Aw!!!! :crying:

Whaaaaaaaat?!!! I don't know if our Ikea rents vans like that! They truly are merchandising geniuses.

Seriously!!! I desperately want the big Expedit shelves for both girls' rooms, but we don't really have the money right now. And I know that if I go, I'll end up buying those shelves--and picture frames, and glasses, and a loveseat for the schoolroom and...:auto:

Our is about 14 years old now. It was getting very uncomfortable, but then we bought a memory foam mattress topper, and it works just fine for both of us now. We talk about buying a new, king bed occasionally, but we don't have the money for it, we don't seem to really need a new bed, and we're fine with the size of the queen we have.

If you have one, what brand/kind do you have? Do you like it? Is it easy to use? Could you make your own replacements easily? I'm in the market for a new mop, and I've always used the kind with the roller head that squeezes out the excess water. I'm OK with that kind, but I don't like that it takes forever for the spongy head to dry, and the heads seem to get destroyed quickly from the pressure. If you love your mop (of any kind) or method, can you tell me about it? TIA!

:lol: I thought the exact same thing! If you have a groundhog, get ready for a fight. They are horribly damaging. I have read that the best thing to do is just kill them off as quickly as possible, because otherwise you're just relocating them into other people's yards/other groundhogs' territory. Also, they tend to hang out in families, so you'd be potentially taking parents away from babies etc. That said, my friend doesn't have the stomach for killing them and has been relocating the ones in her yard. She's caught and removed all but one, which is proving to be the MacGyver of groundhogs. It is, indeed, destroying her garden :( I think she might be slowly growing more amenable to a permanent solution, IYKWIM!

We just use whatever container is handy at the moment--typically some container that already needs to be recycled, like a big Earthbound Farms box--and dump it every day or every other day. Then we rinse it and drop it into the recycling as we go past. Sometimes we use a plasticware container (like a Reynolds-ware or Tupperware style) if we need something bigger, and it goes right into the dishwasher when we bring it in. I find that if I don't put a lid on it, it stays drier and doesn't get moist and yucky inside, even if 2-3 days go by. We haven't had a problem with fruit flies unless we let banana peels hang around :glare: Lesson learned there!

Another vote for gluten here. I was bloated and gassy every single day. It was awful. I eliminated gluten and my symptoms mostly disappeared. I also found that taking the supplement 5-HTP eased my symptoms and normalized my digestive system. I'm not sure why that is. The book The Mood Cure talks about it a bit and said something to the effect of most serotonin in your body being manufactured in your gut. If you're not manufacturing enough serotonin, your gut won't work properly...something like that. I don't know, but I know that when I take it, my stomach feels much, much better. So if you can't find a dietary link, you might try taking 5-HTP. Good luck. I know how it feels to deal with the bloating and misery (and :blushing:) on a daily basis.

South Beach, for one, allows them in any phase--even phase 1, in small amounts. We eat low-carb, not no-carb.

I'm trying to reduce the amount of meat we're eating as well as our overall grocery bill, but restrictions are making it kind of hard. We all feel our best when we're relatively few carbs (plus DH and I are trying to lose weight and do really well on low-carb). I can't eat gluten, and substitutes are expensive, so I try to avoid them. I can't seem to get used to eating legumes. I can eat a small amount of beans or lentils in one meal one on day, but if I try to eat the same small amount in the next day or so, my stomach is so upset that I actually have pain. I feel like most of the low carb meals I see either involve meat heavily or involve lots of beans and legumes. I'm not seeing a way around lots of meat and a high grocery bill here, but I wanted to ask all you creative thinkers if I 'm missing anything. Given these food restrictions, WWYD? Am I not seeing a solution that's right there, or is there really none? TIA!

Very interesting! With Youtube, Netflix, the AirPlay mirroring from my new MacBook Pro, and now this, I'm afraid my beloved Roku doesn't hold too much value anymore :(

:iagree: If what I suspect happened is what actually happened, then I would be LIVID if my DH went anywhere without me, especially given his reasoning about your pregnant state. I would make it a Very Big Deal. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I'm sorry, mama.

That site is stinkin' hilarious! Thanks for linking.

Does anyone else really, REALLY want cake and/or cheesecake right now? *sigh*

Oh no. That will be the end of Facebook for me. I already hate it, and I hate myself a little more every time I post on it. To have ALL privacy removed? That's not going to work for me :glare:

I do the same thing if a book is suspenseful. If I'm dying to get to the end, I tend to read too fast and miss details and don't appreciate the writing as much. It doesn't bother me to know the ending, and then I can go ahead and revel in the book that much more as I read it. DH thinks I'm totally weird :tongue_smilie:

I sort of agree, but if the bride likes pie, then I would say that what she and the groom cut should be the pie! I think the cake should be there for the guests to eat, but the pie can still be the focus. If there was no cake at a reception I attended, I certainly would note be offended. I might be a little sad, though, because I love cake :D If you make enough cupcakes, that would probably do the job too.

Ugh, that is intense. Thank you for sharing that perspective-giving shot (though I kind of wish I could erase it from my brain :(). You are right that we should all hug our babies extra hard right now.

It looks great, Stephanie. I'd love to see pics of your bedroom if you have time. I'm in awe that you're doing all these projects by yourself. Anytime I do any project in the house on my own, I turn around and the kids have destroyed the house right behind me. (OK, that's not fair--DD6 destroys the house right behind me!) It just feels so self-defeating!

:iagree: 100% Frankly, being allowed to step into leadership without knowledge of this potential debacle negates any commitment you made, IMO. As someone else pointed out, it sounds like you wouldn't have stepped in to lead if you'd had all the pertinent information. I wouldn't feel bad about protecting myself, my family, and my overall sanity from a mess like that. I also agree that you should put your own group together. If you were willing to go to the effort of saving an existing group, it shouldn't be that much harder to pull together your own group. Then you can make it what you want.

Ugh, I'm jealous. I'm the only introvert in a family of people who ask me, "Where are we going today? Who are we seeing today?" when they wake up in the morning. The kids are used to my habits because they've grown up with me, but DH, whose nickname is "the mayor," still struggles with it.

I know I've seen some discussion about buying Prismacolors lately, so if you're like me and are upgrading/augmenting your art supplies for the coming school year, this might be helpful: http://demandware.edgesuite.net/aaeo_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-Michaels-Site/Sites-michaels-catalog/default/v1343797155788/pdf/Prismacolor%20Rebate.pdf It's a $10 rebate on a $50 purchase. We're buying Prismacolors anyway for an art class, so this will make the whole thing even better! HTH someone :D Oh, and ETA that someone told me that Prismacolor is on sale at Michaels this week, and there's a 20% off coupon that applies to sale items too. If I can find it, I'll link it. ETA again: Here: http://www.retailmenot.com/view/michaels.com Scroll down for the 20% printable coupon.

And did you tell them, "Yes, honey. That's exactly what happened. Now do your cursive!"?

:lol::lol::lol: Hilarious! Yeah, I was used to it too, and my mom smoked. I hated it then, though, and it turns my stomach now. I totally get the addiction aspect and I don't begrudge anyone not being able to quit (because I sure haven't lost the 50 pounds I need to dump!), but ugh, the smoke and smell.

I remember eating fish and chips and reading in a little shop in London and feeling vaguely annoyed, though I couldn't place why. As my feeling of annoyance grew, I realized it was because a whole group of people were smoking behind me. I was so steamed that they were just ignoring the law like that! Then I realized that I was not at home in NYC and that smoking in restaurants was perfectly legal in England :lol: Made me finish up my chips right quick and leave though :tongue_smilie: