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melissel

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Posts posted by melissel

  1. I was shocked when she said, "You can take one of our vans. It's much cheaper that way." We ended up renting the trailer anyway so we wouldn't have to drive back to return the van.

     

    We bought a couch, a loveseat, chair, pillows and pillow covers, vases, flowers, two stuffed animals and they fed our whole family for free!

     

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

  2. I do not NEED anything from IKEA. But, I also have nothing else planned for the day...you guys are making me want to go!

     

    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:

  3. 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!

  4. It would be totally worth it to me if a kangaroo were eating my garden. We don't get too many of them here. :)

     

    :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!

  5. 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!

  6. 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.

  7. 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!

  8. Agree. Even if he was right and camping was not a good idea (I've traveled and been camping while 7 and 8 months pregnant, for the record)? That means you have to stay home with the two year old while everyone else goes to have fun? Oh, H3LL NO!! Be more assertive about your wishes.

     

    OMG! Wait, I somehow missed that you are being left with the two year old. No, uh-uh, no way. That's just selfish and mean to do at all, let alone a woman in her 3rd trimester. He takes the two year old. He wants you to stay behind - TELL him, don't ask, that the two year old is going with him.

     

    I might even make myself not be at the house when they leave to make sure he can't leave him behind. Failing that, I would have compunction about letting the air out of all the tires. I would not hide my misery in the laundry room so that everyone else can go have fun.

     

    :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.

  9. I would be fine with adding pie, even many pies, to suit your daughter - but, I tend to hold to the old-fashioned view that the reception is not, in fact, for the couple, but for the guests who have come to their wedding. When you host, you consider your guests first, particularly in a wedding where people may have spent money on travel and clothes. I would have a cake. DD doesn't have to eat more than a ceremonial bite, and she doesn't have to like it, but she really should have it, IMO. After that, she can gorge herself on pie if she wants to.

     

    Would I be wildly offended as a guest? No. But I would think that it wasn't very considerate of her guests.

     

    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.

  10. I hope this is not taken as melodramatic but when I begin to feel this way I remember this picture. I usually swallow down the lump in my throat, pray, and go hug my kids. It makes me so d@mn grateful for peanut butter and jelly or noodles again.

     

    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.

  11. Kitchen project complete!

     

    I was able to declutter (to some degree) nearly all of my kitchen cuboards, pantry, and even my dining room cupboard b/c I moved some things out of all those places and onto the new shelves. No longer having over-stuffed cupboards is going to make my life much smoother in the kitchen! I attached a pic of (most of) the new shelves. They replaced two ugly white shelves - just one on each wall. (There's actually a third wall that wraps around off the right of the pic that has "rails" hanging my skillets!)

     

    As part of my clean up from the construction project, I went ahead and decluttered the "catch all" dresser top in our family room, and all the other surfaces in there, and then I steam cleaned the (nasty) carpet in there too. Then I cleaned the guest bath.

     

    Of the three kids, today we conquered TWO of their bedrooms! #3, dd9, is well in progress and should be complete tomorrow (under pain of death if it's not done, lol). (I'll probably have to spend some time in there with her, but I am trying hard to get her to do it alone this time.) DD15 and DS13 both now have 100% decluttered rooms! D15 managed hers nearly all by herself, but I spent about an hour with DS13 finishing it off, but he did 80% on his own, and dd15 did 99% on her own, so I feel like they are learning how to do this on their own FINALLY, as this is the first time DD15 did hers w/o major help from me. Tomorrow, we put together DS13's new desk & chair -- last kid's new school desk!

     

    Room by room, I am taking control!

     

    Next up -- two rooms that just need minor help:

    1) The Dining Room (The linens need to be sorted, ironed, and restacked. Plus it just needs a good cleaning and a small bit of junk-putting-away.) 2) School Room. (School starts for us on MONDAY!)

     

    Will I ever make it to the basement or garage? Proabably not, lol.

     

    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!

  12. Resign.

     

    Keep the contact information for the people you like, and organize your own little group.

     

    Don't get mired down in politics that don't even concern you. Let them battle it out on their own -- especially if this is a legal issue.

     

    I admire you for wanting to keep your commitments, but this sounds like it goes way above and beyond the call of duty.

     

    I'd bail out and never look back.

     

    :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.

  13. We are like a small colony of hermits.

     

    :cheers2:

     

    We enjoy our personal space here.

     

    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.

  14. 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.

  15. Back in the day I was used to it. It was everywhere. Heck, my mother smoked 2 packs a day. But now? Barf. I just can't stand it anymore.

     

    Funny, once my BIL told off some guy for his putrid cigarette stench while we were waiting for the bus. Turns out it was the relief bus driver for the bus we were waiting for. THAT was uncomfortable. :lol: Thankfully my BIL is a big guy. :D

     

    :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.

  16. Yeah as I said...everywhere it smells like an ashtray.

     

    Of course I live in an area where smoking is forbidden in pretty much any public place so...

     

    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:

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