I'm hoping someone here has ideas....I definitely don't. Bit of backstory first: I have a thyroid condition, treated with meds. I {as a result of the thyroid problem} have gone through two 6 month or so periods of near starvation due to being unable to keep food down. The most recent being about 10 years ago. My weight has stuck within a 25lb range for the last several years, no matter what I eat / how much I exercise. I also have a suspected gluten intolerance {I'm currently eating gluten in prep for bloodwork}. I'm trying to get the weight down. I tried a new diet last month - The Simple Diet. Everything is portion controlled, pre-packaged tv dinners, lots of veggies, etc so the calorie counts are correct. I was coming in right around 1300-1400 calories every single day. My Fitness Pal says, before exercise, I should shoot for 1357 daily to lose 2lbs a weeks. So I should have lost, right? The math was in zone, portions were absolutely controlled. I lost 3lbs in the first week, nothing in the second, and GAINED 5 in the third and fourth. Fast forward to the past week. I've been sick with a cold, and just eating whatever sounded good. Mostly that's meant a bunch of ice cream to help sooth the sore throat. And pizza, because it's the only thing that tastes halfway decent. I haven't been tracking calories, but a quick estimate says somewhere in the 2000-2400 calorie range. And I dropped 6lbs in a week. This makes NO sense. Why would I gain on a low-calorie healthy diet and yet lose on a high calorie junk food one?

Wierd. Is it typed correctly? Maybe try an alternate email? I've got a referral if you need one, btw

Laundromat people here too. My washer died AND I have a plumbing issue! I go once a week to once every two weeks. Family of 2 plus two bonus kiddos. I load everything in totes, claim a few of the biggest washers {they'll hold a TON - seriously I've filled a 96 gallon trash can as a hamper and fit it ALL into one giant washer. And everything came clean}, and can be in and out in about 1.5-2 hours. Ours is actually pretty cheap - I spend about $12-15 to do two weeks worth. Considering my water bill at home dropped $25 when my washer died? I am sticking to the laundromat. I did change up some of how we did things. I don't use a lot of disposable products like paper towels. They are starting to creep back in some. And we judiciously use rag bag items for cleaning up icky messes, then toss.

Alternatively, if you are willing to be part of a study, I think Genes For Good does it all as well. No interpretation though - you'd have to use another service to analyze the raw data given.

For me, I feel well off when I can afford to use disposable plates and tableware. And not have to use a calculator at the grocery store to make sure I don't go over the amount of money left on the EBT card. I grew up dirt poor, and technically homeless for a while {we lived in an RV and surfed parking lots}. I'm still poor, but the other main thing is I swore to myself when I left home for college that I'd NEVER live in a house with wheels under it again. Nearly 20 years later and I've held to that. We do window shopping too. And does anyone else remember going to any free event that had food? We always did that - it was a free day out AND a free meal!

Does something like this exist? I'm looking for handwriting geared towards an older {middle school or high school} student. Someone who CAN write but not very well, and forms letters oddly. Printing, not cursive {yet anyways}. And ideally something printable or low cost. Any ideas? Everything I'm finding is too childish.

I just bought this one {https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0789V3R2H } after Christmas and really like it. I got a much better deal though as it was on clearance at walmart.

Actually, it insured as an RV. Because it was driven less than 25 miles daily, insurance was PENNIES. Geico was the only company that knew how to handle it though - State Farm looked at us like we were from Mars. I think a year's worth was about $175. Granted that was an older driver and no accidents. ETA: I'd get the make / model / vin and check prior to purchase. I remember it depended entirely on what the chassis of the ORIGINAL frame was. Ours was an Oversize 12 passenger Van, and could have also been insured as such I think {at a higher cost}.

Okay, this is a big unusual, but I'd go for a mini bus. A few years back, we needed to be able to haul 3 wheelchairs, plus a car seat and driver. And of course gear. We purchased a used small private bus - not school bus, but more like the handicapped transit buses. Prior to that we'd had a stretch van. The bus had MUCH more room, seated everyone comfortably, was easier to install car seats, more space and access for loading things, AND got better mpg {It averaged around 24 highway, and 18 in town if I remember correctly}. A non-handicapped one would likely get even better mpg since there wouldn't be the weight of the lift and such. Best part was - it was a FRACTION of the cost. I think complete, it was about $9000. We just parked in the back of lots and took up two spaces lengthwise. Never had a problem. And it didn't require a commercial licence either {unless you take paying passengers}

I've tried it in the past. I found it to be very Cliquish and only certain members got things. I also tried Homeschoolers Cubed H3, which was discussed on the boards here. I put in two requests, 6 months apart. Never received an email or anything from them. When I emailed to try to find out what the status was, that was never answered either. I'd strongly discourage anyone from donating to either organization, even if they are 501 ©.

American here, but going towards a Calendar year schedule. But love hearing from you Aussies :) I need to dig stuff out. We've been bogged down with issues and appointments. Plus I finally upgraded my laptop and dd got the old one {worked fine but starting to act up}. So I need to go back and reconsider things I passed on because sharing a laptop didn't work. DD11 said she wants to do Spanish - so I need to figure out that. Otherwise, we'll be doing Saxon 54, Lifepac grade 5 history, a LA workbook, and I think Apologia General science {done very slowly}. I need to figure out grammar / writing still too.

Of the two, I preferred Blue Apron. The portions seemed larger. I will say Blue Apron was more "fancy" meals. You might also look at Home Chef. I've done that one and liked it as well.

I've had it happen a few times. Usually when I needed it most. Once DD and I went to Walmart close to the holidays and were browsing the clearance outside. A man walked up and handed me a $100 bill and said "God told me you needed this". It kept our lights on, and was a HUGE blessing. The other time a lady in line ahead of me at the grocery store insisted on paying for my items. I didn't have much, but it was a big help to stretch the budget. She was a cancer patient and blessing as many people as she could.

Google "school auction xyz area". That's how I got mine - industrial ikea bookcases. LOVE them and i've had so many compliments. Plus they were pretty much pennies - I think I paid about $100 for 15 bookcases plus a load of other school stuff that I sold.

Agreed - what's your budget for the gift? Maybe a few people could pool funds together and go for a Chromebook? Or is there a computer recycler in your area? Here goodwill sells refurbished laptops for $50-$100 sometimes.

I saw it too! And the video of the gallery singing after it passed was AWESOME. I'm coming to love that country more and more :)

Thats Amazing. And I'm hoping for similar when my test results come in - I have two siblings I've never been able to find thanks to adoption. DNA is my only hope.

As long as they are rated for indoor/outdoor use, they'll be fine. I leave mine up all year long {it's hard to get them installed}. I've not lost any yet except for the hailstorm.

Anyone? We're using a very eclectic bunch of materials. DD is finding it hard to keep up with a written schedule, and prefers for me to just hand her a weeks worth of work at a time {she gets overwhelmed looking at the entire textbook}. I'm considering making up packets for each subject for the week or possibly just a weekly packet with everything in it. That'd mean a lot of photo copying though, which makes me iffy. I do have a laser printer so can print anything it's possible to print {and probably cheaper than copying, tbh}. Anyone done this? Or know of a good workbook creator webpage I could use?

Doing well here. Pretty much everything paid for the month. Did my ibotta rebates yesterday at Walmart. They have some really good deals right now. I've also been doing the Kelloggs Family rewards - I get points to use for coupons for more kelloggs products. Plus right now there is a deal for Eggo products - buy 3 at $2.38 each, get a $6 movie cash voucher. Two vouchers and we can go to the movies for about $3. Plus there are coupons out for the eggo products and ibotta rebates. Cashed in coke caps for Target and Amazon gift cards. Right now they are doing 5 caps = $5 Target e-gift card, 10 caps = $5 Amazon gift card. I keep an eye out for caps everywhere I go - it's amazing how many I find just along the road or at the bus stops. Turned around and used my Target gift cards for one more Christmas present. Rolled my CVS bucks again. I did spend a little bit, but I'm okay with that as I ended up with $14 back in ECB's, plus makeup for a gift, Kleenex for me and some toothbrushes to swap.

A patch job isn't an option, unfortunately. We had a hail storm 2 years ago that damaged it pretty badly. I wasn't able to afford to re-roof then when I should have, so now it's going to have to be a complete replacement and new sheathing due to water damage. My worry is if I let the house up the street go - there may not be another one available. That's the first house I've seen for sale on our street in 5 years. We're in a good pocket of the neighborhood and I'd like to stay close. I noticed upon looking today that there have been multiple offers on the house up the street and each one fell through. It's been on the market nearly 5 months, and homes sell much faster around here tbh. I'm thinking it may have something wrong with it and won't pass a mortgage inspection. It's possible if that's the case that I could offer less, with it being a cash offer. I might put a call in to my realtor friend and see if he can learn why the offers fell through.

First off please don't Quote as I'll probably delete later. I was expecting a large check from some oil royalties. Today I received notice that due to a judges decision, it'll only be about 1/3 of what I thought. The plan was to buy a house that's for sale up the street {$110K} and sell my current house to one of those we buy ugly houses places. My current house needs a LOT of work - complete new roof, windows replaced, some drywall replaced and it has some major plumbing issues that are a huge pain. And possibly foundation issues as well. The layout is horrid, and the rooms are tiny. With the larger amount I would have been able to buy the new house free and clear and then use the money from the sale of my current house to live off of for a while. The new smaller amount isn't enough to buy the house up the street {and we'd like to stay here as we have good friends}. I don't think it's enough with the amount from this house either, but I'm not sure {I may be under valuing my current house, tbh - the housing market has shifted a lot}. If it were enough, it'd put us flat broke which I do NOT want to do. Getting a mortgage isn't an option to cover the gap. As best I can see, my options are to 1. Fix my current house, doing the bare minimum to retain as much of the money in cash. I'd get a proper house inspection done first to see if this is viable or if it's really just too bad to repair with my budget. 2. Sell current house and put everything into the new house, understanding that it'll mean we're flat broke. I'm self employed, so that'll mean increasing work hours to cover the larger bills from the new house {I expect both property tax and electric to double, probably water as well}. 3. Do an actual makeover of my current house and fixing all the major issues at once. This would probably use all or nearly of the money. 4. Something else {I'm open to any ideas!} WWYD? I really have no clue which option to choose, tbh.

Yup - we have this here every year. UPS rents houses in neighborhoods for the holiday season to use as drop points. The packages are then delivered by golf cart or Gator. Which it's kinda silly here tbh. The main UPS terminal for my city is less than a mile away - I can actually see the roof from my driveway. And FYI - they aren't allowed to take outgoing packages like regular UPS. Found that out the hard way last year.

Yup I do. My security gland starts giving off alarms if I get less than a months worth on hand {long story, but sometimes I've really needed said stockpile}. I stockpile anything shelf stable, and butter & meat in the deep freeze.

Hot cocoa mix packets are a must here. I grab a selection of the .50 ones in assorted flavors.