Huh. I just say my kids are in whatever year they're in, regardless of what perceived level of work they're doing. They ARE a year ahead of their same aged peers, but that is simply because the public schools have been eking back the birthday cutoff for K for the past 10 years so, where kids in PS couldn't start K until they were about to turn 6, mine started K the school year they turned 5. They're not "advanced" so much as started earlier. I see this phenomenon with various groups of parents - homeschool, public/private school, sports... Less so with my homeschool friends, who tend to do the same thing we do - where every parent wants you to know why their kid is superawesomeoverthetop special before they bother to ask your name. Either they are waxing on about how advanced their kid is, or you know the poor child's entire psychiatric history within five minutes of "hello". It's weird. My kids are regular kids. The do the math they do, and read what they read, and do the things that interest them. Some things come easy, some things are challenging. That's life. Everyone has those different areas.

We don't have locks (well, we do, but we don't have the skeleton keys that would lock them, so...) other than hooks at the top of the bathroom doors that shrink to the point of not staying closed in winter. Rarely does anyone even shut a door for the purpose of privacy, let alone need to lock it. Though, we do use the hook in winter because who wants to get out of the shower into a cold draft? I have the opposite kid / bath issue: they knock on the door while I'm in the shower, I answer, and they proceed with a monologue outside the door. Which I can't understand. Because I'm in the shower. And we usually have to go through it multiple times before they just.open.the.door. For Pete's sake.

Wev've been inundated here and a friend said the (useless) bug guy told her they're after water. She used and recommended Terro. You just put a drop on a piece of foil and they all come running to circle and drink it - it's crazy to watch - and then they bring it back to the nest and share. The active ingredient is borax, and it's worked amazingly well.

For us, it's basically following the Michael Pollan rule: don't eat anything your grandmother (or great grandmother, depending on generation) wouldn't recognize as food. So, we don't eat much in the way of food that has ingredients, though I make things with ingredients, if that makes sense. We mostly eat lean protein from various sources, fresh fruits and veggies, and whole grains. I make foods with those ingredients. Being gluten-free has kind of kicked me over to looking at alternative flours - sorghum, quinoa, almond, coconut - that may have a better nutritional profile as well. There are few things that I have to consciously avoid eating this way, since most items we consume are single ingredient or single ingredients compiled by be (making GF pasta, for example). There just aren't any hidden undesirables. The exception to that is frozen seafood, especially shrimp, which often has TSP in it. I buy TSP at Lowes. It's deck cleaner. It does not belong on my shrimp.

Btw, I think FT working moms are an oddity in homeschooling circles simply because of the time demands of both, not because the vast majority of homeschoolers look down on women who work outside the home. I can't imagine juggling both. In fact, it gets dicey at times with me working part time and my husband working every fourth day! When I hear the full-timers homeschooling, I feel like I've missed a secret somewhere. ;) And, Brigitte, you're probably one who listens to her clients? And you have literacy on your side. :D (there do seem to be a disproportionate number of nutters representing in some fields, though, and from my experience, real estate is one... I wonder if it's because the crazies aren't noticed as much in that dynamic.)

I prepare/cook/assemble/whatever food to make supper and other meals. The meal is made by the preparation and assembly of a variety of foods. So I make supper. Because really, I don't want to expend so many words in the description of what I'm doing.

Ur. Ima no read ur posts if u start wit dat.

I work PT (12-20 hrs/week) for the Y. I'm a personal trainer, teach group exercise classes, and work the desk/membership services. I was a full time SAHM for the 6 years before that, and worked as a software engineer for a consulting company BT (before twins) - my math went away during my pregnancy (which seems common among my twin-mom friends), and you sort of need math for that. ;) Different pursuits have worked well at different stages. No judgement from me about doing what works for your family, though I have judged people I know irl for making decisions that obviously were detrimental (such as not being able to keep your -very low mortgage- home of buy groceries because the dad doesn't like to look for work and the mom worked the last time he was unemployed and wasn't going to do it again. 'Cause that'll show him! ) But, yeah, I know very few homeschoolers (the bulk of my buddies) who work outside the home, and just a couple who are self-employed. I don't think any of my friends are judgemental about it, just that the ones who went back to work put their kids in school (either one leading to the other).

:lol: That one seems clear cut, but some should definitely be looked up before adopting. These days, it's sometimes hard to know what you're saying.

:iagree: If he's offended, that's really his issue. You can't keep every item that walks through your door forever. (as an aside, we limit electronics so I would find such a gift to be quite presumptuous. I hope he cleared it with you before gifting it.)

Well, a new twist on the spaghetti would be my old "go to" quickie supper: Par cook noodles (about 1/2 what the package says). While they're cooking, sautee garlic and onion in a large skillet. Add leftover meat (chicken, ham, shrimp) and veggies (spinach, peas, diced tomatoes). Add the pasta and pour in enough milk to almost cover the whole thing. Looks like way too much, but you finish cooking the pasta in the skillet and the milk gets absorbed, plus the starch turns it all creamy, but not really saucy. We also do lots of salads, grilled chicken or steak burritos, sometimes quiche, homemade pizza happens almost weekly. All of those things are "make it how you like it", so you can switch them up from the basics depending on your mood or what's lurking in the fridge.

I'm about 90 minutes south of you (OP) and SAHMs are pretty common (or moms who work very part time when the kids are in school). When I was a single, working mom in the Annapolis area, I felt like the oddball with regards to my eldest daughter's elementary school. All of their functions and events were held during business hours.

I think field mice are adorable. But they are unsanitary in the house. We use the electric (battery) traps that zap them. There have been too many live mice in snap traps for me to be ok with them and the glue traps, :svengo: . No way. And, yeah, after letting the two bored looking mice outside day after day, I started to catch on that the live traps were turning them into pets.

My doctor recommends Integrative Therapeutics Daily Energy Enfusion. He says the berry flavor is most popular, but I like the citrus. I order it from Amazon. I also liked the Rainbow Light Women's Organic (herbal formula), but I was having a weirdly high hematocrit (which my former doctor didn't seem to notice), so I stopped taking it because of the iron content.

That's essentially mine, too, mostly because when the word is uttered, there is usually going to follow a diatribe of some sort. Otherwise, I have no strong feelings either way about the word, though I have very strong feelings about the various movements thought history.

Completely unprofessional (as well as extremely irritating), but I can tell you that it is the norm here, for any professional who makes an appointment to come to your home. :glare: In 13 years, the only person who has shown up relatively on time (and we always set the time "ish" because he comes after breakfasting with his granddaughter and putting her on the bus) is our electrician. And he calls if he is running behind whatever time he thinks we said (I can walk to his house in under 5 minutes... How far away can he be?) He - and the plumber who was parked outside at 7:15 for an 8:00 appointment once, again from 5 minutes away - clearly missed the memo on what "appointment" means around here. And that's why we continue to do business with them.

I would suggest looking at eating clean. (which is my general bent anyway, but I didn't really realize it) They say you will drop or gain on the diet, depending on where you start, and stabilize at a healthy weight.

The difference - and I apologize, I wasn't clear in expressing my thought before - is that in BDSM, it is the submissive who is ultimately in control. In this, consent may be given initially (though it sounds as if there is not a great deal of choice there, and that this is more in the mindset of imposing a man's "rightful" dominance over all others in his household), but the husband is in control I've how much, how often, and where the limit is. There is no safe word or other stop mechanism mutually accepted by both parties. And that, in my mind, takes it out of the mutual role playing for pleasure realm. Plus, I have reservations about giving someone who is making Mighty Machines noises while moving things around on the counter unquestioned authority over me. (which I have also mentioned to Mr Mighty Machine over there... So he threatened to spank me for questioning him. Snort. ;) )

Mmmmmm... That sounds wonderful.

Yes, but it this context - per the admittedly single source I read - there is clearly a lack of respect (i.e. women are misguided children), and need to be forced to trust their husbands (which is what we really want but don't know how to do, of course, because we're so addled by our gender).

:iagree: In the absence of a pathological cause for the irregularity, I am not a fan of hormonal manipulation for something that's really just annoying. And, frankly, if the IS an underlying cause, I am not a fan of treating the symptoms unless they are in the way of treating the cause.

Yes, you've got that wrong. Because, you know, you're a woman and, thus, given to wrong thought in your misguided quest for earthly security, which can only be legitimately found in the absolute trust of (and that means, of course, total domination by) your husband. I know this because I googled. Otherwise, I would just be another ignorant, wrong-thinking woman giving other ignorant, wrong-thinking women my thoughts which, of course, just gets us deeper into our folly and makes it more difficult for our husbands to spank the trust into us. I think this has put me off my coffee. I wonder if that will offset the brain bleach costs.

Yup, we just got a king memory foam topper from them (poly, not latex, as I'm allergic) and it was a really good price. Very comfortable, too. Oh, and spam reported.

Let it air, preferably in the sun. Essential oils are very volatile. Or, you could just be happily bug-free for a while. ;)

Something I did this weekend - which I realized later was awesome advice from another decluttering thread here, but I fell into it accidentally - was to declutter the areas I *can't* see first. I originally started off to clean out our cupboards because I saw a couple pantry moths, but after decluttering the crap in there - the stuff with BIUB dates in 2009 (!!), stuff I won't use, consolidating the multiple packages of one thing into a single jar, etc - I found that I miraclulously had room for all the stuff we DO use, but has been staging in the dining room since we pulled the "overflow" cabinets out of the downstairs bath/laundry several months ago. So, cleaning out the pantry decluttered the dining room! Brilliant!