I think any woman who is the veteran of numerous church potlucks is aware of what a group of teens going through the line first can do to the main course, breads, and dessert. Our church had to ask teens to go after adults because parents weren't watching and teens would decimate the table leaving only fruits and vegetables. Most of them just didn't think about what they were doing and the effect was accumulative. However, there's no need to be rude. Most people know to take a child aside quietly and point out the better way. I would forgive her...especially at a time when stress can make people a little harsher than usual...but she should have done a better job expressing herself.

I usually have the little one be my resident chocolate chip and berry counter when we make cookies, muffins, or smoothies. I give random numbers like 'we need 6 chips for this cookie' or 'we need 23 berries for this smoothie.' Helpers get extra chips or spoon licks.

A deep bookcase A deep bookcase with plastic milk crates, wicker baskets, or bins (my 6 year old has a rolling cart with 2 shelves and a top...we have a crate for socks, underwear, pjs, and sweat pants and another for shirts, jeans, etc. On the top is a box of legos.) a laundry basket a chiffarobe (basically a set of drawers on one side and a cabinet door with shelves behind it..very easy for younger kids to pull things off...one of my kids has this...the downside is its very easy to pull everything off a shelf when they get what they want.) We also have 2 chests for the older boys and each child has their own round laundry basket for clean clothes (they put away).

Could you be more specific about your husband? Carbohydrates are found in all fruits and vegetables, grains, beans, natural sugars...pretty much anything that isn't a meat or a fat. I assume he's low carb? Veggies & meat only? Some fruits? Lower carb lentils? Sweet potatoes or no sweet potatoes? Thanks.

I use standard all-purpose flour from Walmart. The original recipe had half butter, half shortening. I never have shortening so I used all butter. Since then I've used oil. All work fine. I oil every few tortillas on a long griddle. It's easier than using a cast iron frying pan. I flip it when it starts to bubble. We love these around here. I notice that if you have leftover pizza dough they make pretty good tortillas/flat bread too.

Generally if they ask for dried, use dried. If they ask for fresh, use fresh. The water content is very different in fresh vs. dried. Don't use fresh cranberries when dried are called for. Recipes which use fresh cranberries compensate with sugar or other sweeteners.

Buy plants. Look for ones that are thicker, leafier...not super tall. Check the leaves. Make sure there aren't any brown spots and no curling. Some things like beans are easy to grow from seeds, but many things are really fragile and its hard to grow them from seeds. Buy a small bag of some kind of slow release fertilizer. Put some in every hole you put a plant in (but don't put the plant right on top of it...put a light coating of dirt over the fertilizer first). Find a spot with full sun. When you pick out a spot check it in the morning, around lunch and in the afternoon. It should have sun most of the time. Think about how you are going to water consistently. Is there something else you do outside that you can bundle it in with? Drip hose? Pot with bottom reservoir? Homemade terrarium?

Logan and Colton are hugely popular right now (Logan a bit more than Colton). Troy reminds me of our generation. Out of those 4 I'd say Everett.

In your case I would renew it. I dropped mine, but I knew by the time I might need it again I would probably have to take new classes, renew paperwork, etc. It didn't see worth it for me. Because you are using your degree in a professional capacity, its better/easier for you to keep your license. Then if your boss' boss questions your qualifications they can list that. It means something in that world.

Lots of good posts. I also think this will bring the entire issue back up, not put it to rest. Everyone will assume that you always had the money and were just holding out, especially if how you got it is really unexpected. Be thankful for a big hearted husband, and ask that the money be put away for a time (invested, in savings). If your BIL needs help with medical bills, it might be better to parcel out *small* amounts later, as needed...not a large lump sum. I don't think the money will bring the family back together but it might help nephew. With small amounts, dh can see how BIL reacts as well. Either his feeling will be confirmed or disproved.

I'm not sure I'd notice your daughter or not. I'm not really into clothing so it would take a lot to get my attention. However, I think people have experiences, and they form opinions based on those experiences. This isn't a bad thing unless people either close themselves off to the complexity of reality or open their big mouths and share. People will judge a girl wearing tight clothing. The same way they will judge a girl with an ankle-length jean skirt and hair down to her butt. The same way a woman might feel nervous alone in an elevator with a big guy or a person who is often teased feels laughter from a nearby group might be about them. Everyone has these opinions, these 'judgements.' The difference is that most of us have been schooled to keep our mouths shut. This gives us the opportunity to get to know people in a more complex way. Hopefully we do.

Crocus Columbine Both short...and Spring-sprouting (so you can transplant outdoors afterward). Snowdrops may also be short.

Very cool resource. I have it bookmarked. http://www.khanacademy.org/

Jane Eyre Bruchko The book of John (Bible) The Lord of the Rings To Kill a Mockingbird Merchants of Venice The Good Earth Things Fall Apart How Green Was My Valley An Anthropologist on Mars A Canticle for Leibowitz Outliers

It depends on if you mean formal multiplication or informal. I introduced the concept of doubling/multiplying in Kindergarten/1st grade after addition and before subtraction. I don't really do formal multiplication memorization until 2nd/3rd. I've found the game Tumblin' Dice to be good for early multiplication use (the dice are multiplied by 1, 2, 3, or 4 depending on where they land). My 2nd grader loves it. Personally I like to go slowly into the memorization. It can overwhelm some children. (You could make your own board more cheaply then buying.)

He loves her, but I wouldn't say they are close. MIL is wonderful, a very loving person, but she was gravely ill when dh was a teenager and she never completely recovered mentally and physically. It was a miracle (literally) that she survived. He's very protective of her but he can't really talk to her as an equal, and it's awkward when she stays with us because he doesn't really know how much he can expect of her. Unconsciously he wants her to be like other women her age. I think I deal with her the best because I have no ideal of what she should be...I just see her as the loving and somewhat broken woman she is. Despite this I know he loves her very much and he tries to be realistic and give her the affection that she needs.

Your own anecdotal experience is between individuals and individuals or (if you'd prefer) group (unions) and individuals. Traditionally, unions work as a balance against the power of a corporation or owner to push down worker costs in order to gain more money for themselves. Obviously this hasn't been your experience. It might help to read The Jungle or How Green Was My Valley to get an idea of what life was like before unions. Moving up to more modern times, the book Packinghouse Daughter combined with the documentary American Dream about the labor dispute in the 1980s with Hormel. I think the film does a good job of showing the complexity of the issue, how some people are so hardline they can't see the whole picture, how cruel people can be to each other (conceding workers vs. non-conceding), how a company can use a situation to not only confront company difficulties but to take it beyond that and toss out older workers who cost more. My FIL was working for Hormel at the time in Iowa (not the site of the strike but the same company). Watching the video and talking with him was extremely enlightening. How easy it is for a company to make bad financial decisions then instigate a strike and dump an 'expensive' workforce and start with younger, cheaper, even non-national workers (much easier to hire illegal aliens). Even though FILs plant wasn't in the MN strike, he was told to stay home a day or two because they would close the plant to eliminate the spread of a solidarity strike and protect vital workers. Then he was fired for striking (ie not attending work). It took 2 years in the court system for him to get his job back (not everyone did). The union funded the court case. Dh's family lived in poverty during that time. No one could afford to sell out and go (without declaring bankruptcy). The plant was the whole town. No admission of wrongdoing was ever made, it was settled out of court. FIL is not a union nut. His father was an office worker who ran machines (ie a scab) during multiple other strikes in the meat packing industry, but the entire situation shook him deeply. My own grandfather lost his entire pension (20+ years) in a non-union job where the company went under and the owners stole the money. No one could afford to take it to court. Me, my own experiences have been different. I was a teacher in Illinois who didn't really like the union. Most of the union reps of my acquaintance are obnoxious. Most of the money went to causes I didn't believe in. But that was my experience. I can't discount the other people in my life who have been helped through injustice by their unions. I can see how unhealthy unions don't help their constituents and cause frustration and change, but unions can create a safety net, especially for workers who traditionally don't have a lot of other resources to achieve justice.

Cool! I might be able to start some seeds...in a few weeks. :tongue_smilie:

Since I haven't seen this refuted I just wanted to say this is untrue for Wisconsin (I think the poster has us mixed up with another Midwestern state--probably Indiana). The original law asked for a decrease in benefits (asking public workers to pay for more themselves) AND the removal of all collective bargaining rights for public workers except those of police and firefighters. I think most of us assumed it was a little political strong-arming to convince public employees to accept the 2nd or 3rd decrease in their pay/benefits (in the last few years). In response public employee unions agreed to accept the benefits loss and keep the bargaining rights. I am the granddaughter of union men and the daughter of a very conservative man. I can see that both sides are worried about the future, but in my opinion no one should be able to legislate an easier political future for themselves by taking away peoples' voices (which is what it feels like the governor is doing), a traditional right used to balance the power of corporations and individuals. I can't say for the entire state, but I have rarely seen public employees strike here and I've lived here (almost) my entire life. I had to move to Illinois for that. This seems heavy-handed and opportunistic.

Lots of good suggestions. I don't have anything new but I've found that when transitioning to homemade bread we eat less if I keep it all in the freezer. You can thaw and warm it for 45 seconds (for a roll) or 2 minutes (a loaf) and its good as new. This way the bread isn't out and easy to grab, and it doesn't dry out. If you go on a free day, all-purpose and bread flour are very cheap at Sam's Club (less than $1 lb.) Bulk flour, beans, rice, pasta, and canned tomatoes can make a wide variety of cheap meals.

We don't go out much but we do hang out a lot. Most of the things we do have already been mentioned, but I just want to encourage you to try some things he likes (and vice versa). You don't have to love something to enjoy being with someone, and listen to them. I know my eyes glazed over for years before I got half the computer stuff he's tried to explain to me, but he appreciates it. And he listens to my literary diatribes and adds a strong back to my gardening (not his favorite). We read aloud/read together in bed. We play board games (from more complex games like Reef Encounter to simple flicking games like Crokinole. In fact, Crokinole is almost the perfect tired couple game. You spend a lot of time trying to whack each other off the board..lots of fun!) We talk about the news. We talk about education, and books, and organization, and software. We do projects around the house. We cook together. Sometimes we'll pick something really different and band together to conquer it. We veg out to television or a movie. We'll lay in the dark and listen to whole albums and talk about the connections between songs or between artists. We wander through grocery stores, hardware stores, and specialty stores, just talking. Or play hide and seek. Or have a contest taking arty pictures and see who takes the best one. We bike, walk the dog, kayak (when we get the chance), take the boys to the beach/lake. We play video games together (vegging out to Dr. Mario is an old favorite). We're trying to invite more people in to our home. Dh loves being a host. I'm getting used to the idea. :tongue_smilie: We're also trying to find more areas where we can both serve others. Still working on that (youngest still has issues which make it difficult for us to be places on set days/times).

We live in the Midwest and all of us see the same dentist. He invests in great assistants and they do most of the work with kids. He diagnoses, does cavities and other work, and they do everything else. They also have chairs for parents in the exam rooms, and I can even more back and forth between different chairs and the waiting room if I have multiple kids being cleaned/examined at the same time.

Finished: 1. The Secret Life of Houdini: the Making of a Superman by William Kalush 2. 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison 3. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins 4. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart 5. Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell 6. The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux 7. Phantastes by George MacDonald Working on: 8. Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed the World (LeCouteur) 9. Boneshaker (Priest) 10. Cloudsplitter (Banks) 11. Winter's Tale (Helprin) 12. The Man Who Thought His Wife Was a Hat (Sacks) I'm behind now and have too many long books (Cloudsplitter, Winter's Tale). I need to push through the last 70-90 pages of Napoleon's Buttons and move on to some shorter reads.

It's easy to answer 'how are you?' because you don't have to go into detail. Unless a person wants to know they really just skip over it with an 'that's too bad' or 'sorry to hear it.' My son has a condition, and the last few years have been very hard sometimes. I have people I trust and love, and quite a few who care about us. Still...it's hard to be totally honest with people. I can answer 'how are you?' honestly. I can't always be totally forthcoming about his condition or my latest depression or how we managed to survive another week because: 1) Sometimes the things people say back to you make it worse. :confused: You still love them. You still want to talk to them. They don't know how to comfort you and they say stupid things. 2) There's only so long you can complain before people start turning it off. Human beings can only take so much of a thing they can't personally make better. It's human nature. This is one of the big reasons we don't take the elderly seriously, or dislike visiting them. It's repetitive. It's beyond our control. It's boring. 3) You get tired of being the center of attention. You don't want to talk about it for once. You just want to have some normal, adult, or intellectual conversation without getting dragged back to your everyday life. 4) You want to protect them. Not forever. Not at your own destruction. But if you know they have a lot of hard stuff on their own plate you don't want to add to it. To make up for these problems I usually have a small group of people I go to who have proven themselves. And rather than dump the whole thing on one of them I take turns. When I feel things building up I seek one of them out and let them comfort me and let me vent.

I think this is normal for a lot of people. Just give her a time limit and when she goes over that limit assure her that she will have another chance to make the decision later but now you are leaving (or in the case of clothing you will make the decision). I have one son like this and he is a champion saver..lol. It's okay for some kids to see complexity in every decision, but it's good for them to know that those decisions do not allow unlimited time. Time is valuable. Sometimes this helps kick them into gear or at least understand how their quirk affects others.