I could really use some help figuring this out. About 2 months ago, a lovely woman in our parish passed away. She left behind her husband, 2 teenagers and her parents who lived with them. A meal train was set up and everyone signed up to bring dinners to the family. People are generally providing casseroles (Baked mac and cheese, stuffed shells, American Chop Suey) and we did Chicken Divan (chicken in a cream sauce over broccoli served with white rice) for the first day we signed up for. Now, 2 weeks later the temperature is 20 degrees warmer and I'm at a loss what to bring for the second day. It's going to be 86 degrees so a casserole seems too "heavy" on a warm day but I can't come up with anything else. Does anyone have any ideas? Thank-you very much!

Girls excel bronze and silver are still 12 hours per week at our gym. Level 5 girls are at 20 plus. While excel is a reduction, those hours IMHO are still ridiculous. I really thought this was the whole purpose of JD - giving boys who want less practice hours an opportunity? Unless they are using this as a feeder to JD - the sample routines seem like a jumble of level 4-6 skills.

You didn't ask me, but boys' JO at our gym is: Level 4 - 4 hours (2 days) Level 5 - 8 hours (3 days) Level 6 - 12 hours (4 days per week) Level 7 - not sure but I think 20 plus Personally, I don't see boys' excel being offerred at our gym unless it's done by the rec coaches. Maybe as something similar to the ninja program? Our team coaches are already stretched thin time wise as it is.

There is a difference between a prepayment penalty and a closing penalty. With a Heloc, you probably only have an early closing penalty - that means you can pay it off as soon as you would like, you just can't close the account. Our Heloc had a penalty if it was closed within the first 3 years. It was paid off after 2 but we have kept it open, just in case. No problems with any penalties.

No problems in NH, either. Our house had a wood fireplace when we bought it and there was no problem getting insurance when we moved in - State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, and 1 or 2 others all quoted with no problem. When we switched out to a wood insert (love our Hampton HI300), there was no change to the existing rate. Must be the state.

We're in NH but have a service that comes once a month. It makes all the difference! In between deep cleanings, we run a Roomba every day or so which keeps the floors looking clean. Cleaning service washes all the floors and thoroughly cleans bathrooms/ kitchen and dusts. Give the cleaning company a call and see what they will do. Definitely worth it!

I'm sure you've already done it, but my husband who is a GI doc always recommends eliminating coffee, soda and chocolate as a first step towards eliminating heartburn.

I agree with you that this is silly. I guess my concern revolves around unintended consequences. If this passes and suddenly there are a lot more applications, would all the students still be accepted into those colleges? I would think that even the CC would have a maximum capacity that they couldn't accept over because they wouldn't physically have room for all those students.

What would I do? - I would be prepared to use it on any intruder if I felt that I or my children were in danger. I am good shot and, at this point in training with the gun, there are certain rules that are ingrained - for example: do not point a gun at anything unless you plan on shooting it and do not put your finger on the trigger unless you are ready to pull it (keep it alongside). My mental health is great (thanks for asking!) and I've thought things out probably more completely than someone who ducks her head and says it will never happen to me. Avoiding dangerous situations - that's a great idea! I already have a monitored house alarm which we consistently use, signs on the outside of the house stating there is an alarm, and don't do silly things like walk by myself or at night. I'm not sure what dangerous situation you think the young man in the other thread put himself in that he had to kill three intruders. The fact is, not everyone in this world is a nice person.

We own 2 guns for self defense. One is kept downstairs in a drawer and the other upstairs in the bedside nightstand. Both are kept in biometric safes coded to both my husband's and my fingerprints. I can open the safes in less than 10 seconds. Both of our boys have been taught gun safety and have shot guns at the range. Neither can access the biometric safes - I had them try while I was watching. I didn't learn to shoot until I was in my late 30's. I started by attending a beginners' class held by Sig Sauer. Quite frankly, even after the class I didn't feel comfortable with a gun. That was probably because most of the class was in a classroom with very little time devoted to actually shooting - maybe 30-50 rounds total. What really helped was spending time at the range with a friend of my husband. He is a former marine who watched me and corrected my form while I shot several hundred rounds. After that, I've continued going to the range to keep my skills up. I don't know how I would react in a true crisis - I don't think any of us do. I would hope that if someone broke into the house, I would try to grab the kids, the gun and either get out of the house or barricade myself in a room. Would I have the presence of mind, I don't know. But I do know that I have shot enough rounds that I am comfortable with a gun and pretty accurate.

We also get them from our local feed store. 2 buff Orpington 2 black sex links 2 barred rock 2 Rhode Island Reds 3 Easter eggers 3 golden laced Wyandotte Personality wise, the buffs and RI reds are my least favorite but both varieties are excellent layers. Love the green/blue eggs from the Easter Eggers.

We do a 180 day folder system for core subjects (3rd and 4th graders) and a binder/pile of together work with science, history, geography, Spanish and Latin in it. Short term they could go through the end of the school year by doing folders and a little bit of together work each day. DH would eventually have to go back to work but could have his parents supervise the kids during the day and work with the kids at night and on days off on what they need help with. Alternatively, he could afford to either hire a tutor or put the kids in private school (we do Stanfords yearly and I keep a portfolio of work so no problem there). If he keeps the kids home, he knows about the Wishlist I have at Rainbow Resource with next year's materials in a sub-folder and materials through high school sorted by subject. Where Rainbow didn't have what I was looking for, I created a sub-folder called Subject - use XYZ. I have no doubt that DH could manage if something happened to me. It might not be what I planned but I'm sure they would be just fine.

PicWits! By Mindware. Everyone from my 3rd grader to my husband enjoys playing it.

I'm suddenly feeling very silly but I'm going over my 4th grader's grammar work and I don't know if his answer is right or wrong. The sentence is: A guide dog helped the blind, young man. He marked that there should be a comma between the blind and young because they are reversible and still sound right (coordinating). But I also know that usually we don't use commas between adjectives describing color, size, or age. I think I'm confusing myself. Thank you very much for any help! Jenn

Thank-you all very much! I think he could do the assessments for WWE 1-3 but I'm not sure how well or how happily. I accidentally found out that our inter-library loan actually has all 3 books, so that will give me a chance to look at them a little more closely. If they are really "that" repetitive, I don't think they'll work. I also looked at Treasured Comversations and CAP and they also look like great programs. My only concern is that they appear very time and teacher intensive. I realize that writing is going to add time to his school day, I just am trying to make it as efficient as possible. Thanks again! Jenn

I'm, quite frankly, at my wit's end with writing programs. DS10 (now in 4th grade) grudgingly did some of Writing Strands 2 in 2nd grade and I purchased WS3 for 3rd but we both hated it so much, it never got done. Last year we tried IEW-SWI A. It looked like it might be a success because of how it made writing "structured", but taking time for the videos was difficult and we just stopped doing it when time got tight. I'm thinking of trying Writing with Ease or Writing with Skill for next year (grade 5) but I'm not sure where to start. He's currently in All About Spelling 5, so he's comfortable with dictation and First Language Lessons 4, so he can do basic narration. I really don't want to start from the beginning as the sample pages for WWE 1 looked too basic, but WWS sounds like it might be too advanced. Any suggestions? Thanks! Jenn

Our Texas Roadhouse has a catering menu. Their Texas sized bbq feast for 20 has chicken, ribs, pulled pork, a side, a salad and their bread and butter. We used them to cater our last event and, while a little more expensive initially, everything was included including plates, napkins and utensils. Food was great and cleanup was easy.

Thank-you everyone! Lanny - that was one of the places I looked for recommendations. My husband is a physician and we also asked the pediatricians and the head of psychiatry/psychology at his hospital. Someone Pm'd me and I was able to use that recommendation as a "tiebreaker" between suggestions. Thanks again!

I would really appreciate it if someone had a recommendation for a psychologist with experience in anger and / or anxiety issues for my 9 year old son. We're located between Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire but traveling further is possible. It's hard enough to admit we need help with his issues, the last thing I need to hear is that the "solution" is to put him back in school. Thank-you for any help that anyone can provide. I'm at my wits end. Jennifer

I would really appreciate it if someone had a recommendation for a psychologist with experience in anger and / or anxiety issues for my 9 year old son. We're located between Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire but traveling further is possible. It's hard enough to admit we need help with his issues, the last thing I need to hear is that the "solution" is to put him back in school. Thank-you for any help that anyone can provide. I'm at my wits end. Jennifer

I would really appreciate it if someone had a recommendation for a psychologist with experience in anger and / or anxiety issues for my 9 year old son. We're located between Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire but traveling further is possible. It's hard enough to admit we need help with his issues, I really don't want to hear that their "solution" is to put him back in school. Thank-you for any help anyone can provide. I'm at my wits end. Jennifer

Irish spring soap actually does work. I shave it and dilute it in water and shake on my hostas and hang up partial bars on my apple trees and it keeps the deer away. It needs to be reapplied a couple times a season.

DS9 (level 4) competed in his first real meet ever today. He did rec level until this year so this is a whole new world for me. There was a little bit of a screw-up and I'm not sure I did the right thing. He was listed to go 3rd in each event but the assistant coach put him up 2nd in the first 2 events. It was caught on the 3rd event by the judge for that event and fixed after that. At awards I realized that the scores were mixed up between him and the other boy who was supposed to be second but went third. DS scored a 8.8 on pommel and the other boy scored a 8.0. They scored same on second event so no problem there. I mentioned it to the head coach on his way out and he looked at me like I had 2 heads. I probably shouldn't have said anything but I want to make sure it doesn't happen again. DS ended up 2nd in pommel. He took 2nd in floor where he added the bonus press to handstand and second in high/horizontal bar where he did the pullover without assistance and added the bonus back hip circle. 3rd place all around. I'm not sure if his place on pommel or all around would have been higher if the scores weren't messed up. The boys are different age brackets so it's hard to tell and scores haven't been posted. I've made sure not to say anything to DS because I don't want to upset him. For you gym moms out there, does this happen frequently? And how do I make sure it doesn't happen again? Jenn

I feel very uncomfortable and angry seeing that. I have a CCL and do occasionally carry concealed. But the idea that someone would open carry like that for the purpose of intimidation is appalling. And just FTR - it is highly unlikely that is an "automatic weapon". An automatic weapon is one where you pull the trigger once and multiple bullets come out. A semi-automatic means that 1 pull = 1 bullet. Most guns (not revolvers) are semi-automatic. Automatic weapons are already highly regulated.

We use the fireplace to heat our home. I let my 9 year old DS add wood to the fire unassisted and he assists me in building the fire. I'm guessing that he will be ready to start it himself next year. 7 year old DS only adds wood inder supervision. Neither child is allowed to clean the stove as there are sometimes hot embers in the ash.