We still live in the same flood zone, and it's possible. The city is working to try to buy us out, but I dunno if that will turn into anything. And the baby is wonderful. Her name is Mayim, Hebrew for water. I think we were living nearer to you for a while, out in Wylie, but we're back in the house now. I think it's better than when were in Wylie, driving back and forth every day, but I miss having a kitchen.

I haven't been here in an age, due to a pregnancy, move, flooding of our new home, rebuilding, a new baby. Oh, and homeschooling, too. We lost all of our bookshelves due to the creek that came to visit, uninvited I might add, to our home. Our house had between 2 and 3 feet of water in it for most of a day. The IKEA bookshelves that I loved disintegrated right before my very eyes. Our books are currently in plastic bins on the floor. Bookshelves would be a huge improvement. I have space for shelving and really want to make a homeschool room that will be functional and wonderful. But, I need shelves. And, I worry about the particle board in the IKEA shelves. Funds are an issue, though, and so I look to my WTM peeps for advice on bookshelves. So...what bookshelves do you like? I previously had Bonde from IKEA and liked them well enough. I'm looking for more options and would love to hear your thoughts? Pics would be great, too. :)

With our last baby, I had a lot of pregnancy sickness, so we didn't get a lot of school done in the beginning. We worked until just a few days before the baby was born and then took a break. During this pregnancy, we have been moving and I've had quite a bit of pregnancy sickness, so we have not been schooling. I plan to start as soon as we get a bit more settled and will work as long as possible. My littles will probably break after the baby is born for a while, but my olders may not. It all kind of depends on how our youngest responds to the new baby and how what kind of personality the new baby has.

Me, too. I'll go back again if this doesn't seem to help long-term. She did give me some extra sticker thingies (don't know the official term) so that I can place them myself. I have, and even went on the protocol for a while. I haven't done it for some time, though. I'm taking a b complex several times a day (Country Life coenzyme) and also taking the MFM once a day. I haven't added extra zinc, though. I'll do that. The last time I was taking zinc, my blood levels were getting quite high, and I could taste it, so I stopped taking the zinc. That was sometime this summer. I'll try to take some more pills. I'm just not having an easy time taking any pills right now. One of these days, I'll learn what causes this. ;)

I had acupuncture done yesterday and that really seemed to help. However, yesterday was a better day for some reason. Today, not so much. I still have the pins in three spots. The other spots fell off. I'll put them back on today. Maybe that will help. Once I start to throw up, it just doesn't seem to stop. It really sucks.

I have had my girls do Math Mammoth division after RightStart and before they go into LOF due to this very issue. It's worked very well for us. One of my dd'd went through Level E. The second one went through a very small part of Level E before I switched her to the MM.

We are using this with the Kolbe Syllabus. I also purchased the answer key and tests.

I always think I'm prepared for morning sickness only to discover that I really am not very good at it. This time, it's started early than I remember. My hope is that this means it will leave sooner. ;) Nothing is really working for me, but I'm sipping milk during the day, eating as much protein as I can muster, eating often, drinking ginger ale (they make a grown up soda that has regular sugar in it), drinking ginger tea, eating what sounds good, trying not to cough too much, and trying not to get stressed. Stress and coughing seem to trigger the vomiting. The nausea is 24/7. Congratulations!

I don't use LOF as a supplement. We've done fractions and decimals, then my dd went directly to Beginning Algebra. I think it is more thorough than the Keys to Series for Algebra.

My husband takes the blame for our talker, though he is not really a talker. But, he says that as he was growing up, there was a symphony going on in his head. I have spoken with our talker, and I think that this is also going on in her head. And, she needs to get it out. Sometimes that is in words and other times it is in song of some sort.

I have a GE FL with the hot water heater onboard. I like it fine for regular clothes. It is a lot of work to get super dirty and/or diapers clean. Were I to do it again, I would probably look into the Fisher Paykel top loader or another top loader that uses less water but still cleans. Our new house has a spot for a stackable washer and dryer and I don't have a dryer. So I'm in the market for a new dryer, even though the one I have works just fine.

I have one of those. She processes everything out loud. I do, too, in some ways. I am finally to the point where I don't worry about anything that happens in our house because I know that she will share it with anyone within earshot. Her Shabbat School teachers love her and always regale me with her stories. LOL As if I hadn't already heard them. Now that she is getting a little older (she is 9), I am trying to help her to focus on what she communicates with other people rather than just letting it all hang out. I don't think she gets it, or cares. LOL There are times when I just need quiet. I send her to her room, or outside. I'm sure she is still talking there, too.

I had a bad experience with Zenni Optical. They have the glasses made overseas and in December 2008, they had a backlog. The glasses I had ordered were also broken during shipment. They did not tell me about this. They were re-ordered and still were taking weeks to come in. I called and did not receive satisfactory customer service. I still had to pay for the glasses and I never did receive them. I don't plan to order from them again. I don't know if this was a one time deal or not, but they were not helpful from a customer service point of view.

Fractions and Decimals did not take a year. Beginning Algebra may take forever. LOL

My girls loved the Middle Ages read aloud, but not Colonial Living. My UG/D student read Colonial Living to herself. Most of the girls liked Pipe, Paddle, and Song, but I never did manage to finish it. From what I can see of Year 3, it looks like the read alouds get better. I think they added the read alouds due to user input. I like the idea of using the SL list of books for read alouds or the alternate pages. I may try that this next year if we end up hitting a wall. My girls love to be read to.

I'll have a 6.5 yo in TOG Y3 next year. My plan is to get books from the library that are on each week's topic and call it done. We may do some of the mapwork as well. I'll probably use the TOG lists of books for the primary and alternate sources to guide my book choices. I'll also include my dd in any projects that we do. I'm sure she will enjoy them. She will have at least two other opportunities to come back to this portion of history, so I'm not worried that she will "miss" anything this go 'round.

I need to order Iowa tests for my two oldest girls. Where is the best place to order? I know about BJU Press and Triangle. Thanks.

That fog may start to go away once you are gluten free. You *can* do this. One step at a time, one day at a time, one meal at a time. If you screw up, and you will, just move forward. Everyone does it, even those of us who have been gf for a long time.:grouphug:

I had a red Mustang. I was never pulled over. I also had a black 1987 Dodge Shelby GLHS, which was numbered. I called it the cop magnet. I drove it on country roads in Iowa and got stopped. I drove it on city roads and managed to get stopped. The only thing I can figure is that the guy who had it before me must have raced it. I can't remember selling it, or even what we replaced it with. Go figure.

I don't think it is a muscle car, either, but it may still be rated as a sports car by insurance. The 4 cylinder will help. Ya know, I don't have a problem with the car, as long as she can drive it in all conditions, it's in good condition, the price is where you want it, and insurance isn't outrageous. It sounds like I'm in the minority, though. What's new?

What engine does this Mustang have? I would also check the insurance rates. If many teens have these cars, then the rates might be higher than for another type of car. Mustangs have unibody construction. The places to look for rust are at the rear quarters, in the trunk and where you put your feet. My first Mustang was rusted completely out in all of these places. In addition, Mustangs are rear wheel drive. And, they don't weigh a lot in comparison to other cars with rear wheel drive. So, it's important to know how to drive them in snow. My brother was messing around with my 86 Mustang on a wet road that was covered with wet leaves and managed to run it into a tree. I'm not saying that your dd will do this, but it's not always easy to control a rear wheel vehicle. I don't recall if there were any issues with the convertible Mustangs wrt the top. I'd want to make sure that it worked very well before purchasing. It will probably get a lot of use and it would be expensive to fix it if were broken. If I think of anything else, I'll post. My first and third cars were Mustangs. I adore them.

I use kefir to make my sourdough starter. It works rather well.

We're going to be downsizing, but I'm not sure just how far to downsize. Currently, we live in 3400 square feet. Most of the time, we are all together in one place. The girls sleep in their rooms. Periodically, they will go into one of their rooms and play games. Their rooms are good sized, which allows for this. We have put an offer in on a house that is 2800 square feet with only 3 bedrooms. The bedrooms are all small. There is an office that I will probably have to use as a bedroom when the baby moves to a different room. Another house we really like is only 2330 square feet. It also has three bedrooms, but the master is decent sized and one of the second bedrooms is almost as big. For some reason, I can't imagine myself in this house, though. I think that if the space is put together well, then living in a smaller space is very feasible. It's important to look at what you currently use and what you need, rather than want. We are really wanting to have some outdoor space, as we don't have much here. I'm looking forward to seeing if we get a response from this offer. We'll see. I'll have to do some major decluttering to go to 2800 square feet, but I think it will be worth it.

If you bring grapes, freeze them first. The kids love that.

I can give you some personal anecdotal information. I was diagnosed gluten intolerant 8 years ago. I hated going gluten free. It was hard. I missed a lot of things. However, symptoms I didn't know I had went away. I had no idea that most people didn't have gastro symptoms after eating a lot of bread. In fact, I didn't really know I had any gastro symptoms until they were gone. After a while, I found that if I cheated, I got incredibly moody and depressed. At one point, I decided to go back to eating gluten. This was a couple of years ago. Most of the gastro issues didn't come back. The moodiness was better. I developed Raynaud's syndrome, which is an auto-immune disease. I got pregnant and went gf at 20 weeks for the baby. I'm still gf for the baby, but I've picked up another auto-immune disease. It's hypothyroidism, and many people find that being gluten free helps this condition. I'm not going back to eating gluten. I found a bread I like - Udi's. I make better food than I ever thought I could do to the many other food intolerance we've had to deal with over the years. I don't like feeling foggy headed, due to gluten. I don't like being moody, due to gluten. I don't want full blown celiac disease, and I'm convinced that gluten sensitivity leads to full blown celiac.