I am one of those 100%. I hate the parties and won't attend one for any reason. I have found this to be true with other people I know...one friend recently posted a note on Facebook asking if anyone was interested in a Tupperware party to help out a friend of hers. She got about 10 responses - only one was a "yes" (so I guess that's 90% and not 100%). And I know people who have lost relationships with friends b/c of the pushiness, although that's never happened to me. If I want to buy something, I won't go to a party...I will go to Amazon.com. :)

Our HOA does not permit it. :( I used to do several loads of laundry twice a week. But I am trying to reduce the use of the dryer. So I put things in for 10 minutes, then pull them out and hang them on a rack. (I read about that here on the boards). Since my rack can hold only 1 load of laundry - I am now doing one load of laundry every day. It's been an adjustment since I'd really prefer to have 1 or 2 "big" laundry days. But I'm sure I'm saving on gas & electricity.

I have found that sellers on Amazon, half.com, etc., tend to grade their books 1-2 levels higher than they actually are. So I stick with anything called "new" and then expect it to be "very good". If I go with something the seller calls "very good", then I am usually disappointed with the quality of the book. I wouldn't hesitate to contact the seller and/or website for a discrepancy greater than 1 level.

No. My son is 14 and I can't imagine him even asking that. :) But the answer would be no; it sounds like a date, and our children will not date until they are adults.

I agree... I've been very surprised at the mean-spiritedness in some of the previous threads (not this one).

I do this about once a year, ugh. Citibank has always been lovely about waiving the late fees, and interest. Last year, I paid a Chase card one day late and they would not budge on getting the fee or interest waived. I even asked for a supervisor who told me the same thing. Maybe they had my account flagged as a "bad" customer b/c I always pay my balance in full and collect lots of rewards. Anyway...paying the late fee and interest is probably the worst that can happen. They won't report it to the bureaus, nor will other card issuers raise your rates. I also don't think they would cancel your rewards or otherwise change your account. So just call and ask nicely. Good luck. :)

But, Nicole, I thought you said in your previous post that financial disaster HAD hit? That colleges are not honoring the tuition exchange you thought you'd get?

Not a movie, but a 4-hour mini-series: North and South (the Richard Armitage one, not the Patrick Swayze one)

:lol: You go, girl!

I am in Southern California. Everyone wears those out & about here.

I do this, too. And one of her friends wants to chat with ME when he realizes who I am. Or maybe he's just being polite. But really, if I am signed in as dd I am just checking around for a few minutes and I don't want to chat!

Thanks for posting this; I totally agree. One thing we have noticed about kids who are on the cool spectrum, is that they tend to be very fickle friends. They want to hang out with my kids whenever nobody else "cool" is around. Needless to say, we don't make an effort to hang out with any of those kids. I'm kind of sad for them in a way. The mom of one of my daughter's (formerly) very good friends even told me about 4 years ago that it was her goal for her dd to be popular. That girl is self-centered, back-stabbing, and disrespectful to adults. We hardly ever talk to the family anymore, so I don't know how the "popularity" thing is going, but I do know she lost some very sweet friends along the way.

Thank you for saying that. Bawdy humor sounds so much less offensive than crude humor. Maybe we can watch this as a family now, because after all, it's only bawdy humor!

There are lots of crude jokes/references, so you'll have to decide what age is appropriate in your family. I personally think it's hilarious...but like 30 Rock, I didn't want my teens watching it b/c of the crudity.

I am so clueless. I was having a lively conversation w/ a group of teens at a park. None of us noticed it, although everyone else at the park apparently did. Because after we went back to the house, everyone at the house was talking about it...and the park people too...and my little group was saying, "What earthquake??"

What about hot cereal? We like oatmeal and cornmeal mush or grits for breakfast. I have it on my food "to do" list to try other whole grain alternatives, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I do cabin cooking a lot, with a full-size fridge available that is unreliable (doesn't keep food very cold). Lara's idea of cooking food and freezing it is a good one. If there's not enough room in the little fridges, you can leave some food in your coolers, and start using the items as they defrost. This is a good technique for beef stew, sausages or hot dogs, and breakfast sausage. If your family eats scrambled eggs, you can even break the eggs into a freezer baggy (however many eggs make a meal for your family) and freeze. Later in the week when your fresh/frozen food is depleted, you can move to more dried/canned foods. Potato/onion soup in the crockpot, bean soup from either dried or canned beans. Canned chicken and tuna are staples for our cabin - great for hot or cold sandwiches. Since your fridge space is so limited, only bring milk for drinking - if you need some for cooking (potato soup), bring powdered. I try to use tortillas in meals at the end of the week b/c they stay fresh longer than bread. Chicken/cheese quesadillas are yummy and easy. Those are all the ideas that I can come up with that don't require an oven or microwave. Hope it helps.

Hilarious, thanks for sharing! We picked up an actual copy of The Onion a month or so ago - I had no idea it was a real paper! The kids and I were in stitches over one article, and now constantly refer to Stranger Vans when we see them on the street. :)

Have you tried sweet potato fries? I LOVE those. Although I've never tried making them at home.

Thanks for sharing this recipe. My family liked it. I used 1/2 light olive oil and 1/2 corn oil. It turned out much more similar to commercial mayonnaise than the recipe I have been using. I won't be purchasing corn oil in the future but had some in the pantry to use up. So I'll try another oil next time.

I was going to post the exact same thread last week! It drives me crazy. Service people almost never show up when promised. And they don't even return phone calls! We are trying to get some work done and finally got a guy to come over and take measurements, etc. Almost 3 weeks and 2 phone calls later, we still don't have his estimate. Guess what? I've now changed my mind about getting the work done. We can put that money toward college tuition, so there! I am just glad it's not an emergency. I feel your pain.

My son has the Damon system braces. I like them b/c we only had to have visits every 10 weeks instead of every month. Otherwise, I am not really sure of the difference, except the price, ha ha. (Higher for the Damon). He's had them about 2 years (getting them off in a week!) which is about the same amount of time that the traditional ortho told us he'd have them. Maybe a little shorter...the preliminary visits were 2 1/2 years ago, so it's all a blur....

Always: Just a little bit more. :D

I just made the mistake of reading my dog's Purina One bag. I want him to be healthy, and I don't want to support GMO products or cruelty meat. How are you feeding your pets?

I followed some Raw Milk (non-pasteurized) links the other day. One of them claimed that the increase in modern allergies is because we don't eat/drink raw dairy which somehow protects us from allergies.