Vis-a-vis are wet erase. They're, I guess, technically "overhead" markers for the projectors with the clear film, if you're old enough to remember those. As far as I know, every office supply place carries them. I get mine at Staples, but they're not specialty items. This is the mobile site (I'm on my phone), but if you search "vis" on OfficeMax.com, they carry them. http://m.officemax.com/mt/www.officemax.com/catalog/search.jsp?freeText=Vis&prodPage=10&un_jtt_search=Search&un_form_encoding=windows-1252

This. I was 33 when our surprise twins were born. I love babies, but am quite happy to give them back to their parents and enjoy my fully potty trained, increasingly independent, ridiculously witty big kids, who I don't have to physically maintain all day and night.

For things that call for anchovies, I usually just get anchovy paste (Amore). But that's perfect for my use - Caesar dressing, etc. - where they're not meant to be so much seen as a flavoring.

We have two LG LED/LCDs and love them. Great sound and picture clarity, and energy efficient. The one in our bedroom has USB ports to play from flash drives. The 32" in the living room replaced a gigantic projection eyesore. It sits on a 3-drawer dresser. Come to think of it, so does the smaller one in the bedroom. Huh. A theme. Anyway, both were well under $500. The larger was around $300 and the smaller just over $100.

I pressure can it.

I carried the same Coach wristlet for years. Like 10. Chucked into the diaper bag when the kids were young enough to have a diaper bag, just looped it around my wrist after we left that phase. A couple of months back, I bought a Hobo crossbody. (At Goodwill. it was "boutique" so $10) It holds my phone, keys, some wet ones (when we're at tournaments... Port-a-johns. Brrrrrr), lipstick, and... my wristlet. Because I can't be bothered to buy a wallet. :D

You're invited to a casual gathering (hence the potluck) to celebrate a marriage that happened too far away for most people in your area to attend... I don't think this is really a Mensa challenge. Dress as you would for any gathering at your friends' home, bring a dish. Gifts are always optional. If they weren't, that would make them an entrance fee, not a gift.

I was under the impression "brown bag" lunches referred to those brought from home in paper sacks different from the white ones required to be used by take-away food counters. Did I miss something?

Yep. It's the estrogen and progesterone tanking.

I would be losing my mind.

We used compatible cartridges with our Samsung laser for years, until we replaced it with a networked Brother (which we also use compatibles in). We had one issue with our printer, which was resolved by cleaning it. It wasn't under warranty, so opening it up and doing it ourselves wasn't an issue, and the problem never returned before we decommissioned it. FWIW, I buy them from SuperMediaStore, and they stand behind their stuff.

NM - not enough iron.

I would never buy an HP again, either. They're ghastly. We have a Brother inkjet and a Brother laser, both all-in-one, and they're awesome. The laser replaced a Samsung laser that is just a printer and doesn't duplex (or network), and I loved that one, too. We just needed networking. I buy ink and toner from SuperMediaStore.com. Their prices are excellent and I've never had a problem with their products.

The chiro I saw a few years ago was a nutter. I think he's endeavoring to be the next Wilhelm Reich. Oddly, I'm pretty sure he's an evangelical Christian. My husband's chiro is evangelical Christian. I know this because I've spoken to his wife about homeschooling. They are perfectly normal. Well, as normal as any of us are.

No greeters here. That would just clutter up the place.

There is a very real difference between radical unschooling and unparenting. Parents of unschooling children (because parents don't unschool, the children do) are actively engaged in encouraging and facilitating their children's learning, following their children's lead. The families I know who embrace unschooling (not just call doing nothing all day "unschooling" to legitimize it) have no problem saying no to their children, or asking them to operate with respect for others. They may not think too much about jumping on the trampoline if everyone is up at 2 am and they don't have neighbors, but they would not allow a child to disrupt everyone else on a whim. I think the perception problem is that people who call themselves "non-coercive" and parent without even a suggestion of a path to follow, or what a child might have interest in, because that would be a form of "coercion", are drawn to unschooling because it is also child led. But they're not so inextricably linked as to be synonymous.

With my eldest daughter, *I* apparently became stupid when she hit adolescence. At least, that's how it was presented to me. :glare: The current 12 yo is flaky. I think we're going to have to put up notes leading from stop to stop so she can remember to do things. I had to do that for myself when I was in the throes of twin nursling sleep deprivation. I called it "the village idiot scavenger hunt". :D

Yup. My Dyson does that. Just one of its many outstanding features.

Yes. And the tea kettle (which is why I must have a whistling one), and the coffee pot, and a burner I've taken a pot from, and, and...

Wait... And she's reading books? Not "banned" books you categorically disapprove of, but books you keep in your own home? How does one even punish for that?

Well... It sounds like she did the appropriate thing and then checked it off her mental list as pending action by the neighbors when they returned. The way you would if you hit some unknown person's car. Breaking stuff at home and not telling you? That's different. But the fence? She notified the proper party, apologized, and offered restitution. She *did* solve it on her own. The end.

This. http://orangette.blogspot.com/2009/12/for-ever-and-ever.html?m=1 It's like crack. Seriously. (I usually use cashews because one of the boys is allergic to peanuts, and I sprinkle some coarse sea salt on it while it bakes)

Count me in the "overthinking it" camp. I buy dinnerware that appeals to me functionally and aesthetically, not with any sort of thought as to whether a pattern may offend someone's gender sensibilities. I have Fiestaware in the tropical Skittles sort of color palette. The boys use cloth napkins that have flowers, cutwork, strawberries... My dad, on the other hand, has the flowered plates I grew up with. I think he picked them out. He's one of five boys and I'm pretty sure they had flowered plates growing up, too. Because my grandmother picked out dinnerware that appealed to her functionally and aesthetically. ;)

We have original (1860s) hardwood throughout, and put cork in the kitchen. It's beautiful, soft under foot, warm, and forgiving. On linoleum: real linoleum (linseed based) is only available as sheet flooring, professionally installed, last I saw. You can get an amazing array of tiles that look like the old linoleum, though, and make really neat patterns.

I did that once, too. Annoying. :-/