Because of the collapse of our business, there really isn't anything to secure. I do have a bit of cash put away on my own.

Umm...still breathing in and out. Turns out that my dh's brothers suspected that something was going on with him, and planted gps on his pickup truck. They ended up finding him at "her" place. They also have seen a second cell phone hidden in various locations. They confronted him and told him to come clean with me and give up the other woman. After a length of time where it was apparent that he would not, they went to our pastor. From there, it snowballed without me ever knowing what was going on, and dh is before our spiritual council at church this very moment, answering to charges of knowingly and unrepentantly indulging in sin. He is still incomplete denial that there's anything more to confess. He is very repentant for seeing her, but is sticking with his explanation that he went there just that one time to apologize for his part in their inappropriate friendship. Completely denies a physical relationship, completely denies a secret cell phone, and denies being at her house at any other time than the time his brothers found him there. I found all of this out on Sunday. FWIW, I made dh show me where she lives, and took the opportunity to talk to both of them, giving her ample opportunity to crush me by admitting the affair, but she too adamantly denies any romantic involvement. This is not husband-bashing, I don't think, and it's not even a private matter, since once it reaches disciplinary action in our church, it becomes public. I just thought it would be fair to explain to all of you, who have been so kind and supportive of me, what had happened to cause such a change with me. I am numb, and what's really disgusting to me is how much I want to toss aside the evidence and believe him still. There really is no way that he could be telling the truth, and at the same time, he's got to be the absolute best liar I've ever seen. I can't discern any motive for him to continue the claims of innocence. His reputation is already not salvageable, and he's already lost pretty much everything else he's based his life upon. Even though I've tried to reassure him that whatever the truth is, we can try to work it out for the best of everyone involved (and that includes whatever path he'd like to take that would bring him happiness too), he's sticking with a path that will lose him everything, including communion in a church that I know he loves. I can't figure out what can be gained through the denial. Anyway, I hope this doesn't get the entire thread deleted, because I know the update can only be a good thing. I'm sick, and sorrowful, but still breathing in and out for now. Thanks, Julie

Can't keep anything down, so ice cream and alcohol are, unfortunately, out. My mom would drive me crazy with both her sympathy, and her hard-line approach to dealing with men.

I asked my husband to leave our home yesterday. I have no idea how to get through the next couple of days, or what I should be doing this minute other than staring at the wall and rocking back and forth. Umm...what am I supposed to do today? Clean up a little? Try to gather the remnants of Christmas for my dc? Think of something for dinner? What? I'm looking around thinking that it's no wonder all of this happened. My house is untidy (though not a disaster), and I look...(and feel) ill, and I don't know what to do about Christmas.

I am more honest here than in real real life. Not that I lie irl, lol, just that I don't usually say what I really think very often. There is a bit of a mismatch between my chosen lifestyle and my real personality. Irl, no one ever thinks I have much useful to say, probably because there aren't very many thinkers in my crowd, and many of them couldn't tell you who the vice president is, or what temperature water freezes, etc. We just don't seem to have much in common, and they wouldn't appreciate the real me. :-( ETA: I re-read my words and realized that they sound *really condescending*. I don't mean that they don't think and that I do, but rather, that we think about different things. I, for instance, never seem to care what brand my fabric softener is, and they couldn't care less about the "fiscal cliff".

I need a gluten-free soup recipe that would be substantial enough to feed big, hungry teenage boys. Any ideas?

We are now in a "just get it done" phase of our homeschooling journey. Dd14 knows less about history than I wish she did and honestly, family circumstances have left her needing remediation in a few areas. I need an easy-to-understand, spoonfeed-me-what-I-need-to-know modern history textbook for dd. Higher than middle school level, but still on the easy side for high school. Any suggestions?

This doesn't really compute--at $50 per week grocery budget for 5 people, you definitely qualify somewhere. Please check around!

I have been using Plan to Eat for more than a year, and I absolutely love most things about it. What I don't like though, is how the recipes look when they're printed out. Is there some nifty way of changing that, and I just don't know about it? I'd love to customize the formatting, etc.

I voted over, but what I really wanted was an option for "just at the belly button". I guess maybe it's just me, but if my pants are below my natural waistline, they slide down continuously. If I buy below-the-bellybutton jeans that are tight enough not to slide down, then I have the dreaded muffin top. :banghead:

Thank you so much! I'm delighted that I could get them even one "like"!

Anybody? I just need a few!

I work at a wonderful assisted living facility. I liked it before I worked there, and I like it even more now that I've had an "insider's view" of how things really are there. It's not plush and luxurious, but it's clean, well-maintained, and cheerful. It *smells good* all of the time, not like air fresheners, but like "clean" and fresh air. Every single caregiver there really, truly cares. I've never heard an unkind word, or even an unkind intonation in any of the staff's voices *ever*. We worry when the residents are ill or in pain, we cry when they depart from us, for whatever reason, and we live for those moments when we can make them smile. If I ever have to be in any sort of institutional setting, I hope it's just like this one. Please, if you're willing, would you give a Facebook "like" to WestHaven Assisted Living? I'd like to support them in whatever way possible for truly doing it right. (You can always set your FB not to show their updates, if you'd prefer...) http://www.facebook....iorLivingOrland Thanks!

This, most definitely. Once they're adults on their own, I wouldn't presume to know who they'd like to send Christmas greetings to, and it would be overstepping my place to decide that for them.

I dunno...(sigh). I really want to have a warm component to the dish, with a scoop of that lovely ice cream just beginning to melt on top. It's rainy rainy rainy here, and I don't feel like ice cream is super seasonally appropriate on it's own, even if the flavor is totally holiday, kwim?

I always thought I hated eggnog, but then realized that, like a McDonald's hamburger can't be considered a "real" hamburger, the mess that comes in a carton can't really be considered eggnog. If you haven't already, maybe give a good homemade version a try? It's better than I thought it'd be!

Yep. i'm seeing it, and I really look at it as a reaction to a society that has many people in the workforce, and not so many at home taking care of domestic details. I have been in the place of having to explain the finer points of potlucks, etc, to people, and it's not fun. My sister-in-law, for example, will bring a potluck dish that consists of one can of corn. That's it. One can of corn. I've had to explain that it's not enough to bring what amounts to one side dish serving for 5 people to a potluck, because when you think about it, your family alone is going to put more food than that on their plates. Where will that come from if everyone only brings enough of one item to serve their own family, and not any extra to cover the food that they're going to fill their plates with? She just doesn't get it, and it's not about financial hardship for them. She's just really out of touch with the traditional potluck experience. it was something her grandma knew, but somehow got lost in current generations. I know not everyone does that, but it's happening more and more frequently (probably as the economic woes persist, and as generationally we move farther away from traditional homemaking as a lifestyle, but I digress). I don't like being specific about what people bring, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to get people to be, if not generous, at least not overly-miserly. With that said, I *hate* it when someone tells me what to bring! I can be counted on to bring more than my fair share, and to bring whatever I think will be most needed or enjoyed, not just whatever canned good I have in my pantry that my family didn't care for. I understand though, why organizers are seeming to be overly controlling about such things. :glare:

It's for the restaurant where I do all of the pastries. It needs to be a "high-end" dessert--one you wouldn't necessarily be able to get somewhere else or easily replicate at home.

I thought about that, but I'm really looking for a dessert with a complexity of flavor that would not be found elsewhere. Pairing it with chocolate would be so...predictable. I've never had sticky toffee pudding. Would it be good with eggnog fudge swirl ice cream?

Would gingerbread cake go well with eggnog fudge swirl ice cream? Is there something else that would be better?

Thanks for all of the advice. I think maybe I've simply bitten off more than I can chew, and my body is rebelling in a major way. I am technically a temporary employee, though it's always been clear that the decision to stay or not would be mine. I am going to try and hold out until they can find someone else who's qualified to fill my position, but let them know that they need to find someone else soon. It goes against the grain for me to ever say, "I can't", but truly, I just can't keep going as I am.

I have changed how I eat, and I am losing weight (which I needed to do, btw). 6:30 a.m. is far too early for me to have breakfast, and my lunch time (which equals about 20 minutes) is at 10 a.m., also too early for me. As a result, I wait until about 3 p.m. and then have a fairly large and usually fairly nutritious meal. Because my family eats dinner at about 7 p.m., I'm never hungry again by then, so I usually only have a very small bite, and then before I know it, it's bedtime. Sounds like the suggestion for vit. D is 2 for 2 so far, so maybe I will try that. I have some already, but have never taken it. Thank you for the suggestions.

A couple of months ago I was walking/jogging intervals 4x per week, about 5-7 miles per day, but life has changed, and I have a new routine. Two months ago I began a new job as a cook, where I am almost running, almost all of the time, from 6:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.. After I finish there, I come home and rest up for an hour or so, and then spend a couple of hours doing job #2 (pastry cook). After that I get dinner done, do a bit of laundry or tidying up, and then I go to bed. I work 4 days on, 2 days off. My problem is that even after two months, I have "hit-by-a-bus" soreness & stiffness All Of The Time! Whenever I sit for longer than 10 minutes, when I stand back up, I can hardly get to my feet, and then I hobble like an old person for a few minutes until I can loosen up. Not just my legs, but all over, and all of the time. I've taken my pedometer to work with me, and I'm walking the equivalent of about 7 miles, just as I was before. What gives?? I can't stop and stretch every time I need to move, and the soreness & stiffness is making a tough situation even tougher. Is there anything I can to to alleviate the pain?

Thanks! I'll check that out.

Due to my absolutely ridiculous work schedule which allows me only 8 hours in every 24 to do all of the following: get some sleep, catch up on dishes, laundry, housecleaning, shopping, school with my kids, and try to heal my horrendously broken marital relationship, I DO NOT have time to search for the absolute best, dirt-cheap deal on a KA mixer. Size is not important (lol!), but I need it to be the bowl-lift style and not the tilt-head model. Any super-shoppers out there who know where to get the best deal?