Q: Thanksgiving will be here before we know it! If you're like us, you have an extra pumpkin around the house right now. I'd like to challenge you to Thirty Days of Thankfulness for the month of November. By the end of the month, you'll have one thankful pumpkin on display to kick off the holidays! You'll also have a family that realizes they have much to be thankful for! I thought of this idea one year when I was visiting family. I was trying to think of a way to use a little pumpkin that my niece and nephew had for decoration. So we sat around the table and tried to list everything we were thankful for. As they contributed, I wrote keywords with a marker all over the pumpkin. Even when we were done with our brainstorming activity, they would think of things to add to our thankful pumpkin. It's a simple yet meaningful activity that encourages children (and adults) to find things they are grateful for in their lives. When you're not writing on it, place the pumpkin in a spot where everyone can see it every day. It serves as a reminder, not only for all the good things in life, but also to continue the challenge with quality family discussions. If you made these decorative pumpkins, and don't want to save them, you could paint them a neutral color and write or paint all over them too. We're going to use a regular picked-from-the-patch pumpkin in our house. The following document gives brief instructions for this activity. You can clip it to the fridge for this year and/or file it away for next year if you'd like. Or, you can make the conversation more interesting by cutting out the prompt strips from the document and placing them in a jar or container. Each day when you sit down to write on your thankful pumpkin, you can have your child choose a strip to start the discussion. Why did the author have a brainstorming session? - because he/she needed ideas for Christmas dinner - because she needed Christmas gift ideas - because an idea was needed to use a pumpkin - not enough information
A: because an idea was needed to use a pumpkin

Q: Renegade Republicans who are trying to force a vote on immigration reform in the House of Representatives survived an attempt by leaders of their party to block their efforts. The renegades, a group of moderate Republicans, are five signatures short of the 25 needed to bypass leadership and force floor votes on several immigration proposals through a rare procedural tactic known as a discharge petition. Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, has described the discharge petition as "futile" because it lacks any guarantee that a bill would become law in the face of a threatened presidential veto. But it was House conservatives who defeated the $867 million farm bill Friday when their own move to get an immigration bill to the House floor failed. The House Freedom Caucus a conservative voting bloc in the U.S. House had offered to vote for the farm bill in exchange for a promise that one immigration bill would be brought up for a vote. The hope was that the offer would be enough to keep some Republican House members from signing the discharge petition. The immigration bill, known as the Goodlatte Bill, is a conservative approach to immigration that would provide legal status to undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but only in addition to changes in the U.S. legal immigration system. The Goodlatte Bill is opposed by many moderate Republicans. For them, the deal offered an opportunity to negotiate on legislation that might win the support of President Donald Trump and resolve the status of DACA recipients. The deal fell through, and the farm bill failed to pass by a 193-213 vote Friday. "It's not a fatal blow it's just a reorganize," House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows told reporters shortly after the vote, "At this point, we really need to deal with immigration in an effective way." Meadows said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy negotiated in good faith on the immigration issue, but would not elaborate on why a deal was elusive. Why were House conservatives defeated on a farm bill? - not enough support from Trump - not enough support from Democrats - not enough votes - not enough information
A: not enough votes

Q: Regular readers of Beauty Best Friend will know that wherever possible I use organic bodycare products, and that I simply adore the organic brand Botanicals. A British brand whose aim is to create products 'which are as close to nature as possible', their bodycare and skincare is simply second to none and they're certified by The Soil Association. Over the past couple of years I've tried several of their products including my favourite Cleansing Melt and I haven't found anything that I don't like yet! This month I've been trying their Deep Peace Aromatic Body Oil which arrived with me just at the right time my husband had man flu, I had a cold and I was looking after our 16 month old toddler alone. Deep Peace was just what my body was craving! I was sent a small glass bottle of the oil to try, but the full size product is a larger 100ml pump bottle (it also comes in 200ml and 1 litre bottles too). The directions say you can use it in two ways, either massage it into shoulders, neck and arms before bed, or apply it all over the body after batheing. After a bath or shower is the best time I feel as the skin is damp and warm and the Deep Peace oil helps lock moisture into the skin and the warmth helps the scent to lift. This Aromatic Massage Oil is 99% organic and the ingredients include Lavender, Rose Geranium and Orange Peel oils. The fragrance is very subtle and perfect if you don't like products that smell overpowering. It's a bit 'planty', I think it's the scent of the Rose Geranium that comes through the most, and personally I don't absolutely love the fragrance, but it's pleasant enough and it does help the head to feel calmed (even when nursing a husband with man flu!). What did the author's husband eat while he had the flu? - Mac and Cheese - Chicken noodle soup and crackers - not enough information - Grilled cheese and tomato soup
A: not enough information