I have a friend that has really been a sister to me since the crib (literally our moms were friends so we shared cribs for naps sometimes). Anyway, she is doing dh & I a service that is in her expertise. She is a hard worker & she & dh need the money. She would normally collect a $500 commission on this (which would be added to my bill so the money comes from me technically) but I heard through the grape vine she waved her commission. GGRRRR.. :001_smile: I want to gift her something. I mean really something, not a $20 gc to Starbucks. I'm thinking something large that will would benefit the family or her personally, either is ok w/ me. PLEASE THROUGH ME IDEAS!?!?!?

The change of market is interesting to me b/c of the handful of people we know that have been laid off, none are back to work yet. In the big picture is this situation going to divide the "haves" from the "have nots" even more? For as many bids on the market, the number of foreclosures doesn't seem to be going down so i'm sure eventually I'll find a home. We are blessed w/ dhs job but have to relocate to get the sized house we want & can afford. This kind of bid, offer, counter, wait, wait, wait, stuff isn't for me!!! I'm NOT a patient person when it comes to this stuff and I'm pretty sure this will drive me closer to crazy! :glare: any advice? Wew heard a trick & I'm wondering how many others have had to do this with short sales; a bid on a short sale isn't a contract and you can put bids on multiple short sales all at once. It seems this is what buyers are doing hoping to get one?!?!?! I know hearing a house has many back up offers makes me turn away from that house. Ug. who said house hunting was fun? :confused:

A while back I posted reply request on if we should relocate 2 hrs from where we live now into a better school disctrict, closer to dh office & into an area w/ bigger housing. We've decided yes and have been looking for a house since then. We are looking in a very popular Southern California wine area.... Things I've noticed; * many agents list homes w/ wrong info on purpose. 5 bedroom + office, really means 3 bedroom w/ office & formal dining. Turn the office & dining into rooms to make it a 5 bedroom. *Houses are intensionally being low listed, and each home we've looking at have multiple offers. * Short sale is NOT short (any experience with this??) *Per 2 agents + mine, it is quickly becoming a sellers market. If you find a home you like, many are starting to offer MORE then the asking price to get the owners attention. Its almost depressing as we have found a handful of homes I really liked, yet been either offer 3 or 4 on each. I am calling the construction crew today to get quotes on turning a formal dining into a bedroom for future reference. Is this just California or do you see for sale signs coming down in other states too? If your selling your home, don't get discouraged.

We have 17 kids on our street ranging from 4-16 (5 girls, 12 boys). There is ALWAYS a kid outside or a baseball game going on. These kids started by just throwing a ball back & forth w/ each other and after a few years progressed to full sleepovers & plans to meet at 9am or "after dinner" now that it is summer. We are the middle house on the street so ours is the hang out yard. I have no grass just dirt at this point and a 5 ft skate ramp in my driveway and I dont' mind. The kids are all comfortable coming over & my kids are home. Standard rule unless someone is spending the night they go home to use the restroom (or come home if its my kids at someone elses house) and I offer water whenever & occasionally make cupcakes or pick up cheap otter pops just to share. We have greeted every new neighbor with cookies & a folder of the local fastfood menus & tips (such as $1 movies up the street, little league sign up info, etc) which seems to break the ice fairly quick. My son has a variety of animals (dog, snake, lizards, dragons) which when he takes them outside also breaks the ice w/ new neighbor kids. :tongue_smilie: On the boy/girl thing, my 6yr dd is a tom boy & can climb the tree faster then the boys, she blends & they see her as a boy (so far!)

Yep, lets dump the "make them feel good & give no grades" crap & actually teach them. Did you know California has an "approved movie list"? These are for when the teacher believes the class deserves an award or a party (or resently at Corona high when a unqualifed sub had to take over Spanish b/c the teacher wasn't available that day) so they have a movie day. The movie was "Click". Study hall? Nope, a movie. I look at that as they just used my tax dollars to let the kids watch a movie in class. Someone mentioned using the same text books for 10 years. The text books in our area are FULL of cartoony drawings & "fun facts" and are updated every few years at $100 a pop. Students in this district do not bring home text books. Teachers give worksheets & copies instead. There are MANY things that could be done differently to save $400 million dollars; I don't see going digital in high school as one of them.

umm. yeah, I guess I'd be wrong w/ the rest of this camp. I however don't think the blue haired child will get looks & thoughts like "what is that teen thinking" would, I think a blue hair child will get the "what are the parents thinking" look. Blue hair comment followed by how to behave in church is what led the thought process the way Bills did. **Not ment as a judgement call on if blue is ok or not, my dd has bright purple stripes.

Just a side note, we have friends w/ kids in duel immersion and they absolutely love it. It was a rough start but now the 6th & 5th graders are both fluent in English & Spanish while mom & dad are NOT. These kids will be taking spanish 3 as freshmen in high school. Starting slowly seems to be normal for english speaking children.

I was going towards a skate park but motorcross works too!

other then needing an extra bedroom, your house is exactly what I'm currently looking for only you've listed in 85K less then the ones I"m looking at!! I love your brick work! If you could move it to So Cal, we'd have a deal! Hang in there.. We've been looking for a while now and it seems like nothing may happen to a house then they get 3 offers in one weekend! And.. let me know if that moving it to California sounds good to you :tongue_smilie:

I'm with the other posters who ask if there was something in the tone of voice. My 13 yr old is constantly kissing/higging but not in a clingly way. He'll walk up and say "hug attack" and hug or pretend to "leech" onto me or his siblings. He is a calm, kinda rockerish boy w/ longish hair & in his group is one of the mature ones. He just likes being a goon. I constantly hear moms say, " I wish my 13 yr old would just get close enough to me so I could hug him"... Maybe they were just commenting on the relationship?

Your son sounds like my son! I'm sure you will get a lot better answers then mine & I'm also hoping for a book recommendation. I can however tell you what we ask ours. When my son says live in the wilderness & live off the land, we joke & tell him since we don't own any wilderness land, how is he going to pay for that? He says he wants to do something outside so we discuss what jobs are out there that he can work outside for money. Forest ranger, state park trooper, etc. My oldest wants to do something in photography so I had her look into what careers use photography. From there, we can determine what education is needed. Just a thought...

oh my goodness...are you being tested or WHAT>??? More prayers to you & all involved. Keep us updated!

I have always heard the 100lb thing along with a young girl only grows 1 inch after starting her period. And not starting unti 14 sounds sooooo old to me. I started @ 11; same w/ my mom & daughter..

Thanks for all my replys!! The weird thing about posting on a message board is what you don't say, people add their life stories to fill the gaps. What I didn't mention was that dh would be moving to a busier office. He would be gone just as long b/c of added hours, just wouldn't have commute. He has a weird job where he sometimes works from home, yet sometimes travels & can be gone for a week. On office days though, he said longer hours are better then traffic. There is a chance of year end bonus' but not a raise in pay for these added hours. Gas & wear/tear aren't an issue as the company pays for this for dh. The only family I have that I would leave is my grandparents. I have 2 set days a week I care for my grandmother who is well in her late 80's. That commute wouldn't bother me and since one of the days is Sunday, the rest of my family could visit our old church & then we could spend the afternoon visiting old friends. Due to grandmas health, this isn't a long term thing & may work as a nice ease into the new area whiel leaving our current one. Funny to hear I sounded controling. Ive never been told that. Yes I think with more space we will be more spread out. While I don't force the kids to hang out together, it just is what seems to happen b/c my kids don't have video games or tvs in their rooms. The only forced thing is we eat dinner together at the table. We also have a living room that is rarely used. We migrate to the same room b/c that is where all the action is (computers, tv, board games, right off the kitchen) We have an extra bedroom in the house we are in now & yes my boys share a room b/c I think it is good for their relationship; I know with a move, they more then likely would no longer share a room. As far as the 18 & 6 yr old go, sharing a room was the 18yr olds choice when she was 16. Like I said, we have an extra room now but when the 16yr old had her choice & dh moved all the kids rooms around, she wanted her little sister with her. Honestly when all is said & done, the 18 yr old is tired of getting told to clean up her side of the room. 6yr DD is a decoraing neat freak w/ her animals & has issues when 18dd leaves clothing all over the bed or floor. No where did I even begin to state that 18 yr old is responsible for 6 yr old like a mother. 18 yr old is a full time college student working 2 jobs. She isn't home much as it is but when she is home, she is the nail painting, coloring, play games big sister without my saying a thing. She just doesn't want the 6 yr old to tell her to clean up her mess. Barb you are right, the move shouldn't be making these decisions for me. I will look at it as if I have more options; wow, maybe I could have a scrapbooking/craft/ironing room afterall! Garga hit the nail on the head... taxes will be higher, utilities will more then likely go up, water alone will as the new area is a good 12' hotter & dryer. I would have to buy another living room set & an actual dining room set or have empty rooms. There are also association fees & mello roos in the new housing tracks that I don’t' have now. We wouldn't have to change much financially (love Dave Ramsey!) but it is a higher maintenance lifestyle. Jen you have a PM! Thanks all who replied. After thinking things through, & working some long term numbers it looks like we're going to look into a few houses. Yikes! I guess my relaxing slow summer will be spent packing! Thanks all!!

Our move wouldn't be to a wide open space, it would still be very suburban- just different. My 13 yr old goes to a Christian univerity's homeschool program & we're throwing around sticking w/ them or going pubic. They have a location close to the new house. Thanks for all your input!!

Ironically with the market & financial status of these days, it looks as if dh & I have the opportunity to "upsize" to a new location. Although this move would only be a few counties over in the same state, the property value, community, area & such is more upperscale. The houses are bigger & newer and yet I feel unsure about the whole thing. If ever my children had to go to public school, they would NOT be going in the district we live in & was one of the inital reasons we started homeschooling. Financially in the big picture it would be better for us as the area we are currently in is, although safe & middle class on the decline overall. Thats the ying. However, the houses are twice the size as the one I am in now. My boys being polar opposites, share a room & I think this has helped him become closer. We don't have a lot of hang space, & dont' allow the teens to close themselves off in their rooms so we're almost forced to hang together. My girls 18 & 6 share a room. My 18 yr old needs a break from her sister but my 6 LOVES sharing a room w/ big sis. My kitchen & bathrooms are older, worn, plan ugly really.. but I dont' have to freak out about mud on the floor or what baking soda experiment is being done this week. If we move, I know my freak factor will go up with a new house. The houses have twice the bedrooms & most have lofts as well, it makes since giving each child their own room while we'd have a living room, loft & family room to hang in as well. Me staying home still is a given either way. Money will be a bit tighter but completely doable. Homeschooling the youngers is a given while sending the 13 to public high school if we move is a probably. Thats the yang. Why is my head kicking & not letting me sleep with this decision? Advice with these dcisions are the types of things I miss my mom most for. DH has left it 100% up to me b/c he wants me to be happy. He currently commutes to work 45 mintues (no traffic) or 1hr 20minutes w/ traffic while in the new area the commute woud be 15-20 minutes either way. He doesn't care as long as the kids & I are ok with where we are. How do i decide & then be ok with it? corb- who really is freaking out a bit...

Hypothetically, I'd make an appointment as soon as my doc could see me cas she'd order a test, ya know with that free bag of prenat. vitamins.... That would be ME hypothetically. Then again, I've only been late 4 times in my life & they are now 18, 13, 10 & 6. So when are you going?

What the other posters said and more! I held off for a while b/c I thought it was just junk but when I gave in I was pleasently surprised at the educational games & trivia on it. My 6 yr old loves it & plays the games w/ her big brother! I have yet to put any extra money into the game outside of her stuffed animal webkinz. They are priced ok enough that she wants to do extra chores to earn money to buy them (ranging $10-20). Im lucky though b/c she only collects all white stuffed animals, lol, so that cuts down on what she wants to buy. Have you given in yet?

ha ha ha I just told dh that same thing today!! And thanks to Billie Joe, I had to tell my 13 yr old that no, I don't care its the last day of co-op, you're NOT wearing liner & fingernail polish. Hes a really good kid, wants to make mom & dad happy, respectful & protective to siblings, even reads tinkerbell chapters to 6 yr old when mom can't but why does he have to think black hair, eyeliner & fingernail polish is cool? :tongue_smilie:

hmm... we have FIOS triple, internet, phone & tv. Its ok. THe interent is NOT faster at all. The tv is ok, they seem to change the locations of channels a lot. However the customer service is awful. When we move, we will NOT take them with us....

How did you get a debit card that deducts the OTC & meds directly? That seems like it would make it soo easy!! Thanks for your reply!

Does your family participate? Have you found it a good idea? DHs employee just started this w/ the guys & I'm trying to figure out the details... Thanks! Corby

13 boy says cookies crumbled over pudding 10 boy says pie, any kind 6 girl says chocolate pudding pie :tongue_smilie:

:grouphug: enjoy your family weekend. We are still praying for you guys, and Katya. Thanks for the update...

Thanks you guys for your replys!! Do you know where I can find a CPA I can trust that isn't going to just try to sell me something before explaining the world to me? :tongue_smilie: