I wouldn't worry about it--go for it.

The winner (for now) is Key Lime Pie!

Can 'ya make it to northern California by tomorrow afternoon? :001_smile: I'm also making: Strawberry Shortcake Parfaits, Triple-layer Chocolate Overload Cake New York style Cheesecake Apricot Cobbler Lemon-Berry Sherbet AND... Key Lime Pie (with graham crust and homemade whipped cream);)

Which crust would you prefer with your Key Lime Pie?

I need to know (desperately!). Please describe your favorite restaurant dessert, or your favorite fancy dessert regardless of where it comes from. Thanks!

After a medication change, not shampooing just wasn't working for me any more. Over time it's improved, but for now I'm still using shampoo and conditioner. I have a lot of allergy/skin sensitivities, so it's really hard to find something that doesn't make me get a rash, but still works for my curls. Lately I've been using the Tresseme Flawless Curls line, and I can't believe how well it's working for me! I can't remember when my curls looked this nice. The Bumble & Bumble sounds lovely, but it's beyond my budget for right now, so I think I'm probably better off not trying it. The Tresseme is showing great results, I can get it even in my small town, and I can afford to use as much as I want. I have wavy curls, as does one of my dds, and my other dd has (up to now) had a frizzy rats nest of uncontrolled curls. Her curls actually have definition now, and no frizz! -Just thought I'd share our positive experience in case it could help someone else who's bummed they can't afford the "good stuff" right now!

Nope, no missed payments. It is like this all summer, and has been every year since we moved into this house. I'm still just amazed (and crazed) whenever I think about it!

Hey Steph, I definitely have you beat (and not in a good way!). We built a house 5 1/2 years ago. It's 2900 sq.ft. which I realize is pretty large, but still... We have an insulated crawlspace, energy-star appliances, I launder using cold water during off-hours only, we have dual-paned windows, extra insulation in the attic and exterior walls, gas stove, no pool, I hang the laundry out to dry, we have a fan to draw cooler air into the attic at night, fluorescent bulbs in most heavily-used rooms and low-voltage lighting in the rest, we bought a well-rated a/c unit and maintain it regularly, we try to keep lights off when not needed, and we keep our a/c no lower than 78*(which I realize is still a little low) BUT... Our electric bill this month alone was..................{wait for it, I guarantee you'll be impressed!} $1,050.17 :blink::eek: Do you feel better yet? $600 is sounding better, huh? :001_huh:

I totally agree with this one! When my 5th dc was 8 weeks old, we had to take her to the ER because she was unconscious, blue, and I couldn't tell if she was breathing correctly. In the ER, they tried to get an I.V. started. Here are the folks that tried: ER nurse ER doc Neonatal Dept. head nurse Is it a phlebotomist? The one who draws blood routinely? None of those folks could get it (even on a baby that didn't move a muscle the whole time). The one who finally did get it was a paramedic who was wandering through and decided to give it a try. He's my hero :001_wub: p.s. Just in case you're wondering about the outcome, it turned out that after the IV was in they did a lumbar puncture, found that she had meningitis, quarantined the ER and all the folks in it, medicated about 25 members of our immediate and extended family with heavy antibiotics, as well as hospital personnel in the emergency rooms of the two hospitals we'd been in (original hospital transferred her to a 2nd via ambulance). She was hospitalized for a week, and then started suffering seizures that an ultrasound tech attributed to an abscess in her brain. She was transferred by life flight to a larger teaching hospital to be treated by a pediatric infectious disease specialist, where she contracted Rotavirus via a 3rd lumbar puncture done by an infected doc. All told, she was in the hospital for about 3 weeks, and we were told that appx. 60% of babies who contracted this particular strain of meningitis came out of it with severe and profound disabilities, and that roughly 70% of those who ended up without severe disability were found later on to have learning deficiencies. While I realize this part of my post is pretty much *completely* off-topic, I like to tell the story every year or two, just so that I can marvel anew at how *good* God has been to me. DD is now 10 years old, and is *just fine*. :001_smile: An equally marvelous thing is that throughout the whole thing(including not seeing my other 4 dc who were 2,4,5 1/2, and 7--they woke up in the morning and mommy and baby were gone for almost a month!), God truly gave me a "peace that passes understanding." People usually ask me at this point, "so you knew she'd be ok?" My answer always is, "no, but I knew that whatever happened, I could be at peace with it." Some people have never experienced that peace--I'm here to tell you, it really exists! Anywhoo, I haven't told the story about Amy in a few years--thanks for letting me satisfy the urge to tell it once more. ;)

Ever since we had a houseful of babies--the seat and the lid stay down. PERIOD. Yes, I'm yelling. It was/is absolutely non-negotiable. In fact, when I had 5 babies age 7 and under, I had a sign on the wall behind the toilet, saying so! Yuck yuck YUCK to find a tiny toddler playing in the toilet water. Both seat and lid must be closed at all times. My sign did say it much more kindly tho. :D

"I do not consider it crummy and it has served us well." Hey Susie, I sure hope this wasn't directed at me :001_smile:. I certainly didn't mean to imply that *your* line was crummy, just that I've had some that were. "We can't afford poles and concrete." Acutally, our poles came from the junkyard, and it took, I think, 2 bags of quick concrete from the hardware to get mine done. I'm not advocating that the original poster break the bank for a nice clothes drying situation, but sometimes investing a bit of time/money produces benefits over the long run. Again, none of this was meant to apply to your personal situation, I was just trying to describe which set-up worked the best for me out of the 6 configurations we've tried over the years. No dissing of your situation was intended! :) "Part of our line is an old dog run, but only cus we had it. I would not suggest you go out and buy one, as they are very expensive, if you are wanting to save money. Yes, the run does wipe down easier, but I have found that it also gets dirtier than our plane old close line. Stuff just likes to stick to plastic for some reason." The plastic coated line was actually also pretty inexpensive, especially since the original poster was looking for this as an alternative to using her dryer. Skipping using the dryer for just a little while can pay for the small price of the plastic line, if there's a preference for that. The reason the plastic was important in my situation is that I live on a farm (with all of the flies that entails), and the cotton/polyester rope type collects the fly spots and then the line leaves stains on the clothes when they're hung. It's probably only a big deal to country dwellers, lol! Being able to run a clean, damp rag down each line once in a while means cleaner clothes for me. Anyway, it sounded like maybe you were annoyed by what I posted, and I wanted to reassure you that I absolutely didn't intend to come off as a prima donna, just as someone eager to share their many years of pleasant clothesline experiences! P.S. I had forgotten about putting the hangers on the line--great tip!

~Julie

I asked them if there's any trick to it, and they both said no, just *lots* of practice! One of them did tell me that she started doing much better once she shifted her weight forward on the board, even moving her feet a bit further forward on the board itself.

Lol! I am right there with you on this one! It kind of cracks me up, because I'm puzzled and amazed anew every time I hear about the 4-hour thing.

Your advice is really worth gold around here--when my dc awoke this morning I was able to show them your advice and reassure us all that we are probably doing the right thing. We are sad, but we are also a farm family, and for the most part we have a pretty practical grasp of the idea that animals (whether for business or beloved pets) do die. Yep, we're sad, but it's the way of the world. We're so glad to have had our pig at all! I *really* didn't want him in the beginning, but my friend's dh had to have a liver transplant, and they asked us to keep the pig for a month. After that, we knew he belonged to us. The kids in that family, though great kids, just didn't appreciate Rufus' charms the way we did ;) and they asked us if we'd like to just keep him. What a great time we had with him! Thanks again, Soph, we feel more comfortable now with letting what will be, be.

Yes, I considered that issue, but decided that since the supervision will be...constant, I'm pretty sure we can manage it. When I weighed the risks and the benefits, I think it's the right choice for my family. We really *do* need to be where the people in my family are. Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention though! If I hadn't known about the issue beforehand, it certainly would have caught me by surprise.

I have a question... We sort of inherited a guinea pig a couple of years ago. We had no information about it, but "Rufus" quickly became part of our family. I'm not sure how old Rufus is, but I think he's going to die, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing to be done about it, I just want to...get a second opinion, maybe? It's come on over the past week or so. Our habit has been to make sure he always has food pellets and water, but at clean-up time after dinner he always squeaks and whistles to get our attention, and we give him a handfull of lettuce or something. Well, he no longer does any of that, and doesn't really venture out of his house when we call him or give him fresh veggies. He's lost a ton of weight, is pretty much just huddling in his house, and his eyes look a little "off". I've tried to explain to the kids that Rufus was probably old when we got him(he was definitely fully grown for a while before he came to us about 2 years ago), and that it's just probably his time. He's lived a good life with us {sniffle and sob}. I'm really going to miss him. Even though I never wanted a guinea pig, he truly won my heart and became my little "Ruffie Pie". :) Sorry, I ventured off into some emotional venting there.... I just want to make sure that I'm not really supposed to be doing anything about this (?). What is the regular lifespan of a guinea pig? Am I being neglectful if I don't take him to the vet? I'm really thinking it's "just his time"...but what if I'm wrong? I really *don't* want to take him in, I just want a little reassurance that I'm not using bad judgment (unless I am using bad judgment, and then I want you to tell me so). What do you think, Soph? Thanks again for your help--I can't tell you what a relief it is to have you as a resource!

Pretty much all of my nieces and nephews (and we have *many*) already have MySpaces, and I wanted to be able to share and communicate within the community where they are the most comfortable. If most of your "folks" are on FaceBook, I'm sure that would work just as well. I'm kind of excited. Already this morning my dc have contributed to the "space".

I thought my kids might really enjoy writing book and movie reviews, posting captions with photos, etc. Seems like it might be a fun way to get them writing more and also an easy way to keep Grandma & others updated on what we're doing from day-to-day. I was just wondering if any of you have done this already.

When I click on the scales to give someone rep, the rep box pops up off to the right side, past the edge of my screen. I have to scroll over to add my comments, and for some reason the scrolling goes reeeaaalllly slooooowww. I do it anyway, but it ends up taking me a lot longer to leave someone positive rep than I'd like. Anyone know why it's this way?

So do you feel like the yearning for validation extends into other parts of your life? I know that I sometimes work WAYYY too hard at pleasing others, and I wonder if it's the same thing as yearning for rep points. The rep points are just so much more visible than the recognition I may get in other areas. I'm really just beginning to explore this relentless need I have to please others, to be seen as nice, and smart, and helpful, and hospitable, and on and on....and on. Just how nice, smart, helpful, hospitable, kind, generous, etc, is enough? Is it possible to cross over into the land of "way too much" of a good thing?

I can't say that what we do is super-spectacular, but I like to start the morning with Quiver's cinnamon rolls, and then use the first part of the first day to let the kids decorate the front of their binder for the year. :tongue_smilie: I'm waiting to see the really neat ideas that everyone has come up with!

This wasn't just a shameless plug for more reps (I promise!) :D Thanks to those of you who gave 'em to me anyway, but... I really DO want to hear from those of you who are afflicted as I am with PRS syndrome (positive rep seeker syndrome). What do you think it says about your personality? (come on, 'fess up, I KNOW you're out there!)

I'm at 99 positive reps, and doing the little shimmy-dance in anticipation of gaining my second little green box! :hurray: It got me to wondering though...just what is it about me that makes me the type of person who cares? Is it a sign of insecurity? Do I really need validation that desperately? Is something missing in my life or my personality that drives me to seek approval here? If you are a person who cares deeply about the rep points you gain here, do you think that says something about you, and do you see that something as positive, or not-so-positive? I'd love to hear your opinions. Generally, I admit that I'm a people-pleaser to a very great degree, I'm just not sure any more if that's an asset or a flaw. What say you? What type are you?

I love mashed potatoes & gravy, but #1 for me is mac & cheese. :drool5: