I just wanted to say that THAT made me cry...and I am not a crier! I saw my 12 year old "manning up" like that at my grandmother's funeral this summer; offering condolences to others, staying behind at the grave site because he wanted to help shovel the dirt. It just really touches me when boys are brave like your son was.

Lots of good ideas so far, but I'll add another one: scramble a dozen or so and roll them into tortillas with salsa and cheese. Then freeze for microwavable breakfast burritos later on. (I keep meaning to do this for my kids!)

I hate to admit it, but I am ELATED that my sons' softball seasons end this Saturday. It's going to be a long tournament day, but after that, we have our Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays back! And I am SO ready for that!

LOL! This is pretty much my mantra, too. My little guy is only 1, so I know I have a lot more of craziness ahead of me! But he's toddling and not content to sit still for any length of time. I keep reminding myself that sometimes life IS the lesson, ya know?

We live in metro Atlanta and I spend about $600-$700 a month on groceries, which includes pet food (for a dog, cat and fish), TP, paper towels, cleaning stuff, baby wipes, etc. I only buy one package of disposable diapers a month because we cloth diaper, using the sposies just for overnight and when we're out. I do use couponing--but only when it's something we'll really need and use, coupled with a BOGO or other type of sale so that it's free or almost free. I also shop at Aldi when I can, and go to our commissary once a month, when I do my bigger shopping (on the 15th of the month). I cook a lot from scratch, but am not averse to serving Kraft mac-n-cheese, Hamburger Helper or baked goods made from a mix. ;) I add things to make them a bit nicer/healthier (real cheddar and minced broccoli to the mac, an extra cup of brown rice and TVP to extend the Helper, wheat germ and veggie or fruit purees in the muffins). We drink water with most meals, and go through two gallons of milk a week, which I'm told is not a lot for a family of five. It works for us. :001_smile:

I think my decision would be based, as you said, on general health, but also on how much time spent around big groups of people. We're involved in two homeschooling groups, church activities and the kids play with neighborhood kids who go to PS...and both of them play softball. So we're around a lot of potential sources of infection. Plus, we have a baby in the house and I have an autoimmune disorder. So we're all having the shot this year. (Well, the ped said my older two can get the mist instead.) As far as I know, none of us have been exposed to H1N1 yet, so we might as well get the shot (we didn't last year).

Sounds like the quality of the stores varies greatly from location to location. We're lucky that both our local ones are really nice--always clean, with awesome produce. I went the other day and things I liked are baked potato chips (as good as Lays but half the price), their pumpkin spice coffee creamer, tortillas, salsa, tortilla chips, parmesan/romano cheese, cereals. One of our favorite go-to meals is their cheese ravioli with a jar of their spaghetti sauce (LOVE that sauce!). Enough to feed five with some leftovers, for $4. Not bad!

LOL! That's the way it is here, too. My middle son is a huge Star Wars fan and loves it when I buy him costumes that are 90% off a week or two after Halloween! He has quite the dress-up drawer because of it, and I see those costumes, or parts thereof, played with all year long. I haven't put an upper age on TOT, but my oldest will be 13 soon and wants to stay home to hand out candy. :( My DH is a dud when it comes to TOT--he only wants to walk up and down our street. So this year, I am taking my middle son and my baby out and we are hitting the entire neighborhood and a friend's neighborhood, too, while leaving DS1 and dad at home. (I might leave the baby home after we're finished with ours.) My dad was the best at driving us all over town on Halloween and I want my kids to experience that kind of fun, too. Our HS group is also having a Halloween party the Friday before, and I can't wait! I just love this time of year!

Ditto on Barry, Bombeck and Grizzard...and Bridget Jones. But my absolute favorite funniest read is "The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37 3/4ths" by Adrian Plass. Plass is just awesome, period. Love him--and am always surprised that we don't hear more about him here in the states. He's an amazing writer.

Hugs. We just went through this with my grandmother. Hers was a long, slow decline and it was honestly the most emotionally, mentally and physically draining thing my family has been through. You are so right; it makes you regress into patterns of behavior you haven't seen in years. It did not often bring out the best side of my mom or sister, who provided the majority of her care. I'm still struggling daily to forgive them for some of the hurtful things they said and did during that time. :( Prayers for grace, yes--you need those. It's so hard.

:lol: Thanks for that morning laugh! I wonder where that teacher learned that little gem of knowledge? :001_huh:

Amazing! DH and I just looked through them all. Had to share the link on Facebook! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Mine, either! Oh wait--I see you're also in GA! :lol:

Prayers from another "Kari"... :) I understand that feeling of disassociation from the grave itself. I've never felt the need to visit gravesites because I just don't associate the person with that particular place. When my grandmother passed away in August, I was there within an hour, and even as I saw her body there in her bed, all I felt was "This is no longer her." It was the shell that housed her spirit, and when her spirit passed on, my connection to her body was over. And in the oddest way, I felt closer to her than I had in months--I know she is always with me, as your son is always with you now. Hugs, and prayers!

Gorgeous room! I see that you also have three boys. I'm envious that you're having a daughter--I want one, too! LOL Best wishes for an easy delivery and a healthy baby girl!

Bwahahahaha! My thoughts, exactly! Thank the Lord I never bought that book; just read through it at a bookstore back when it was first published and everyone was raving on about it. It made me shudder. Bleh. Goodnight Moon is sweet, but was never a favorite here, either. Mine preferred DK Publishing's "PB Bear" books. And I can still recite DK's "Teddy Bear ABC" by heart. LOL Oh, and Corduroy...man my oldest just loved that story. It'll be fun to see what my newest son likes as he gets a little older.

:iagree: When I pulled DS1 out of school in the middle of third grade, he knew nothing about multiplication. I spent an entire year trying to get him to memorize the facts but it just didn't click with him no matter what I tried (he really enjoyed Timez Attack, though! LOL). So, reluctantly and only after several recommendations from other HS moms, I put up a chart. He hardly ever refers to it now, and knows most of them from memory. I think it was just a matter of seeing the correct answer over and over again through his math assignments. He's doing TT7 this year and maintaining a 92 average. So I can't complain.

I think I must've missed a thread. No shampoo??

I'm sorry to hear that. Sending prayers to you!

One that stuck with my son: The BACK comes first with "b". The DONUT comes first with "d". But he really loves donuts... :lol:

Oh WOW. :001_huh: I will never, ever say that I suck at math again. LOL

One of my HUGE pet peeves, and I didn't realize how prevalent it was until talking with some teacher friends over the summer. Around here, you're only "allowed" to fail once, and they prefer that it's in kindergarten or first grade. Beyond that, they're very, very reluctant to hold a kid back a year. But kids who have been held back already, say in kindergarten, cannot be held back again no matter how dismally they perform in later years. One of my PS teacher friends taught 2nd grade for years, but this year got switched at the last minute to 4th. She was talking about how she has to mentally organize her class into "groups". She said, "I have the GT kids here, the behavioral issue kids here, the ones who failed last year here..." When I naively asked why, if they failed, would they be in her classroom, she explained the above policy to me. I felt sick--for the kids who will probably never be able to catch up, for the teachers who have another sub-set of students that will be difficult to manage, for the average-performing kids who lose out because there are so many high-need kids in the class. It's just sad all around. When people ask why our kids aren't in PS, I want to say, "How long have you got to listen?" LOL

Any way you can copy and paste it? I clicked the link but it says it's for members only, which I am not. That's fine if you can't or don't think you should do that. It does sound interesting--LOVE that quote!

Try http://www.ratracerebellion.com. It's where I found a good work-at-home writing job....but there are things other than writing listed.

Oh, geez...and just as I decided to start working more with DS1 on building traditional study habits! :lol: No time to read the full article now, but I will later. It'll be interesting to hear other HS'ers takes on it.