He totally counts! I figure if they have names they should be counted.

I always thought that Frollo was the most scary. Mostly because he is so HUMAN. It's a level of 'evil' that has and does already exist within the world. So that's what's a little frightening to me.

I like them both, though I see a bit of a rehair in Shining's future. I am not looking forward to troll hair

I have kitties but I assume the same thing holds true.

Yup! I have a kitty too - I used the same idea for her food too.

As someone that is intimately involved in the school system, I honestly don't know whether or not I would send my kids to a public school (I don't have any, nor do I want children of my own). I've seen both sides of the educator coin - I was schooled privately throughout my secondary education because the public schools where I grew up were terrible. However, I also graduated before the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. I think that it makes educating children that much harder, especially as the state assessments aren't really being used to measure what they say they measure. The assessments might be reliable but they are not valid indicators of how well a school district can teach children.

My biggest issue isn't the lack of learning - since I have still seen many many kids be able to learn what they would like, my issue with with the sheer indoctrination that these kids go through. They aren't being taught to think or question things. They are being taught to look so called facts up in a book with little regard as to how they might be biased. As someone that works in "special education" I find it incredibly frustrating what teachers, administrators, and kids have to put up with because of the laws that have been passed. While I certainly don't begrudge anyone an education, school is VERY different than when I attended and that was only 10 years ago. I work in a very good school district in my area and I still don't think I would want my 'kids' to attend there.

Pink Rosedust@

To address some of your questions: I think that there is a mixture, there are a lot of teachers that are uncaring. I've done some classroom observations when a child is referred to me and have to then explain that I don't think it's the child since 2/3 of the teachers class is failing. Some of the teachers care, but get SO burnt out dealing with all of the other issues that arise that honestly, teachers really don't get to TEACH anymore. They are forced into very narrow confines of what is okay to teach based on the state curriculum standards (usually there is a legislative code). As teachers can, and have!, gotten fired if too many of their kids fail the state assessments. Many of the kids that are at my schools also never GET homework - everything is done entirely in their classes.

I also think that schools are more unsafe now than when I was in school, honestly, some of the garbage that goes on there would have gotten kids kicked out of school when I was attending. School administrators aren't allowed to do things like that anymore. Parenting is also another issue, for every 2 parents I get that are fabulous, amazing, and wonderful to work with, I get 8 that don't care one way or the other. It's very frustrating to me.  While I haven't personally worked in dirty schools, there ARE a great many that are outdated and with the funding cuts they just don't have the money to keep up the building, the staff, the materials, and everything else. It's really sad.

Quote from: Rhini on February 10, 2012, 11:25:33 PM

Is there any pet food you guys recommend, since there seem to be so many who use gross byproduct?

Canidae/Felidae, Natural Balance, Taste of the Wild, Wellness, Innova, Orijen

Acana is another one. It's made by the same company as Orijen. It's what I feed my guys.

Wardah - it isn't so much the use of by-products that is the problem. It's the fact that most dog food companies ONLY use by-products for their foods with very little REAL protein in them. You want there to be a balance, since you're absolutely right that SOME by-products aren't unhealthy for animals to have as they would be eating part of that within the wild. Essentially you want to look for a dog-food company that breaks down the ingredients and some sort of REAL protein should be within the first 3 ingredients since that is what the majority of the food is made of.

If possible, you also want to see a % breakdown of the ingredients used - for example Acana's Grassland (what my Aussie is on) is 60% protein with about 55% of that being human-grade meat sources (in this case lamb). The first 4 ingredients are boneless lamb, lamb meal (high density lamb, with water removed - actually a better protein source for dogs than straight meat in dry dog foods), salmon meal, and herring meal. All of them are real protein sources. I choose a grain free product since my pup has skin allergies so they use potato's for a binding agent.

The bottom line is: Know what goes into the dog food. You should be able to read most of the ingredient label and understand what was included in the food. Pet food choices are a personal thing - some dogs do great on the 'mac n cheese' diet (ol'roy, beneful, kibbles and bits, etc.) but other dogs will need something more specialized, just like with people.


Others that I like are Nature's Instinct and Nature's Balance.

Okay, I have ridiculously sensitive skin, so I'm very careful with my makeup and stuff. So I have been forced into learning a bunch of things.

For my skincare needs I use all natural products - If I don't KNOW what the ingredients are I don't buy the products. Mostly I use soaps/face cream from a place called - Rose of Sharon Acres. She does AMAZING organic goats-milk products.

I use her Black Beauty Bar (dead sea salt/charcoal) about x2 a week for exfoliation. Nightly I use her tea tree & lavender beauty bar (which helps with acne), In the morning I use the Tomato bar. I moisturize both morning and night with her Mango complexion cream. Best products ever honestly. I have amazing skin, even without foundation or anything and I attribute it to her products. My skin was AWFUL before I started using them about 6 months ago.

Makeup -
Primer: Either Tarte's Clean Slate or Urban Decay's facial potion Primer (prefer Clean Slate, doesn't irritate my skin)
Foundation: Tarte's Tinted moisturizer (adds a nice glow), when I need something heaver I use their medium level anti-aging foundation. They just released a full coverage one.
Finishing: Too Faced Primed and Poreless powder - light and smooth, stays on ALL day like a dream without feeling cakey or itchy.

Eyes:
   Primer: Too faced Shadow Insurance OR Urban Decay Potion Primer. Both favorites (tend to prefer UD's over Too faced).
   Shadows: Urban Decay - I love their shadows (I have both their Naked Palettes, I love them and the colors). Tarte - again, never irritated my skin (which is ridiculously sensitive). Stila is another good brand. For a cheap brand with great pigmentation and blending - you can't beat Wet and Wild - their color icon series has been good (as long as you don't want purples.)
   Mascara: I have ridiculously long lashes - so just about ANY work fine for me. I generally use the Maybelline Lash Blast ones though.
   Eye Liner: I LOVE Stila smudge sticks usually (they are creamy, easy to apply and stay forever). I also adore Urban Decay 24/7 liners. In a pinch I will use Ulta liners, but they aren't as smooth or easy to use.

Lips:
   Liner: Tarte usually, Ulta occasionally.
   Stains: These are probably my best friend. I prefer Tarte's because they last as long as advertised yet fade for when I want something different the next day.
   Glosses: I use just about everything here, I'm a lip-gloss addict.


As Eviecorn mentioned, I also like both Tarte and Urban decay because they offer cruelty free products with a good majority of them being vegan friendly as well. They both also use a lot of natural ingredients so I don't worry about what I am putting on my face. I avoid most drugstore brands because with my sensitive - ACNE PRONE- skin, I break out like a FIEND if something doesn't agree with my skin. I'm very careful about what I stick on my face and I've done a lot of research.

I like Too Faced cosmetics as a brand - however just be cautious with some of their products. I tried their foundation and primers but I can't use them because they make me break out really bad. I've heard good things about their shadows but I personally haven't tried them. Urban Decay and Tarte tend to be my go-to brands for shadows. I use cheap mascara because mostly I just need to add color - I don't have to worry about brittle lashes, short lashes, ect.

If you're looking for pigments, Sugar Pill cosmetics and M.A.C. both offer some AMAZING pigments, but I only use these once in a while.