I pulled hard for a Frances or Mildred or a Liza. We ended up naming my daughter Leila Grace. I would have loved a little Millie Grace or a Liza Grace a Liza Frances. (Double names are popular here in the south.) Husband didn't like the name Liza, Elizabeth might have been ok, but her initials would have been EGG and then I didn't like it. We were arguing over names til my water broke. Mildred was my grandma's name and Leila was my husbands grandmother's name--actually spelled Lela. The other great grandmother's names were Susan and Alvira. Also, I must have gone to church with a lot of hipsters, but there are all sorts of old names used....Ruby, Nora, Oliver, Addy, Miriam...I even know a little Goldie.

Depends on the amount of books. I like my Bell bike basket that I got at a yard sale for $1. Metal, sturdy, and also clips nicely on the bike that was given to me. My 12 year old likes to ride my bike down to the library every week, so it works really well. I also have a 31 tote that fits a lot of books.

The fear of bathing seems to go along with dementia, as well as it being exhausting. I worked in a dementia unit for awhile, and it was really a secure assisted living, and although many were still mobile, they really needed nursing home care. Even in the nursing home, it would often be a fight to get them in the shower. Also, I don't know about the staff in your particular facility, but we were always short staffed, and we always tried to buddy-up for the baths. That may also play into it, if they are trying to get through a list.

Looking at my grocery book: Prior to 2013: tiny kids 3 and 7, $200/month budget, Aldi and a little shopping at Walmart and Sams 2013 to 2015: bigger kiddos, $550ish/month, no Aldi, shopped at Sams, Albertsons, HEB 2015 to now: kids 8 and 12, $300ish/month, Aldi, meat from HEB, occasionally a stop at Walmart Price books will tell you the story--I write things down as I go. Just a couple of items since we purchase everything but meat--I like the beef and pork from HEB, also cheese..I don't like the little bitty packages at Aldi. Whole milk plain or vanilla organic yogurt $2.99 at Aldi, Stoneyfields is approx $6. Butter: $1.79 at Aldi, $3.99 at HEB Milk has been $1.28, vs $2.68 at Walmart My bananas are always on the green side, and our produce is generally great. The store is sold out often of items....they have people shopping from 20 miles away. All my neighbors drive there to shop since its so much cheaper than HEB. Their products are made by national brands, for example, I keep an eye out on recalls, and the last time a bagged salad recall from Dole was out, the Aldi salad was on the list. For a long time my daughter believed that the chocolate bars were only for adult PMSing women. No idea where that idea came from...LOL

Micellar water?

I take a candy tax. There have been many discussions over how unfair this is. LOL I say, I gave you life, I paid for your costumes out of my spending money, and am spending my evening walking around neighborhoods when I want to be home reading a book, so hand over the Almond Joys.

This year's offerings: Chocolate coins for the kiddos Bacon Jerky for DH Pringles for all Ice-cream toppings for all--sprinkles, choc. sauce, cherries Chickfila calendars/cards for kiddos Redbox card for hubby We also give the family a couple of games and movies and will spend Christmas evening playing games, watching movies, snacking and eating ice-cream. I'll do special appetizers to go along with the ice-cream and the toppings.

As the mom and wife of extra picky eaters... We follow Ellyn Satter's Division of Responsibliity. I am responsible to cook, they are responsible for the actual eating. This takes the emotions out of serving and trying to please. I make sure that every meal has something that they can eat. At home, my son will make himself a sandwich. We've been at friends and NONE of my family ate but me. They had sandwiches when they got home. That doesn't stress me out anymore, but I feel bad for my friends. They try to scurry around and find something, anything for my poor picky pants to eat, like its their fault. Its not. I can assure you that they don't want to have attention drawn to them, and they would rather just eat a roll or whatever is on their list of safe foods. I always ask guests so I can be careful of actual allergies and health concerns, and I won't serve exotic food thats all mixed together either. I'm with the others, cook things that can be separated out or are in separate dishes. Don't mix the salad dressing into the salad. Or the veggies in with the meat. Serve the pasta plain rather than mixed with the sauce. Put the meatballs on a separate plate. Always have a bread. I do this every single meal. Sometimes they still won't eat it. Sometimes they surprise me and I am full of joy and want to gush. I don't make any mention of it. No emotion. This is 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. A lot of picky eaters only eat beige foods--breads, pizza, pasta, cookies, chicken, cereal....most seem to have issues with veggies, since a lot of them are super tasters and veggies are mostly very strong tasting. Others have aversions--maybe they ate something and got sick and puked, so they haven't eaten it since. I still put veggies and salad on the table. I eat mostly vegetarian and will eat or try everything, but organ meat, sushi and a few veggies that upset my stomach. In many cultures around the world, people still eat a very narrow variety of food, unlike here in America where we have a huge variety, so maybe its the rest of us that are a little odd.

We wait for the Duluth Trading sales. A couple of times a year they are about $15 each. Hubby loves!! Hanes were just falling apart and we were buying so many so we switched.

I love the 24-7 bags from https://flipandtumble.com/pages/shop-reusable-shopping-bags. I got one of every color and it just makes me happy to look at them. They hold 35 lbs, and are machine washable. Super compact. All my other free ones were falling apart.

Every place we've lived is different. Currently, in a small TX city: P/u twice a week, up to 4 massive trash cans, no recycling--that got shut down. Less that $25 per month. Downsides: We usually have half a small can full for each pickup. You buy your own can at Walmart or Lowes. Another TX city: shared dumpsters in the alley. P/u twice a week. Downside: wind blows trash around and animals got into the dumpsters. Free with our rent. Did some great dumpster diving. SC small town: P/u once a week. Grouchy city employees. Landlord refused to replace worn out bin. They refused to take our trash. $75 for a new bin. Included in water bill. Other SC: Outside city limits, no trash pickup...so we hauled our trash to the most awesome county dump ever! Super clean. Run by inmates on work release. Funded over 100% by recycling the cardboard. The workers would come to your car and help you get trash out and take things to the recycling dumpsters.

After spending a crazy amount of time the last few years decluttering, so we could move with my hubby's jobs...my #1 rule is "How hard is it going to be to get rid of it?" and the #2 rule is "How hard is it going to be to transport?" I basically stopped bringing stuff into the house. I never thought I would be interested in minimalism, just decluttering, but it is the most freeing thing I have done. I have more space, more money in the bank and more time, since I don't shop for fun anymore. Its so much easier to clean now, and we can reset to zero in just a few minutes per room. Did I mention we can find everything because everything has a home? I still have a few projects left, but I keep working on them. I declutter as I clean--more of a maintenance thing now. Every time we move it gets faster to pack and unpack. I miss my freezer initially, but I have lived just fine without it, ditto for the microwave, dryer, all the extra dishes, and all but a small shelf of my books. Hubby is not really on board with minimalism, and there is always grumbling about "living in a shed."

My OBGYN recommended this. I would take it at night, and then again after I got to work. It really took the edge off the all-day all-pregnancy "flu". Because I didn't feel as sick, I was able to eat more protein, which helped as well. The liver, and basically your whole digestive system, slows down when you are pregnant so that the baby gets optimal nutrition but the toxins take longer to get out, in turn you get MS. Best wishes for a healthy pregnancy!!

Today...a solar panel assembly tool, Indian pajamas, and an eczema happiness study. I have no clue. There is nothing that I was researching, talking about to my husband, even dreaming about.

I eat strawberries with a sprinkle of sugar and a generous amount of cream. Nectar!! I don't think its a super weird lunch...I would have thought maybe you were low-carb. Going back to my lunch of bacon and chickpea coleslaw.