You will be in our thoughts.

This I actually made. It's really, ridiculously easy and WAY better than any I've ever bought. The spiced batch tastes like sarsaparilla or birch beer.

Mmmmmm.... port. Yum. (Liebfraumilch is correct. See? No wavy red line.) I think, inspired by this discussion, I will pour myself a lovely glass of spiced mead and camp out with my darling husband while waiting for Burn Notice to come on. (Which we will promptly not watch because we are old and it is past our bed time.:bored:)

:D

I think it depends on the baby and your life at the point when that particular baby joins you. When my almost 20 y.o. was born, I was back in the swing of things after a couple of months. When my almost 8 y.o. was born, I was back to work (from home, designing software) half-days when she was a week old, full time by two weeks. After the boys (4) were born, I tried to go back to work (again, from home - same position) after 3 or 4 months and could not even understand the design documents, let alone how to put them into code. I didn't even begin to get back to my normal self until well after they night-weaned at 2 1/2. That had a lot to do with sleep deprivation, but it also had a lot to do with being sleep deprived and older. I wouldn't worry about being on a time line back to normalcy, just do what you can each day. It will eventually build back into something normal.

Yes. They're interestingly fruity without being sweet. I like the grass, too, though. Oddly, I tend not to care for Australian wines. (This may be because the ones I have encountered have all been insipid Chardonnays) I like Retsina, too. But I may be the only non-Greek that does.

Pagan is an umbrella term referring to a number of different earth-based religions, not a net for anything outside the "big three", though I get the impression that "pagan" is used pejoratively to refer to those who do not embrace one of those. Buddhism, Hinuism, Jainism, etc. would not be considered pagan sects. I would put "pagan" in the same category as Protestant for the purpose of capitalization convention. However, in conversations on this board, it is common to see "X, can you explain this from a pagan perspective" or "I have a question for our pagan homeschoolers." "Gnostic" is never capitalized, but that would be an umbrella term for religions based on the belief that divinity is attained through self knowledge, encompassing number of religions such as Zoroastrianism and Kabbalah, and, in some views the Unitarian-Universalists. Please understand that I am not doing a point / counterpoint thing. I observed the phenomenon and never thought much about it before. But now that the question of capitalization and whether the lack thereof is a deliberate comment is out there, I'm wondering if that would be a deliberate slight that I just don't get. Yes, but I don't capitalize encyclopedia, though I do capitalize World Book Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Britanica. "Bible" is a type of book. The Bible is hotly debated among Christians in the same way The Church would be, implying "the one true".

I'm getting 1.21 Mbps on cable. (Evidently, others on the street have gotten high-speed and are home, or we have another squirrel chew... I'll let you know when it rains) I don't get a broken down upload / download report. I feel so dissed. :crying:

Not being snarky, just amused by the irony - we tend to capitalize names as a convention. But.... look at the respondents to this thread. :D Also, and again, this is not meant to be snarky but an inquiry in the spirit of the original. Is there a reason that it is practically unheard of to capitalize "pagan" when referring to one's spiritual beliefs? Is this a deliberate slight that I just never noticed? Because, really, I can't think of a single other belief system that is not acknowledged through this convention on the boards.

I like Nobilo (NZ) Sauvignon Blanc. Oh, evidently, so does Wine Spectator It's not at all insipid, as some whites tend to be.

I suppose - sorry, I was pondering this while out picking up our milk - my linguistic approach is more in the vein of how I would use the word "church". If I am referring to a building, or body of worship, I would use "church". If, however, I am referring to the Church, it would be in the context of the worldwide Catholic church, both as an historical power and because that is the convention of my Catholic heritage. (Or, perhaps, the Church of England, shortened to just "the Church" in a very narrow context.) Arguably, Protestants would not think of the Catholic church as the Church and would probably be offended at the importance or authority implied by the capitalization. Maybe I've attributed the capitalization to a odd habit embraced mainly by Christians of randomly capitalizing words for the sake of gravitas. Like "Truth", as in "the one truth".

Well, from my <secular> point of view, "bible" is used to refer to a singular of a great many differing, books. I capitalize if I refer to a specific version - i.e. the King James Bible - and I capitalize items such as New Testament or individual books of the bible, but if I am referring to just the generic (for lack of a better term) book, I don't tend to. There isn't any disrespect intended, I just recognize that what you refer to as The Bible may not be the same version that another Christian refers to in the same way, and my reference would be in the global sense, rather than anyone's specific. To my knowledge, there are not differing versions of the Koran (in its various spellings) or Rig Veda, but for language translations. Does that help? Is it in any way coherent? Really, there is no disrespect intended, nor discounting the book as sacred to believers. ETA: But I will extend my apologies for the slight and be more cognizant of it in the future. ;)

I will echo what others have said - it depends on the person. But clearly, 7 hours of interrupted sleep are not enough for you. It's not enough for me, either, particularly if it is for months or years on end, though now that the boys have been weaned for nearly a year, and I have spent that time remediating the previous 4 years of sleep deprivation, I'm usually good with 6 hours or so.

I don't know, but maybe Pres. Chirac has.:D

:001_huh: Really? How would one determine pelicans are depressed? Corral them into a lab? What's the name of the phenomenon where observation changes the nature of the observed? Maybe the pelicans are simply getting a complex from people staring at and commenting on their mood. Good of President Chirac to allow the dog to continue living in his house. If our dog (who sleeps in our bed, with her own pillow) developed a personality disorder that involved biting me rudely, there would be a <probably unpleasant> change of living arrangements.

I don't think it would be rude to leave early for your pre-activity lunch. You have plans. Maybe she is simply one of those people who is always running late or she just is viewing it as an informal get-together. I'm normally very punctual, but for informal play dates and the like there are times when I'm (or our friends are) running behind our target time and it's never a problem because it's an open-ended thing. Know what I mean? Obviously, if we were getting together for something and our friends had plans afterward, I would be more fastidious about arriving on time.

Nope. Maybe we should all coordinate "slacker" hats and sit together. :D

This makes me sad for us as a species.

I have to laugh. I am your hubby. I remember waking to the ringing phone because my friend was calling from next door (in the winter, with the windows closed) to tell me to get up and turn off that @!! alarm. :D 20 years later, I naturally wake by 6, though my alarm goes off (and yes, I often still sleep through it) at 5:30. No "training" though, just unrelated lifestyle changes and age. Oh, and a need for an hour or so of quiet before the daily circus begins. I agree. Being a "morning person", I find the exact same thing happening and it's just practical for the kids to be on the same schedule as me. (She types at 8:45, as her 4 years olds color at the counter and the 7 year old has yet to appear... probably still lying in bed, reading.)

WHA?!?! (Where's the nervous, profusely sweating smiley??) Can they DO that?? :blink:

:grouphug: My mother went through a similar situation with my (much younger) grandmother last year. It is a very difficult situation. Many hugs and good thoughts to all of you as you try to wade through this.

Hey! Thanks for the reminder, Tracey! I keep forgetting that I can use the jar-sealer thing. I store a lot of stuff in jars. Duh.

I thought I was the only one who broke out from Ivory. At least, that's how people always acted. :glare: I wonder if Tide poses issues because of enzymes. I know a number of people have had complaints about any laundry product containing enzymes when washing diapers, can't remember if Tide was one of those. :001_huh: (Biokleen has enzymes, but I used to do an extra rinse on the diapers, so there wouldn't have been any residue.)

Oh. Yum. I am going to do a honey and oat mask. Right. Now.

I hear ya, sista! I generally forewarn my little darling that she will use her best handwriting or do it over until she does. I find sloppy handwriting rude, as if the person who has to read it isn't worth the time it takes to communicate clearly. :glare: That said, there is something of a disconnect between using skills - such as handwriting, spelling and punctuation - in a narrow context, like a workbook, and writing one's own thoughts out. I have multiple friends whose children can both write and spell, but not when they're answering questions or writing an essay. It'll come.