This is really sweet. Just thought I'd share. :) Have a nice weekend and holiday everybody. :)

Oh my gosh ya'll are making me so hungry!! I love portabello mushrooms. :drool5:

I agree with all of the above and will just chuck in climate also. I live where it is hot and humid almost year round with a few cold weeks in winter. Most of the time I have large pores (thanks grandma), but I think the heat and humidity contributes to it as well because I notice a huge improvement in my skin when it gets colder and drier in the winter with no other change in my skin care routine. My mom has also left Florida and retired to Georgia something like 9 years ago. She has the same kind of skin that I do and when she comes down to visit, I can see that her pores look smaller than they used to. On the flip side, everyone in my family looks ridiculously young for their age and I always contribute that to the climate as well as genes of course. There seems to be something about the humidity here that keeps your skin supple and helps keep the wrinkles away. :)

:iagree::iagree: When my son was recently so sick, the turning point in his illness was when ya'll started praying for him. Now I feel bad that I waited a week before asking for prayer. We got a bunch of prayer warriors here! :grouphug::grouphug: Mariann, I'm so glad your mom is on the mend. I hope the rehab gets her right as rain. :grouphug:

Oh my gosh! I am so so happy for her and you!! :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: This brings tears to my eyes. My mom had breast cancer two years ago and I know how frightening it was when we were so uncertain about everything. UGH! I don't think I can even comment on your mom's first doc without cussing so suffice it to say that I'm SO GLAD that you found that new doc. What wonderful news. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

I'm so sorry about your ankle. I wonder if you fractured it. A stationary bicycle might work for you to get the weight of your feet and knees. I hope the doctor says it's just a sprain or something less than a break. I hope you feel better soon, honey. :grouphug:

No, then we'd all be natural beauties. :D I could go natural, but I'd still want to wear my earrings though. I like them. They're puuuuurty. :)

I agree with this. While I was doing dishes I was thinking about this thread and who it is who decides what is beautiful and what is not and I think it is women who decide. I think when a girls is young it is typically her mother/grandmother/aunt etc who will define what beauty is in their culture by starting to impose on the girl her need to conform to it. I think that is how it is defined and that coupled with observations of who the popular girls are in school, who in the media is touted as most beautiful etc. is how we come up with our own internal definition of how we are supposed act, look and be. Just my own observations and I could be way off, but it just seems that way to me. :)

:lol::lol::lol: Hey now Mr. Bill, don't go dissing my only true vice. lol Besides, I've known men to hang out at beaches in tiny bathing suits that are barely visible beneath a large protruding gut and they think they look pretty good. :tongue_smilie: I'm not saying that's you, I'm sure you're a trunks type of guy being that you are educated, but some other guys have some pretty weird standards themselves! :D:D

Wow Amber! I just read your whole delivery story. I can't even imagine what you've been through these last 100 days. What a strong little man you have there. He is beautiful. I'm so glad that he is home. :grouphug:

If you stopped would you think you were less beautiful?? I think what interests me most about this topic is how we define what beauty is. In some places women don't shave and that is considered sexy. Or as previous posters mentioned about Africa. They have that tribe that has the long necks, ones with plates I mean, they think that is truly beautiful. So I wonder, how do we decide what is beautiful TO US outside of the conditioning of OUR CULTURE and who in the culture decides what that standard will be? It's interesting to think about. I think it's so ingrained even to a sub-conscious level that it would be hard to find that line if it exists at all. What if everything we think we are doing FOR OURSELVES has already been dictated to us by the culture because it has set the standard for beauty in the first place. :confused::confused:

just giving this a bump so more people can see it. :)

Makeup is an interesting one to me. I can see how it could be to enhance one's beauty in order to appear more attractive to a potential mate, but it can also be enhancing one's beauty in order to feel more beautiful. For me personally, I just love color. It's part fun and playing around and part artistic expression. It's really quite amazing what makeup can do and how it can change your appearance. I see that as differently than having breast augmentation or tons of plastic surgery, but that's just me. I know I wouldn't have plastic surgery myself, but maybe to another it can be about enhancement beauty the same way that wearing makeup would be for me. IDK, it's an interesting thought. At what point does it cross the line from being for yourself and being for someone else. And who decides what is "beautiful" anyway?

I'm dying to see this one. I love the Cohen brothers. :)

Heather, I'm going to buy you a joke book. :tongue_smilie::D

If he had gone in the main entrance he would have been stopped immediately. Their are metal detectors at every enterance and sheriffs all over the place, he waited outside a back exit door for someone to come out and went in that way, probably up through the stair well. Scary. I hope the sheriffs office starts posting guards at all of the exits now too.

:grouphug::grouphug: Scary! Stay safe!

It was and I was. I called my husband right after at work to see if he even knew about it, (he works in the computer division) he just said that a sheriff's deputy came through the building telling people not to go downstairs until things cleared up. My first thought was that it was some type of civil case that went bad and someone was seeking revenge, but after reading the article I wonder if this man was suicidal and was hoping for "death by cop". The jail is literally right behind the courthouse and there are sheriff's officers all over the place. I am just so glad that it was peaceably resolved. I really hope that this guy gets some counselling. It sounds like he's really hurting.

:iagree::iagree: That makes me feel better. Shame on WSJ!!! :mad:

I can't either. This is crazy, but then again, so is South Florida. :001_huh: I'm at the point now where (almost) nothing surprises me anymore.

My dh works in the courthouse in Downtown Ft. Lauderdale (Florida). My heart leapt into my throat as I was just imagining a scene of someone shooting up the place. I quickly clicked on the article http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/14/2015957/armed-man-attempts-to-rob-traffic.html and read this.... "It wasn't really chaotic," she said. "He was just quietly sitting down there with a gun aiming at himself. ... We had customers there -- people coming down the escalator stepping right over him like business as usual." :001_huh: The weird thing is that that actually doesn't sound so unusual for our courthouse. :001_huh: I was just so relieved that nobody got hurt. I hope that this man gets the help that he needs.

From your title I thought you were opening a pub for homeschoolers. I was like, "what??" hehehehehe I think I need coffee. :tongue_smilie: Although a pub for homeschoolers doesn't sound like so crazy an idea. :D :cheers2:

Oh my gosh! I just saw this in the news. :crying: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20110113/ts_yblog_upshot/boy-saved-brothers-life-in-australian-flood How tragic. What a brave brave boy. For those inclined to pray, please pray for the people in Queensland.

Oh there was a sweet one that I did with my dd when she was young from Sonlight that was perfect for devotions. It was called Leading Little Ones to God. It was great! :) http://www.christianbook.com/leading-little-ones-to-god/marian-schoolland/9780802851208/pd/5120?item_code=WW&netp_id=162507&event=EBRN&view=details Another one that we used, if your dc love animals, is called God's Amazing Creatures and Me. http://www.christianbook.com/gods-amazing-creatures-me/helen-haidle/9780890512944/pd/512949?item_code=WW&netp_id=236819&event=ESRCN&view=details Good luck in your search. :)

:lol::lol::lol: