I'll start: I love to have this meal. It seems like a huge meal, with only about 375 calories. First I scrub a small-medium sized potato, poke it with a fork, and put it in the microwave to bake. Next, I cook a boneless skinless chicken bre*st in a pan sprayed with Pam. I remove the chicken from the pan, and then add 1 cup sliced mushrooms and 1/4 cup chopped onions. I cook these until they're done, and then add 1/2 cup cream of mushroom soup, a tiny dab of chicken soup base, garlic powder, and the chicken (chopped). I cook all of this in the saucepan and then pour it over the baked potato. I eat this with some seasoned and steamed broccoli. Yum!

Yeah, I can see the fear about using the self-cleaning feature, but I never guessed it would be scary during regular baking!

You're welcome!

My dh came home and turned on the breaker. Since the oven had cooled down I was able to take out my cookie sheets that had the ribs on them. Because the ribs were wrapped securely in a double layer of foil, they actually survived! The foil was charred, but the ribs inside were truly wonderful! When the breaker was flipped back on, it seems to have reset the oven somehow. So...the good news is that dinner was saved and the oven seems ok. The bad news is that I don't know what happened in the first place, and I don't think I can trust the oven to truly be ok. Thanks for sharing my day! ~Julie~

No matter how much school is accomplished at my house, it's never enough! I try to keep my thoughts on this from my kids, because I'm pretty sure that it's just my perfectionism rearing it's ugly head, and not a real problem with what my dc are doing. What has made me feel like it's finally enough is having my oldest ds (16 1/2) dual-enrolled at the community college. He did really well on the assessment for placement in college classes, and he's at least as well prepared as a homeschool high school junior as the other kids are who've graduated from private and public schools. I'm much more comfortable now that what I've done all these years was just fine. Whatever we did must have worked! Now, I just have four more dc to go...:eek:

I really *really* hate multi-level parking structures. I almost can't make myself drive into them and park. Goofy, I know! ~Julie~ Btw, I've never chickened out yet, but the day may come....

Handipoints.com, I think. ~Julie~

I was baking ribs at 350 degrees for about an hour. I walked in and pushed the button to turn the oven off. I noticed that the oven display was flashing an error message, but when I pushed the button to shut off the oven, the error message disappeared. I tried to open the oven door to take out the ribs, and found that it was locked. Figuring that something had gone wrong and that the door would unlock as it cooled, I started on another kitchen task. When I looked at the oven about 5 minutes later I found that the door was still locked, and the oven was apparently going through the self-cleaning cycle! The ribs were smoking and very clearly seconds from catching on fire. No matter what buttons I pushed, the oven would not shut off, the display was blank, and the door was locked. I finally thought to run out to the garage and shut off the breakers to the oven. It's off now, but my house is full of smoke, and the oven is locked shut (with my char-broiled dinner inside!). Anyone know an appliance guy who could tell me what might be going on? It's a 5 year old Whirlpool double wall oven. ~Julie~

Our dairy farm is not an organic dairy farm. We do use antibiotics on sick cows if we have any hope of saving their lives. After the use of antibiotics, the cows are sequestered for a certain amount of time, until the presence of the antibiotics can no longer be detected in the milk. Our milk is tested daily for bacteria count levels and presence of antibiotics or other medicines. We do not use artificial hormones at all, and we never will. You could avoid any use of antibiotics on your cow, but it would require extreme fastidiousness about milking and cleanliness, and even then you'd also have to be willing to lose your cow if it gets sick. Occasionally it's possible to cure routine cow illnesses without meds, but for the well-being of our cows who've been so good to us, we want to help them get healthy again if they can. Personally, I'm confortable with the idea that if the test is not detecting antibiotics, then the milk is fine. As far as pasteurization goes, our milk is all pasteurized in processing. If you promise not to tell anyone, I'll let you in on the secret that my family drinks milk straight from our tank, that has not been pasteurized or homogenized, or made lower in fat! ;) Legally, I don't think that we are even supposed to use our milk (unpasteurized) for our own family, but my dh was raised on whole, unpasteurized milk, and he thinks that he'd just curl up and die if he had to drink the store-bought milk. We've never been sick from drinking our milk, and all of my (5) children were weaned from bre*st milk straight to unpasteurized. None of us have ever been sick from drinking it unpasteurized, but then again, we test our milk every day for those bacteria counts. If for some reason it was high, we wouldn't drink the milk that day. I don't offer milk to our guests, unless I've remembered to buy some at the store for their visit. If I were you, I'd still go for a goat as a first try. :) ~Julie~

The way you phrased the question shows a great defensiveness. First of all, ten hours a week is *not* "a few hours a week." Personally, I don't necessarily see anything wrong with ten hours a week, but if one of my teens came home two hours late and then said they were "just a few minutes" late, I'd get my dander up, kwim? I think you need to accept the facts of what you're really asking, and not minimize it because you think it sounds more justifiable. Secondly, you're a busy, smart, and caring mom, and I think you need to have more confidence that your decision is the correct one for your family! I know you came here for reassurance, but irl I want you to unflinchingly do what you think is right for your family. Let other folks wonder to themselves if you're doing the right thing, but if you're confident and self-assured enough, it's likely that less people will question what you've decided. As to the daycare issue itself, I guess it all comes down to whether you're okay with the trade-offs. Your kids will probably catch more colds & have the flu more often. If there are any milestones (I'm sorry, I can't remember how old your dc are) there's a greater chance you might miss them. Your dc will probably learn some behaviors you wish they hadn't, and they'll probably learn some language you wouldn't have taught them. You will all get through all of these things, you just have to know that there's a trade-off involved in getting the time off. I'm sure whatever decision you make will be the right one for your family :) Wishing you all the best, Julie

About that filth of commercial dairies thing...Have you been to many truly commercial dairies? I'd put our cleanliness up against any home dairy situation I've ever seen. We not only have rules and regulations to follow regarding cleanliness, but we have decades of experience in providing the cleanest possible environment. Even well-intentioned home dairy situations would be hard-pressed to match the cleanliness of our milking process. The cows udders are washed twice before they are milked, and the milking machines are sanitized between each cow sterilized between each milking. Our feeding area for the cows is washed down twice per day, and any manure in our milking parlor is washed away literally as it hits the ground. Because we grow a fair amount of our own feed, we know exactly what it contains, and if you're buying smaller quantities of feed, it's just not always that way. I'm writing all of this not because I'm offended by your viewpoint, but just to try and reassure you that even if you end up buying milk, it's almost certainly cleaner than what you'd produce yourself. Also, "home most of the time" just doesn't cut it with dairy cows. Missing a milking, or even delaying a milking often means a very sick cow later on, which may be why in home situations, dairy cows seem more delicate health-wise. It's also wise to have the same person doing the milking every time, since it's very healthy for the cow to be milked out to the same point every time. There will be absolutely no flexibility about timing or being home. It's just a lot of work. I agree with others who've mentioned that you'd be better off finding a situation where you were getting the milk from a cow on a dairy, although according to my experience, the smaller dairies are less sanitary than the larger dairies. The smaller dairies in my area have definite problems maintaining a low bacteria count in the milk, though I'm not sure if that's the case everywhere. Good luck with whatever you choose! :) ~Julie~ p.s. I just realized that I didn't mention that we are a dairy family. We milk about 1200 cows here in California. Dh's 6 brothers all have dairies in California and Washington, and between them there are small dairies, organic dairies, and larger dairies (like ours). His family has been dairy farmers back as far as anyone can remember, certainly for the last 5 generations.

When I greet my friends at the door, I often lead them straight back to the kitchen and continue with small "busy-work" while we visit. If it's really a good friend they'll probably welcome the more casual family atmosphere. ~Julie~

I don't have a Sally Beauty Supply where I live. I wonder if I could get it somewhere else...

Mine takes about as long as Andie's.

...But I'm really *really* jealous! I want a Jack Russell because I just think they're so adorable, but I'm not sure we'd be able to deal with a dog digging up the yard. In fact, I'm positive dh would rant and rave, and I would probably cry if the landscaping we've put in over the past couple of years was torn up. Sounds shallow to me, but this is the first nice yard we've ever had in our 20 years of marriage. Please enjoy your pup on my behalf! :p ~Julie~

Baked potato bar always goes over well, as does nachos. When I do nachos I get big cans of nacho cheese and refried beans from Costco or Smart & Final, make the taco meat, and then pretty much just buy any of the following that you might feel up to: green onions, shredded cheese, jalapeno slices, olives, sour cream, chopped tomatoes...This meal works really well for lunch or dinner.