Pretty in Pink

I use Firemountain Gems - pretty good prices. [2008-11-22]
....

Yes, that's pretty much it. Phone tells you when they're due. [2008-11-17]
nn

I think they are pretty worthless and not really an IQ test because sm [2008-11-10]
if you have ever had a Wechsler, you know that those kinds of questions don't play into it. They are mind teasers and trick questions, not something that a Wechsler uses. A Wechsler is several hours long and goes through your math, language, spacial relations and problem solving skills, and it is timed. Part of IQ is how fast you can solve complex problems. I have taken a Wechsler and while I won't quote you a number, I will say the person who gave it as part of a psychological evaluation, told me he would diagnose me as way too smart for my own good. He stated that I probably didn't suffer fools gladly because I view most of the world as fools. I only fall at the 99.6 percentile on the Bell curve. No, I don't suffer fools gladly, but I try to be nice while others catch up.

I used Debt Free Today. Pretty good [2008-11-03]
company. Never had any troubles with them. Just sent them a check once a month and they distributed among my creditors on the agreed amount. I think we paid off in 4 years. Was really nice!

Thank goodness both my kids are pretty much grown up sm [2008-10-22]
Both are in college, one away and one at home. My gift will be supporting them in everything they do unconditionally, past, present, and future. Just can't do gifts this year. But I WILL have my traditional 3-foot tree LOL. Rays in WS is enough for us all, though!! :-)

If it were MY child, I'd buy her a pretty dress to wear [2008-10-16]
You bigots are appalling.

Whaaat? That's pretty bizarre. And why would [2008-10-16]
It's a perfectly civil conversation about different beliefs. Unless you think that a thread that doesn't follow strict Christian philosophy would automatically be deleted from MT Stars?

Pretty scary, isn't it? [2008-10-16]
I just don Those cities must have been wicked beyond compare. Part of me says Wait just a little longer, Lord but another, ever increasing part of me says Come even so Lord Jesus.

Pretty sad to stunt a child's intellectual growth. [2008-10-16]
.

Mine pretty much soaks in immediately but [2008-10-13]
I have found that if you use a primer it does go on a lot smoother. BE has a face and eye primer that I like a lot. On a side note I just got the eyebrow powder in today and love it!

Thanks you! I wanted to say that you are a very pretty [2008-10-10]
doggie mom! (If that was you in the picture). They are soooooo lucky to have you! Have a great weekend and kiss those babies for me!!!!

Good grief - I hope not!!! Mine was not pretty! nm [2008-10-02]
..

Our daughter is pretty trustworthy - sm [2008-09-11]
Actually, she just turned 17 two days ago. Generally, the rule of thumb was that on school nights she was home for supper and thereafter. On the weekends her curfew was 11:00 and she never violated it. This summer, as she neared 17, we let her stay out until midnight, and often she would just stay outside on our lawn swing with her friend talking until 1 or 2, which was fine - we knew where she was and what she was doing. Oh, yes - when she was babysitting on school nights she still had to be home by 10:00. That worked out fine.

Pretty wild about David Ducouvne [2008-09-01]
That

i'm pretty sure it was a garmin my [2008-07-01]
daughter just said her boyfriend got -- that it will TELL you which way and when to turn, so you don't have to take your eyes off the road. Sounds pretty good!

Pretty wild posts [2008-05-27]
I was reading the posts below and some pretty heated discussions. Everyone seems to have an opinion and I feel bad for the people who give their opinion and then are jumped on by others. The only thing I could possibly add is do what you feel is right. Emotional scars go very deep, and its true that once things are said (or written) its very hard to forgive. I remember years ago (19 years ago) I got called into a room by my MIL who proceded to tell me how much she always hated me and if I turned her against her son she would find me and kill me - this was after I told my husband (not in front of her) we don't have the money to pay our bills and we can't keep taking her out to eat with unlimited pitchers of beers. He's the one who told his mom we couldn't go out to eat cos we didn't have money. Anyway...those words she said still haunt me and the memory is like it happened yesterday. Words hurt very deeply and the emotional scars will always be there. It sounds like you are getting counseling and that is good. Don't know if your kids are also getting counseling but that might help them too. Good luck to you.

I need recipes for pretty, fruity, fun drinks [2008-05-09]
or coffee drinks. My sons, their dates, and two other couples of coming to our house tonight after the senior prom. They plan to play Dance, Dance Revolution and watch movies on the big screen. Of course, they asked me about it only an hour ago! I'm happy to have the kids over, but wish I had a little time to plan. I will stay up when they are here and will make them breakfast. I have one of those waffle makers that you see at hotel breakfast buffets, so they will have waffles and other breakfast goodies, but I thought it would be fun to serve them some pretty drinks in some of my fancy glasses that I never use. Nonalcoholic, of course! I think I'd like to make up two pitchers, something fruit-based and something coffee-based. Does anyone have any good recipes?

It's still pretty cheap compared to other sm [2008-05-09]
countries! Look at the price of diesel and fuel - that impacts the USPS as much as it does all of us. It's only a penny.

This is a good link. It pretty [2008-04-28]
much explains your question and has the new schedule.

isn't the interest on that pretty high? [2008-04-28]
:(

That's was pretty good . . similar to the SM [2008-04-15]
menopause song I wrote a few years ago. I wish you could all hear it! I was actually asked at my friend Thanks again!

They look pretty, I wear them, if I am going somewhere special. [2008-04-08]
To make them look real, I stole an idea from Marilyn Monroe. I cut the lashes in half and then I use the resulting minilashes and put them starting from mideye to the edge of my eye nearest the ear. Be careful just to put a little glue. Then, you can put eye liner over it. I have very blonde (almost platinum) hair and eyebrows, so it can't be heavy handed. Also if you use the half lashes, you can put a light color like cream under your eye brow arch and on the lid, with a bit of brown in the crease. Blend it together and it will look glamorous yet natural. Only you will know, because it looks like a lot of mascara on the edge, or you are blessed with long eyelashes! Have fun with it. I do.

pink. Speedy Gonzales or Peppy Le Pew? [2008-03-27]
haha

Just goes to show even pretty [2008-03-21]
people can be insecure. She definitely didn't need any work. I really don't think people age right after plastic surgery, which is why they go back for more.

Pretty in Pink [2008-03-15]
Iona: Does he have strong lips? Andie: How can you tell? Iona: Did you feel it in your knees? Andie: I felt it everywhere. Iona: Strong lips.

Fake [2008-12-01]
I'm allergic so real is not an option. We have a big one but bought a thinner one last year. They are both pretty tall though. It just took up so much room in our living room. We were tired or rearranging the furniture around the xmas tree. The new one rotates so you can see all the ornaments!

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.

Same problem here. [2008-11-30]
My husband works with loud machines and we both have noticed his hearing is going. I actually thinks he likes it because when I ask him to do something and it doesnI didn. Very frustrating for me. My husband also expects big presents for Christmas, birthday, etc, wrapped up all nice and pretty. Last year, he received a big gift and I received nothing from him. He says I'm hard to buy for so he won't do it. Or else on Christmas Eve, he will say he's going shopping what should he get me. He always takes the fun out of any gift-giving occasion. This year, I told him we are not exchanging and that means BOTH of us will do without. We'll see how he likes it.

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

Gift Giving [2008-11-29]
I just got married in July 2008, bought a new home, and am now expecting my third child in April 2009 so we ourselves have had many blessings this year but our financial situation is also pretty tight. We will not be buying gifts for anyone but our children. Our family will receive homemade treats this year. We still like to do something nice for them because they have done so much for us this year and every year but we don't have a lot of money to play with. In my case, we take care of our obligations (bills, our children, etc.) before we worry about gifts. We feel that providing our children with things that need and the love that they deserve is more important than any material gift will ever be. Our family understands our situation and is very happy just to spend the holidays with us without the expectation of a gift because honestly the quality time with family is the biggest gift we could give each other. In my opinion, you should just explain the situation to them and let them know that you will not be giving gifts this year. They may take it hard but they will get over it. You have to do what you have to do. Gifts aren't the real reason for the Christmas season anyhow. Good luck to you!

English Toffee--super easy [2008-11-26]
You can put down any kind of nuts you want--if you want in a raised-sided cookie sheet. Cook 1# of butter and 1# of brown sugar plus a little vanilla to hardball stage (I put a little in a cup of cold water and if it is crunchy, it is done). Quickly pour into cookie sheet because it is easy to burn. Scatter one bag of chocolate chips on top and wait to melt a little before speading across the top. Everyone loves it and it is pretty easy to make. Once it cools, you break it into pieces.

Take a sewing class, and take the machine - sm [2008-11-26]
with you. There you will learn how to use it and how to sew too. I have been sewing since I took home-ec in 7th grade. I have a Singer that is about 20 years old or more. It is a pretty basic one with about 12 different stitch types. Have never had an issue. Sounds like you donhow to sew class. Call a local craft store and see what they offer. Even one private lesson would probably do you a world of good. Good luck.

Guess you never had a bad experience [2008-11-26]
My ex likes to lend things. They get returned...sometimes. When they do get returned, they And usually whoever had them is irritated thatthey had to be naggedto return it, and the friendship suffers. Some friends of his borrowed and destroyed an expensive carpet cleaner last year, he They are no longer friends. I lent my car to a friend once after she wore me down with her whining. I begged her to treat it gently, it was an old car and I knew she was a rowdy driver. She supposedly needed it to take her poor hurting, mother to the chiropractor. She destroyed my transmission, then refused to pay a cent to help me fix it, because my family had more money than her family. These were people we thought we knew pretty well beforehand. Rough way to find out what people are really like.

Hanging out at your house is a good thing [2008-11-26]
as long as you are there. My house became the hang out house, and it was hard, especially when I was trying to get my work done. But I knew where they were and could step in and keep things under control when necessary. I donrule of 16 which meant my sons could not date until they were 16 years old. Boys don't really seem to fight this so much. My oldest didn't have a steady girlfriend until he was 18. My youngest was 17 when he first started dating. I also had problems with some of their friends being just plain rude. They'd swear, never say please or thank you, and just generally act like snotty brats at times. That wasn't a problem for me. I corrected them and taught them manners. I used humor, which again boys seem to respond to. Usually, when we had girls over who acted that way, the boys were quick to correct them, and I didn't have to step in myself. As far as going out, my boys did go out to hang at the local pizza parlor in mixed groups when they were 13. I never had a problem, but they were held to time limits. I think itYou know, I Good luck!

Sure! It's the easiest ever! [2008-11-26]
Actually based on the Tupperware recipe. I keep everything chopped and frozen except for the canned tomatoes. I buy a packet of salsa seasoning at the grocery store for ease and I can usually find it on sale for 33cents and stock up. 1 large bell pepper 1/2 a medium onion 1 large can of tomatoes (chopped or whole but no seasoning) 1 large garlic clove or garlic powder I add a squirt of lime juice (if I have it) and black pepper. Then a packet of seasoning mix and some dried about 2 teaspoons of dried cilantro (if I have it). Keep it chunky or blend it/food process it to the texture you like. We like it pretty smooth. I add Tabasco sauce to taste for heat. Less than 5 minutes preparation and it is the thing that everyone now asks me to bring to parties and gatherings. :) Enjoy!

Your mom probably didn't want you to [2008-11-25]
give your kids McDYour mom probably sees in you the parent she wishes she had been. It may help to tellyour mom yourealize she did the best she could. She must have done something right because you sound like a pretty decent person.

My family's traditional Christmas mints [2008-11-25]
Again, really easy but time-consuming. The base is just two egg whites whipped up to stiff peaks and fold in about a pound of confectioner across, then flatten them with a fork. Put them on waxed paper - they stick on everything else. Get your kids busy stirring and rolling and it'll go quickly. I also use the same for frosting for Christmas cookies. Couldn't have a Christmas without them!

I tried to email you and it wouldn't let me [2008-11-25]
Everything sounds pretty obvious on what to do, but can you send me the recipe for the peanut butter kiss cookies please? Thanks!

Alton Brown's website [2008-11-25]
Check Alton Brown's website for recipes. I am a pretty good cook and make Christmas cookies for all of our neighbors and friends every year. Cookies or not, if there is something that I just can't seem to pull off I go to Alton Brown. I have not found a recipe of his that hasn't worked for me yet. It took me 15 years to make a pie crust but I was only able to do it well with Alton Brown's recipe. I know he also has some recipes where you can make 1 dough and then divide it to make 4 different cookies. I think his black-and-white cookie is that way. Also, marshmellows are not difficult to make but they are so impressive and everyone loves them! It's a little messy with all the powdered sugar but the kids LOVE to make them. Its minimal ingredients and its like a science project when it grows in the mixer. You can also get extracts and make mint marshmellows, strawberry, whatever you want. They go great with hot chocolate. Actually I think this year we are only doing those and sugar cookies because everyone loved them so much the last few years. and maybe some fudge, to give me an excuse to make it. lol

You definitely have the right idea [2008-11-25]
As long as it's done in moderation I don't see anything wrong with it. It definitely sounds like you have a system that works for you and your family. I guess I'm lucky in that I have daughters, the youngest one is pretty young for video systems, although she does have an educational V-Smile system, and the older one (14) has a Play Station 2 that got old really fast as she got older (we've had it for quite a few years). Now she's into all the girly stuff and has never wanted any of the other systems. We almost got a Wii this Christmas for the whole family but decided against it because of the cost. Our friends have one and it really looks like a lot of fun.

About tatting sm [2008-11-24]
I tried to learn as kid and I just didn't get it. The gal who tried to teach me was very good and got me interested, but I could not get it. It is very like making a fishing net. Those little knots have to be just so or you end up with a knot. I have done that more times than I can tell you. I had a neighbor who handed me a can before she moved. In the can was a shuttle and some tatting thread. She says to me TO ME! LOL I'll bet you don't know what that is. As it happens, she didn't know what it was! I picked it up and said bet I do...and started to tat. By the time I was in high school, I could TAT pretty well. I made a couple of blouses for work that had Peter Pan collars. One was baby pink, the other baby blue. I embroidered on the collar and then tatted enough matching lace for the edges. I loved those and wore them a very long time. I wish I had time to make another one in white, but most of my efforts going into sewing for others. I have 15 pr of boxers on my sewing table for my son who won't wear anything else...as in he hates store bought boxers. He is married and should grow up, but he won't until I am gone and can't do it for him any longer. Right now, I have a soft sheer crepe that I am making into a wedding dress for my daughter. They are going to the JP in January before he deploys and we'll do the first ceremony. When he returns they will get married by a lake in Minnesota. He wants to build a pontoon with his dad and get married on the pontoon at sunset. We'll do her wedding gown next summer. Both dresses have to be baby pink and please don't ask! She gets what she wants, it is her day(s).

I love cross stitch, to look at. I don't see well enough to do it myself sm [2008-11-24]
but I sure think it is pretty and there are several things I would love to have for my house. I could translate them into English smocking, which I can well, and put them up. I have a couple of Pullen pleaters and that helps. I have a baby dress for my mom's reborn doll I am doing right now and she wants that smocked.

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!

Alton Brown's "The Chewy" [2008-11-24]
I've tried all of the chewy chocolate chip recipes out there, and this is the best by far. The recipe calls for giant cookies, but for Christmas, I make them mini-sized, using about 1 heaping teaspoon of dough per cookie. They bake faster, so watch them carefully. I also add pecans to the recipe. I've made them with bittersweet chocolate chips and macadamia nuts, too, and those were INCREDIBLE. Be sure, however, to really take your time creaming the butter and sugars. And let the melted butter cool to room temperature before mixing with the sugar. The creamed butter and sugar should be thick and fluffy and smooth, almost but not quite peanut butter consistency. If it's not, the cookies will go flop when they come out of the oven, and they don't look as pretty. They still taste great, but they aren't high and pretty. I can't get the link to post, so here's the URL: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe/index.html

Wow! Was a nerve hit??? [2008-11-24]
I didnLeave it to Beaver. That's just not the case. By the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s the pendulum had started to swing so far toward women having careers that we were often belittled for choosing to be home with the children. Remember Hillary Clinton's cookie baking comment during her husband's first campaign? In fact, stay-at-home moms were the norm for only one brief period in our history right after WW II in the post war boom times. There was a pretty awful recession in the 1970s, and I remember gas rationing and long lines at the pumps. My mother had to work two jobs, and my father, who was in construction, was often one of the first to feel economic ups and downs in his paycheck. But we had dinner together every night at the kitchen table. Before the stay-at-home mothers of 1950's t.v. fame, most mothers worked. They had to. Only the very privileged stayed home and waited for Ward Cleaver to come home from the office. My grandmother, who lived to be 94, God bless her soul, was born in 1908. Her mother died during the great Spanish flu epidemic in 1918. My grandmother was the eldest of four children, and at the age of 10 she became the woman of the house. She stopped going to school so that she could cook and clean and took care of her father and siblings. And no one thought that was wrong. It was expected because there really weren't any government social services -- no welfare, no foster care. Eventually, when her father's depression over the loss of his wife became so great that he couldn't manage to bring home an income, people in the neighborhood just took over. The two eldest children went to live with other families. The two youngest went to an orphanage. My grandmother's father just drifted away and his children never saw him again. My grandmother married at age 20 and had four children during the depression. Talk about having it hard. When I was a young mother trying to make ends meet and I'd cry to my grandmother, she brought me around to reality. She told me what it was like for her to raise children during that time. Many a night she cried over whether or not she could even feed her children or if they would have a roof over their heads. And she wasn't alone. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, was in the same boat. The Great Depression was enormous. She and my grandfather worked wherever and whenever they could. They brought home a dollar or two at a time and fed their children buttermilk and potatoes. They didn't sleep, they worried all the time. Today, my grandmother's washboard hangs in my kitchen on the wall next to my dishwasher. It reminds me that I have no right to ever say that things are harder on us today. They aren't. Generally speaking, most Americans have so many more advantages, choices and opportunities than those who came before us. Yet many in my generation and the one or two generations behind me are just whiners and crybabies who don't think about the big picture. They even dare to say they have a harder time as parents today. Please. Not even close! Every generation seems to believe that, but just a short trip through a history book proves otherwise. I'm not that very old. But I've raised my children and I raised them well. I know what it takes to do that. It takes self-discipline, sacrifice and consistency. And you know what? That's exhausting. Parents today are tired. So what? All parents are tired. Offer it up, as the old nuns used to say. The kids have homework an hour a night. So what? They should have homework, and parents should make sure that it gets done, because education is important. There are parent-teacher meetings to attend, coaches association meetings, scout meetings, dance lessons, school recitals, etc. etc. etc. So what? Balance it out, quit what can't be done, do what can. Work because you have to. The kids have to be fed. It's still easier than it was a generation ago, two generations ago, three and on and on. We're parents to young ones for only a short time. Which reminds me, let's not forget about birth control. Most of us have 2-point-whatever children these days. I'm the youngest of 7. Most of the families in my neighborhood when I was growing up had 4 or more children. Today women can choose to have as many or as few children as they want. That means that we parent for far fewer years than the generations before us. I'm done with day-to-day parenting after just 20 years, and in fact, it got much easier on my day-to-day schedule once my boys were in high school. But my mother had children at home for 34 years. Imagine the number of cloth diapers for 7 children for year after year after year. Yes. I had it far easier, and I know it. So when I was exhausted raising my two boys, I just sucked it up and kept at it. The OP, I think, probably didn't want to be as blunt as I'm willing to be. She IS helping by babysitting her grandchildren while her children work. I'm sure she loves her children and grandkids, but I'm willing to bet that if she dared to say to her children the things I've posted, her children would react just as you did and she'd end up cut off from her family. To the OP: I hope it helped to vent a little, and I want you to know that I understand.

You missed the point of my post [2008-11-24]
The only things she chose to complain about were nitpicky things -- what they serve for dinner. Most kids don Last time I checked PBJ and yogurt were pretty healthy. Her GS has ADHD. He isnbehave on command. Any MT would know that. First she complains because they don Instead of criticizing her kids, she should be trying to help the situation. Did she hit a nerve with me? Absolutely. My parenting skills are always being critiqued. From the time my oldest son was old enough to eat until about the age of 6, I had to pack PBJ everywhere we went. He refused to eat anything else. Was it because I didn It was because that My other child has ODD -- oppositional defiant disorder. Is it because I didn No, it I have 2 other children who are not like this. They were all raised in the same house under the same rules. I am constantly berated by my father for not cracking the whip on him and by my mother for being too strict. It Then after upsetting DS or DD, you can go back home and not be the one who on top of your feelings of inadequacy now has to deal with a difficult child. I could see if it the OP said the children were malnourished or not cleaned and clothed properly, but she She

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.

Ah, Memories! [2008-11-23]
My big sister had a poodle skirt that I inherited just before they went out of style in about Brides

Yes, crinolin and puffy also in a wedding... [2008-11-23]
You could depend on wearing a hoop with that ugly bridesmaid dress. God forbid any boy would try to get near you in one of these things - if you had a large waist that was sad, as all the rest of you was big as well - not too pretty unless you had a 21 inch waist and carried this skirt well, big white felt or plaid felt skirt with a poodle embellishment, socks and saddle shoes. How cool is that??

Yes, crinolin and puffy also in a wedding... [2008-11-23]
You could depend on wearing a hoop with that ugly bridesmaid dress. God forbid any boy would try to get near you in one of these things - if you had a large waist that was sad, as all the rest of you was big as well - not too pretty unless you had a 21 inch waist and carried this skirt well, big white felt or plaid felt skirt with a poodle embellishment, socks and saddle shoes. How cool is that??