True! :lol:

We live about 4.5 hours from Chicago, and my husband has family there. We end up going to Chicago once or twice a year. There is a lot to do, the museums are amazing, and we really enjoy it. That being said, if we weren't so close and didn't have family there, I wouldn't take a vacation specifically to visit Chicago. I vote for the beach! :-)

There are 15 homes within a 60-mile radius, updated anywhere from 86 days ago to 4 days ago. There is one property with 144 views, but the most any other property has is 33 views. I am in eastern Iowa.

These aren't free, but I ordered a value pack of Logic Puzzle books from Penny Dell Press a few years ago. One of my dds and I do these a lot, and we still haven't managed to go through all the books.

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Thank you for the suggestions. She takes Vyvanse for her ADHD, and it works very well once it's in her system for the day. It never occurred to me to try giving her meds to her earlier in the morning before it's time to wake up. I tried that this morning, and it definitely helped! She does take melatonin at night before bed, but it doesn't help her a lot. Maybe I need to be giving that to her earlier in the evening? Right now, I give it to her about 30 minutes before it's time for her to head to bed. Even after she falls asleep, she doesn't tend to sleep really well. She sometimes sleep walks (very occasionally), and gets up a couple of times in the night. By the time morning rolls around, she's so exhausted, she is really difficult to wake up. We've discussed this with her doctor in the past, but maybe we need to bring it up again. I know the ADHD meds can contribute to sleep issues, but she had difficulty sleeping even before she was medicated. We usually try to do protein foods before bed, but I admit I'm not always consistent with doing that. What is Clonipin? I've never heard of it before. Is this something that your doctor suggested to you, or did you ask? I'll definitely try a timer and a chart for her, too. I've done that in the past, but haven't been very consistent with it. Thank you again!

Anyone?

How do you teach time management to a child that seems to have no real concept of how to plan her time? DD11 has ADHD, which she takes medication for. Getting this child out of bed and out the door in the morning is a nightmare! She doesn't fall asleep easily, which I'm sure contributes to her difficulty in waking up in the morning. She sets her alarm clock, but she is able to sleep with it going off for an hour if someone else doesn't shut it off. In order to get her to school on time in the morning (she is in ps), I have to drag her out of bed and stay on her every second until she leaves, or she ends up being late. And, unfortunately, even with me riding her all morning, she still ends up being late sometimes. It is frustrating to me. She is easily distracted. I'll tell her to put her clothes on, but she has to go to the bathroom first. While she's in there, she decides that she'll brush out her hair, but then she gets distracted looking at herself in the mirror. She'll sit down to put her socks on, gets distracted by the dog, and ends up losing the socks before she has them on her feet. And so on, and so on... We've talked about all the things she needs to do in the morning to get ready for the day, how long those things take, and what time she needs to leave in the morning. She knows what time she should get up in order to accomplish all those things. She isn't allowed to watch tv, play, etc. until she is completely ready to walk out the door. But then, she'll look at the clock in the morning, see that she has 10 minutes to go before she has to leave, and think "Oh, I have time to goof around for a few minutes", even though she still has to put on shoes, get her bag, etc. If I'm not standing over her the entire time, she could easily not realize she should be going to school until an hour or more after it has started. My older dd16 has always been really good at managing her time—it wasn’t something I had to teach her. I have no clue how to go about teaching time management to my dd11. Please help!

We currently use chlorine in our pool, but we've discussed the idea of a saltwater system. Our pool actually has sand under it instead of gravel (per the recommendation of the company we purchased the pool from). I don't know what the pros/cons to either one is, but the sand seems to work great for us. We fill our pool directly from the hose in our yard. We have city water, and it costs about $50.00 to fill the pool (about 8300 gallons).

We had an 18-foot Intex pool that we used for about three years. We upgraded the pool filter because the one that came with the pool couldn't keep up with cleaning, algae, etc. It was a great pool for what it was--the size was perfect for us, the kids loved it, etc. The major drawback was that we had to take it down every fall, then put it back up in the spring, which was a major headache. The frame that the liner attaches to was definitely beginning to show wear and tear from being taken apart so many times. A few years ago, we switched to an 18-foot metal sided above ground pool similar to the one you linked (I don't remember the exact brand). We were able to continue using the upgraded filter we bought for the Intex pool. My husband actually leveled the ground, and he installed it with help from family, but it was a lot of work. The benefit to this pool is that we can leave it up year round. In the fall, we drain it about half-way, dump in appropriate chemicals, cover it and leave it until spring. In the spring, there are several things that need to be done to "open" the pool, but it is still much less work than setting up and taking down the Intex pool. We're really happy we switched. The cost for the metal-sided pool was definitely more than the Intex, but we shopped around and bought the previous year's model.

We take our dog to a kennel that has individual rooms for each animal with a door to a fenced outside dog run that he has access to at all times. We won't take our dog to a kennel that keeps the dogs crated, even though we do crate him at home. We had a very bad experience with a kennel like that when he was a puppy, and just won't put him through that anymore.

I went to see the movie with my dh, kids, and extended family, somewhat unwillingly. I ended up absolutely loving it! I also teared up quite a few times during the movie. It's a wonderful movie to watch as a family.

I would want to know. I don't have any moral opposition to eating venison, but the idea of it is just not appetizing to me. If it were served to me without my knowledge, and I found out after the fact, I would not be very happy (and pretty grossed out, actually). I know it doesn't really make any sense, but I have some weird meat-eating hangups!:tongue_smilie:

I've never heard of that before, at least in a house that isn't a foreclosure. That's really weird, IMO. As far as any other house you make an offer on is concerned, you can specify in your contract what stays with the house--window treatments, light fixtures, fans, appliances, etc. When you do your final walk-through before closing, just make sure all those things are still in the house.

This reminds me of a book my dh came across on Amazon a few days ago. http://www.amazon.com/Thats-Not-Your-Mommy-Anymore/dp/156975926X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330392283&sr=8-2

Here's an old one... http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208906

:iagree: We bought our house FSBO, and we used a real estate attorney. It was well worth the money, IMO.

I wish I had a gas stove. We moved about 6 years ago, and I had to leave my gas stove behind. :glare: I really, really dislike glass top stoves, but it's what I'm stuck with for now. But, I do really like my cookware! :)

I've asked our library to work with me on fines a few times over the years, and they have been very willing to do so. I had a fine of almost $100 about a year ago, and they reduced it to about $40. That's still not great for a library fine, but I was more than willing to pay that instead of the original amount! I think if you explain the situation, you'll find they'll be willing to help. I know my library would.

I bought a set of stainless steel Cuisinart pans a few years ago. I love them! The pans are heavy without being unwieldy, durable, and scrub up nicely. They work well on my glass top stove, and they would fit into your price range. I bought this set and this pan from Amazon.

I had my braces done at the University of Iowa as an adult and am very happy with my results. I had a student doctor, but he was supervised by an experienced, practicing orthodontist.

I tend to hide rather than unfriend people on facebook. I have groups set up for my friend list, and I don't allow everyone to see everything all the time. Facebook is set up now so that you can restrict your status to certain people/groups each time you post, or set up a default (which you can then over-ride at any time). I don't really mind being unfriended by someone unless they go out of the way to announce beforehand that they are going to be culling their friends list and only "special" people are going to make the cut. I find that rude and annoying.

I would also go for the Kitchen aid mixer. I finally got one a few years ago, and I don't know how I ever lived without it! :D

Children's Place.

Absolutely not!