Couple of ideas

here's a couple [2008-12-04]
feminine products and birth control. they are the dumbest commercials and do they really need to advertise them anyway?

some great ideas! [2008-11-26]
I just bought a brick of cheese so that is easy. also have some grapes, celery, carrots, and broccoli so I can make a decent veg tray with that and ranch salad dressing. i might just have to stop and get some crackers but i can get those at a gas station maybe. Like you said, I am the DIL! lol but I know I'd make her upset if we left early so I better have some food so we can stay. lol

These are good ideas, but how about [2008-11-24]
with a piece of turkey, some vegetables for eyes, etc. Maybe they Maybe some will say do not play with your food but it is a holiday!

Try to re-read the above couple of posts [2008-11-24]
about material things. It matters not if it's yours or your husbands (a little weird to me to begin with if you're married). I think you're missing the point.

Need ideas please [2008-11-24]
Hey everyone. I almost never do this, but I want to bake some things this year (like cookies, candy, etc) to put in Christmas tins to give to some people. I need some ideas on what things we (kids 8 9 and I) can do together. I already have this one chocolate cherry bars that my friend made last year and they were so good, so I am definitely going to make them, although they Would appreciate any ideas. Thanks!

Christmas candy ideas [2008-11-24]
My husband and I make about 30 tins of candy each year to give to family and friends. We make chocolate covered cherries (just dip cherries in melted chocolate), white chocolate covered pretzels with red and green chocolate drizzled on top, turtles (I buy a 5 lb chunk of caramel), buckeyes (peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate), peanut butter kiss cookies, mixed nut clusters dipped in chocolate and peanut butter fudge. All of it is pretty simple, just time consuming. My family really looks forward to receiving it each year. I use a double boiler for melting chocolate. I haven If you would like specific instructions for any of the above, feel free to e-mail me. I think the kids could do a lot of the dipping to help out.

bought/sold couple hundred items [2008-11-19]
i've had a good experience both ways. it is time consuming, communicating with customer/feedback/packaging items/mailing, etc. Like you, i thought of doing same. but you really have to have something special/in demand to market, or maybe do the drop-ship method where you don't even keep the inventory yourself to make a real business venture. I don't think it's any more of a golden goose than other business ventures however.

Looking for Christmas gift ideas for [2008-11-19]
a 14 yo girl and a 17 yo boy. Any suggestions???

How about ideas for siblings and their families? Here's one [2008-11-19]
I have three siblings, with spouses and children. Not only is it expensive to buy for all of them, but it Last year I went to a craft store and bought cheap baskets on sale. I bought each of them a 2-month subscription to the movies that you get through the mail,NetFlix (can do Blockbuster if you want). I put the gift certificate in the basket along with the big boxes of candy that they sell at the show (.99 cents apiece at Walgreens), a few packets of microwave popcorn, and a 6-pack of their favorite soda. They loved it and everybody enjoyed the movies over the next couple of cold winter months. You can purchase the movie gift certificates on line at their website.

I still get a couple loaf pans of it every year at butchering time [2008-11-15]
DH doesn't touch it but I love it. I grew up on it too. I also grew up on Spam. Mom had a stove that had a pull out griddle above the oven and she would put spam and egss on there for a Tuesday night supper. I have 2 cans of Spam in my pantry now. The ingredients state: Pork with ham, mechanically separated chicken, water , salt, modified potato starch, sugar, hickory smoke flavoring (I have the hickory smoke flavor), and sodiu nitrite. Opps. There's that bad word-sodium nitrite.

I checked that site out a couple [2008-11-15]
months ago. They didn't have any stores on the list for my area. Our stores won't even take computer-generated coupons for some reason.

Explaining a couple of things sm [2008-11-14]
I studied IQ as part of my Masterget you because your sense of humor is probably well off the beaten track. You probably lack social skills from an early age. Your peers would play childhood games while you preferred to try to improve upon the toys they played with. In school, you didn't have to work very hard in most areas. It all came very easily. You didn't learn how to learn, which is a very valuable skill. You probably have a low frustration level and when something doesn't come very easily, you are prone to giving up. Because you see the world in completely different terms than people of more average intelligence, those same average people call you crazy or mentally ill and tell you that you should be locked up. You don't fit in and despite the higher intelligence, you are remiss to know how to accomplish the feat of being more ordinary. I alluded to this in my previous post. I have the unusual combination of being very artistic, creatively gifted AND being rather intellectually gifted. Yes, I did fall at the 99.6% percentile on the Wechsler. I know what it means and I have a firm understanding that indeed, that score suggests that I possess more intelligence than 99.6% of the people who have taken that test, and only 0.4% are smarter than I am. It has been a life-long struggle to fit in. I am too cerebral for artistic people, and too artistic for intellectuals. I literally have no one I fit in with. I have learned to tone myself down to make it work. I didn't say dumb down, I said tone down. That means I don't intentionally talk over the heads of others and I won't cram what I know down anyone's throat. I have had those people in my life who have been jealous of me. I learn quickly if it is artistic, musical, creative, the written word, history and philosophy. I struggle with math. I took piano lessons 10 years ago. I had 40 of them and had never played the piano before. In 40, 1-hour lessons I could play the Moonlight Sonata in piano solo (not a dumbed down easy version). Most people cannot do that. There many other things I have done in a similar fashion, but this is an example for you. You ask why I am an MT if I am so smart. I make very good money as an MT and I enjoy the challenge. My photographic memory comes in very handy too. I often stop and read up on a disease process I am transcribing about, so that I know what it means. Show me a word once and I'll know it forever. It makes my job easier for me to accomplish. This all sounds like I am blowing my own horn, but I am merely trying to explain. Being highly intelligent wonreally smart is not only not helpful, I think it is the root of the housecleaning issues in my life. In short, it is just great to have a good ol' high number and in the end it makes absolutely difference...if you don't count the fact that people with IQs over 150 are 3 times more likely to be depressed and commit suicide than the average population. People who are 125 to 140 are the most fortunate. They succeed in greater numbers in school, in a job, in life. They are very bright, and likely have learned how to learn. They are more likely to persevere in the face of frustration and challenge. It really isn't all you think it is.

I think this would help anybody with ideas [2008-11-13]
thedollarstretcher.com

This reminds me of an incident a couple of [2008-11-11]
months ago. My parents live 4 hours away and wonlonely people. Now, my parents may not come down but who says we are lonely??? I too went through many years of crying because we didn't have that Martha Stewart Christmas.

I did it a couple year ago , got 130 or 135 forget - sm [2008-11-09]
which, but either is a very respectable score. My one brother has a genius IQ, and my other is very intelligent, and I have a good head on my shoulders.....though have a usless college degree for the most part, may go back one of these days and get an accounting degree or nursing, who knows.

I love it too. We go a couple of times a month.. [2008-11-07]
spend about 500 bucks each time. Sometimes we come home with money, sometimes not, that the second time same thing, hit for 1500 bucks. I usually do pretty well, only play penny machines and have won as much as 800 bucks on one spin. We never spend more than 500 each. It's our vice and we enjoy it. We visit my family every year in Philly and for the 2 weeks we are there we usually gamble at least half the time. We save our money, take a couple of thousand with us for that purpose only and if we win great, if not, that's okay too.

I had it done a couple of years ago too [2008-11-06]
It really was not that bad. My understanding of why they only will do two quadrants at a time is that it is because they will not numb up both sides of your mouth at one time, so it is an upper and a lower quadrant done together. My sister also had to have it done last week, but the weird thing is they only said she needed two quadrants done (I believe on the same side, so upper and lower). She or I neither one could get our heads around that, so she decided to treat herself and have the other two quads done as well. Also, I do not have dental insurance, but had bought a plan from dentalplans.com (had the Patriot Plan at the time I had this done). It was about $90 per quad with the plan, but around here it was $300 per quad without the plan. Good luck!

Ideas . . . thoughts on this? [2008-10-31]
Good afternoon, I am hopeful someone here can answer my question. Does anyone here type for a pediatrician? I was wondering . . . if a child bent all four fingers in a backwards position, would this action cause a lump to form on the back of the hand? Why do I ask? Well my daughter (in first grade) came home from school with a lump on the back of her tiny hand. At first she did not tell me what happened, but it has since come out that the bully in the class bent her fingers backwards. I I had planned to take her to our doctor to have it checked out, but today the lump is gone. I wrote a note to the school teacher asking that this child (the bully) be kept away from my daughter�now there seems to be this big coverup. This little boy was always in trouble in kindergarten and he was known to throw chairs etc.. .. you name it. As a matter of fact the kindergarten teacher couldn My daughter told me that when this finger bending/spitting occurred that her music teacher sent the boy to the office for punishment . . . now the school claims he was never sent to the office, like this never occurred. And no, I wasn Also, I should mention other parents found out there were coverups over bad behavior when this boy was in kindergarten. What should I do? Would a lump result from this type of bending of the hand? I guess I have to wire my daughter to find out what is going on in the classroom. Any suggestions or answers?

How about some ideas for a warm supper? [2008-10-28]
No snow yet, but howling winds and cold with a little bit of drizzle. Need some ideas to warm my little guys up when they get home from school. Not big fans of soup, though. Any other ideas?

warm supper ideas [2008-10-28]
How about some chicken and dumplings (easy) or homemade chicken pot pie?

Actually going to be in the 60s within the next couple of days [2008-10-28]
here in NJ. Just too early. I hope this is not a sign of things to come for this winter.

See inside for more ideas........ [2008-10-27]
I usually make a diaper wreath to hang on the door for the shower, gift for parents, and can also be used on the hospital door. Very easy and some will use the diapers off of it, some will keep as a keepsake. Here is a link to how to make them and pics......http://entertaining.about.com/od/bridalandbabyshowers/ss/diaperwreath.htm I also like to get the fabric and make my own blankets/pillow to match. Those kind that you tie knots on the end. I even personalized one before. If I have the funds and it is someone close to me, I love to buy baby quilts as gifts. For my niece, I got one of those big moses baskets, put in the personalized blanket and pillow I made, and filled it with lots of little goodies also. Have you seen the gifts on the clothes lines? That one is always funny. I saw in Rachael Ray magazine that they used clear baby bottles for vases and put flowers in them for decorations. You could also give mom a gift of a photo session for belly art. Some of those are awesome if you get someone who knows what they are doing. Here is a link of some ideas.......http://pregnancyandbaby.com/pregnancy/baby/Belly-painting--Art-on-board-1627.htm You could give mom a pampering gift certificate like for a massage or spa, food certificates, or house cleaning certificates. Something I could not live without.....burp clothes, diapers, diaper wipes, baby monitors, swing, sling to carry baby in. My favorite is the Maya wrap. http://www.mayawrap.com/s_distributors.php

A couple of options [2008-10-27]
I would try to host your own. They should be understanding that you want to celebrate being a new couple doing the family things. Or you could go to one on Thanksgiving day, the other on the day after and then do the opposite for Christmas Eve and Christmas. Ask your husband what he thinks, certainly he knows his family well enough to be able to know how they would take it.

Frugal ideas [2008-10-21]
In this day and with this economy situation we are dealing with in American right now, I am trying to think of ways to save money. I am looking for frugal ways of cutting back. Any suggestions would be helpful. What are you doing to cutback and save money?

oops, forgot to mention a couple of things [2008-10-16]
It doesn H*ll does exist. Also, if you really are asking what I mean to be saved, I will share. I does not mean adhering to a dogma. It means having recognized your own sinful nature and accepted Christ That is what we mean when we say Christ died for us. We can live forever in paradise with him because God sacrificed his son, Jesus, on the cross, to take the place for each individual person so that they can live forever. Christ died so that I may live. Christ rose again and won victory over death. Being saved is accomplished through faith in Christ.

DH and I are w/my family for lunch [2008-12-04]
and his for dinner. I have ex-aunt that still gets invited to holiday get togethers since she was married to my uncle for so long and her kids and now a grandaughter will be with us. She and a real pain in the but. Even when it is not her house she tries to dominate everything. Where everyone should sit, when we should eat, the conversation somehow always revolves around her. She will ask you a question and even before you finsih answering she is off talking about something else. We basically just roll our eyes and try to avoid her. This year she wrote a letter to my mom asking her to move her Christmas Eve plans to a different time (have been doing the same thing for years) to make it easier on her. Not going to happen. At DH I like her most of the time, but lately I have found that I just tend to tolerate her. She and I have never had any problems but I think her getting older is starting to take its toll. She and I differ anyway. Every Thanksgiving it is the same, everyone that comes brings a couple of dishes but she also does some of the cooking. She doesn This year as soon as we got there she took a hot pot off the stove and put the food into a serving dish. I decided to go ahead and wash it. The pot was extremely hot so I turned on the cold water to cool it off just a bit before I washed it. She came to the sink and turned the hot water on. I politely said I was just trying to cool if off a bit before I stuck my hands in it. No, that is not the way I do it. I was stunned. I have been married to her son for over 20 years and I always wash the dishes. I don But this year I said, well if you want me to leave these for you to do, fine. I did help clean up after dinner but I did not put my hands in any dishwater. Besides they were still a bit pruned fromcleaning upafter lunch. LOL! Btw, this is thesame woman who gives me something that she collects every year for Christmas even though I andher daughter have very politelylet herknow this is not something I want.

BWT....I am planning on quitting......sm [2008-12-04]
in January and a couple of other posters and I are forming a support group. I promise we would never get tired of you! Won Maybe the 7th time is a charm!!!!

Probably a yeast infection - sm [2008-12-03]
I am overweight and have a pannus which I need to keep an eye on it underneath gets quite irritated and once I started to get a yeast infection I believe. I just used the athletes foot cream on it for a couple days and it cleared right up. I hope to one day (after I lose about 80 pounds) have it removed and have an abdominoplasty.....just need to save up $7-8K for the surgery as my insurance won't pay for that, LOL.

I have cleaned my house and now I have adjustment disorder sm [2008-12-02]
I have been working on my bathroom remodel since Memorial Day. It should have taken 4 weekends and I only just finished on Thanksgiving Day. I did 95% of myself, including cutting holes for and installing, 2 sinks in the vanity. I am pleased, it is gorgeous, but that is another story. Okay, I put my bedroom back together after 6 months of being a disheveled PIT. I am cleaning the house because my daughter will be home in a couple of weeks to get married at the JP in a nearby town. I still have to make her a dress too...but I wanted the house clean for she and her fiance/husband. It is coming along very well. My problem? I can't manage a house where I am not stepping over crap on the floor, shifting stuff around so I can get to my clothes or go to bed. This is all new to me, clean floor space and no dust, a place for everything and everything in its place...I can't cope. It is clean AND tidy, the antique linens are pressed and starched, on the surfaces. IT is lovely!!!! I am depressed now. I don't adjust well to change.

My family decided last year to just enjoy the holidays [2008-12-01]
We're all adults, no children, and live in small homes or apartments. I NEED tons of stuff, but have no place to put much of anything, and can't afford to reciprocate with a gift. Same with a couple other siblings. My mom's been impossible to buy gifts for, for probably the last 10 years. I was the first to bow out the year before last. I started the ball rolling because I just plain couldn't afford it anymore, and was too busy working all the time to spend hours on end in a department store. I had a new job, no PTO, and NO money, so I alerted everyone that I wasn't going to play the game that year. Turns out it was a relief to all! And last year, without all the holiday 'getting mauled at the mall' disasters, each of us had quiet, happy, stress-free holidays. So now that we've eliminated the gift-giving aspect of Christmas, I finally can look forward to the season and enjoy it again.

These 10 things definitely ain't right: [2008-12-01]
1) MTSOs who want people with top-notch skills and experience, but don't want to pay them what that skill is worth. 2) HMO's: So-called *health-maintenance-organizations* --yet they spend every minute and every dime of their far-too-large profits on denying healthcare, meds and procedures to their patients. These organizations have ruined American healthcare, and many American lives. HMO's have been a con-game since their inception. 3) The Bailouts: Giving money to companies who can too bad for the rest of you.* Then the Big Three show up in DC to beg for a handout, and fly there in private Lear jets. My answer to them would be, *I too bad for the rest of you.* 4) Apartment managers that won't allow even a single quiet, well-behaved pet, but will rent to people with continually screaming small children, and out-of-control older children and teens. Give me the pets for neighbors, ANY day. 5) Businesses that give an age-discount to absolutely everything that walks, runs or flies, but not to the middle-aged middle-class, who need it the most. Take the ski-industry: Young children ski for next-to-nothing, and sometimes nothing. There is a Teen Discount. There is a Student Discount for college kids. There I'll probably never be old enough - it's a carrot-on-a-stick, always just out of reach.) There are even corporate (UGH) discounts. But for those in my age group, who barely make ends meet but like to go up once a year for a couple days of bliss, there is NOTHING. 6) Travel-lodging deals that are always based on double or quadruple occupancy. What about singles? NOTHING. 7) TV commercials that are about a million decibels louder than the regular shows. Why can't it all be the same volume? Same with online newscasts. THEIR commercials will blow your eardrums out if you aren't quick enough turning down the volume before they start. 8) Surround-sound: Everything is too loud, already! Why do we need it coming at us from 4 directions? Why do people living in tiny apartments feel they need it? I've lost count of how many fights I've had with neighbors over this issue. Same with movies and music concerts. Why do they feel we need to feel the music in our SPLEENS? I went to Universal Amphitheater last week. (Now named something else). There is actually a sign outside warning that the decibel level inside might damage your hearing! (?!?!?!) Why do they need this? (To avoid lawsuits, obviously). If it's so loud you have to post a warning sign outside the entrance, then DUH.... it's TOO LOUD! 9) Banks that charge you a fee to use their ATM. They (I haven't actually been INSIDE a bank in YEARS).... and they want to charge US for using the machines instead of the tellers? Forget it. I won't give those banks my business. 10) The Post Office: Talk about rewarding slow, inept performance! The worse their employees are, the longer they seem to stay there. I'd rather have a root canal than go to a P.O. during the holiday season.

The spleen can enlarge and/or rupture if [2008-12-01]
not watched. My daughter had it and though there wasn't much done, she did go back to see the doctor a couple of times.

Well ... [2008-11-30]
She's old and feeble, and so am I! She looked really pretty when she got back from the groomer couple of months ago, but now she's looking all matted again, but I haven't really noticed an odor. I have a permanently damaged right shoulder and arthritis in both hands, so it's very hard for me to work on her for more than a few minutes. I was thinking about mixing some of the Cowboy Magic conditioner with water and putting it in a squirt bottle, and see if I could comb her out better.

2 problems with hubby - any advice??? [2008-11-30]
Problem #1: His hearing. He will not go to the doctor, complains to me all the time that he can not hear me and talks SO loud. I can't tell him anything in the stores or I might as well announce it over the loud speaker which in turn creates an argument (hence, miserable day out shopping yesterday). Problem #2:I dread this time of year with him. He turns into this greedy person that is beyond comprehension for me. Every time he opens his mouth it I always grew up being thankful for what I got and can I never ask for items for Christmas - I appreciate the thoughtfulness that a person puts into getting me something (even if it I also believe the kids come first (3, 2 of which are teenagers) and we buy for them first but it seems I always have to budget my money for the kids and then for him. He does not like inexpensive items either. The last few months I'm the only one who has bought gifts for the kids - he hasn't spent any of his money and is counting on a bonus from his employer that may or may not come through and you never know how much it's going to be. Sorry - and thanks for letting me vent. I've been so stressed lately.

Likening a spouse to a dog or horse... [2008-11-30]
imagine if a male doc suggested treating a wife like that; the outrage would be heard round the world. Maybe acting like adults and having a conversation like a married couple would help. How demeaning to treat a husband that way. Where do you women find these men that you have to train? Gesh, I always thought my DH was fabulous...now I am CERTAIN he is!

I just need to VENT and see what you all think...Beware...this is long...sm [2008-11-30]
I have tried twice to tell this story but deleted it both times because the story is just too long so I will be as short as I can. I have a bunch of ROTTEN TO THE CORE sisters.My sisters are just about the worst people I have ever met in my whole 43 years on this planet. There is one who is especially bad and I just told my other sister that if she ever dies, to please not call me as I won I come from a very large family with 5 sisters and 1 brother with my brother being the oldest. He is not involved. He sort ofleft the family years ago because he couldn They did terrible things to him after his divorce. We rarely see him now.I am considered a scumbag and a loser because my husband and I don We don We don We can We love our children with everything in our souls. They have made fun of me and my husband and insulted us to our faces.My husband and I have a difficult marriage as he is tough to get along with so they hate my husband My sistershave all gone out to dinner without inviting me. I have found out because of someone They have made threats and sent rumors flying throughout the family, without me knowing, about calling DCYF on me. I heard that one too from a slip of the tongue. I cried for 2 hours in the shower that day. They talk about everyone and I mean everyone badly. They have awell known reputation ina couple of our towns here for being mean horrible girls. They are about as fake and phony as a person can get. Sweet and all smiles to your face and when you turn around, they stick that knife in as far as they can get it in. They have what they have in their lives because of what someone has given them. My sister had her property given to her by her in-laws. It is worth about $1,000,000. My other sister had land given to her by her husbandto lessen their mortage burden so now they owe almost nothing on their $500,000 house. They think they are fabulous people. They think they are the cat In the past years when we were all talking and I would be invited to a holiday, I was not spoken to at all the whole time I was there. I am a venter and I always have been so if my husband and I are fighting, I will always go to my older sister (one up from me) and vent and vent until I can She gets on the phone the second I leave and tells every person in my family what is going on. They in turn judge me and my husband, make their threats, and so on. This is also happening to my oldest sister and her partner (she is in a gay relationship but was always dating a man and was married twice) and my sister The three of us, me, my sister and her partner, and my sister We get along well. We are happy with each other. We don Whatever happens in each other lives, we just accept it and don I now attend holidays at my sister I don I don The sisters (I like to call them the Witches of Eastwick) all attend holidays with each other up at my sister The three of us are not invited. My older sister has a son. Several yeas ago, my sister and her partner had a terrible fight with him. He went to the witches and told them a bunch of lies and now they have pretty much shunned her and her daughter and me too because we still talk to her.I have a sister, who is involved in all of this, that I speak to on a regular basis. She is close to my kids or at least my oldest son. She pretty much ignores my other two children and they tell me, It She is the one who has spread rumors about me in the family trying to get everyone to call DCYF on me. I heard this too by a slip of the tongue from another sister a few years back. I tend to be a forgiving person so I quietly forgave her for this without her ever knowing that I knew what she was trying to do. Now that they are all inviited to the holidays up to my sister They are extremely fat just like her. These holiday trips up north are usually kept quiet and I only know about it the day before they are leaving to go, which is when she inevitably asks me to come feed her f******g cats. This is how Iknow that a big party is going on up at the cabin and once again only the chosen selected few are going. This is usually for 3 or 4 days and they get fed twice a day so I have to goto her house twice a day. Sometimes I have to give them medication and the last time she asked me, I even had to soak her sick cat She lives about 20 minutes away from me. This girl would NEVER, NEVER, EVER do this for me. My husband and I took our children on a cruise 3 years ago and we have a cat and I never asked her to do this for me as I know she would have laughed in my face. I have been feeding her cats for years now when she goes away. Keep in mind though that she was in the select chosen few to be invited up to the cabin. I was not as I am considered trash in the family. I am SICK AND TIRED of feeding this girl My sister who invites everyone to go is a mean, horrible, sadistic, vicious, backstabbing wretched b***h. No one will say anything to her like, Gee Pat, where is everyone else? Didn They could care less. All they know is that THEY were invited. Anyway, I am sorry this is so long. I cananymore. I have been thinking of this all day all weekend long. I am really to the point where I just don I am goingto tell my fat a** b***h sister to fnd another way to get her cats fed because I She is just using me and believe me when I tell you, she enjoys it. She is verydiabolical. She loves it that I am not invited and she and her husband are.She even questions me and counts the cat food cans to make sure that I came on all of the days they were gone. These people have balls of brass and I have had ENOUGH.I am just sitting and waiting patiently for the next time she says, Oh, we Can you come and feed the cats? I just canNo. I can I will never feed your cats again! Find some other sucker to do it! I believe that they are severely narcissistic people and this is nothing to take lightly.These types of people are very destructive. Do any of you have family members like this and what do you do about them? How do you stop them from making you feelsad, lonely, excluded andless than you are or deserve? I think it is time for me to cut all ties with them. I just can

you sound like me - [2008-11-29]
for the past couple of years, I have said, let's forget the gifts and just spend the day together at my mom's house -- but oh no, that would be horrible if we did not buy presents. This year, my sister's husband lost his job and now it's automatic, we are not going to be buying gifts. I always wonder, why is it that one person in the family always seems to make the decisions for everybody else?

My sisters and nieces and nephews and I stopped [2008-11-28]
exchanging gifts several years ago. My mom and dad and my family stopped exchanging gifts a couple of years ago. This year, my 2 grown children and my husband and I agreed to keep Christmas very, very simple. One gift each. No big major spending. We havea new grandson who is a week old and, of course, he will receive gifts from us, but, even for him the spending will be kept to a minimum this year Maybe you need to just tell your family that you They may not understand, but you should not have to stress about such a beautiful time of the year. I know that I am actually looking forward to the holidays for the first time in a long time because I We are by no means rich people, but we do have what we need and a lot of what we want. There is really nothing that any of us needs. We are truly blessed.

Older folks sometimes lose it before they really lose it sm [2008-11-27]
It sounds like she having some issues with money and thought processes. Four potatoes and three sweet potatoes? She has lost touch with reality. I don't mean this in an unkind way. I think she didn't stop the think or plan the budget around this. Perhaps she has lost the ability to properly plan on some level. This makes no sense. In my family, food at grammatoo expensive and started using shavings of naphtha soap. She started saving little soap slivers and making new bars of soap with them. She stopped buying shampoo unless it was in the markdowns at the grocery store. She started using a baggie for her vacuum cleaner bag. You get the picture here. The interesting thing is that truly, that gramma never fully lost it. We considered this idiosyncratic and went on. She kept the rest of her faculties, but had these odd ways of saving money. My other gramma who never did any of these things did, in fact, suffer from profound dementia the last 10 years of her life. Of course, that set of grandparents had the issue the other way. Toilet paper: Bought in bulk 6 cases at a time. Find a salad dressing you like, buy a couple of cases. You never did want to tell them you liked a certain food, paper product or soap something because if you did, along would come a few cases of it! We all do something when we get older. Help her out so she isn't embarrassed by this!

according to the doc... [2008-11-27]
at least a couple of weeks. The older the better. Another interesting fact--did you know that they really don't need to be refridgerated, as long as where you keep them is not hot?

thank you! [2008-11-26]
but no sex when he first gets home. It will be just a couple of weeks after the baby is born, but I am just looking forward to not sleeping alone!!!

Western NY prices [2008-11-26]
I live in Western NY and the major chain here, Wegmans, just lowered prices on a large amount of their groceries. The staples we all need. I really noticed a different in my grocery bill the last couple weeks. Flour5 lbs $1.49, sugar 5 lbs $1.99, 10 lbs potatoes $2.49. Those are things I can think of off the top of my head. i go there and to the super walmart to keep my grocery budget somewhat reasonable and I use coupons.

just go, forget this child play and really, really enjoy ---- [2008-11-26]
yourself without him. He'll change his tune. If you allow this behavior and kiss pratt for it - you'll have to do that whatever and whenever the whim suits him. agree with other poster - he he can't put himself aside for a couple of hours for your sake and the sake of the whole family...then it is he the problem.

Would you be worried [2008-11-26]
Would you be worried if at 13 your daughter had a lot of friends who are boys? My daughter also has a couple female friends but not around this area. I am working so I can She is downstairs in the kitchen now making lunch for the 2 neighbor boys because I told her she couldn These kids are driving me crazy today! What would you do?

I have a 14 year old daughter also [2008-11-26]
Thankfully right now she doesn't have any boyfriends, although there are boys in the neighborhood who are friends that we've know for 13 years that she'll meet up with when the weather's decent and everyone is outside. She has amazing friends who come from good families and I trust her and them. I guess you just have to trust your children and decide how much leeway you feel you can give them. There are a couple of younger girls in the neighorhood that hang out with a whole group of older boys and just walk the streets. Those are the ones I'd worry about. Just this past year we've been letting her go to the mall with her friends alone and she has started going to parties, but she always has to go in a group and come home at a decent hour.

My oldest daughter had nothing but "boy" [2008-11-26]
friends throughout high school. Really, guys are a lot nicer than boys most of hte time. She has a couple of good girl friends, but I actually liked the guys hanging around the house. Now that she is in college, all she brings home are her guy friends and they all hang out with her and her boyfriend. I really would not worry if her friends are guys, at least she has friends she feels comfortable with having hang out at your house.

HELP! Turkey Day dilema [2008-11-26]
We are going to MILs for Turkey Day. She made a big thing out of doing dinner and everything for her family this year. My husband just went to her house and comes home to tell me we are going to starve tomorrow. lol There are 9 people in the immediate family and she has invited at least 4 other people that we know of. She is makinga small turkey breast, 4 potatoes for mashed potatoes, gravy, dinner rolls and that Oh, and an apple and cherry pie. Nothing else. Any ideas on how I can creatively make food to take without upsetting her. I am already bringing a pecan pie and pumpkin pie because I was in the mood. Any suggestions, ideas? We are expected to spend the entire day and evening down there. Already made plans to play cards, games, etc. and make a day out of it when I get off work.

If the store is still open.... [2008-11-26]
If you have a big platter or can get a throw-away one, make a nice cheese and cracker platter and put a bowl of grapes in the middle, that way youScoops with salsa. Just happen to have them in your trunk. Hurry up, it's getting late, maybe the drug store is open or a 711.

oh no, he's not exaggerating. [2008-11-26]
Ordinarily I would agree with you that men are...well...kinda dumb sometimes. lol But, this has been a recurrent problem lately. That's why he specifically asked her about it. We were invited to dinner a couple weeks ago and she bought 2 medium pizzas for 9 people, 3 of which are teenagers. I am not a big eater by any means but I came home and made dinner. This is only one example. It's been happening for about 6 months now. I know they are on a budget like the rest of the world but that doesn't mean you have to invite everyone over if you can't feed them.

MIL [2008-11-26]
My mother-in-law has been the same way recently. The last couple of years when we visit I have to make a run to the grocery store. The last time we actually ate deli sandwiches from the Safeway in our car because she had no food in the house! It is so frustrating trying to be subtle with the kids around who complain and are hungry!