No sisters. No close friends. I won't talk about my marriage with my mom. I don't want to give her anymore reasons to dislike him, especially since I may emotional and slightly less than rational, and the damage that would be done by that conversation wouldn't be fair to him later when I'm no longer angry with him. It's rough. It really is.

Restroom.

Me too! The oldest boy takes forever to do anything. He gets it from his Dad.

We got ours at Home Depot. It was too large for our wall and they cut it for us for free. My husband hung ours on the wall using Command Strips, so no holes. I've had luck cleaning the shadows off of ours with a damp paper towel and some elbow grease. There was one spot where the marker wasn't coming off completely and I used a bit of baking soda and water to get it off. My husband picked up a spray can of clear acrylic sealer that he is planning to use on the board. He seems to think this will make the surface more shiny and easier to wipe off with the standard white board eraser.

flashcards recipes (mine always get something spilled on them) job/chore lists maps charts homemade bookmarks Honestly, I go around looking for things I can laminate.

I know I can look on-line for them, but there will be 2 billion different ones...so please give me your favorite and fairly simple guacamole and baked beans recipes. We weren't impressed with the last guacamole recipe we tried. I make almost everything from scratch, which is why I'm looking for simple. I don't need another all-day, tons of labor recipe. If it helps, I do have a crock-pot, although I've never used it. I inherited it. So I guess you could call me a crock-pot newbie.

Tom's of Maine. We currently have peppermint because that's all the store had last time we needed some. I suspect they would prefer the Silly Strawberry.

Soda. But where I live, Ohio, it's more commonly known as pop. Pop just doesn't sound right to me, even though I've lived here most of my life.

We do scrambled eggs and omelets. There's also scrambled egg muffins: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/scrambled-egg-muffins/Detail.aspx http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Moms-Baked-Egg-Muffins/Detail.aspx Yogurt with fruit is good too. I also bought a ham. Sliced it up, bagged it into smaller portions and froze most of it. Everyone here is happy to have a couple of slices of ham with their eggs.

I can't wait to teach K and First Grade again. I get to do them each two more times!

Seriously? In 2nd grade? Because she needed it? That's awful!

I'm the mother of a 8 1/2 year old girl. This thread has depressed me. Can she be 3 again, please?

A year ago, yes. Today, no. Six months from now, yes. Today, I would have to talk to the parents. I don't ever want to have to ask the parents to loan me money again.

I would be too creeped out. Yeah, I know, I'm probably too old for that reaction, but, that's the way it is.

During my last pregnancy I wondered why it was getting so hard to find maternity clothes. Really, why is it? Women have babies. You can't walk around naked. Why would Kmart and WalMart not carry these items? In my area Target and Khol's still carry them. I usually don't like to spend a lot of money on maternity clothes, because I'm always convinced "this is the last time" I will need them. For my last two pregnancies I got away without buying any maternity clothes. I just bought shirts one size larger than normal and a belly band. I was able to wear my own jeans with a belly band up until the last month. Then I dug out my one pair of maternity jeans. For me it helped that I don't get out much during the last month. There's also a store called Motherhood that has some really cute maternity clothes, if you can find one. That's where I got most of my clothes for my first two pregnancies. They were very affordable (at least they were 9 and 10 years ago).

[quote name= Not to mention' date=' half the time you call people up on the spur of the moment, they can't because they have other plans. :glare: :iagree: I think what you did was great. Some of us locally are trying to do the same thing. Sure, schedules and structure aren't for SOME people. But, a standing invitation at a regular time and place does make things easier for getting together with other people sometimes. Some people are just strange.

It depends.... do I have enough boxes and tape on hand? and how many times do I have to stop to: prepare a snack wipe a butt break up a fight pour some milk?

Tell the parents. That's definitely something I would want to know. It's something I NEED to know.

Wow. They wanted to give me Ambien during my last week of pregnancy with my youngest last spring because I wasn't sleeping. I turned it down because my husband works nights and I didn't think a 9 year old would be sufficient supervision for myself and the other 2 children. Now I'm really glad I did. Those are some scary stories.

I feel the same way. An evening out, no charge. One afternoon, no charge. A couple of weeks, sorry, that's a lot of time and I have other obligations. But if I'm getting paid, I can work it into my schedule, I can always use the extra money.

I have a limited attention span if I'm not thoroughly fascinated by the topic...that said, I read the first 2 pages and lost interest. Whoever it is probably really enjoys being able to chat with us without knowing her true identity. I didn't post.

There were a bunch of reasons that lead to our decision, but you wanted one that sums it up...I can do it better!

I was going to mention the above. As well as make sure you are getting enough sleep, most of us Mom's are fairly sleep deprived! Eat healthy, and really watch the carbs and sugars. There's a lot of great advice in this thread!

I ask that each child clean up his stuff. When they are finished I come back back and do a room check. Then I pick up the stray items on the floor and ask, "So this doesn't belong to anybody? I guess I can throw it out then!" Someone will jump up and claim the item. I find that it also helps to send them in to clean one at a time. I give each child 20 minutes to work on cleaning up. No other kids are allowed in the room during that time.

I am bothered by it really. I'm an uptight, nervous, shy, perfectionist. I would love to be more laid back. I really would. I've tried and tried. I think I cause myself a ridiculous amount of stress.