I don't wash jeans on hot as I would imagine that I wouldn't fit in them afterwards LOL. Also, if they are a dark shade I think that would fade them fast. I just think of hot as much more harsh so only wash certain items on hot like bath towels, underwear, socks or dish towels. Not sure if you've actually had any problem with the jeans, though! I use a stain remover sometimes. I usually use Shout (I have tried both the bottle that you rub on and the spray. Currently have the spray). It seems to help. And I usually wash with Arm & Hammer with Oxi clean (liquid). I feel like if a load needs extra help that works better than my All detergent or such. For example, it gets rid of smells better (mildew, smoke). A&H does make a sensitive one which I use sometimes, but that does not have the oxi clean. Dh had trouble with some detergents growing up but has no problem with any of ours so the brand may work for your family.

I don't know how I feel. I guess there could be a way to make it "no questions asked" as in, no one asks you personal questions, but maybe with some type of limit if you seem to be "hogging" it/overusing it?? I don't know how you would do this. I guess I'd just be leery that people would take advantage. I'm in favor of food banks, though.

Could you do a double-sided one with one type of work on one side and the other on the other side? I ordered business cards a few years back that are double sided, but the one side is just art. So, I don't know if that's even possible. Other idea would be two columns. One column for the one type of work and the other column for another type or misc. Perhaps a header like, "also available for:" and then bullet points or just the list.

We are in love with riced cauliflower if that helps anyone. They sell it now in the freezer section. I've been using it as a rice substitute (for example, stir fry. A friend of mine used it in stuffed peppers).

Dinner is ready, but dh is on a diet so that really limits what he can eat. I told him he could just eat the meat and veggies that I left to the side if he wants. No one in this home likes soup but me. I can stretch it for days and in fact was the only one that touched that last batch I think.

I'm sorry that you got stuck paying for stuff you didn't want/can't use. I had the opposite problem a couple years ago. I thought my plan covered maternity, but it didn't. I had to pay a lot out of pocket for my initial ob/gyn visit because the alternative was to postpone the visit several weeks before my new plan kicked in and I was uncomfortable doing that.

No, it doesn't have to mean that. I didn't mean to apply it was always that way. Given I don't know what the OP meant by "out of their life" I was just coming up with various scenarios that might apply. I am not saying that having custody always means that the other parent is cut off completely. In my head when I posted the thing about the bio mom and the step mom I was thinking a situation where the bio mom was not interested in any visitation or not in the short-term and/or didn't live near the dad/step mom. If they lived in different states, for example, they might go on living their independent lives with little or no contact.

I'm not positive. I'd have to do some digging. We could be waiting years for answers to many of my health questions. I tried to get away from aluminum before, but it's hard. I mean in order to replace all my aluminum is a nightmare. I wish they'd make a bundt cake form that wasn't aluminum but the only one I've seen is silicone which doesn't really appeal to me.

Try to undo the prediction? Stop cooking with foil and be more particular about aluminum use. Be more stringent about my deodorant choices. Find out what brain exercises slow it down (I think crossword puzzles and such) and spend more time doing that type of thing. Pretty much stuff I should be doing now and do think about now sometimes, but don't always follow. For example, in the back of my head I think it's bad to use foil but I use it in my toaster oven a lot.

I don't know if you mean out of their life 100% forever or if you mean lose custody or what. But I will answer, anyway. I don't even know that the word "extreme" is necessary. What about a case where the biological mom had an unplanned pregnancy and isn't prepared to be a mom and there's a step mom that is willing and able to take on the mother role? What about adopted children? I don't know that all the moms that put their children up for adoption had dire situations. Better is subjective, but I could see how one person's perspective may be "this is better" based on their wants, needs, situation.

I doubt it is significant, but in your example, I would be thinking "hmm $1.50 more per customer." Yep, that would definitely affect my night lol. Heck $1.50 more per HOUR would affect my income and we're talking more than one table. I have a friend that works at a restaurant. He's posted on FB before saying if you use a coupon at a restaurant please tip for the full price of the meal. I never gave it any thought. I am not sure how I feel about that.

You could say the same thing about lots of things. How often do people study a higher math in school and then say they never used it in real life? As for Spanish, at one of my jobs if I had known how to speak it I would have made more per hour. I only knew this because a coworker told me that and I guess they knew that because another coworker was bilingual? Not really sure how this came up. I think a lot of times people study another language with the intent to travel. I'm not arguing that you may not need it/find it handy in your overall life, but I figure that's the same for ASL. I admire people that learn ASL and don't need to. One of the churches I attend has an ESL night once a week. I could not communicate with anyone there. I was fumbling to ask if they needed a ride and used an app to help me translate. I found out later that I asked if they wanted to go on a joy ride :lol:

:lol: When I was researching it I found a couple books that gave approx times to spend (daily) homeschooling per grade. I go by that loosely and that is the type of thing I would probably volunteer if put on the spot. Even though I don't really know what I'm doing I do like to tell people asking that you don't have to buy a box curriculum. I think a lot of people assume you have to go that route.

Last night my kids and I were wearing short sleeves while out and about. It was very pleasant out.

I've always been foggy on this. Dh's sister used to work at one. She would skate to the cars. He is unimpressed with most of the employees as they walk to the cars lol. We did spot a guy on skates recently and I was shocked. I don't know if I had ever seen a Sonic employee on skates. They are really bad about customer service around here. They don't offer you condiments and then when you ask they don't have them on the tray or in their apron so they go back inside. Sometimes they take forever or forget about you. One time we went to redeem a free cone that ds earned. I asked about the coupon at the speaker. They took it at my car and said they'd ask the manager about it. I thought they were going to return to say, "this is fine" or whatever. But they never came back!! I finally hit the button to speak to them and they said everything was fine. No, "Sorry, we didn't know you were waiting outside" or anything. At least one of the Sonics around here has updated order screens now so you can see the order. I have been to a couple where aside from parking there is an actual drive-thru. I think they might still bring the food to your car by exiting the door and walking it to you, though. I don't remember if there's a window where they pass it to you. Well, I can't imagine how that would work for tipping. Do you tip if you park but not if you drive through? What's the difference?

In the past I tried to use Khan Academy because it's mentioned so often, but honestly, I guess I was too stupid to maneuver their site. I didn't know how to find what I was looking for. I guess I need to try again. That's not just a homeschooling thing, but I've mainly heard about it from homeschoolers. As for Bravewriter, I read about it but it sounded like a lot of work and not at all what I was hoping for (open and go resource). Getting up early for everything. I thought, why??? Are the crowds worse at 2:00 pm than 10:00 am? Does no one want to do things in the afternoon?? But I kinda get it. People have other things to do, routines to keep, etc. Really 10am isn't that early at all, but I live far from all the homeschool stuff. I was relieved one homeschool group I was in did park days in the afternoon at least part of the year. Barb_, they are adorable!! Lol about walking around the block and coming home.

There is a sale going on at Carter's. http://www.carters.com I was at an outlet store today. The fleece footed pjs came out to under $6 after all the discounts. If you live near a Family Dollar I saw some clothing marked down pretty low. I got a whole toddler outfit for $4 (hoodie and pants). Some of the other items were 50% off. I got some pjs for $3 each.

Simple and warm. http://www.food.com/recipe/jiffy-corn-casserole-5-ingredients-easy-delicious-313521

I was on hold with the insurance company for 13 min. yesterday before I gave up. There was no idea of how long my wait would be. I planned the phone call when dd was asleep in the car and I was waiting for ds to get out of school. I guess I'll try again today.

This might sound dumb, but would it help if you role played with her? Maybe she's so young she hasn't made that many professional calls and thinks she will freeze or something. If you are used to calling the cable company, the insurance co., etc. then you might have an idea of what they will say to prep your dd. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the anxiety, though. I don't know that I have a phone phobia, but I dislike answering the phone/calling for a lot of things. For example, I would rather order a pizza online than call and place an order. And I have asked dh to make phone calls many times. If I am the one making the call I try to write down what I need to ask before I call in many cases. If I can do online chat I sometimes do that (Amazon customer service, etc.).

I was happy to note a Catwoman spotting on the boards the other day :) OP, since when does MOPS meet at night? Isn't that the pre-school group?? I guess you could just go alone, assuming you feel safe and could leave early without a problem (like is there an expensive cover fee, etc.) if you were uncomfortable being there alone. I wonder if you could chaperone a school event and meet another parent that way?? Or some other school volunteer event (bake sale?). It is hard. I live in a small town, too and I don't know that many parents my age. (question... if your dh did want to attend with you who would watch your dc? I am a bit confused).

I'm thinking they do it for both wedding and baby registries.

Winter was here for like a week. The house was so warm today I was tempted to run the A/C. We got some hail and sleet last week and they closed the schools early. Ds was only in school an hour lol.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves with online ordering, but it is not store specific it seems. I have ordered umpteen times from one clothing store with no problems but then one time they were out of stock of the shoes I ordered for dd to wear with her Christmas dress. When I had to reorder shoes for her I couldn't find a deal as good but luckily I had enough time. I've experienced this with third party sellers on Amazon as well. Camelcamelcamel told me an item went on sale. I jumped on it and later found out it was canceled. Ugh.

Well, she needs a refund as well obviously for her items, but I meant for the shipping.