I read some suggestions of taping your ankles and wearing an ankle brace. I think it is better to buy a supportive shoe and strengthen the ankle itself via simple exercises. Considering the birth history your mother shared with you the more support you have the better. Spending money on the front end will be less exspensive than co pays for doctors and physical therapists on the back end.

Ellen mentioned walking with a friend. That reminded me of an email I received last May. The same week I decided to start walking I received an email from a friend in our homeschool group. She made up a program that focused on taking care of yourself. You simply gave yourself points for things such as flossing daily, taking a walk, stretching, eating veggies and fruits of varied colors throughout the day, strength training, reading your bible, doing a random act of kindness, etc. You then totalled up all your points daily. This was very encouraging for me. We met once a week at a local park to walk as a group. Maybe you could find a friend nearby like that. It can just be someone who is willing to take a walk with you just one day a week.

My hands used to swell up when I walked. I just ignored it. I guess I got to the point where I was so out of shape and tired of being tired. I didn't care if my hands swelled or not. In fact, I had an injury called cubital tunnel syndrome. I noticed after about two months of walking that injury resolved. I lost 14 pounds from walking. Someone on sparkspeople.com recently asked the hand/finger swelling question and I found this article when googling: http://walking.about.com/cs/med/a/swolle nhands_2.htm It's good that you're thinking about walking and asking questions. It took me 22 years. :) I'm 42 now and I thought about it since the age of 20. ~Karen~

Daily reading of the bible followed by prayer time and scripture memory will be helpful. Even if things don't seem to improve right away it sets up a model for the children to put into practice for the rest of their lives. They will be able to look back and reflect upon how the Lord was faithful to your family in times past.

I am wondering if she could get a job being a mother's helper or walking a dog or something else to another homeschool mom too and then give you money to help pay for the new software. BTW I love that you are teaching her to be responsible.

I listen to: Let It Rise, Big Daddy Weave Creed, Third Day Agnus Dei, Third Day One, U2 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2 With or Without You, U2 Sharp Dressed Man, ZZ Top Legs (LIVE), ZZ Top No One Like You, Barlow Girl, God With Us (LIVE), MercyMe Every Man, Casting Crowns Forever, Chris Tomlin Missing (Todd Terry Club Mix), Everything But the Girl Friend of God, Phillips, Craig, & Dean My Favorite Things, ProSound Studio Band, Karaoke-Sing Broadway's The Sound of Music This Could Be Heaven, Seal I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, Sonicflood O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Third Day Sunday Bloody Sunday, U2 New Year's Day, U2 Redeemer, Nicole Mullen The Glamorous Life, Sheila E. O Praise Him (All This for a King), David Crowder Band Help Me, Joni Mitchell He Reigns, Newsboys The One Thing I Know, Sara Groves Compelled, Sara Groves All I Need, Sara Groves Other possibilities that I'm not using right now. I guess I listened to these too much: Into the Groove, Madonna A Charlie Brown Christmas , Vince Guaraldi Trio Meant to Live, Switchfoot Dare You to Move, Switchfoot Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Stevie Wonder Let's Go Crazy (Special Dance), Prince & the Revolution Kiss (Extended Version, Prince & the Revolution De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, The Police Wrapped Around Your Finger, The Police Spirits in the Material World, The Police King of Pain, The Police Don't Stand So Close to Me, The Police Every Breath You Take, The Police Roxanne, The Police FWIW, I also listen to sermons and podcasts when I run. Now that I've been running for five months I'm more disciplined and I can run without music. Have fun with your new mP3 player! ~Karen~

I wonder if your body was trying to protect itself. Galloway writes that your body will start to shut down to protect itself when rest is needed. Every 3-4 weeks I decrease my running my 30% no matter what is on my training schedule. I love running but I am an older runner and I'm a new runner. I don't want to get hurt. I think Galloway is right on when he writes that we need to decrease our schedules to allow our bodies to repair themselves and build new fresh cells for running. That is my loose paraphrase. He goes on to write that either your body will shut down or an injury may occur.

You're right, Jennifer. This race will be hard to forget. Tbog, Could you start on a treadmill? I finally figured out how to add photos to my blog. Check out our photo at the finish line: http://bumpoffalog.blogspot.com/2010/01/race-day.html ~Karen~

My 10 y/o and I completed our second 5K today. We were expecting a temperature somewhere between 55 and 59 degrees. Instead it was cold and raining and 43 degrees. We are asthmatics and we don't run well in the rain. :( We had a hard time breathing but we pressed on to the end. Unfortunately, I forgot my watch in the hustle to get out early with three children, one who was very grouchy and uncooperative. Being a slower runner and at the tail end of the crowd, I imagined that we were running much slower than our previous race. We were stunned to see the time on the clock as we approached the finish line. We finished two minutes quicker than in our first 5K two months ago. I grabbed my son's hand and we held up our hands high up into the air as we crossed the finish line. :bigear:

Superb, Jennifer. You rock! Snow and sleet, wow-weeeee. My son and I completed a 5K in the rain today. The weather was miserable and cold and rainy. We had a very difficult time breathing (asthmatics) but we crossed the finish line holding hands. :cheers2:

Thanks for all of your replies. At the beginning of my run I discovered a stick. I ran with a big long jagged stick in one hand this morning and MACE for dogs in the other hand. I run with my eyeglasses on so if I sprayed it I do have some protection.

I used to carry a whistle. I'm really looking forward to getting a big stick. My 7 y/o spied the bb guns at the army navy store. He said he would have used one and unloaded a whole barrel of bbs on the dog. Then he switched to swords. OK, guy. You're welcome. WTP?!? (What the pomegranates?) Some people have a lot of nerve. I'm not a lover of dogs either except for my girlfriend's two lovely greyhounds. :) Thanks Mothersweets Thanks for the props!

You're right about the owner putting the dog's life in danger, Rosy. I'm not 4 yrs. old anymore and my plan was to take the dog out. I'm not giving up any part of my flesh to a dog without a big fight.

Today I took my first four mile long run. I'm preparing for our second 5K this Saturday. After 3 3/4 miles of running a big ugly bad red collared dog came at me. He was mean, threatening, and vicious. I didn't know quite what to do upon our first meeting. I knew not to run away. I thought about jumping on a car but figured he would just jump right on the car with me. Unfortunately, there was no one around nor did I see any sticks or rocks around anywhere. I just backed away from him and circled the car then retreated into the grass and disappeared into the inner courtyard. Wanting to complete the last 1/4 mile of my run, I borrowed one of my son's bat and returned outside. A kind neighbor asked me if I was OK when he saw me armed with a bat. He knew of the dog I described and told me the dog had come after his 2 y/o son recently. That ticked me off even more. Before I could complete my last 1/4 mile run, the dog appeared again out of nowhere in a completely different part of the circle around our development. I was ready for this ugly canine this time. With my bat pointing towards his ugly face. I shouted at him, took a step towards him, and told him completely off.:glare: He challenged me for 5 seconds, retreated, and walked away like a coward. Still I was nervous walking home. I kept looking over my shoulder. I called 911. A very kind officer came by. We had a nice chat and he gave the children mints. Interestingly enough he spends most of his daytime hours picking up children off the streets who are supposed to be in school. Of course, he asked why the children weren't in school. :lol: Officer Vinnie advised me to kick the dog under the mouth if he comes at me again. I asked him if I could purchase some kind of spray and he recommended Mace. I bought some tonight at a local Army/Navy store. It's designed for dogs. I don't know if it will be effective if I need to use it. Hopefully I won't ever have to find out. I will be ready for that feisty dog if he messes with me on my brisk walk tomorrow. I'm going hunting for a humongous stick tomorrow too. Tonight our son had soccer practice and I ran with his team for about 1/2 mile so now I feel complete. :D I've been running since September and this is my first bad dog while running experience. I am a little spooked. I'm not sure I have the confidence to run at home on my next run. This whole experience brings back bad memories of a doberman chasing me around and around my house outside and nipping my leg at age four. I plan to do some investigating to find out who this dog belongs to. Terrible.

Kristen, the experience you had as a student teacher make me so sad. :( Stacie, no worries. I'm glad you pointed out my error. I was embarassed but I didn't think you were nitpicking. Things that don't make sense need to be pointed out. ~Karen~

Daisy, I used Times Tales for multiplication facts. Times Tales set me back $19.95 plus shipping. My son learned his time tables in four weeks. I only did four days of drilling. Once in a while my son uses the online drill at mathusee.com. I don't know if it would work as a remedial program. Perhaps someone else might have feedback on that. I hope things turn around for you. I struggled with math until college. I went to the math lab in college and sat in the front row in math class and things finally started to click.

Perry, I doubt that my sister thought to check the curriculum. She thought the teacher was at fault. I thought the same thing until you all enlightened me. To those who like this method, I think it's fine to demonstrate problems with symbols and pictures. I have done that to help my son figure out a word problem. I would not teach my children to use pictures and symbols to figure out every problem on a page of division problems though. She says his reading comprehension is low too. He has had good grades and has been on the honor roll. Sigh.

Stacie, you're correct. Thanks for pointing out my error. I should have typed 45/3=X not 45/15=X. I ought to proofread more carefully.

Thank you for these enlightening posts. I had no idea... Rafe Esquith In his book *Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire* writes about the terrible reading curriculum that changes annually in his school district. Esquith is confident and successful enough to just throw it out and ignore it. I can see how most teachers wouldn't have the courage to do that though. Well, this gives me great appreciation for the opportunity I have to educate our children at home. I'm looking forward to the remainder of our school year.

I learned that my sister is taking my 9 y/o nephew out of their assigned public school and switching him to a charter school this coming Monday. She discovered that he didn't know his time tables well. Unfortunately, he is doing division now. Of course, it's difficult to do division if you don't know your times tables well. My sister has spent this winter break doing times tables over the winter break and he knows them now. Things came to a head when my nephew showed her their teacher's way of doing division. Let me try to explain. If you have a problem such as 45/15=X, you draw three circles. You make a mark for each number until you get to 45. Once you reach 45 you count the number of marks in each circle and that's your answer. Isn't that sad? Can you imagine how long it would take him to do a simple page of division homework? I think the lady is probably not a teacher at all. She probably purchased her credentials. I really feel sorry for the other children in the class. The school is filled with immigrants. Typically, this population has parents who don't speak English well, have little education, and they work 2-3 jobs. :( On my worst day homeschooling, I can say with confidence that I am doing a better job than this *teacher*. Sigh.

I made a pumpkin spice cake with Ghiardhelli chocolate chips in it. I bake my own bread which is always 1/2 hour baking time. I didn't note the baking time of 45 minutes on the recipe and flipped out my pumpkin spice cake after 1/2 hour. When I flipped it onto the wire rack it flopped all over the kitchen counter. Only the outside was firm. It was really pumpkin spice soup instead of cake. It was sad to throw away all of those chocolate chips. Muha ha ha.

Amy, I like the klove radio station. Thanks!

I have seen them at Walgreen's and Publix this year. I bought two and used two $1.00 off coupons for them. Sweet! :)

Lose It! (weight loss app) You put in your goal weight, log your food. You're told how many calories you have left for the day as you log in your foor. C25K (Couch to 5K app) Facebook You Bible CK (CalorieKing.com) Pandora The Weather Channel Menstrual CalendarChicktionary Evernote Mental Case Where Ms Pac Man Pac Man Kids like: Sally's Spa Tap Tap Revenge Falling Balls Paper Toss

I used the Couch 25K app on my iPhone. I think it was $1.99. There is a free one by Robert Urley with techno music that some people use for their ipods.