I think that yes it is outdated and the low fat recommendations is still used as the official norm for all people, despite us fat enthusiasts in less official places. Pick up any mainstream women's magazine and you'll see low fat snack/ meal suggestions. You may see some avocado and almond suggestions with the warning to not over do it. Yeah people eat too much but I believe carbs are basically an appetite stimulant. That said, I don't think people are lying if they say low fat has been beneficial for them. Just goes to show we're not all the same.

Turn on "Groove is in the heart" by D-Lite (a 90's song) and just do what you feel until it starts to make some kind of sense.

I think the first time I was aware homeschooling was a thing was hearing that child actors/ entertainers do it. I had no clue about the homeschooling "community" until pretty well into adulthood. I think there was always a desire in my heart towards the idea of homeschooling though without even knowing anything about it. I remember waking to school one day in 6th grade with my friends talking about how it's senseless for us to be in school so many hours in the day. Then in high school when I was a juvenile delinquent, I pressured my mom to let my attend the local "special" school for bad kids where you are assigned a course of independent study and check in once a week. And so I basically homeschooled myself the last year of high school. Years later I met some families with oddly well behaved teens and found out they all homeschool.

Thank you for the suggestions, all. It just seems like postcards used to be more common. I remember seeing them at places like Walmart, drug stores etc and now the postcard displays have disappeared. Postcards are neat but I guess that's one more thing that has been replaced by texting pictures etc.

We do have a Cracker Barrel not far. Maybe there? Thanks for the ideas, all.

Postcards. You know, state postcards. Where do I go to buy them??! I like the idea of sending them to loved ones in different parts of the country because it feels just a touch special and specific. But apparently literally no store sells them anymore. I'm exaggerating a little because I did find some in a tourist store in a mall once but since that store is not that close to me I checked Walmart, Walgreens, Dollar General, a truck stop and a book store in my town. At this point I'm getting a little fixated on just finding them since it's so ridiculously hard. And buying them online feels kinda wrong.

Jeggings are not as bad as people make them out to be. They don't have to be skin tight either. My jeggings look exactly like normal pants/ jeans except they are tapered below the knee. With child bearing and other woman stuff, aging etc a stretchy waistband is great and not some sort of defeat to 'mom jean' status. Lots of PYTs are wearing stretchy waist anyway and have never given birth and are 22.

Haven't read all replies but my understanding is that chickens that are allowed to eat bugs make the best more nutritious eggs with darker yolks being a way to tell the higher quality. The eggs at my local Aldi are the cheapest around and actually have darker, better tasting yolks. When I buy cheap eggs elsewhere they are pale yellow and nearly flavorless. Strange. Maybe the Aldi egg vendor let's their chickens eat bugs. But anyway overall it's just strange how the more messed-with and less natural food is raised/grown, the cheaper it usually is. And the food that is grown/ raised with less messing with is more expensive.

With my introverted, socially awkward, needing to bag things in a certain order tendencies, I find self check-out hard to resist. Even though it often ends up being quite frustrating with the errors and having to wait for assistance and kids wanting to help, aka make it take longer and fight over who gets to scan stuff.

Soo... How do you know how much bleeding is normal? I know Aunt Flo is just a part of life for most of us and some have it worse than others but I've had some cycles lately where it's kind of hard to believe this amount of gushing and clots is normal. How do you ever know though? Have you ever had heavy flow turn out to be something not normal?

I moved to Portland in my early twenties and lived in the area for 10 years, most of those years in Portland proper. Just watch a season of Portlandia and you will get the gist. LOL. Only partially joking.

It doesn't. I'm sorry if my remarks gave that impression. I just meant to say I don't live in an area where you have what is more of a typical homeschool demographic. Meaning that we are more odd. Particularly in our neighborhood, making us more noticeable.

Yeah Texas is supposed to be a more homeschool friendly state. My area is not what people think of with white, conservative cowboy types who may be pro homeschool running through the prairie milking the cow in between 'rithmatic lessons. My area is mostly African American and heavily democrat. Homeschool is not uncommon but still not quite normal.

Do you have any policy about staying out of public during certain hours with your homeschooled kids? I ask because we all know the furrowed brow questions, "Why are they not in school" etc. Speak to my cautiousness, or paranoia, whatever it might be. It's not like people never have CPS called on them for not-abused, well taken care of kids who happen to be homeschooled. I'm thinking of this lately because my kids are enjoying playing outside more now that the miserable summer heat is letting up. And A. they are loud and B. we live in a crowded housing environment. We have a detached single family home, but just barely. It's more like detached duplexes with a shared driveway. Probably a good 50 neighbors can hear what my kids are doing when they're playing outside and all the normal kids are at school.

Some distraction on this election day. Am I allowed to post a video? This is the first John Oliver video I've ever watched, fyi lots of profanity but what he's saying is worth

I appreciate that thought to make yourself known to HR. Dh boss in his department is basically a cartoon villain. There's definitely nothing she would do to help Dh in any way.

I believe it. It makes sense. This is the world we live in. My DH is not overweight, and thanks to my thrifting skills dresses sharp business casual. He is/ always has been clean living, extremely responsible and has not gotten fired that I know of. Hopefully those things still count.

FYI just stating my concerns. Anyone can address them if they like. Not shooting down ideas. As far as becoming a dual income family, it's not completely off the table at some point but for a number of reasons we'd prefer to not have to take on that major change right now. Moving to a lower COL / better job area is what we thought we did 4 years ago when we moved to TX from the Pacific Northwest. Things didn't exactly go as hoped. Here we are. We drained DH's previous retirement fund to do it and are wary of doing it again. Working his way up in a company with lots of places to go is also what we thought DH was doing. DH's company is quite large. He has been flat stuck for almost 4 years. Construction and preferrably local truck driving do sound interesting for sure. I am going to research that. Although having to get into debt to get somewhere is not a nice thought for us. We are already (stupidly) in over our head in debt from years ago.

Thank you Spryte! We've thought of things like UPS. We're just not sure how we would make it on the starting pay while dh works up to better wages.

Yes my Dh works full time already. Actually more like 50 hrs a week average. He's been at his job over 3 years and applies to jobs as time allows. I guess I should re-title my post "How do less-skilled sole-providers who already have a family to support get better paying jobs than they already have" Lol. The truck driving thing is certainly an idea. It doesn't sound fun for me to have dh be away from home overnight for long stretches but I will think about it.

Don't get me wrong. I'm in a better place. If we qualify for food stamps the rest of our lives it's not for lack of always trying to make things better and doing the work in front of us the best we can. But I have to admit it's hard not to be in a valley of disappointment sometimes. DH hasn't ever heard back from that interview back in August and actually recently had another one where the outcome isn't looking good. Is it really just who you know and how educated you are (DH has no college) ? Is there basically no point to applying to jobs posted online like they say? Is the fact that my DH is quiet (but hard working) natured basically a disability in the job market? Does the fact that he never got braces (but "needs" them by any standards to look "normal"... we can't afford them fyi) affecting his impression on employers even though that stuff supposedly doesn't matter?

Yeah, some people are really prone to dry, cracking, crusting, bleeding lips. And I have found no lip balm to be as effective as vaseline. He may need to apply it every night and give the lips a chance to heal for those sleeping hours. That's what I do. Under $2 for at least a months supply (the mini tubs in the Target travel size section are something like $1.42. The simple, cheap things sometimes are the best IMO.

DD has this. She even has special expensive cream for face eczema. The thing I found that seems to work best? Straight good ol fashioned vaseline. Make sure to slather lips especially overnight.

I kinda wish I was turning on the heat. It's only in the 80's though so people are almost able to order their pumpkin spice lattes hot instead of iced. I'm in TX.

I used a French press for a few years. Ground my own coffee just prior to brewing. My coffee routine has gotten increasingly less classy with each child I have become responsible for. Now it's all about preground coffee from the can with a drip coffee maker. Anyway I feel French press coffee really is the best. I personally ignored the indication to use coarse ground coffee and used a medium grind. The reason I don't do it anymore is because it takes significantly more effort and cleanup. Maybe one day again when my kids aren't little.