I keep returning to check the news on little Joe. I will keep praying. Hugs to you as you walk this difficult path. Thanks to God for the healing so far!

This is post reply. Am I helping or hindering....cuz I'm still confused. :lol:

This is a Post quick reply. I am curious too. Try clicking on the Display Modes on the right ahnd side at the top. The Linear or Hybrid mode might change things.?????

I will agree with all these wise ladies. I have given dd the CAT several times. This past time I bought the test prep book and noticed that it was not always reflective of the test itself. Even dh comented on it which is saying something as he ususally leaves these things to me. Have you looked at the test yourself or is someone else doing it with your child? The test will give you a clearer idea on where he is and what his specific strengths and weaknesses are...these things you probably already know. As long as he understands the bubble idea then he is really ready to take it. If you are anything like me....I was not as ready for dd to take it. :001_smile: Dd loved taking the test and it was an acurate assessment of where she was. We did the Iowa Basic just 4 months later and it found the same strengths and weaknesses. Be encouraged. Kids are resilent. Next year you will know where to focus a bit more gently and you will find your groove and move forward. It is a bit like a serious medical test......the worst part is not knowing. If you want my 2 cents worth....take a deep breath give him the test and enjoy the rest of your summer!!!!! Really!!!! Trina

In some ways we were too easy on our oldest - not requiring chores or manners before 8 years old and trying to *talk* our way through to agreeability instead of simply requiring certain things like please and thank-yous. Kindly of course. But we have required more of this from our second and manners so far from our third. We have in the last two years required more from our oldest perhaps over swinging to strickness slightly. But I need to add our oldest really needed that as she tends to try to negotiate down whenever she can...if she did not need it I would have been happy with the more free style approach. (Ducking as I say this as I know that many people would say *all children* need this.) We are a real mixed bag here as I see or parenting choices around certain things as unchanging such as co-sleeping and long term nursing. It is interesting to me to go through the seasons of our parenting. We had some very desperate financial times in our parenting journey and that certainly affected how we chose to parent.

You are lucky. If your taking a poll my longest nursed kid is the least likely to help around.

Egyptian Rice. Fry 2 lbs hamburger with onion if you want add butter or oil if you want. Add 2 cup rice (I use brown). Add two cans beef stock and two cans water. Generously sprinkle Worchestershire sauce in and 6 tablespoons soya sauce. This is great topped with fried mushrooms or yogurt and almonds or sour cream. The dairy part is not neccessary. I got it from the Sonlight cooks recipe book. It is a hit around here. Enjoy!

This is not exactly what you are asking for but I thought I would pass it along in case it is interesting to you. This recipe is from Nurishing Traditions. It is for Barley Water and it is under the superfoods section. 4 Tablespoons Barley 1 quart water juice of one lime Rapdura to taste 1/4 cup whey Wash barley and cover with cold water, heat to boiling and discard this water. Place barley and one quart water in the top of double boiler and simmer for two hours. Strain and add remaining ingredients after barley water has cooled. May be drunk warm or cool. I remember liking this drink and thinking I should do it in the summer especially. Trina

I'm in. I have the next week to get ready for 4-H. It is perfect timing because I am sure I will be *stressed*. I am sure this will work with my kids as I have tried something similar to it before. It is endearing how they forgive so easily when momma starts on a nag.

Bless you Doran for your transparency and for all your many great posts over the years. My hope is that you find a peace with your family's new path in life. :grouphug:

The bookshelves are neccessary. It helps to have a useable framework to organize things. :001_smile: We just bought dressers for sewing supplies and photos That was a big step forward for us. Now we need to unpack boxes and storage totes into them. Go easy on yourself. I make the goal of having a useable house not one from a magazine. I just want to be able to find stuff when I need it and I want a place that I can teach my kids about order and responsibility......But they have to be free to be kids. kwim? Even though I do not use the Flylady system exactly. I still use some of it. Perhaps you will get to that point too. Don't give up! It is worth it.

Have you heard about Managers of Their Chores? It helps you to break down all the chores into smaller do-able kid sized bites. Gently here.....maybe *you* cannot do it all and the ages of your kids suggests to me that *they* could start helping out around your house. The book takes the large task of all your household chores and breaks them down and helps you delegate before the jobs need to be done. I agree with the other posters. Just do one small thing several times a day. You can do this. For me at least it is an ebb and flow. Some days are better than others. And some days are well ..... Tommorrow will be better just do. not. give. up.:001_smile:

This is a *really* off the wall suggestion and I almost hesitate to offer it but I will. The Fallacy Detective covers quite a few misuses of advertising. Even if you find a better book for the specifics of marketing the errors in logic will become obvious when doing the Falacy Detective. Some examples of chapter titles that I think would be helpful are.....Bandwagon, Snob Appeal, Appeal to Fear and Appeal to Pity. Several of the examples in the book are ads that are misrepresentative. The sudent is then walked through how the ads are illogical. It is an odd way to approach the subject but it may appeal to you. HTH

I think the graphic novels are like comic books. We had an exchange student that shared one with dd and they are shaped like a paperback but inside are black and white pictures that have a small amount of dialogue. Dd looked politely and passed on it. Pround momma moment here. It is a shame that these are even suggested. Dare I say may as well not even read.:001_huh:

I was hoping to here from you that a new baby was in her arms. :confused: I will keep thinking of you all. It does seem weird that all the facts seem to be pointing to earlier and Dr is holding onto later. Maybe she will prove Dr. wrong maybe not. In either case, I hope all goes well. Baby will come when baby wants to come. :grouphug:

I will celebrate with you. Woohoo!!!! :party: But will you feel sorry for me. We live in the US but I have an ITIN number not SSN so ... there is no stimulus check for us. :-) What fun it will be to finish your basement. There is alway a project to get done isn't there. I bet you'll be pleased once it is over.

OK People you are inspiring me. I actually did several loads of laundry today and did about 20 mins of hots spots today five mins at a time. I am not even getting the emails from the Fly Lady. Thanks! Please keep posting. My house looks better than this morning.

Crass is good. But I would not consider it "woody". Trying to think of what makes a word "woody". It's the vowels right!? I have a "tinny" name and dislike it. I refused to use the letter i in my children's names. I thought I was the only one.

Interestingly enough (or not). I did this experiment just this week. We were fine but it was refridgerated. Good luck!

We live in ND. People are polite but reserved in our neighborhood. We have made lots of hs friends through our hs group and various activites. Physically, our home is on a quiet street off a more main road. We are eight blocks from the busiest street in our small town. We can walk to just about everything if we have too. But we have our favorite stores that we drive to for things like organic yogurt.:001_huh: The neighbors are all at different times of life. We have early 20's no kids. Single 50's no kids. Senior citizens. Two families have teen boys that are very well behaved. No kids the ages of my children. Nobody interacts. So we leave the house for fun. Lots of it this summer!

Oh Shari! I am so sorry. What a mess!

I just read what I am interested in and then sadly log off. As a newbie I have this suspicion that all the really cool people go to some secret place and IM each other. But thats just me feeling ... well new.

Maxine, if she is really uncomfortable then this could be the real thing! If you disapear offline then we know what's going on.:001_smile:

Cool they could share a birthday!

I like extrapolate. I have to check the spelling though. I also like jello. I like the way it sounds.