Nope. I voted other. I wouldn't do it until asked and the minimum age in our house is 7 (though I reserve the right to say no if I thought a child was not prepared to care for the piercing). The girls both got them done on their 7th birthdays, the boys just turned 7 but have never asked. No cosmetic procedures on infants is my policy, across the board.

Good grief! Serious, serious boundary issues! Going onto somebody else's property (or into their home or whatever) and taking things without their permission has a name: theft. Laws regarding such were put in place because of people like them. There is no delicate way to tell someone who hasn't grasped the fact that this is not ok. If you don't want to do it, let your husband be the bad guy.

I think there are much, much different standards of physical contact between strangers and family members. Beyond that, my response to either would have to do with context unless it was so egregious as to leave no other option. I have many more choices in addressing the behavior of a family member. Of course, if someone took a swing at me with a baseball bat, my field of options would narrow to just the one in either case. I will say, though, I am 5 feet tall and am not at all easy to physically intimidate. In the past when people have tried that, I would just get closer to them. Despite the fact that they could have, literally, carried me off, I have a combination of mean and fearless that most would-be intimidators find off-putting. :D

I would suggest glass, too. My glass dessert plates are much lighter than the Fiestaware bread plates that are slightly smaller. I'm not a fan of Corelle, either. I just don't care for the way it feels, sounds, etc. No idea why; it's a tactile thing, I guess.

My eldest daughter was 15 when the boys were born. One day went I went to pick her up from school, she asked if we could bring them in to meet her Spanish teacher. While we were in the hallway talking, her English teacher wandered over and asked if they were hers. I did the :001_huh: face and asked if he wouldn't notice a 15 year old in his class, pregnant with twins. So, if someone who sees the (skinny, not given to wearing baggy clothes) teenager in question every day can't figure that one out... Back in the yuppie days when I was a very young mother (18) and everyone else was having their first child in their 30s, people talked to me like I was the nanny.

I'm a coffee junkie. We used to have a Capresso and loved it, but it died. We went through some absolutely dreadful "good name" drip machines; the cuisinart (same one as the grinder model but without the grinder) was so bad, it not only made only mediocre coffee, it flooded the grounds into the water reservoir every other time we made a pot, so we had to mega clean it every day, and it steamed so badly it damaged the cabinet doors above. I ended up having a eureka moment while camping and drinking great coffee from our camp percolator. So we bought a vintage '40s electric one. It makes great coffee, too, even if you start with cheap ground stuff. (I think the pod machines make an undrinkable cup) So, to answer your actual question: I don't think anything that does everything does so particularly well. Stick with the French press if he likes that. (that Aerobie looks sweet, though)

I've had kids at various levels come to a co-op class with very different reading levels. Never highschool, though. I would point out, too, that reading aloud is a skill and, as homeschoolers, one that may just simply not have been practiced very much. It may have little to do with actual literacy.

I see nothing wrong with it either, though I will admit it throws me a bit when I start reading and see I've replied 3 pages in to a 10 page thread. I get a little paranoid that I'm posting in my sleep or something. Then I see it was in '09. :)

Actually, a friend of mine bought a Mazda 6 (?) last year, and it has a third row seat. The whole thing is barely larger than a sedan, but lots of room inside! A whole lot less spendy than a Benz, too, but probably not in the OPs range, given her year/mileage specifics.

We got an Odyssey because we couldn't fit two car seats and a booster abreast in the back seat of our Volvo(V70) wagon. We had a Suburban at the time but it was a royal pain to get everyone in and out. I would definitely vote minivan for 5 kids. You might want to look at Kia. The people I know who have them are very happy with them.

I graduated in '89 and we didn't have a smoke break. We did have a smoking area, though. It was the air shaft in the center of the building and had a glass wall from the cafeteria. There was a big tree in the middle, as if they'd built the school around it... It was weird and fish bowl feeling, even from inside the cafeteria. I don't recall ever seeing anyone out there. Ever. People just went out front.

Yay! Lovely!

Then the HR manager could have indicated that, she's sorry but they're no longer allowed to do that... I'm really trying to figure out why on earth you think "Z" came to a lunch meeting packing a bag of chips, and blame her for poor planning. I see no indication of that and would imagine she grabbed the bag of chips from the ubiquitous buffet table basket. Further, if it was my experience that I was able to eat at a particular restaurant (having eaten there before) and eat at lunch meetings (being an employee of this company that does lunch meetings), I would attend assuming - based on both experiences - that my lunch would be provided. This does not seem at all unreasonable. Eta: Sorry, Rebekah, I have no insight as to how to proceed. Maybe ask the HR manager point blank if there is a new policy in place, since the entire staff seemed to miss the memo?

Actually, if you read Rebekah's prior comments, the norm is to honor requests. Refusing to honor a request is what is outside the norm, and why the whole thing is considered odd.

Me too. Or writing assignments during recess. My first grade teacher put a kid over her knee and spanked him one day. That was scandalous. (She was pretty old then, and I remember my parents commenting something to the effect that she must have missed the memo about corporal punishment being outlawed... That was 1977.) In middle/high school it was detention or in school suspension. I didn't get any of them much. Not that I was well-behaved, just that I either didn't get caught or my teachers had some weird affinity for me and told me to knock it off.

We keep ours so politicians and telemarketers can call us, apparently.

I had that one, too, then handed it off to a friend who had twins after us. Best.thing.ever. when they're little. Also, a blaze orange double jogging stroller? Not the best choice if you wish to get through the grocery store in less than 2 hours.

Yes. I have been called a snob for homeschooling. I have been called a snob for homeschooling classically (because unschoolers don't have the same opportunities to read that I do, evidently... ? I've never figured that one out) Essentially, any time I have examined my ideals and adjusted our lives/household to get closer to them, someone (usually someone who floats along never examining anything at all) has played the snob card. Breastfeeding, cloth diapering, natural foods, homeschooling... "snob" or "elitist" comes out.

Yes. All of those. And I can tell if it's a Not Charlie driving.

I was thinking largely the same. Honestly, I doubt he has any concept of what you do all day. I mean minute to minute, to-do list, keeping the household running sort of stuff. I really don't know the moment to moment details of my husband's work life, though I did the same thing way back in the day (but not as an officer) and we chat frequently while he's there. And he's probably bored and looking for things to do while he's away for extended periods. I don't see where he called you dull. Perhaps he has seen retired empty nesters who do nothing but watch game shows and converse at length about the temperature of their food and it threw him into a "oh no, that could be us in x years, if we don't develop some interests in something outside work and the kids" panic. I would be inclined to give my husband my daily schedule and ask him where he thought a hobby might fit in a " I think you might be delusional or high" way, but I don't think I'd be too hurt over it.

Solla Sollew! Wocket in My Pocket! I love the Butter Battle Book and the Lorax, too. And Bartholomew Cubbins! Ooh! And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street! Really, once you get past the early readers, I love them all.

I agree. Just rude. And as a host, if I coordinated a meal that any attendee could not eat, *I* would be mortified and would quietly correct it through whatever means necessary. In this instance, it seems like just placing an order would not have been out of the ordinary so no undue spotlight on "Z". :iagree:

Hey, hey, HEY.. HEY!!! respect the spreadsheet, man. :glare: :lol: my husband calls me Mr Monk. My pet peeve is the very fluid relationship our whole area has with timeliness. I don't mean late, I mean "around 4 on Tuesday" means some random time in the next 10 days.

Congratulations! We'll start schooling you in twin-insanity survival techniques shortly.

Yes. We wake them at 7 for breakfast. At least one of them is usually up before then, though. (it can be any of the three, any given day, though Holden is usually more inclined to wake early than the other two)