I've conquered the Stove!!!! I couldn't stand it anymore, so I tried something new. Straight ammonia, let soak, then scrub with one of those green scratchy kitchen scrubbing pads. It took multiple attempts, but after about 3 hours it's CLEAN except for a few small areas that are burnt on terribly bad.

Ordered my fitbit and it should be here early-mid February. I ended up getting a flex - I like that it only has lights so I will not obsessively be checking my stats. For anyone else interested, Woot.com has fitbits on sale today, and you can stack the $10 off of $25+ codes with it. I got a flex with 2 teal bands for $27 shipped, which I felt was a good price after checking ebay used ones over the last several days. Today is a walking day because of errands. Tomorrow will be as well. Thursday & Friday I'm having a garage sale, so those will be off days but I'll get some workout in carrying everything in and out and setting up tables. I am still trying to figure out an arm / core workout that I can do that is gentle enough to not bug my spine issues but still works the muscles.

I actually tried a steamer on it a while back and while it took some off, it didn't work on the worst spots. I've also tried the whole dawn, baking soda and either ammonia / vinegar paste. That worked the best of anything but still didn't get it all.

Can anyone in here recommend a good way to get gunk off a gas stove? I've let mine go for far too long, and now the cleaners I've tried won't touch it.

Bumping up in hopes of more replies. Abba - that is exactly the circumstance here. I'm this girls support person / safe adult. And I'm struggling with how to help her without being too much, kwim?

Please don't quote as I will remove later on. It's come to my attention that my almost kiddo {homeschooled neighbor kid 13yo who practically lives at my house part of the time} is spiraling bad. I've known for a good while that she had issues with self-harm and depression, and we had an agreement to work through it {I get SI for a variety of reasons}. I've known for a short while that she wasn't doing well at all, and suspected other issues. Well tonight she confirmed that she hasn't been eating because "when I don't eat my brain gets fuzzy and the bad things shut up". This is a girl who already was borderline underweight, and has body image issues bordering on Anorexia. She's already had one episode of running out of fuel during a p90x workout with her mom, causing her to nearly pass out. She hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. It's a split custody situation and both parents are blatantly ignoring this girl's issues. Mom is a semi-crunchy type who says "well if you'd just eat right all your mood issues would go away". Dad is a single dad who really doesn't know what to do with his teenage girls and leaves everything up to their mom. What, if anything, can I do for this girl? Other than monitor her food when she's at my house, which will be an uphill battle and I need to do carefully so I don't annoy her. If I can convince her to get help, is there a way she can get therapy / meds without parental consent?

I don't have a fusion {they wanted to and I refused} but I have Kyphosis which is similar to Scoliosis, just turned the other direction {front to back instead of side to side}. Mine is a pretty severe curve though, just saying. I can't run. Anything with the jarring movement like running, jumping, etc is instant back pain for me. Which stinks because I actually like running! I've learned to speed walk instead.

I'd like to join please. My goals are: Diet / Weight Loss Goals: ~Follow a GF, Paleo-ish diet with no cheats. For me this means I allow cooked dairy in moderation as well as white rice and occasionally corn in moderation. ~Lose at least 75lbs by the end of the year. Yes a very ambitious goal, but I am hoping to do it. I've lost nearly 50lbs in 2016 with only partially trying, and now that my thyroid is behaving I lose much easier. ~Take my vitamins daily. That means BOTH high dose Vit D AND my multi - I am terrible about taking the multi. Fitness goals: This is much harder for me because honestly I am not sure where I am fitness-wise, but I know it's bad. I've come a long way - 6 months ago I had to use a wheelchair for nearly everything due to joint pain and just lack of strength. Now I haven't used it since Thanksgiving. I guess my fitness goals for 2017 are these: ~Increase the amount of walking I can do without taking a break. I know right now I can do .5 mile pretty easily, I'd like to work up to about 3 miles maybe? ~Work on upper body strength. My upper body & torso is crud, and I'm not sure how to work on that. I have a spinal problem that prevents me from doing things like sit-ups, curls, twists, jumping jacks, etc and I've not managed to find a workout that doesn't include those or similar moves. ~Increase flexibility. Again, not really sure how to work on this. Part of why I'm not flexible is my weight - it really does get in the way. ETA: I also want to get a Fitbit {leaning towards the Flex} to help with keeping me active. I tend to not be active enough due to having been sedentary for so long, and I need to work on that.

Here's mine: Clearance shop within reason. It's easy to go overboard, but sometimes it's justified {like the 2 pallets of dish soap for $10 a pallet I bought nearly 10 years ago - and I'm STILL using}. Make sure if you buy in bulk it's either something you can use before it spoils or that can be stored long term. Get and use a deep freeze. A paid for house. A million times over this. If your home is paid for it is so much easier to be able to weather financial issues - there is no mortgage company breathing down your back. Don't use paper products most of the time. I give in and use them when it helps my sanity OR for sleepovers {seriously the amount of dishes 3 tween girls can make in a single night!}. Garden. Inexpensively. Don't eat out unless you must OR you have a coupon to get it free. Carry snacks and drinks at all times to avoid those "I need to eat or I'll be sick" moments. Ibotta. Seriously Ibotta. I get $50-$75 a month back from it.

Morning all - just got home! Today: Had to be halfway across town to pay the electric bill at 7:45 this morning. After that, went to goodwill and browsed, but didn't find anything. Our local goodwills are getting so expensive - seriously who pays $4 for a used t-shirt? The rest of the day I am taking off - going to take a NAP and then clean later on. Muscles: They were fine when I left, but sore now. Walking does a number on my back. Recycling: I do mostly. Paper stuff I half-way recycle - it depends on how fast I am trying to clean. Food scraps all go to the chickens, as well as any past it's prime food. They turn it into compost :)

Spark - do you deal with thyroid issues? I know for me leg aches and charley horses are a sign my thyroid levels are too low. Also I'll second the Vit D recommendations from upthread - I also found that when my D levels are low, I ache terribly.

I'm here, just very very sleepy. Didn't get much sleep last night - either something had wheat that shouldn't have OR my reaction to uncooked milk has gotten way worse. Go-to pick me up drink: Coffee in winter, with lots of creamer and sugar. In summer, it's an ice cold coke. Classes: Nope. Nothing here. Weekend: Errands and sleeping :)

Ugh. And Backup buyer just flaked! GRRRRRR

Finally making it back to post my thoughts for next year. Everything is still very up in the air honestly - it really depends on how much dd is able to finish of this years. Right now, it's looking like we will be schooling through summer. DD wants a Hogwarts year, so trying to figure out how to make that happen. Math: Saxon 65 1st/2nd edition. Followed immediately by Saxon 76 of the same editions. DD can't take a break from math or her skills slip. Current Events: Pick 3 articles from reputable news sources daily and discuss them with me. One Political, One local, and one of your choosing. Language Arts: Grammar with a Giggle along with probably a spectrum workbook. But I need to look at Lifepac as well - it has worked well for History this year so I'm considering it for LA. Writing: How to write an essay. Need to find something in my budget that works to teach it well. I also want to do creative writing for dd - I'm considering Cover Story but really want to look it over first as I've heard conflicting reviews. Maybe just turn dd loose with a loose guideline and see what she comes up with. Reading: Don't have to do much here, though I think I will pull selected novels and have dd read & discuss. Probably going to pull from SL Core F and a mix of Dystopian novels. History: This is tricky. This year we did Lifepac History 5, and while boring it got done. I am unsure right now if Lifepac Grade 6 history would be a good fit or not. Might consider Sonlight Core F {already on my shelves} as I love it, but I STRONGLY worry about dd getting bogged down in academic reading as we did with SL in the past. Maybe use the books but change up the schedule or something so it's not all chopped up bits of books. I think the chopping up is what derailed us before. Science: The other tricky one. I am leaning towards Apologia General Science just because I have it, but I'm not thrilled with it either. I need to go looking for other options for a science loving advanced 6th grader. Considering the ACS Middle School Chem program as well, but I don't think it would cover a full year AND I am not sure on materials costs. I also have Lifepac Grade 8 science on my shelves, so that is a possible option as well. PE: Going to TRY to swing putting dd in martial arts once a week if I can. Hoping the local community ed does their program again as it's about $10 a week which I can afford if I budget it. DD will also work on learning Powwow dance from youtube videos. Art: Art program through the Art School 4 Saturdays of one month. Life Skills: Continue working on learning to cook, clean, do laundry, care for herself, etc. Begin to work on living skills such as grocery shopping.

Well I was right - one flaked and didn't show. Second buyer just left though! And I have a potential backup buyer for the other item who might come at 9 tonight. I don't normally do buyers that late, but tomorrow my day is packed.

So far so good for this week. Worked on dealing with late bills. Sold a fair amount of stuff. Trying to up the amount of work I'm doing online until it's covering all the basics.

Finally got the call back I was waiting on. Semi-good news that means at least PART of the stress will be lifted as of tomorrow morning after I run one last errand. Waiting on two more customers to show up. I think one is going to flake though. I need to go start cleaning. DD's friends come back Saturday and I wanted to get the whole house cleaned up before they got back. Plus cleaning will help keep my mind off relationship stuff {going to be having a long convo early tomorrow morning probably}.

Scrap - I hear you on the depression and Anxiety. Only thing keeping me going right now is my high dose Vit. D. I chickened out of the grocery run today - just couldn't deal with people today

Both actually. Right now I'm purging from my stuff mostly - I have way too much stuff, especially furniture. And I'm really trying to declutter and downsize so my house is easier to keep clean. But if I'm out and see something I can make a profit on, I'll grab it and resell it. I was selling on ebay for a long time, but it's so flooded now that unless you are a large volume seller it isn't profitable.

Yup Wednesday. Haven't had my coffee yet but I probably will soon. Special today: Nothing. Running errands to the store today and selling some stuff tonight. Waiting for a phone call hopefully soon. Going Back to Bed: Nah I'm good actually.

Just got home from my errands. Productive but long day - I won't know until tomorrow if some of what I submitted worked though. Still having issues otherwise :( I am going to treat myself tonight to a long soaking bath with a nice big drink I think.

So far my day is not shaping up to be terrific, but I'm hoping for improvement. Mr LDR & I are having rocky issues lol. It's hard to fix things when there is a little over 1000 miles between you :( Weather: Pretty much the same as Butter, but our high is supposed to be 81 I think. Schedule: Today is packed. It's changed twice already this morning. Exercise: Ya...I don't get enough. But I get lots walking to and from the bus though.

Starting it because I need ideas! Please tell me what you are planning on using.

H3 was discussed on the board a while back - the post is here: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/633327-so-poverty-schooling-how-to-help/?hl=%2Bbook+%2Bsamaritan&do=findComment&comment=7367219 The charity link is here: http://www.homeschoolerscubed.org/

I'm in an online relationship myself {I'm in TX, he's in Iowa}. We've been "dating" since late September. For anyone wondering, we met on Whisper - he replied to a whisper I posted and was the ONE guy not trying for a relationship or asking for pics. While it's possible we might meet in person at some point, right now neither of us is in a position to make that step due to family and work. If it passes the 6 week mark then I consider it a relationship. That's long enough to pass the honeymoon infatuation stage generally and get into the nitty gritty relationship stuff. Online relationships can actually be MORE intense than in person ones - especially if it's a pair that are constantly chatting.