basketcase88

My daughter has just gotten engaged to a wonderful young man. My daughter was raised LDS (Mormon) and her fiance was raised Roman Catholic. Her fiance has converted to Orthodoxy, and she's in the process of converting. I'm not 100% sure what all that entails, since I'm a practicing member of the LDS church. My question is this: From what I've studied about the Orthodox marriage ceremony, it's a sacrament (I get that) and that the ceremony lasts for over an hour. They have both expressed their desire to be married in their Orthodox church, and I support that. Since most of the guests and family are not Orthodox, I'm concerned that not only will they not "get it," but some may also become a little annoyed with the length of the service, since Western wedding services are usually a 1/2 hour, max. The bride also has grandparents (my in laws) who are quite elderly and may not even last for an hour long service. Is there a possibility that they could have a more "civil" ceremony for all their guests, and either before or afterwards, have their marriage blessed by the orthodox priest? By afterwards, I'm talking a week or so later, or maybe even the next day. I'd appreciate any information someone familiar with the Christian Orthodox Church can give me. She says it's the Antiochian Order, if that makes any difference. Thanks so much in advance.

My daughter has just gotten engaged to a wonderful young man. My daughter was raised LDS (Mormon) and her fiance was raised Roman Catholic. Her fiance has converted to Orthodoxy, and she's in the process of converting. I'm not 100% sure what all that entails, since I'm a practicing member of the LDS church. My question is this: From what I've studied about the Orthodox marriage ceremony, it's a sacrament (I get that) and that the ceremony lasts for over an hour. They have both expressed their desire to be married in their Orthodox church, and I support that. Since most of the guests and family are not Orthodox, I'm concerned that not only will they not "get it," but some may also become a little annoyed with the length of the service, since Western wedding services are usually a 1/2 hour, max. The bride also has grandparents (my in laws) who are quite elderly and may not even last for an hour long service. Is there a possibility that they could have a more "civil" ceremony for all their guests, and either before or afterwards, have their marriage blessed by the orthodox priest? By afterwards, I'm talking a week or so later, or maybe even the next day. I'd appreciate any information someone familiar with the Christian Orthodox Church can give me. She says it's the Antiochian Order, if that makes any difference. Thanks so much in advance.

Hi. I have a question about the rule about the liquids/gels on airplanes for domestic US travel. I know about their 311 rule--they have to be in containers less than 3 oz. each, and all your little containers have to fit inside a 1 quart Ziploc bag, flat. Do the containers have to be the travel size containers that certain products come in (like toothpaste, etc) that you can buy at Wal Mart for about $1 each, or can you buy just plain little plastic bottles, put your stuff (shampoo, moisturizer, etc.) in them, and then put those in the qt. Ziploc? I just use lots of cosmetic products that aren't made in travel sizes, and don't really want to check my bag on my next flight, especially since now they've decided to charge per each piece of checked luggage. I can pack tight, but my problem is my cosmetics, skin care, hair care and makeup products. If anyone knows if it matters if the stuff is in a pre-printed bottle or not, I'd appreciate an answer. Thanks in advance!

Hi all. I am an avid seamstress, quilter, dressmaker, etc. However, my choices for buying fabric in my hometown (Kansas City) are pretty limited to 1 high end fabric store and JoAnn's Etc. We do have plenty of quilting stores that sell quilting fabric though, but not much if you're sewing apparel. Would you share your favorite web sites that sell fabric with me? I'm specifically looking for some silk to line my daughter's prom dress which will be sewn from some silk charmeuse that I bought at Mood Fabrics in NYC, so it needs to be fairly lightweight. I'm just having a very hard time finding stuff online, and JoAnn's doesn't have anything, and the one decent store in town doesn't have anything either. Thanks in advance!

I have a sibling getting married soon, and the wedding is in a city that's 800 miles from where I live. Has basically stated that all siblings, their spouses AND their children should be in attendance at the wedding. The wedding is the day before my daughter, who's a HS senior, starts taking her final exams, and will almost definitely have an exam the morning after the wedding. I also have a 14 yo son with autism, who does not do well at these events, because I've had 3 other siblings get married this past year, and he's been absolutely miserable at each one. Each wedding we've had to travel over 1000 miles to. My sibling is saying that if my husband and I don't bring our children, they will be very angry. We have decided our children are not going, we feel as their parents it is not in their best interests to attend. Do you feel sibling is out of line requiring the children to attend? I thought it was a wedding "invitation" not a summons to jury duty.

My oldest child is going to be a HS senior this school year. I'm looking for information on what other parents have done to help their child get ready for that transition in their lives. Everything from banking, to cleaning, to doing laundry, everything that your child needed to learn in order to live on their own--even in a dorm setting. If you have some tips that have helped both you as the parent, and your child as a student, I'd love if it you could share those. If you're a current college student, I'd love to hear how much your parents help you out currently, how you guys handle issues such as spending money, going home, car issues, etc. Or, if you tried something, and it blew up in your face, please share that as well. Thank you in advance from a parent of a class of 2008 student!

My oldest child is going to be a HS senior this school year. I'm looking for information on what other parents have done to help their child get ready for that transition in their lives. Everything from banking, to cleaning, to doing laundry, everything that your child needed to learn in order to live on their own--even in a dorm setting. If you have some tips that have helped both you as the parent, and your child as a student, I'd love if it you could share those. If you're a current college student, I'd love to hear how much your parents help you out currently, how you guys handle issues such as spending money, going home, car issues, etc. Or, if you tried something, and it blew up in your face, please share that as well. Thank you in advance from a parent of a class of 2008 student!

Hi, I will be visiting Lucerne for the first time this summer with my daughter's choir, and a friend has told me to look for lace while in Switzerland. Can anyone tell me where in Lucerne would be a good place to look? We will be there for 4 days, however we already have alot of our time blocked out with the tour company we'll be with. I will have a couple of afternoons free while the students are in rehearsal. Thanks in advance!

My side of the family has all the grandkids and adult kids exchange gifts through a name draw. My sister's kids drew my kids names out of the name draw, and they haven't received anything yet. Should I call my sister, because my kids drew 2 of her kids names, and we sent their gifts a couple of weeks ago. Or should I just forget it and after Christmas tell my siblings that my family will not be participating anymore? I don't care about the gifts themselves, because my kids have more than enough, but if you're going to participate in a gift exchange, and draw a name, AND accept a gift, shouldn't you give the gift you drew the name for? My sister pulls garbage like this all the time, and lives out of state, so they would've had to ship anything they got. I wouldn't even mind if it were me, but it's my kids. Any help/ideas would be appreciated. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

They've asked that we not send peanut butter sandwiches, since there's a child with peanut allergies? Why are these schools and camps doing all this? Why are they inconveniencing the many so that the one can have a false sence of security, thinking there's no peanuts around? Also, my daugher says they're not providing a refrigerator, which means if I send her a turkey sandwich, I also have to send it in a cooler with a cool pack, as opposed to sending everything in a lunch bag that she can just throw away when she's done. I just don't understand why the kid with the allergy can't just eat lunch separate from everyone else, or why can't they create a special place for him/her and ban the peanuts there, and then any kids w/o peanut butter can join him/her? I'm not trying to blast those w/serious allergies, but I'm not the one with the allergies, so why should I have to suffer right along with them? My daughter's a very picky eater too so this is doubly hard for her. TIA