Is he on the regular toilet, or is he using a smaller potty chair? Sometimes it hurts for shorter people, including kids, to use standard toilets. Sometimes it's a dietary thing, where one's diet is affecting the consistency of the poop and/or it's ability to excrete with little or no effort. Sometimes it's a gravity thing; it's challenging to bear down when one's feet aren't grounded. This sometimes makes a normal pooping sting or hurt, even independent of dietary impact on the stool. The solution there is to let him use a shorter potty so he can bear down comfortably, or even squat (as we're designed to do), or to find a stool he can rest his feet on while using a standard toilet. This solution is for the physiological side only, and it may take more convincing and time for him to overcome the psychological side (if it has hurt him to poop in the past, etc. But all of this is assuming that it's possibly a physiological issue, and not just a stubborn or lazy (on his part, not yours!) one.

I didn't get my license until I was an adult, and I still drive only rarely (by choice). I'm still glad I have it, though. I'd rather have it and not need it than to be stuck in the reverse, you know? I guess it would depend on how much it would cost to take the test. If it were $50 or less, I'd go for it. I'd let the money motivate me to study/practice as hard as I could, rather than become a barrier to trying. But I'm terribly stubborn, and I tend to dig in my heels when something is just barely out of reach. If you aren't really motivated to get the license, maybe it WOULD be a waste of money to try right now.

Fresh paint, and a thorough cleaning - inside and out. We've been through a ridiculous number of homes, and some sellers do a fabulous job of getting the inside to sparkle but forget to take a power washer to the "face" of the home.

Top of my list is to re-paint the kitchen :) And since I'm so wishy-washy, part of the gift would be to select the paint from the pool of three color choices I've narrowed it down to.

That was my first choice when I was looking up my options :) Unfortunately this time it is too far a walk from where I'm staying.

Any one from or familiar with Region 7 parishes in Dayton? I'll be there later this month, and am trying to decide which church to check out. :)

I like the Otterbox Commuter. I drop and bang my phone around a lot, and this has always been the best in terms of holding up to my abuse AND being able to slide in/out of my pocket with relative ease (without being so slippery that I drop it that way LOL). http://www.otterbox.com/iPhone-5-Commuter-Series/apl4-new-iphone-5,default,pd.html

I was having this problem, but didn't know why Now I know, and better - can fix it :) thank you!

Every forum I frequent allows me (if I'm reading a thread) to hit my browser's back arrow button to return to the (cached) main sub-forum page I was just working from. The main sub-forum page basically stops in time; it's like I pause it at the exact point it was just prior to my viewing a specific thread. But here if I'm reading a thread and hit my browser's back arrow button, it takes me to an updated main sub-forum page. I realize the page will update even when I'm in-thread LOL but I'm wondering why/how it defies my browser's back arrow button! Why does my back arrow button take me to the updated sub-forum page instead of to the cached page? Are you controlling the cache forum-wide, or is there something in my user settings that can fix this for me? Thanks for any help!

I bet you can find an inexpensive, wood dresser or highboy by thrifting or searching craigslist -- the drawers would be perfect because you'd have some smaller and some larger; they could be removed from the dresser to use in-project and returned post-project; when she's not creating, the room still looks neat because everything is in drawers; and she could customize the look of it with paint, decoupage, and the pictures she takes of the each drawer's things. I'm with you on the anti-plastic. This could be a fun project for the two of you :) Here's a bump for more ideas. I can always use some, too!

I was this kid. :gnorsi: It just felt like that last little bit of control for a situation (I knew) I had no control over; I mean, it was my parents so of course they were always going to be right. Right? Well, fine; they can be right (and I know they are) (and they know they are) (and they strongly suspect I know they know they are) but I gotta save face somehow, and I'm going to do that by getting that last, little word in. Even if they say not to. Especially, maybe eventually only, if they say not to. It fed my need to feel asserted towards my parents. We all knew I was wrong (if I were being disciplined) or I'd be complying anyway (if I were being asked to do something), so they let it slide in the moment. Mom would always cross herself and mutter, "Jesus, Mary & Joseph" (and if I heard it, I'd be sure she heard me snottily add: "Pray for this child!" - meaning me, since I obviously had the meanest mom in the entire world.) It's funny, I think she muttered it initially out of frustration, but I figure she decided that if I were going to have the last word it may as well have been a prayer LOL! When we lie down to bed, mom would warn me of how lonely an adult I'd be if I were determined to always have the last word. Eventually I met an adult who did always have to have the last word, and you know what? Years of my mom's warnings rang loud and clear, and I decided that it wasn't all that important (most of the time) to get the last word in. That guy was obnoxious, and I didn't want to be lonely and obnoxious on the altar of getting in the last word. But no amount of discipline as a kid would have had the same affect because I wasn't doing it to be defiant (though it was); I was doing it to assert myself and save face in a home where I wasn't allowed to talk back, had to do things the first time I was told, etc. If your son is feeling the same, that may explain the tears - it may be more than simply getting in the last word, it could be self-preservation. It's not that my parents had (or you have) unreasonable rules, it's that I didn't see any avenue for being rightlfully annoyed at being disciplined or asked to do something. We all knew I deserved the discipline or would comply with their requests, but I wanted the right to be irritated by it still. (And it's not that they didn't offer one, or that you don't, it's that I didn't see one so I forged my own: getting in that last word.) None of my brothers and sisters felt this way, or were as annoying a kid as was I. :coolgleamA: None of the above makes it okay in your home, but I thought I'd give perspective from someone who was also That Kid.

I used to, but then I figured if he wasn't stressing about it there was no need for me or the kids to be LOL. The man loves to eat. So I get him gift cards to various eateries -- sit-down restaurants, fast-food restaurants, gas stations (best snacks!), and cash for his favorite food truck. I tape them all to straws, stick them in a vase, and voila: a bouquet is born. He digs it. I change up the eateries to keep it fresh, and he's able to use the gift throughout the year. Every year he gets a tee-shirt from each kid. It's something he can/will actually use, and the kids have fun picking out shirts with funny captions or DH's favorite bands, etc. My kids love to inherit their dad's old, soft tees; shirts are the gift that keep on giving! He gets CDs and/or concert tickets each year for his birthday. The kids gift him various baked goods. So, mine is easy now that we've settled into our current understanding. Every few years I'll get a great gift idea for him, and I just add it to the status quo. But I no longer hurt my brain trying to come up with one every year, much less twice a year. For your husband's birthday, what about an online order for some really high-quality or exotic meat that he can smoke? That's kind of win-win LOL. Or wire an outdoor stereo system for him to listen to when he's out back smoking?

I had one like this. He's still not seen the usual kiddie flicks of his era, because he always got scared before he got vested in the movie - and we'd have to leave, or turn it off! Totoro was the only fiction-type movie he'd sit through. He loved non-fiction type of movies! He'd sit through any documentaries (geared towards kids OR adults) about subjects of his interest (astronomy, history, transportation/planes, traines). My kids have always like slapstick, too; things like Three Stooges or Tom & Jerry. I've seen DVDs of both at Target for $5 LOL.

I've taken it in the past. I'm a night owl, so the dosing wasn't an issue for me. I "started" late night around 11p-12a the first night, then dosed again when I woke up (8-9a), and a third time in the afternoon (3-4p) in between meals. Do you fall back to sleep easily? If so, I'd suck it up for the few days and wake at 2a to take the next dose. If you don't, and your sleep will be negatively affected for the week, I'd skip that 2a dose and re-adjust my dosing times. If you'll be taking it again in the future, you'll know to time your first dose so that it aligns with your natural sleep habits. It may be worth sucking up this time, KWIM?

WOW, those all look exactly like what I was searching for. I'm going to see if my local Catholic store carries any of those so I can flip through them before I commit. Thank you so much, Parrothead, Kate & Avila!

I was guessing 40-50 years because I thought she tied in WW2/post-WW2 advances into how/why they started messing with the food supply. But admittedly, she was discussing it like it was her dissertation and I faded in and out LOL. I suppose it wouldn't surprise me to discover it was more recent than that :)

Chips and dips are always easy and convenient. I know you're already doing a salad (I'm assuming tossed?), but what about starting with a caprese tray - if you layer the tomato, mozzarella, and some fresh mint leaves strategically around a plate, people can use toothpicks to build up a bite.

Yes, this! When my grandmother warned that my body would eventually quit being so compliant to my eating habits,she wasn't kidding! I've always been a grazer, but it's only been the past 2-3 years that I've started with the mindless eating thing. I'm not sure how or why it got started, but I packed on 15 pounds (which is a lot on my petite frame). So to help determine mindless/boredom eating from true hunger, I played a game with myself. Urge strikes, I drink one glass of water then brush my teeth; if urge is still there, I indulge it. If urge passed, I plan on a fat/protein-rich snack in another hour or so (to keep me from binging on my urge, once it goes from physical to mental IYKWIM). Those 15 pounds found their way to someone else, because nothing tastes good after a tooth brushing ... and because I'd head off them mental hold on any urges by strategically planning for a fat/protein rich snack that would hold my stomach until the next meal. Thinks like salted, warm nuts; cheese and fruit plates; berries with cream, flavored with vanilla stevia; yogurt with honey and a few granola crumbs; raw veggies with tsatsiki or homemade ranch; etc. Full fat was the key.

I don't have any pictures, but our table looks a lot like Lynne's - but swap in an advent wreath for the menorah. We work around it for meals, but we do push it aside (or remove it entirely) for doing school or projects. If it annoys you to do it, delegate it to one of the kids :) that's what I do when I get tired of doing stuff LOL.

One of my best friends is always doing the latest foodie fashion du jour. She's been gluten free for several years now, and she explained it to me (once; long ago; I may be rusty, and I wasn't paying super great attention) that they've changed how they've processed or made our wheat products. I want to guess in the last 40-50 years or so? She says that it's not gluten per se, it's whatever-they've-done-to-it that's causing more problems now than ever before. She also went off on a tangent about environmental exposure that is somehow related, but she lost me. I'm way too simple to get into that kind of meaty argument. I like my gluten, and my head in the sand.

We get ours up on December 24th, so hold my spot until then :) Yours is so sparkly! I love the snowflakes!

I like gluten, and gluten likes me. So, yes; I'm not going gluten-free.

They live together, so sure :) I'd count it as a couple's gift!

Have you not visited MIL since she moved in with this guy? So you're not sure if he's going to be as disinterested in you guys as is FIL's wife? (I wouldn't buy for that woman either, gem though she sounds.) If this is accurate, I say: first year ... give him a shot, buy a token gift or do a couple's gift instead of a personal-MIL gift. Less for him, and more as a token of acknowledgment (to MIL) that he's an important part of her life.

I said yes. She's serious enough that she's living with him (still), so the time frame from meet-to-move-in doesn't matter much (to me). I'm more of a "here and now" person, than a "how did we get here" person. Which are you? That would best determine your decision, I think. I'd probably do a smaller token gift, or a couple's gift (even if I was still giving MIL something of her own).