What prevents me from having a clean house? Three words: OTHER LIVING BEINGS. Keeping it clean is impossible these days. I can get it clean in less than two hours, but I can't keep it clean for more than a fraction of that!

I will bake my own bread, wash Ziplock bags, and use cloth napkins, but I would pay through the nose to have someone else do this! No way. :scared:

Made me think of a cozy place to sit with a book. For the record, I don't love the name and feel B&N could have done much better.

Thank you for these great, inspiring links! I am going to add to my goals for the kids. We have slacked off some in memorization since the kids hit jr. high, and I think there will be some coming their way soon. :)

Good for you! I know someone who did well using this: http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167 and I have used: http://www.amazon.com/KP1B-Bastien-Beginning-Lessons-Technic/dp/0849773024

This is fantastic - you are talented!! I'm sure he will never forget this birthday cake.

I am speechless... :ohmy: ... No, you are NOT overreacting to ANY of this. If I were you, I'd keep the party much smaller next year and it would be by invitation only, specify no alcohol, and I'd wear a very low cut shirt and flaunt what I have! Sorry this happened at a 5-year old's birthday party. It really is appalling.

One of our favorite 80's movies! Dh sometimes uses this line dramatically if I'm in a grumpy mood and am short with him. It usually snaps me out of it without us getting into an argument.

This is very encouraging. Thank you! Yes, I need to remember not to become obsessed (a tendency for me) but to live normally. I look at my dh who is naturally thin and healthy. He rarely thinks about food and certainly doesn't sit around lamenting what he can't have. His body just knows! I need to think like a thin person, which adheres to your reminder: All things in moderation. :) Btw, good for you for getting back on track and not gaining during the holidays!

Even though it is already afternoon, I will post. This has been a day of feeling sorry for myself so far, and I am determined that today I will be productive! Here's my afternoon: *Write some thank you notes *Clean out my pantry of gross food *Run through some school work with kiddos *Sweep the downstairs *Straighten the downstairs and attack clutter on the kitchen table. *Run a load of laundry and see it through to folding and putting away. *Plan my co-op lesson for tomorrow. These are my goals. I will not be paralyzed by emotions today! Maybe typing this out on a public forum will help keep me accountable.

So how did "I'll take a little break from counting calories during the holidays," which I said approximately December 21, turn into :party: :party: for over a month?! Realizing that I have been ridiculous, I hopped on the scale today. :eek: How is it even possible to gain so much weight in five weeks? So here's my plan: 1. Make a shopping list like the one I had before the holidays. 2. Purge the pantry. 3. Journal my food. 4. Stop feeling sorry for myself and pull myself out of "failure mode". **This is the hardest for me.** Any other ideas to NOT allow this to turn into an excuse to give up (like all the other times)? Have you managed to pull out of a hard fall?

Here is a good article about this idea, or rather other incentives that might work in your favor. We know someone who is in the same boat as you and was asking on FB for ideas. http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/how-offer-homebuyers-extra-incentives-29889.html

Oh my...So I got on WTM this afternoon to try to distract myself from eating the bowl of Bliss chocolates out in the kitchen and what do I do? Spend my time reading and drooling over this thread!!! I have problems! Btw cheesecake and chocolate fondue? :w00t: :001_wub:

:laugh: Good question! I make sure to have watermelon and baby carrots on hand in the summer for just such an occasion. Once in a while, I will contribute more, but really - if it's to help me out, then that's it!

Hooray! You are an inspiration! :hurray:

I just think it is a fun tradition that helps some little girl meet her goal. And, we get some cookies out of the deal. Win-win. :)

Thanks for the recommendation. This looks like fun!

Looking at it from the other Mom's point of view, I say yes, it would be rude. This would stress me out because I would want to accommodate the asker, but would likely have a reason I hadn't invited the other child that I would want to share because it could hurt feelings. (The child is too young, who would watch them?, the birthday child chose who to invite, trying to keep it to a certain #, etc.)

My dd13 had a sleepover with two friends this past summer. They slept in a tent in the backyard, which I figured would be perfect since they are all talkers (understatement!). What I didn't think about was my spazzy reaction to them possibly keeping the neighbors awake. I could hear them talking and laughing out there and was afraid our elderly neighbors would be upset, so I kept texting them, about every 1/2 hour. I was certain that the neighbors were up and must be exhausted. I honestly don't know if the girls ever slept that night. The next day, I was dragggggging and miserable. I took the girls home and had a major talk with dd, banning sleepovers here forever. I apologized to the neighbors, who said, "Oh, we saw the tent out there and wondered if someone was going to sleep in it. We didn't even hear them!" :blink: How this was possible is beyond me. I guess I just need to :chillpill: .

I feel like a week is optimum to see everything without getting bored, but I'm thinking of US destinations. If I went to Rome, I'd branch out some and visit other places, so probably 10 days-2 weeks. When we went to London to visit ds, we pretty much stayed right there for a week and didn't go anywhere else. At the time it was fine, but if I had it to do over again, I think I'd lengthen the stay and expand our itinerary. Btw, what a wonderful gift you are giving!

Oh, that makes me so mad! Talk about needing the last word!!

I know what you mean. I love it when they're here, really I do. In fact, most of the things on the list below are also things I look forward to and enjoy. However, it does make for a rather chaotic house! 1. They keep wild hours. It is not uncommon for them to hang out watching movies until 3 a.m. I don't mind that or the noon wake time unless their talking and laughing wakes me up. Then, heaven help 'em. 2. SO MUCH FOOD! Ds1 in particular eats way more than any of the rest of us. (He also likes healthy food, so that's a plus.) Our food bill for Christmas break almost doubled. That includes special holiday meal food, though, so it's not all him. It is the only time I buy avocados or sprouts, which I love. 3. The messes. They try to clean up after themselves, but they've developed some bad habits. "Mom, stop worrying about it. I'll get to it." That might mean hours from now, and I'm not supposed to do it for them or comment. However, when ds1 went back this year, his coffee cup(s) were still sitting on the counter, and I realized that this may be the last time they will be left here. His red whiskers were in the sink, too. It won't be long til dishes and whiskers are gone for good. 4. They like to have friends here at a moment's notice. I want and encourage this - I miss their friends! However, I am not a great last-minute kinda girl, so this can be stressful. **5** My least favorite thing: They have somehow developed better parenting skills than dh and I! It is amazing how much they think they know about parenting the young teens in our house. Apparently, we need to "chill" about some things and be more vigilant about others. Thanks, boys, for this helpful advice! If only we had had someone like you around when you were little... :rolleyes:

I have one but do not wear it much. It is ever-so-slightly tight, not to the point of being painful because it has made a nice ridge around the base of my pudgy finger. Getting it off was NOT pleasant, so I decided to put it away for the short time it would take for me to lose enough weight for it to be comfortable. Umm...yeah. Let's just say that it has had a nice two-year vacation in my jewelry box. :blush:

I think we just aren't used to hearing about many deaths due to illness anymore due to prevention. I will say that when I hear "it's a bad year for flu", I don't think a lot of it. When I hear "22 children have died so far during this flue season" (heard earlier today), my ears perk up, and I pay more attention. Put that together with the media hype almost every year, and it is understandable for people to be more aware. Also, I feel that people in general, are more fearful now than they used to be, especially when it comes to their children.

170 times! Okay, I am inspired to make the phone call next week. Yikes - that is scary! Thanks for sharing.