I just signed up. I may be in over my head too but it looks interesting.

Now I'm very curious but I'm too chicken to find out for myself. :D I fell for a link my dad sent me once and I ended up screaming at the top of my lungs and laughing and crying all at the same time. Scared me to death!

1) What's for breakfast at your house? French toast for the kids, I had rice with chicken and sweet potatoes 2) What kind of car do you drive? 94 Subaru Justy that gets 30 mpg--woo hoo! 3) What's your weather today? warm and sunny 4) Are your toenails painted? If so, what color? kind of an orangey-pink 5) Read any good books lately? What was it? no, I have no time for reading 6) Is your bed made? well, the blankets are pulled up 7) What's for dinner? lentil soup and salad 8) Name something your dc have done today that made you smile. I laugh when my 2 yo says "Backyardigans." She is wearing a Backyardigans T-shirt today. 9) What color is your bathroom rug? dark brown 10) Who's your favorite artist? John William Waterhouse, I love his painting of The Lady of Shalott 11) What's your favorite morning beverage? decaf coffee with cream and sugar and a splash of caffeinated coffee 12) Do you have any toys from when you were a child? no, we lost everything in a house fire 11 years ago 13) Do you collect anything? coupons 14) Are you looking forward to the holidays? (whichever days you celebrate) YES! 15) What are you wearing today? capri pants and an orange tank top and flip-flops--I'm remembering why I like Arizona!

I did the trial but didn't save much. I could figure out what coupons to use by looking at the sales fliers. What saves me the most money is shopping at CVS and Walgreens. I get all of our vitamins, shampoos, soaps, lotion, toothpaste, etc., for free or next to nothing. Hot Coupon World is a free message board that can help you plan your shopping trips. You get coupons from the Sunday paper (I usually buy four papers) or from anyone who gets the paper but doesn't use the coupons, buy them on eBay, some people dig through recycling bins, and some you can print online.

You mean there are some checkout people who actually acknowledge their customers when they approach the register?! :001_smile:

This is what I wonder too. Also, if you don't believe in original sin then where does sin come from? Is it possible for someone to go through their entire life and never sin? Then Christ didn't actually need to die since we have it in our own power to live a sinless life.

Oh that sweet darling little boy!! I would have hugged and kissed all over him too. :lol: He is very trusting of his mom, isn't he? :001_smile:

I love Corner Gas on WGN. It's a Canadian import. It's about the only show I do watch.

I don't know how or why legalizing prostitution would make it safer or healthier. :confused: I don't think women engaging in legal prostitution are any less of a victim than those walking the streets.

Yep. My favorite thing to do on a rainy day is to curl up with a cup of tea and a great book. My 10 ds hates to read. Really hates it. I can't get him interested in anything. He would much rather mow the lawn, build something, even clean his bedroom than read. He is very hands-on. Last week he started Little House on the Prairie. It's an easy read but I don't care because it is the only book I have ever seen him not mind reading. Maybe there is hope after all! You know, the world needs doers too. We all can't sit around reading when there is work to be done. :001_smile:

My faculty advisor in college made a comment once about how she remembered being scared when Reagan was re-elected. She said that she and her friends were so worried he would lead us into a nuclear war. She really thought it was the end of the world. I was very surprised by that. My parents thought Reagan was great and I couldn't imagine anyone actually believing Reagan would start a nuclear war. But, yeah, there were a few people who were worried!

Yes I did read it. It was okay. Most of it was set in Ireland so it had a very different feel from GWTW.

But "tomorrow is another day!" I always figured that Scarlett went back to Tara, cleaned up her act and eventually found Rhett again, they had more beautiful babies and lived happily ever after. And don't tell me any different! :001_smile:

Exactly why I don't read the Drudge Report anymore.

That's part of why I rarely watch Fox news and my political views are right of center. I watch the debates on Fox but some of the other news programs are so over the top. I don't watch other news channels either so I don't know if Fox is more outrageous than any other channel. Sometimes you can see the glee on the reporters faces. I guess they are imagining our horrified faces at home as we watch. Sometimes dh and I will watch the local news and laugh at most of the stories that are considered news. We live near Phoenix, why do we care about a big fire in some building in, say, St. Louis? Why would that be considered news here?! I think it is because some reporter got some amazing video. And of course the more deviant and sensational the story, all the better. Do we in Phoenix really need to know about some child molester in New Jersey? But people tune in just so they can shake their heads and tsk-tsk over the story I guess. :confused: I don't get it.

Some of this depends on where you live too. I remembered something my dh told me about skiing in the western US. He said it was very common in the spring for girls to ski in bikinis and guys to ski shirtless. I didn't believe him until we lived in the mountains for a summer. It's weird but the sun is very warm but the temperature isn't that high and there is still snow everywhere.

:lol: It would bother me too. But just with my kids I notice some are more tolerant to cold than others. My littlest one and my dh are rarely cold. When the rest of us are shivering, wearing sweatshirts and long pants, they prefer shorts and tank tops. Dh always tells me that our kids whine about everything and believe me, we would know it if they were cold!!

What is even more alarming is when people base their opinion on Saturday Night Live sketches. I listened to a lady the other day tell me all about Sarah Palin and then later in the conversation found out she was getting her information from SNL! I mean, vote for whoever you want to, I don't care but please, please vote only after you have studied the issues and please use sources other than late-night television. Oh my.

Why wouldn't universal health care work here? I have a friend who used to live in France and said the system there was wonderful. Like Canadians on this board have said, Canadians are happy with their system and English people seem happy with theirs. Americans on the other hand like to point to those systems as hopelessly flawed. (As if ours isn't! :)) I just wonder what it is about our country that makes it seem impossible to do well. And yes from what I've heard I'd agree our military health care system is awful. I don't like the idea of government paying for health care. We've been uninsured for 7 years except for one of those years but we used Medicaid because our dd needed surgery. I loved not worrying about whether or not we could go to the doctor. During that year our ds got a nasty staph infection in his leg. If we weren't insured, I might have waited longer to see the doctor and tried a few more things at home first. If it had been a more aggressive bacteria, a decision like that could have cost ds his leg. I guess I just think it is such a shame that in a country as rich as ours people still can't afford health care. I think we could make better choices with our money. Do we as Americans really need such giant houses if we can't pay for health care ourselves? I'd say almost all Americans live beyond their means. If most of us economized a little more, maybe we could afford health coverage. But there are still many people living on the edge and can't economize any more than they already do. I'm not sure what the solution is.

We love Great Big Sea here. They are a folk band from Newfoundland, sort of a Celtic rock feel and many traditional songs too. It's a little weird to have my 2yo walking around singing "the old black rum's got a hold on me" but their music is so much fun. A lot of their songs have to do with drinking but many others don't. We laugh and dance all around the house. I think most others in our Christian homeschool group would have a fit about many of their songs.

I wonder if this should apply to other areas as well. When I went to college, I joined the Young Republicans. All groups had to have a faculty advisor. There wasn't a single faculty member on campus who was a Republican. We settled for using the only libertarian faculty member. All others were registered Democrats. Schools that hire only Democrats should lose their federal money too. :)

Thanks! I heard that phrase earlier and it was driving me nuts. No, it wasn't in a song!

what does "a New York minute" mean? Is it a long time or a short time?

Now that would be an interesting debate! :lol: I watched some of it, but I guess I'm just soured on this whole election.

For one of my sons I had to serve the soup on a plate and so he could group things together like the potatoes, carrots, etc. Maybe he will like it better that way. I made some Beef and Cabbage Stew the other night. It was really good. I browned about 1 lb. ground beef then put it in the crockpot. I sauteed some onions and celery in the same pan as I browned the meat. When the onion started to get soft I added a bunch of chopped cabbage and softened that too. Add that to the crockpot and then add a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes. I used some with Italian spices. Add a couple cups of water then cook on low for about 6 hours or so. I bet it would be better with some chopped green pepper and maybe a little cayenne pepper to get it some spiciness. I served it over rice.