There was an interview with the DHMO guy on Morning Edition back in... '03? (I was commuting then, it was before the boys were born... Might have been early '04) Anyway, I LMAO after I built the molecule in my head. Got my hazmat husband the T-shirt, too! http://www.dhmo.org/ And, no, NPR listeners are hip to that and try to figure out which is the fake story of the day. One of the comments they read last night was from a listener who said she'd been pretty sure about the dolphins, but the rest of the day's news was also absurd, so... :D

Another non-vote. It depends on the kid, their relationship to the deceased, and the circumstance of the death for me. When my oldest was in elementary school, one of her classmates died over a weekend. She did not attend the funeral, as she was struggling with the very concept that a child she saw on Friday could just die in her sleep Sunday night. She did not need the stark visual to deal with at that time. My younger three attended my grandmother's funeral when they were 8 & 4. That was an end of life situation that is part of the cycle and our family is pretty pragmatic about those sorts of things; no wailing and rending of garments, we just celebrate the person who has died. (And often with great laughter and merriment) So I'm in the camp that says it just depends. On the kid, on the circumstances, on the way the family/community approaches death.

I make (and use, obviously) this, but I substitute coconut oil for the shea because I have coconut oil and not shea butter. I could probably get some shea butter, but that seems like a specialty item and, really, I can't be bothered with that. It works well enough to not smell ghastly at the gym (or after), and my husband smells fine after 24 hrs at work. The guys on his crew ask me to make it for them, too. And you control what essential oils you use. I keep mine in a jar in the kitchen and nuke it for about 10 seconds if it gets really cold in the house. I just pull some out on my finger and rub it into my pits. :)

I am so sorry. So much stress surrounding end of life. I can't imagine the visceral reaction to hearing that go off. If it makes you feel any better, I totally thought it was going to be the meat truck.

You. Are. Clever.

If it were me, from what you're saying, I would go with NFP + barrier methods. No side effects and the "oops" factor would be the same for forgetting to take a pill, kwim? That was what we chose before we decided we were done. Long-term, I really liked my copper (non-hormonal) IUD, but there are risks involved there, too, and it's meant for longer term than a couple of years. Obviously, you should choose the method that works for your risk/benefit wise. That's just my two cents.

Your hat stayed in place nicely, though.

Kids are all jacked up on candy. Watched the most apropos Dr Who episode ever. I still have an assignment to finish, but after that, I'll do my best to celebrate. I will ignore the fertility part, thou, thankyouverymuch. ;)

We get the boys Nike socks from Kohl's when they go on sale, which, being Kohl's, is frequently... We have quite a stockpile now. Lol. I think we pay between $2-3 a pair. My husband went cheap and bought a whole bunch of Hanes once. Once being the operative there. They were thin, scratchy, and didn't so much fall down into the shoe as weren't in shaped in any way that corresponded to a foot, so they had weird pockets of extra material in the shoe. Blech.

That's what I thought, but then I tried to remember the last time I went looking in the lingerie section for a slip and... Well, it's been a while. I mean, once you have one or two full slips and a couple of half slips, you're really set for life, right?

I agree. And, I don't know about yours, but the top lip of our AC units gets screwed to the bottom of the open sash. I can't imagine anyone lifting up the unit and sash while trying to squeeze under the thing. It would be easier and safer just to break a different window.

Huh. Who knew?

Um... Do people not own slips anymore? All the wetting, lotioning, spraying, etc, will only be temporary. You get bunched up again once you dry, and from experience, at the most inconvenient time and place.

I had psycho heartburn with the 12 yo. She had regular baby hair. With the boys, little to none, and they still have furry backs at 8 1/2. :lol: All three of them have really thick hair, though.

My husband tells me "you're a VERY good looker" in the tone that you would use talking to a two year old, after he finds something for me in 5 seconds. He is a VERY good finder. :lol: I need to make a visual match in order to find something. So, if what I'm looking for looks different than what I'm visualizing, I just can't find it. It's weird, I know. Thankfully, I married a complement. Now, if someone can explain how the children leave one shoe in the foyer and the other somehow ends up upstairs, under a bed...

Thanks. (As if it matters in my vote, lol) Ok so doing the quick math in my head (always suspect), I'm getting about $800 for 5 of us? We eat clean, mostly organic, gluten-free (I'm GF, the others mostly are because I make the food).

Wait... What is "SCD"?

My living room is Behr pumpkin bread, which looks similar to the darker choice you put up (browser colors being variable and all). I consider it neutral. We have a red couch and a navy background chair with multicolored squares in here. Trim is white (as it is throughout the house), and I can see into the goldenrod kitchen and grass green foyer from here I am. It all works very well.

That is actually the crux of the reason I (with the support of my husband) had to cut off contact with my mother. She not only disagrees with our "lifestyle" (which makes me wonder a bit) but actively seeks to circumvent and damage it. Of course, I have the legal right to do that, and the law supports my assertion of my spouse as my proper next of kin.

Of course there is. But the other, more functional part of that - opposable thumbs - is not being used to justify oppression.

Thumbs rarely lead to the oppression of other human beings.

No. If you go around insisting that a 4-sided polygon is a triangle, the accurate label would be "stupid" or, perhaps, "poorly educated". However, shapes are not sentient beings, and when you endeavor to mete out the civil rights of others based upon your own preferences for the way things are "supposed to be", stupid becomes hateful very quickly, and we lose the ability to charitably extend "poorly educated".

We have an evolutionary ability to reason. Often, it does not serve us well at all, as a species, except to justify our abhorrent actions toward others.

I don't either. Because it is a lie.

I think the irony is what made him stumble at "our". :)