Both sets of parents have passed on. My parents would know when I was coming since they lived 2 hrs. away. I would just walk in and say "Hello, Hello!" My in-laws lived in the area and we saw them frequently. They were used to people coming in and out, so we just walked in. I don't think they ever locked their doors!

My vote would be Mac & Cheese! :lol:

Reach for the heavens, and hope for the future, and all that you can be, not what you are. John Denver

Thanks to those who provided the words to the Patty Duke Show theme song so I could sing the song in memory of someone who was part of my growing up. May she rest in peace.

It is so hard to lose a mom, but you and your family were blessed to be able to spend so much time with her. You will have lots of memories to share. Praying all the details fall together for you and your family as you lay your mom to rest.

I had to have my wedding ring cut off when my finger swelled during pregnancy. It was a Sunday, we tried every trick, but ended up going to a jewelry store to have it cut off. I was glad they could do it at no charge.

Me too! :mellow: I haven't been to this site for several weeks. I feel right at home on this thread!

Thanks! Those dancing strips of bacon make me happy too!

This is the first year we will have a child (but over 18) earn money at a real job where the company sent earning info to the government. This child will be claimed as a dependent on our taxes. Does he file his own taxes too so he can get a refund? Do we have to claim his earnings because he is a dependent? Thanks for your help. This is a new phase in our life as parents.

Gold

Praying all is well and we'll get an update soon.

Praying for your family. :grouphug:

I think it is a great idea to preplan. It is so much harder on the family left behind to wonder "what would she want?". You can honor this person by doing what her wishes are, as long as that person has the money to carry it out. If you see financial problems, then you might explain the costs and offer other suggestions. I have had to help with the burial of 6 family members over the years and the ones who had a specific plan were the easiest. Well, it is never easy emotionally, but it is so much better to have a decision already made for you that you just have to help carry out.

My dh had something similar happen to him. He went through all the tests and they never figured out what it was. But the doctor told him he could take Pepto Bismol 4 times a day, which he did for about a month (maybe too) and he is totally good now. When you see your doctor, you can ask about that for a remedy. Dh suffered for about 4 months before this did the trick. Good luck

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll see what recipes I have that calls for lots of chopped veggies.

I use my blender for smoothies, and I don't make pie crust that often. However I will see how much trouble I can get into with it during the next few weeks. I hate doing dishes, and it just seems there are more parts to wash when I use it. What I need is a really good recipe to make with it . . . a recipe I love that I can't do any other way than with the food processor!

I got a Kitchenaid food processor with the dicing attachment. I think dicing with this thing takes longer than just using my knife. I also had it sitting on my counter for a day before cleaning it and now there is a stain from an onion or carrot. A knife is easier to clean too. I can still take it back because QVC has a return policy until 1/31/16 if I'm not satisfied. I'm trying to determine when I would ever use the food processor. Anybody use theirs quite regularly, and for what? edited: nice to knife. I couldn't have possibly made that mistake!

Everyone enjoyed their gifts, but I was disappointed in how my children used the money we gave them to buy gifts. We gave them $30 to spend on each family member. (We have a small family and no relatives that give us gifts to fill in.) I know for a fact because I saw some receipts that one gift was only $16, another was under $10, and still another with discounts and store credit only was $2. Then one child bought a sibling something that was over $50. I let them know next year they need to get jobs and use their own money for gift giving.

I really enjoyed our Christmas this year, even though I didn't make it perfect. Sometimes I buy the same or similar gifts for the kids and us, so I make sure we all open that gift at the same time. Just before they open their similar gifts I realized I forgot to wrap the "matching" gifts for us! I had to ask to put Christmas on hold, run into the bedroom where my secret stash was, and put the unwrapped gifts all in a big bag. So after the kids opened their wallets, I reached in the bag and "ta-da" handed dh his wallet! Everybody got a laugh out of it and my mistakes made it fun.

Just finished watching the finale of Downton Abbey - tears of joy. I just love happy endings. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all you Downton fans!

We have family coming on the 23rd, so we're having ham and potato casserole that day, and probably leftovers the next. On the 24th, I'll make a turkey so on Christmas there will be lots of leftovers. Reheating ham and/or turkey or turning them into sandwiches is my idea of an easy Christmas.

You were looking for encouragement, and you encouraged some of us! Way to go!

This time of year I would get a peppermint flavored non-dairy creamer.

Oh, I forgot the towels were under fleece. It was fun to pick different patterns for different seasons of the year. So glad you heard about the moving pads. That sounds like a great idea.

We built the same style cage for our guinea pig and it worked out great. May I also suggest using towels for the bedding. It was so easy to clean up the poo daily and about every week we washed the towels with baking soda and vinegar in the washer. I have to admit this was about 6 years ago, but it was so easy to do the clean up and there were no smells in the bedding. We found this method online along with the directions for this style of cage.