Oh no he didn't!! I am still amazed by some of the attitudes and by the comments. I had one contractor who would not talk to me about the bill. He said he'd speak to the man of the house. Then, I kid you not, in the next breath he said he wanted to make sure I'd leave him a good rec. on Angie's List. Stunning. Needless to say, I did not and we never used him again.

I found this interesting statistic on the web. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), for every new women's athletics slot created between 1992 and 1997, 3.6 male athletes were dropped. During the same period, colleges added 5,800 female athletes--and cut 20,000 male athletes. I just don't see why colleges do this. I think you are right. It is better for them to cut programs than to risk getting zapped with discrimination fines. I guess I just don't get why colleges aren't arguing for more reasonable alternatives.

I can think of several intolerant posts off the top of my head. I started to list them but that seemed to much like tattle telling and trying to slam people. Guess I'd suggest going back and rereading some of the posts. I'm confident you can find the intolerant ones. I'm all about lively debate, but I think we can do it without mocking and name calling. Happily the majority of posters have been careful to be respectful.

I think it's the intolerance toward people with opposing viewpoints that is upsetting some people. I agree that Christians ought to look beyond outward appearances. I'm sad and frustrated that OP's son is feeling shunned at church. However, I think that Christians need to allow others to express diff. perpectives without calling them names or ranting at them. We are called to love all, not just those who agree with us. And Nakia, I agree with you 100% on your second paragraph. Could not have said it better.

:lol::lol::lol::lol: I'm so sorry that happened to you, but man, I needed that laugh!!! I've sooooooo been there (mine was pumpkin shake).

Someone please help me understand the logic. My husband's alma mater just demoted his old team to club status. This team has won 25 national championships in the last 30 years. (It is also self-sufficient in funding. The school specifically said that this was not a budget issue but a title IX issue.) The team had a huge impact on my husband and many of his teammates - turned quite a few of them away from some bad, bad paths. By dropping this team, the school eliminated 60 male athletes and therefore made their male/female athlete ratio look better. I don't get it. As a former college athlete, I am all in favor of equal opportunity and equal school funding for male and female sports, but I don't understand why eliminating a male team helps female athletes. Can someone please articulate the reasoning behind this? Also, am I the only one who thinks this is not the best way to encourage more female athletes?

You know those Fashion Don'ts in some magazines? Well, our day has been like that. My behavior has def. been a don't. Nothing like yelling at the kids to stop yelling and start having a better attitude. Huh? Happily God has blessed me with forgiving children - who also appreciate the humor of the situation. Not even going to go into what they did to help bring that on. How can so much chaos happen in such a short period of time? Here's hoping we all have better Mondays!

I'm sorry you and he are experiencing this. Are you sure it is just because the parents don't like his look? I hear this complaint sometimes, but honestly, I've never met "those" Christians. I've met kids who dress in an unusual way and either because they are shy or something, behave in an aloof, off-putting manner. Or, if he happens to look pretty cool (and it sounds like he does) maybe people are shy about approaching him because they think they are not cool enough. What are you and your son doing to engage other kids and parents? Are you feeling hurt and blaming them when really they may just be unaware? I'm not trying to sound aggressive or excuse behavior. Christ gave us the example of looking past appearances and even behavior - the woman at the well leaps to mind. However, I also know that it's hard watching your kids struggle socially. We moved almost a year ago and my kids are having a hard time breaking into the social circles here. (I am, too.) It is so easy to try to blame others and assign horrible motives to people when really they are just busy and not thinking. (Spoken by someone who has been that really busy person who maybe didn't take the time to help a new person get acclimated.) Anyway, I hope this came across as a gentle post, not an accusatory one. I have no idea what is going on and you may very well have run across some real jerks. If so, I am really sorry. They are giving Christians a bad name. But maybe they are just wearing blinders and in their own world. As others have said, keep making the efforts and overtures. Fingers crossed things will turn out better soon.

I'm a huge fan of the workout clothes to run around in. If yuo check out Prana or Athletica, they have great stuff. (exp. so you have to get sales.) I also find cute stuff at target. The key for me is to find a great workout jacket - cotten and spandex. Makes what you're wearing look a lot less - go to the gym.

How important are Roman numerals? Meh, you can get by without them. However, I would be more concerned with the attitude. If this is a one time freak out, ok. Move on and go back to them another time. However, if this is a pattern, stick to your guns. Roman numerals are fast and easy to learn. Really, a done in a day assignment. There are harder things coming up that also seem pointless, so I wouldn't want to set up an expectation that you will skip topics she finds useless, kwim.

Great suggestions so far. If you choose to have the subtle - so when are you apt. hunting - conversation (which I agree with completely) you may also want to add something about how y'all will stay close. Something along the lines of "Gosh, I know you'll have such fun in your own place. Maybe we could have Wednesday and Sunday dinner together... You know the laundry room here is always open..." You know, examples to let her know that she is still a part of your life. You're not kicking her out to be done with her. You're encouraging her to be the responsible adult you know she can be.

:iagree: I guess my question back to OP would be - who decides which books make it into the required reading? Some of the req'd reading books are not required to be well educated. Some are amazing and ought to be read, but perhaps by a senior, not a freshman. So, would I ban books for my family? No. But I would take the time to decide which books I want my kids to read. Then I would take a lot of time to decide when I want them to read them. Kudos to you, Mrs. Mungo, for finding a redeeming quality in Catcher in the Rye. I have yet to force myself to reread that book since high school. Perhaps I will now...............ok, no really, probably not. I really disliked that book.

www.gofugyourself.com - Ok, I know you meant real news, but this is a great site and since you were looking for new sites, I had to put it in there. For US news, I think of getting my news in pairs - CNN and Fox News. Both are unabashedly biased, so by reading both, I think I get a shot at teasing out the truth. Same thing with NYTimes and WSJ. Another vote here for Real Clear Politics - a sort of clearinghouse for news stories. For world news - http://www.independent.co.uk/ http://wn.com/ - clearinghouse of international news stories. Get everything from the Irish Times to Al Jazeera.

bumping in hopes of more input. Thanks to everyone who has responded so far.

I have thick, heavy ringlet curls. Well most of my hair is. Then I get random bits that want to wave and some that just want to frizz. Aveda had worked well, but I got a new cut and for some reason, it doesn't seem to be doing the trick anymore.

I had never heard about Ouidad before last month and now I'm hearing about it everywhere. I'm running out of my trusty Aveda curl product, so it's decision time. Please give me your opinion of the product. Thanks!!

I agree. Link to recipes, please. This is inspiring me to make October our fabulous eating month. A new recipe each night. I could make the menu plan from this thread alone. Will get my recipes all together and post our top 5.

Boo. I was going to have so much fun answering - replace the ink cartridge! Is someone printing something at work? Have you tried rebooting? Sometimes when msg. keep flashing like that, a reboot does wonders. Is there an option on the msg. to not show it anymore? Is there an option in your printer settings?

I know where you're coming from. One of my boys is def. on the stockier side. We did two things that really helped. First, we - all of us, not just the one - talked about nutrition. They each made a chart of their top 10 favorite foods and listed fat, protein, sodium, vitamins, etc. They found it really interesting and it did change their food choices. Second, I laid down some family food rules. No sweet except on the weekend and no snacks other than fruits or veg. The whole family follows these rules and we're all healthier for it. Since we didn't focus on one kids, but made it a whole family makeover, he never felt picked on. Just by making those changes, my son went from gaining 15 pounds in one year, to stabilizing. He has been about the same weight for a year and a half now - just slimming as he's growing taller. Good luck.

Nope. Napping gives me headaches and makes it harder for me to go to sleep at night. Instead, when I need a pick me up I go outside and garden - light gardening, but something about being outside just givs me more energy. If you need a nap, go for it. Before you plan for it, though, you may find that you don't need it. I find the more busy I am, the more energy I have and the more I can accomplish. My easy days tend to be the days that I get that 2:30 feeling. Good luck with the new job.

:iagree: My husband and I try to have cocktail time together several times a week. (much later than 5 because of kid activities.) I love it. We reconnect, talk about current events, build a relationship beyond just childrearing. Plus, on those bad days, knowing that I have a fun date on the deck with dh is better than valium. I'm thankful that women of the past worked hard so that I could have all the choices I do. I wish that women of the present would back off the accusations about those choices. (Actually have had women saying that my choosing to stay home was an affront to all women. Puhlease. I hear some people here feeling like they are getting accused for having a non-1950's marriage. Again, puhlease.) I don't think the 1950's marriage as described by many here - wife gets no respect, husband is selfish extra child, is healthy. Nor is the one that gets portrayed nowadays - husband dotes on wife, wife is princess who always gets her way and fusses at and picks on husband, etc. I'm thinking of the Julie and Julia type marriage - Ugh. The main character was just a self-centered, spoiled brat. So, I don't think we get anywhere swapping one spoiled brat for another. Sadly, I have seen several twenty-somethings getting married with the expectation that they are the little princess who will get everything. Then they are shocked when 1 year later they are divorced. Happily, real life is much different from stereotypes. Most marriages I've seen have way diff. dynamics from mine, but they work. Took me so long to realize that just because my dh and I argue (and my parents never do) doesn't mean we have a bad marriage. We just have a diff one. The key is respecting each other.

We have a juicer and enjoy making all sorts of interesting juice combos. It's a fun way for my kids to try new foods. Plus we always juice vegetables with our fruit to make it healthier. It can be very high in sugar, though, so we don't use it as our only beverage. Mainly we're water drinkers, with a glass of juice a few times a week.

I've used parts on and off through the years. Pros - book suggestions, unit study work, alt. math work, extra resources. It is fantastic resource for supplementing any curriculum. She did a great job organizing all the links and making the site easy to use. Love that she wrote out a curriculum plan for each grade level - huge amount of work available for free. Cons - Science is weak, imo. Could just be the way that I thought we'd implement it. I never did because of that so take that with a big grain of salt. Lots of printing. Reminds me of Robinson or A2. This is so petty, but I dislike the format of most free books. Printing, reading and storing a few each year is ok, but if I had to do an entire year with them, I'd go nuts. (Lots are available through good library systems. When we lived near a good system, it was easy to implement this. Once we moved, not so much.) No hands on activities - could be a pro or a con depending on your kids.