Whew. I'm glad he got home safely. Of course, here, that relief would give way to some serious anger in short order. I would take a wake up call over early morning hysteria any day, and if my husband chose to let me fear, he would live in the shadow of a very.angry.wife for a long time. (Which is something, having experienced it, he is not willing to revisit.)

All of the above. There's really no activity of daily living that tones the triceps, so you have to do it on purpose. Pilates pushups are also helpful. You can look on bodybuilding.com or fitnessblender.com for tri-specific exercise ideas. Also, having recently lost weight, your skin may simply not have tightened to fit the new terrain underneath. And, frankly, it's possible it never will. My triceps are toned ( I have the nice little horseshoe when I flex, even) but when my arm is up in the waving position, the muscle is relaxed and, not having that tight, readily-rebounding skin, there's, uh, movement.

I have the Pyrex ones with the glass tops. The "refrigerator glass" containers. As far as I know, they were designed to go from fridge to oven. Some pieces actually say "ovenware" on the bottom. Interestingly, the 2 1/2 cup ones don't, but the 1 1/2 pint ones, which are obviously from the same set, do. Curious.

That. I had a horrible time parting with the outgrown stuff, until I realized that stuff could sit in my attic and rot, or be a blessing to someone else. After the initial parting, there really was no attachment.

No kidding. We do it all the time. Evidently, that is not the norm. Better to blame McDonald's for your poor choices, and maybe get some cash or free happy meals for life. :glare:

Oh dear. Crossing my fingers that he gets in while you're showering and it's just a flat tire or something.

Ooooh. In that case, I would be in the car, alternating between hysteria and rage. I'm sorry this is your morning. What a stinky way to start the day.

I am so sorry. :grouphug:

:grouphug: I think it would be entirely appropriate to call and make sure he was just held up.

I just got my boys a bunch of Nike socks at Kohls, short and mid-calf. They wear a 3 and the Y3-5 size fits them well. They are more snug than the Hanes I am gleefully tossing, but those fit more like a hefty bag than a sock (it was so strange).

He is a fire department officer / paramedic. AA in Criminal Justice, BS in Sociology, MS in Management (police/fire concentration). He can retire in 4 years, at 46, but will probably wait until the kids clear college to move to a retirement career, which is fine with me because he only works every 4th day.

Yep, we have them tucked right into the missals. ;) And there is a good majority who continue to respond "and also with you" though we may just be passive-aggressive. Lol.

We don't avoid sugar, though there isn't very much candy consumption at our house, either. I do usually keep Yummy Earth organic lollipops around. Yes, total sugar, but no weird dyes (which are what tend to set my kids off), and I get the vitamin C variety, so there's some redeeming value. We also periodically get Surf Sweets gummy worms (usually for holidays). Again, no creepy ingredients. Not that I'm trying to oppose your no-sugar lifestyle, just wanted to share that there are options that fall between deprivation and crack. ;) We also put things like lip balm (even for the boys - they have lips, too), stickers, erasers, chalk, jewelry, and the like in stockings and baskets.

That's what I do, too. Otherwise, same issue.

I make Watergate salad, not because of any tradition, but because I like it. :D but that would probably qualify as disgusting food (I do use unsweetened, freshly whipped cream because Cool-Whip is definitely not food). Otherwise, we have a ban on disgusting food. Because it's disgusting. Heehee.

(gently) Normal people who do not live with a narcissist in their life do not really get why we cant just "play nice". I get that. Really. This is sentiment is not something one dealing with a narcissistic family member needs, though. Frame the thought as if the OP's sister was physically abusive to her. Would you suggest the same? Because that's what narcissists do, but on a much deeper level; they shred you to your very core. It is exhausting, demoralizing... And we generally have enough voices in our heads telling us we're bad people for cutting off a "dear" family member. These are not "difficult" family members, though. They are not the insufferable uncle with the obnoxious opinions, or the passive-aggressive cousin who shows up for Thanksgiving. And you can't apply normal relationship problem-solving strategies. The problem with narcissists is that they do not see others as people with feelings and needs of their own. They do not have empathy. There is no cooperative relationship give and take. I have often described my mother's view of the world as follows: it is a play of her own making. She has full control over the scenery and the script. The rest of the world are the cardboard cut-outs she uses as actors. We do not exist to bring life to our role, we are only objects, which she will move and voice as she sees fit for her play. And when one of the cut-outs won't bend or stand the way she wants for that scene, she gets furious and rages until she can get it to cooperate or she destroys it and replaces it with a new cut-out. I can't imagine going through life with the idea that people only exist to serve my purpose, and I imagine the concept is even more difficult to wrap your head around if you have never been an object. But the OP needs to do what she feels is best for her and her family, without being guilted or having people (no matter how lovingly) suggest that she's being uncaring or lacking in Christ-like love. You can bet her sister did not go through this level of anguish when she said no to helping with their mother.

I agree with that. I prefer to be called by my first name, no prefix. I'm not Southern. The only person I ever called Miss Firstname was my dance teacher. Even my school teachers, who were also family friends, were called by their first names outside of school. (And then there was one summer colleague who turned out to be my HS geometry teacher... That was weird!) My kids call most adults they know by their first name only, some by Miss/Mr/Coach Firstname, and our neighbors Mr/Mrs Lastname. It just depends on how they're introduced. Eta: I kept my maiden name, so it's different than the kids' last name. I *am* Mrs Husband's Last Name, but, gee, that's just awkward in figuring out who people are referring to! And I rather count my friends' kids as friends, too, so it seems overly formal for them to call me something other than Angela.

Interesting. I think it's mostly the opposite in our child watch center. The younger staff tend to sit and make sure there's no death or dismemberment. We've had to ban electronic devices, including phones. Our older, "mom", staff members engage the kids, play games, etc. I think, in our case, the older staff are very kid-oriented (it's a part time job after they do in-home child care, for instance), whereas the younger set is looking for a job with no employment experience. It's not always the case, certainly, and we have some younger girls who are great with kids and some older ones who had to be sacked for being just plain crazy, but that seems to be the trend I observe in my little corner.

That. Particularly the bolded. You can't win. Narcissists are the absolute masters of the no-win situation. You can either be a slave to them or shut them down, but there will be "N-rage" (aka WWIII) if their demands are not met, no matter how petty or unreasonable. Eventually, you're probably going to have to go there, anyway, so why degrade yourself in the meantime by being her b!tch? (Sorry, I've btdt with my mother) Say no. Lock the door. Unplug the phone. Enjoy your Easter.

Well, my 11 & 7 y.o.s have a very different mother than my 23 y.o. did as a kid. I wouldn't say she was a practice kid, but 18 and 30 are very different life stages to have little people. At 41, I'm still learning about this parenting thing. :D

It breaks my heart, how stupid people are. I'm sure that was the scene in the theater when my mother took my to see Jaws. 37 years later, I am still terrified by the mere thought of open water. :(

I second Sturbridge and Story Land. Both are so weirdly the same as they were when I went as a kid. (well, ok, I guess Sturbridge should be, lol) (Six Gun City, also in NH, was disappointingly decrepit when we took the kids, though.)

:lol: We used to joke that my strawberry-blonde, blue-eyed oldest daughter must be the milk man's baby... Until the redhead UPS guy delivered something next door. That was WAY before I became a homeschooler, though. :D

Enchanted Learning has some preschool appropriate units, and crafts to go along with units you'd like to do. Curr-Click also has fun unit studies.

:lol: Salad troll? :001_huh: