(Possible TMI, but here's my experience) I had a hemorrhoid surgically removed about 2-3 years ago. When I went in to have it checked out, other options weren't discussed, just surgery. Recovery SUCKED. Having a bowel movement was the absolute worst part of my day for about two weeks afterwards. I went through a lot of lidocaine cream, and those moistened wipes. And afterwards I was often shaky and just had to lay down for a bit. But (heh heh) I am glad I had it done. I enjoy not having to think about it anymore. Would I do it again? I'm honestly not sure. I'd have to think long and hard about it. So: surgery works and is very effective, but if there's another option, definitely look into those first.

I have one exactly like you're describing in my cupboard, but when I pulled it out to check the name, there is no brand name written anywhere on it. (Tsk tsk - I'm judging their marketing. :closedeyes: :lol:) But this OXO one on Amazon is pretty close.

I think you learn the conversions that are relevant to you as you go through life. I never memorized any of them, and never felt the lack - they're easy to look up. When I started baking, I quickly learned the conversions between teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups, because I used them all the time. Just like I finally got good at estimating inches when I started knitting, and yards when I started sewing. You remember what you need, and everything else is easy to look up (especially in these days of smart phones). FWIW, King Arthur Flour is a huge proponent of weighing ingredients, and both of their baking cookbooks I own use weights. Which I'm thankful for, because I find measuring flour with cups stressful - how much do you fluff?? My digital scale lives on the kitchen windowsill, and gets heavy use.

I'd be interested in this, too. Anyone? (My Google-fu is failing me on this one.)

A few years ago I found this recipe for strawberry bread, and it became an instant favorite. It makes two loafs, so DH will often take one loaf into work to share. Now that people know about this, the loaf never makes it past the first hour.

The first kit you get includes a breadboard and all the wires, resistors, etc. you need to make the first project (which is a light sensitive LED). Subsequent projects include just the necessary wires, etc. (you re-use the breadboard). If you don't want to take apart previous projects to build the new one, you can buy additional basekit sets (breadboard and batter pack). Those are $12 each plus $3 shipping. They are not difficult to build, and the videos do a nice job of walking your through it. It starts with explaining the different components and how they work, and you build a couple of different circuits to see how things work together. Then you build the final project, putting it all together. DS had never done any electronics before, and I helped him a couple of times with bending a wire nicely (but he could have gotten by without me. I just like to feel useful :)). Three students could follow along, but they'd have to take turns doing the actual building. There's only one kit included. There are also a couple of multiple choice questions asked, and a couple of videos where the teacher is explaining how something works, so there's not any actual building for those. After those videos, students are asked to write a summary of what they just learned (although that can easily be skipped if you like.)

Yet another GoodReads user here. It's saved me from rereading or requesting from the library a book I've already read many a time (all romance novel titles sound the same - who can keep track of them? :laugh: ) DH was just lamenting this week that he hadn't kept up with his account, because there was a newish book by an author he liked, and he couldn't figure out if he'd already read it or not. I have the app on my phone, so it's easy to enter in books as I start and finish them. And we just got a new Kindle, and that lets me automatically update my GoodReads account as a start and finish ebooks. I like getting their monthly email that tells me about new releases from author's I've read. Plus, one time I wrote a really glowing review of a book I loved, and the author 'liked' it! Totally made my week :)

My 10-year-old son learned a lot doing the electronics boxes from EEME. The videos and activities that go with them are really good.

Do you want to be able to enter the text before you print it, or are you okay writing it in by hand? Because there are lots of blank board game templates here. Oh! And this is a template you can download and edit before printing!

I second this - I love nomorobo! For those who don't know: it's free, and the way it works is that if it detects that the same number is calling a bunch of different people at the same time, it automatically rejects it. So the phone at your house will ring once, and then stop. We've had it for months, and I still grin every time the phone rings just one. Haha, got you! (I had it happen 5 times this morning alone. And yes, we're on the incredibly useless Do Not Call List). There are still a few that get through, but it's so, so much better.

After reading this thread I was looking at fidget cubes and spinners. DS walked in, watched a video with me, and I asked him if he'd like on. His face lit up! Usually when I ask if he'd like something, I get at most a "Yeah, that would be okay," which translated into DS-ese means "yes, please!" So his big reaction was unexpected (and had me immediately hitting the "buy" button). I'm excited!

I also use YNAB, and have for years. I switched over from Quicken, because while Quicken was great for seeing where the money went, it wasn't so great for actually budgeting, and seeing how much I had left. YNAB is really flexible in how you set up categories, and can be used in a Dave-Ramsey-money-envelop sort of way. You can download it to try for free for a bit, to see if you like it. (Also a tip: my FIL downloaded it, then took one of their free getting started seminars. At the end of the seminar was a coupon code, so they're worth checking out!)

Perhaps the Sequential Spelling DVDs? My DS is a natural speller, and we went with SS because it has you spelling trickier words right off the bat, and doesn't spend forever working on only easy words. It helps them break a word down into its component parts to figure out how it's spelled. Also, no word lists to study! (We use the books, so it's not independent, but I've heard good things about the videos.)

I love my Lems. They're minimalist shoes, and have a nice, wide toe box so your toes can splay naturally. They're the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn.

This is what I've got so far: Math: Continue Math on the Level Literature: Self-made book list Writing: Continue working through IEW SWI-A History: A History of US Science: Reading and projects from Steven Caney's Ultimate Building Book Art Appreciation: Why Is Art Full of Naked People? (possibly also A Child's History of Art: Painting) PE: Continue golf and swimming lessons, try to get him out to the local climbing gym Between DS's hormones and mine, this year has been a bit rough, and therefore lighter academically than originally planned. So depending on how things go, I may add back in some subjects we've let go this year: Latin (Lively Latin), music (SQUILT) and spelling (Sequential Spelling).

Reading the topic about life insurance reminded me of that other super cheery topic - wills. A couple of years ago DH and I made our wills, and we did something a little odd. If something happens to us, DS would go to our very good friends, S & K. Because of who S is, I would feel completely comfortable with having her homeschool DS. So in our will, we said that if S chooses to homeschool DS, our trust would pay her X amount of dollars each year. It's certainly not what she would make working full time, but the thought was that it would help to offset some of her lost income, and basically make it less of a financial hardship if she chose to stay home and homeschool him. I called S and let her know what we were doing, and explained that she should in no way feel obligated to homeschool him ("it was Sammish's dying wish!"), but that we wanted to make it an option. Has anyone else ever done anything like this?

I can't remember exactly how much our policy on me is, but we had this talk a few years back. We figured that if something happened to me, kiddo would end up in private school plus afterschool care at the minimum, so it'd need to cover that. On a related depressing note, we also have a small insurance policy on DS, just enough to basically cover funeral expenses. If the unimaginable were to happen, the last thing we'd want to be thinking about is money.

Math on the Level. We've used it since the beginning, and it works great for us. Math has ended up being our "cuddle on the couch together" subject, and we do it almost entirely on a lap size whiteboard. The review of the 5-a-days, being able to skip around topics and go as fast or slow as we need to- it works so well for us!

Just throwing this out there as another option: you could train your dog to do their own nails using a doggy scratchboard or nail file. You can make your own with some wood and a piece of sandpaper (Google has lots of videos and articles about building one and teaching your dog). Disclaimer: I have not actually tried this yet, but I have purchased the materials and it's on my to-do list.

My MIL bought a new table and gave us her old one (that DH had grown up with). She, too, had always used a pad and a tablecloth on it, and the table was in pristine shape. For the first couple of years we owned it, we also kept tablecloths on it. But frankly, they were a pain and we hated them. So we became rebels and stopped using them. Now the table is in decidedly less pristine shape (some scratches, dents, water marks, etc.), but it's being well used every day, for a variety of purposes. I know that it drives her a little crazy every time she visits and sees the "naked" table. More related to the topic: I am carefully avoiding thinking about my grandparents' house, which is large and filled with many beautiful, expensive things they picked up over the years as they moved and traveled extensively. So. Much. Stuff. It is universally agreed in our family that they are never allowed to die.

I'll also mention that there's a class of anti-depressants which can be taken as-needed for PMS, and (for me at least) they are miracle workers! I have a small bottle of Celexa laying around for just this purpose. When people are all being particularly, (clearly intentionally) irritating right before my period, I take a pill, and 20 minutes later everyone suddenly becomes less obnoxious! Truly an amazing pill - I take it, and it changes everyone else's behavior :lol:

I don't know about in general, but this certainly wasn't the case in our house. DH and I didn't grow up in sport loving households, but we watch our team play every Sunday. Our parents didn't (and still don't) watch it, our high school didn't have a football team until our junior year, we went to nerdy colleges where nobody cared about sports (our teams were the "Engineers" and the "Tartans" :lol: ) we don't particularly talk about it with others, and DH has never shown the slightest interest in fantasy football. It's really just the three of us hanging out, watching the game (and half the time DS is reading a book, or in bed). We've drifted from sport to sport over the years (it used to be baseball, then basketball, and it's been football for quite a few years now). I don't know why, but I just really enjoy watching football. I'm non-violent, hate confrontation, and would never ever let my child play football, and yet... I enjoy watching it. I find it entertaining. But I'll agree, all the new information that has come out, and the constant stories about what the players are doing off the field, has definitely given me pause. We're New England Patriots fans, and they're a lot of fun to watch. The quarterback is amazing, and keeps breaking records, and just seeing some of the crazy catches and plays is a good time. But I keep thinking in the back of my head, once Brady retires (assuming he ever does ;))... maybe it's time to move on.

A while back a FB friend of mine posted about looking for a helmet for her " wide round Asian head." :) She posted a link to this blog post, which talks about head sizes and shapes (not just Asian). It has some numbers and ratios in it for popular helmets, so maybe you'd find it helpful?

I used to read Newser every morning, and felt pretty cool about how informed I was about the world. But then I realized it was having a huge impact on my mental health, and I stopped cold turkey. (This was years ago, around when Syria first started becoming horrible.) And then I felt better. But in the past year, with the election, I felt more... obligated? to know what was going on. To be informed and partake in discussions with other people, I needed to know. I thought I could go back in my hole once the election was over, but that hasn't happened. It just all feels so immediate and pressing, and it's important to know what's going on! Otherwise, what's wrong with you? But... my mental health is suffering. Because I'm still kind of avoiding news, all my news comes from Google Now and Facebook. But I found that during the worst of the election, I had hide one friend, not because I disagreed with her politics, but because I completely agreed with them, and the things that she posted about because they outraged her, outraged me, too. I would scroll through my feed and just have rage strokes, because HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?? But... what have I done about the things that outrage and upset me? I voted, I donated some money, but that's it. So is it really helping anyone for me to be more "informed?" It's certainly making me more depressed, and making me feel more guilty for not doing more. I was at my shrink's office today, and he asked about my anxiety. I told him it was hard to separate the anxiety from my brain being dumb from the anxiety that is just a reasonable reaction to watching the news. He told me, "Then don't watch the news." He smiled as he said it, but I'm going to try to take this as medical advice, and reduce my news consumption again. But it's hard to do without feeling guilty. :sad:

Only mildly related: DH's name is Matthew. I've known him for 23 years. We dated for 4 years and have been married 13. I just realized LAST YEAR that his name has two Ts in it. :001_huh: :blushing: I knew Matt had two, but having two in Matthew just doesn't make sense!