The blog The Prudent Homemaker. It's fabulous. So many good ideas

Just tell her to keep looking. I am 6'0" tall and was just mother of the groom. I looked at every bridal wear store in my city. Just looked up bridal wear/formal wear online and printed off the list. Set aside a day and went to them all. I got an off the rack dress that was long enough. The saleswoman said that the dresses are made long so that they can be shortened to whatever length the buyer wants. But the as-is length was perfect for me. As a bonus, they were discontinuing formal dresses and everything was $25. I got so many complements on my dress. I got the same length as mother of the bride, she wore a silver color and I wore navy. I was looking for something light colored, to be more similar to hers, but I didn't feel comfortable in anything I found. When I found this dress and texted a picture to my sister to ask her what she thought, she said' "Buy it. It's the first dress you look happy to be in." So I would encourage friend to be persistent in looking and to find something she's comfortable in. All of the 'regular' stores, like Nordstrom Rack, Marshalls, etc did not have dresses long enough for me. But all of the formal wear stores did, they are made long intentionally. Hopefully your friend will find one that doesn't even need hemmed.

Schmidts

I like my 'ruts to run in'. I have a LOT of nieces and nephews and we do give gifts at Christmas. We live quite frugally. When nieces and nephews were younger it was easier to find or make inexpensive gifts that were very nice. Now that they are older, it is harder. I like to have a gift tradition, for example nieces and nephews under 10 get $5 for birthday, over 10's get $10. Could you share what inexpensive traditions you have for gifts for extended family? Please only share inexpensive ideas, otherwise I'll just feel discouraged! Thanks!!

Ask her what she needs. I've been on the fringes of some community development stuff and that's what I've learned. What another perceives as the need may not be what the person in need actually wants or needs.

No advice here, but I'm in the midst of it myself. I found a couple of books on CFS and that has been helpful to me to know where to start. I am not the only member of my extended family going through this, and we all lament how little the doctors can help. It seems like stabbing around in the dark, all the time. Part of what helped me was to just accept that this is what my body is going through right now. I'm doing all the supplements I know and getting excellent nutrition. Blessings on your journey.

I try and avoid Heathrow, it's very busy. Manchester is better. I usually try and fly non-US carriers. Air France is nice.

For those of you that have had a child get married in the last few years, what gifts did they really appreciate? Did you make them anything handmade? Looking for ideas for shower gift for daughter-in-law to-be.

I use L'Oreal ever curl shampoo and conditioner. I really like them. I try to not wash too frequently. I only use wide tooth comb.

Is there only one Elementary Greek text on Amazon?

We have a college grad who will be teaching ancient Greek to a small group of high schoolers. Her degree is in classics, so she herself has taken plenty of college level Greek. But she doesn't know of a high school level curriculum that would give her a skeleton or framework for her class. Does anyone know of a program? Or have used one? Not online, just workbook or textbook aimed at high school level. Thank you!

Lots of great answers! I think some of it is just practice. Taking as many timed practice tests as he can bear to complete. Familiarity with the test does save time.

I have posted on the chat board recently, and today tried to post some 'for sale' items on the classifieds. My posts are shown, but with a message above them saying that I have to post on the forums before being able to post a classified. What's up?

Churches will know. We have donated anonymously and know it has gone directly to the family in need.

Someone in our house turns 50 next year. I have seen that some businesses or restaurants give discounts to those 50+ (age varies by business) and some say, "with AARP membership". Who has any experience with this and what have you learned? Thank you! Ever on a quest to be more frugal!

Thanks. All input is welcome! I have tried locally, but we're rural and it's not a great market. Just about to list some homeschool books on the WTM sale boards!

Would anyone be able to give me a short guide to selling things on ebay? I know there are books about it, but I just want to sell a few extras from around the house, not make a business out of it. What do I need to know to sell well? I've heard something about putting multiple titles to get the most hits from searches. How do you price? I have tried to sell a couple of things and only received ridiculously low offers. Thanks!

We need a new printer. We really want one that will work with only a black ink cartridge. Our current one requires ALL of the colors to be in and have ink in, or it won't print. It seems that the only printers that are truly monochrome are laser printers, which are much more expensive. So, 1. What printer that will print with only black cartridge in would you recommend? 2. Have you seen any good deals on printers? 3. Where do you buy ink at a good price? Thank you, thank you!

I have just got out of a boot for 2 foot fractures in a row-yes my bone density is poor. The orthopedic doctor said it can take up to a year for that foot to be 'normal' and I need to wear supportive shoes. Can anyone recommend some brands? I like Ahnu, but they don't have any cute styles right now. I need not-too-soft and not-to-hard foot bed in the shoe. I don't want to wear running shoes for a year (which is what I'm supposed to wear around the house). I wouldn't mind a shoe like a Merrel that looks sporty but not exactly a running shoe. But it has to have excellent arch support and I don't find that Merrels have that (for me). I cannot wear slide in shoes. Birkenstocks are too hard. Thanks in advance! Where else could I ask such a question!

Where do you knitters buy yarn online? I have bought from Knitpicks, and it's great for basics. But are there sites that have more of the interesting, higher end looking yarn (would love a good price though)? Thank you!

I'm with you. I'm sure we will find the joy in the new normal, but change comes slow for me. I'm trying not to say to myself that change is hard. I don't need that. It just takes time. There are many walking the same road, so take heart, fellow traveler!

I love canyon bakehouse bread. Trader joes is like a rock. Udi's reminds me of wonder bread and it leaves me with a bad taster that lingers. But I think it's entirely personal. We all taste things differently. I am thankful to have found something that I like and can buy locally. Having to drive 45 mins for bread is not fun.

removed

I had salmonella. It was about 24 hrs from the contaminated food. I've had run-of-the-mill food poisoning from restaurants and that was a quicker onset. The run-of-the-mill ones pass pretty quickly. I was in bed with salmonella for a month. And then in the hospital. I was low for the rest of the summer. Salmonella can cause lasting intestinal damage. Watch how she goes. And take her in again if she doesn't quickly improve. I don't know what they can do to get rid of it. I was not in the US and it was handled very badly. None of that to scare you, just to recommend being watchful.

I had hysterectomy in my early 30's after unsuccessful ablation for HEAVY bleeding with huge clots. It was a huge quality of life improvement.