Oh Aubrey! It will get better....really! Those kids (and your dh) will grow up. You will forget these days fast! :grouphug:

I'm so glad I logged on and did not miss your story. Sounds like a wonderful start. Congratulations Elizabeth!

I generally buy stuff each fall that we need to make our usual meals. I put away jam and pickles. The farmer I buy beef from sells in the fall...1/2 and 1/4 cows. So our freezer is fairly full. The only thing I do not stock up on is toiletries and paper products.....I might start that too, if only because I don't want to head out that way for just one thing. I am presuming you saw the previous post about simplylivingsmart.com? It is a great site, I spent about an hour on it last night. I am Canadian so stocking up is in my blood....it has fruitful benefits even without the economy so shaky.

I've done that with my favorite cast iron pot. It was badly rusted and I took a machine to it. It survived and so did I. :D Smart man your dh!

We do this for some subjects but could not for others. I just finished Canada, My Country today and plan to start NOEO Science next week. Truthfully, we could not do this for spelling and math. To much gets forgotten without daily review. You could always give it a shot for a few weeks and see how it goes. I do find it easier to plan and implement. Which means it is a winner idea here for those subjets that can handle it. ;) It really boils down to finding a good subject that kids are interested in and do it until we have finished the curr..

How scarry! I'm hoping all are resting and recovering. Praying for all!

One page here for the most part but Dd has been wanting to do more. I know that you can skip them if the child has it mastered it but dd has a habit of forgetting things that were once mastered so she does every. single. one. Like it or not. She just started Delta and has been whizzing through it very fast. So, I require one but she does more when she feels like it. Gotta love that MUS!

:D:D:D Happy day! Congrats!

Good to here...I've been looking at it for 2009. The format looks easy to use and the content is definately high quality. Thanks!

God's rightful place in their lives and the world. Extravagant love. Self control. Self motivation. Reading, writing and arithmatic. ;) I think in that order.

We are finishing our debt repayment plan a little faster than we originally planned. December is our next goal and we are well on our way. I am now on a tighter budget with no lea way, whereas before I had the freedom to borrow from our general account to make it through to the end of the month. We have an international student that gives us a regular amount of money for staying here and eating with us (although he often chooses not to). So my new food budget is $600 for six people...one rarely here and the other a three year old. No exceptions. (I'm the hard nose not dh....he is so laid back it is funny.) I'm planning on potty training ds who is three so I can save a little on diapers and wipes. :ack2: We are eating up *all* our leftovers now. I'm finding that when the fridge is full I lose things in the back and it goes to waste. The less there is the less we waste. I think that is a profound truth that has international implications. I have said we are not going out for dinner anymore but truthfully we will eat out three times this week...once was a $6 pizza after soccer, once will be church supper out and one is a date lunch with dh that we planned two weeks ago.;) I did more canning and jamming this year than ever before and actually picked up free veggies that were offered at our Kindermusic class....previously I would have left them for others more in need. Oh, we are not changing our investments right now. If it's there it rides out the storm. Wish us luck! We are in a good place. Tight enough to feel like we are being responsible but not so tight that we do not have options. I sure am looking forward to when we find out how this all plays out. It's like a cancer test....the worst part is not knowing. BTW, I love posts like this. I am alway looking for ways to make less stretch and see others are doing it too. Thanks!

We celebrate here but stay with innocenct sometimes homemade costums. I understand your point and I would never take the safety of my kids lightly (which is why dh goes with them and takes flashlights for each child). However, I miss the days when parents could trust neighbours to allow children to be safe on Halloween night. I have had the priveledge of growing up in smaller communities and Halloween was like a miracle. Only one night a year could you get candy by going door to door. I also like to give out candy and talk with all the kids that come knocking. I see it as a ministry to children that grow up in a less that safe world. I'm trying to bring back the good old days!!! One Halloween at a time! ;)

:iagree: with all the MUS suggestions. My dd sounds very similar to yours. I tried everything to get her to do math but nothing ever seemed to click. At the beginning of the year (Jan) I decided that it did not matter if she was behind. My goal was to give her a strong foundation in math that would give her a place to start. We had been using MUS for a year before that but it was still a struggle. In a less than heartless way, I decided that there would be no math program that would make her happy about math. I choose to stay with MUS (and I would reccomend you switch to it) and I told her she needed to do one page a day, no more no less. There were a few tough days to start with but they were mild compared to the previous ones. Now, I can happily say, she loves the challenge of math and is on grade level in just 10 months of work. She did 4 pages yestarday on her own. She feels confident about math and really likes it. There is something about the program that is appealing to her. It is a good one for reluctant math students and it is *easy* to implement for a 180 day school year. Slow and steady gets the job done. I would reccomend picking a cirr and not changing, doing one day at a time and getting her use to the rhythm. It is a good life skill that she needs and it is hill worth dying on. All the best! You can do it!

I googled it. Bail out costs are $2 K per person. So for our family it would be $10 K. Still a nice amount but not the same. :tongue_smilie: Anyhow, it would still help out a bit but not get to the heart of the issue. There are a few finanical institutions but they do not mortage for all the people and some people would use the money for things like medical bills and credit card debt and such so it would not go straight to the mortgage companies in trouble. I'll get out of the way now since I'm only adding wrong info. :001_huh:

Now, that $46 K amount I heard from a friend and I have not done the numbers myself. I think I want too as it seems important to me now. But I do not have time until tonight. $700 billion divided by the US population = ? My calculator does not go up that high. However, as I understand it, the govenment plans on recouping some of this money by reselling the property/mortgages at a later date. Right? So for now in theory it is not lost money the way it would be if it was given to me. I also would question how people get included as you are always going to miss someone. For example, I am Canadian living in the US and did not receive the stimulus bonus everyone else did. I would be very upset at not receiving $46K, it was hard enough not receiving the first one since I am part of the economy that the stimulus check was suppose to stimulate. kwim? Intresting ideas!

I think I am getting what you are saying. Correct me if I'm wrong. The total bailout package divided by the number of American people is something like $46 K. (If that number is wrong then stop reading) You are suggesting giving that to the individaul people of the US and getting them to put it on their debt. Right. It is an interesting idea. Forgiving $46 K of my debt would change things for me considerably! Which would free me up to "trickle up" and buy those things that I need or want thus improving the economy. However, it is hard to imaging that all people would be responsible enough to deal with such an windfall. It would be nice to recieve though. Just not likely to make it to it's intended destination 100% of the time. I will smile all day thinking of the bailout that could have been. :001_smile:

Go to the Doctor! If Dh thinks it's worth it then go. If there are other things to talk about there's another reason to go. Take care of yourself. Find a friend that can take your kids and go. Please! Go! :001_smile:

I'm thinking of you too. Healing is hard work. Know it is worth it. :grouphug:

I have done fairly well at Walmart. They are cheaper than Target. I do not have good thrift stores here that I have the time to shop through so they are out for me. Good Luck!

I'm so sorry for you. At least you can put up your feet and rest a bit. I hope you feel better in a few days.

:iagree: We did that here a while back and it was a big hit.

Elizabeth I'm rooting for you tonight. It could be tonight. My labors always started at night and I think that is not uncommon. Also, in your favor is your impatience. When you have finally had enough that's when it all starts. If you've done your nesting then you are sure to have that babe soon. I'm sure you will hold him in your arms very soon and the waiting will all pass away into distant memories. :grouphug: Thinking of you tonight!

Sorry, a plc is personal line of credit. HEL is a home equity loan. We use different accronims I afraid. Anyway you slice it, it was a lot of credit for one family. :001_huh: