I had picked up Voyager while in university not realizing it was the 3rd book in a series. It was still very easy to go back to the beginning and start over. I have read these books over and over so many times. They just get better. Granted, I will admit the last few haven't been as good as the first. And hubby wouldn't let me name our first son James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser. Not sure why. I did manage Alexander as a middle name though ;)

I highly, highly recommend the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. You won't get the whole series read in a weekend (there are 7 books and they are about 1000 pages each) and maybe not even one book. However, once you start reading it you won't be able to put it down. It is a time travel book but done very well. So well that you don't think of it as "time travel" at all. It is set in Scotland during the time of Bonnie Prince Charles. Enjoy the relaxing weekend!

Thanks guys. We have already been giving her Hylands teething tablets and they work for a little bit and then she is screaming again. I have ordered an amber teething necklace and hope it will work. I am not looking forward to a 3 month old or so having teeth! Ouch!

I haven't posted in a long time as we have been busy with a 5th lil bugger who proved difficult during pregnancy. Anyways, at only 2 months, we are pretty sure she is already teething! (we can see the nubs). Between that and her gas issues, she is pretty miserable. Does anyone know something we can do for her? We don't have a specific teether right now and I am looking for only natural or organic for a teether, so haven't been able to find anything at the store. Thanks for any help.

I asked hubby. He said basic, simple foods are best. Stews and soups. Unfortunately, not much in the way of salads and such. Basic / populars Italian meals maybe also. Curry is very popular in Britain, tho that may be more a younger generations preference. If you have a World Market around you, they will have some British items, including such staples as Veggiemite (ewwwwwwwwwwww, but that is just me). I would probably get some stuff for a simple lamb stew and/or soup to start with. I have yet to meet a Welshman that didn't like lamb stew. You then might be able to gauge what type of foods this particular welshman likes. Hope that helps a little!

I will ask hubby when he has a break at work. I do know that lamb is often served and eaten like Americans eat beef. Will let you know :)

but just had to find out where in Wales your guest is from? Hubby is from Wales and I would jump on a plane and move there if we could afford it. Beautiful!

We have gone mostly natural/organic the past year. While I got natural mineral makeup, they did not have any nail polish. I really miss having nail polish. I have a whole drawer full of my old nail polish I don't have the heart to throw away yet. (especially my blues and greens!). Does anyone know if natural nail polish exists? If so, what are your favorites? Someone help my poor nails! Thanks!

It has been a while since I posted and I am in need of help from some of you experienced moms out there. This coming year I will have an accelerated 3rd grader, an "active" 1st grader and two 5 year olds whose main educational goal will be to learn to read and count. I will soon need to change my name because I will no longer have four rugrats, but five. I am 10 weeks along and barely have the energy to get out of bed. We generally homeschool year round but the last 6-7 weeks we have barely done anything. (we took a 4 week vacation to visit family anyways). I know I am "supposed" to get more energy in the 2nd trimester but at this point, I worry about if that doesn't happen. I even considered sending the kids to *shudder* ... public school. So do any of you have any wisdom on how to possibly get anything done when getting out of bed is a chore? It is very common already to do some school in my bed anyways but this year there will be more to teach than last year. At this point I am not even worrying about how to homeschool with an infant. I need to get through the pregnancy first! LOL :auto: (my active 6 year old really wanted me to put this car in the post)

:iagree: We procrastinate and continually try to take the easy way out. It is human nature in many cases to do so. It is no different with the environment. If it was easy and quick (and economically viable) to create alternate fuels, everyone would be on the bandwagon (except maybe the oil companies). It is not going to be a quick fix. It is not going to be easy. AND it will most likely be expensive before it gets better. We need to deal with that and stop complaining about relying on imported oil and tapping into the resources below some of the most pristine places left in this country. Everyone, when asked, will say they want to leave this planet in better shape for their kids. But how many people actually do something about it? Or better yet, suffer through hardships to make it happen? All over the world people have been paying out the nose for gas for a long time. They are used to it. Their governments created public transportation as an alternative. Where is our public transportation huh? I don't think drilling in the ANWR is going to make anything better. Just a band-aid as others stated. And for me, I would like to be able to one day visit ANWR without having to go out on a boat through oil-slick water, on roads that have cut through forests and destroyed habitats, and through areas with trees cut down by oil companies. Can't we have some areas that are sacred?

but if you do not have to worry about ticks, go with Advantage. We only use Frontline on our dog because of the issues with ticks (and he isn't an outside dog but he obviously goes outside to do his business). We use Advantage on our indoor cat because we do not have tick worries and my mother finds it is better than Frontline. A tip for WAY cheaper Advantage: Buy the DOG Advantage (55+ lbs) even if you have a smaller dog or you need it for a cat. Then take insulin syringes and measure out the appropriate amount for your dog (easily found in the descriptions of the right size/animal that you need). The dog and the cat Advantage are the same! The price difference is amazing tho. You can do this for Frontline too but since I use it for a dog, I can't "for sure" say it is the same for cats (I forgot to ask my mom, who does this since she has TONS of dogs and cats and is a vet tech). This can get a little messy and takes a bit to get a good strategy worked up. I plan on finding a small little vial bottle to pour the Advantage into and close. Will make it easier for me. As my example to give you a better idea: I buy the 55lb+ dog Advantage that has 4.0 ml for vial, 4 vials per package. The cost: $46 from 1800Pet-Meds. I *need* .4 ml for my cat. To buy it separately for a cat it would cost $45 (4 dose, 10+lb cat). Buying the dog Advantage gives m3e 40 doses for $46. Buying the cat, I get 4 doses for $45. Major cost saver.

Lot of :grouphug:

and has been in speech therapy since he was 4 and diagnosed with receptive/expressive language delay in addition to his articulation issues. He was able to get into a wonderful pre-k program at his local elementary school. It helped him immensely with his language issues (just by being around other kids I think, in addition to his speech and language therapy). I took him out at the beginning of 1st grade (his Kindergarten teacher was also wonderful) because he was more advanced and not receiving appropriate levels of learning. He still qualified for speech through the public school system though. He has gone to speech for the past 2 years (once a week) even though we homeschool. He will actually be dismissed from speech in a few weeks because he has achieved all his goals. Check into your school and see if they allow you to participate in speech therapy even though you are homeschooling your son. That might be a good compromise :) As for your dh's opinion, talk it over with him. One thing I have learned is that you can always remove your child and homeschool him. If it doesn't work out, there is nothing wrong with putting them back in PS. :)

at the $1.50 movies. They loved it. While his voice does irritate me, I hadn't laughed so hard at a movie in a long time (well, almost). Dh is British and Mr Bean (along with his other shows, such as Black Adder). I do recommend it too :)

http://mykoreankitchen.com/category/kimbap-sushi-roll/ That will give you an idea but not fully how I make it (which seems a little simpler). As you can see, the variety is endless. Many people think of sushi. It is often a meal in itself and does not need to be a side dish. It is very versatile. I have made it for dinner (just bulgogi and kimbap), made it for lunch, made it for an appetizer and made it for potluck. The thing I always LOVE in my kimbap (oddly enough really) is the pickled radish. I have never seen it anywhere but at a Korean store. It is made in strips for kimbap. But again, you don't need it in kimbap and can easily use something else. I was always told that the look of kimbap is almost as important as the taste. Each thing you include in the kimbap is usually a different color (eggs are yellow, cucumber is green, crab or carrots are orange, etc, etc). I often have 2 things that are the same color tho ;) To me, if I can just get it rolled right, I am happy. :lol: If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me and I can give you my exact recipe.