Such a nice testimony that she "prayerfully" decided to scam you.

Look at this from the husband's perspective. (Hers, not yours) Put yourself in his shoes and ask yourself if you would want your DH going to lunch with her, if your Dh had told you that he was attracted to her or had some feelings for her? If my spouse admitted feelings or an attraction for one of our friends, I wouldn't want him hanging out with her and I probably would want to step back from the entire relationship with the couple.

True, but judging someone isn't dependent on vocalizing that judgement. Wisdom tells you when it is smart to speak and when it is best to button up those judgements. The world would probably be a happier place if we kept many of our judgements to ourselves.

It makes me laugh when people say they aren't one to judge. Really? As a human there is no escaping it. If you say someone is beautiful or kind or nice, you have just judged them. LOL We judge some things good and some things bad, but the bottom line is, we judge.

I would go and file a police report about the pipe/hand incident. Since you have ER records, the police should treat this as more than just two kids not getting along. Since the Dad isn't following through, I would make the report so there is a written history on file at the police station. Making a report might cause the Dad to keep an eye on his kid, but even if it doesn't phase him, it will start a written trail that shows a history of her behavior and that might come in handy down the road.

My Dad's side of the family is full of storytellers...made up storytellers. LOL My aunt told me all sorts of things about her father (my grandpa) and none of them are true, based on census reports, newspaper accounts from his childhood, and court documents. When my Dad was dying, she came for a visit and told me several accounts of family history, but not one thing she said is close to being the truth. My mom always told me that my aunt was a bit of an exagerator, now I see that she was right. LOL

My DD is 7.5 and I just had the talk with her, only because I was thinking how scared she would be if she started early and didn't know what was going on. I don't think I would be comfortable having my DD wear tampons at eight, only because she isn't responsible enough to change them often enough. Pads are so thin these days, that other than swimming, it isn't a huge deal to wear them...not like in my teen years when it was like straddling a matress pad. LOL

I don't sort...my kids do. LOL I have a light-dark-whites bin in the laundry room and they sort their own clothes accordingly. I also have hampers in the bathrooms for towels. I bought some really cheap and tiny white bath towels and we all use a towel once and then toss it in the hamper. I keep them stacked in a large pile under the sink in each bathroom. I empty the hamper into a hot wash with bleach every few days. I do sheets once a week on hot. The kids like that day because they don't have to make their beds. If I have a lot of darks or have fallen behind, I will seperate jeans and reds and make a load of them seperate from darks. When DH was in the Air Force, I had to wash his black t shirts alone on cold so they wouldn't fade. He was very particular with his uniforms. The first year we were married, I messed up his blues when I was ironing them and after that they all went to the drycleaners to be laundered. LOL

When it gets super hot, I crave cobb salad. I make the bacon for it in the microwave.

My HP all-in-one is chugging up her final hill and it is time to put the old girl out of her misery. Now that I am in the market for a new printer, I would love some suggestions. I spent a lot of money on ink for the old printer. It seemed like every time I turned around it was low on ink. Does anyone know of a printer that doesn't guzzle ink? LOL

OUr library offers Mango instead of Rosetta stone and they say it is equal in quality. I haven't tried it yet.

I was born in the 70's and pretty much every mom on our block was a stay at home mom. There was Shelly...she was the mom that came up with exciting crafts and activities for the kids. ONce she bought a huge batch of baby chicks and then let each kid in the neighborhood have one. They stayed at her house, but you could visit your chicken any time you wanted. LOL Her mother, Dorothy lived with them and she always bought Sees candy for every big holiday. She would pop over with chocolate Santas and Easter Eggs. Every kid in the neighborhood also knew to hightail it to her curb if you heard the icecream truck...she would buy icecream for any and all children in the area. Next door to us was Teri. She was young and cute. She drove a big yellow stationwagon and we would all pile in for trips to the pool or the icecream parlor. She also made amazing pies and she could sew anything. She made me more than one costume for school plays or Halloween. When I was four, and all my siblings and her children were in school, I would go visit her. I would follow her around and just chat while she did her housework. She went around all day with her hair in curlers and a scarf and she would take them out and put on lipstick right before her husband came home from work. Jocilyn was the neighborhood Avon lady and she always geve me samples. She would also let me come and look at her collection of cool avon perfume bottles and I would shop from her stock for gifts for my mom. I know she took a loss on some of those items. LOL My mom turned out to be the listener for all the neighborhood girls when they turned into teens. All my friends always wanted to sit down and talk with her and would always tell me how lucky I was to have a mom that would listen and was easy to talk to. These families were like my family. We went from house to house eating, sleeping and playing. None of these moms were afraid to tell any of us off and we respected them as much as we did our own moms. My of them moved into the neighborhood in the 60's and started leaving in the past few years. I still keep in touch with all of them and feel like the kids that I grew up with are my siblings.

Every so often, I do a baking soda paste on my hair. I mix a TBSP or so of baking soda with a just enough water to make a paste. Then I scrub it into my scalp. I usually finish with a vinegar rinse.

Nuts have to go. Enjoy them in moderation when it is time to maintain...but skip them during the weightloss time.

Does anyone remember Slice? It was PepsiCo's stab at producing a 7up/Sprite alternative. They also had flavor such as Orange Slice and my favorite was Apple Slice.

They could have been climbing up in the tubes and the mother couldn't hear the conversation they were having. At those playparks, adults aren't allowed up on the equipment. I make my kids leave if big kids show up because I always think a big kid could hurt or even try to molest one of my kids up in those hidden nooks or crannies.

The neighbor girl recently told my seven year old, "You know your parents walk around naked and kiss, don't you?" My daughter got very mad at her. She told her, "Your parents might do something like THAT, but mine never would." When she told me about it later, she added, "You and Daddy kiss a lot, but I know you wouldn't take your clothes off and kiss. You have class." Um...ok.

I am in the same boat. I was just telling Dh the other day that I haven't had any real friends in years. He was in the Air Force when we got married and we spent the first half of our marriage moving all around the country. We were never anywhere long enough to make close friends. Once he retired I thought that would change, but he took a job with a military contractor and we were on the move again. LOL We just moved from PA to the high desert of California. I have 3 little ones that keep me busy. I am the only stay at home mom on my block. I think back to my childhood when everyone stayed home and neighbors would pop in for morning coffee, bringing their own mug. Times have changed and it is harder to find those kind of friends. This will be my first year homeschooling and I know that will just isolate me even more. It would be wonderful to have friends to text or email or even call.

A lot of parents misunderstand the results of some of the reading tests schools are giving. When I was teaching fifth grade, we had to give a state reading comprehension test. We would get the results back and it would say your child's reading level is (for example) 10.2. They would suddenly think their fifth grader was reading at a 10th grade level. The truth is, the results meant that their fifth grader scored what a 10th grader in his/her 2nd month of school would score if they took the fifth grade level reading test. It didn't mean the fifth grader would fly through a 10th grade level reading test...big difference there.

We did that too! I also grew up in the 70's. I still like my tacos with ketchup, but I only do that at home...and I can only use Heinz...that is per my husband because he is from Pittsburgh. LOL

I plan to lie about my age. :) Not in the way you probably think. I am not going to tell anyone that I am younger than I actually am. I plan to tell people that I am older. Think about it. I am 40. If I tell you I am 30, you either know I am a liar or if you happen to believe me, you think that I haven't aged well. But, if I tell you I am 50, you are thinking, "Man, that Lori looks great for her age!" LOL OK, I haven't resorted to telling lies about my age, but I do think that age is a state of mind and I will be one of those crazy grannies out turning cartwheels with her grandkids.

I am new here, but I think I have found my people! LOL My hidden weirdness is that I eat burnt toast with mayonaise. I crave it. I toast it at least two and sometimes three times so that it is really charred and then slather it with Best Foods Mayonaise. It has to be Best Foods too. I grew up in California and my Mom had a Best Foods only kitchen. After I married DH, he was transferred to Maxwell AFB in Alabama. He wanted me to make a potato salad for him to take to a work potluck, so I went to the commissary to buy some mayo. NO BEST FOODS! I was frantic. I asked for the manager and he said he had never heard of it. I told him it kind of looked like the bottle of Hellman's Mayonaise. I sure felt dumb when we read right on the label, "Hellman's is known as Best Foods west of the Rockies." I had to go home and comfort myself with some burnt toast and mayonaise...which let my new husband in on my secret weirdness. He was pretty grossed out by the burnt smell that permeated the house, so ever since I only make it when he has left for the day and I can air things out. LOL

My name is Lori. This will be my first year homeschooling. Before I had kids, I spent ten years teaching in both public and private schools. Our daughter will be going into third grade and due to some crazy happenings in our district, increasing class sizes, and safety issues, we decided homeschool is the best thing for her. I also have two boys, ages 3 & 4. My husband is retired from the Air Force and now works for a military contractor. We have moved quite a bit through the years. Our most recent move was from Pittsburgh to the high desert of California. I am not sure how long we will be here. I work as a freelance writer and I love to putter around in my garden, root for the Steelers, and cook.

I love my crockpot. I do pulled pork the same way WendyK does. I have also done the same thing with a beef roast (any kind...pot roast or rump etc.) Just add a bottle of BBQ sauce and you have BBQ beef. Serve it on buns or over mashed potatoes or rice. I love making potroast in the crock pot too. I put the potroast in. Mix a can of cream of mushroom soup with an envelope of Lipton onion soup mix and spread that over the meat. Then add sliced onions, sliced carrots and quartered red potatoes with the skins still on. You can also add mushrooms, if your family likes them. Cook it on high all day! Sometimes I make it with out all the vegies...except the onions and then we have potroast sandwiches. For parties during football season, I like to take a bag of frozen meatballs and put them in the crockpot with a can of spaghetti sauce. Put out a tray of sandwich rolls and some shredded mozerella and you have hot meatball subs!

We bought a regular (not inflatable) globe at Ross for $6.99.