We've ordered from Threadless, Think Geek, and Cafe Press. Another one I didn't see mentioned is Etsy. LOTS of cute & funny stuff out there. Just type "geek t-shirt" or "funny t-shirt" in the search box & you'll come up with tons of them.

Did you PM? I think it would be fun, and IIRC, last year we had a thread. (I don't have a shop)

That's why I voted "other". I like movies more than dh. So I sometimes go with the kids, or with friends. IMAX & 3D can both make me a little queasy, too, so I'm conflicted about this as I'm sure dd will want to see that preview.

The clothes I get the most compliments on are things I purchased at thrift stores. My dd finds a lot of cool things there, too. One of her teachers asked her, "Where do you get your sense of style from?" and she said "I didn't know how to answer her." I told her she should have said, "Goodwill!"

My 19yo shops at Forever 21, H&M, and Nordstrom's BP department (only on sale!). If your dd has the time, thrift store shopping can be fun & fashionable, too.

Oh, I hope I'm not your neighbor. I don't want to upset your son! :tongue_smilie:

Yes, I just noticed this after Mrs. Mungo posted. Ugh.

Oh, no. I see what you mean...if I want it to be possessive it should really be The Smiths' (plural and possessive). Ugh. Well, I like the signs so they are going up, kittens or not.

My mom-in-law died this summer, and while emptying the house, neither of the other brothers wanted a couple of very cute, retro "Welcome" signs with the family name on them. I loved them so we hauled them home in our suitcases. :) But, I have a dilemma. Both of them say, "The Smith's" with an apostrophe. There's no way to remove the apostrophes. Can I hang these without killing kittens? I know we are not "the smith's", plural. But can the sign indicate "the Smith's (implied) home"?

I would stop buying hamsters. We had hamsters & gerbils when I was a kid. They lived for years. Something is wrong. Either at the pet shop or at your home (as Cera said, maybe the cage?).

My dd is 19. I like to go with her and be in the waiting room in case she and/or dr want to speak to me, which has happened. I'm glad dd trusts me to help her make decisions. Especially since I'm paying for the care! Slightly off topic, but related: After dd turned 18 she signed one of those forms...living will, I think? It allows dh to make medical decisions for her if she is unable to. I'm listed as secondary. Just another thing to think about with your young adults!

You've already been given some good advice. I like to look for the BIG things that we are spending on and cut there. For example, I realized we spent a FORTUNE on a couple of categories in 2012 that I didn't even notice - clothing and dining out. These had not been big problems for us previously, so it was a shocker for me. So we are going to go with a strict budgeting or envelope system for these categories in 2013. One thing I've found that has a huge impact on our budget is re-evaluating insurance. Right now for all property (home, personal property & cars) we are paying about $500 a month. That seems like a lot, but I can tell you that there is NO WAY to squeeze another penny out of that. I re-evaluate it regularly, getting quotes every 6 months to a year, to make sure we are getting the best deal. If I didn't, we might be spending twice as much. Yes, some auto insurance companies charge twice what others do!

Yes. :) I have a great raspberry-cream cheese coffee cake that I make for occasions like these. Any coffee cake would be good. http://www.food.com/...fee-cake-276910

Thanks for starting this thread, Kathy! I was wondering how we'd all find each other again. :) I am feeling unmotivated and have only been running about 10 miles a week for the last 3 weeks (I was up to 25 miles/week for the previous 2 months!). I started to feel convicted about being gone 5 mornings a week while the rest of the family got ready for their day. Even though everyone can take care of him/herself, it just seemed wrong - some days I wouldn't see my dd until 10PM because she'd get up while I was running & fly out the door before I got home. So, I decided I needed to figure out how to make it fit better with taking care of my family. But now I feel like my running is on a downward trajectory. Alenee, hope you are on the mend soon!

I'm not sure what you're asking...how to physically arrange the space? Your idea of a media cabinet that hides as much stuff as possible is a good one. Our current media cabinet has mostly open shelves. Oh, the dusting I have to do! As far as hooking it up, do you have someone who can help you? (ds 23?) My 16yo is very tech-savvy and handles all of that for us. If we didn't have him, I'd have to pay someone like nono to do it. I'm sorry but I don't believe most husbands over 40 could do it. Too much modern technology. :tongue_smilie:

I've used the shopping list but not the pantry. After I print the list, I scan it & verify what I have already, then head to the store. It's a lifesaver when you are planning several days in advance, for example during a holiday week or when company is coming. I can't imagine myself trying to maintain a pantry list online. It seems like a burdensome chore.

thanks for that idea - Brilliant. I just found one on the Android market called EEBA (Easy Envelope Budget Aid) that has really good reviews. I think I'll give it a try.

I'm reviewing our expenses for 2012 and we went NUTS this year in 2 categories - dining out & clothing. So those are the ones I'm trying to control. I wonder if I should skip the cash system for groceries since that's not an area we struggle with.

Homeland is mine, too. Nobody better get between me & the TV tonight. :)

Can you tell me how it works in your home? I'm wondering about: 1. Categories that might not be spent in a month. For example, if I can spend $100 on clothing per month but only spend $70 this month...does the remaining $30 stay in the envelope so next month I get a great pair of boots for $130? ;) 2. Money that dh and I both have control over, such as dining out. Do I use 2 envelopes & split up the money and shuffle it during the month as necessary? I'm just wondering about how this will actually work in our home. Dh and I have been budgeters for over 20 years, but have never had any way to put a hard limit on spending. It seems an empty envelope might be a hard limit. :)

We have some laminate flooring in our house. I don't like it...it looks cheap, and I think it must have been cheap because it seems to scratch easily.

My favorite book this year was The Light Between Oceans. It was suspenseful & poignant at the same time. I actually bought it for my Kindle - I almost never buy books since I'm willing to wait for them at the library.

I wouldn't send the letter to an administrator. Don't you have a teacher you meet with regularly? I would say, in person or by phone, "Teacher, we really like this program for ds and hope to stay in it. But when we signed up, we didn't realize how burdensome the testing requirements would be. I am unable to drive dd to the testing location in XX city. What are our options? Can YOU proctor any of the testing for dd and other kids in our area? Can dd miss any of the testing or is all required?" When my dd was in high school, she was in a charter school. She missed the 5 days of required testing in 11th grade because it was only offered during times that she had dual-enrollment classes at the community college. The school threatened to not let dd re-enroll for her senior year. So our teacher offered to proctor the 3-day series (which only took 2 half-day sessions because of all the time wasted in group testing!) and dd took the 2-day series over the summer.

This. I don't like pranks, but I don't think the DJs are responsible for her death. Today I read the obit for Greg Mortensen's ghost writer who just killed himself. As much as I dislike Mortensen, I can't blame him for the author's death as clearly there was something else wrong.

These are easy, beautiful, & delicious: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Slice--n--Bake-Lemon-Gems