You are not a failure. We are never "done"; if you keep working toward that, you are going to feel like a failure because there is always, ALWAYS something new to add to the list, and items that never completely go away (like cleaning, planning, etc.). "The best laid plans of mice and men" and all that. Plan to take one task at a time, in order of importance and how conducive they are to multitasking - planning would be first on my list, then putting up the previous year. Decluttering can be planned into your school schedule and done in pieces during your school year... and so forth. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Jumping in here... I think you'll find that your hair feels thicker just by going "no poo". At least, that is what I've heard from many people who describe their hair as generally thin or limp. You can also use jojoba oil in the way forty-two described, instead of the olive oil. Jojoba oil is good for combating sebum build up and has antioxidants that may help stimulate growth. (But will not help in cases of genetic hair loss) Finally, if you do perm, I have found that coconut oil is great as "product" for keeping my hair from getting all frizzy (my hair is curly, knee length, thick). I just melt a little on my hands and run it through while my hair is still wet. It is never greasy, and the coconut oil works better than any commercial anti-frizz product I've ever used.

Whoever is so inclined grills. My husband is the only one who uses the smoker, but that's because smoking requires a certain level of OCD that I just do not possess when it comes to meat. Plus, there are multiple gadgets involved and lots of fiddling. When we are camping, however, I do the cooking, whether it's on the camp stove or over the fire. I don't eat yucky food. "Beany weenies" are verboten.

Thanks, Amy, that is essentially my response. I believe the personification of divine energy is the creation of man. It doesn't make that personification any more or less valid. I believe that, since everybody's experience is different, everyone's perception and path will be as well.

Our CSA farm grows a variety of string beans each year - green, yellow, purple, Haricot Vert. They can all be cooked the same way. Keep in mind, though, the purple ones are not purple after being cooked. They're a weird brown color (from the purple fading and the green coming up) when they're still crisp. Don't be weirded out.

You can subscribe to Call Intercept through your phone company. If a number is blocked, unknown, private, whatever, the system intercepts it before it ever rings at your house, and the caller is given the opportunity to give their name and have the call sent through for you to approve or reject. Automated systems (and often live telephone solicitors) do not leave their name, so it never rings through to you. We only get "charitable" fundraising calls now (we're on DNC), and my standard response is "we do not give money to random people who call us. Please do not call again." For the incredibly rude man from the "Police Protection Fund", I like to discuss that no police departments have heard of his company and that the state has been looking into them for years... he screams at me and hangs up before I get too far into it. :glare:

Yes, I find it annoying when the annual rants about "Happy Holidays" come out around the, you know, winter HOLIDAYS. I find it terribly ungracious to nitpick well wishes from perfect strangers, like grocery store cashiers, not to mention airing your grievance in the newspaper or on television. I never considered the possibility of "good luck" offending, much in the same way I have never considered being offended by someone telling me that they will be praying for me. (Unless either is offered in a snide manner, obviously)

Soft boiled are eaten in an egg cup. With a spoon. And it is obvious that the larger end is appropriate for that. How on earth would one daintily dip their toast through the small end?? :D Yes, I was thinking of cracking raw eggs, not gaining access to soft boiled.

Posts with pictures of pets that are cuter than my pets. Posts directing me to videos that are so funny I lose the next two hours watching everything YouTube thinks is associated.

We have an 8 year old Sony Cybershot (amusingly, my BlackBerry has the same pixel count on its on-board camera) that we use for keeping in a pocket and grabbing quick shots here and there. For "good" pictures, we have a Canon EOS. ("good" meaning we could blow up a photo for a billboard as opposed to just 8 x 10) I can't take a good picture with either (though I may have a slightly better shot with the Canon) but that seems to be some sort of aural rejection of auto-focus cameras on my part. :tongue_smilie:

I spoon syrup, before cutting. Otherwise, it ends up all over the plate. And I break my eggs in the middle. Who on earth would break them on an end? :confused:

Um, Mark Sanford may be looking for a new gig... Yes. Who would notice if he went missing again? Ok, no. Really? nuh-UH! "Try"? I will just assume that Jenny Sanford will be excusing him from that trial. I mean, there's painful and then there's just so horrifyingly stupid that you can't help but laugh (even when you are, in fact, the wife).

We used a very relaxed umbrella so would provide an overview of the year and a materials/resource list at the end of the school year. Now, I'm the director of the branch of the umbrella that serves our side of the state, so I keep my own folder. (Which seems ludicrous, since umbrellas in MD are religious schools and, thus records are without scrutiny by the state.) I keep my materials and reading lists in HST+ so I can plan the year. At the end of the year, the materials all go into a large under-the-bed box, ready for the boys when they get to be that level (we conveniently spaced the children so that once Bailey is finished with the 4 year grammar rotation, the boys will be starting...bahahaha). If I had to, I could just print off the reports from HST or pull out the box.

Yeah, I've stored grocery store cabbage in the fridge for longer than that. The outer leaves may wilt a bit, but the rest should be fine. I would think frozen cabbage would be limp and soggy, like any other veggies from the freezer, compared to their fresh counterparts.

Mine was stuck on the Rainbow Fairies. :ack2: The first couple of 7-book series, I was happy she was reading... after that, they were clearly too young (and just.so.dreadful). We go to the library for book club, so I took the opportunity of her being occupied to pick out some books I thought she'd like, like Spiderwick Chronicles, and, oops, look at that, I had already checked out and we were in a hurry when book club was over. She balked the first time, but then was so enamored of Spiderwick she forgot. There have been some complete misses in my picks, but also lots of hits that she would never have picked for herself. Now she reads a pretty eclectic selection. Really, since the dreadful formula books habit was broken, she has been happy to give pretty much anything a chance. In fact, I need to go dig out Stanford's republication of the Sherlock Holmes serials for her; she caught some S.H. on PBS recently and wants to read it, and has expressed interest in Agatha Christie as well. Go figure. She's 8.

:iagree: Call the local fire department, probably the headquarters line to get the public education person (the person who does the school presentations etc.) Also, get rid of the matches. Grill lighters are much more difficult to light, go out when you drop them and are not nearly as much fun.

Ok, for gold foil wallpaper, I might just put up new drywall. Over it. And be haunted, knowing the horror that lies beneath.

Maybe it's the one on alilac's show this morning. :D

You're not the only one... I often wonder if these shows are part of the cause or the effect of a new generation of "kids" with such a grandiose sense of entitlement. One thing is for sure, they seem to be the first to feel some sort of "right" to continue or surpass the lifestyle their parents worked years to achieve, as soon as they fledge.

I think this would fall under our new house rule (thanks to a friend): potty humor is only used in the bathroom. If you want to talk about the various subtopics of potty humor, you have to go into the bathroom. If you want to drop trou' and stick your bum around, you have to go into the bathroom. That rather takes the fun out of it. I suspect he knew it was wrong because you asked him about it, but didn't give it much thought before that. I would definitely address the lying, though.

I removed a wall of paper exactly like that once. What a nightmare. Seriously. Chunks taken out of the drywall. Weird "crackle finish" where the paste simply refused to come off... bad. I say in all honesty... LEAVE THE PAPER ON!

I am all about learning new things. I just don't think there's much in the way of mystery left after many years of fuzzy teeth and hag hair (his) (no, I'm kidding - he doesn't have hag hair in the morning, that's all me)... two totally different things. ;) I am absolutely not trying to imply there is any sort of complacency or resignation here - there is always new territory to travel. We don't really have secrets, though, we have open discussions. And now we return from our "tea" sidebar to our porn thread in progress... Homeschooling is so interesting. :D

It's the Yankee stock - we're nothing if not practical. Remind me to tell you about the "mid-life crisis planning meeting" Thursday. ;)

No, I don't think so, either. I was responding to Ginger's question: I don't know how realistic the expectation of "mystery" is after a while. (For clarification, this response is in regard to Stripe's comment about porn not being predicated on mystery... hard to reply directly on these fast-moving threads without cluttering up with quoting all the time. ;-) )

Assuming Canada is similar to the US, police and fire are not allowed to strike. (No public safety union is)