I made "pizza joes" last night. I browned the meat with diced onions, bell pepper, and celery. Then I added basil, oregano and garlic. Add to that a jar of marinara sauce and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add salt if needed. I served them over french roll "buns" with provelone and parmesean. Five kids and two adults scarfed them down :)

I have had some luck at Old Navy. She might also try Juniors sizes. There is some overlap, and the Juniors clothing is a little taller.

We just moved to a 15 acre farm from living in the suburbs or city for most of my adult life. I love it. BUT, I grew up in a place that you couldn't even SEE another house. It was seriously in the boonies. My dh grew up on 13 acres. So we are used to it. If you have over a couple of acres, be prepared for work. The land needs upkeep constantly, or you'll be living in the middle of a mess. You'll need some way of mowing fields if you have them. Fences and barns for animals need constant maintenance. Animal care is messy and unpredictable. So is gardening..lol. But I wouldn't trade it.

I haven't, but I would. I'll try just about anything once. (with insects being the exception :lol:) Dh and I have even talked about the possibility of raising meat rabbits, but the thought doesn't sit well with the girls. Except my oldest. She had a rather vicious pet rabbit when she was younger, and said she has no qualms with eating them now. :001_huh: Oh, born and raised in the Southern US.

I know that not everyone will love it. But they aren't totally new to the idea. They have roamed their grandparents land since they were small, whenever we were there, and loved it. They are entirely too sedentary, and I mean to change it. They will willingly do no screen time...if they can sit and read. They just don't want to be mobile. They don't like sports. So outside it is...at least so they do something besides sit. They might hate it...but they'll cope. Or they'll grow up and want nothing to do with the great outdoors. ETA: They don't get unlimited screen time either, they never have really. They just WANT to have it..lol.

does it take to get the city out of my girls? :glare: It is beautiful outside. We have 15 acres, a huge barn, woods, fields, chickens, a cat and a dog. The girls just want to be inside watching TV or playing video games. Apparently making them stay outside since lunch time is akin to torture. The only way I can curb the whining is to offer them a shovel and a stall full of horse manure. :lol: And yes, I have been outside all day too.

I don't think he has had full thyroid done. They have done all sorts of blood work over the years though, with the white blood cell count being the only abnormality.

For the joint/tendon: He has had knee trouble since he was small. His first dislocation was as a pre-teen, and he has had multiple dislocations in both knees. His knees pretty much always hurt, and navigating steps or walking downhill is painful for him. He ends up with a lot of junk under the patella, causing grinding. He also has tendons/ligaments that were too tight, causing the patella to pull to one side. He has been told that he will be looking at joint replacement in the knees. He does have some degree of arthritis in his knees. A similar thing appears to be happening in his upper spine. The discs are wearing out, and the fluid is gone in two of them. There were also spurs and debris in between the discs. Discs 5, 6 and 7 are now fused. The bone scan results were normal :glare: As for the hypo- If he doesn't eat until dinner time, he is ok through most of the day, but will eat like it is going out of style from dinner until bedtime....sometimes with a sugar drop. If he doesn't eat breakfast, then eats anything remotely carb-y before dinner, it is a guaranteed crash. If he eats small meals throughout the day with protein at each meal, he does better. Once it crashes, it will come back up with a dose of honey or peanut butter, but he feels awful the rest of the day. If he has been sick, or is taking certain meds, it crashes more. He has had it drop below 60 quite often. I have never seen it swing high.

I buy my dh's shirts at Men's Wearhouse. Their wrinkle free shirts are awesome. They still need a hit with the iron to be crisp, but the few wrinkles just melt away with a quick iron.

My dh has had a myriad of health problems that seem unrelated, but I am beginning to think they are related. We were leaning toward fibro, but now I am unsure. Maybe someone here has an idea. His entire life he has had joint/tendon issues. He had knee problems from a very young age, and has had two lateral releases done. Both times they removed a lot of "debris" from the knee. The diagnoses: poor genetics. Around 4 years ago he began having neck and back trouble. We thought it was due to various trauma (car wrecks, wild childhood, etc.) He had two dessicated discs. This past fall he had a fusion of two discs and more "debris" removed, including a spur that was pressing on his spinal cord. His pain hasn't improved really. He has a muscle in his back that has been in a state of spasm for 4 years. He has numbness, tingling and pain in his hands. His neck hurts. He has also started having foot and leg pain for no apparent reason. He has a very hard time getting up in the mornings, or after sitting for very long. They did a full body bone scan with normal results. He has also had a colon rupture this past fall, shortly after his neck surgery. It was due to diverticulitis. He still cannot eat a lot of foods without having trouble the next day. He has had a history of elevated white blood cell count, even as a teen, but nothing has ever been found to cause it. He is hypoglycemic. If he is sick, or if he doesn't eat a certain way, his sugar will bottom out. Last night, while helping his dad replace a water line, he injured his hip. He was running a ditch witch, and he said he just felt it go. He hasn't been to the doctor yet, but will be going soon. He feels like something happened in the joint. He can barely get up or down this morning. He is only 38 years old. Anyone have ANY ideas?

I don't know, but I'm doing it myself! I have been SO sleepy this week. (however, this is the second time we have "sprung forward" in a month due to a move) The kids have been doing it to some extent as well.

Try thrift stores. One of my dds loves long skirts, and that seems to be where our best luck is.

Things like this on Craigslist are a constant amusement for dh and I. :tongue_smilie:

When my dd was 2, she had what the doctors finally called an allergic reaction to a virus. She was covered in a rash and hives on her face and body. She ran a fever over 105. She was lethargic and just didn't act right. Her eyes and lips swelled up. They finally just admitted her to Children's hospital and dosed her up with steroids, anti-histamines and a fever-reducer. They tested her for everything under the sun including Kawasaki, and never really had a firm diagnoses. The meds helped with the swelling and fever. Her rash lasted a couple of weeks. I'm adding a link to some photos: http://www.scrapjazz.com/galleries/14558/view/346772/-1/318/1.html It's an old scrapbook page I did, but it is the only access I have to the pics right now...they don't show the rash on her face as well.

Wearing it ALL the time would annoy me. My dh does, however wear his a lot...but he works from home! He has to use one due to neck problems. There have been many times I thought he was talking to me as he walked through the room.

Things I have made: Water Bath jams and jellies tomatoes peaches Pressure Canning green beans

An update ;) Ok, now that we've moved in, I have slightly better photos of the area in question, and you can see all the junk I have crammed in there..lol. We will be putting a couple of shelves over the washer and dryer soon for more storage. We are pretty limited at the moment, due to the fact that we are leasing. If we end up buying it, there will be some minor remodeling done. (please feel free to awwwww over my cute dog winking at you in this next one)

We've sponsored a little girl from Burkina Faso for about 3 years. It has been a good experience over all. As far as I can tell, they really get help from your money.

eh...pretty much always. I had a little boyfriend in 2nd grade (check yes or no kind of thing) Had a pretty innocent first kiss in 3rd grade. Started heading towards trouble by the time I was 11 or 12. My younger two have no interest whatsoever in having a boyfriend. My oldest has taken after me a bit and has been boy crazy since day one. She is the one that is wondering (at 15) if she will meet her future husband soon. :tongue_smilie: She is a much better behaved child than I was though, and has a much healthier outlook on relationships than I did.

This is sad and tragic, but schoolyard fights have happened since schoolyards were invented. I had the tar beat out of me at the same age by another girl, over a dog, while on the bus. Fights were not uncommon, and I went to a small rural school. I actually hope that the other little girl gets the support she needs since she will now be labeled a murderer.

I write all the assignments down in MY planner. Then they will all copy it into their planners. It works well for us.

I'll take a photo soon. It isn't much to look at, but it will work. I managed to fit my desk, two ikea shelves and a couch in there...lol. There is a shelf thing over the washer and dryer that needs to be replaced. It had what appeared to be 20 year old contact paper on it, and when I pulled it off, it smelled like cat urine :001_huh:. It got promptly recovered with new paper until we have time to replace it. The decor for this house is very much library-ish. We had to put bookshelves in every room! A friend asked when we were hiring the librarian. The biggest challenge to moving into this house: There hasn't been a woman living in it for over 30 years! It has been a long term bachelor pad. I had years of dirt to clean before we even got our stuff here. I counted 11 mop buckets of nasty black water, just from cleaning the floors and doors alone. Thankfully it wasn't nasty kind of dirty, just plain old DIRT dirty.

:D We are lucky enough to be be given 10 Rhode Island Reds by a friend. They'll be just about ready for laying when we get them. I'll definitely post pics when we get them

Nope, not yet. We expect some though, especially after the chickens get here.