My mom & I went to a local independent toy store and took advantage of their 30% sale this morning. Scored the Minecraft Stop Motion Animation kit (dd11 dying for it!) and a couple other highly-desired items for the nephews. AND. . . . . . . they gift wrapped everything for me! :hurray:

Settlers of Catan was a family purchase inspired by the board. . . . now we own every single variation, and it started eldest dd into her gaming craze. I was also a Circa pusher back in the day. Sorry for those of you I led astray :D

Birmingham, AL has an AMAZING science museum downtown - McWane Science Center. We love it!

Phil Vischer's new series, What's in the Bible, has a GREAT Christmas special available - "Why Do They Call It Christmas?". Even I learned something!

Yes, I think a mutual friend to handle the transfer is wonderful. We learned just not to try to "guess", just to be thankful and trust that God would bless the giver for their generosity. It has been unbelievable humbling and encouraging at the same time.

We've been the recipient of gifts like this more times than is comfortable to recall. . . . . and for us, it is easier when it comes anonymously. In whatever form, it is a huge blessing, and you are a wonderful friend to do this.

With Barrow in attendance, redeeming his sorry reputation, and Isobel offering medical advice on the side, whilst the good Doctor Clarkson arrives too late to help, but declares his undying love for said Isobel, thus fulfilling all hopes and dreams of fans since season 1. Just throwin' that out there.

I was naughty, and found some spoilers online that make me hope that those of us on #teamedith won't be disappointed. Just hints. But still.

Ack!!!! Well, that was NOT what I expected. Dang it! Can't Edith be happy- for once??????? Remind me again -how long do I have to wait for Bertie to make an appearance and do the right thing by Edith? PUHLEEZE?????

I currently am working with a student in my chemistry tutorial who fits part of this description. I think I'm getting a little - jaded - on homeschooling lately. I've seen too many examples of parents dropping the ball on their kids for me to continue to hold the mantra I used to when I was younger, "Homeschooling is a parental right! No one should tell them how to do it!" i want to believe that still, but. . . . . .. I guess I've just seen a lot.

I'm super excited about a couple of things - and the budget is tight, so even more so that we've found some things that work! For dh - the kids are all going in to get him Family Tree Maker. He's been digging into genealogy again now that we are on "somewhat" more stable footing, and enjoying it. Plus, middle dd is super fascinated by family history, so they're enjoying it together I'm digitizing as many of his CDs as possible. I've bought the external hard drive already, and am slowly chipping away at importing. He's got about 300. And for dh's family - we've recently come across some family historical records from his family of origin (his dad emigrated from a European nation that is hard to get records from). We're going to gather everything together and create a genealogy "story" for his family members. No ideas for the kids yet, but it'll come! They're teenagers, they want money. Ya know.

Can I vote Daisy, Mary, and Carson off the island? PLEEEEASE? They all deserve each other. :glare:

And ftr - my undergrad degree was in music education, and we had some really interesting coursework on folk rhymes, songs, and variations that have been passed from one area to another. This is kinda interesting stuff for me!

X marks the spot (draw x on back) A circle and a dot (draw circle on back, poke in middle) Up the river down the river (run fingers up then down back) Cootie shot! (tickle in the middle of back) Cold breeze (blow on person's neck) Tight squeeze (squeeze shoulder) Egg. . . . . (put fist on head) Smashing down your head (smack fist, and pull hands down head) That's the one I learned!

Sigh. My obligatory other is for, "When the budget says it's no longer a possibility". I had highlights done once, loved it, but now I'm starting to gray more than I'd like and we just can't afford anything. My 11yo did announce at lunch that she wanted to save her money to help me color my hair, if that counts!

I'm glad you stayed. Scariest time of my life was about 3 years ago; I was home sick, vomiting etc from a bad reaction to an antibiotic. My kids were home, dh was out at work. i was so sick, I couldn't lift my head off my pillow or even call to my kids. They were oblivious and thought I was sleeping. By the time dh got home, I was dehydrated. Managed to rehydrate with the advice of a friend who was an MD, but man - that was frightening. Hope he's on the mend!

Just out of curiosity - whatever happened with this? Anyone using now?

Just. . . . . . :grouphug: This needs to be heard. Thank you for sharing your heart.

My last was born when I was 36. I had a hard time adjusting to the fact that I was hitting a life change, and that we were no longer the "young, cute family having babies". . . . . . part of my struggle was not being ready to accept another stage of life, rather than wanting another child. {Circumstances then dictated that we were done, anyways. . .. . . . } That said, I'd really, REALLY listen to your doctor. 5 kids with a healthy mama is very important. I'm also all for big families, but finding now that they are older they are SO MUCH MORE WORK than they were when they were young. Oh, it's happy times, and I love the people they are and the adults they are becoming, but it is sooooooo much more mental and emotional work than I bargained for. Just my .02. Since you asked, and all ;)

This expresses perfectly what I'm trying to get at. I'm actually fairly competent and self-sufficient; the pipe thing was supposed to have been taken care of last week, but taking my ds to college and a no-show repairman pushed it to this week when he got home. If I try to do everything myself, though - then he doesn't feel needed, and this has been a tendency throughout our marriage. He's the cleaner/housekeeper and I'm the fixer-upper :) Works for us. Just continually evaluating and tweaking how to make this "normal" and not a special occasion. Appreciate everyone's thoughts!

Sadly, no. :( we do have a friend coming over to fix it. We are digging out from years of unemployment and underemployment. From January until August, when he wasn't traveling, his salary in the office didn't even cover our bills. We have a "little" - very little - bit of traction right now. A lot of this comes down to my approach to his being gone. We can't see it as a rare occurence/vacation/party time, but we need to stick to schedules and routines as much as possible.

We're adjusting to a "new normal", and I need advice. My dh is on a work schedule where he's out of town for two weeks (Sunday night through two Saturdays later, so 13 days), then home for a week, leaving on the next weekend. So he got home Saturday late afternoon, he'll work in the office this week, then fly out next weekend. We've lived apart before, so I should know this stuff, but I guess I'm looking for reassurance or advice or a kick in the pants. Here are the two things that are bothering me: 1. My dh is a MUCH more self-disciplined person than I am, so when he's gone there's a temptation for things to go out the window. Junky dinners, staying up too late, things like that. I do work some part-time jobs, and the girls are in co-ops with a rigorous ballet schedule, but it's more my personal stuff that goes to pot. I need to exercise, and I'm not. I need to eat healthier, and I'm not. That kind of stuff. 2. Just today, I mentioned that we have a leaky pipe downstairs that needs to be looked at. We talked about it before he left, but he totally forgot. (I suspect he has a touch of adult add, honestly). He said he just feels so disconnected. He's coped before with lists and stuff, but when he's traveling his job is really consuming. Any advice? What has helped you? We do facetime as often as we can, and text and call, so we are connecting while he's gone. It's just- harder than I thought it would be, and we have months and months of this to go. Thanks!

This. I'm known to spend too much time in fanfiction or on the internet when I'm overwhelmed with life. Please find a way to get her outside help. Sounds like it's time.

As a music teacher - look, it happens. I personally don't think it's GOOD for a student to stay with a teacher forever, and clearly you've identified some problems. Once you've been teaching a while, you expect to have students leave to go to other teachers. Hopefully, she'll have that perspective.

Not a kid story, but I told my biology class this joke yesterday - Two bacteria walk into a restaurant. The manager looks at them and says, "You have to leave! We don't serve bacteria here!" One bacterium replied, "It's okay. . . . .we're. . . . . . . (wait for it) STAPH!" bah-dum- chi!!! (ok, maybe you didn't laugh, but you groaned a little? :D)