It shouldn't matter what kind you use. I like the taste of Orange blossom the most but I would say the most common you see is clover.

Have her rinse her face with warm water and then spread RAW honey over her face. It doesn't take much, just a little shirt button size on her finger. Leave the honey on for maybe 5 minutes. My dd puts the honey on her face and then brushes her teeth. After a bit take a wash cloth, put warm water on it and wipe off the honey. Use a clean wash cloth each time. This usually cleans up my dd's face within a few days. She gets lazy and doesn't always do this but when she does her face is very clear. Also, really make sure your dd doesn't touch her face. I would be surprised if the honey irritated her skin. HTH

Only a homeschooler would want to study Latin next year so she could join the "secret club". Yep, my dd just read this thread with me and when we got to this one I looked at her and said "you want to learn latin now don't you?" "YEP". We have been debating between Latin and Spanish. Guess this helped make the decision!

Tomato staking should not be shaming or going over the misdeed constantly, especially with a teen. It should be just quietly including them in all you do. When I feel my dd pulling away I pull her back by staking. The most bonding times we have is deep cleaning a room, or cooking, or doing some project together. Playing a game or just trying to have a deep talk does not work as well at getting her attitude back as doing something constructive together. Do teens need time in their room just to chill? Of course. But it can be balanced with activities that benefit the whole family at the same time. She is learning from an adult how to behave like an adult. A lot of her friends are learning from other teens during this time and they are going to run into trouble that way. Does my dd have contact with her peers? More than some public school friends. But every now and then she needs to stop texting and talking on the phone and have some time with me. She and I are both better for it. If you asked my daughter if I had ever tomato staked her she would have no idea what you were talking about. It's just a polite way to explain to others.

Neosprin will not kill mrsa. My SIL had MRSA when she was living with us and I really researched what we needed to do to prevent it from spreading. We only use Tea tree salve with cuts because that will kill MRSA. I had her use tea tree oil soap that I ordered from Vitacost.com. We were able to keep it contained but we were really strict. There are some natural things that you can take to help also. Turmeric is one that I remember helps the body fight it. You need a doctor's help and meds but there are some natural things you can do too that will help clear it all up faster. Google is your friend in this.

I agree with the tomato staking and even if you were planning on having a relaxing week I would turn it into a deep cleaning the house week. The parts above are what concern me the most. 14 is old enough to know the scary parts of going off with a boy she may have just met. Church camps are great but some of the teens that are there have had tough backgrounds and aren't very pure and Jesus like. They go because their family feels they need to find God, not that they are already believers and followers. I would research some articles about what has happened to young girls when they put themselves in situations that they think is save but really isn't. I remember reading an article when I was in college that was very eye opening to a very young innocent girl. I was very careful after that not to put myself in a position that would allow anything to happen to me. I was also very careful my friends didn't wander off with a guy we didn't know during parties. Your daughter may have put herself in a very dangerous situation. She needs to know what could have happened. You have to have some very blunt conversations with her if you want her to be safe in the future. The biggest consequence from this that my kids would have to live with is no more teen activities unless DH or I could chaperon. She has shown she won't listen to other adults, she would need one of us on any other event to keep an eye on her. My kids know that trust is something I will give them plenty of until they break it. Once it's broken it takes a long time to build back up. I would not trust her to keep herself out of danger for a long while. Good luck Melissa

Our insurance will give us 30 days to transfer the insurance to a new car, but if you didn't have any insurance then Yes you were uninsured. It sounds like the advise you were given about that was just wrong. When I hit someone in a parking lot in MI the police officer told us that they could not find fault with either one of us because it took place on private property. He said he could write out a report but couldn't issue tickets or find fault on private property. Since your accident was in a parking lot (private property) the officer could have been following the law in only making out a simple report and not finding fault. In my case even though I had hit her each of our insurance paid for our own cars because she wasn't parked in a parking space. I'm not sure of the laws of your State, but this might explain why the police officer didn't do more. HTH Melissa

If she enjoys logic you could try this: http://www.mentagy.com/default.asp?pgrm=merchandise It's a game created by my kids Chess coach. He originally made it to help in chess, but it's a great game. The wooden version is really neat to have and fun to set up. We also have the book so we can take it in the car too. Our whole family enjoys these puzzles. HTH Melissa

Here's a link to a chart of the 1860 Census. In most slave states only 1/3 of the households had slaves. Melissa

:iagree: In the words of Abraham Lincoln: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause." Even the Federal President didn't care whether or not the slaves were free, he just cared about keeping the south as part of the USA. It was about whether or not the Union was going to split into two countries or stay one. It started during the Revolutionary war. Oh, I don't view the flag in a negative way (but I used to when I was ignorant of all the different events leading to the civil war). Melissa

[*]Person, Place, Animal – Selena Gomez, DC, platypus [*]Action – volleyball, driving [*]Object – stapler, toothbrush [*]Challenge – Rain, Heat wave [*]All play – ipad, wii, mailbox, peanut butter& Jelly sandwich

The softer your water the less soap you should be using. It sounds like you are leaving soap residue on your skin. Try using 1/2 the soap you normally do and see if that makes a difference. Up north we had a softener and barely had to use soap because the water was so soft. Down here we have a softener but the water is so hard that it doesn't really feel soft, we had to get used to using more soap down here than up north. HTH Melissa

Yes, please please please!!! In my house we lose sharpies like most people lose socks! I use them all the time and can never find one! Thanks Melissa

I don't know your child, so I can only speak about mine. When my child has had artificial's (and she was at her worst, reaction wise, during 4-8 yrs old) she can NOT control her responses. The number one thing is make sure she's not exposed to artificial's any more. My dd gets hyper with color and weepy/emotional with flavors, so we have to watch both. With my dd I can tell the difference between a reaction and just mis-behaving. There is a clear difference in her. When she's mis-behaving (and she does) she has control over her actions/reactions and I can react like anyone else. When she's having a reaction to artificial's, she truly can not control how she reacts in situations like the book store, and once she gets going she CAN NOT stop herself. When we are in situations where I can't control what she eats, or I don't want to (like cake at the birthday party,and during that 4-8 age I did control that too) we don't leave the house the next day when she'll be reacting. She has better control and less triggers at home and it's a LOT easier for me to walk away or put her in her room. When we have been caught out during a reaction then I get down to her level, lower my voice, and point out that she is reacting to (yesterday's cake) and I know she can't help it, but we need to leave now. Giving that honesty to her and not blaming her uncontrolled behavior on her seems to help my dd. It will usually calm her down as she thinks about what she's eaten and how she's acting. I will also point out that she's not acting like herself and ask her to control herself until we get home. Sometimes she needs my hand on her to focus, gentle pressure will keep her attention focused on me. I've talked very honestly with her about her behavior. She's told me how frustrated she is when she gets like that and she just can't control herself. More than likely your dd is just as frustrated as you are and she's not understanding why she acts like that. Try talking to her when she's not reacting about how she feels. When you see her react, point it out to her. My dd is 10 now and she still reacts but she has better control. We have been able to loosen up on what she eats a lot. Dad took the kids to a show this weekend and they came home and I knew within an hour she had something with artificial's in it. Dh told me that he didn't buy them anything to eat. After a while the kids fested up to eating some of dad's wildly colored candy in his car. Yeah, thought so. I just looked at her and said "you better control yourself" and she pretty much did. She wasn't her normal self and I could tell she was having internal fights trying to stay in control, but she won. It does get better. HTH Melissa

My sister has a tall table and after the first 5 minutes I find it uncomfortable to sit at. My feet barley reach the floor with normal chairs, I can't stand the tall chairs. So, I would Chop! Melissa

This is where I get mine, they are great! Melissa

Nope, I throw it away when I make snickerdoodles. It's not that much money in ingredients and I would rather throw it out than get someone sick. I have learned to put only some of the mixture in the plate to roll and add as needed so I don't waste too much. Melissa

Everything is owned jointly except for our cars. We each have a car title in our own name and try to only drive "our" car. This is to protect our other assets if one of us were to cause a really bad accident. My understanding is that if I was driving a car that was in his name (or vise versa) then we could both be sued for an accident and everything we own would be up for grabs. By keeping our cars in our own name they can only sue the driver/owner of the car. Because of the laws in FL no one could touch our house or the other persons retirement by suing only one of us. But do I consider my car just MINE? No, it's ours. Melissa

All right, this is sorta funny! I buy Spectrum locally (at publix) and love it. My family accepts it as a substitute with no problems (well, dh prefers butter). I bought Nutiva online after reading the reviews and thinking it would be about the same. I think the Nutiva adds a strong coconut taste to everything. I really tried to get used to it. My kids and dh wouldn't eat anything I made with it and I finally went back to the Spectrum. I'm slowly using it up as a moisturizer and in my hair. Hopefully you and your family will like it more than we did. I would recommend opening it right away (before you finish the Spectrum) and trying it. Amazon has a great return policy and their vendors seem to also. I had bought mine from another place and tried it long enough that I didn't feel I could return it. If you ever see a cheap place online for the Spectrum please post, I love using it! Melissa

Have you tried different kinds of coconut oil in the past? Have you used this brand before? I ask because I really try to cook as much with Organic Coconut oil as possible. I found a brand locally I like but thought I would go with a cheaper version I could find online. I hated the one I had ordered. I'm slowly using it up outside of my kitchen. There are such huge differences in the taste of coconut oil. Please don't get discouraged if you don't like this one brand you bought, keep trying them until you find one you like. HTH Melissa

They make a Boca Burger that is specifically Non-GMO soy, so I would assume their normal patties are GMO soy. Link and ingredients are here. I stopped buying these a long time ago because they started adding artificial color to them, I see that the color is all natural now. Boca just has too many weirdly named ingredients and changes their ingredients all the time for me to trust the product. I would rather just buy good quality lean beef (price isn't too different). Sorry. Melissa

Congrats! I'm not too chatty either! Melissa

I could have written this post last year. But the girls were just 9 and we could have bought one for dd if we had chosen too. It wasn't about the money it was about the whole "I want" and age appropriate. I had to have the conversation and I told her she hadn't asked for it and wouldn't have gotten it even if she had asked. I told her I really thought 9 was WAY too young for something that pricey (we have DS's but are very strict with them). I told her I didn't even think her 14 yr brother would have gotten one if he asked. Well, neighbor child did really well with it all year until two weeks ago. She has a bad habit of taking it outside and putting it on car bumpers. She's done this at my house tons of times over the past year and I always move it and shake my head. Well, her mom didn't see it and ran over it a couple of weeks ago. Never fear, the child has a new overly expensive toy to play with this Christmas. This year it's an electric razor that you sit on and ride. Nope, you won't be seeing that anytime soon at my house. I already had the conversation about when we play outside it is partly for exercise. The neighbor child was over here before noon yesterday bragging about the new toy. It is so about the attitude. My kids get a ton for Christmas but if you hear them talk about it to other people they are very humble. They will usually only mention their favorite one or two things and it is often games that we use as a family. Neighbor child comes and brags about her newest thing and my dd always listens and is really happy for her but when dd tries to share what she was happy to get Neighbor child tends to turn it into a negative no matter what it is. You should know it's not about what they got it's about the child themself. Your neighbor child would be like this no matter how much you had spent on your dd or what she had gotten. Some kids just really need to "one up" the other kids. Talk to your dd about being thankful and your families values, she will get it. It's taken a lot of talking but now my dd will look at me and comment on the behavior. Melissa

We haven't done it yet but here's a link to show you how: http://www.howtodothings.com/fashion-and-personal-care/a3435-how-to-make-perfume.html Perfume seems to be essential oils mixed with vodka and then adding a little water to the mixture after a day or so. We're giving them as gifts if they turn out. Melissa

Today I went to the liquor store to get some 100 proof vodka. Not only did I have no clue on what to buy, but it was for making perfume with my 10 year old! Melissa