IMO it wasn't the "troll" who really ruined this thread, but the people who wouldn't just ignore it. And that is a total shame, because IMO we had a very insightful and informative discussion going on.

:iagree: With kids and/or pets, IMO leather is the only way to go.

I've had a benign lump removed before, too. Hold on to the fact that the overwhelming majority of breast lumps ARE benign. :grouphug:

:iagree: You expressed what I feel much better than I expressed my own feelings. But I wonder at my own temerity sometimes -- I think I must be unbelievably arrogant to second guess something that's been around as long as the church. And yet what it's become today just doesn't ring true for me.

According to my BMI I'm in the overweight range. But pre-hysterectomy anytime I got into what is considered the normal range my periods would stop. And refuse to start again until I gained weight. My very wise doctor, who was known to be a stickler about weight, said "Your body knows better than any scale or chart."

I still consider myself a Christian, so maybe I shouldn't be replying here. But I feel the need to explain myself, so here goes -- As said, I consider myself a Christian, a follower of Christ. But I have serious doubts about too many things that most churches believe and do to align myself with organized religion. I believe there are way too many direct contradictions and unanswered questions in the Bible for it to be considered inerrant. The Cain/Abel/who were the other people and where did they come from thing already mentioned is a great example of this. I don't understand why, if the Bible is supposed to be the living word of God and all we need to guide our lives, it's so darn hard to understand (and so full of those contradictions and unanswered questions mentioned above). I don't understand why organized religion fights for the right to pray in public when Jesus clearly said that prayer should be done in private. I don't understand why churches focus so much on the Ten Commandments, wanting to hang them in so many public locations, and focus so little on the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. I don't understand why the teachings of Paul are given such weight when many of those teachings are in direct contradiction to what Jesus said and did, and given that Biblical scholars today are almost positive that Paul didn't author many of the books attributed to him and in fact may have had no direct connection to them at all. I don't understand why so many churches require so much to join (statements of faith with dozens of things listed, attending classes for months, etc.) when Jesus made it so simple. Jesus was inclusive, today's churches seem to try hard to be exclusive. That's just a drop in the bucket and a simplification of the things I have issues with. And yet I find the story and teachings of Jesus to be so powerful that I don't think I could ever say that I don't believe in Him and what He taught.

I love Asheville and the Brevard area, but that's sheerly based on visiting, I haven't lived in or near either place. Boone is more northwestern NC, but it's got a very good reputation as a great place to retire. It's significantly higher in elevation than the Asheville area, and the winters tend to be harsher. Blizzard conditions aren't uncommon in and around Boone.

I joined the PTO when my kids were in elementary school, and served on several committees. I found it to be a great experience. Fundraising was a very small and not too onerous part of what our PTO did, although that was mostly because the school is in a very close-knit, generous community and so raising money was always a relatively easy thing. We had an accelerated reader program, did "duty free" lunch once a month for the teachers, organized a field day at the end of the school year, worked with the teachers to get anything they needed in the classrooms, sponsored General Mills Box Tops drives, etc.

We switched to Quicken after MS Money stopped being supported. DH, who uses it the most, really hated to switch because he liked MS Money so much. And there was a learning curve. But within a few weeks he was really loving Quicken and regretting that we hadn't been using it all along. He loves all the extra bells and whistles.

The DH and I are considerably older than that, but we have some Vanguard funds and have been very pleased with them. We've been considering another Vanguard fund for some money that we need to reinvest soon. Their website has a lot of helpful tools. And ditto everything Mrs. Mungo said about Roth IRAs. For years we subscribed to Money magazine, and I found it very helpful.

I would have taken them for making banana bread.

That was my understanding. That because we had a third car it was assumed he had constant access to a vehicle and therefore would be driving more than a teen in a two-parent home where there were just two vehicles.

It depends on what state you're in since insurance rates in general vary so much from state to state. Also, when we added DS to our State Farm insurance we found that it matters if you have a third vehicle. Because we do have a third vehicle, and he is the third licensed driver in the family, they automatically assume he has full time access to that vehicle. In our case it's true, but of course it might not be true in all families. For him it's costing us about $1200 the first year. State Farm assumes the vehicle he has access to is 10 years old. If he remains accident free for the first year (we're two months away from that) then the cost will drop by about fifty percent. If he remains accident free the following year the rate will drop again so that by the time he's 18 we'll be paying the same rate for him as we do for DH and me. As said above, the first two years are expensive.

Boomerang Tags -- Here Best tags ever. By far. And outstanding customer service. Don't waste your money on the junk from Petsmart.

Grooming costs generally depend on the size of the dog, the condition of the coat and how much detailed grooming is needed. And of course it varies by geographic area. I have a Shih Tzu and I do all his grooming myself. But the going rate around here at grooming shops for Shih Tzus is between $45 and $50. That's for the whole works -- bath, drying, clipping and nails. To keep him looking as nice as I want he'd have to go every three weeks. I choose to do it myself because I've seen too many really bad (almost cruel) groomers in action, and way too many absolutely terrified dogs on grooming tables. My Shih Tzu is so relaxed when I groom him at home that my biggest problem is keeping him awake!

I'm so sorry about your friend's dog. The suspected problem with jerky treats made in China has been going on for several years now. Unbelievably, I know several people who say that until the FDA (or somebody) finds something conclusive that's causing the illnesses and deaths they'll continue to give them to their dogs. I don't understand that attitude at all.

There is no "end of the shopping week" for me. I shop on average three times a week. I don't like an empty fridge (or pantry) and I don't like buying huge amounts of groceries at one time. There are four grocery stores within three miles of our house, so it's no big deal to go often.

:iagree: Oldest DS's front teeth were (and are) absolutely beautiful. The orthodontist said "A smile doesn't get any better than that." But his bite on his left side was way off. The orthodontist told us, and my research corroborated it, that he'd be very likely to have serious dental and potential bone issues by the time he reached middle age. So he definitely needed braces, even though his smile was already gorgeous. The moral of that story is don't make the mistake of thinking braces are just a cosmetic thing, and that if your child's smile looks good enough then everything's okay.

I'm not a groomer (or at least not a professional one), but I can tell you how to pluck ear hair. It's really easy, although getting the dog to hold still for it may not be! Go to a pet store and buy some ear powder. Something like this. Sprinkle just a tiny bit in and around the dog's ear canal. It will make the hair kind of dry and tacky, and make it easy to grasp with your fingers or a hemostat. Pluck just a few hairs at a time, and only the ones in the ear canal. It shouldn't hurt, but if you try to pluck too many at a time, or hair that's on the outside of the canal, it will hurt. There are videos on YouTube that demonstrate how to do it. If you can't get the dog to let you pluck the hair, you can take a pair of small round-tipped scissors and just trim it up a bit. There's actually a lot of debate among vets and groomers about whether or not ear hair plucking should be done at all. Some say it does more harm than good, especially on dogs who don't have a history of ear problems.

Our Brittany gets a bath about four times a year. Our Shih Tzu gets a bath about every ten days, and he gets clipped at every other bath. I do both of them myself.

We're pretty much the same. 13-yo homeschooled DS usually goes to bed around 11:00 (except sometimes he stays up to watch Jon Stewart). He gets up around 8:30. 16-yo DS in public school tries to go to bed between 10:00 and 10:30. He has to get up around 6:15.

Sheets/pillowcases -- weekly Blankets/bedspreads -- about every two to three months Pillows -- twice a year

No, it isn't. Small Business Administration's chart of what qualifies as a "small" business

Keeping up with it on an almost daily basis is what works for me. It's a very rare day that I don't do at least one load. Towels are done on Tuesday and Friday. Sheets get washed on Wednesday. And then throughout the week I do loads of clothing as needed. As soon as there's enough to do a load of any type I go ahead and do it.

We have a wooden four-peg hat rack type thingie mounted on our inside wall by the garage door. All the collars and leashes and dog towels hang on it.