I've been trying to cut out grocery spending by stretching out trips to the store, forcing us to cook and eat the less immediately appealing stuff we have around. There is always plenty of food in the house, just not convenient grab and go stuff. I get the same urgent complaints from the kids.

Is there a chance the Catholic school would allow you to enroll part time so that just one or two classes are screen based while the rest is at home?

I voted.

A few photos, sure. But not albums and albums worth. They honestly lose meaning when there are too many. It's nice to see a few photos of my parents' high school years but if I had hundreds of photos for each year I wouldn't know what to do with them. I'd get them digitized, then winnow the prints you want to keep down to maybe just a couple of albums.

I don't think I'm ever going to have to deal with a relative's clutter. My grandparents managed their own downsizing/decluttering when they moved from long term homes to smaller places to be near family. My parents have spent a life time moving every few years and other than books just don't collect much stuff. My in-laws were already fairly minimalist and then their home flooded due to hurricane Harvey. FiL now lives in an apartment with just the bare basics and is quite happy with that. I really want to be minimalist but haven't figured out how to make it work with nine people in the home.

It is hard to declutter when time is at a premium; in addition to the actual time demanded I find a fair amount of mental energy is required.

OK that Swurfer swing looks really cool: I'll have to look and see if we have a branch that would work for it.

1, 3, 6 and 8

I need ideas for Christmas. We keep things simple--stocking stuffers for everyone plus one or two larger family gifts. In the family gift category I already have something targeted at ages ten and up . I need something for my littles. Since this takes the place of multiple individual gifts it can (but doesn't have to) be relatively expensive. Ideas?

With the specific issue of her lying about communication, if this is ongoing and if your children want to keep communicating with her I agree with the suggestion upthread--teach your kids to send only group emails to Grandma that also go to other family members. Everyone will know then if she lies about not hearing from them.

There is nothing you can do that is going to change the reality she creates in her head or her need to be a victim. Your husband has it right on this one; don't engage. You can't change her, you can only set boundaries, ignore the rest, and teach your children to do the same.

OP, you need help and a break. Your husband doesn't provide it. Your parents do. I think the benefit to you outweighs any dislike he has for having visitors in the house. Your needs matter too.

Yay for thorough doctors!

Their health option just adds some interpretive stuff; Promethease is a lot cheaper and more comprehensive. And you have the option of upgrading with 23andMe at any time if you initially do the cheaper service; they run sales on upgrades as well. Of course the report you get through promethease hasn't been through the layers of vetting and government approval that 23andMe goes through. It sounds like your doctor will be helping you with the interpretation which is great.

Oh absolutely it makes sense if you already have a test to use what you have. I just figure those reading the thread thinking of ordering a test specifically to get health information should know which company tests more of the relevant SNPs. Along those same lines, if someone does test through 23andMe with plans to put the data through promethease they can go ahead and order 23andMe's cheaper ancestry test. Paying double for their health interpretation service doesn't get you any more raw data, it's exactly the same for both options. We've done Ancestry.com and Family Tree DNA as well for genealogy research purposes. All the companies usually run sales around black Friday.

Different companies analyze somewhat different sets of data; 23and Me includes more SNPs related to health than do the companies (such as ancestry) that focus primarily on genealogy.

Is your nephew living with your brother right now?

Cursive first is very common in Europe, millions of children in France and Germany have learned to write first in cursive. I wouldn't worry about it somehow confusing him.

My oldest put a bead in her ear when she was about 2. We couldn't afford the E.R.; I managed to get it out myself I think with a pin of some kind--got it into the center hole of the bead and was able to maneuver it out.

My dd is a dancer and also went straight to tampons.

If you opt out of sharing on 23and Me no one but you will see the test at all. Doesn't address data breaches etc. but it is not true that a relative testing will be able to compare their DNA to yours if you opt out of the sharing with relatives feature. 23and Me used to let you opt in to sharing anonymously but that is not a possibility anymore--anonymous matches have gone away. In any case you could always opt out of sharing and not show up; that is in fact the default.

I love PDQ Bach! We used to have PDQ Bach cassettes we listened to on long car trips when I was a kid.

There is one of me. There are eight other people in the family. Most of whom (dd15 is the exception) do not lift a finger at home without direct supervision by me. I hate supervising. Feeling depressed that my house is a mess and getting it to a not so messy state is on my shoulders. (Dh has mostly been in bed this weekend which is where he usually is when he is home; not a complaint just the reality, no help to be had from that direction.)

Are you concerned that the vaccine could trigger more symptoms? I hadn't thought of that My child who we have suspected may be impacted by PANS got the flu shot last week. I do seem to be seeing an increase in tics this week so maybe that has played a role. I think I would get it anyway though because the actual flu would be much worse.

Very excited about the new temples! Argentina, Nigeria, Mexico, Cape Verde, Brazil, Cambodia, Guam...hope I got those right I was listening while driving and am going by memory. Was there one in the Philippines? Washington County Utah I remember. Oh, Puerto Rico! I know I'm missing a couple. New Zealand. Just one more? It was twelve I think?