We eat basmati rice. Obviously brown rice is healthier but I can never get it to turn out okay. So we eat white basmati rice. We don't eat tons of rice and it is usually mixed in with other things like - lentils and rice.

What kind of printer do you have? I have a Canon Pixma and recently discovered a generic version of the ink cartridges on Amazon. 15 cartridges (3 of each color) for $15. I have already replaced one ink cartridge with no problems. Normally it would cost me $75 to replace all the ink cartridges (5 total). So this is a real deal.

All 3 are required to clean the room. I don't care who made the mess. Just clean it up when I tell you or I will come and do it for you. :D And I'll only ever do it once. You only have to throw a few things away for them to know that you mean what you say. No problems here, they all just pitch in and clean up.

Honestly, I don't think it matters. I've had many, many dogs and the only time there was an issue was when I introduced another dominate adult dog. At one point, when I ran a German Shepherd Dog rescue, I had 18 dogs here at the house. :D

Spaghetti sauce with cooked lentils mixed in served over whole wheat spaghetti. Lentils = yum :D

I did tell DH that. I think he's finally on the same page. I don't talk to her any more. I have my own mom to verbally abuse me, I don't need someone else's mother doing the same thing.

See this is another one of MIL's problems. She gives her money away to her youngest unemployed son. A couple of conversations ago she let it slip that she had purchased some pretty expensive DJ equipment to the youngest son so that he could start his own business. As far as I know he has done nothing with the equipment.

I wash DH work clothes at home. I think they turn out just fine. He has to wear dress pants and a shirt to work.

She called again to whine about how she can't find anyone to buy her house and how since we don't have a mortgage we should buy the house from her and help her out. I really don't think she is kidding because she brings this up a lot. (In the past she has also asked us to co-sign for a new property or fund a franchise). Then she went on to complain about how she can't afford her $150 monthly cable bill and how she needs to pay the $300 termination fee so she can get out of her expensive cell phone contract. I told DH that I am done. That she isn't getting any more money out of us. That we have our own family to take care of. We have savings because we live within our means - we only have pay-as-you-go cell phones for $15 a month. My furniture is old and in most cases came from the thrift store or was given to us or was affordable. We have things that need our attention and money at home. I refuse to be responsible for someone that can't live within their means and that most certainly wouldn't want to live the way my husband and I already do (frugally). I don't feel it is my place to tell her to lay off and wish my husband would just tell her that we can't continue to help her out. However, I feel that by not telling her to stop it is like telling her that it is okay to continue to ask for help. I'm not even sure if she needs help because I always feel like we get half the story and if she managed the money she has she'd probably be okay. *sigh* end of whine

Overstock.com had a bunch last time I checked.

It use to be that things would last and last for decades. When we bought our house it had an older refrigerator that we finally decided to replace even though it worked just fine. We bought a Maytag and it died after 2 years. The compressor was still under warranty and after 6 weeks without a working fridge they finally fixed it when we broke down and purchased a missing part that they told us was on back order for several months (but our local repair store had it in stock). Then the fridge died again a couple of years later. This time I couldn't even face dealing with them again and the fridge was no longer under warranty. Since the previous repairs were well over $1000 if I had to pay for it I decided to just buy a new fridge. I also had a Chevy mini van - needless to say I will never again in this life time buy another Chevy. No more Kitchen Aide blenders for me. There are lots of things that have broken that shouldn't have. They just don't make things like they use to.

Good for you. I hate when people can't be bothered to dispose of their trash the proper way. What is so hard about putting it in a trash can? I keep trash bags in my van - one for recycle and one for trash. When they are full they go in the back of hubby's truck and once a month he takes everything to the dump and sorts all the recycle. I also have a pet peeve with people that don't recycle. I have several friends that seem opposed to recycling, some that even have trash/recycle pick up at their house. We have to take our own trash and recycle to the local dump and sort everything. :glare:

He does not sound over weight for his height. Have you tried this site: http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/bmicalculator.html My 11 year old is 5 ft 1 inch and weighs 113 lbs. His doctor says that since he is on the upper end for both height and weight that he is okay. My son has always been chunky. He came out that way - weighing almost 10 pounds at birth. I'm still hoping that my son thins out. We eat very healthy and I try to get him to eat an apple of veggies if he moans about being hungry between meals. Sometimes I think the genes have a lot to do with weight. We all pretty much eat the same thing. My oldest son is 5 ft 9 inches and 125 pounds (which makes him very tall for his age and on the low end for weight) and my youngest son is just average for both height and weight.

I take two of the kids gummi vitamins and when I remember a vitamin C and a calcium.

I would feed one of the premium dog foods like "Taste of the Wild" or "Blue Buffalo" that use people grade food, no fillers, no corn, etc.... I use "Taste of the Wild". I have a Cocker mix that also has a heart murmur and watch his weight. He's around 10 years old. The biggest thing is to measure the food. He gets 1/2 cup twice per day. No people food and only an occasional dog biscuit. Here is the site that rates dog foods: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

Wow! I would have been suspended for my entire high school years. I hated high school and cried every single day from frustration, bullying, teasing, etc....

I think $35 or $40 is reasonable. That is what it would cost you to board your animals. Plus the sitter has the freedom to come and go and hang out at your house which is not a bad way to earn some extra money.

In my experience kennel cough is not a big deal. Your cat won't get it. (Maybe, I wrong on the cat not getting it. I've never heard of cats getting kennel cough). If your other dog has been vaccinated for kennel cough then it should be fine. Even if your dog hasn't been vaccinated does not mean that it will get kennel cough. I wouldn't let that stop me from getting the dog from the pound/shelter.

We had the same problem. You could see the pollen in a thin layer covering the counters, stove, microwave, etc....

We have three children. I really wanted four but my husband absolutely refused to have any more. Now that my youngest is seven I couldn't imagine having any more.

I use the Hamilton Beach personal blender that was around $15. http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-51101-Personal-Blender/dp/B00065L6CU/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1302878088&sr=8-6 It has lasted several years at this point and I make smoothies almost every day for the kids, hubby and myself. The only down side is I have to make everyone's smoothie one at a time but most of the time they like different things in their smoothies so it works out okay. It easily does spinach, ice, apple slices, frozen fruit, etc..... This is the blender that replaced my Kitchen Aide brand blender that broke numerous times because it couldn't handle ice and frozen fruit and I just couldn't justify the cost to keep fixing it.

I taught all three of my boys to swim myself. My eldest son did take one group lesson at the YMCA but did not learn to swim. With only 1 teacher for every 6 students the kids were getting less than 10 minutes of one-on-one time per class. They spent most of the time sitting on the edge watching the other kids. I found it much better to teach them myself.

I have three boys. I think I was just meant to have boys. I am not a girlie girl. I like bugs and snakes and boy stuff. :D I'm happy with my boys.

You guys need to find an Indian store. They carry coconut oil for a very reasonable price.

My husband likes pickles a LOT. So I use the empty 1 gallon glass jars for flour, sugar, rice, beans, grains, etc.....:D I have a pantry so those get store out of sight in there.