I'm quite enamoured of my LG appliances. And their customer service is good. Other than the LGs, everything else we have is Whirlpool. The dishwasher is 5 years old (so, new enough to have been made during the new "disposable" appliance era) and was a rolling kind that we converted to under-the-counter when we remodeled last year. I've never, ever had a problem with it. The micro / cooktop / oven are only 1.5 years old, but there have been no issues at all with any of them. Ditto the LG armoire fridge.

I have a black, leather briefcase/laptop case that routinely holds 8-10 books, plus my laptop. I got it at Sam's Club about 10 years ago, but they still make similar ones. Really, though, for a 70+ year old, I would second the recommendation for the rolly crate. Not that he's incapable of carrying his books at this point, but you don't know what lies ahead in the next 5-10 years and the rolling cart wouldn't throw off his balance like a bag full of book could. Just something to consider.

Hey! I dance like Elaine, but worse. I can't even manage "amusingly eccentric". We may need a support group.

Um, well... after three years of not sleeping more than 2 consecutive hours, I had a complete, tantrum throwing, meltdown. Sleep deprivation... brrrrrr. :eek: Seriously. Address the sleep deprivation. Otherwise, it's hard to keep yourself out of the tailspin, no matter how crazy and illogical you know it is, and no matter how minor the other stuff is. You just can't process normally and, if you're me anyway, you can only consciously override that for so long before the crazy sets in. Is it waking or sleeplessness that's cutting into your sleep, or waking with children or...? ETA: Oh, yeah. You have a newborn and a deployed husband? Yeah, hire (bribe, cajole, kidnap) someone to come over so you can nap. Really. You don't want the crazy to set in.

Do you really think it's settling, or just that they are so desperate for the "soul mate" thing that they assign that role to the first person who makes their heart go pitter-patter?

Oh. My. That IS appalling. I have, on occasion, left my 7 year old in the library with older (teenagers) also-homeschooled friends to do school work and read while I was in the storytime area with the 4 year olds... and I felt weird about that! I can't imagine sending them down the street to the library by themselve.

well, no kidney stones here, but could it be mittelshmerz? I've had excrutiating pain around ovulation before. I wouldn't think you'd have pain in the right front - as opposed to the kidney area - unless a stone had moved into your right ureter. From what I understand, if you pass a kidney stone, there is no doubt.

I believe in love. I also believe in compatibility. I think, if one is self aware and realistic, one can make a good choice about whether they can live their life with this other person. I don't believe that there is simply one possible match for anyone. That seems depressing, sort of, doesn't it? And, yes, the "true love", "soul mate" idea does seem to lead to disillusionment. Probably because so many people don't bother to look past it to the reality of daily life with another person. That pretty much sums up the way it goes in our house, too.

You know, I was thinking the same thing - or, at least, feeling like I'm more conservative than I think I am... My kids could certainly shower with me if there was a need (the boys are 4) but I'm usually using the time to hide from them (it occurs to me that I haven't gone to the bathroom without some child in there or talking through the door in nearly 20 years... ugh). They've never showered regularly with my husband, but I think that's more fear of convenient "handholds" for short people who slip than a modesty concern, though. My youngest three - dd7, dss4 - take baths together... is that weird? I wash them all, too, since they seem to not really get clean if left to their own devices. My ex husband used to sit on the couch naked and it skeeved me out. Maybe it's a context thing. Naked-bum-on-the-couch seems yucky to me. Naked-in-the-tub - or in the process of getting changed - seems normal.

Interesting. I was named specifically FOR the diminutive and have always hated it. Angie B_____ is perpetually the five year old in Mrs. R's class. As an adult - particularly a professional adult - I have always been called Angela. Close friends and family call me Ang. All four of my children have names with no diminutives. (They have pet names, but not derived from their given names) Ashley Marie - people who know me would think my ex husband named her, and quite possibly from the top 5 list of 1989 girls names. And they would be correct. My three youngest, I guess people would think we were Anglophiles (we're not particularly) or Irish (there is Irish in both families, but my people are predominantly French). Bailey, Holden and Quinn are all literary and also surnames (in fact, my husband is waiting for the Redskins to draft a "Quinn" so we can have jerseys for all three... he may be a little disturbed) Their middle names (Anne, Andrew and Patrick, respectively) are family names. If the boys had been girls, they would have been Ainsley and Genevieve. I guess that would have thrown a wrench in the whole "theme" we have going. ;)

Coconut milk freezes fine, like any other juice. I suppose it could separate, like it does in the can, but...

well, you could just use a splash of coconut milk, or creme de coconut, or even Coco Loco (the pina colada base). If it's a once in a while thing, I'd probably freeze the leftovers in an ice cube tray and then just thaw a cube when you want it. Otherwise the stuff would probably go bad. I'm sure Starbucks probably has a coconut syrup - they sell their syrups in smallish bottles - but it would be mostly sugar. You might want a splash of water, too, since alcohol tends to dilute the juice, so the juice is more concentrated without it.

Well, I suspect there are a number of fields in which anything less than a PhD is simply for your own amusement: economics, sociology, anthropology, biology, chemistry, physics, social work.... in fact, anything that isn't specifically job-related (i.e. a BSN) doesn't appear that useful, does it? My husband has three "useless" (using the stated criterion and that he works in another field) degrees - an AA in criminal justice, a BS in Soc/Corrections (he doesn't work in law enforcement) and a MS in public safety management, which he will eventually use. His actual "useful" education was a year of paramedic school. Thank goodness firefighters are paid so highly that we can keep going to school for entertainment! :rolleyes:

That's a hoot, Jenny! The boys were Thing One and Thing Two when they were 1, in RED SWEATSUITS FROM LAND'S END!! I wonder if they know why people are buying them. :D

7 y.o. dd will be going as Hermione Granger (she just spent the past 2 months reading the first five HP books) The boys (4) will both be going as Charlie, our UPS guy, who seems very honored that he is now a Halloween costume. :001_smile: I will wear my traditional costume and go as "The Mom".

Yes, there may be a hint of a toxic alkaloid in the greenish peel. Just peel it. If there's a shred of green still left in there it won't (literally) kill you. ;)

I voted "AAP Guidelines" but, in reality, they're not sitting up front until they can drive. And they will sit in a belt-adjusting booster until they are tall enough to have the belt fit them properly. Period. I don't care if they're 20 when that happens. (I actually had to sit on a pillow to see to drive my first car - an MG Midget) My boys are 4 and not quite 40 lbs... I'm trying to convince my husband that a highback booster with a 5 point harness that goes to 80 lbs is a reasonable "next step" in the carseats. (And, frankly, I'm not above installing racing harnesses in the car when they learn to drive) Sorry. We live in a rural area. About 5 kids are killed - or nearly so - in our area every year, generally in single car accidents (read: them versus a tree, versus a ditch, or versus physics in general). The local firehouse will be burying one of their young members this weekend (young driver vs physics in this case). If my kids are not riding in an actual tank (or '77 Lincoln, which is essentially the same thing) they will be as firmly attached to the seats as I can work, for as long as I can work it.

HA! I wonder if that's what the builders of our house had in mind... in the 1860s. :D We have wide plank heart pine throughout (painted upstairs, as appears to be traditional, and cork in the kitchen) and it's delightful. The house where I grew up, in Maine, was only slightly younger, had the same wide-plank flooring and was not particularly cold in winter. It also had a full cellar and enormous furnace down there, so probably kept the main level floors relatively warm that way, though. I suspect that new wood flooring would be warmer than old, simply because it has an underlay, is applied over a sub-floor and is tighter, as opposed to ours being applied directly to the joists. The cork in our kitchen certainly is, but I'm not sure how much of that is the just nature of cork. Area rugs add visual warmth, just like any textile, in the "softer" areas of the house, and are somewhat easier to rid of dust and mites than installed carpet, since they don't have padding and can be removed for professional cleaning periodically. eta: Yes, Spy Car, radiant heat tubing can be installed under hardwood. I remember them doing in on This Old House in the 1980s.

We paid about $600 for our Mountain Buggy double stroller 4 years ago. (I see they're now up to $900. Yikes!) It was used almost daily from the point the boys were too big to sling together until this summer, when they were almost 4. Now, it's going to a friend who is expecting twins, so it will get another few years of use there.

Yeah, there seems to be an epidemic in the area (I'm about 15 miles from the state line) and we've had them, too, as have most of my friends recently. I wonder if there was an infestation in an area warehouse. We found that vacuuming the little buggers as we saw them (in the beginning, several times a day) helped, along with the traps. For a few days, it seemed like we were fighting a losing battle, but it's been a couple weeks since I've seen one. Unlike weevils, once they're gone, they seem to stay gone. Oh, and they not only like the grains and pastas, but also dried fruit. I am still mourning the many pounds of raisins and dates I had to pitch. :crying:

Well... lots of fruits and veggies and, when yucky plague season is upon us, elderberry syrup. (I like the Honey Gardens or Sambucol) Rose hip infusion is good. We try to prevent the conditions that let the bugs invade, so I keep humidifiers going (with tea tree, oregano and maybe eucalyptus essential oils in the little medicine cup) so the heat doesn't cause dry, cracked mucous membranes. We wash our hands frequently, especially when we're out in public places, make a concerted effort to get enough sleep and eat well... you know, those sorts of things. If I get blocked up sinuses, I usually unblock them with "tomato tea" (tomato juice with a squeeze of lemon and a clove of garlic minced up in it, heated, then add tabasco and sip like tea). I've gotten rid of a nasty sinus infection with it, too. For the kids, I use a salve with eucalyptus oil and garlic on their feet - works great for breaking up the congestion and getting rid of those coughs that keep you awake.

That's funny. I can't stand to watch that show because of him. Yes, I have probably spoken to my husband as Kate talks to Jon. (Ok, I know I have, on fairly regular occasions) My children are the same ages as theirs, except I have 1/2 as opposed to 2/6. You will notice how she gets less crazy and shrewish as the children get older? Not a coincidence. At the point that I had, literally, not slept more than 90 consecutive minutes at a time in 2 1/2 years, I was, perhaps, not the most... understanding? patient? human? person my husband ever lived with. And, on his side, he did not always employ that which could pass as logic in "helping" with our daily life. I, thankfully, did not have my crazy filmed for prime time, however. There you go. Did it. Admitted it.

Nah, what we do isn't heroic. It's cheap. My ideal would be living in a completely self reliant system, perhaps with some barter with other locals. Alas, we live in town (a town from which you can leave in any direction and immediately come upon a commercial chicken house) so we aren't even allowed to keep laying hens. Sigh. The way I keep up with bread is a) I have a friend who also makes her family's bread and is currently 31 weeks along with twins, so I bake to bring her some random loaves, too and b) I double the batches and either let half slow-rise in the fridge or bake it all off and freeze some loaves. That helps with bread diversity, too... seems no one in my house finds chicken salad on cinnamon-raisin appealing. Go figure. My yogurt usually takes on the characteristics of the starter. That, and I've found honey is not the best sugar to use... makes the whole batch smell like Burt's Bees powder. :ack2:

Uh-huh. I'm sure they are perfectly lovely, but there are irresponsible (or psychotic) teenagers in all sorts of families. I would totally want to get to know them first. FWIW, we have had exactly 1 non-family member sitter, ever, and that is a teenager we have known for several years.

Ours lives in the house (and sleeps in our bed) but has free range of the yard to do her business (which she is very polite about and keeps to the fence line) and bark and random falling leaves. :001_smile: