Tragic :( But what a wonderful love story and amazing legacy - that's one army of descendants, wow!

What fabulous news to wake up with - party on! :party:

My MIL gives the adult children and "nicer" decorative basket, small, and fills it with real grass. We always donate ours after the holiday, and I'm sure you can find them inexpensively at thrift stores or even Marshall's, TJ Maxx type places. THen she puts in 1-2 plastic eggs, one with cash and one with some kind of small candies (we each have our favorites!). She usually adds one more small thing, special to each of us - for me it's usually a sketch pad, a DVD for my husband, a rolled up tee-shirt for my BIL, and a nice bottle of wine for my SIL. Always well-received by all of us :D and definitely not babyish whilst still being a fun "kid" treat.

I've birthed two children. One was 10 days past the due date, the other was 16 days past the due date. My first labor lasted roughly 15 hours. I started contractions around dinner and delivered around lunchtime the next day. My second labor I started contractions as the sun was coming up, and delivered just before midnight. My kids are dwaddlers -and sometimes pains in my backside- still ;).

We've always owned property, but sometimes we've rented despite that. As a military family we did move around, but we knew that since we did ... so did many others like us ;) I hated living on-post, so we avoided it wherever possible. We bought -and still own- multiplexes at three different duty stations, and we bought a house from my SIL at one of her husband's former duty stations. There have always been enough Joes that we can be selective and still have a sizeable crop from which to rent to. We've never struggled to keep them filled with good tenants. This wasn't feasible at all of our duty stations, so we sometimes rented our own home-for-living whilst still owning other properties in other cities/states. I don't think one is more right than the other. I think different situations will call for which option makes the most sense. Best of luck determining which will be best for your respective situation.

So .... S/O: what does one consider "middle-aged" :D:tongue_smilie: Signed, A. Fisher

I remember being so taken aback the first time it happened to me! I told my husband (whose job it was that moved us there) that I couldn't believe he relocated me away from home and family to a place where I had to effectively have my butt sniffed (aux chiens!) every time I met someone! Then I got used to it :D. Then I started doing it :confused:. Then we moved, and I reconciled it all by not asking directly but fishing for the answer instead :tongue_smilie:!

Thanks for the heads up! Fortunately for me, your kids can't give one to my kids ;) so mine won't fare as well as yours did :D!

Oh no! I drink maybe 2-3 soft drinks per year. The last one I had, I snorted after a particularly amusing photo exchange. My right side of the keyboard still sticks LOL. But I'm a slow learner, so there will be more soft drinks and -knowing me- probably more spills!

I know it's too late now, but for future reference ... can he do art-ish things in the same room as them, or maybe you? My kids like drawing on mirrors and windows with wet-erase markers or window crayons. Sometimes lipstick if I'm desperate and can't find markers or crayons LOL. Another easy one is putting a few drops of food dye into a spritzer bottle (with water). My preschoolers loved to spritz water on the windows and sliding doors, then use their fingers to draw designs. Only in the rooms with tile -not carpet- though! My youngest is 4 years younger than the next kid, who is 4th of 4 that were born in a 5 year period. The baby is always trying to do what the older kids are doing! Over a couple of weeks, I had the older four help me create activities for the youngest. I bought a truckload of felt using coupons for JoAnns and Michaels, and asked the older kids to cut out shapes. Then we wrapped a foamboard in one large felt piece to create a large feltboard. The youngest could create all sorts of designs, etc. quietly and relatively mess-free in any room of the house -- animals, people, weather forms, and just random shapes (triangles, rectangles, etc.) Another project I had them do was lacing boards. I bought cardboard cake bottoms (round) that came 5/pack. Each older kid drew a few designs (tree, pig, cross, house, etc.) then punched holes around the perimeter of his design. We bought a bunch of shoelaces and then let the youngest lace the designs. They were easy to store, and also portable. What about some Kumon-type books to keep on hand? THey have those cutting and pasting ones that seem relatively easy ... but maybe by "trust me" you mean even those aren't a good idea? (I have a nephew that we don't let near scissors because he's cut hair, drapes, clothes, and more, and he's 8 LOL so I understand!)

I don't ask outright. I've lived places where it's not only acceptable to do so, it's part of that introductory size-you-up stage (how old? job? earnings? etc.) -- so I'd say that some cultures, be they ethnic or social, are okay with it whilst others are not. I err on the safer side, of assuming it's impolite. Some of that is the culture I grew up in, and some of it is knowing that the area I live in (affluent, professional) I'm a good 10-15 years younger than the parents of my kids' peers (I'm neither affluent, nor professional, so my childbearing years were the 20s and not my 30s-40s). The women here seem way more self-conscious about their age than do I. I'm not sure if that's personality, or just where each of us are respectively in our lives LOL.

Super sweet :) I envy her. I usually fall asleep in the opposite position, and wind up startled awake with a sore nose. I hate when I fall asleep holding a book! :blush:

Such sad news :( She sounds like a fighter, with much to fight for. (((hugs))) to you and her young family, too. All of you must feel so powerless, and that's incredibly hard.

:lol: This was me and my husband, except it was rice they were desecrating. It was the one hill I swore I'd die on when it came to our kids LOL. They were going to grow up eating it right! I've never tried grapefruit. Absolutely zero desire, and no opportunity that I can recall (other than buying it myself). Reading through this thread, I think if someone held a gun to my head and forced me to try one ... I'd do the cut in half, smothered in honey option. Honey fixes everything :D!

Haven't read the other pages, other than to note the topic has drifted some. But to the original question, my answer is Yes. I do think an educated adult can be horrible with spelling. FWIW I'm an excellent speller but I'm not terribly educated .. so I know the reverse to be true, too ;) :D

:001_wub: THANK YOU! (It's one of those things I always didn't ask for fear it was so obvious someone might laugh at me. This thread confirms those fears weren't unfounded LOL.) Now I know; now only to remember it!

English isn't my first language, so these things don't seem to bother me as much. I figure if I can communicate it and they can get the gist, life is good ;) :D and vice versa, too. So here's one that always confuses me: I can't [?] it any longer. [?] = bear? bare? to tolerate; to stand it. I mostly think "bear" because "bare" gives me the image of shedding clothes ... but who knows. Like I said, this language is tricky to learn (apparently even for natives) so I don't ever feel certain which one is correct.

Pasta? Maybe some bow-ties (or any textured noodle) tossed with the shredded chicken. You could serve as-is with some grated parmesan cheese for a cheesy-feel OR tossed with a handful of spinach leaves (or even a frozen bag of peas and carrots). Very inexpensive, and a little less like your prior meals.

Oh no! Murphy's Law strikes again! (But for those kinds of accolade, who can be frustrated? LOL) She'll do great tomorrow, not just because she's talented but because she knows she's loved and supported. What a long way that goes!

We had mutual friends. They knew him from a prior duty station and they knew me from being regulars at my restaurant. Those friends and I had a standing weekly karaoke date, and one night they showed up with him. He was stationed overseas at the time, but was home on leave for three weeks. He attached himself to me like white on rice, and we married shortly after. Not so romantic, really; he had decent people vouching for him so I felt okay abut it, and I was cute enough that he was willing to accept whatever quirks were hiding under that packaging LOL. We still visit those friends 3-5 times each year, to continue our shared love for bad K-Pop karaoke :D Our kids love hearing those friends talk about us in our early years!

So, assuming that this will become a closed community and I'm agreeing to live with these specific 20 families ... I voted large houses, independent apts and independent kitchens. But I'd want shared common areas for each large home, to include living space, play space, and kitchen/dining space. I've always lived in a multi-generational home and for family-only I wouldn't need independent kitchens ... but the variable to be living with people I wasn't raised with, who may do things differently? I'd want individual kitchens. I lived in a dorm for part of university and let's just say that people who otherwise loved me found it hard to live with the smells of my favorite foods. Anyone who has lived with/near Asians will understand what I mean :tongue_smilie: So in that vein, separate kitchens would be nice for some things but a community kitchen would be wonderful, too, for shared meals of a more popular variety.

I'm in my early-mid 30s and my hair is black. I have random white strands, some short and some long, scattered throughout my hair. I don't bother dying them. I rather like them, even though I'm realizing the transition period is probably going to last a good decade or so. I reserve the right to grow frustrated at a later point, and to reconsider LOL. I'm about 10-15 years younger than most of my social peers (parents of the kids my own kids associate with) and my company hasn't hired in about ten years leaving me among the youngest at work ... so that I have salty-pepper hair doesn't bother me from a vanity perspective. It's obvious I'm younger. I might feel more self-conscious about it if I hung out with a younger crowd (or a similarly aged crowd who didn't have the gray hairs!) - isn't that a selfish, horrible thing to admit? :blush: But true, nonetheless! None of my social peers are going natural. It's a small, affluent town with lots of trophy wives in tow - the busiest places are Starbucks, the gym, and the one salon ... all conveniently located in the one retail area we have ;)!

My little sister recently went off to college. Cash was much appreciated, as were gift cards to places like Target, IKEA, grocery stores, gas stations, and Starbucks. She spent one year at the dorm, and this year is in an apartment. Even with the best of planning there was always things she was missing - things you take for granted at "home" (one time it was a stapler, another time a mop LOL).

Rest in peace, absent of pain, Sweet Rosie. (((hugs))) to those of you who loved her, and will miss her dearly.

I'm so very sorry, and have placed your family in my thoughts :( especially her daddy. I hope in time he's able to find comfort in knowing his two girls are together and never far from him. It's never a good time to say good-bye to a loved one, but it's heart-breaking when you don't even get the opportunity to. I feel so badly for her spouse and children, and everyone whose life she touched.