These comments always make me think of this quote: "There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be." — Fulton J. Sheen I am a cradle Catholic and I have never, in over 40 years of attending Catholic churches several times a week, heard a priest or religion teacher try to justify our faith by putting down someone else's faith or explain why they are wrong. That says something to me.

One of my sons got married recently and I am trying to navigate through this new experience of having a daughter-in-law. To make it even trickier, I have all sons. If you search online, it would appear that being a mother-in-law is possibly the worst thing you can be. It is seriously all negative. I would like to find a site similar to WTM, where I can connect with other MIL's for advice and support. Any ideas?

The boys are 10 and 12 and we are all morning people. They have a 'morning list' that they know they have to complete each day, basics - like brush teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast, do sinus rinse (one has bad allergies) and I think it is just laziness. They go to get dressed and start to play with something, they are asked 'did you brush your teeth' and they go do that and then read a book. To me the point of the list is to get them to independently complete some simple activities and be ready to start school on time. I know we are at the end of the year and everyone is starting to slack, and having their brother home from college is probably contributing, but how would you get them to be ready, in the room with you, when school begins? And they are also disappearing during the day between assignments. I am thinking ankle bracelets, like you give people on parole or home detention to locate them. I know it is the end of the year but these are just bad habits and I don't want them to think they can act like this as adults.

It would drive me crazy too. I was wondering if you could have a special beginning to the day that is really fun, that the children wouldn't want to miss out on. Maybe it could be based on learning virtues, and there could be some privileges associated with being there. This is just off the top of my head, not sure how it might work. I know if my children want to get somewhere on time, they magically become very efficient at being ready and out the door on time.

I am having a difficult time getting started in the morning. I would love to hear how you begin your day and how you are able to get your children to be ready when it is time to start school. My son who just graduated from college is sitting next to me, laughing. Apparently, he thinks things have changed since he was homeschooling! And I guess they have, but I need to get everyone back on schedule. The long breakfasts, the cup of tea, hot chocolate, reading until I say why aren't you ready and then remembering they haven't had breakfast, need to go to the bathroom, etc., is getting out of control. Please tell me how this works in your home.

I have had great success with cinnamon! I have been using it for years to keep ants out of the house. Whenever I see them, I just sprinkle it around the doors and windows and they are gone! I haven't tried it outside but it is worth a try - I don't like using chemicals because of the kids and dogs. You can buy a large bottle at Walmart or Costco, wherever, and it is a lot cheaper. When someone told me this, I was reluctant because it seemed so easy but it really works. And it smells great!!

My son was supposed to graduate from college last weekend and was in the hospital with pneumonia instead. He didn't seem to mind not walking across the stage too much, but I thought it would have been nice since he was homeschooled and didn't get to walk then. On the other hand, after spending the week in the hospital (and me in a hotel near him) he is finally home and recovering. I told him our parties beat any graduation ceremony anyway!!!

I feel really naive. I only read one other board regularly and it is homeschooling too, so maybe there is less drama than pregnancy/parenting boards. But in real life I know people very well who sail through life with barely a problem, and I know people with so many problems that they have no control over. I can't imagine how you could know online if someone is being honest but I guess like everything else, if you have been scammed before, you start to see the signs. So sad though.

I have four boys and I am sad to say I can totally see this happening.

I would like to buy some new oil pastels and it seems that there are very inexpensive sets and very expensive sets. I would like to try some that are a better quality but not sure how to choose. Can you recommend some good quality oil pastels or tell me how to choose? Thanks!

Our septic system is a little different than most I have heard about. I think our house turned out to be a little lower than they expected it to be. Also, we have an ejector pit outside that everything empties into from the house and then it gets pumped out to a shared septic system with three other homes. So the septic field is out in the tree farm behind our house instead of in our yard.

I went to a dermatologist for some anti-aging advice and she suggested CeraVe, which she said is inexpensive and you can buy it almost anywhere. She laughed at the expensive department store products. I was concerned about switching to CeraVe because I have really sensitive skin (I can't even use Mary Kay hypoallergenic products, which I think is very unusual) but it is working great and my skin looks good. There is moisturizer with sunscreen for day and without for night. She said you should always, always have sunscreen or a moisturizer with sunscreen on because most skin aging is caused by the light you are exposed to every day. I used Clinique when I was younger. Clinique is for younger skin, when you are over 30 or begin to feel more dry, you are supposed to switch to their Estee Lauder line, which is ridiculously expensive. Try CeraVe, and spend the extra money on something fun - that will make you feel younger!

We have had a septic system for the last 7 years and the most important thing is to not flush anything other than toilet paper. This means NO feminine products (tamp*ns). When we built our house, the builder put an alarm on the septic system. Almost a year later, the pump broke and the alarm did not function and we had a backup. Because the alarm did not go off, our builder had to replace a lot of our hardwood floors on the first floor and a lot of drywall and heating ductwork in the basement. We now have two pumps that alternate working in case one breaks (we would still have a working pump if the alarm goes off until we can have the other replaced) and we also added an alarm on the inside of the house. I could not survive that again. I don't know anyone else this has happened to though, so I don't want to scare you, I just want you to know you can have alarms and dual pumps to avoid these problems. Having a well is wonderful, we love our water, use a lot with our big family, and really haven't had any problems. Everyone comments on how good our water tastes. I would taste the local water as that varies by location. Good luck with your move!

Oh I am so glad it isn't just me. I would like to try using whole wheat - can any "white flour only" people who made the switch tell us about how that went for you?

Does anyone use ShopAtHome? I was looking into restaurant.com and saw this and was wondering how it works out, worth it or not. It says there are coupons and cash back for shopping. It is difficult to understand the website and it says they put toolbars on your computer and that worried me a little. Have you tried this?

We have done this three times and how well it works depends on the builder. We have not had a bad experience but the home we built from a small unknown builder was more problematic, the home by a very well recommended builder was a dream from start to finish. It has taken about 3-4 months I believe. We have financed both ways, depending on how we could get the best deal. My husband works a lot and is not handy, at all. :glare: The best part of building for me is everything is new and nothing needs repaired or replaced for a while. Newer homes and appliances, etc., generally have less maintenance, too, and since anything that needs to be done, repaired, replaced or maintained will be done by me, that is a huge incentive for me. After all, I need time on the WTM!:lol:

Thanks for the great ideas. Now he is talking about prizes for games!! We came up with some great games and I thought winning was the prize? Now I remember why we don't have birthday parties too often. They get so into it, it reminds me of the bridezilla phenomenon. I want him to have fun but whatever I come up with, they keep adding and adding. I planned this party with little notice and few boys because I was hoping to keep things simple. Maybe he is like this because we don't have birthday parties very often? With my older boys we always had a party for their birthday and I don't think they were like this, and the parties they went to were more simple too. Maybe everything is just more complicated now? And I think I feel more pressured to do more because he doesn't have a party very often. Hmm . . . Ok, on to prizes.

My son, who is turning 10, wants to have a Harry Potter birthday party. He will be the youngest boy at the party, the other boys are around 12. He has his heart set on goodie bags and I don't like giving junk that will be in the trash next week anyway, but I am having a difficult time thinking of ideas for 12 year old boys. I was wondering if you have any ideas?

I run Parallels on my laptop (macbook pro) for homeschool tracker. I just started using it last September and everything is working great. I have windows 7.

One of my favorite books ever is The Lamb's Supper by Scott Hahn. Definitely try to read it before you attend Mass - it is amazing!!

When I started using the balance board and created my "Mii" the boys were all laughing so hard. I was very happy with her after I chose her hair and other features and thought they were laughing because it was a girl. It turns out my Mii is fatter than theirs, based on my weight, and they thought that was so funny. Me, not so much.

:lurk5:

We finally have a memory system that is working for us. The flashcards that came with our Latin program are business card size so I have been making any other flashcards this size also (printing them out on business card paper on the printer) and putting them in business card holder pages that go into a binder. I also have poems and larger things in regular sheet protectors in the binder. I got some of the colored Post-it flags and as I go through a boy's book with them, if they pass it in the daily section, I put a pink flag on the page protector, in the odd/even section a blue flag, etc. That way I can move the cards or page protectors later when we are finished, while I watch a movie or talk on the phone. Before I changed to different colors for different sections if I got interrupted I sometimes couldn't remember what I was moving where. Everything is working out great except for one thing - some of the sticky from the post-it flag sometimes remains on the page protector and the pages are all starting to stick together. Does anyone have any suggestions? How do you keep track of what is being moved? I could take things out as I go but it would slow things down and I am trying to go through the memory work quickly so it doesn't cut into too much of the day. And of course I would have to move it into the right section right then or I might get the daily/every other day/weekly/monthly all mixed up.

I know Catholic Charities has mental health services on a sliding scale. The providers do not have to be Catholic, and of course the clients don't either. Have you tried googling sliding scale psychiatrist with your city name? The job situation is just awful. My husband has been out of work for close to two years. It sure doesn't look like things are turning around from where we are.

I am sorry you had so much trouble. It may be that different drug companies have different policies. He went to the drug company's websites and that is how he got the forms. He took them to the doc, had them signed, then sent them in. The card or coupon, I can't remember what it was, was sent to him and he took it to the pharmacy. It couldn't have been easier. FWIW, the medications were depression and add related, and they were from different drug companies. Often at the end of commercials, they say something like, if you can not afford your medicine, (drug company name) may be able to help you.