OPSEC means "Operational Security" ... military, civilian employees and families are all strongly cautioned not to give out any info that could endanger operations or personnel. I decided years ago that the less I know, the smaller chance of slipping up w/ info. When other folks ask where DH works my answer is usually, "I don't know, somewhere on the other side of the island?"! How's that for OPSEC?:D

Sadly, I remember having a major crush on Adam Ant.... course, how dim was I to never see the "Adam Ant - adamant" connection? Took DH to point that one out years later!

Personally, we are planning to buy a house, but are waiting until the market hits bottom. Why would we buy now and see our value continue to drop? We will most likely buy in about 12-18months. Judging from what I've seen on other boards, we are not alone in our thinking. As far as mortgage availability goes... well thank goodness for our credit unions who do not re-sell mortgages and have stricter lending practices, and therefore are less impacted by the mortgage crisis. The $ we deposit there is used to help other families like ours get mortgages, etc.

That is one good thing about living in Hawaii... no skunks! My sister had a dog who would seek out places where skunks had sprayed and roll in the stink! Ugh! We got really good at using douche and tomato juice on that dog, but I think the clerks at the grocery store thought we had a weird fettish!;)

From your posting, I'm assuming you are an active-duty military family? I know sometimes it's tough to seek help in an overseas military situation because it's such a small community, but perhaps you need to talk to someone in Family Services, etc. It will be easier for an impartial 3rd party to assess and make recommendations. I assume the toxic boyfriend is stationed in Germany, too? Any chance his impending incarceration will force a separation between him and dd? :grouphug: You are experiencing one of my great fears... my thoughts will be with you. I do agree with the pp who said that enabling your dd is not a good choice. I know from family experience that it only allows the behaviors to continue, both in the current generation and the next.

I've got some "coin" silver from the early 1700's, and portraits of the "Grandcestors" (dd's term) from 1853.

We used to live in Temecula and noticed that the graffiti was getting more and more prevelant. Sorry to hear that you've been "welcomed" to your neighborhood in such a thoughtless and rude fashion.

Shiloh is wonderful! DD9 is very tickled, although we have to admit that by the standards we're used to at our barn, she's a young whipper-snapper;)! If she's a 3x momma, does that make me a virtual grandma?

Oh! Count me in! I want one, too!!! I'm not choosie about breeding, but I am a sucker for the ones who are a little shy and need loving! Of course, I'll have to share my virtual horse w/ dd9, but that's no surprise!

When she woke up yesterday morning she thought she'd dreamed about waking up in the shower! We had to all convince her it'd really happened. She is definitely horse-crazy... today she was practicing gauging strides to a jump... using our 13 year-old dog! She had a jump course set up for him and everything!

Mine is my daughters playing on a beach near where we live. I love to watch them on the beach as they make up games to play in the sand/waves.

See, now I had the opposite happen... I was hormonal, irrational, etc. BEFORE I had kids. Now, while I may have some irrational moments:D, they are not linked to my period... no, no, no.. they strike w/ little rhyme or reason when my family and I are least expecting them! But at least they are infrequent. But my tune may change soon as the cramps have started to return now that I am approaching "the change" :glare:

dd9 has been attending a very strenuous riding camp this summer (her request) and by Friday night she is pretty worn out. Tonight she asked to take her shower in the master bath, so when DH headed to our room I asked him to make sure she got to bed. About 45 minutes later, dd13 came home from babysitting, went in their shared bedroom and asked where dd9 was... turns out, that after DH knocked on the bathroom door and told dd9 to finish-up, he lost track of time (online, doncha know!) and forgot about her! I went in the bathroom and there was dd9, curled up in the corner of the shower asleep! My heart just melted at this sweet, sleepy kid wrapped in a towel, asleep in the shower! She must have been asleep for at least a half-hour! She was really groggy and barely coherant as I got her dressed, and ready for bed. I love that kid so much it makes my heart ache... same goes for dd13. This is one of those days when I feel truly blessed to have my 2 favorite people in the world as my kids and get to spend so much time with them, KWIM?

Just thought of one that always gets me crying... DH just hands me the box of tissues when he catches me watching it ... "Rudy", at the end where all the Notre Dame football players start chanting "Rudy, Rudy, Rudy..." and the whole stadium joins in... then Rudy gets sent onto the field and I just lose it.

My sister had a dog who looked just like Shadow (some bloodlines) and we lost him to cancer when he was only 6, just after she gave him to me because she said he'd always thought he was my dog anyway. So that scene just rips me up... of course I can't hear the song "Feed Jake" without crying, either.

My car is always a mess! DH gives me a hard time about it, but he almost never has the kids in his car, so what would he know? Kids = messy car My car has become the "barn" car. I was so happy when we finally got a locker at the barn so I no-longer have 3 saddles in the trunk of my car! (talk about a mileage killer!) But I have boots, chaps, LOADS of dirty socks, books, crumbs (dd13 can't seem to eat w/out making lots of crumbs!), water bottles... etc. etc. But things have improved over when dds used to do gymnastics and they would change in the car under a blanket on the way from school to the gym. I took the car to be detailed and when I got back in, there was a pile of kids' underwear on the backseat that the detailers had found under the driver's seat! Yikes! Talk about embarrassing!

When we moved to yet another small, old, Base house last year I insisted on getting 2 of those big, white, pantry-type cabinets w/ doors. They fit on one wall of our "diningroom with enough space between for some shelves to hold binders, etc. (had the shelves custom cut at lumber yard to fit space, then painted them white to match cabinets). One cabinet holds all school stuff once I modified w/ some shelves (again, done w/ cut lumber), etc. The other cabinet holds all the craft-type stuff that we love so much! Gotta love City Mill, which is a hardware/home store here in Hawaii! The employees are great! I tell them what I'm trying to accomplish and the dimensions of the space, and they help me choose the wood & cut it to give me the most bang for my $. Learning charts/posters and dry erase boards are mounted on the doors of the cabinets. By investing in the cabinets, I was able to make a "school space" that is accessible to the dining table, but neat and tidy when we aren't using it.

Actually, I'm waiting to hear the responses because if/when I buy another saddle it'll be an Australian style and the overgirth issue has me stumped, too!

If the inferred connection to "Pearl" troubles you, perhaps you could use a different signal? When I was teaching 1st grade, I taught the kids a hand signal and used it whenever we were in assemblies or walking in the halls, etc. I made a "check mark" using my thumb and index finger. This was to signal that the student should "self-check" their behavior and see if they were behaving appropriately for the situation. It always worked, and the desired correction was made, often without me having to visibly single-out the student in front of peers. I still use it occasionally for my dc.

I don't have any witty comments for you to use towards the perpetrators, but when I encounter similar situations around my dc, I take a private moment to discuss w/ my kids how people who think/act that way are a little "broken" and missing something in their make-up... and that we should feel sympathy for them as they will doubtless miss many wonderful, diverse opportunities as they go through life with such a limiting attitude. I've found it virtually impossible for me to change the attitudes of prejudice people. I can only control my behavior and try to influence that of my children.

Every time I go to the teaching supply store I see all these cool posters w/ useful info that I would love to buy. Problem is, our classroom has almost no empty wall-space due to windows, bookcases, etc. Then it occurred to me that there is one place where those sorts of posters might be really useful... the bathroom! Might as well have those kids multi-tasking in there, right!;) I bought a poster on Geography terms and hung it on the wall opposite the toilet. And it worked! Dds now know the difference between a butte and a plateau, an atoll and an island, etc. Of course some odd conversations were overheard during toothbrushing time, "Why do they call it a rainforest when they only drew 12 trees?" (said through a mouthful of toothpaste!). I switched the poster out today for the first of a series on the branches of government. I figure 4-6 weeks per poster should be enough time for the info to become rote. Just thought I'd pass the idea along.

Horses!

Mele Macs... toffee-coated mac-nuts covered in chocolate. Yum! The girls know about them, we just keep them hidden from DH who is of the "all-gone, no hanker" mindset and would chomp through the entire container in one sitting. We treat ourselves to 3 apiece each day along w/ pretzels as we are driving home from activities. I am a major addict when it comes to pretzels/salty with chocolate. Bite of pretzel, bite of Mele-mac!... okay, now I gotta go get one from the hiding place!

My dryer was starting to smell REALLY bad last week. Like something had died... in fact, that was just what I thought had happened... that some critter had crawled up in the dryer and been done-in when I turned the thing on. (Just what I need, guilt to make me feel even less like doing my laundry!) The repair guy said it'd cost about $150+ for him to come take care of the problem (DH was out of town). Now, I have a real problem paying for someone else to do something I know I am capable of doing. I asked myself just how much was avoiding the "ick" worth to me? Not $150, so I attempted dismantling the dryer myself. Argh! I hate when I have the knowledge to do something, but need more hands/strenth, KWIM? DH came home this weekend and we attacked the dryer together (kids were watching like it was reality TV!). And the smelly culprit turned out to be.... A toad stool. and I mean poop! Here in Hawaii we have these HUGE toads (poisonous if your dog licks them). Apparently one of them decided that my dryer vent was a nice cozy place to do his/her business. Yuck! Little pile.. but huge stink! Gladly, after bleach and "Simple Solution" I now have a non-smelly dryer... and yet another funny story about living in paradise.

Can you call the vet and ask their opinion? Does she have any tenderness anywhere? Her stomach/abdomen? When was the last time she had a BM?