PM'd you.

No line at all. I went about 2:00, and was in and out.

We don't have to show ID here in Iowa. However, I would rather ID be required for proof of identity (not for proof of citizenship). I doubt it happens often, but I'm bothered by the idea that anyone could walk in and say they were "so-and-so" and be allowed to vote.

Dh is a salaried employee. He does not punch a time clock. He may take an hour for lunch one day, a longer lunch another day, and no lunch at all many days. Depending on what he is doing that day, the time he takes lunch could vary by a few hours. Dh just started a new job, so I don't know how time off for appointments is handled with his current employer. In years past, however, he has taken time off as needed. He usually worked well over 40 hours a week, often from home, so a few hours for an occasional appointment was not considered a big deal and usually didn't come out of vacation time. Dh's schedule for the day was/is dependent on what meetings he might have, deadlines for projects, etc.

Thank you! :001_smile:

I apologize for asking a question and then disappearing. We've been finishing up projects on our current home to get it ready to list, and I feel like I haven't had a moment to breathe! :-) Tibbie, thank you for the rundown on the areas I asked about. That helps a lot. We would probably better fit into the description you gave of the Western suburbs, and we really considered those areas. I think we've decided to move to the Carmel area, though. We really want to be close to activities, shopping, etc. and Carmel seems to be the area that has a lot of those things we're looking for. We're moving from a town in east-central Iowa, and we feel like we're constantly driving 1-2 hours to do any type of fun family-oriented activity. We really don't want to have to do that all the time, especially with dh commuting to work. His commute at his old job was about 8 minutes from our front door to his desk at work, so a longer commute is definitely an adjustment. I don't know what would be considered lots of money. We are definitely not wealthy, but we are comfortably middle-class. We won't be joining a country club, but we can afford for our kids to be involved in some activities. We won't be homeschooling. Our oldest dd is a junior, and our youngest is in 6th grade. They are both nervous (especially oldest dd) about entering a new school after the school year has already begun. Are there particular areas in Carmel that we should avoid? Areas that would be good for a family with the ages of our children? Thank you, everyone! You are all a huge help!

Thank you all for taking the time to give me so much information. I won't have time until this evening to go through everything and reply, but I just wanted to let you all know that I am reading. :-)

:iagree:with everything you said. :001_smile: We love Royal Caribbean! Carnival--not so much. We cruised with Royal Caribbean the first time we took a cruise and loved every moment of it. Carnival was okay, but the level of service was just not the same. I would never travel with Carnival again. I've heard great things about Princess, and would be willing to try them in the future. We have cruised both in May and October. October was a fine time to go--that was actually the time of year we took our first cruise. However, the water was much calmer in May than in October.

We are relocating to the Indianapolis area sometime in the next few months. We have scoped the area out a bit, but are still undecided about where exactly to move. Dh will be working in downtown Indianapolis, but we do not want to live in Indianapolis proper. Oldest dd will be attending public high school, so good schools are important. We've looked at Fishers, Carmel, and Zionsville in the north. We've also looked at the Center Grove area (near Greenwood) to the south. We're also considering the Brownsburg/Avon area. The high school dd currently attends is about 1200 kids, so she's used to a larger school. Carmel high school might be a little too big. Does anyone have any recommendations (for or against) any of these areas? We will be looking for a newer house (less than 20 years old) to either buy or rent. We'd like to be in a family friendly, safe area close to good parks and other activities. We'd like dh's commute time to be 30 minutes or less (give or take). Schools with good education are important, but I'm also interested in hearing if anyone knows anything about the safety/culture of various high schools. Thanks!

We bought Citypass for a trip to Chicago a couple of years ago. It was a good deal, and we had no problems using it.

DH and all his siblings have beautifully straight teeth with no orthodontic treatment. I really needed braces as a child, and didn't get them. I was always embarrassed to show my teeth. I got braces in my early 20's right after dd1 was born. We really couldn't afford them, but I was tired of being ashamed of the way my teeth looked. DD1 has already gone through orthodontic treatment, and dd2 will be needing it soon. In dd1's case, her teeth looked straight, but she had a huge overbite. The ortho told us that her teeth were on the outer edges of her gums, rather than aligned in the center of her gums, and would potentially cause problems when she was older. DD2's teeth actually don't look very crooked at all, with the exception of 1 tooth, but her bite is off. We make whatever sacrifices are necessary to make sure our kids get braces because I know how upset I was not to get treated as a child. ETA: Our orthodontist recommended waiting until both dds lost all their baby teeth and their adult teeth were in before getting braces. For dd1, that was around 12 years old, and will probably be the same for dd2.

I would let the kids swim. You don't have any way of knowing how clean another pool really is. At least with this particular pool, you know.

:iagree: We have taken our kids out of school for a week almost every year they've been in public school. We let the school know ahead of time, arrange for assignments, and it's always been fine. In addition, we will miss a day or two here and there throughout the year for short trips to visit family. We do feel school is very important. However, we don't feel it's the most important thing in life. Family experiences and making memories together are just as important. My dh misses important things at work when we're on vacation that he has to make up when he returns, but that doesn't prevent us from taking a vacation. School is no different, imo. We often vacation during the school year because it's usually the off-season. Things are less expensive, less crowded, and much more enjoyable.

My favorite Facebook games are "Words with Friends" and "SongPop". Words with Friends is a Scrabble type game that you play against friends, or it can set you up with a random opponent. I just started playing SongPop, and now my entire family is addicted to it. Each round is short, and you're paired with a friend or random opponent (your choice). You choose a song category (Love songs, for example), and it plays a short clip and you guess which of the four choices is the correct answer. Each round has 5 songs. I don't like games like Farmville, but the ones I can play against friends are fun. You also don't have to play constantly. You can go a few days between rounds.

Same here. I was so clueless, it didn't even occur to me to check the gas gauge when my car suddenly died. I thought there was a serious issue, until someone more knowledgeable came along and informed me I was out of gas! I was really embarrassed.

The driving instructors here always have at least 2 students in the car at the same time. Dd missed one of her lessons for driver's ed and had to do a make-up. The instructor told her she had to find another person to ride along with them in order to make up the lesson.

We have a 2003 Odyssey, and we love it! It's been a great vehicle for us, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one.

I did let dd16 watch Rugrats when she was little because she loved them, but I hate Rugrats! They are whiny and annoying, in my opinion. Dd11 still enjoys watching them, and I finally told her the other day that she can only watch when I'm out of hearing distance!

:iagree:My daughter went through a biting stage for about 6-8 months when she was 2. She didn't usually bite because she was mad, or fighting with another child. I think she just enjoyed biting for some strange reason! I literally had to watch her every second she was around other kids during that time period to stop her when she decided to chomp another child. If I turned my back for a moment, she'd often manage to bite someone anyway. It wasn't poor parenting on my part. I didn't let her get away with it, I didn't make excuses for her, and I did everything I could to try to teach her that biting wasn't acceptable. But, she was 2, and there is only so much that a child that age can understand. She eventually outgrew the behavior, and that made my life a lot easier. I really feel for the little girl who is afraid to go to nursery, and I'm not suggesting that the children be allowed to continue to behave in ways that hurt other children. I definitely think that it should be up to the children's parents to deal with this behavior (and be inconvenienced by it!) until it improves. However, I don't think it's helpful to assume that the parents have poor parenting skills, and need early intervention. Sometimes, no matter how much you try to teach them otherwise, children are just going to do undesirable things. I had someone tell me that her mother's dog used to bite, so her mom bit the dog and it stopped biting people. She suggested that would be a good way to teach my daughter that biting was wrong. Needless to say, I did not take her advice, and it wasn't helpful. I continued to watch my daughter, intervene when necessary, and eventually she outgrew the behavior. She hasn't bitten anyone in years now, and I'm fairly certain I don't have to worry about it anymore! LOL! I wanted to add, too, that it was really embarrassing for me and dh to be the parents of "the biter"! Dd had two children in particular that she seemed to enjoy biting more than anyone else. The parent of one of the kids made our lives a living h*ll, while the other parent was very understanding of what we were going through with dd.

I like the idea of an art portfolio. I didn't even think of that!

I have a Kindle Fire and a 2nd generation Kindle 3g. I love the Fire for playing games, surfing the web, watching movies, etc. I prefer the Kindle 3g (with e-ink) for reading. The battery life on the Kindle Fire is not great. I can get about 2-2 1/2 hours of constant use before needing to plug it in. The Kindle 3g will stay charged for almost a month, as long as I remember to keep the 3g/wifi turned off unless I need it.

Dh and I have been going to quite a few concerts in the last couple of years. He has bought several band posters that are just sitting in a drawer. We don't want to hang them on the wall, but I would like to figure out a better way to store them. I'm thinking of starting a scrapbook (or something), but what about the posters? Most of them are much larger than would fit into a standard 12x12 scrapbook without folding them. Should I fold them anyway? Do you have any suggestions of another way to save these? I'd like dh to be able to look back through them from time to time without them needing to be out in the open. I'm always impressed with the creative thinking here in the hive, so hopefully someone will think of something I haven't! :001_smile:

To me, there is a definite difference in texture and taste in plain frozen ground beef. Ground beef frozen in chili, spaghetti sauce, etc, seems fine to me, though. It's weird!

We have a miniature schnauzer, and we love him. He doesn't bother my allergies at all. He's great with kids, was easy to train, and is a pretty smart little guy. He weights about 18 pounds, but he's also a really sturdy dog. I don't have to worry about the kids being too rough with him. Schnauzers do require regular grooming to keep the schnauzer "look" (which can be a little costly), but they do not shed. I am not a dog person at all, but my husband and kids are. Although I could have happily lived without a dog, I felt it was important for my kids for me to try to get over that. I'm still not a dog person, but I love "my" dog! :)

We have all 4 bedrooms upstairs. I love being on the same floor as my kids. Now that they are older, though, I wish there was a little more separation between the master and the kids bedrooms. We share a wall with one of the kid's bedrooms, and I don't like that. Otherwise, I like the separation between the public and private areas of the house.