I am. Mine are financial and personal reasons. My major is accounting, although I started out as an art major. It is part of my retirement planning :lol:

They never affected me much until this year. Next year will be rough too. My mom was 40 when she was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. She died at 41, just 6 months later. I turned 40 this year, and it kind of bothers me that next year I'll be as old as my mom ever was. Plus, this year my babies turned 16 and became seniors in high school. My oldest child turns 20 this year. Just feeling a little old..lol. But usually, I'm more of a "better than the alternative" kind of girl about birthdays.

Lol. You can't kill em. I dug up the ones around our aunt's trailer before they moved it, literally threw them in a pile around a cherry tree, and 2 years later they are thriving like I lovingly planted them in a bed.

I got mine at Lowe's. They have REALLY cheap plastic seats though, so be prepared to put some nicer ones on. That was my only complaint.

I see what you did there :D No it isn't normal. Your dh is the unreasonable one. This will cost thousands more in floor replacement on down the line. (not to mention potential mold problems). Check out penguin toilets. I have them in my entire house. They have an overflow protection drain. However, they don't clog at all under normal use. The one upstairs clogs occasionally, but I have a child that could clog the Chunnel. Even with clogs, they've never overflowed.

Maybe I live in a different kind of culture than many here, but I wouldn't give it a second thought if someone stopped and asked for a start. I have had perfect strangers stop and ask about our garden? I think it is cool to share :D

Not lobster, but we caught blue crab while at a vacation home once and attempted to boil it. Something went wrong and we had a disgusting experience...so I wouldn't likely do it again. A funny story: My mom HATED all things creepy crawly. My dad somehow managed to snag some lobsters (he was in the Air Force, and there is no telling how he ended up with them). He was going to surprise her, but stuck them in the crisper drawer of the fridge. She later opened the fridge and saw what she said looked like huge spiders crawling in the drawer. She screamed, and ran from the house, leaving the fridge standing open. She wouldn't even go back into the house until my dad disposed of them.

Probably 20-30% for a family of 5 adultish people, including eating out. We eat out more than I would like...but it is a busy season of our lives.

I've had hardwood in two kitchens, including my current one. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Just be able to accept some dings and scratches, as they will happen.

Visit MoMA and eat street food :D And get a slice of cheesecake at Juniors. I would through seeing a Broadway play in there, but I don't know if you'd have time to do that and a concert.

I spend more than that for a family of 5. Grocery prices are ridiculous.

Completely depends on the child. My oldest wouldn't have done well with my current schedule of working part-time and going to college full time. My younger two have thrived. They have always preferred to be super independent and work well that way.

Heh...or my own story in which I began as an art major, have been an artist most of my adult life, but at 40 I am majoring in accounting and taking a ton of math. You never know what life will throw at you, and that is an easy one to be prepared for.

Mint grows wild in a lot of places around here. There is one valley a few roads over that is full of it. When the county mowers come through to mow the ditch lines, the whole valley smells like mint. It's kind of awesome.

My first attempt at rosemary failed. This second one I planted two years ago, and it is growing just fine. I think it is hit or miss.

I have some of this...it is one of my favorites!

I have rosemary, several varieties of thyme, oregano, cilantro, basil, two kinds of mint, sage, tarragon and dill. My herb garden is huge, and is really a cottage style flower garden, so I have let several things ramble. The thyme is a great ground cover. I planted my mint in terra cotta pots and sunk them into the ground. After 4 years they haven't spread, but I'm going to have to repot soon because the terra cotta has finally cracked and crumbled. The rosemary, oregano, thyme and sage are all perennials here, so i just snip and use as I need them...usually in soups and stuff. The cilantro I use a lot in the summer and just go without during the winter. It reseeds itself and pops up all over the place. Basil I try to grow enough to make pesto to freeze. I also have anise that I never really have used.

Honestly, I think the past 130 years in the US have been an anomaly in the history of humans as far as living with a family unit. Throughout history, and in many cultures, it would be considered odd to move out of the home or village and live so independently away from extended family.

I could save money, in the long run, but I'm not willing to become a full-fledged farm lady to do so. Our dirt is crap. It needs a ton of yearly amending and work. We have the space for a mini farm, but bleh...I don't have the desire. We do grow blackberries. (well, we let them keep growing...they'll pop up anywhere here) I have an herb garden mixed in with a cottage style flower garden. Our soil does well with okra and green beans, so we have huge crops of those some years, but give most of it away. We barely have a garden this year though. I planted two kinds of squash and some tomatoes in pots.

I started homeschooling (when my girls were 6th and 3rd graders) because I hated seeing my kids come home every day miserable, and I realized that I could do at least as good of a job educating them at home, without all the drama. I kept homeschooling them because I realized that they could get a far better education at home than at our public school. I also realized that I would be much closer to them as teens than I would if they continued in the PS environment. However, pretty much every year, my dh had to remind me of these things when I was ready to throw in the towel. My oldest was a frustrating child to educate. My younger two had a year or so that I thought we'd never make it through. But we did. My oldest graduated and is in college with friends that she started off in public school with. She thanks me regularly for keeping her home. She has seen first hand how hard our PS was on her peers, and how much more she has learned in the same amount of time. My younger two are now seniors and have good college prospects. They were given the option to go to PS in the 10th grade and turned it down. They are happy with our choice. I am happy with how responsible and self-confident they are. I love the ability all three have to interact well with people of all ages and backgrounds...something many of their PS peers struggle with. Some things they've been able to do because they were homeschooled: make friends with people all over the country, and of many ages, that they have remained friends with them over the years. They've been able to spend time on volunteering, fencing classes, ballroom dance, etc. They've had a relaxed high school experience without all the stress we see in their PS friends. They've been able to develop some out of the box interests (my oldest loves languages and has taken classes in several different ones). One of my twins has been able to pursue forensic science classes and projects, and is set to major in it in college. Our curriculum started off with a binder of Weaver curriculum, which was the only thing I could find when I first began. It shifted over the years to Sonlight, then to more WTM aligned, then to a mish mash of whatever worked best for my girls. Now in our last year, one daughter is completely outsourced (DE and co-op) and the other has picked out what works for her to finish up her credits. We made it. It was hard. It was fun. It was worth it.

My dd did, but she took it though our co-op with a lady that went all out. She learned so much, and has chosen Forensic Science as her major/career path. This teacher even stages an elaborate hands-on crime scene at her home for a final each year.

I wonder if funeral expectations/traditions are about to undergo a big shift with our generation. More and more people seem to be taking a similar view towards minimal fuss. Personally, the less the better. I want to be cremated, and they can throw my ashes off a bridge. I don't want some awful viewing or wake/funeral for my girls to have to stand through while 500 people that barely knew me hug them and tell them how wonderful I was. I've gone through it with two parents, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. The last thing I wanted to do was be touched by strangers for hours on end while I just wanted to mourn in peace. Anyway. Cremation. Private ceremony/prayer while disposing of the ashes. Then a big ol' party for close friends and family to make my kids laugh. The end.

Dh and I have been married for 24 years. Throughout our entire marriage, he would have preferred I stay home and not work, regardless of our child status. It hasn't always been feasible to do so, however, and I did work early in our marriage because we had to eat. Then I was a SAHM while our kids were growing up. I'm working now, for my own personal reasons and for financial ones, but he'd still be happy for me to stay home. He had several reasons. One: his mom was a mostly SAHM and after kids grew up was a SAHW. He found comfort in someone being at home, and in his world men worked, wives took care of the house. Two: He liked not having to worry about household stuff. I took care of the finances, cleaning, cooking, etc., and he was more than willing to do the work of bringing in the $$. He never considered my staying at home to be useless or lazy. Three: He seems to find some self-worth in being the bread winner and his wife not *needing* to work. Now, his views and mine have not always meshed, and it has caused some friction. I can't just be at home all day. In fact, it was a big contributor to our separation and near divorce. I get stir crazy. Before kids, if I hadn't worked while he was gone all day, I'd have probably been bored and needy too..lol. (and honestly, I probably would have ended up leaving him because he worked a LOT of hours)

My oldest started out BF and then was formula fed. She was a cranky colicky thing no matter what she ate. If I could go back and talk to my younger self, I would have tried an elimination diet. (Later she tested allergic to several foods, including dairy and soy)

I broke down and got their credit card. I pay off the balance each month, sometimes bi-weekly if I've been order happy. I get reward points, I don't worry about weird charges to my bank, and it was super easy to do. I just have to be extra careful that I pay it off BEFORE interest is charged.