I don't play those multi-player games that you play online with other people but I've always loved The Sims, I adore all the Diner Dash type games, and let's just say that I'm very excited that the next Final Fantasy game is coming out on January 31st. :D

I wish it would let me edit in pics but it won't, so here are two pics of the above-mentioned noodle kugel. :)

Thank you for starting this, Dolphin! I was just coming on to do so and feeling bad that I was so behind about it! I have just been busy over here with family and holiday stuff and so on! And yes I agree that "Acts of Kindness" would be a relevant title since they can be planned and not necessarily just "random" acts! This week so far we brought some goodies over to our neighbors. We had our final Hanukkah get together with my husband's brother and sister-in-law and niece and nephew and my mom last night (speaking of my mom, I also transported her here and back to her house as she doesn't like to drive at night). We made chicken soup and latkes for dinner, and for dessert I made a noodle kugel (which is a noodle pudding) and we brought some latkes over to my neighbor (they love latkes), and we brought them some of the noodle kugel to try, too). By the way, it was the very first noodle kugel I'd ever made and it came out really good! If anyone wants to try it out, here's the recipe: Noodle Kugel 16 oz package extra broad egg noodles 6 eggs 2 tsp vanilla 24 oz cottage cheese 16 oz sour cream 3/4 cup sugar 1 cup raisins 1 medium apple (I used a Honeycrisp apple) 1 stick butter cinnamon Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9X13 baking dish Cook noodles. Drain and rinse with cold water. Melt a stick of butter, then toss the noodles in the butter until mixed/coated. In large bowl, beat together eggs, vanilla, cottage cheese, sour cream and sugar until combined and slightly frothy. Stir in noodles and raisins. Peel an apple and grate it into the noodle mixture, stir, and pour mixture into greased pan. Sprinkle with as much cinnamon as you'd like and bake uncovered for 45-60 minutes until top is golden brown and egg mixture is set (I cooked mine for an hour).

I really don't see any reason to force the issue with a child that young.

Considering my six year old son just tried to stick his finger in the cat's butt, I think I win.

Sorry, today sort of got away from me what with cookie baking and my homeschool group's holiday party and whatnot, so starting this thread quite late today! Speaking of cookie baking I suppose it can count that I made extra cookies and plan to drop some off tomorrow to a couple of the librarians at my library. Especially the one who orders the many, many interlibrary loan books I order and the children's librarian. By the way, Dolphin, I saw your post from the tail end of last week's thread and that was incredibly generous of you! :grouphug: Looking forward to hearing from everybody for this week!

We are moving into our fifth week of our Random Acts of Kindness Challenge and it's been great hearing about what you all have been doing! To reiterate, it doesn't matter how big or how small your Random Act of Kindness is over any given week. The idea is to just improve somebody's life, mood, spirits, week, or day in some way, no matter how big or small. Happiness is contagious. By doing nice things for other people, you're bound to make not just them feel good, but yourselves, too! And by involving the kids, the whole family, you'll be making THEM feel good, and teaching them to do good, too...it's a win/win! It doesn't matter who the recipient is. It can be a friend, a relative, someone in your own household, a complete stranger, an animal friend. It can be someone truly needy, or truly deserving, or it may be one of those weeks where it is just someone you allow in front of you on the checkout line. Just DO something to brighten somebody's day each week. I hope you'll join in on this challenge and post to the threads I'll be posting each week to let us all know what you did! This way, we can offer each other accountability to continue on with the challenge, inspiration as we give each other new ideas, can share fun stories of what we did and how people reacted and so on, and, okay, give each other a little bit of well-deserved recognition, too. :) This is the place to chat this week, which runs from Sunday, December 18 to Saturday, December 24. Come share your ideas, ask for ideas, tell us about the things you end up doing, comment on other people's stories, and so on. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Preschool, and they continue to see each other at Girl Scouts and through arranged playdates and sleepovers at each other's houses.

Loving these creative pictures and thinking more of you should play along! :D

Okay, here's mine! :) Something that is alive: Turtles! Something that needs to be fixed: My 11 y/o's dresser. Somehow she totally broke the tracking that the drawer is supposed to slide into. My husband assures me he will fix it. Somehow. Eventually. Something that is loved or cherished: The very first picture my son ever made that was more than just a scribble. He said it was Daddy. Aww. Something you want to get rid of: The ugly, broken down awning things that are hanging over my bedroom windows. They came with the house when we bought it like five years ago. I keep saying I want to tear them down and put up something more modern like shutters (are shutters modern anymore? lol. I don't know. But they'd look better than these things). One of these days. And something random of your choosing: Smurfs! When I was a kid, I LOVED Smurfs. And I had a whole, huge Smurf figurine collection. Every single time I had some spare money, I would walk to this one stationary type store and buy a new figurine (I think they cost like $3 something each back then). I played with them in this huge dollhouse my sister made me, in the bathtub, in the backyard, everywhere. And one day my brothers went and sold them at a yard sale behind my back. I never quite forgave them. I told my husband that story one day and do you know what that man did? He started buying me Smurfs online. Love him. :D

Aw. I'm happy for him that he has people like them AND people like you in his life! :grouphug:

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to take five pictures today of things in your house that go with these themes and then post them here: Something that is alive. Something that needs to be fixed. Something that is loved or cherished. Something you want to get rid of. And something totally random of your choosing. Anyone want to play along? :)

A Sean Connery barbie doll? Just kidding. But seriously I didn't know until yesterday they even made those things. You learn something new every day on this forum. :D Is it sad or funny that the other two things that popped into my head in quick succession after that were "Ambien" and "Kilt Towels" followed by a visual image of a certain someone's Ambien story and then a bunch of various kilt pictures that have been posted over the last few months on this board. Gonna go pour my coffee now.

I like you, Wendi!!! :D :iagree:

Yeah well I want the Russell Crowe gladiator pic back. Taps foot. :glare: P.S. That first kilt pic somebody posted in that thread was pretty nice too, even if somebody did say he had funny knees! :P

:iagree: One of these would have to do the trick. Exchange them!

Oh, my! How odd. I'm so glad you got it, but I wish we knew what happened! Maybe she forgot them school and the parents ran her over to get them. I can't imagine she just decided to hold onto them, what would a kid do with restaurant gift cards on her own?

It's not too late to send her a Christmas letter of your own. Do you have any favorite Ancient Egyptian or Greek gods and goddesses you want to take dictation for, Astrid...?

Well, if you could hurry up, I'd appreciate it. I'm sort of bored and plus I'm intrigued and want to know how this will play out! :P (And of course I am hoping you get your gift cards)!

Well, look. We all have our "things" that we're maybe over-protective about when it comes to our kids. But we each get to make our parenting decisions for our own kids and I don't think we need to start calling each other "irrational" over it. Besides, she didn't say she didn't let men teach her daughter or ever be around her daughter, she just said she wanted to be in the room. If that's her comfort level, who cares. Some moms are weird about strange men around their kids. Some are weird about public toilets. Some are weird about sleepovers. Some are weird about playing in the front yard unsupervised. Some are weird about letting other parents drive their kids around. We all have something outside our comfort zone. It doesn't really matter if other people "get" it.

My husband doesn't go into work until later in the day, so I schedule for the morning and leave whoever isn't going home with him, usually.

:lol:

You could always reply with something like: Dear Linda, Wow, I think it is SO cool that Jesus uses you as his personal transcriptionist! Who knew that his relationship with you was THAT personal! Still, it must be pretty neat to take dictation from the divine. I wish I could have heard more about what else you do in your free time, though, and what your family has been up to, so, please, next year fill me in on the other things going on in your life! Anyway, it was good hearing from you, and I hope that you and yours have a Merry Christmas! Thank you for the card! Sincerely, Astrid. Maybe...? :lol:

Does the buyer have good feedback? If the buyer has very good feedback and therefore doesn't seem to be the type to go around scamming sellers, and you're admitting it could have happened at your home, I would ask them if they are looking to return it for a refund and if so, that once it is back in your possession you will return their money to them. Then you can at least try to resell it (you'll have to mention the damage and may get less for it next time but you should still be able to get something for it). I wouldn't want negative feedback if I planned to sell there again. And you want to think of how you would want someone to respond to you if YOU were the buyer. If the buyer has negative feedback and sellers seem to be complaining about this type of thing happening, that's another story.

Of course, gender lines aren't necessarily relevant to begin with. If that male teacher you don't want to leave your daughter alone with did happen to be a pedophile, he might very well have a preference for boys anyway. I think the most important thing any of us can do for our children is just teach them how to trust their gut/instincts, how to speak up for themselves and set boundaries, to not be afraid to tell an adult "NO," "STOP," "I DON'T LIKE THAT," to not be afraid to tell us (their parents) when they are uncomfortable in a situation, to take them at their word when they are uncomfortable and to get them OUT of that situation that is making them uncomfortable, no matter how silly or small that reason may seem to us, because it is ALWAYS better to be safe than sorry when it is our children's safety and security on the line. If anyone here in this thread has not yet read Protecting The Gift by Gavin de Becker, please do. Seriously. Do. No parent should go without reading that book. Another great book to read WITH your kids (age 8 and up) or to give to your kids to read on their own is The Safe Zone, A Kid's Guide to Personal Safety by Donna Chaiet and Francine Russell.