Well, dh's aunt and uncle still mail us pics of their twentysomething dd's every year... :001_rolleyes:

This is terrible. I'm so sorry. :grouphug: People really do say the dumbest things when someone has passed away. I remember when my sister was killed, I overheard one of my mother's so-called friend asking her the details of the phone call she'd received in the middle of the night from the highway patrol: "Were you just screaming???" This was literally the next day. I wanted to punch the woman. To this day, I can't even look at her. My best friend lost her son in an accident involving a train. One man who visited them suggested that their two families plan a day trip to take their minds off things: "We love the Smoky Mountain Railroad -- do y'all like trains?" Um, no. Not particularly.

You don't say? :lol:

My 17-year-old cousin came to see my youngest sister in the hospital after she was born. My cousin says to my mother, "Oh, she's adorable! When will she open her eyes???" Um, in about 30 minutes when she wakes up... (I guess she thought my sister was a kitten? :confused1: )

This was my wedding, except we had heavy hors d'oeuvres. And we did give an open invitation to the entire congregation, which was read from the pulpit. Probably less than 5 people came because of that. We did not expect RSVPs from that invite. Having grown up in that (small) church, it seemed the best thing to do. Actually it was my dad who insisted. We did send cards to those whom we personally invited. Every one of those, as far as I can remember, was returned. This was in 2000.

Um, pretty sure where I've lived my whole life qualifies as "middle of nowhere NC." Every wedding I've ever attended had RSVP cards. Didn't have a bit of trouble getting them back for my own wedding either. (Not saying I don't believe you -- just that these folks shouldn't get away with blaming their own lack of manners on their location!)

I freelance marketing and design services, mostly for the church I worked at before ds was born. I handle their website (we're finishing up a major redesign) and produce their newsletter/magazine, weekly enews, brochures, etc. They have a staff person who does a lot of my old job, but she doesn't have all the technical skills I do, so they asked me come back and pick up some of those tasks. It's less than 5 hours/week and pays very little but I can do it all from home on my own schedule so it works. We put aside whatever I bring in for fun stuff. We're going to Disney in February!

Well, we went to see it. And of course it's beautiful. Although it was not the fantasy I'd made it out to be in my head -- which is a good thing, as I'm now back to reality. The renovation is gorgeous, but it is definitely an old house that has been added to over the years, so the layout is wonky in places. Closets are terrible. I still want it. I think. I'm no longer 100% sure I can see us living in it. I'm not sure it's "home." But that may be a defense mechanism. Realtor says she's been showing it every other day and already has two more scheduled for this week. Somebody has even made an offer, although she said she doesn't think they'll be able to negotiate it, as they are too far apart on price. Oh, sorry... I referenced the dream house we were going to build until our land fell through in an earlier post, so I thought that's what you meant. I'm kind of leery of linking to the posting for the one we're looking at, since it lists the address and all. On the off chance some miracle occurs and we wind up buying it, IYKWIM. :glare:

We have an appointment at 3:30 tomorrow. We drove by it twice today. Every time I see it, I fall a little more in love...

Whenever you do it, my best advice is to make exercise a non-negotiable part of your day, like school time or meals. I do much better when I go to a fitness class at the gym (YMCA). I need to be pushed and am not good at pushing myself. Same is true for dh. I literally schedule our family around our workout classes. I know which classes we each prefer and work our school and family schedules around them. Dh can only go after work but I do go some mornings and arrange school around that (those are usually the days he works with his trainer in the evenings, as well as the days dd tends to have evening activities to be chauffeured to). I try to use those mornings as breaks for dd, but occasionally she takes work with her to the childcare room if she's behind. She looks forward to going and it's a nice respite for her. Other days we go in the evenings, which may mean I have to feed the kids early and dh and I eat late. I plan a couple of quick and/or crock-pot meals for those days -- things that can be easily cooked and/or reheated. That's been critical for us. Basically, our exercise time is a fixed part of our routine, just like school is, and we don't allow it to be tampered with (outside of extreme circumstances, of course). I realize that kind of dogmatic approach is not for everybody, but we've been working out consistently for over year and dh and I are down 150 lbs collectively, so it's working for us.

DD won a writing contest, and part of the prize is a $25 gift certificate to IEW. We don't currently use IEW, and we're pretty happy with our writing program, but I thought I'd poke around and see if I could find something supplemental. Unfortunately, it looks like most of their product line is considerably more expensive than $25. And, not being familiar with it, I am not sure which things can be used alone. If you had $25 to spend, what would you buy?

No, but I thought about trying the John the Baptist Diet. Bet you can lose a ton just eating locusts and honey... Just kidding. :D

FWIW, I didn't take what you said seriously. It gave me a good chuckle, and I appreciated that. That's something we could consider. Fortunately we wouldn't have to worry about our current house. We rent month-to-month from my dad and his sister (my late grandmother's house) so we can move when we need to, or not. Our rent is so ridiculously low that dh feels like it makes sense to stay here until we know how the merger shakes out. He thinks it will be a good thing for him in the end, but we've been through several surprise layoffs and so we're a little jumpy. The house we hoped (and still hope, someday) to build was custom-designed so I don't have pics of the plans, but it was similar to this: http://www.homeplans.com/house-plans/hp/styles/country-home-plans/homepw76708.html. Ours is more like 2200 sq ft on the main level. Like I said, not fancy, just my little piece of the world. :closedeyes:

It doesn't help that I am desperate to get out of our current home. This was supposed to be a short-term stop for us on the way to building our dream home (which wasn't in any way a fancy home, but still our dream). Seven years -- and three layoffs, one difficult pregnancy, and a decision to become a one-income family so we could homeschool -- later and we're still here. My bedroom is literally in the basement. Our neighbors/landlords (who also happen to be my relatives) are nuts. The lot my parents were going to give us free and clear is no longer an option for us to build on. There is very little for sale that I like in the area we want to live in. Nothing, actually, that I would even have considered buying until this one came along. Sigh. I hope hope hope this happens to me. We did put in a call to the agent for a showing. I just really want to see what it's like. This house was built in 1930 but has been completely redone. I hope I hate it. But the pictures online so far are pretty gorgeous... except that I can't tell for sure if it has a kitchen that's open to the living area. That will be a deal-breaker for me. This is really lovely. I don't blame you for wanting it -- although it sounds like you made a wise decision in holding back!

...and dh and I are not in a position to buy right now. :( His company is facing a major merger next year and he thinks we need to wait and see what happens with that. He's absolutely right. I'm still sad.

We're leaving Feb. 22nd!!!!! Will let you know how things go. We have been once on a day trip (spur of the moment, long story) the first weekend in March. The weather was perfect for the parks (but too chilly to swim) and the crowds minimal. It's why we chose this particular week for our first big trip with the kiddos. Dh and I had always been in the summers or over Easter break before, and this was a cakewalk compared to those trips.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

We have a live tree -- always live! -- about 7 feet tall. I would like a taller one but we have low ceilings. :( This year I went with a mix of small white and larger (NOT blinking!) colored lights, and the effect is AMAZING! I don't know why I never thought of this before. We have an assortment of ornaments we've collected over the years -- some the kids have made, some from my childhood, and the set dh and I bought the first year we were married, when we spent a grand total of $100 on decorations and thought we'd broken the bank! This year I've added some of my post-Christmas finds from last year. My favorites are the giant red and green (non-working) light bulbs and some Dr. Seuss-looking floral picks.

Definitely NOT. Then again, neither are other ordinary cookie varieties, like chocolate chip, in my book. I say you're totally justified in your position! :thumbup1:

This. When DH's brother got married, the photographer called up their parents to join the photo with the bride and groom and DH, who was the best man. After a few shots, the photog says he wants to finish up with the groom's side and asks,"Is this the whole family?" As I started to get up from my spot in front pew, all five of them (including DH) looked at him and said, "Yes." Not like DH and I hadn't been married for years or anything. :glare: I still play this card on him from time to time when the situation warrants it. (ETA: To be fair, this was very out of character for him. Less so for his family. It hurt either way.) Hang in there. Some people are thoughtless idiots.

DD is getting The Lego Neighborhood Book. DS is getting The Gospel Story Bible. DH's grandmother is getting Diary of a Sailor: Life on the USS Hornet, which is actually her late husband's WWII diary, which DBIL and I designed, typeset and had professionally printed and hard-bound as a surprise. It will be here on Tuesday and I'm beside myself! (Not for sale though... yet. :D ) We usually do more books but that's all on our list for this year.

Our church has run the gamut over the years. When I was growing up there, it was always a basic nativity play, sometimes with actual "lines" and sometimes with someone just reading out of Luke while others file in and fill up the scene, with the choir singing a hymn here and there. (The year my dad was a wise man with a crown made out of a decorated fast-food chicken bucket was the best!) The children always sang a few songs as well. A few years ago, the pastor decided every Sunday school class would be required to perform their own set in the program. This was a terrible idea, IMO. It required dozens more people to participate than usual (out of a small church of around 300) and many of them were clearly uncomfortable in front of an audience. Most classes just chose to sing a Christmas carol or collectively read scripture. Some performed skits (badly). Attendance started to drop off dramatically after about three years of this. Recently the fad has been for the children's department to put on a full-blown musical. This church just doesn't have the resources (or, sadly, talent) to make this happen. There are limited speaking parts that always go to the pastor's kids, the director's kids, and a couple of others. Most of them still have to read their lines. The music is cheesy and usually doesn't even contain a single traditional Christmas hymn. It is all recorded music, and the kids on the soundtrack overshadow the live kids -- which is not surprising since the poor things have been expected to learn a dozen brand-new songs from scratch in just a handful of weekly practices. Our dc don't like to participate and we've stopped making them. The church I used to work for does the Christmas program right, IMO. It is always at the Christmas Eve morning service (which is hugely attended by families with children). There are NO rehearsals. Every child in the congregation age 3 through about 5th grade is invited to participate. Parts are assigned based on age: 5yos are angels, 6yos are sheep, etc. The only roles assigned in advance are the wise men and the Holy Family, usually a family in the church with a new baby. Teenagers volunteer to act as helpers. At a predetermined place in the service, all the children who wish to participate are excused to the narthex, where volunteers sort them and get them into simple costumes. The congregation sings a couple of hymns while this is going on. The entire pageant is narrated by one of the priests from the pulpit. There are no speaking parts. Each group of "characters" files in at the appropriate point in the story (led by the teen volunteer in charge of their section, who ushers them to the correct place) and by the end the entire chancel is full of kids. It is precious -- low-stress, simple, and the focus is exactly where it should be.

I have. Many do-it-with-your-child assignments as others have mentioned (craft projects, "about me" or "about my family" type things), mostly in preschool when developmentally the child needs more assistance. I'm cool with those. Beginning in public kindergarten we were supposed to listen to dd read for 20 minutes a day. Since she was reading fluently at the age of 5 (and way more than 20 minutes a day) I just let her do her thing most days. One day when she was in second grade, she announced when I picked her up, "You have math homework today!" I thought she was confused, but sure enough, she produced a math worksheet from her backpack, with a letter attaching saying *I* was to complete it. It was supposed to familiarize parents with some of the newer methods the school was introducing in math instruction. I wrote at the top, "I have already passed the second grade," and returned it, blank. I would have welcomed some kind of clarification about what they were teaching (because I sure as heck couldn't figure it out -- and yes, I'm college-educated, summa cum laude, as a matter of fact), but this just stuck in my craw. Looking back, I should have been more diplomatic, but I was so over that school by then. We started homeschooling in third grade. :D

I helped my friends peek when I was a teenager but never did it myself. And we all knew that Mom stashed the gifts in the trunk of her car. DH manages to give away my Christmas gift every single year, and it's a real disappointment to me. I love to be surprised!