That daily dozen is interesting, I'll have to check it out more! I'm shifting my mindset to 'life-improving' rather than 'weight reducing' this year. I've set up a TRX suspension trainer and a rowing machine in my bedroom, so now I can no longer use the excuse that I couldn't make it to the gym. My goals are: some form of exercise every day, vegetables/fruit at every meal, and more water. Also, I need to be in bed by 10 every night, but I'm struggling with that right now, as it's the only time I'm alone and it's quiet!

Some of us use them, some don't. The younger boys are two-to-a-room, and there is no space for dressers. Each boy has a hanging set of shelves (sweater organizers?) that they use to keep everything except shirts. Shirts are hung on rods between the two sets of shelves, older boy at regular height and younger boy using an added rod halfway down. (Hope that makes sense.) DS23 has a dresser (it was my great grandfather's) but mostly his clothes are in piles around his room. That's a thread for another day. (grumble grumble grumble) DH uses a dresser for his underwear/undershirts/socks/t-shirts/sweaters, and pants/dress shirts/blazers are in the closet. He also keeps CDs and photo albums in the bottom drawer. Most of my clothes are in the closet;. My dresser has socks/underthings/PJs/workout clothes; several of the drawers are empty. It is also constantly piled higher and deeper with crap that doesn't belong there. I keep meaning to find a way to get the last of my clothes into my closet so that I can send the dresser into the basement for longer-term storage, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I would love to use the space for a comfy chair in my bedroom instead!

I just upgraded after 10yrs using a 4.5qt tilt-head KitchenAid to a 6qt pro series and I'm in love! The motor is twice as strong and no longer struggles making double batches of cookies. I actually made a quadruple batch (10 dozen) cookies on Christmas Eve! I bought mine straight from the KA refurbished section. It was a great deal!

My dad's birthday is in a few days- I'm going to see if my local Whole Foods carries these. They seem like something he would like. Thanks!

FTR I was a high school teacher previous to staying home after DS6 was born and I started homeschooling. But, in public high school, they don't let the kids evaluate you. I'm not teaching next semester, so I'm going to set myself a reminder to review the evaluations at the end of the summer and then try to not think about them again until then. They were, on the whole, positive comments. This one hurt, though. Thanks, everyone, for your kind words and reasoned voices.

This was my first time as an adjunct professor. I taught three sections of the same course, which was essentially a review of algebra 1 & 2 topics. My evaluations from my students were posted today. Roughly 60% of my students filled out the evaluations and they were, for the most part, good. But, one student wrote: "I always felt lost in this class and unable to ask for help. I felt as though (she) was judgmental and not the most helpful when it came to doing our individual work." And now I have a pit in my stomach and I want to cry.

I have no advice, sorry. But, having had to tell DS23's best friend at 16 that his mother had died from a drug overdose, I can only say that I am very, very sorry for you both. I will keep you in my thoughts.

I've had water in my basement each spring since moving into this house three years ago. We have a sump pump in the unfinished portion of the basement, which handles things on that side. However, the finished side of the basement, where DS23 has his bedroom, leaks when the snow melts. This fall, we had monsoon season in the northeast and the water coming into the finished side of the basement was terrible. At it's worst, there were two days were I had to go downstairs every 30-45 minutes to pick up sopping wet towels and vacuum up several more gallons of water. 😵 We dealt with water from September through last week, when everything froze. We had gutters installed on that side of the house last week, in order to route some of the water that was going into the backyard around the other side of the house and downhill. There was also a leaking water main at the street, on the opposite side of the house from the leaking basement, that we finally got the DPW to admit was a problem and repair. It leaked water for the last 18 months, and I'm sure was not helping out with the amount of ground water. It was fixed on Tuesday. Yay! I've had several companies come to give estimates, as well as spoken to several other companies over the phone. Does anyone have experience with having a french drain-type system installed inside the perimeter of their basement? We have a fieldstone foundation, and haven't seen any leaks in the walls themselves, though we do have more drywall to remove and replace due to mold, so we haven't ruled it out completely. I really don't wan't to have to spend my bathroom renovation money on waterproofing the basement but, if I have to, I will.

In Massachusetts, a student driver with a learner's permit cannot drive unless there is a licensed driver in the car who is also covered under the car's insurance policy. When I took my driver's test, I used my boyfriend's car (my parents both drove manual transmission cars) and he was my sponsor, sitting in the back seat. When DS23 got his license, he used the driving school's car and their instructor sat behind him (it was included in the price of his driving course).

If you can stretch her lip that far without it hurting her, she has/had no latch issues, and has no serious speech/articulation issues, than it probably isn't an issue. DS4 had terrible tongue/lip ties which caused poor latching, bad nursing, losing weight, and making mama *crazy*. After it was finally dealt with correctly at 2mos old (laser correction *after* surgical correction), we realized that DS6 (then 2), also had tongue/lip ties. By that time, he had serious articulation issues (he was an early talker) and decay on the fronts of his upper teeth because of the lip tie. He had been a champion nurser, so we hadn't noticed before. We had him seen by the same pediatric dentist that fixed DS4's ties, and he was able to take care of the lip & tongue ties AND the tooth decay with the laser in under 10 minutes. Totally worth the 6 hour round-trip drive and out-of-pocket expenses. 🙂

Just a quick addendum, for anyone who reads this thread later on... The readers from AAR were exactly what he wanted. He can read every word in the first book all by himself. He can read *most* of the words in the second reader by himself, though he is a bit slower because he's sounding more of them out. We use these as practice, behind the lessons in the OPGTR. It's working out well!

Thanks, everyone! After reading way too many recipes online, I rubbed it with a salt/pepper/garlic/herb mix and let it marinate for a couple of hours. I seared it on all sides in my cast iron skillet and then put it in the oven for a while. Husband liked it very much, and has leftovers for lunches.

My father gifted my husband a small (1lb) venison roast that I'm supposed to be making for dinner tonight. How do I cook this thing? I'm used to making giant beef roasts to feed a small army - this sucker just needs to feed my husband (the rest of us will be having baked mac-n-cheese). HELP!!! ETA: I do not have a crockpot, but I do have a (giant) dutch oven.

Magnatiles! My boys have used them every single day for the last two years.

That is a work of art! Perfect!

I much prefer the feel of Sands Alive!

We loved The VanDerBeekers of 141st Street. I read it aloud but audible has it now. The sequel is on my shelf to read next!

That is just not fair! Ugh!

Things to look forward to!

Thanks for writing this- I haven't been taking my vitamins regularly. I'm going to put a reminder in my phone.

While this would makes things so much easier, we've committed to using NFP.

I guess I figured that my cycles would stop getting shorter and start getting longer in a more regular way. Grumble grumble grumble.... This jump from 23 days to 31 days (and counting) is going to make it harder to chart/plan for periods of abstinence/explain to my husband. Ugh.

I'm on cycle day 31. Three negative pregnancy tests (days 29, 30, and 31). I have all the symptoms of my period - cramps, gastrointestinal issues, moodiness, exhaustion - just not the bleeding. relevant info: I'm 44. In the last 10 years I've had 7 pregnancies, 4 healthy boys and 3 losses. I've breastfed each of these four boys until 2-2.5 years; DS2 is still nursing 2/day. My period would usually return around 12-15mos post-partum, and then I would use NFP to get pregnant again within two cycles. My period returned last December, and we are now avoiding pregnancy. Since my cycle has returned it has steadily declined from a 31 day cycle to a 23 day cycle. I'm also 55lbs over the upper "healthy" weight limit for my height. I've been stressed this semester, as I've been teaching three sections of a college class and have had to juggle homeschooling and a toddler and leaving the house after lunch two days a week (kids with grandparent) and making sure that dinner was prepped for when my husband came home. Also, as this fall was apparently monsoon season here in the northeast, I've been battling a wet finished basement for over a month. I also woke up today with what feels like a the beginnings of a chest cold. So, Dr. Hive, what the heck could this be?

I just logged on to check it out and I'm not seeing any 50% off sale. Was there a link? ETA: After poking around, I see lots of books marked at 50% off but, sadly, the ones I want would still cost more than a credit. Alas. They seem to be the same price for me through Amazon as well.

I founbd two recent threads: