered with your hand luggage. If one bag goes missing, you've still got the majority of your stuff for EVERYONE in the remaining bags giving you the cushion of time to let the airline do it's job of finding your missing items. HTH.

Such wonderful news! Congratulations! To hubby: Keep up the good work! We are all proud of you for battling back.

We rent holiday homes all the time, due to diet issues which makes eating out all the time difficult. The general rule of thumb is that that the supplies are there for you to use, however if you use it all up it is generally a good thing to replace it with the same product. I do this within reason....laundry soap yes, ...the small "hotel" bar of soap in the shower after a week no.....salt or olive oil in the kitchen yes, community issued garbage bags for refuse collection no. Normally, it adds no more than 5-10 dollars for a week to the holiday cost. We figure we'd drop far more than that on tips at restaurants for the week, so it's a savings in the end and it builds good will with your landlord. This will help if you want to rebook the home the following year.

Yes all the time. And it will depend on who I'm thinking about. This happended during a conversation this summer with my parents...quand le sujet est mes amis, je parle francais....mit meinem Ehemann spreche ich Deutsches...and with my son, English. It happened all seamlessly in my head. I never noticed it until my mother said something. I had to make a real effort after that to use my English. Also, my spelling in all three languages is a mess.

Good Lord I hope so, because I it isn't here. ;) For clarity, here as in here on earth in general, and not here and is here on the forums.

For our house, it's not a question of when to bed, but a question of getting up. We must be up at 6am. If you're not making that time with a happy face, you need to go to bed earlier. Soooo, during the school year this means quiet time begins at 9pm. That is, at 9pm everyone in their rooms for quiet study, reading or listening to music on headphones. I don't enforce bedtime but highly encourage a 10 to 10:30pm bedtime. I do enforce the morning routine with a cheery vengence that is highly annoying to sleepyheads.

Recovery can be more difficult than the trauma, because you're not longer geared up for the stress and everyone else thinks things are back to normal. Give yourself some time. Think about the longest amount of time you'll need to get out from under this rock and then double it. Now you're talking about reality. Take care of yourself first, other dependents second, the food and bills third, and everything else can wait. From my own experience it takes time, alot of time and there are set backs. Think in terms of short daily goals and don't beat yourself up about it. End each day with a similar mantra...."Today was a good day because...." My first sentence enders were ...I got a shower. I made my bed. I made myself lunch. (Never all in one day of course!) Now, almost 9 months later I'm almost back to being a full time mum. Take it slow and reward yourself mentally with the things you do accomplish.

The first step is to write down everything you spend. Everything! Write down the mortgage, the car payment, the utilities, the grocery reciept, the starbucks coffee, the manicure, the impulse buy at TJ Max, the parking lot fee, the kid's allowance, the paypal purchase at amazon....every SINGLE penny. Write it down for three months. (or use some finacial software to the track expenses.) After three months, look at where your money is going. Make some informed decisions about your particular habits. Choose one where you are going to make a change. ONLY one, too many changes too fast will make the new habits seem "too hard" or "too restrictive". Keep writing down expenses, next month look again at the data and continue working on your first change. Can you make another? Now that you've started to think about your outgoing. Think about your incoming. Can you change that? Think about your savings goals? Start with a three month emergency fund. Save until you have complete three month saving account. Delay purchases, make lists for "needs", plan to shop rarely, look at the list well before you go and seperate the needs from the wants. (example, my son wants new headphones, he needs new trainers.) There are lots of free sites that can help. Don't spend any money on this. (this said, however, the money we spend on our finacial software, has paid for itself over and over again.) Going from finacial disaster to prosperity is a process. Start small and build one small succes on top of the other. Finally, pat yourself on the back for simply asking the question. Recognizing the problem is the biggest step, the rest will be tough, but not undoable.

Let it go. The manager knows and if she can do anything she will. Someone else was having a bad day and by continuing to think about it, you are continuing to let his attitude affect you. He wins if you can't let it go. If you wish him well, say a short affirmation for his health and well being (privately of course) and go about your way without another thought then you have done what is necessary for the situation.

Up your store quality. All the stores mentioned are better choices than Target. H&M, Zara, Talbots, Anne Taylor, Nordstrom. Buy one good quality item that will last for years rather than four or five of the cheap stuff.

At six She is too young for a machine. At six, she needs to learn some basic emboridery stitches and some hand sewing. As for designing dresses....teach her to make paper dolls. With all the scrappbooking stuff available this is the best way to let her hand eye cooridination keep up with her imagination. The scissor/drawing skills will serve her later. Make or buy a basic paper doll and then cut out a basic dress shape from tag board that she can use over and over again as pattern. Open up the construction paper, scrap booking supplies and other bits of paper, cloth and lace and let her go. At seven or eight she can help you design and sew clothes for her, if you sew. Again start with her cutting, pinning and pressing skills. Move on to the straight seams, but you do the majority of the difficult work. By thirteen, if she still has an interest a simple durable non-electronic machine makes a perfect gift for a girl entering high school. For christmas, at six...Caft packages to decorate jeans and make those keychains that the kids hang off their back packs. Knitting is great. How about knitting a phone cover? Crocheting pot holders. Fabric painting on canvas book/grocery bags.

Take a good look at European fashion and have your daughter copy it as best she can. She shouldn't look like an American on the street. It can attract negative attention in Europe. For example, white sneakers are for the tennis court only. Dark colored street shoes are worn here. Tee shirts with slogans and graphics are typically American, as is baggy clothing. The European look is more tailored. The European woman is more dressed up than what you're used too. Wearing a skirt or dress on the high street is done. You are very much judged by how you dress and the quality of your clothing. Also clothing here is very expensive, so having an extensive wardrobe is not done. Rather the season's latest is purchased and worn again and again. (If your Levi's cost the equivalent of $150 instead of $30, you have one pair and wear them three times in a week.) Purchase good walking shoes. Make sure she has a small mix and match wardrobe in solid colors or simple patterns. Give her some allowance for purchasing a few key pieces in Germany, as dictated by local custom at the University. I don't know where you are from, but crime is higher in Europe. Petty thieving and pick pocketing is prolific. Having said this Germany is safer than much of Europe, but if she does any traveling she needs to be aware. All documents, credit cards, and ID's should not be carried in her purse, but in a document belt under her clothing. She also needs to be more aware of crime, when choosing where to live. Ground floor apts. are not good. A sturdy door, lots of locks, make sure the windows are secure, and a good set of curtains are a must. These are just a few things to think about. It's not meant to scare you, but it is different than small town USA.

As someone who lost 20lbs in 20 days in the hospital with some of the same issues as your husband, the short answer is NO. Don't try to keep it off. My body was responding to massive trauma and major surgery, it needed food to rebuild. It was not the time to diet, however it also was not the time to OD on icecream sundaes either. A healing body needs lots of lean protein and plenty of fruits and veg. Don't limit the calories, just limit the choices. Make healthy choices and let the body heal and some of the weight will rebound. What you want to do is change the taste buds. I gained back everything I lost and about 5lbs more after surgery, then 3 years after the weight has slowly fallen off. I'm losing 2-3 lbs per year, most of my friends and siblings are gaining that much....after 10 years?

Don't force him. I have a son who is exactly the same way. It turns out that there is a very good reason for my son's behavior. It has to do with the way he experiences the world. He's has synesthesia. For him the world has an extra layer of stimulation for him. So what we see as "normal" can be overwhelming. As a teenager, he still will not go to an amusement park, or the movies and normal teenparties are a rarity. He's now old enough to talk reasonably about what is bothering him and we adjust out activitiy level to suit his needs. As a toddler and a young child....I was the mum with the kid laying in the aisle of Walmart with a full on screaming and kicking criying rage. Now I'm not saying by any means that what my son has is what your son has....but to really say your not alone and it's not uncommon. Keep trying, tell him before hand what is going to happen, but not in enough detail or with enough time for him to put up a protest. And plan a "out" for the event. For example, we took our then 5 yo to a small Jersey Shore boardwalk amusement park. (Note: not a full day Disney experience) We didn't purchase tons of ride tickects. Just a few. He rode a Car ride on a rail line...very sedate, but he got to "drive". He spent a lot of time watching the rides and our "out" was a picnic on the beach about a mile away where it was quiet and family oriented. He still views this experience as his amusement park visit, when in fact it was more like riding a carosel at the park and then moving on. Keep the outings at his acceptance level and don't force things. Try to look at it this way, he's not on the other side of the spectrum where each new activity MUST be bigger, brighter, more challenging and more stimulating than ever before. When he got to be a teenager, my son thinks twice about the activity before he participates, not really a bad thing for a teenage boy in my opinion.

Alot the things....portion size, additives, fear of real high quality fat, pricing. Portion size: Pots of yogurt: Europe - about 4oz, USA - 6-8oz Coca-cola : Europe - 250ml, USA - 16oz up to 2L big gulps Sliced bread: Europe's standard witdh for a slice of bread is about 2/3 of the US's on and on it goes.....Apples: Europe - the size of a baseball USA- the size of softball Steak: Europe - 2-3 oz USA - 4oz and up Additives: shown above with the Fanta vs. Sunkist example, but this type of thing is throughout the food chain Fear of real fat: real cheese, meat and nuts are not bad for you. Fat-free salad dressing is deadly and fat-free dessert is disgusting. Europeans will eat a real dessert once a week, not once a day. They eat cheese and nuts and fruit for dessert. Pricing: Due to the tremendous cost of manpower in Europe, processed food carries with it a hugh price hike to to the manpower costs in productions. Thus today at the market 6 nice tomatoes are 0.68p and a head of broccoli is 0.79p and a basket of peaches is 1.25 and a dozen eggs 1.79 will the cheapest frozen pizza available is at over 3Euros and serves just two. The US is full of loss leader promotions of 50cent frozen pizza's vs. 4.59 heads of cauliflower. Finally, EVERY and I mean EVERY European child is on a "diet". They are never allowed to eat until satisfied or snack or graze outside of meal time. The message that you must control your weight is drilled into them from the age of two and up. "Stop or you will be fat like an American," is the Euro-mother's mantra. Children faint from hunger in tennis lessons. They must "rest" in the middle of ballet class because they are too weak from not eating. After running a morning 5K, a top athelete will be offered a raw cucumber, granola bar and a banana for lunch.

I went on an airline which flies major hubs between N. America, Europe and India. Didn't see any denim skirts or fundy jumpers, but plenty of saris....no searching.