NO kidding!!! LOL at numbers 13 and 14! Too funny!!! :lol:

I've heard of quite a few Christians having a sedar on Passover, or lighting a menorah on Hanukkah and so on. And they're not Jewish. Sometimes people just like to adopt other traditions or learn more about other cultures or to appreciate certain holiday gestures or to expose their children to different things or whatever the case may be. I think that's fine. I think it's fine if someone who isn't Christian wants to do the same when it comes to Christmas, be that a Jewish person or an athiest. To one person, the holiday may be all about religion. But to another it's about family and friends and culture and tradition and happy memories and exchanging gifts (not to be confused with receiving gifts, it's the giving, too). And it can also be about doing nice things for other people. I'm not Christian and we DON'T celebrate Christmas per se but my daughter will still go and sing Christmas carols to the residents at a nursing home to brighten their day, with her Girl Scouts troup. We give money to the Salvation Army Santas (in fact, my 10 year old daughter had $5.00 of her own money on her- it was all she had- and she gave her whole $5.00 to one of those "Santas" just yesterday and told me "they need it more than I do"). We appreciate how pretty the twinkling lights look all over town. And sometimes we'll share a meal with a relative-in-law or friend who DOES celebrate Christmas. I know of some Jewish families who put up a decorated tree and call it a "Hanukkah bush" so their kids don't feel so excluded and because they appreciate how pretty it looks...but then again Christmas trees were never really about Jesus anyway, were they. I mean, wasn't that originally a pagan thing? Anyway, I don't find any of this culture, tradition, fun and good spirit "hollow" even if it's being done in a totally secular way, but we all have our own way of seeing and thinking about things, and I'm pretty much of a "to each his own" mindset. If you're not hurting someone else, have fun and do your thing!

Yes. It says: "If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book."

Today was my Week 14 weigh in! Status Report: 8/26/10, Week "0" Weight: 237 1/2 lbs BMI: 37.2 Height: 5'7" 9/2/10, Week 1 Weight: 235 1/2 lbs BMI: 36.9 Weekly Change: -2 lbs Total Loss: 2 lbs 9/9/10, Week 2 Weight: 234 1/2 lbs BMI: 36.8 Weekly Change: -1 lb Total Loss: 3 lbs 9/16/10, Week 3 Weight: 231 3/4 lbs BMI: 36.3 Weekly Change: -2 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 5 3/4 lbs 9/23/10, Week 4 Weight: 229 1/2 lbs BMI: 35.9 Weekly Change: -2 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 8 lbs (I'm out of the 230's!!!) 9/30/10, Week 5 Weight: 226 3/4 lbs BMI: 35.5 Weekly Change: -2 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 10 3/4 lbs 10/7/10, Week 6 Weight: 226 1/4 lbs BMI: 35.5 Weekly Change: -1/2 lb Total Loss: 11 1/4 lbs 10/14/10, Week 7 Weight: 224 1/2 lbs BMI: 35.2 Weekly Change: -1 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 13 lbs 10/21/10, Week 8 Weight: 221 1/4 lbs BMI: 34.6 Weekly Change: -3 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 16 1/4 lbs 10/28/10, Week 9 Weight: 218 lbs BMI: 34.1 Weekly Change: -3 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 19 1/2 lbs (I'm out of the 220's!!!) 11/4/10, Week 10 Weight: 219 1/2 lbs BMI: 34.4 Weekly Change: +1 1/2 lbs Total Loss: 18 lbs 11/11/10, Week 11 Weight: 218 1/4 lbs BMI: 34.1 Weekly Change: -1 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 19 1/4 lbs 11/18/10, Week 12 Weight: 215 3/4 lbs BMI: 33.8 Weekly Change: -2 1/2 lbs Total Loss: 21 3/4 lbs 11/25/10, Week 13 Weight: 215 3/4 lbs BMI: 33.8 Weekly Change: +/- 0 Total Loss: 21 3/4 lbs 12/2/10, Week 14 Weight: 213 lbs BMI: 33.4 Weekly Change: -2 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 24 1/2 lbs Summary: Goal- to lose 60 lbs. 24 1/2 lbs down, 35 1/2 lbs to go. (I've decided to lose an even 60 instead of the 58 I had previously set as my goal). --- Check out my fun weight loss picture updates here: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/139113.html And thanks again for your support and encouragement, and for letting me continue to be more "accountable." :) --- Today will not be a diet day for me as we are celebrating Hanukkah with our family tonight and having some delicious latkes and homemade chicken soup with noodles and matzoh balls...and dessert... but right back on track tomorrow and I'm looking forward to being out of the 210's very soon! :) ---

My daughter is using TT5 this year. She loves it, and so do I!

I'm using Oak Meadow too, which is (at least to some degree) "Waldorf-inspired."

Yeah, really. I don't really need somebody to tell me whether it's okay for me to express my opinion or feelings on something posted on a public forum. <shrug>

Jarred, definitely. I love Belletiere's Marinara Sauce, and Simply Enjoy Marinara Sauce. They're not as sweet and thick as some other jarred sauces, they are very pleasing! :D

I agree, scam. I also think you should edit your original post so that it does not include your full name and address?!

Already done! :D

So happy to hear that it's going well!

Wow. Good for you! I'm only just sipping my first few sips of coffee. But I DID start a load of laundry! :D

I started out this year with 5th grade and K (although two months into it we decided to put a stop to K for the time being and try again next year). I basically focused more on my oldest with the things she DID need help with or that I liked doing together with her, and then when she was doing something that she could do independently, I'd work with my younger. Or sometimes I totally finished school with her first and then moved on to him, but that worked okay for me since we don't spend as much time on our school day as some of you guys do to begin with :D

Not sure but try googling "where to buy bakery boxes" or something like that maybe?

Ours isn't fancy! The kids get a choice of cold cereal with milk, toast, frozen waffles or pancakes, or some instant hot cereal like cream of wheat most mornings. Sometimes they might ask for something like fruit and yogurt instead which is fine if we have it on hand. And sometimes we make eggs.

Truthfully? I have a problem with attitudes like this. You know, I'm Jewish. I don't celebrate Christmas. And if some well meaning person wishes me a "Merry Christmas" without thinking about it, I'm not going to get offended. I'm going to politely say "Thanks, you, too," and go about my day, because if they don't know me well enough to KNOW I don't celebrate Christmas, it doesn't really need to be a big deal, and if they do, it's not going to be an issue to begin with, and I know that their hearts are probably in the right place either way- they're just not really thinking about the fact that I might not happen to celebrate Christmas since. After all, I'm in the minority, especially around here where I live. With that said: It certainly DOES make sense for people to say "Happy Holidays" rather than being all Christmas specific- because not all of us celebrate Christmas. I wouldn't presume to go around telling everyone to have a "Happy Hanukkah" and I don't truthfully get why everyone would assume I need to have a "Merry Christmas"- but I DO get that it's the thought that counts. Truly. I do. BUT where it really IRKS me is when there's an attitude like THIS: Where someone will basically say "We don't CARE if not everyone celebrates Christmas, and we KNOW some people would prefer a more generic greeting around this time of year, but we're the majority and screw everybody else and we're going to do it our way just on principal and if you don't like it, too bad!" ...I mean, that's what this little poem is saying to some extent, when it comes down to it, in a cutesy sort of way, right? It's not the phrase "Merry Christmas" I dislike (though I will continue to find it just a wee bit presumptuous). It's the attitude about how dare they not let Christmas in schools and big retail stores and street corners and tell us not to tell everybody in the checkout line "Merry Christmas", the nerve, let's do it anyway just because we can!- there's a separation of church and state for a reason, and call me a scrooge ;) but I happen to be for said separation. I also happen to think that there's something to be said for being "politically correct." You know, respecting others and so on. That's not such a bad thing.

http://www.fundsforwriters.com/writingkid.htm

Yes!

There's an interesting book by David Elkind called "The Power Of Play." There are also a lot of good quotes about playing! --- Play is our brain's favorite way of learning. Diane Ackerman Contemporary American author Almost all creativity involves purposeful play. Abraham Maslow American psychologist 1908–1970 Whoever wants to understand much must play much. Gottfried Benn German physician 1886–1956 Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold. Joseph Chilton Pearce Contemporary American scholar Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning. Fred Rogers American television personality 1928–2003 A child loves his play, not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard. Benjamin Spock American pediatrician 1903–1998 Play has been man’s most useful preoccupation. Frank Caplan Contemporary American author 1911–1988 People tend to forget that play is serious. David Hockney Contemporary British painter Do not…keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play. Plato Greek philosopher 427–347 BC Deep meaning lies often in childish play. Johann Friedrich von Schiller German poet 1759–1805 Children at play are not playing about. Their games should be seen as their most serious minded activity. Michel de Montaigne French essayist 1533–1592 Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father. Roger von Oech Contemporary American creativity guru You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. Plato Greek philosopher 427–347 BC Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play. Henri Matisse French painter 1869–1954 Play is training for the unexpected. Marc Bekoff Contemporary American biologist Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn. O. Fred Donaldson Contemporary American martial arts master When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero. Fred Rogers American children’s television host 1928–2003 It is in playing, and only in playing, that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self. D.W. Winnicott British pediatrician 1896–1971 Now in myth and ritual the great instinctive forces of civilized life have their origin: law and order, commerce and profit, craft and art, poetry, wisdom and science. All are rooted in the primeval soil of play. Johan Huizing Dutch historian 1872–1945 The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery. Erik H. Erikson American psychoanalyst 1902–1994 Ritual grew up in sacred play; poetry was born in play and nourished on play; music and dancing were pure play.... We have to conclude, therefore, that civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play...it arises in and as play, and never leaves it. Johan Huizing Dutch historian 1872–1945 The child amidst his baubles is learning the action of light, motion, gravity, muscular force… Ralph Waldo Emerson American writer 1803–1882 As astronauts and space travelers children puzzle over the future; as dinosaurs and princesses they unearth the past. As weather reporters and restaurant workers they make sense of reality; as monsters and gremlins they make sense of the unreal. Gretchen Owocki Contemporary American early childhood educator

The Grinch Sing Your Heart Out Game. It's cooperative, and it's SO much fun, for ALL ages!

It would not have bothered me if she had a friend she wanted to let hold her grandbaby, I would have been pretty easy going with that, unless the person looked sick or the baby was crying or something. But the "fat" comments? EXTREMELY offensive and rude and I would not allow myself to be around someone who was like that and didn't have the common sense to filter themselves. I'd have to distance myself from that woman entirely. I would not stop my husband from seeing his mother or begrudge him that or make issues over gifts for the kids etc (not sure what you meant by the gifts being offensive), but I personally would just not spend time around her at all. The visits would have to go on with out me.

We have occasionally viewed porn together :P But I really don't think that my husband does on his own. Which is not to say that he never did when he was younger or whatever, but I really don't think it's an issue now/in our relationship or anything like that.

This tells you how to calculate how many points you'd get: http://www.ehow.com/how_4871046_calculate-many-weight-watchers-points.html ...however, Weight Watcher's new plan came out yesterday or today and so I think everything is changing this week anyway in regard to how many points you get and how many points foods cost and so on. If he plans to do the "old" program, that's how he'd do it. If he is doing the new program, then I don't know yet as I haven't gotten those materials yet.

I would never tell two adults they couldn't share a room if they wanted to. Not even in my house. It wouldn't even cross my mind to do so (and would feel way too judgmental and bossy to me if it did cross my mind). And they already live together for crying out loud so it seems even more silly to me. Nor would I feel comfortable (or interested in) staying at someone's house who tried to tell me I couldn't share a room with my live in partner because we weren't married; I'd get a hotel instead and would feel a LOT more free to be myself by doing so. I couldn't even relate to a person like that, to be honest. But, then, I DID live with my husband for some time before we married, and I'm more of a "to each his own" kind of person, and I think my kids are growing up okay despite that. Sure, in the end, it's a "your house, your rules" kind of thing, but it's definitely not a rule I'd feel comfortable either enforcing or following and I'd feel quite awkward around you (and those who feel the same way as you). (P.S. When my husband and I did visit friends/family before we were married, no-one, fortunately, ever told us where/how we could sleep, when we could be together, etc, so I've never actually even encountered this issue/attitude and yes it does seem quite 'old-fashioned' to me).

Thank for these replies! Chocolate gelt is a good idea for the snack, I hadn't even thought of that! And certainly easier than making something lol. I just ordered some :) So now I have a snack: (chocolate gelt) a craft: (the macaroni and lentil menorahs) and just want to see if I can come up with a good story or book that's interesting but not too long and sticks to the basics kind of thing!