I'm not making broad assumptions...her not allowing them to deal with anything remotely less than unhappy has already deeply affected her children. And if things continue, without something major to intervene, they will have the same problems coping that she does. And her brother. And her sister. I don't think that people should expose their children to violence, or extreme tragedy. But I don't think they should be entirely sheltered from having to cope with grief and disappoinment. Death especially. It is something we ALL have to face, and we will ALL lose people dear to us. I think if it's handled as such, then it's much easier for children to cope. IMO. :)

Something that was mentioned on the Sonlight thread got me thinking about the issue of death and protecting children from it. Do you go out of your way to shield your child from dealing with the idea of death? Even as far as avoiding books that mention it, or deal with a character dying? What about in real life? Do you think some parents go too far in trying to protect their kids? We have never tried to hide things from our kids. Death as always been talked about as a part of life. They've known about it from the beginning, since my mother died less than a year before my oldest was born. We've talked about their grandmother openly. They've had many pets die over the years, and we always were upfront about it. We let them grieve, and feel the pain of loss. I feel like by being open about it, and about death and heartache in general, they were much more prepared when my step-dad passed away this year. They were very close to him, but handled his death very well. They knew it was coming ahead of time (terminal cancer). They realize that everyone dies. I'm just curious what others think?

:lol::lol::lol: Amen!!! August is just....miserable here. We haven't reached our first year mark yet, but we do plan to go year round with lots of smaller breaks worked in. The kids groaned at the idea until they actually SAW the schedule I made up and realized that they'd have a week off nearly every month.

Nope, after it's cooled.

Thanks ladies! I'll have to try these.

Lol...well...plain ol' salt is staying. Gotta have that.

Help! I have tried several different whole wheat recipes for home made bread. I cannot for the life of me get a loaf to turn out that is good for slicing for sandwhiches! Is there such a recipe out there? What's the trick? Everything I make falls apart when sliced. It TASTES great. It just won't hold together well? :confused::confused::confused:

We are trying to do this now. Not so much all PROCESSED foods, but all unnatural foods. If it has chemicals in it that I could not grow (mostly) then we are eliminating it. HFCS, nitrates, dyes, chemical preservatives. So I'm right there with ya.

yes :glare: And he taught me how to drive. He doesn't like being the passenger AT ALL. He makes me nervous because he likes to poke fun at my driving. But ask me who has totaled two cars? :001_huh:

I hadn't thought about the meat....It would make sense to be able to store more, say, turkeys in a chest. We won't have many boxed items in it. Mostly meats, and garden produce.

We are looking into buying a freezer. Dh and I are at odds about whether to buy a chest or upright. He grew up with a chest style. He hates the digging involved in finding anything. He really wants to get an upright. I'm mixed. I know a chest will hold better in case of a power outage. (which is EXTREMELY rare where we live...we've had ONE in 8 years) Do you think you can store more in an upright or less?

I 'just' have 3, but we deal with the bickering and whining too. And I think we have rather well behaved girls. I think the more you add to the mix, the more this kind of thing pops up. I expect disagreements (I have three GIRLS after all), but do not tolerate outright meaness or violence. There are some days that I just feel like a referee..lol.

I have a pot on the stove right now! Salt, water, and bacon (if you have it). The longer they cook the better :tongue_smilie:

I really need to try this. I've got seed trays all over the house! lol.

I'm so sorry! You'll be in my prayers! :grouphug:

small stuffed animals, shoes, hair bows, pokemon cards, markers, pens, money, flash drives, CF cards, legos, etx..... Nothing living so far :tongue_smilie:

If I told you....I'd have to kill you. :glare:;)

I have mine painted white and I love it. I does show up dirt a little easier, but it's also easier to spot and wipe off real quick.

We try to find a balance. Watching the news anymore is almost like watching Jerry Springer. It's all one big drama. We try to watch the news once a week or so, and scan the headlines online. We also get a newspaper. This keeps us in the know enough that we have a heads up in the world is about to end :lol: Otherwise, yes, I keep my head in the sand. I'm not completely uninformed, but I don't need the drama and stress involved in keeping up with all the chicken little news stories out there.

I learned on a stick, and can drive a column shift (we had an OLD pickup truck for a while) The car I learned on was a beater, and you had to keep your foot on the gas at ALL times or it would die. Try operating 3 pedals at once! (good thing I have big feet :) )Our '08 truck is a stick shift. Our kids had never seen one before when we got it...and asked me why Dad was 'messing around with that stick thing while he was driving'? :lol: Anyway, YES our kids will learn how. It is a very handy skill to have, IMO.

Like others, I thought the acting was eh...so so. BUT the message behind it was awesome. Dh and I where shocked at how close the whole thing was to our marriage a few years ago. With the exception of the porn, nearly everything else was us. I mean, we even heard the exact words we used coming out of their mouths! God wasn't in our lives. We focused so much on ourselves. We ended up separated and a short court date away from divorce. Then God and a commitment to our marriage intervened. I only wish I could have seen something like this early on in our marriage and took it to heart. Could have saved us 15 years of misery..lol. I'm thankful that we finally figured it out. Fortunately we have the rest of our lives to live out what a marriage is SUPPOSED to be! I hope this movie can help other couples put the focus of their marriages back where it should be.

I'd love to know the answer myself. Ours is only 7 years old, and has the gunk problem too. AND it has a food grinder feature so you supposedly don't have to pre-wash.

I have a sleepwalker/pee-er too. The peeing not so much now, but when she was younger she was known to sleep pee in odd places. She would also wander around the house and be fairly unresponsive. Or she'd mumble non-sense. She's eight now and has done this occassionally since she was around 2. I just keep bells on our outside doors, and sleep REAL light.

My dh works at home. Fortunately he has his own office that isn't near us..lol. But he still wanders through several times a day. What has helped for us is establishing work time, and school time. Then we try to stay out of each others hair during those times as much as possible.

From an artist's point of view... Just provide her with plenty of materials, and avoid instruction right now. Exposure to various forms of art is great (museums, simple art history), but formal how-to lessons will likely have the opposite effect. I know that personally I benefited the most from simply having materials to use, and the freedom to use them as a child. Any formal training I got just frustrated me, and usually ended with me not touching art for several months. As she gets older, if SHE expresses interest in a class, then go for it.