The 19 year old loves classic literature. She's read Les Miserables and many other challenging titles. My 17 year old just suggested Circe, so I am adding that to her list. I'd really like to purchase at least one or two more. The 21 year old is a bit harder to buy for. She loves to read, yet really doesn't have a genre. In her later teen years she read a lot of dystopian novels like Hunger Games, 1984, etc. I think she read too many too fast because she switched to much lighter fare for quite a while after. She moved out on her own earlier in the year, so I don't see what she is reading laying around. I thought about Handmaid's Tale and Shanghai Girls, but they both include sex scenes which we tend to avoid. It's been a while since I've read either. We are Christians and enjoy books by both Christian and non-Christian authors.

Specifically for Christmas presents. We are purchasing box sets for each of our younger children, though recommendations for them would be welcome too. I am at a loss for my (almost) 22 and 19 year old daughters.

I cannot believe this is still happening! My own mother had her uterus cauterized at 16. My native grandmother was in and out of facilities with a paranoid schizophrenic diagnosis. The answer was to sterilize my mother. She remembers being held down while the nurse cried and said to her how she (the nurse) didn't know why he (I'm assuming the acting doctor) was always doing "this" to these young girls. My mother had miscarriage after miscarriage and a menstrual like cycle the entire time she was pregnant with me. It is just sickening that this was ever a practice and even more disgusting that it is going on today.

A photo album cookbook. Gather treasured family recipes (bonus points if they are in original handwriting) and put them together in a binder with photos. It doesn't matter if said relative doesn't cook anymore. Edited to add...A photo calendar. Jot down important dates like children's birthdays or anniversaries and add family photos to the top.

To the OP and her original question I don't know if anyone is ever an expert on having a certain number of children or answering clearly rude comments. The comments just reflect the commenters' beliefs, prejudices, and ignorance. We have 9 children. When they were younger, we did get comments from relatives and elderly friends, and stares from strangers. Having more than average can be a challenge, but with it comes blessings and joys that a smaller family may not get to experience. Four or five children is the cut-off number for the naysayers. Once you exceed that number people assume you are a hopeless case and quit commenting. Four is such a fun number of children! Congratulations on your newest little one!

My #@%&* cat has taken to using our carpeted dining area as a litter box. We have taken her to the vet multiple times, put her on abx, had her checked for urinary issues, tried rx cat food, moving the cat litter, changing the cat litter, you name it. The overall conclusion is she is acting out. From what? Who knows! The vet asked if we've moved furniture, changed anything, etc. Basically she is being a diva cat. When we purchased a black-light type urine detector, we discovered just how much of a mess she had been making and there is no amount of carpet cleaner that will remedy the mess. ? Our only option is to pull the carpet. Most of our downstairs has beige-ish tile. Not my favorite, but I am not in a position to remove it or cover it, so the flooring that touches it must look somewhat planned and intentional. I am thinking laminate, but I don't think I've ever seen laminate next to ceramic tile. I much prefer darker wood looks to lighter woods for flooring, which would look entirely out of place with our buttery yellow walls and off-white trim and beige-ish ceramic tile. What does the hive recommend?

I used to regularly make pulled bbq pulled pork by first making a roast overnight in the crockpot starting it at 10 or 11 o'clock pm on Saturday night and letting it cook on low until 11:30 am Sunday morning. After lunch I would put the leftover roast back in the juices in the crockpot with a bottle of bbq sauce. I would then turn the crockpot again to low and let it cook until 6:30 or so. Even with the hour-ish of the meat out of the crockpot, therefore not cooking during that time, and all of the added liquid the meat was not very moist at dinner time. I cannot imagine your cookbook's directions would be correct. Unless the crockpot had a really low (and unsafe) heating setting, the meat would just be cooked to death!

how would one begin and fund said endeavor?

At my age (42), it would pretty difficult to find a man who could meet the qualifications I would have. I've gained enough life experience to know what I would want in a spouse. Hopefully, I won't be a young widow, but if I am I plan to live single and happy thankyouverymuch.

Update #3 in original post.

I tried posting from my phone and it worked, yet I am still seeing the temporarily blocked message on my Mac. My previous FB post (the one with the family night photo album) was sent from my phone, not my Mac. The only Facebook related thing I've done on my Mac is check an address for an event. This is so frustrating!!

from posting on my own timeline and have no idea why. I post nothing controversial. Nothing! Nor do I post frequently. The last time I posted, it was an album of less than 10 photos of our family having a family night with dinner, games, etc. What on earth could have gotten me blocked? How long will it likely last? ******UPDATE #2 POST #6********* ______________________________________________________________________________________ Additional information This is the message located in the area where the texting post box is generally located. You’re Temporarily Blocked It looks like you were misusing this feature by going too fast. You’ve been blocked from using it. Learn more about blocks in the Help Center. *******************************************************************UPDATE #3********************************************************************************************* I can't figure out how to change the color box. I contacted Facebook twice, with no response. This morning I checked again and everything is back to normal. So weird!

This. All of it.

We have a large family (9 children) and know several more large families, some with 5, 7, and more. It doesn't represent the ones I know, but that doesn't mean it isn't valid for that family. Two of my children are officially "grown" and one of those two has already flown the nest. Our third-born attends all outside classes as a senior in high school, so that "only" leaves 6 for me to homeschool. All are school age, so no babies or pre-schoolers to occupy. That does make a huge difference!

Dh and I were invited to a MLM party for a drink made of acai berries. When we were shown the hereiswhywearesoawesome and youneedtojoinrightnow video, it struck me that the claims of the promised downlines weren't numerically possible. After 3 or 4 levels you would potentially have x number of people under you. The number of people in the company projected for the future of the company would have been more than the number of people alive in the United States at the time.

Your list looks spectacular!! I would order take out - good take out from an actual restaurant with drive up, curbside pick up or the local sushi place. Then clean a bit, but just a bit, and only so I don't feel guilty later. Lastly, I would either personally pamper myself or go and get a pedicure and such.

I only skimmed the thread, so this may have already been mentioned. Is it possible she may have hemorrhoids from straining? I remember being that age at summer camp and refusing to have a bm in the shared bathroom. When I came home (a week later!) my first bm, was, um, how shall we say, uncomfortable.

We have a Grandmary. Grandma's name is Mary and the children shortened it from Grandma Mary to Grandmary. Also, I had Mimi and a Grammie. The rest go by Grandma (last name) or Grandma (first name).

Thanks!!

The trauma these poor children may have suffered can be lasting and will affect everyone.

We adopted a four sibling group from a similar situation. Past thread searches will give you more details. I can discuss through pm. It is a hard road. One it is hard to be prepared for. Although, I would do it all over again, there were days that were unbelievably hard.

I love the look of their curriculum!! It reminds me of our Noeo Chemistry year! Thanks for sharing!!

while adding the appropriate labs, of course?

We've used Apologia almost exclusively for science. I'd really like to find a different Chemistry curriculum that uses cooking as its base and is at least as thorough as Apologia. Any recommendations?

:bigear: