We lived in NY State two hours north of the city. Dh was in Scotland for work and would be gone for 2 more days. I was caring for a friend's dd, taking her to the school bus and walking home. Stopped in at said friends house and found him watching TV. We did not have cable so I watched in horor for a while and in an act of self preservation left for lunch. Dd was only 18 months and oblivious. I cannot remember picking up friend's dd after school....shock I suppose. Dh was grounded in Scotland for another week and the border was closed to Canada (my country of origin). We had almost $25 in our bank account and I was scared. I sat in the dark listening to the radio for hours after dd went to bed. For days, I watched the newspaper spectualate about poisoning the Hudson River and picked up water bottles with my last $25 dollars. Those water bottles were still there when we moved a year later. It is a time I do not ever want to relive but it gives me perspective when I hear about war in other countries.

Not living in Canada here but did for 30 plus years. I think I can still answer this. Many Canadians own there own homes with the help of a mortgage just like the US. Last time I was living in Canada the mortage companies required 20 percent down payment to start a mortage (although I knew of people that got around that with a second mortgage for part of the down payment). One of the great ways 20 percent can be accomplished is that the companies can allow you to use your RRSP (like a 401K) as down payment for first time homebuyers as long as you promise to replay in ten years. So people can manage 20 percent if they use their retirement savings plan. Canadians tend to have more savings than Americans, so it works. Canadians are very house proud and I have alot of fond memories of my parents and the neighbours gardening and keeping up the property. Most of the neighbourhoods there are very well cared for, large cities have pockets but they are noticably different. Rentals are owned by private people and companies much like here in the US. There are often areas which are commonly known as subsidized housing. I beleive these are still owned privately just a lot less expensive an some money *may* come from the gov. HTH

My experience has been going from Canada to the US. I can tell you a different side to it. When we left Canada we were totally debt free. We were travelling and dd had a mole close to her eye that required plasitic surgery. It was one of those red moles that infants get and it sat high up by the bridge of her nose, resulting in a tear on one corner when she rubbed her eye when tired. It bled alot and would not clot and heal. So, when we were days away from leaving the country the doctor took her lunch break to give dd emergency plastic surgery. No long waiting list, no big bill in the mail, just genuine human kindness. Within two years, we were $15,000 in debt and disagreeing about wheather dd should go to the doctor for a cough that she had had for 10 days. We lived in an apartment that often lost heat and we paid almost $1000 a month for it in NY state. We were elegible income wise for all manners of subsidy but since dh was on a work Visa we could not apply. We could not even get WIC. We paid a very high price (financially and emotionally) for the post doc opportunity dh took for three years. I do not think that if a country gives payments in the form of child tax credit it is encouraging higher fertility rates. In fact, the US has a fertiltiy rate of 2.10 per woman and Canada has a rate of 1.57. This indicates to me that Canadians are having smaller families in spite of the Child Tax Credits given them. I too have never known a Canadian to enter the US for healthcare. Several of my family members have received excellent care for cancer treatment in very quick time in Canada. And one beat extrodinary odds. I'd love to return but it is not possible right now.

Unfortunately, this is what I had suspected. Some people really like them and some people do not care for them. My kids like them but the ones that we all want our library does not have. I had not considered a difference btw the science and history ones. It makes sense that the history topics would suffer from a lack of connections. Perhaps if we only used them as a supplement the connections could be drawn from other sources.?. I'm guessing nobody has the Bible Lands one. ????? Still undecided about that one.....

I'm sorry you are going throught all of this. :grouphug: to you! My dh had a spinal tap several years ago and had dizziness and a headache afterwards. He said that it was suprisingly simple to repair with the blood being injected into his spine. It just clots and makes a little blood banage at the site where it is leaking spinal fluid. He felt much better right away. He was a little nervous too but it worked wonders and he has not had any side effects short term or long term. I hope this makes you feels a little better. And I hope you can get some rest to recover.

We just finished watching the first DVD from the most recent season on DVD. He's great! He is like our Vicodin! :lol:

Thanks Sue and Rosy! I had heard from the Amazon review that the Bible Lands book was anti-Christian since it presented several OT stories as mere myths that did not actually happen. Does anyone have this book and want to give feed back? We have taken out many Eyewitness books form the library but they do not have the Roman or Egyptian one. I was curious to see if people thought they were twaddle or not. With two young boys they tend to gravitate to the non-fiction and I thought these would be a good picture book of the times. I'm listening. :bigear:

Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt and Bible Lands. Anyone have praise or criticism for these DK books? I want to buy them for next year as a supplement. They are on sale right now but the reviews seem mixed for at least one of them. I'd love to hear any opinions on them...good or bad! TIA

I am glad to hear this Elaine. I think it would be a great way for a troll to go about creating chaos, negative repping in someone else's name. I thought of that last night when I saw a few trollish posts about boots. Anyhoo....it all makes me not want to post at all, kwim. Then I just feel like a lurker with no life. Can't win either way!?! :confused: However, I have found that I win just by being here regardless of the rules. It makes me a stronger homeschooler and the reps are just an aside. Oh now, there I go just thinking aloud to myself......:tongue_smilie: Back to your discussion...:001_smile:

I do. I have often given rep to people I do not agree with. I think the diversity here is a wonderful part of the board's strength. I do not give rep. positive or negative to people that are harsh or unkind in their responses. I just mentally ignore them. I'm sure I am not alone in this response.

I'm sorry your having such a hard time Elizabeth. I am hoping that Lighthouseacedemy will find this and help out too. It sounds like she is very knowledgeable. Yes, RRT will bring on very strong BH....mine seemed like labor sometimes. If they change when you move around they are probably BH but if you are close to your due date you might want to call your mw. However, when they got too hard I would lower the tea amount and drink less. In my third pregnancy I had a sensative uterus and only drank a very little amount of tea. Stop drinking it now until you are back to your normal self. There are other reasons for drinking RRT. It helps with all smooth muscles - so it helps with constipation, reducing swelling in your feet and spasms during labor. If you find that these things are not a problem for you then stop drinking it. These are a few other things that I thought of that may be causing your distress. Perhaps you have a blend with cohosh tea. Cohosh made me throw up the same way. I would avoid it if cohosh was in the tea bag. You might also just have a flu bug that needs to run it's course. Hugs to you Elizabeth! Put your feet up and take a break (from the tea and otherwise!) That babe will be in your arms soon enough.

BTDT. Maybe my experince would help. There are probably 1,000 different grippers you can buy to put on a pencil or pen. We bought ours at an art supply/educatonal store in town. My seasoned advice is to buy all the variations and figure out what shape and size *he* likes the feel of at home. Then go back and buy up their stock!!:tongue_smilie: They disappear fast around here. There are plenty of ways to improve the pincher grip with non-paper and pencil work. 1. Ds had an art teacher that would remind him gently to hold his brush like an artist. Two ideas here...get someone else to mention it and teach the proper grip with a paint brush. 2. Dd has a game called String Along and it is a "sewing game". The "needle" used properly helps to strengthen the finger muscles. Look this up - it is a hit here. 3. Raised thumb tacks (you know those colorful ones not the metal ones) used to poke holes through paper in a shape or on a coloring page. But do it over a carpeted floor...really.:tongue_smilie: 4. Finger foods...like favorite cereals with no milk or spoon. 5. OT told me that dd throws her whole body into it because she lacks the muscle strength in her shoulders. So we did some large muscle work...like wheelbarrel races and push ups. Dd maybe different than your ds....only you could tell if he is twisting his whole body and overcomensating with his fingers too. We also worked on positioning of the body when writing...like using a foot stool and sitting properly. Some people would say at his age that the shaping time is over.....not sure how I feel about it as we started and finished OT in 3rd grade with dd. It helped and she learned to hold it right. OT was big about praising dd up and down for everything she did correctly. She also kept lessons short and frequent. Overall, my advice is get the grip right and then expect it for increasing amounts of time. I hope this helps a little. If I can do OT at home, so can you!!

Rainbow Resource has some cute little one inch blocks all differnt colors of the rainbow. They are only $10 or so. We have given them as presents and they have always been a hit. At her age, the pincher grasp required would help prepare her for handwriting (I know because I had a dc that didn't figure it out until much too late for my comfort.:glare:). Sticker books are always a hit here. Does she have interests that you could find a sticker book for..... How about a funny food item. We give Dinosaur Egg oatmeal for a gift and ds loves it. (Really, we do not shelter our kids!:tongue_smilie:) My littlest is getting a funny backpack this year for his birthday. He likes to "pack" his siblings backpacks when we leave the house and sometimes the weird things he puts inside come in handy. But at her age you would want to make sure it is a small sized one. After typing all this in I realized that she is of the age where anything new will thrill her. :001_smile: They are so cute at three.

Actually Elizabeth, it is something you may want to build up to. I totally reccommend it for improving the uterine health but 2 cups of very strong tea all at once would be hard to take. I do not find the taste displeasing but it is definately tea. Maybe dilute it at first or add a little sweetener? It really helped me for all of my pregnancies but it will bring on strong Brackston Hicks contractions. Hope you find a balance that works.

Anj, where do you get all this cool stuff?!!? Tommorrow we are starting school with a "hearing test"! I can't hear anything under "49 and under" either Mindy. Just when I was getting use to my knees creaking....now it's my ears giving out. :glare: Way cool link Anj!

:lol::lol::lol: Now I have seen it all! Whoever made this has a wonderful sense of humor. :D

I am so glad for you both. I'm sure tonight's dinner will be wonderfully delicious!! Great news!

Great thoughts for the upcoming school year. Thanks!

Oh Jean. I'm so sorry you had a hard time with it. For what it is worth you are valued here and respected here and nobody thinks you are a dork (even the ladies at your church). :grouphug: You are a great woman and I love your posts. It's a shame really that they did not keep your dh on. It sounds like he is a very wise man. I wish for you a better church that feels like home.

Congratulations! They are so wonderfully sweet at that age. Enjoy!

What about a bag of purple balloons and going as grapes? It would be about $2.00. It's not cool and hip but it is cheap. :001_smile:

Have you tried Calcium and Magnesium? A deficiency can cause nerves to be a little strained in the long term. When I was having a hard time sleeping every single night for months on end my Dr. prescribed both at supper or later. You have to be careful though because it might make you really tired in the morning if you take it too late at night. Another that I just read about is B vit during the day. Calms nerves too. Otherwise, I use tea and honey for my kids. It's winter comfort food here. Here's to a good night sleep Doran. Hope you get it. :closedeyes:

:party: Wonderful that he is there safe and sound. Congratulations! Here's to a fast and easy recovery!

Are you trying to put more noodles for our growing boys in the same pot? I did that when we had our exchange student. I eventually figured it out after a couple of times. :o :leaving: