Rockin Green is a brand highly recommended by my cloth diapering friends to get diapers clean. Various types for various water conditions (they have a map of the U.S. on their main page). Funk Rock is supposed to be able to strip diapers of any and all bad smells/additives.

Love it! Do you do Margaret Wise Brown's The Big Red Barn? 'Cause I think that's pretty important.:)

Waking up refreshed and much earlier than usual to get a head start on the day. Enough sunshine and a stiff breeze so I could hang out two loads of laundry on my clothesline. I loooove my clothesline. :D

You can buy it in rolls. Try that, maybe. I find polyester is too slippery for my tastes. I use cotton most of the time, and linen for special occasions. TJ Maxx is my favorite place to find cotton tablecloths.

I find myself angry that the parents basically ignored their children once they dropped them off at the front door of the school. They were not totally unprepared, but they certainly suffered a great deal, unnecessarily. Not because they had homeschooled, but because mom and dad were too busy to pay attention to their need for social and academic help. The mother is overly self-congratulatory, imo.

Oh these sound delicious. I'm starting a list now. Thank you, Hive!

Thank you for the belly laugh. I feel so lonely sometimes. My last attempt at explaining to RL friends why I bother to teach my 6th grader grammar was immediately followed by a chorus of how no one needs it anymore, and they learned everything they needed to know by osmosis. :confused: I've been away too long, WTM board, too long! I promise I won't leave you again. I know I was wrong, and I promise to be faithful.

[sharon scribbles notes on dealing with teen boys] Thanks, moms of teens!

Fascinating question. My laid-back easy going second son does ok with any situation. My highly sensitive, live-wire Son #1 can be a real pill if any element is off: lack of social time, lack of sleep, lack of intense exercise, lack of fiber, etc, etc.

Pumpkin pie from the side of a Prince brand can of pumpkin 22 years ago at my first Thanksgiving as a wife. Cranberry relish that was an accident from that same year. I didn't have the OJ called for, so subbed the sour orange marmalade that I did have. The pecans must be toasted, too.

Get a copy of Andrew Pudewa's lecture "Teaching Boys and Others Who Would Rather Be Building Forts All Day" or something similar. He talks about the special way male brains work, vs. female, and how to adjust the environment to allow them to thrive. Simple things, like letting them make what he calls "small noises" that dont' bother boys but drive girls up a wall. A room that's slightly cooler. Chewing on gum. And then some swear by a balance ball to sit on. The small movements required to stay upright and stable on a ball help boys focus somehow. My 12 year old is a dreamer. He often works best if I have him call out the multiplication problems to me as he's doing them. Similar to when he was a little boy and overwhelmed by picking up his toys in the basement or living room. I'd call out instructions from the kitchen: "Pick up three things! Count out loud." "One! Two! Three! OK, Mom I did it!" "OK now pick up five blue things/trucks/rescue heroes." etc. lol

Beautiful idea, thanks for starting this! I'm grateful for a peaceful home, and the time to enjoy it. I once read a blog that said most people are home long enough to get the work done, but not long enough to enjoy the luxuries of homemaking.

I have two: one is for coupons, one is for everything else related to homemaking. I have a section for holiday planning, with lists for ideas, budget worksheet, timeline for Thanksgiving cooking & prep, etc. There's a section for my household cleaning lists. I rarely use those because I remember what is on them, just making them up was helpful. I keep a list of home improvements done, with the workman's contact info, cost, and date. I also write down how often to water the new sapling, for example. I especially like to refer to my lists of indoor & outdoor chores for the different seasons: for example, Feb is when I prune the bushes, October is a reminder to take the lawn mower in for maintenance and make sure the snowblower works. My most-used section is for menu planning. As Deniece Schofield recommends in her books, I made a list of my favorite main dish recipes (organized by season) with a list of ingredients, so I can quickly transfer the ingredients into a shopping list. I keep old menu sheets so I can just re-use them, and a pocket with newly clipped or copied recipes that I want to try. Some people include their freezer inventory, but I find I keep it more accurately if it stays on a clipboard next to the deep freezer in the garage. I have a list of what's in our safe depost box, a copy of the emergency info sheet that is in the cars, inventory of the good china and silver, packing lists for summer and winter car travel, ideas for future home improvement projects and the source & cost info I find. Last, I keep some page protectors with clipped out pictures from magazines that I use to decorate the pages. Kinda goofy, but it makes me smile to see pictures of fruit & vegetables on menu pages, and pretty embroidered linens on work lists.

We don't, and I've never heard of this, but I would love it. Our dryer duct is extremely long, like 15 - 18 ft. and when we had the original (plastic lined!) vent replaced it was full of a thick coat of lint. We now have metal (whew) and I asked the crew who cleaned our ductwork to do the dryer duct too. That thing is just too much of a fire hazard. It creeps me out whenever I think about it.

During medical school, my DH practically lived on a one-pot meal he christened "Glop #1". Boil a box of mac N cheese as directed during the last couple of minutes, pour in a cup of frozen peas. Drain. Sprinkle on the powdered cheese, add a dollop of margarine, stir. Open a can of tuna fish, drain, stir in. For extra protein, add a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. Yes, it's pathetic and exactly the sort of thing Michael Pollan would recoil from. But it's cheap, it's fairly healthy, it couldn't be easier, and after a long day of hard work I can attest that it tastes GREAT. Its alternate name is your shopping list: MacaroniandCheeseTunaPeasCottageCheese. :lol:

What a great, and ingenious plan. Love it. I look for houses with sidewalks, large trees, and no chain link fences. :-)

I'm with you. They are making high profits by charging fees for Every. Single. Thing. I'm outraged on your behalf.

Great phrase! :D

That lingering cough thing seems to be going around here as well. I tried a home remedy suggested by an acquaintance when my DH had a dry cough: thyme tea. I crushed about a teaspoon of dried thyme leaves down in a mortar and pestle, then steeped it for about 10 minutes in freshly boiled water, strained, and gave it to him to sip. Worked like a charm.

Well, expecting reasonable discussion on facebook was your first mistake. :lol: Block that discussion, and don't attempt to discuss anything more serious than home remedies for sore throats and the antics of your cat. People post on facebook looking for affirmation, not reasonable disagreement. You broke the rules, and were punished. Very childish, but that's the way it seems to run. Sorry it was painful. I do understand. ;)

Woohoo! Thanks!

Shattering the Two Income Myth by Andy Dappen -- kind of dated, but good for getting the brain working and sparking some good thinking. The Two-Income Trap by Elizabeth Warren -- this is more of a policy argument, not so much a how-to. I just found its arguments intriguing and well-researched. The best of all is The Tightwad Gazette. Written by someone whom we all wish lived nearby so we could be friends. Making frugality fun. ;)

It seems to depend entirely on the school culture. I was bullied endlessly and savagely at middle school in Memphis TN. My son had a wonderful experience when he began public school for 8th grade junior high in central IL. The culture just doesn't support the same routine violence and meanness that was prevalent when and where I went to school.

Change your perspective to enjoying the thrill of the hunt. :D Collectors enjoy the process, not just the final product. I know I do. But be sure to take along high-protein snacks and a thermos of cold water so you don't get run down. Plan for a good time. I am a crazed used-children's book shopper, and my collection of great books (sorted neatly in bins in the basement by historical era or science topic) was truly awesome. Sadly, however, time marches on and my boys outgrew many of the books that were aimed at the younger set. I'm happy to report, however, that we used a very large portion of my books, and few went un-read. It would be so much fun to build a library of classic children's literature. For whom, I haven't quite figured out yet. But my hands itch whenever I see a beautiful copy of anything by E. Nesbit, or the Little Bear books. You can use LibraryThing.com to keep track and sort your collection; a lot of us here do. Although a case can be made that more isn't better, in terms of books for young children. They get more out of reading a few books many times than from reading many books once. 'Multus non multam' as SWB would say.

Are you a Hollywood socialite? No? Then you are fine to wear the same dress twice. :D