15-Minute Skillet Tamale Pie? Chicken Cornbread Bake? Chicken corn chowder and biscuits? FTR, I never tire of "what's for dinner" threads. :)

:ack2: :svengo:

That was my former career - process management systems - and I totally feel his pain.

I agree. The guilt train from a narcissist not getting their way is quite amazing, and much better if you can detach and watch it go past. (and I PMed you)

Not unless you include the "gift" of a super-awesome, half crazy wife! ;)

I'll supply the envelope! I do enjoy the irony of the snide soul who thinks his degree is so academically superior while having no idea what someone else's actually entails. His clearly did not include inquiry, did it?

I love this game! :D If you're not put off by the taste, I'd say eat them.

Interesting question. For many years, I would have said no. But then some issues w/ my husband came up, nearly destroyed our marriage, and, as we worked hard to get through that, we formed that emotional attachment that had been blocked because of it. On the other hand, we have the dissimilar communication styles that you describe (our basic natures) but the opposite way: he isn't particularly introspective or analytical, or given to debate for the sake of it, and I am. Those are familial patterns. His family would just about do anything not to acknowledge anything unpleasant, pretend problems dont exist and hope they'll just go away; mine takes things head-on and looks for a solution. We also love a good debate or existential pondering. I think we've learned to bridge that a bit. I don't think there's anything wrong in having a friend or colleague with whom you have interesting conversations about topics you both enjoy. I also don't think there is anything abnormal about feeling jealous about that. Sometimes, those bonds just are, sometimes they make a spouse feel like the bond takes something from the marital relationship and, when that happens, it needs to be addressed. Not because there is something inherently wrong with the activity, but because the activity is causing a rift, or being used to block the other spouse out. Does that make sense?

I give my kids tea in the morning on game days, since we get them up early to get to the field. It seems to help with focus during the games, too. It never occurred to me that giving kids coffee (which I don't, only because I don't want to share) or tea would be... judge-able. I mean, it obviously is *here*, just like shopping cart, crock pots, and shoes in the house, but it still never occurred to me.

I'd pack them from the box. My husband would pack them from the jar. There are others in my family who would just pack the jar.

Been there, done that, and had the best years of my tech career (working for a proper company) after cleaning out my desk under security escort. It IS a scary place to be, but it sounds like he was in a dysfunctional company (we not so fondly refer to my old company as Hell, Inc... It was so bad that when i called my husband to tell him they'd fired me, he said congratulations) and they just provided the final springboard to a happier future. Many good thoughts coming your way!

This was my experience with the Paraguard, as well, with the addition that I am very short so the retrieval tails had to be snipped a bit. But I had it removed, we had three more children, then my husband made things permanent after we decided we were done. I would have gotten another one if there was any lingering question.

No idea but we got the GE 800 watt juicer at Walmart for the same price and have been very happy with it.

I've not heard that one, but I overheard a loud, profane telephone conversation by a woman who, shall we say, had all the characteristics one would normally attribute to someone one would call a "crack ho". She was complaining about social services investigating her and her comment to the person on the other end was an indignant "I told her, my kids eat EVERY day." :001_huh: I rather thought that was an odd thing to say... I mean, my kids eat more than once a day. But then... A few months later, she's walking down the street again and decides to get belligerent with one of my neighbors, who happened to be outside (and who is no prize himself). She's screaming at him about wanting money, yadda, yadda, and he says "keep walking, crackhead," to which she replies (and I am not making this up) "I ain't no crackhead. I eat EVERY day!" No idea.

Yay!!!!

I'd shred it. My EOBs are pretty generic ("office visit", etc) so I'd be fairly content to just recycle it but there's something that says (in my mind) such things should be shredded first. My vote: shred, baby, shred.

It's 10 here, too, for parental prerogative. Otherwise you have to have a note from someone else (i.e. your doctor). I find the concept that someone else would allot my kids' time off, and only be ok with exceptions from other people, presumably higher up the foodchain than a lowly parent, irksome.

One my husband came up with recently (because we have lacrosse practice 4 nights a week from 5 to 7:30) is pork chops and rice. He puts both in the pressure cooker with some water, a can of diced tomatoes and seasonings, then cooks it on high pressure for 20 minutes. I do soups in the pressure cooker, too. Fast and easy, and I can set it all up and come home to a meal that's ready and still hot.

That is so completely insane, it's almost hard to parse out the rude. That's the kind of encounter where you keep looking for the cameras because, surely, you are on Candid Camera or a WWYD? segment for some show. Oh my word. My husband's comments, too. He said "tell her she has to 'take one for the team' and go to their house for supper. We have to know what these people eat!" I will add that there's no need to wait for an invite, just email to tell them when you'll be coming, then arrive two hours early so you can watch her prepare everything. After you've scrutinized the preparation and the table has been laid, gather up your family and her candlesticks, inform her that her methods are not to your standard, and go home for supper.

Among my children, the ones aged 7 and 7 get along best. :D That's not exactly the case: they get on with their 11 y.o. sister quite well and she with them. They just have this twin synergy. (they fight like wild dogs at times, too) My eldest (23) is mostly an "only", by birth order and childhood experience. There are 12 years between her and dd2, 15 between her and the boys.

Mountain Rose Herbs has a tea for that ;) Actually, their Women's Balancing also seems to work well for letting me walk among other humans, too. It should also be taken all cycle.

No lie. When we sheepishly write a check, the lady at the desk always smiles and says, "thank you for your support!" :D Sadly, I get a 3-day "early overdue notice" by email, and can renew online. I just... Don't.

They play board games, read, do craft things, build forts inside and out, pass the lax ball around, shoot on our goal (all 3 play and one of the 7 y.o.s is a goalie), swing, sit in their play forts and make up stories... I don't know. Just kid stuff. They do chores, but that's not a huge part of their non-school time. They don't really have screen time of any sort, except family movie night most Fridays (tonight we went to a highschool lax game and they play early tomorrow, so no movie, and the local news caught some video of them and their league-mates so now they're mad they can't stay up for the 11:00 news, lol) I forgot that, too! Yes, iPod videos are fun. :)

Oh.my.word! That's more than my first mortgage! I agree w/ hitting the highest interest. We hit the credit cards first, and let the car payments ride, at something like 1.5%. (Plus, they were through our credit union, so came directly out of my husband's pay) It's really nice when it's all gone. We have a little over 7 years left on the mortgage and I pay extra on the now.

When it's over 80 in our bedrooms at night. God bless the Victorians and their excellent sense of ventilation, that doesnt happen until late August most years.