That was a great article, Allyson, and good ideas.

I meant to say exactly this. So, um, ditto?

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Back home from celebrating the MiL's birthday. Fun was had by all and there was only one high tension moment, which is a big win when this entire family gets together. Only our standard poodle puking in the back of the car when we still had an hour to drive home marred the excellent weekend and, really, the poor guy felt worse than we did.

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To go with smoked salmon, I made roasted potatoes with spinach and mixed in a couple tablespoons of fancy sweet onion mustard. YUM. I feel so Martha.

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Oh, and the dark chocolate chili cookie recipe. It was crumbly so I added more butter. I never got to the point where I could make a roll and slice it, so I just did it drop cookie style and it came out fine. I didn`t have chili flakes so I substituted cayenne at half the amount You could definitely taste the pepper, so not for the faint of heart. It`s still hot on my tongue now.

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The tense moment was this: FiL is overweight and diabetic and refuses to eat well. This is not helped by the MiL being a great cook and doing things like making homemade biscotti to have with her morning coffee. Their daughter (a nurse)'s feeling is that MiL should stop bringing any sweets in the house--she can keep them at work if she wants them. MiL's feeling is that she likes them, she makes them and if she shouldn't suffer if he has no self-control. She's totally right, he has no self-control, but his health is in a really precarious position and neither of them will listen to any advice. This came up after he cut himself a huge slice of chocolate birthday cake for breakfast.

It's hard when you love someone and they are literally killing themselves before your eyes.

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I just read in an article that Hardison and Voodoo Tatum= same actor.

• that's* where I know him from. I've wondered for months. I heart Hardison, though.

Boosters, I know. Rally girls, nsm. I had a couple cheerleader classmates in high school...they really seemed bubbly, though, not stuck-up. Although maybe they picked less pathetic candidates to torture? I think MIL should think of protecting his health as more of a team effort, Scrappy. For better or worse and what-have you.

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Scrappy, is he on medication, I hope?

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It's hard when you love someone and they are literally killing themselves before your eyes.

It is hard. Also, if your MiL does stop baking, that will not necessarily inhibit the sweets consumption of your FiL. When my father was diagnosed with diabetes, the whole family went to a session with a diabetes educator. My mother tweaked her menu-planning to fit the eating plan described at that session. And she stopped baking sweets. For a while, my dad did great with his diet. He of course ate what my mother put in front of him at the dinner table. He lost some weight. He quit smoking for about three months. Then gradually, he started cheating. He started buying sweets at the store. After a while, my mother began to wonder if she had kept baking if at least it would have spared him some of the excessive sugar added for preservative. If your MiL does not provide fresh, homemade baked goods, it won't necessarily stop your FiL from getting any.

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Lauren Bush is engaged to Ralph Lauren's son, David Lauren. After their wedding, her name will be Lauren Lauren.

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I'm glad I'm not diabetic, because now I want a cookie. Or some cake.

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