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Sharon H in IL

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Everything posted by Sharon H in IL

  1. " Dum-as" heehee! That's a good one. (Doo-mah would be better, btw) I sympathize. I have no idea what to do with many foreign words when I'm reading. As a teen I used to read historical romances, and the authors would include lots of French phrases. It drove me nuts that they wouldn't include the translation. And that, friends, is the real reason I took four years of French in high school. :D
  2. Do you think it's grosser to cook raw meat for six hours or to cook cooked meat for six hours? I'm gonna go with they are equal. No big deal. But hey, different people have different family taboos, and woe unto he who violates one of those deeply-embedded beliefs. It will make everything it touches unclean. :D
  3. Kids are hilarious. My older son came to me one day and said "You listen to Stephen talk for a long time about xyz, and just say 'uh huh' and 'oh, really?' How come you just sit there and listen for so long?" :lol::lol: Because that's what moms do, sweetheart. Because that's what moms do. ;)
  4. Try on everything you plan to take to make sure it all works together the way it does in your head. I changed what I was planning to take on our last big trip based on seeing what things looked like on my body vs. how I imagined it would. :D Don't buy new shoes for the trip, unless you have time to break them in. Hobbling is not fun. I packed the children's clothing in 2 gallon ziplock bags -- one outfit per bag, down to socks and underwear, then extra socks and underwear. And I took along a dirty duds bag for carrying to the laundromat. I could re-assemble outfits based on what was still clean in the ziplock bags. Everything stayed in place, I could find what I needed without making a huge mess, and the boys looked great. For me, it was important to keep the hotel room as tidy as possible, because so much mess was inevitable. I'm not good at digging through a suitcase trying to remember what I had planned for each kid to wear, while keeping the room dark enough for DH to stay asleep. The bags were a lifesaver.
  5. For my home, I thought through how many of each we needed, and the rest went to the thrift shop. Well, one cute pair of pillowcases that my great-aunt tatted the lace on went into the cedar chest. :001_smile: I also went through the cedar chest where some quilts and such lived, and moved out a big denim comforter cover, some linen hand towels I'll never use, and suchlike. More space now for the wool blankets that NEED to be in the cedar chest.
  6. I'm so sorry. A facebook group I'm in has steered me to Silk PureAlmond original (unsweetened) as being less likely to cause the inflammation I'm trying to douse out of my system. Apparently carageenan can cause it as well as sugar. Boo. I can't speak from personal experience, but I'll be experimenting with it soon. Just thought you might want to do the same.
  7. The menu plan says spaghetti and meatballs, but I don't always follow the plan. :D
  8. My Dad always started conversations with me when we were alone in the car. One of his best ones was "So, what kind of man do you want to marry?" I thought that was brilliant of him -- instead of telling, asking. Getting me to think outloud. Dad had a lot of ways he could have improved his parenting, but I think he got that part just right. ;)
  9. A Republican dominated Congress passed legislation several years ago to punish the Post Office employees' union that always assisted Democratic candidates. The legislation required the post office to pre-fund all employee pensions for 75 years from current income. So pensions for employees who weren't even born yet had to be fully funded. Then they denied the post office the authority to close offices or take other money-saving measures. Sad.
  10. I adapt my regular recipes for main dishes that would go in the oven to the pressure cooker by checking the instruction manual for times for the meat I'm using. So a family favorite, bourbon chicken, went into the p.c. on high pressure for 8 minutes, because that's what the manual suggested as the minimum time for boneless chicken thighs. Came out perfectly. Though if you want a thickened sauce, you'll have to add cornstarch and stir and cook that as an additional step, just as you would with the oven version. But I'm too lazy (and it's too hot). BTW, I open mine on the back deck, and just bring back the inner liner with the food into the house. I love gadgets that keep my house cool despite the record heat.
  11. When my boys were young, I'd say 5 and 7, we spent a long time on the Silk Road. I wanted them to be aware of how interconnected the world was even before the modern era. My favorite activity/project was a treasure hunt then a trading session. They knew what the products of each civilization were, and what they took to trade. So I thought about what we had in the house, and then I made up two lists: Chinese and European, and gave one list to each boy. So one kid was China, and he had to go search out the products that he would bring to trade on the Silk Road: silk, porcelain, jewels, and cinnamon and pepper. He ran around and got one of my scarves, a decorative blue & white vase, some costume jewelry, and kitchen cupboard spices. The other was Europe, and he needed to bring silver, amber, wood, horses (not really European, they came from the Ferghana Valley of Afghanistan!), and gold. He brought costume jewelry, some building blocks, plastic horse figurines. Then they sat down, heads together, and horse-trading began. They ended up both very pleased with their bargains. And I was happy with the lesson!
  12. A panel discussion on whether to wear matching polo shirts for school time, or PJs? And for the teacher, a denim jumper or jeans, or the tight spandex dress that was someone's uniform?
  13. :lol: God allows DH to get into an accident because he wasn't paying attention to traffic, because he was thinking Deep Thoughts? How is that God's fault? Naah. I'm of the camp that says this is God's wake up call to a negligent human being who ought to know better. Just because "that's how God made me" doesn't mean it's a get out of trouble free card. We still have a responsibility to improve ourselves. I'd be furious at a husband who is driving carelessly.
  14. This is exactly what we did, and we're very happy with our decision. We had a pre-existing Line of Credit (which is a home equity loan -- also known as a 2nd mortgage -- that is available for quick access at the homeowner's discretion. So you don't take it all out at once unless you choose to, rather the money is a reserve that you could draw on quickly in an emergency. DH called our banker and checked to make sure that our lender -- who is also our main bank -- would allow this transaction, and they were fine with it. No fees were required AT ALL. We wrote ourselves a check from the line of credit for $XX,XXX which was the outstanding balance of the mortgage, then deposited it in our checking account. Then transferred that amount electronically to pay off the mortgage. They sent us a refund check because our automatic payment had gone through in the meantime and we had slightly overpaid. With no refinancing charges or points, we shortened our mortgage life to just 5 years instead of 12, because the interest rate went from 5% to 2%. It won't matter that the rate is not fixed, because our payoff date is so close. We continue to pay the same amount each month. We're just paying off almost all principal now. Woohoo!
  15. Hi Chuckie, et al. I'm Sharon H. in IL, same name as on the old boards. I rarely post nowadays, though there was a time when I read every post on every thread -- can you believe it? I married at 23, but didn't have my first till 34, then second boy at 36. :D Homeschooling was my DH's idea, I couldn't wait to let someone else take Son #1 off my hands for a few hours a day. However, a fracas in the local school district with teachers lined up to oppose a charter school that they couldn't be bothered to understand forced me to say "You'll never get your hands on my kid!" I found TWTM and never looked back. Home educating for academics, and because I like being with the kids. Finally Son #1 asked to go to junior high for 8th grade, and we agreed he could. He's doing great, thriving. Now Son #2 wants to try 7th grade this fall, so we're going to try that. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he hates it. :lol:
  16. [ding, ding, ding!] Best advice EVER. Please stick around, and keep those great posts coming, Katiebug!
  17. BTW, you have to get over the impression that you need her permission to end the conversation. You don't. Because she won't give it. For whatever reason, the lack of company drives her to extremes. You do not have to ask or receive her permission to end the talk! Recognize that you're not being rude, when she really doesn't care about you and your needs, she's completely focused on meeting her own. So you have to set your own boundaries and Not Do What She Wants You To Do. You have to do what you need to do.
  18. Extra sneaky: Have your cell phone with you, and have DH call you. Or interrupt her and say "I'm sorry, but I can't stay and talk. See you soon!" then Walk Away and Close the Door.
  19. I read a lot of reviews before going to see it last night, and the funny part is, they were all correct. If you like the scenery-chewing metal music, you'll love that part. No one much cared for the two main characters and their cardboard story. One appropriate phrase was 'dull as dirt' despite their good looks and good voices. They just couldn't carry the weight of all those Very Emotional Songs and stand up next to the stars who were the supporting cast. I loved Tom Cruise in this. Unfortunately he's such a well-known actor, I could only see "Tom Cruise playing Stacee Jaxx." He could have had a career as a heavy metal singer, from the way he owned the stage. At least the soundtrack didn't have the annoying guitar squealing solos that made metal music so awful (to my ears). Tons of sex. TONS.
  20. The steady drumbeat of stories of my acquaintances (SAHMs) whose husbands became unemployed has slowed to a trickle. Lots of those who had been out of work have found better jobs in the last year or more. For example, a former auto mechanic was hired by a contracting company that blows stuff up to test it for the local heavy-machinery manufacturing company. My friend called it 'the boy dream job.' A laid-off car salesman was hired by a car dealer as their financing guy. A computer guy for an electronics retailer was laid off. Soon after, his wife got hired as a full-time professor at the local community college instead of a part-time instructor. He'll be the SAHD now, homeschooling their boys. I live in northwest/central Illinois.
  21. I just read that article as well, and posted it on my FB wall, along with the comment that now we can do away with all those exhausting personality tests. :D
  22. California Chicken Salad I take the leftover chicken from a meal of a whole roast bird, Add a half to a whole cup of halved grapes, Diced celery if I have it, Mix together equal parts mayo and sour cream, (maybe 1/3 cup?) season with salt, parsley, tarragon. Add a half-teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar. Mix and let chill for a couple of hours. Obviously I don't let a little thing like a recipe slow me down. I've been making this for so many years I don't consult the recipe card any more. ;)
  23. I enjoy looking for new ways to give back in my everyday life. I have discovered that the men's group at my church sells prepaid gift cards to all sorts of businesses that I trade with. The profits they make go to missions. So now part of my weekly budget goes to buy gift cards for my daily spending. I keep track of how much is left on each card with a little sticker that I write on with a pencil. I store them in my coupon notebook. When I was going downtown frequently, I made lunch sacks and left them out by the main library, where homeless people tend to gather. When I was in a new mom, I helped the local parenting education and support community center by finding clean copies of good books to stock their library shelf. It was a win-win. When I was a more experienced mom, I did the same in my new home with a different parenting education & support group. I bought most of its library for a dollar here and two dollars there, and maintained the online booklist. I gave tons of talks on positive discipline to parents who were desperate for tools to help parent challenging children. I donate blood regularly. It wasn't required that all Jesus' disciples drop their homes and jobs and move out to the wilderness like John the Baptist in order to make a difference. From my reading, buying products made by people in developing countries is the most important and useful thing we in the developed world can do to improve the lot of those in distress. Buy responsibly. Give frequently. Live with gratitude and joy.
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