I am slowly making progress. I've been listening to Simplicity Parenting which may or may not help me keep Christmas shopping to a minimum. Ds isn't much of a toy person and has items in shrink wrap from one or two Christmases ago. Dd has taken over a lot of his toy collection which is fine but I want to swap out some toys, maybe move them to the grandparents' homes. For new movies we have done this, but we own a lot of hard copies and they are not all organized so dh will say, "want to buy this on digital?" and I'll say, "no, we own it already (somewhere...)." lol

Alternatively, could you take her into a store where she picks out the item? Michael's or the mall or a science museum with a gift shop?

Aw, Gravity Falls. Just have them play the theme music down the street ;) I love the theme song. I wouldn't worry too much, if I saw someone wearing a vest on Halloween I'd imagine it was referencing Back to the Future or something.

The Sweet Smell of Christmas Personal childhood favorite (scratch n sniff book) A couple of years ago we bought the recordable Hallmark Christmas books. My parents did the recording on one book and my MIL did the recording on the other. One is The Night Before Christmas and the other is a religious story of Christmas. Other places sell the recordable books as well. Anyway, so now the kids can listen to their grandparents when we open those books.

For the Jinx wig... maybe try this: http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-2646901/girls-4-16-dreamworks-trolls-poppy-headband.jsp

I guess it depends on the dynamic and whether or not the couple agreed on ground rules. Dh gets very touchy if I eat something that he has given up and vice versa. And if I gave up something and then ate it and he pointed it out, I probably wouldn't be too happy but I would know he was trying to keep me on track. Sometimes we do get tough with each other, like tell each other not to buy something. Once food gets in the house all bets are off. I'd probably consider these options for the future (any or all) • no commenting on what I eat • eat "forbidden" food in private • remove forbidden foods from home

I found the thread by going to her username and clicking topics. I know that method may not always work (half the time I can't find my own posts LOL)

I think this is the thread then: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/624113-stupid-pregnancy-venting/?do=findComment&comment=7198534 I haven't seen a recent update.

Yeah, what Annie said. See if this is the thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/623652-anxiety-over-giving-birth-again/

I'd probably deal with Amazon or directly with the magazine company. I've been burned before in a magazine scam. Though, I'm sure there are other legit places to buy them. Do you know if they will read them? Ds has been gifted a magazine subscription for like 2 years and he hardly looks at them. We have to remind him he has them and should read them.

Maybe you can make a trail mix with those nuts and put it in a decorative jar or such. The craft can be the container.

Yes, I have a spread sheet listing most of the stuff I have bought and prices and budget goal. I've done most of my shopping online so I just try to update the sheet right away when I've got the prices viewable in another window. We've got a tighter budget this year but I consider it a fun challenge. Mostly I've shopped for kids. I scored some good deals at Kohl's and The Children's Place. Done some shopping on Amazon and found some bargains at my local Walmart ($2 for a set of color wonder markers and paper!). I bought a few Hallmark ornaments (2015 models?) on sale a couple months ago. I look at camelcamelcamel to see what prices to expect on certain items. I actually want to do some wrapping this weekend and take the wrapped items to our family at Thanksgiving to store there. To save on space in the car we should probably order the remainder to be sent directly to their homes and wrap when we arrive a few days before Christmas if not during Thanksgiving. I've been looking online for ideas with mason jars. If I have time I want to do these for the lids and buy a set of the lids with straws so it can convert from a storage jar to a drinking glass. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010NHMZR0/ref=pd_luc_rh_sim_01_01_t_img_lh?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 I just saw you can buy other types of lids and convert mason jars to other things, but that might be more expensive.

My family lived in Japan for a year before I was born. I think my sister actually rode a bus to school and I don't think it was a private school. So I am thinking it was a public bus??

Let us know if you do it and how it goes. If you ever find drugs in it or suspicious activity then I guess you could just re-evaluate at that point. Since you are home a lot you could probably keep an eye on it and see if teens are snatching TP or not lol. I get nervous about making commitments and would worry it was a commitment but I suppose if it ever became a problem you could take it down.

:lol: I would totally say hi to my OB if we made eye contact at the park. But I'm thinking of this person as someone that saw me along a pregnancy as opposed to just once a year for a routine visit. Guess that might make a difference.

Yes, I know, I am being pretty cynical in this thread. Sigh. Just covering what ifs.

I guess I might be nervous to put it too close to my own house, that way if I ever left town, didn't refill it, etc. someone wouldn't be tempted to take it out on my house or ring my door bell/leave notes. Would you put it in front of your own home? Most people probably wouldn't harass the homeowner, but I guess in the back of my mind I would wonder if anyone would come knocking with requests or such.

My comments weren't really about it being worth it or not, but just answering the question of what could go wrong with these little pantries. In my experience it is really about the character of the person and this can vary despite financial status. I have been what I considered very poor (scraping by on one PT income, car that kept having problems, had SNAP benefits, lived in low-income housing neighborhood) and I didn't trust everyone that was poor nor thought the best of all my neighbors just because they, too, lived in a low-income subdivision. I've seen some crappy interactions between poor people and it really wasn't about them being poor imo. It was about their character. I've seen people leap for freebies on free cycle networks and not act very appreciative. I know you weren't saying every.single.poor.person but I just don't think I would go as far as to say the bolded, either. Just really depends.

If I was very motivated to stock it with needed items, I would probably attach a pencil and a notepad asking people to list the items they were in most need of (with a disclaimer that it doesn't mean we can get it). Take some of the guess work out. It might be socks or toothpaste, baby formula, who knows.

I guess I'd be afraid of what seems to me to be the obvious... people taking advantage of it that don't really need it or hogging it so not many people get to use it. Also, teens stealing toilet paper to TP a lawn, etc. Someone taking items and reselling them.

I heard about one story where a few fightfighters got fired because they had one of the guys dress as a clown while the others took pictures and reported it as a sighting. I also heard about a local sheriff that spotted a clown and sent out a warning on social media to the clown. I suspect a lot of the clown sightings are fake (people just claiming they saw one but lying) or people just dressing up and having their photo taken like the firefighters did. I heard about a store robbed by a guy in a clown mask locally, but I couldn't find the story online so I don't know if that was a legit story.

In ds' classroom I saw a duty chart thing and sweeping was on the list. Lately ds has been super eager to clean around the house because dh has offered him money for these chores. He was sweeping and swiffering the hallway the other night Lol. People say to find your child's currency. Apparently for ds it's money for the bake sale at school LOL

Not sure if this is a vent or a pity party, but I'm so frustrated with all the problems with the school options here. Everytime I think I have a possible solution, it's like, "nope, try again." I have been pondering the public school and trying to figure out how bad exposure to the EMFs from the substation would be. I bring it up to dh and he says, "oh, that school isn't accredited." Meanwhile, the school I'd love to send ds to is too far away and too expensive. Dh posted something on FB and a friend said, "Send him to xyz school. He'd love it." I've already told them face to face we cannot afford it. I don't know why people have to keep suggesting things others can't afford. (But despite all this I'd like to believe when there's a will there's a way... so I'm going to attend the open house anyway. I don't know if I'm just going to depress myself more lol)

Another thing not mentioned (or maybe it was and I missed it) is that if you're traveling with very old or young, it's more challenging than staying home maybe. Like getting stuck in bumper to bumper traffic with no pit stop in sight and a crying baby. You might have to prepare a bottle and not have a lot of water with you, etc. (or even easily breastfeed in that situation if you're breastfeeding). I couldn't imagine. I didn't have kids back then, but we were traveling with my 90 yr old grandma when we evacuated one time. This made it very essential for us to find a hotel room. I'm just talking hypothetically about the toilet thing. We never actually had a storm where we were in the house trying to figure out a way to flush the toilet that I can recall. Or if we were, it was very short-lived. I vaguely remember having water (maybe it was off, then back on) because I showered at a stranger's home. No way to heat up the water, but when it first came on there was some residual heat. I don't think it was a bathtub, I think it was a shower stall but I don't remember. What was ironic about it all is this man that let us stay with him lived in a trailer park. Our house was made of brick and a complete uninhabitable wreck. We were closer to water, though. I am a princess when it comes to stuff like toilets and OCD about germs, so "just make a compost toilet" isn't really up my alley lol. Although that's pretty clever and I may need to keep that in mind. These days we live far enough away that we'd likely be fine, but family might travel to us to stay. I'm not sure I follow this. Leaving early might mean the roads start getting congested sooner? But leaving when everyone else does guarantees congestion. I would leave early to avoid traffic and get a hotel if given a choice. And also to open myself up to a different route, whereas when everyone leaves at the same time you have to narrow down the route/destination much more.

So without the well, what would you do? Use the bathtub I guess? I'm thinking of cases where going to the store for more or setting out buckets is not an option (they will get flipped over in the storm). After I posted it occurred to me that you could use the bathtub, but that's assuming you plan ahead and don't need to use that water for something else or run out of it. And that you don't have just a shower stall. And don't use the bathtub to ride out a tornado. I don't sit in ours but in one home we lived in it was considered the safest place in the house. But I would say most people do have a bathtub and could attempt to stock pile water there. Just don't know how many days it will last. I mean, if it's really bad, you're could be talking weeks not days. After seeing the damage in our town from Katrina we stayed with some friends in TX for a week and then I took a plane out of state. I knew people that didn't have as much damage, but were still dealing with power issues for some time. The power company may not be able to even get to certain areas. Of course these were the most extreme circumstances, not the average hurricane I've seen. umsami, the work thing could be when work starts back up again. Your job might open but you're having trouble getting to the job because you left town. My parents both had jobs to return to, but so much of the area was a mess.