Thank you T...My DH worked his way...

Yes. When I worked on the floor as an aide [2008-11-04]
It seemed a lot of the RNs thought they were the most elite part of the hospital/society and treated everyone that way. What I despised most though is that they would do their patient assessments, charting, then sit around the nurses station and gossip while we did the majority of the work and they would try to shove as much as their job on us as they could, even things we were not qualified to do. They also were the most unprofessional people.They were the ones that tended to make funof a patients ailments, body habitus, lack of education etc., than any other personnel in that hospital. There were some good RNs though that knew their place but it seemed that they were few and far between. The real good RNs did not stay long at that little rinky-dink county hospital, they were just there to get their experience and go to bigger and better places. Glad that is ancient history for me now as far as dealing.

At the hospital where I worked there were [2008-09-29]
pampered chef, anything you wanted to buy, you could purchase all on company time. There were also people that would sell dinner plates through their church. This daylighting is nothing new. I myself on breaks would deliver typed reports to an internal office. I stayed in the building, but I was on my break (not paid) or on lunch (not paid). So, what's the difference? Tell me this isn anyone who has worked on-site knows it happens every day.

Borax worked for us too. So do eucalyptus leaves... [2008-09-03]
placed under couch cushion, in pet beds, etc. First we used Advantage, then did the Borax. Worked great on 4 cats. We were dog sitting and the little critter came along, but are gone now.

military school? it worked for a guy i know. nm [2008-08-26]
x

I worked for them for a short time and line counts never added up. sm [2008-08-13]
Check the archives. I proved I was cheated lines and quit without notice. They were taking my spaces, cutting them in half and only paying that amount of lines even though required to double space after periods, etc. Software was comparable to Ext. This was 2-3 years ago though.

What worked for me [2008-08-03]
Tempting though it is, you don't want to reward timid or frightened behavior by giving affection then. http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/tips/basics_affection.php Thunder is a lot like fireworks: http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/editorials/editorial_23.php When I have detected nervous energy in any of my dogs during storms, I just started playing a favorite game of theirs to distract them. The noisier and more rambunctious the game, the better. The breeds I've had are not particularly sensitive to noise, I admit, but I learned with Sasha that all I had to do was play growly bump (her own game she taught me) to take her mind right off a storm.

What we did, which worked -sm [2008-07-30]
Same story here, except sometimes the dog would actually get out from under the fence and commence to follow us around our yard and bark when our neighbors were not home. My husband finally went over there one night to ask them if there was any way at all they could stop their dog from barking nonstop. They said they knew it barked and were very sorry it was bothering us. It stopped for about 6 months and then began happening again. Hubby then wrote a short note and placed it next to their mailbox, all the time stating we wanted to remain good neighbors with them but would very much like to be able to enjoy our own yard without hearing their huge dog barking all the time. It never happened again after that, going on 2 years now. No problems at all with them. Sometimes, it seems, people are very clueless or careless until you mention it to them. Try saying something in person. You may be surprised in a good way. Best of luck!

I worked with a lady who [2008-06-06]
had the same problem, she always had her hair cut short, but the top was poofy and you could read print through it. She finally got extensions and you would never know, but this seems like high maintenance. She is in administration and has to look her best at all times. (me, my clothes are wash and wear and so am I).

Thank you T...My DH worked his way... [2008-05-13]
up to six figures (yes, the low end). You are right when you say some people think that is a lot of money when sometimes it is just enough to get by on for some people. We are fortunate and have made it a point to be debt free. We will not be a slave to the lender, working only to make payments on meaningless things. There is no reason for the catty remarks and jealousy. Some women are just bitter about life, and if that is the case figure out how to make it better. Life is too short to be unhappy.

i'm glad things worked out well. [2008-05-07]
kids do a lot of growing and changing in elementary school years so who knows, this bully could turn out to be your daughter's bff after a break from each other. my son struggled with a bully in daycare before kindergarten. now they are in the same class and get along great. granted neither remember the problems of 5 years ago but at any rate, the other child grew out of it and they have become good friends. best of luck to your daughter! it sounds like she has a great role model. :)

It worked for me. [2008-04-23]
I learned something also. I did not know that the more you weigh, the more calories you burn doing the same thing, interesting. Thanks.

When I worked in-house [2008-04-15]
There were several women whose grown children would call them about 3 or 4 times a day asking their mothers to do stuff that I would think as old as they are the should be doing on their own. One of the mothers spent a good 2 hours on the clock filling out job applications for her son. He was already out of high school.

I worked at a grocery-type store and he delivered chips there... [2008-04-08]
He is 5-1/2 years older than me so I figured he was to old--LOL..Plus, I had a boyfriend at the time. But I broke up with my boyfriend, and my husband and I have been together for 11 years in July, married for 7 years in June...

we worked together briefly...sm [2008-04-08]
and it washeart poundinShortly thereafter,Igave 2 weeks noticebkz IwouldnCat

Well lets see, I have worked for this same place now [2008-04-02]
for 18 years, the last 5 for a company and what raise?? I thought we just typed faster.

For many years when worked in animal clinic, after [2008-03-12]
never a problem. Using a special litter after surgery is a relatively new idea. They have litters very similar in texture to regular litters for after declaws but where I worked, we told owners if kitty wont use box with special litter, to just use the regular litter and again, never had a problem with it.

Having worked in vet clinic, I would do it. It is not [2008-03-11]
surgically removing the first digit of the toes. To spay, uterus is surgically removed and no one thinks that is cruel. Aside from immediate postop discomfort, which you have with ANY surgery, they didnt seem in pain to me when we declawed a cat at the clinic. It seemed to me that it felt different to the cats, and just took some getting used to. I cant beleive a vet would say that to you. Do you think a cat would rather be declawed or thrown outside when is used to being house cat, taken to the pound, dumped in the country or given to someone who might not be so nice

I worked for a physician doing overflow work, [2008-02-15]
made less than $600 for last year, so they did not send me a 1099 because if you make under $600 you do not have to report it and neither do they, so therefore I did not have to claim the small amount I made from them.

Actually I do this already :( hasn't worked (nm) [2008-02-15]
x

I worked as a substitute at my children's [2008-02-06]
elementary school for several years. I have seen it all when it comes to parents and teachers. There are teachers that obviously went in to the profession simply because of the hours without any concern for the children and others that did it because they truely love educating children. The same with parents, some will fight tooth and nail for their child no matter what (even if they brought a gun to school), other parents that simply donall the facts or express yourself completely when you are trying to explain by typing.

I talked to a lady who worked at a convenience store once (sm) [2008-01-29]
she was pregnant with a girl...she said, my sister thinks I should name her Chandalier but I want something different, so I am going to name her Sounique so unique. Alrighty then.

I've gained a lot too but I have worked on having a social life (sm) [2008-01-14]
There is a website called Exercisefriends dot com where you can post for people in your area to walk with or whatever sport you like. I found a walking buddy like that and we are now best friends for the past few years now(she works at home too). But the part-time job is a good idea too - those jobs are fun even though you don't make much money.

I worked with one of those people for a few years..sm [2008-01-06]
In a fairly small office. I learned the hard way she would be all sugar kisses to your face and all fire daggers behind your back. She was a liar, a sneak, a cheat, and the best friend of my supervisor, making it a very precarious situation for me. The only way to survive was to completely ignore her and to tell her NOTHING. I allowed myself a polite 'hello' to her and that was all. No matter how much she prodded me for personal info, for gossip, for details, for anything that could help HER, I never said a word. Not even idle chat at the lunch table. People like that need fuel to function, and their fuel is information. If they know nothing about you, they can't use it against you.

When I worked in pet industry, we called A/D the [2008-01-04]
x

Wellbutrin worked for me... [2008-01-04]
I keep telling my doctor I could be a poster child for Wellbutrin. It changed my life. Really. I was so hateful I could barely stand to be in a room by myself, and I know my poor DH was miserable. I am SO much happier now. My GYN said Celexa works for some people, but it made me bounce off the walls. Good luck!! Hope you find the right remedy for you!

Oh, do I remember! [2008-12-01]
It was a big deal around Christmas time. We'd take the bus or train to a store in another town because they had a Christmas display made up of moving figures as big as a 3-yo child. People would come from miles around to see it. We hadtwo 5dimes in our town right aside of each other. One was modern, bright lights and big display windows complete with a lunch counter and all open displays. The other was dark with all wood shelves and bins, so cramped only2 people could fit in the aisles if they turned sideways. This store also had the candy in glass cases that you paid for by the pound. We also had another old general store like the older 5 dime but he even sold shoes. He had a pair of red shoes with bow ties on them in the window one year. I wanted them so bad because they matched a skirt I had at the time, but they were $10. I only got an allowance of $.50 a week. I was afraid it would take me forever to save the money. Our school's magazine sale was going on at the time and I worked hard to sell as many as I could to win the $10 prize. I won and bought the shoes. It was one of the happiest days in my life.

Hubby with hearing and greedy problems [2008-11-30]
Dear NOT Silly Girl, I am a clinical psychologist and now teach medical transcription. I lost my deaf old sweetie 2 years ago. He was incredibly vain about wearing aids and/or his glasses. FINALLY got him to an audiologist in Canada (half the price than here in US) but getting him to wear the aids was another matter. Solved it by training just like dog or horse. Yep! Intermittent positive reinforcement - rewards, treats, smooches, etc. I told him I would only go out to dinner or shopping with him if he wore the hearing aids. Refused to go out of house with him unless he had them on -- and he loved going out! It worked, except then I still had to repeat everything 3 times inside! Many, many frank discussions also helped. Turned out he was incredibly vain and thought he looked old with hearing aids. I finally convinced him that shouting at people REALLY made him look old. He got contacts instead of glasses. As to self-centeredness, that has to be educated out of him, too. All this takes time. Just talk to him about values whenever he acts that way, and when he stops the selfishness, reward him. That is not acceptable behavior in an adult -- and I would tell him so directly. Good luck. Rosie By the way, I would take

I feel exactly the same way. [2008-11-29]
When my siblings and I started having kids, we agreed not to buy for each other's families. That has worked out fine. This year, we have NO money. Even though we still have our same jobs, it seems like more money is going out than is coming in. I don't quite understand where the money is going myself, try explaining that to family. I would just like to completely forget Christmas this year. I would even volunteer to work to get out of it. Don't feel bad about being bitter. I find myself getting tired of having no money and having to explain why we can't do the things we used to do all the time. I've started preparing the kids for Christmas, telling them it is going to be real skimpy around here. They are old enough to understand but whether they believe me is another thing.

Me too - I want to know [2008-11-28]
I was thinking about you yesterday and today wondering how that all worked out.

Ah! There is your problem, Singers are worthless! sm [2008-11-27]
Seriously, they are. They have been made in Japan for 35 years or better. Japanese sewing machines are the WORST. Janhome (sp?), White, Necchi, Juki...all Japanese and all terrible things! Brother is from there too these days. They don't keep their tension, they are notoriously difficult to thread and they don't stitch worth a $hyte. If want something you can use for many, many years...you get a Pfaff, an Elna or a Bernina. They are European made. Pfaff has lots of bells and whistles for less money (I swear by a Pfaff and own 4 of them (2 regular, 2 sergers). Bernina is an excellent machine, but plenty of money gets you basics and fancy stuff like an extra presser foot is very pricey (A Pfaff ruffler is like $100, but a Bernina is more like $250). I know Pfaff's best. They have a hook around back to thread your needle for you. They have a fully adjustable tension and it DOES hold and will revert back when you change it. This is something a Singer will never ever cooperate with. Change the tension once and it won't go back no matter where the knob is. They are dead easy to thread and do so in a way that you never have to thread a slot, hole or needle eye. I know you are thinking too much money. One, you get what you pay for, and two, a second-hand Pfaff that has been reconditioned by a factory-trained mechanic is every bit as good as a brand new one. Unlike the Japanese machines, European ones have almost no moving parts, and they are modular. Burn out a motor (I have done this) and the old one snaps out and the new one snaps right in. I can also tell you I was a professional dressmaker of 10 years. In that time I killed a Singer serger, a Juki serger, a Singer lightweight, a New Home and a Necchi. For the second half of those years, I went to a Pfaff. I used the first one so much I wore the carbon brushes out in 15 months, grooved the armature on the motor and had to replace the motor!!! It worked great after that and I sold it for $200 less than I had paid for it new. Right now, to replace the 4 I have would cost me $20,000, but I own the very best, latest thing when I bought what I have. I own the first sewing machine model to retail for over $3000 (at $3399) but I didn't pay anywhere near that because you CAN negotiate on prices of sewing machines at independent retailers. I traded something in and bought 2 new regular machines with a total retail of $5000 and walked out with both for $1800 and that trade in. On a used machine they often make even better deals. No Virginia, it is not you! It is the SEWING MACHINE.

my experience agrees [2008-11-27]
having raised chickens for years; much harder to peel a fresh egg. i've seen a hint somewhere that others said worked -- not sure? poke a pin in to penetrate the fat end of the shell before boiling?

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

Yes. My son's second wife never [2008-11-25]
cooked. It was always McD's, Taco Bell, Pizza, etc. She never cleaned either. All she knew how to do was spend the bill money. (She didn't work, BTW). Now my grandson is on a diet at 15 yo, 195 pounds.Thank heavens, my son woke up and got rid of her. My mom worked every day and when she came home, made supper and it was always on the table by 5-5:30. If my father was on the 2nd shift, she'd make him a hot meal, put it in a square metal container and I would bicycle it to his work. When I was old enough to use the stove, I would make supper once or twice a night. In the summer, I would clean the house so she would have less to do. I worked 2 jobs most of my life, but always had time to take my boys to their baseball practice, wrestling practice, and when old enough, to their PT joband pick them up at 10-11:00 when they would get off, went to open house every year to see how they were doing, etc. I also made sure their homework was done (not that boys really bring homework home in those days LOL), had a meal on the table for them every night, never had snacks like chips or pretzels in the house. The only thing they had to drink was water or milk. No soda. BTW, my husband during this time was away from home all week, so it was all left to me. The parents today are too pressured, as are the kids. Kids are not allowed to be kids anymore. They are 7 going on 70. I think it's time they get back to being normal kids. They need breathing room. I don't know who ever decided that the kids had to be in every sport, every club, every volunteer activity the school has, but it's crazy. Not all kids fit that mold and they shouldn't have to. Plus their grades are expected to be A's and B's, nothing less. Perfection is the norm and no one is perfect. What's wrong with this picture? I'll jump down from my soapbox now.

I Have Never Been So Frustrated In My Life [2008-11-25]
I asked my sweet hubby for a sewing machine as I wanted to learn the basics of sewing. I cannot for the life of me get this machine to work. I was able to somehow get it right once to use it to mess with but I cannot seem to get it right. These machines are so finicky. I took it to a repair shop the other day because my friend who can use a machine couldnt figure it out either. They fixed the tension etc on the machine and told me a couple tips about the bobbin. Worked perfectly fine when they did it. I get it home and cannot get the *(* thing to work to save my life. I have threaded and rethreaded, got my book out and tried again. Have taken the bobbin out and tried to put it back in a hundred times and it is a mess. I am ready to throw the *(^% thing out the window!!!! I cant learn to do even a basic thing cause I can't seem to get the machine going to start with. AARRGGHHHH

I have a BFA too, in metals though-sm [2008-11-24]
went in for design originally then got into metals work, jewelry, functional art stuff, unfornately you have to either make sometime mainstream that starts a fad and keep it fresh all the time, or die basically. I have known a few successful jewelers (worked for one of them) who just kind of fade out after a few years. I never hit it big, did so some good shows (juried only), never made a lot, had reps who peddled my stuff to local galleries for me, but have not done that in quite a while. Neighbor wants me to go with her and split costs at local craft fairs, but I really have never made any money that way. I love crafts though, into crochet though don't have the time for it. Recently got a very nice used table-top weaving loom and hope to use it at some point, maybe do some runners or placemats---took a weaving class my last semester, wish I'd done that sooner, really enjoyed it. Sounds like you have done a lot though. I have done just about everything you have listed there except the interior design, not really my thing, but have made clothes, and cakes, very good at those, and have had people suggest I do it for a living but both are so timeconsuming. I love gouche and acrylics, have never done oils, I am more into abstract though I do love landscapes just never tried them. My plan is once we get all the bills paid, the house, and kids are done college to get back in my jewelry.....this way my DH won't drive me nuts being home all the time too. Maybe I will put him to work wtih some fabrication and assembly!

Have you ever been disappointed in your [2008-11-24]
DD or DS on how they are raising your grandkids. I don't want a rant on DDILs or DSILs. I spent the week-end keeping the Grands while mom and dad worked. They do not listen well at all. DGS is ADHD, he is not doing well in school and his behavior (at home, not school) is awful. Like I say they do not mind, and DD and DSIL let it go until they are mad and then they yell and threaten to spank them. The kids know that 9 times out of 10, nothing will happen, so they don't quit. They do listen to me and their other grandmother, because if we say we are going to spank, we do. They also do not eat well. They eat, fishsticks, chicken nuggets, pizza bites, peanut butter, french fries, yogart and maybe a few other things. Mom and Dad are junk eaters so they don't serve other things.

Well, at least they're working to [2008-11-24]
support their children. Raising kids in this generation isn The pressure are on parents these days isn In addition to making sure our kids are well taken care of and that we attend the all important PTO meetings, baseball meetings, wrestling club meetings, soccer meetings, football meetings, dance recitals, cheerleading practice, on and on, we also must make sure our 1st and 2nd graders are doing their 1 hour worth of homework each evening and in addition to that make sure we are reading a book to them every night. These are the requirements now set by the schools. The parents must also deal with sex, drugs, and peer pressure at a much younger age than you probably did. Just last week, I had to explain to my second grader what a virgin was. Did he learn that word at home? No, he learned it on the bus because our school district decided to save money by busing all the kids together, high school through kindergarten. The meals you mention your GKs eating, that More than likely, your GKs won You seem very harsh on your kids, and IIs either one ofthe parents involved in their children Do you have any idea how much time that takes? Arethey struggling with finances? Were you a stay-at-home mom or work-at-home mom? Having to get kids ready in the morning and get yourself ready, then spend 8 hours a day working, only to come home and pick up the same kids and do homework with them is not an easy chore. More than likely, your DS and DDIL are tired. Instead of criticizing, why not ask where you can help? Maybe you could offer to make them dinner once a week after work. Give them an evening out without kids to just relax a little bit. I As for the kids But aren Maybe he Maybe mom and dad didn I, myself, grew up in a home where I had frozen pizza at least 2 or 3 times a week for supper. My mom worked nights and my dad didn If my mom could make us a meal before she left, she did. Frozen pizza didn I graduated high school at 140 pounds, normal for 5 tall. My mom and dad were there for everything for me, though, and it It Your words are so harsh and I just have to wonder, if you think they Is it because you know the children are well taken care of, just not up to your standards? Perhaps you should have a conversation with your DS and see what his impressions of your child-rearing of him were. Perhaps there were areas you could have improved on.

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.

How dare you say I resent my children [2008-11-24]
I do spend every night reading to my children. I also tuck them in and rub their backs every night. I get up every morning to prepare them a warm breakfast before driving them to school so they don My kids are all on the high honor roll because my husband and I help them with their homework. I volunteer at their school once a week. My husband and I attends every sporting event with them, be it practice or a match, to make sure no harm comes to them. I make sure they have a hot meal on the table when they come home from school. I worked extra all summer to afford a trumpet for my son who wanted to join the elementary band. I don I love them very much. But I do resent others critiquing my parenting abilities. I It She Where are your scruples? It Why is that so hard to understand? Do parents not deserve a break? So many GPs have the mentality, you made and that No one said GPs should be raising their GKs, but is it that wrong to think that GPs could give the parents a break evenjust once a year? Maybe they

perhaps I was a little hyped in my reply, [2008-11-24]
but it only comes from the fact that I I don The OP hit a real nerve with me because my parents are always on me about how we raise our kids. We My mom worked nights. She wasn She got home late from work (1 or 2 in the morning) and got up to get us kids off to school and then went back to sleep for a few hours in the morning. All the while, my 4-year-old brother was home with her watching TV. He knew to wake her up after a certain show was over, so she could get him lunch. My mom was never a heavy sleeper, so I My dad coached my brother My mom yelled at me one day because I brought McD It was 4:45, and she thought it was awful that I didn My mom worked at McD Many of nights, she gave us a frozen pizza for supper before heading to work and then brought us home leftover chicken nuggets and apple pies. We lived for that stuff, but here she was berating me for giving it to my kids. What she was really upset about was that my kids were hungry and they were asking her for something to eat, which she didn She was watching them for me after school that day until I got home from my appointment. But that No one Criticizing others won I just felt like the OP My suggestions in my original post were meant to give the OP some insight into what the other shoe feels like.

I usually do a lot of handmade gifts. This year each kid gets $100 they are all grown sm [2008-11-21]
I make my oldest son boxer shorts, he only likes the ones I make. My other son wanted a robe and matching PJ pants. Daughter wanted a couple of outfits and a denim jacket. My mom wanted something I had knitted up for her. Stepdad just wants to be remembered. My brother won't take anything from me, so no problem there. I will do some small things for my friends, but I won't spend $500 total, even with giving the 3 kids $100 each. I have NEVER spent that much on Christmas! I have worked like a dog all year, but I have had no time to do these things they think they want.

I've been there [2008-11-20]
I have been in your shoes. Last year my husband died unexpectedly at age 56, I literally woke up one morning and he was dead in our bed next to me (aneurysm). That started a downhill spiral . . . . since then I I canhow depressed III am working now and starting to pull myself up out of the dark hole I've been in. The poster above is right. You need to see a doctor. I found out that most major health systems have programs for those of us with no insurance and no money. Call their financial offices and just tell them point blank you need to be seen and you have no insurance. They will not refuse you. I found a clinic near my house that is part of a largehospital. I was able to see a doctor for a physicalandget my annual Pap and mammogram done at no charge. They gave me samples of my medications (I have asthma) for a few months until I had insurance again. They prescribed an antidepressant which worked wonders and they gave me that as samples each month. Move closer to your family. You My family has been supportive of all the decisions I Spend time with yourgrandchild, kids can make you feel so much better.If you I did. I didn Forjust myselfI was given 174.00 a month for food and it helped outtremendously. I know it You may be hesitant to take free medical care or ask for food benefits, but remember THIS IS ONLY TEMPORARY and you will get back on your feet. It may take a while, but you will make it. Good luck to you.

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation 1863 [2008-11-19]
Abraham Lincoln while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.By The President: Abraham LincolnWilliam H. Seward, Secretary of State

I have a tracfone - sm [2008-11-18]
the minutes do not expire per se. Your service plan does though. I buy mine one year at a time, $99 for a year of service, then you buy minutes. Granted I buy a service plan and minutes together, and have the double minutes for life plan too. You can rollover minutes when your renew your service. You can get service either every two months or yearly I believe. I can text with my phone which is one of the Motorola flip phones. I used to have an old dinosaur Nokia but upgaded to a new phone for $10 or so at the Dollar store, phones are a lot cheaper there. If he is a yakker then it will get expensive fast, texting is a bit cheaper but he gets into the habit of doing that all the time his units will disappear fast. It is a good phone to have for the occasional call, etc. I would not use it as an everyday general use phone though. My old model phone actually worked better and got a signal just about everywhere, my new one is good but does not work everywhere my old one did, but I like it much better as it is smaller and lighter.

Dried Beans [2008-11-15]
I always used to use those for bean soup for our family reunion. About 10 years ago, I made it and the beans were still crunchy!First time I had that problem. I had to throw it all out (20 quarts) and start all over again, yet only had 1 day until the reunion, ran out and bought canned beans.Worked.Now I use canned beans instead. Never knew what happened, but I'd rather use dried beans because of the cost and shelf life.

Actually these beagles won't kill the ...sm [2008-11-15]
rabbit or do anything to it. They will only trail it and let you know where it is and if you want to kill the rabbits you can do it but the dogs won't touch it. BUT my husband just does it for sport. He doesn't kill the rabbits either. He just gets a kick out of watching the dogs get all worked up trailing the rabbit and if you have never heard a beagle on a rabbit trail. They howl and sing like you would not believe. But I am happy to say the beagles won't kill. I told my husband do not kill any rabbits and bring them here. And he doesn't. It is just a hobby. No killing or mauling takes place. We are animal friendly. :)

Before you push the panic button sm [2008-11-14]
This is a recession, quite possibly the mother of all recessions. It may turn into a depression, but it will run a very distant second to the Great Depression, IF it does. Pre the GP (Great Depression) you several things going on that are NOT true today. We had come out of WWI not that long before. It had been a very bloody war, the first war with mechanized destruction. What the Doughboys witnessed was for them what we saw on 09/11...unimaginable death and destruction. It changed how they viewed America. When these boys came home from the war, they came back to the farm, by and large. We were an agrarian country and with the exception of east coast, there were hardly any factory jobs and most people worked the land. Plenty of places all over the country people worked on shares and they were not all in the deep south and they were not all black. There was not nearly the land/home ownership that there is today. Most of these dirt farmers lived in poverty and barely scraped by enough to eat twice a day. When the great Dust Bowl came through Oklahoma, it took the enormous clouds of dust eastward and dumped it into the Atlantic Ocean. This was a man-made disaster and the story of the Joads in the Grapes of Wrath centers on the Dust Bowl and the farming habits of families, like the Joads caused them problems. It was their fault that the top soil blew across FDR's desk in the Oval Office. There was no infrastructure to speak of, in those days. There were roadways, but not the spider web of paved roads there are today. Goods were carried on the rails, not over the roads. You didnin town and the Sears-Roebuck catalog. If you couldn't find it there or could not afford it you either cobbled something together or did without. You can look the Coal Miner's Daughter about being so low-down dirt poor it is unbelievable. That movie is quite cleaned up and Hollywood presentable. You could look at the sparse surroundings of the ranch house in Broke Back Mountain where Ennis goes after Jack dies, and while the time frame is more modern, the very plain, only the very basics of life appear in that ranch house. They are both a bit sanitized, but reasonably realistic. Today, Americans live extraordinarily different lives than we did 80 years ago. Most people have a vehicle. Most people have more than a dirt floor shack to live in. We, have thanks to the Great Depression and FDR's recovery plan, electricity, roads, water, sewage and other sanitation. We take these things for granted, but we should not. The GP did bring some food shortages, not because of the depression, but because of the lack of infrastructure combined with people on the move to find work to subsist. The food shortages you are thinking of came with WWII and rationing...another problem secondary to lack of infrastructure and subsistence farming where there was not enough food produced to meet the need. If you are going to stock up on food, let be for more common sense reasons. If you put your money in the bank, you will make 2% or 3% return on $500. If you put that same amount into nonperishable food (think canned goods), you make a better return on an investment. You don't earn 2% or 3%, but you can end up leveraging against future price increases that will meet and exceed what interest you make from a bank, which is nothing right now. You will need food whether you buy it now or buy it later. Squirreling away extra under the bed or whatever place you can find room, is a wise investment...financially and in peace of mind.

No Hallmark family for me, either. [2008-11-11]
Theredysfunctional in the dictionary. When I married, I tried for many years to force not only my dysfunctional family but my husband's dysfunctional family into a little Hallmark picture frame. I did grand Martha Stewart holiday events at my house, spending hours cleaning, preparing gourmet meals, crafting little table decorations, etc. Of course it never worked out, and all that I ever got from those days was more disappointment and longing after something that I didn't have. Finally, we just stopped trying to make our families into what they would never be. My husband and I and our two children celebrate by ourselves. We give no gifts to anyone but those who live in our house, and even those are kept to a reasonable budget. That immediately took the financial stress out of the holidays. Now that our children are older and have lives of their own, we have an even quieter Christmas. There will be just three of us for Thanksgiving, and we'll still have a wonderful time. I put more effort into helping at food cupboards and Toys For Tots type programs, and that makes me happy. It took me quite a while to stop trying for the Hallmark thing. And even after I made the decision to stop, I had to go through a few more years of mourning for it. Eventually I found peace with it all. While I don't have 35 people gathered around a golden turkey on a holiday eve, I do have a lot to be grateful for. Today, my life's motto is: It is what it is. Make the most of it.

You say he was demented...sm [2008-11-08]
so how do you know that he didn't hit the dogs or kick one of them or provoke them in some way. There is no way to know what happened for sure especially with an elderly DEMENTED individual involved. I however, you must understand that they're animals, not little people. They don't have the same thinking process that people do and therefore should you should always be aware of the fact that they could in some ways be dangerous even though they make great and loving companions. Its a risk that we take by bringing animals into our lives. However, they should not be punished or judged because they have animal instincts and sometimes act upon them. I worked at an animal shelter and there I learned to respect the boundaries of ANY breed of dog. Plus, out of the dangerous dogs that we had in the shelter, probably only 1 out of 15 or so was a pit or a pit mix. It is quite sad and very ignorant to believe that pits are to be feared just because they are pits.

Vicks Vaoprub...interesting read [2008-11-06]
VICKS VAPO RUB .....INTERESTING!! During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can Some of us have used Vicks Vapo rub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I don 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren night time coughing in a child (or adult, as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapo rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even those very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened. It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly. My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, (incredibly annoying) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept totally cough-free for hours every night that she used it. If you have grandchildren, pass this on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed at how it works. DON TRY IT THE NEXT TIME YOU GET A BAD COLD. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice be glad in it!