When I was a teenager I parked on the very end of the driveway. Then neighbor woman across the street ALWAYS parked her Mercedes on the street immediately behind me. I always thought that was incredibly stupid of her just from a self-preservation point-of-view. I was a teenager, and I was always careful ... but still. Years later, DH and I are visiting my parents and we had two cars. DH's car is parked on the street opposite their driveway. I was chatting with the neighbor's son who is my age, and he mentions that his mom absolutely hate that their is a car at the end of their driveway. I pointed out that her car was that At That Moment was parked opposite my parent's driveway, and that she'd done the same thing when I was a teen.

one of these http://www.wayfair.com/Original-Bones-The-Original-NeckBone-Pillow-REM-60-BONE1000.html My neck and shoulders used to be constantly extremely stiff, and one night sleeping wrong would take days to recover. With that, I am not tense anymore. I used to travel for work and now I have about 10 because I'd buy another if I forgot mine.

So, it went from 38 up to eventually 48. I wouldn't toss anything at all. It would have shortened the life span of some of the items in there, but I wouldn't even toss the leftovers. It isn't like they were left on the counter at 70F for a few hours.

In puled this from a recent post, but I think it was a subtext in many of the posts. I believe it to be true. Noticing or caring would mean they would have to DO something. Better to let someone else suffer,

I didn't tell my parents because they didn't listen to me. Even about stupid stuff. For example, my father got it in his head that I didn't like milk that was left after dunking the cookies, so he insisted I drink the milk while dunking. No matter how many times I said I loved the milk, but the more milk you drink, the less cookie gets dunked every time. We would go on long trips and as an only child I had the backseat to myself. At the start I would get the pillows just right, get my book out and settle in and sigh happily. Every stinking time my mother would jump down my throat because I was "sighing unhappily". One time they picked me up from camp and they asked if "They had food for us." Meaning, did the camp offer to feed us. They had, so I said Yes. I didn't eat any because I knew we always went to a special restaurant on the way home. I was then forced to sit in the restaurant WITHOUT EATING while they ate because they wouldn't believe me that I was hungry and I hadn't eaten the stupid dry hamburger I had been offered. So, when I was being bullied I told them but quickly dropped it when I was brushed off with the normal platitudes. They jumped in when my clothes were damaged and tried to get the bully girls parents to pay for new pants for me. But, of course that did nothing.

That is good to know. I have been drooling over the super big set that comes with the case. Heck, if she doesn't like it, I know I would. I will move it from the "when she is old enough" list to "when we can afford it" list. She will probably be reading independently by that time. It is funny. I have a B.S. in Physics and an M. Engr in Material Science Engineering, but I really don't understand electronics. Electrons, yes. Electronics, No. This will be one of those "Filling in MY educational gaps through homeschooling".

Yeah, I've "Liked" a few because the posts really spoke to me, not because I liked what was done. I suspect that those of who have been affected negatively by bullying to a more than normal extent (isn't that messed up that I felt the need to add that qualifier?) have a shorter trigger as far as doing anything to stop it or prevent it. I think in another thread someone thought that kids that were earlier readers were more likely to be homeschooled. The idea was that they went to school and were totally bored.

I sympathize with the problem of playing with stuff in the room, drives me bonkers. We are moving soon, and DD's closet will be quite large. I totally sincerely suggested we put the bed in the closet and keep all her stuff in the bedroom. DH looked at me like I had two heads. Maybe if instead of "closet", I called it the "little windowless side room" he would have gone for it. (sigh)

What would you think the minimum age would be for a very bright kid? The ages on the boxes are totally useless at this age. I wish they were allowed to put "Past sticking everything in the mouth". Do you think that the kid would have to be completely reading independently ?

I think that there was sarcasm there. ( I really don't have much of a sarcasm meter) But, at least for me, that would have been an excellent choice. Better even than having mom doing the teaching. Although, I found my sea-legs in High School, and I probably would have homeschooled all the way through and missed out on that. I was very active and successful which gave me confidence, and the tracking kept me away from the bullies. So, I didn't have a problem in High School. Although, we lived 3 miles from a major university, and I would certainly have sat in on lectures. So, maybe independent homeschooling wouldn't have been such a bad thing. I remember a girl that bullied me in 5th/6th grade being hauled away from school by the police in 7th or 8th. We never learned what she did because of course she was a minor, and it wasn't anything she did at school. You could tell they were angry, there faces had that cloudy, grim, angry look. She was extremely short, and they had her handcuffed and one cop was on either side of her and they were holding her. Her feet didn't really touch the ground. Before elementary school was over, she had stopped targeting me. When I saw her being hauled away, I was especially glad.

I see the mischievous side often. What I do is respond, "Yes, if you were a silly goose." It started with a book Hippopposites that we got from the library. The left and right pages shows opposites. She loved to label them wrong. I could tell she was playing, but I didn't want to say "yes, that is right." What is funny is that every now and then she would label them correctly and I would just say "Yes". Then she would say "No No" and then say the opposite. It seems to happen more often with easy questions, even though it was her that requested the book. I remember reading about something similar in the book about the Parrot that was used in language experiments. The test protocol said that they asked the bird the same question 50 times. The bird would start out with some wrong, while it was still learning. Then it would many right in a row when it knew it well. Then it started to get creative with the answers.

My husband is like the PP who mentioned becoming a tough fighter. He has this tough shell around him. DD and I are within the shell, his mother and siblings and some friends. But, outside of that, there is a "I could not care less about you" attitude. And, the fighting he has done in the past! In high school, he put people into the hospital. He never started anything, but his attitude was like Ender. He didn't want the other person coming back at him later. He started his senior year 4'7" in an inner-city school. The school was mostly either rich white kids, or a range of black kids. Neither of which he was.

If I remember right, the piano part was "early indications suggest". Looking back, do you think it helped you? My focus reading that book had been an increased determination to stamp out bullying wherever I see it, and protect my DD for it.

That was my response too. I always befriended the new kid, the lone duck. When DD was 2 she got a gift that is a monkey with a banana at its mouth. When you take away the banana the monkey cries and moves around throwing a fit. Which causes the child to laugh. It disturbs me. Actually, when I go home I am going to throw it away. I won't even Goodwill it, it is that disturbing. What sucked about that, was that the kid that just moved in is MUCH more likely to move out again. So, even though I lived in the same place from 3rd on and never made a lateral school move, I never had a friendship last more than two years. As a mom, I am also highly alert to social skills/problems. One thing weird. My husband and I both "do our own thing" and "march to our own drummer". DD is such a follower. If she is play chasing someone and they fall, she falls too. What do you do with that? I read a book called, I think, "Science of Parenting". It talked about a lot of studies related to childhood. They can tell in before and after brain scans if a kid has been bullied. Ponder that for a moment. The divider area thickens. (This is what I bring up anytime someone says that bullying in public school is good for people) The change in the brain makes people more like to be depressed. They said the learning/playing piano can somewhat reverse that. It also made me Snob Snob. Meaning that preemptively snub people that I perceive might be snobs. Basically the popular people in High School (even today). For example, in the church youth group (7th to 12th) which I loved, I ignored most of the kids because it was obvious they were the popular kids. They never did anything wrong to me or anyone else that I saw. In fact, it was very accepting. My senior year there was a kurfuffle about a former friend of mine, and I was talking to one of the kids I had shunned. She told me that they had tolerated her because I seemed nice.

I am totally stealing that idea

For me, I agree with your FIL. I expect my husband to assist, but I think it is a child to mother occasion. I also find it weird to get anniversary cards from anyone but my DH.

We are currently reading the Great Illustrated Classics version of it. There is an illustration on every page. DD is fond of Jake and the Pirates, and the library had a copy so I gave it a try. So far she is enjoying it. I think that knowing the characters has helped.

Depending on my mood, I either take some chewables. Or, I bought these packets like big ketchup packets that contain one serving of fishoil, but they flavor and consistency is like nutella with a bit of orange flavor added.

With Aldi, you have to know your prices to know what is a good deal. There version of Velveeta is noticeably better real Velveeta. On the grocery list we call it Velveetish. We love the Bratwursts they sell there. Particularly the Beer Brats. We usually clear them out whenever we see them. With other stuff it is just a matter of seeing what they have.

Has anyone ever had a Sweet Potato just baked? You can add all the goodies: cheese, sour cream, bacon, butter, more cheese. I was doubtful, so I just ate the end of my husband's but it was quite nice.

I would reschedule Mother's Day for the following weekend. And suggest some things you'd like. I like going to a brunch, but there is so many people on that day that it isn't as much fun. So, rescheduling it regardless is a good thing I think.

They are not cheap, but have you ever tried Fried Radishes? I know what you are thinking. Radishes are real food about as much as playdoh. But, when cooked the bitter ickiness goes away. I grate radishes in the food processor and cook them like hash browns. You can find recipes online. I've noticed that the smaller the pieces and the longer they are cooked, the more like a potato they are. Until a few years ago, I pretty much avoided every healthy vegetable.

I eat frozen. I am a lot more likely to eat them if I can do so on a whim. For example, I like mashed cauliflower and a bag of frozen cauliflower is $1. So, I will make up a couple of bags worth of mashed, and then divide it out into serving sizes for my lunch. But, I don't like canned.

They think it follows the J curve. With health problems on the Y-axis, and quantity on the X-axis. So, any small amount will be better than none at all. But, if you start to drink several servings a day, then you'd be much worse off. Drink the one you prefer. Merlot became popular in the 80's when 60 Minutes did their story on the health effects of red wine, because Merlot is a red-wine that appeals to white-wine drinkers. A Zin. would be just fine too. Drink the one you like, or switch back and forth since I assume you'll be sharing with your husband. There are also some decent boxed wines out there. That way you could have a glass every now and then without worrying about the bottle.

It seems to matter in high government appointments. I remember the snobbish sniffing from the press about one of Bush's appointments whose degree was merely from SMU. They've probably done the same for other people and I never noticed, but I did in this case because SMU is a school you attend for connections within Texas. For me, my university has never been discussed. I have a degree from a real university that is large and local, so I guess no questions are needed. For employment it is really just a checkmark. I've never gotten a job through someone from the university, nor have I helped someone else get a job.