Wow! I find myself rather jealous of most of you. I went to a semi-rural school in Alaska in the late 80's to early 90's and our district at that time seems to have had a love affair with textbooks, because that was pretty much all we had. So I read a lot excerpts. One year I took an elective English and read the Hound of the Baskerville (is that even considered a classic?). In senior English we had to read the Canterbury Tales and choose a book by an old English author to compare to a modern American author. I discovered that while Dickens novels might make good movies I really can't stand his writing style. Actually, now that I think about it I was assigned more real books in my 6th grade reading class then in four years of high school. That year I had to read The Hobbit, The Cowboys, The Witch of Blackbird pond, and I'm sure there were a couple others that I'm not remembering.

I haven't read the other responses, but I think I would be getting credit reports and finding out if her identity has been stolen. The only reason I can think of that would deny her if someone has been using her I'd to rack up a bunch of bad debt.

:iagree: this exactly

Well, I'd like more of a breakfast bar, but would settle for an island. My Grandparents's bb divided the kitchen from the dining/ family area of the house and could sit three with leg space, but they could add two more stools on the kitchen side when needed. It was the hub of their home and life there seemed to revolve around it. I have many, many fond memories of time spent at that bb.

Maybe I'm the odd one, but I want less square footage. Currently we have 2400sq ft with a basement that isn't used. DH and I were just commenting the other day that we both kind of miss our first house. There were things it didn't have that we'd still like to have and it was in a terrible location, but it was a cozy 1100sq ft. I'd like a little more space then that but the house we have now is a lot to clean and just doesn't have the same homey feeling the old house did. Must haves are: Laundry/mud room preferably off the kitchen and large enough for the deep freeze. Currently we have a nice big laundry room with room for the freezer but no mudroom. 3 bedrooms, one of them a master with full bath. An open kitchen/ dining/ living room with a roomy kitchen and breakfast bar. Currently we have what is often called a one-butt kitchen. Ouside city limits with at least an acre, preferably a little more. I don't want to see any other houses when I look out my doors or windows, but I don't want to be completely isolated either.

Kids, age, and a strong desire to not be my mother. I think it must be very tiring to be so uptight about life and judgmental of others. When I was younger I definitely had my own idealistic view of how things should be, but that was tiring. Also hearing the judgmental comments of my SIL come out of my nephews mouth helped. You really see how ugly it is when you hear it from the mouth of a small child. I wonder if my SIL ever realized what a great little tape recorder her son was. LOL When it comes to parenting I was definitely uptight about my first and the fact that she was such an easy baby and kid had me believing I knew everything there was to parenting. Younger DD was a dream of a baby and a bit more challenging as a toddler, but no biggie. Then DS came along and oh boy did he shatter my ego.

Eh...if the Brits like their royalty let them keep them. I just wish we weren't subjected to non-stop media coverage of every little to-do they put on. A blurb is plenty for me. Really I have nothing against the royal family and the little bit I know of the queen herself has earned my respect. As someone else pointed out we all have relatives who we can be proud of, and those whose branch on the family tree we'd like to chop off.

I went to school with a girl who described herself as Oreo. I would never refer to someone of mixed race that way, but i thought that it was cool that she was confident and comfortable with who she was, especially in a community and school that was anything but diverse at that time. I think she must have had some awesome parents.

Lol, I honestly was never sure what it meant.Does it mean that my grandmothers people came here from the French part of Canada or that they originally arrived in Canada from France? I'm guessing from what you said that it means they are originally from France, but I have no idea if any of them mixed it up with the natives or not. Lol

I think many American who have been here more than a generation or two if they really gave it some thought would have trouble accurately checking a box on forms. Recently I have chosen to quit trying. If there is a "I prefer not to divulge that information" option I check that, and if there is only an other option I check that. If I'm feeling snarky I write in human. I look forward to the day when we as a nation decide this method of dividing people is outdated and unnecessary. Personally, I'm native American, Irish, Scottish, German, French Canadian (whatever that means), English, it's rumored that there is some African, but I can't verify that, and who knows what else. So what? If you must put a label on me I'm an American, or a U.S. Citizen, thank you very much.

Because they save a lot of money not buying books. Lol I don't know anybody who would cut a vacation short over it, put the books out of sight/ reach of their children or even ask that they be removed during the stay, but not just leave. The magazine was probably left by the previous tenant and hopefully the owner had a stern talking to with housekeeping. I really doubt the owner placed it there for his customers enjoyment (eeeewwww!!!).

I don't think it's weird. I'm not a Christian, but I have thrown brand new books in the trash because I found them offensive and certainly did not my children reading them. The edition of Story of the Thirteen Colonies I had went in garbage before I even got past chapter one. We all have different standards for ourselves and our children, and guess what? That's okay! Just please if you know or think your standards for books or TV are in conflict with some one else's and you expect them to care for your children, please, please let them know. I refuse to watch DS's nieces because instead of telling me they didn't allow their kids to watch something they expected the kids to police each other. This was very unfair to the kids and disrespectful to me.

To make the issue more confusing let's talk about Haitians or jamaicans? They are black by definition but most certainly are not African. Couldn't referring to someone whose family came from one one of these countries African-American be offensive and if they were born here and have no discernible accent how would you know? Personally I don't care for the hyphenated descriptors as I think they only serve to divide us, but I'm not black so want to use whatever term is most acceptable. It appears to be such a personal thing for each individual, and often shaped by their unique history, that no matter what you do you are going to offend someone. I try hard to teach my kids that people are people and skin is like wrapping paper, it comes in many pretty colors and styles, but the true gift is on the inside, and wouldn't the world be a boring place if we only had one color of wrapping paper to choose from.

Contact their local salvation army. I don't think it will matter that they weren't members anywhere. Charitable Org. Want to help people in situations like your brothers. Here we have an organization called Love Inc. That basically compiles lists of other organizations and when you call them they can tell you where the help is based on your need. Maybe there is something like this in your area. Clothes and other day to day needs are probably the priority right now. :grouphug:

We had three great, healthy kids and then I chose to have to my tubes tied. Our oldest was almost 7, younger Dd had just turned 2, and DS was a newborn. Financially it made sense, and I just felt tired and done. Fast forward a few years and my babies were no longer babies, suddenly I wanted nothing more then to have another baby. After I had mentioned it to DH a few times he asked me what I think now was the most important question that I needed to answer for myself. Did I really really want another child or did I miss I having a baby? For me the answer was that I just really missed those baby and toddler years. My youngest is 11 now and I know we made the right decision for us. I still miss having a baby around, but I look forward to one day having a grand baby, or two.:tongue_smilie:

That was my theory when I had toddlers in the house. None of mine liked wearing clothes at that age and I didnt see the point of dressing and redressing them 50times a day. I did put clothes on them when we had company (well except my best friend, she was single, always over, and didn't mind). ETA: they did wear clothing when we left the left the house even to play in the yard in summer because we lived on a corner and the whole yard could be seen from the road. Also they all developed a sense of modesty well before their 5th birthday.

As the others said if she is a friend you won't lose her. You probably caught her off guard. I did learn that there were people I just didnt talk about our day to day schooling with, but I didn't lose any friends or family over it.

Bumping this for you because my oldest is having all 4 wisdom teeth removed tomorrow and is also one who cannot afford to lose weight.

Oh.. Oops I misunderstood what you meant, I'm sorry. Sounds like I was lucky to serve with a group of people who cared more about following law then pleasing a DA. We took the cases we heard and did our best to decide them based on the laws involved and not what would make the DA happy.

I'm not sure how it's done in VA, but here grand juries are not hand picked for individual cases. When called you serve for a specified time (in my district its every Friday for three months) and hear whatever cases come in during that time.

This was my experience also. I had two with an OB and one with a CNM, but nothing was ever forced on me. With my oldest, delivered by OB, the nurse did try to pressure me into an epidural, but ultimately they needed a signature before they could do anything and DH refused to sign (I had already had stadol so it was DH's signature they needed). Our hospital is very much into keeping baby with mommy as much as possible after birth and doesn't want to do anything that could interfere with breastfeeding. When DS was born they had remodeled the maternity ward so that a healthy baby never had to leave mom's room. He was bathed and everything right there in the room with me.

When I served on our local grand jury several years ago we heard an assault case. The DA tried to pressure us to make decision after only hearing from the victim and his wife, but their stories seemed rather fishy and didn't quite add up. The DA seemed rather ruffled when we insisted on speaking to the physician the victim saw after the assault. Then was all kinds of agitated, almost angry, when we decided the assault didnt meet the legal requirements for a felonious assault, because it didn't. Not saying your DH is like this, but my exp. Says grand juries often feel compelled or pressured to make decisions against their conscience.

:grouphug: I'm so sorry. Yes, get photos of the condition of the slide before contacting the parks dept. You don't want to give them time to make repairs before you can record it's current condition.

:iagree:

Well, Fairbanks is in the interior so not many salmon to be caught there, but when you have time you can come 500 miles south for world class salmon and halibut fishing. Fairbanks does have grayling (yum), trout, and other river and lake fish that make for good eating. I love Fairbanks and we are seriously considering moving (back, for me) in the next year if we can, but I was born there and still have quite a bit of family there. It does get very cold and dark in the winters, but love the long summer days. Great for camping with friends (even in south-central AK where we are now), and just enjoying the great outdoors. Maybe I'm part bear because I love the summer sun here, it energizes me and I don't miss the lost sleep. That's what winter is for.:D