1) Friday Night Lights 2) Parenthood 3) The Office 4) Friends 5) Scrubs 6) ER 7) Lipstick Jungle 8) Army Wives 9) Frasier 10) King of Queens 11) Big Love 12) Deadwood 13) Gossip Girl 14) House Hunters Intl 15) American Idol 16) Anthony Bourdain 17) any of the Law and Order shows 18) Sarah Connor Chronicles 19) Parks and Recreation 20) Saturday Night Live 21) Sopranos 22) Northern Exposure 23) Will and Grace 24) Medium 25) Crossing Jordan I would most likely love Glee - from what people have told me - but I've never seen it. Hope to change that soon.

That sounds so great!!!! I say go for the bell and enjoy the place while it's all yours.

My dd is also very happy at home, but at the same time she has many interests. Maybe you can help yours find something she's passionate about this year. Volunteer together somewhere, visit museums, see plays, get out in nature, etc. See if you can find something that creates excitement within her. And I promise you're not the only homeschoolers in San Fran. I have a friend there with 4 kids, two of which learn at home. Hope the year turns out to be better than either of you could have ever imagined!

Thanks! I should have figured that out myself. Shouldn't post messages when I'm about to head out the door.

I'm considering purchasing the following and wanted to see if anyone had copies they are willing to sell. Some of these are workbook type stuff, and I prefer clean copies: Wordly Wise 3000 Book 2, 2nd edition English for the Thoughtful Child The First Whole Book of Diagrams Sequential Spelling 1 Lively Latin 1st level Thanks!

We've tried both and Netflix is far better.

Some started this past week. Others start this coming week.

Can the pods be moved across the country, or are they just for local moving?

That's a GREAT tip! I wish our stuff would fit in something like that.

Thank you for this tip! I should probably start a file of tips from my own downsizing thread and from this thread.

:iagree:

We have this same membership and LOVE it! The IMAX films and member previews alone make it worth it for us. Plus, it's a great place to go when the heat indexes are over 100 - which seems to be the norm these days. We also belong to the Botanic Gardens, the zoo, and both art museums. The Dixon had a great deal going this spring - three months free. We also got a discount on the Brooks membership because of our zoo membership. My dream place for a membership is Burritt on the Mtn in Huntsville, AL. My SIL lives in Huntsville, so we have visited the place, and I drool at the wonderful activities Burritt offers. I wish it was only 1.5 hrs away at most.

Congrats! I'm supposed to be getting rid of stuff, but instead, you're making me want to peruse the thrift shops. Happy for you, though. It does feel good to score big.

Ladybug Game (created by a little girl when she was maybe 6?) Endango Wild Craft Hi Ho Cherrios Cooties

Robyn, thank you for sharing the details of how you guys make it work. My dd and I will be the ones who need alone time. Dh cannot get enough of people. I guess in nice weather, I could go sit by myself for awhile at the lake's edge. Winter could pose a problem. Maybe solitary time could be spent at the library while dh spends time with dd. Two introverts and one extrovert in small living quarters - that should make for a fun experiment! :lol:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the pep talk! I'll google those phrases and see what comes up. Hopefully things will transpire in the direction of this move, but it might take awhile. A few things have to happen here first, but it does feel like our hearts are already in MI.

Ugh! Thanks for mentioning the window thing. I hadn't thought that far ahead. Luckily some of our book shelves are module and can be configured around windows, but not all of them. We have three large book cases that can't be reconfigured.

Yes! We are soooooooooooooo looking forward to that perk!

So many posters have mentioned IKEA, and we will definitely look into that. We would have one about 3 hrs away, so that's doable. I've been in IKEA once and LOVED it! I'm looking forward to being w/in an easy drive of one of their stores. One of the main reasons for doing this would be the mega savings that you mentioned toward the end of your post. We really need this now. The economy has hurt my husband's business terribly. Another reason is to be near dh's family. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and advice. I love the idea of the shelves over the laundry area. I'm sure that would help us out a lot. I was wondering what I'd do without my pantry. And I think we'll have to borrow the wardrobe idea, too.

Okay, if 6 of you can fit in 950 sq ft., we should certainly be able to handle 850 for the three of us! As for the books, okay, I'll admit there are SOME that could be purged that wouldn't make me ill to think of getting rid of, but we have plenty I'd like to keep. Thanks for the push to rethink this. Maybe we won't leave with ALL of them! : ) The basement is dry and finished (except for the utility area), and light enters via sliding glass doors.

Thank you all for your encouragement and ideas. And, yes, for those naysayers, I've had my moments of doubt for sure. We love the idea of taping off the room dimensions and doing a trial run. Thank you to the poster who suggested it. Luckily, our current living room is 650 sq ft so we have plenty of space to do that. Yes, our entire new home wouldn't be much bigger than our current living room. :001_huh: That sent me into a panic attack this morning when that comparison hit home.

I've posted before about the possibility of moving to MI. If we do so, we will be significantly downsizing. We live in 2600 sq ft of space now. The cottage we will rent is 850 sq ft (including the basement) with an unfinished utility area behind the finished part of the basement. The upper area is 550 sq ft; the basement is 300 sq ft. It's right on the lake. There is one bathroom, and a tiny kitchen. The basement area would have to be multi-purpose school/play/sleep. There is one other bedroom and a living room. A large deck wraps around the cottage. We're a family of 3, and we need to simplify our lives. Are we crazy to consider such small living quarters? Has anyone else on here downsized this much? If so, what becomes important and what do you let go? Am I wrong in thinking I can pull furniture away from the walls and cover most of the wall space with bookshelves so we at least don't have to purge the books? What would you keep for kitchen stuff? I love to bake but hate cooking "real food". Of course I do cook meals, but I'm not that great at the real food kind of thing so most of our regular meals are pretty simple. We would need two beds, and I'd love to keep our current kitchen table to use as the school table (getting rid of our current school table), and try to keep our dining table to use as the kitchen table in the new place, but I'm not sure that's realistic. I know the guest room stuff will need to go. I could ramble on and on, so I better just close here. Hoping someone has been there, done this and has much wisdom to pass on. Thanks!

My dd had multiple bouts of strep in a short period of time a couple of years ago. The ped finally told me and my husband to go get checked even though we felt fine. Turns out I tested positive as well. More than likely we were passing the germs back and forth. With both of us on antibiotics, she was finally able to get well. Another simple thing that I would suggest is to throw out all the toothbrushes in the house and buy at least two more for everyone. One set for everyone to use while your child is sick, and the second set for after the all-clear is given. The probiotic was a good idea. We had to start giving those to dd with every round of antibiotics several years ago. They really help.

Yes?

Our school room is currently in the playroom, and I'm always telling my friends that I wish I had room for it elsewhere. But, it's somewhat practical because I tend to find myself gathering up "play" items to use in our learning sessions. While probably not ideal, it works okay for now.