I remain pretty neutral. Even with information, you can't ever really know what goes on in someone else's marriage. Even in the instance of infidelity... I know one couple who are great friends with their respective exes, who received a divorce from the said exes in 30 days by having their then-spouses file on the grounds of adultery. (Misdemeanor and $25 fine in MD, but it hastens the process.) (I'm sorry, that was so convoluted... it was IRL, too). All four parties were fine with the arrangement, the marriages were essentially continuing at that point because there was no pressing reason to dissolve them... I know another couple who divorced with a lot of speculation about why. I cannot say with any certainty what went on in their marriage, but I do know the very crazy behavior she started showing (stalking my husband at work, calling him, showing up at our door, wanting him to provide her with information as to her ex's life, wanting him to come over and spend his off days at her house so her boys would have a man there when they got home from school:001_huh:, etc.). I know she was very vocal about telling his coworkers about various situations that turned out the be completely untrue...(like slip ups involving claims - to my husband - of him going to her house to abuse her, when he was actually on a trip with my husband... <insert smile and nod here>) He is remarried now, but she drove a wedge between him and his family, and many coworkers still will not even speak to him. So, in that case, the squeaky, albeit less than... "accurate" wheel got a lot of support while the person trying to maintain some dignity and privacy became the pariah, just because he wouldn't fight back. Sometimes claims are made simply to win people to the one side. Unless you are one of the parties involved, you can assume your information is inaccurate.

Yes, without a vacuum seal, there is still some air space for moisture from the meat to crystalize in. Around here, when you order a half a beef or whatever, the individual cuts are packaged in vacuum bags, so it wouldn't apply to your meat investment for bipeds. If it's already frozen in brown paper, you shouldn't get any ice crystals touching the meat itself, but there may be some rogue loose crystals in the ziplock bag. If ice crystals or freezer burn begin to bother your dog, my dog would like you to know that she will be happy to use her mad skill to purchase a plane ticket and help you out with that. (Note that dog reason does not stop for using the mad skill to open our freezer. Though I do find her staring at it fairly often. I think she's trying to use the Force.)

Yep. Goggles seems to be the only consistently workable solution. I've found the onions harvested in drought years or that have been stored for a long time tend to be more fumy, but I avoid "sweet" onions. They, weirdly, seem to make my hands stink (but not of onion... :confused:) for days. (I think they actually sell onion goggles in cooking stores, by the way.)

I'm not the one who made that much, but...Amazon should work with Macs, why wouldn't it? Can you browse books? There isn't software to download, so there aren't really any system requirements. If your browser can render their pages, you're good to go. If you go one the site, you just click on 'Your Account', then "Sell Your Stuff" on the right of the account screen. It's actually pretty self-explanatory from there. I've found it to be mostly easy, since you list things by the SKU or ISBN, so it pulls up the appropriate item. I have had difficulty with a couple of DVDs that it recognized but wouldn't let me list, for some odd reason. Otherwise, you get an email when something sells through their site and can print off the label, etc. Once a month, I get a statement and they send monies to my checking account.

I am as well-versed in Intro to Developmental Psych, and Piaget, as the next guy. I also recall from that class, oh so long ago, that Piaget has been discounted repeatedly, as others have mentioned. Piaget also claimed that children under 3 are developmentally incapable of cooperative play, but I'm sure any mother of multiples will tell you that is categorically untrue. My twins played cooperatively from the time they could sit across from each other and roll a ball back and forth, well before their first birthday. Even the time honored parental "fetch" game, where an infant or young toddler will repeatedly throw a toy from a crib involves anticipation of response, planning, etc. I was just thinking of Frost's snowy foray this morning as I was shoveling my way down the block. Can you leave room in your example for the possibility that suicide and the contemplation thereof is simply not in the general experience of elementary aged children, and possibly most other people? I enjoyed rather dark poetry (Dylan Thomas) and critically discussed literature my dad was reading in college when I was still in elementary school. These are not remarkable skills, I was simply exposed to critical reading and discussion. Our limitations in grasping the nuances of complex relationships has more to do with personal experience than ability, all physical things being equal. One cannot reason in a vacuum. Also, my curiosity piqued by this thread, I have just gone over the FOIL method for multiplying binomials with my daughter, who just turned 8 last month. We did one together, and she is quite happily doing equations and asking for more. She may be a nerd (in which case, she comes by it honestly) but we have just started division in math and she is a pretty regular kid. So, yes, she is able to do these because she has already covered the skill (multiplication) necessary to the computation and had some minor instruction in the method. I am moving the variables around and she is consistently recording them properly in her resulting equations, so... It has nothing to do with her developmental stage. My point is that children are able - in the absence of issues that impede their ability - to pick up on a whole lot. Their neuro pathways are forming with great speed and response to experience. Without interaction, we know - from Skinner, wasn't it? - that there will be no brain development. We know, as has already been mentioned, that children exposed to classical music or multiple spoken languages, lay down more numerous and more complex pathways than children in monolingual households who watch tv all day. So, then, perhaps it is not physical limitation but, rather, the limitation of experience that is responsible for the sad state of affairs we have found among adults, even in grad school, more to do with an educational system that employs the "helicopter" approach (not only to history, but also math, it seems) and apparently prefers the students stay as docile and lethargic as possible so that the material can be checked off as covered without interruption. That, and people who like to excuse or defend lethargy with dodgy science, is the reason we will soon no longer have newspapers; as it has been noted, people no longer have the ability to read and extrapolate so our news has to be spoon fed to us between "attention grabbing" segments featuring Brittany Spears, in order to keep our attention. Alas.

The gingerbread was replaced with peppermint this year. :glare: Oh, but the Baby Blossom...:svengo: Alas, it only comes in pre-mixed surface spray. I have to laugh at my husband - I use the ironing spray on his uniform shirt collars and he's called from work before to report that he keeps catching a whiff of something yummy, only do discover later in the day it's him.

Yes, apparently it has to do with the cultivar. Those are lovely.

Bold mine... Small children are quite able to wrap their brains around very complex, abstract ideas. Like linguistics - in many cultures, multiple languages at once. Just not ours. What about music? Highly complex skills there, yet three year olds are able to translate written music to played notes, if they are exposed. I would propose a counter theory to the neuroscience: "we as parents" understand history a bit better (because, alas, there appears to be a whole majority of folks out there that simply does.not.get.it.) looking at it chronologically not because we are suddenly developed, but because, after spending our entire educational careers being taught incomplete, disjointed rubbish, we have developed the wherewithal to investigate the actual chronology and connections of world events. And go "oooooooh... now it makes sense" I would wager that the reason my 4 year olds have a basic understanding of the election process and my dad had a pretty high-class discussion of the Odyssey with my daughter (when she was 6) is not because of their ever so advanced neurological development, but simply because they have been exposed to these concepts. (They also know what doctors, lawyers, letter carriers, firefighters, etc. do, without any formal classes at all, let alone years spent on the subject.) Ok, off my soapbox, lest I venture into the naked rage portion of my program. ;)

I love Mrs. Meyer's lavender all-purpose cleaner (and ironing spray... oh, yum). I like SalSuds, or just regular Dr. Bronner's liquid soap, too, but I absolutely love the Mrs. M's.

:iagree: Those teaching handle classroom disruption as outlined in the policy. People discipline their own children, privately, as they deem appropriate. I have no idea if anyone has ever spanked their child at co-op in the last four years. If they have, it has been done very discreetly.

Yes, I always wonder that, too. After all, what do you get when you sterilize a substance, denature the natural enzymes and leave a nice, thick, nutrient rich product behind? Oh, yes, that's right. A Petri dish. Yum. And that goes for essentially sterilizing growing fields, too. When the natural soil microbes are destroyed, then the whole thing is fertilized, you end up with a multi-acre petri dish that gets completely colonized by whatever happens in (which, is of course, sometimes pathogenic). And then people act surprised when their spinach kills them. Go figure.

I am finishing up my second year on the board of our co-op, founded four years ago. There are a number of things we have learned from trial and error over the past four years... Work with a board (3 works for us). Decide what your vision for the co-op is, and write it down. Otherwise, you will find yourself having to constantly work against other people's perceptions that conflict with your vision. Last year, we started a Yahoo group (unpublished, so we have to give the link to new families) for group communications and class sign-ups, etc. It has really streamlined our communication tree, not just for strictly co-op business, but people sending out invites for play dates and field trips, trading resources, etc. It also means that we don't have to depend on people to mail their class ideas or sign-ups, and we get the schedule done before the beginning of the session, so those teaching can plan for x kids. A schedule of four six-week sessions, with breaks between, works best for us. We have three, 50 minute periods on Friday mornings. Everyone must stay on site with their children. We are not a school. If somebody needs to be off-site, they make direct arrangements with another parent to be their kids' go-to person. Everybody helps. They either teach a class, help in a class, or act as "hall monitor", just keeping an eye on kids who come out of their class for whatever reason. Pregnant moms, and those with babes in arms are excused, but generally wander about lending hands as they can. We have found that flexibility is a real plus in class offerings. Last year, we started "rotation" classes for our (huge!) pre-K group. Moms sign up for one week, rather than taking on the whole session. This year, we added a rotation cooking class and experimental science class. It is so much easier to plan one science experiment, cooking menu, circle time, story and craft period... and nobody burns out from taking on session after session of planning-heavy classes. We also encourage people to team up to teach a class, if they feel less confident about teaching for six weeks, will be away, or would just prefer to share the planning and teaching. Do not get stuck in the "the way we've always done it" mindset. Look at the value of each operational item on its own terms and make changes where they will work for you. None of the rotations or class sharing were in our original mode of operation, but were suggested by new families. We also decided before the beginning of the current session that, if we didn't have enough classes for three periods, we would simply start later and have two. Weigh your age groups and space limitations in deciding how many classes you need per period. We make sure each age group has at least one offering, but many of them overlap and they are flexible. For instance, I am teaching a character values class, using Dr. Seuss books, that was slated for 3rd-5th grade. I ended up with 2nd and 3rd graders, but they all read and write, and have had excellent discussions about character analysis, etc. Book discussions, art, science, Lego Learning League, music, foreign language, cooking are all popular because they are more fun in a group. We have also had crafting classes - general crafts, knitting, crochet, hand sewing - that were successful. I have a copy of our "rules of participation" document that everyone signs. PM me if you'd like to see it.

We are quite fond of our Laptop Lunches stainless bottles, bought through a co-op. Otherwise, I would have been springing for the Klean Kanteen bottles. No offense to Sigg lovers, but the "proprietary" super secret polymer coating on the inside makes me raise an eyebrow. Love their designs though. {sigh}

Are you using Internet Explorer, or Firefox, or... what are you using to browse websites? Generally, under one of the menus at the top of the screen (File, Edit, View, etc.) there is an option to "Show History". In Firefox, History is the menu to the right of View. In IE, click the yellow star (Favorites Center), then History. From there, you can view the sites grouped by date range, or change the sort using the little black arrow next to the History button. (In older versions of IE, it used to be a toolbar item represented by a little sundial.)

Oh! :grouphug: I am totally cackling with the crazy-lady laugh, though. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, lost it in the chaos. First, who packed the boxes? Psychotic monkeys? I am really, really compulsive about box packing, possibly because I moved often enough to go to 13 schools in 12 years and my family is not military... and having to find the last two pieces of anything is why. Second, I think everyone is off their game. You're in an unfamiliar environment, with your stuff in there "somewhere". And there's moving chaos. That effects our minds. All of us. Ok, now, as a mother who feeds her children primarily organic whole foods, made from scratch, and who limits screen time to maybe an hour a week, I advise the following: 1) Feed the children whatever is handy. If you can find Cheetos and Coke, give it to them. They will not die from the non-food of it. 2) Turn on the TV, preferably in the guise of a kids' channel or a feature length film. 3) Hide. In a room. With the door closed. With music. Now, unpack all of the boxes in the room, just putting like items together in heaps. Once you've got the items all in heaps, you can move the heaps around to the area where those items should be stored, put them together, or put them away. Repeat as needed. And if your husband is home, give him his own room. Then unpacking will go twice as quickly. (Though I suggest you ultimately put the things away if you will be the one who has to find them again... Remind me to tell today's denouement of the saga of the hiding pants at a later date) Then, when you are not living in chaos, you can tackle school, behavior, meals, laundry, whatever. You may have had a routine in the old house, but that might not work in this one. And you can't find your rhythm climbing over things and searching through boxes to achieve the simplest task. (Also, later, pour yourself a cup of tea and look into portable - or convertible - dishwashers. We spent 5 years in this house without a dishwasher and the daily grind of having to clean off the <limited> counter space before and after each meal was enough to push me over the edge. The portable dishwasher was sanity saving and, when we remodeled the kitchen, it just got installed under the counter.) I will be thinking of you as I take the opportunity of my husband's week-long absence to dig out various rooms here, while feeding my children saltines and astragalus infusion... because I'd have to go out to get Cheetos and Coke. :D

Do you mean printed table of contents? In that case, yes, generally in the case, if not also printed on the disc itself.

I don't know if this will be even remotely helpful 3 Bedroom, detached 2 toilets 5 people 5.3 "units" - I have no idea what I "unit" is. There is nothing on the bill that indicates the measurement.

No idea. Mine stuffs up while I'm sleeping recently, but it doesn't just randomly start as the sun goes down. And I DO find that using my neti pot as part of my morning / evening routine helps immensely. I got it as an act of desperation a few years ago but it turns out, I really like it.:001_smile:

I will now take a moment to bask in the glory that is you. (Otherwise, the raw envy will take over. :D)

If you're talking about eggs you've collected from the nest box, then yes. Even clean, the hens have tracked who-knows-what, including droppings, into the nest box, and fecal bacteria is easily avoidable by washing. (Otherwise, you may be cracking dookie into your omelet. :ack2: )

Uuuuuh, nope. Totally illegal here. We are required to clear the intersection before the red light. So, if you're going straight and the car in front of you stops on the far side of the intersection, you either stay at the "stop line", or pray that the traffic ahead moves before the light changes. I believe that falls under the "failure to avoid an accident" clause that says just because it's in your way doesn't mean you can hit it. And, yes, intersections without a clearly marked right of way (or with a non-working traffic control device) are four-way stops here.

I make these. Incredibly tasty, incredibly filling and incredibly light on the calories.

I am one who also finds it exceptionally rude. I called a friend last week, having canceled our piano lesson, to let her decide whether to drop her kids off here because one of mine had a crazy running nose. It's just courteous. I think the giant, never ending canisters of bleach wipes provided by grocery stores is telling regarding how disgusting and rude we are, hacking and snotting all over carts and whatnot. Unfortunately, the hacking snotters also seem to like to read labels and feel produce. :ack2: Um, don't you have dust mites all year round? :001_huh:

I never used boxed curriculum, either. I did buy a scripted Language Arts program, once. I think we lasted less than 8 weeks. (Wow, Tree House, you're cool)

If you both arrived at the same time, opposite each other, the person turning left is the last to go. If you were not opposite each other, the person to the right goes first. (So, if you were at the 6:00 position and she was at the 3:00, she would ahve the right of way). The person at the stop first goes first, though.