Um, nay. :p

Wait. You've got a company sending you bacon. In the mail. From California to Michigan. Whaaa? :p Ok, well, if I was getting bacon in the mail, lol, I'd want it to be overnighted in a cooler with freezer packs. I'd expect the freezer packs to still be frozen when I got it.

The poor thing just lost her husband, and I can't even imagine. Are there any IRL friends of funschooler6 on here who would could co-ordinate sending flowers from the hive? Just an idea. We lost MIL and FIL in the past few years, and it was noticed who sent flowers. I just so grieve for her.

Prayers for you and your family.

Um, I know some ladies IRL who only eat homemade bread made with whole wheat that they just ground. They'd NEVER buy sandwich bread at the store. So, yeah.... Not that those ladies would judge me for it. Well, maybe they do, but I don't know. :p

Silly first world issue, I know. But I just got home from the grocery store, and I have to ask. I put a loaf of sandwich bread (don't judge; it's 100% whole wheat and no HFCS :D) in the cart, and I thought I had it safe. Guess not. :p By the time I discovered it to put on the check out belt, it was smooshed beyond use. The cashier wanted to exchange it for me, but I said nevermind, we'd get bread next time, we didn't need it that bad (Look, we had already been shopping for quite a while, and I didn't want to walk back and get another loaf. I'm lazy like that, lol.). Anyway, I always (not that this happens *a lot*) feel bad when this happens. Like I should still buy the bread. I mean, it is TOTALLY my fault the bread is all smooshed up and unusable. So what do you do in this situation? And yes, I get that I should be more careful, so no need for lectures or ideas. I get it; I should put the bread in the seat or something. I. Get. it. What I'm asking is do you insist on paying for bread that you destroy or not? I felt bad, but the cashier insisted I just let her take it.

We set tv time limits by not watching tv. :D Seriously. We used to have cable, the boys watched Disney and Nick and all that. About, oh, four or so years ago, we got rid of cable. That left us with just the local channels; I think maybe 7 or so? Not much on there, but there was PBS, so we watched some Martha Speaks, Curious George, etc. Then, our tv broke. :) We haven't watched tv in so long we're out of the habit now. But.... Dh just ordered a new tv. Apparently he has grand plans to use it as a giant 'monitor'. Hook it up to a computer so we can go online, watch dvd's, etc. I have no idea if we'll actually get any tv channels on the tv, LOL. (I don't *do* techy stuff like tvs, computers, etc. My dh's a programmer; that's his department.) My point is, if you had asked me about tv time limits five years ago, I'd have kinda shrugged and said we just tried to keep it reasonable. Now, we don't watch at all, and we don't miss it. ETA: BAHAHA! I just realized that the quote in my siggy might be a little controversial for this thread. LOL. FWIW, I don't think that ALL tv is evil or bad or anything. I do, however, think that we *as a society* watch too much of it.

I didn't know that. I swear I'm learning more about medical care than I ever wanted to know with all this stuff going on with dad. Anyway, in case it will be helpful to anyone else... There are facilities called "Long Term Acute Care" hospitals. They are sometimes located *inside* a hospital building, but they are a separate entity, They're for people who need longer term hospital care. Like my dad. They're much harder to find than nursing homes, and therefore harder to get into. But I'm glad to have found the option for my dad, and thought I'd share it with you all in case it could ever help someone else. Man. This all stinks. Sigh. Anyway, pity party over.

Pffft. I'm slow like that, LOL. Totally cool that his braces are covered. Yay Hobbes!

Ok Laura, 'splain to me how you MAKE money off your kids having bad teeth. I don't understand...

Ok, I'm about to sound like a crazy lady, but I *have* to ask. Do you ever sniff gently into your nose to equalize the pressure in your eardrum? Like, your ear is a little 'popped', so you sniff in a bit to 'un pop' it? Just curious. Because I find that I do this frequently (probably several times a day), and without thinking about it. And I just wondered if it's a normal thing everyone does, or if my sinuses/ears are weird. It doesn't hurt or anything. I'm just curious. I've had sinus headaches/issues since I was a little girl, so that makes me wonder. Feel free to post something that you do that you wonder if other people do, too. :)

Well that'd annoy me, for sure. If I were organizing/posting an event to that group that I needed a hard head count for, I'd put in the original post something like "I will need a hard head count number for this by XX date, so please only respond with either a 'yes' or 'no', Responses of 'maybe', 'we'll try to make it', etc will not be counted in the final head count." Hunh. I'm not sure if that's clear enough, actually. I can't think of a better way to word it. Maybe someone else can.

Wow! You guys did fantastic! Honestly, your 11 year old daughter makes a much prettier cake than I could! And I'd pay good money for a cake that looks like yours! I've always thought I'd love to take a cake decorating class. Dh has even encouraged me to before. I'll have to see if I can convince Zee to take one with me. The boy L.O.V.E.S. cake, so he might. Or maybe one of my girlfriends would want to. Hmmm....

IME, no. :D To *me*, cheap perfume smells, well, cheap. I've never smelled a knock off or cheap perfume that could pass for a more expensive one. I sometimes feel guilty about the price of my perfume. And it's not even as expensive as the one you liked. LOL. But I ask for it when someone wants to know what I'd like for a gift (Mother's Day, my birthday, etc), so that way I don't feel as guilty. :p You could definitely try looking on line for the perfume. I usually find much better deals online than in the mall.

Chicken salad on lettuce. I get a roasted chicken at the grocery store, chop up all the meat, then add sliced almonds (that I toasted), some salt, cut up grapes (either green, red, or a combo of both) and how ever much mayo we like. It is SOOOO good. Even better if you make it the day before you want it. You can eat it on a sandwich with toasted bread and lettuce, in a tortilla with lettuce, or just on lettuce. I'd bet at least some of your girls would like it. (My boys don't, but dh and I love it.) Homemade lunchables? That might be easier to customize for six people. Whatever cheese you like, whatever meat you like, crackers, fruit, cut up veggies, and a little cookie or something. That could be fun.

Hunh. I *might* have been tempted to respond with "Well, *I* don't believe in PUBLIC schooling." But I wouldn't have. Because "believing in" things is a pet peeve of mine. Really? You don't "believe" in homeschooling? What in the world do you actually MEAN by that?!

Praying the Lord's comfort for you and your family.

If, after follwing this advice, the doctor still doesn't want to give you antibiotics, I'd try this: "I understand you don't think he currently has an infection. But he's been sick for so long, and I'm worried we'll be right back in here in a few days with him feeling worse. Could you maybe write us a script for abx that I can hold on to for a few days? That way if he doesn't improve on his own soon, I have the prescription I can fill". I've had my own pediatrician offer this to me before, so that's why I suggest it. I've taken one of the boys in before and it was hard for the ped. to say if they had an infection yet or not. So she gave me a script to fill if I felt they needed it in the next few days. Worth a shot, at least.

Oh Lizzie, I'm so sorry about your mom. My dad waited just five hours before going to the hospital with his heart attack symptoms. Even just those five hours made a huge difference in how much damage his heart sustained. Prompt attention to ANY strange, unexplained symptoms is very important. Hoping your mother recovers. If you ever need to chat, feel free to pm me. We are still dealing with MAJOR complications from my dad's heart attack he had six months ago. (And I can't *not* add this.Please, PLEASE be very aware of making sure the nurses are changing your mother's position frequently. As in, every two hours. My father's biggest complication right now is the horrendous bed sore he got when he was on life support for three weeks following his heart attack. I'm so mad that he survived such a major heart attack only to possibly lose his life to a bed sore of all things.)

BAHAHAHA! Oh my goodness Mergath, love your honesty. (I don't drink. But I sure have days that make me wish I did.)

Joanne. :grouphug: Like you needed something *else* to deal with. :grouphug:

I gave my old, 'dumb' phone to my boys when I got a smart phone. They were, um, 5 and 7 at the time. Which is HILARIOUS to my girlfriends, because we are SO not the kind of family that gives cell phones to five year olds, LOL. :D But it's one of those pre paid phones. And what else was I going to do with it, you know? Zee just recently started actually using the phone. He texts his sister who is off at college now. It's very cute. He actually bought some minutes for the phone because he likes texting her. If I hadn't already had the pre pay phone when I got my smart phone, the boys STILL wouldn't have a cell, because they don't need one. They don't go places without me, so no need for a cell.

Totally depends on how old the nephew is, to me. I mean, a 16 year old should know better than to park his bike behind a car; a 6 year old, not so much. I'd replace the bike, most likely. Really, it's always a driver's responsibility to make sure they don't back over stuff, you know? Your dh's actually lucky there was no one *on* the bike when he backed over it. (I'm not trying to sound harsh. It came out harsher than I meant.)

Well in your situation, *I* would be comfortable with going home 10 minutes away, but I probably wouldn't go 25 minutes away during a 2 hour class. Mainly because around here, a trip that usually takes 25 minutes can all of a sudden take 45 minutes because of traffic or construction. However, if my *child* wasn't comfortable with it, then I would stay. But I'm a softy like that, LOL. Moose is very, very attached, even now at 7 years old. As in, he is not comfortable with the idea of staying with his favorite uncle/aunt/cousins for an hour or two so Daddy and I can go out on a dinner date. And he LOVES going to this uncle's house. So I really don't think there's any way he'd stay at a class without me. Zee, who's almost 10, *might* be comfortable in your scenario after being in the class for six months. Maybe. If he was having a good day. :D Now, I wouldn't fault you for deciding that your dc is old enough at 10.5 that you can leave during her class. I think that's perfectly reasonable, assuming it wouldn't cause her so much anxiety that she cried or something. I just know that I happen to be very accommodating to my kids in regards to not leaving them; some might even say more than I should be. I think we each know our children best, you know?

O.o Uh, ds7 brought his favorite stuffed bear on errands with us today. Ds9 asked for a turn with said bear at Walmart. (To be fair, this stuffed animal is practically a member of the family it's so cherished.) I don't think either of my boys is "too old".