I voted 5-6 hrs and no. I stay up late-ish to have time alone with DH and I get up early to go to the gym while the rest of the house sleeps. Ideally I would get 8 hrs/night but that's just not going to happen.

We love fireworks and set them off safely. Every year the laws get tighter and we begrudgingly stay within the legal parameters as an example to our children. If we didn't have children it would be a different story.

:iagree:My husband describes me as "Vulcan." After years of practice, I have perfected the arched eyebrow and use it frequently. We have the entire TOS on DVD and am willing to stage an intervention weekend for anyone who fails to grasp the genius that is TOS.:D

It's about the same outside. :-) A hail storm, tornado watches, and nasty black clouds all remind me of just why we stayed here!

9:15 am and 57 deg with a predicted high of 67 deg ETA: Location: Olympia, WA

Now that I've really thought about it, we have gone through more changes than I initially remarked. Businesses closing and leaving our invoices unpaid almost put us out of business a year ago. We have gone to writing handbills for all private/home customers and requiring payment at the time of service. Where our business clients are concerned, we offer a small discount if the bill is paid in full at the time of service. We have also increased our number of pre-paid service contracts for our business clients and this has helped keep the money flowing. For example, a business pre-pays for a guaranteed 10 hrs/month at a 10% discount and then is billed for any additional hours used at the full rate. While it decreases our overall revenue for that client, it makes sure we have money coming in and it helps the client out as well. We no longer keep any parts/inventory in stock because it costs us money in the end (the state has increased taxes on inventory items). We had an off-site office and last year we moved everything back into our house in order to save on rent, utilities, internet, etc., for the business. We dropped our answering/scheduling service and bookkeeper and now I do all of that for free (although I pay an accountant to deal with our taxes). And rather than pay DH for the hours he puts in, he receives a set salary in order to stabilize expenses.

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

My band was my mom's. Mom couldn't wear the ring because she is allergic to gold (a fact she was unaware of before their wedding day) so it sat in a box until the day DH and I were married. When I look at it, I think of their happy 50 yrs of marriage and know what our marriage should be.

We own a small IT business that caters to small businesses. Work has slowed significantly and many times clients are slow to pay for services (many of accounts are 30-60 days past due). We have been able to keep our technicians employed but not with the number of hours they had become accustomed to in previous years. DSS is 18 and is having a terrible time finding a part-time to full-time job. Many of the jobs that would normally go to "kids" are going to older people with more experience and responsibilities (i.e. families to support, mortgages to pay, etc.). I saw a report on the new the a.m. that stated that job-seeking teens 16-19 yo have a 25.9% unemployment rate at present. I believe it.

But add to the home stuff that we own our own company and I also have to tell DH--on a daily basis-- to enter his time/client service calls into the system so that I can bill and we can get paid. It's ridiculous, but it's who he is.

I do this as well as use the SOTW AG recommendations.

My Aunt had a stroke during our reception and was hauled off in an ambulance. Otherwise the day was grand!

This is very similar to the weddings I grew up attending. The wedding industry has really turned things into a dog-and-pony show and gotten away from the sense of family and community that makes a wedding special IMO. With regard to the OP and the retirement parties, I would probably decline the invitations unless it was someone REALLY close to our family. The fact that they are charging a "cover charge" for attending such an event is boorish. The baby shower situation I would attend gracefully as it is DH's best friend's wife. I can deal with bringing a dish to pass far better than being hit up for cash at the door.

I wish I were surprised.

We have a boxer, a rescue dog... She's our 3rd. All 3 have been eternal puppies. Bouncy, energetic, great with kids, want to be in the mix all the time and hate to be alone.... chewing, fence-jumping, digging, running puppies.

I get up at 6:00 to head to the gym or go for a walk/run in the nice weather. I try to be home by 8:00 to wake DH, get breakfast if the kids haven't already (and at 6yo your daughter should be able to get herself a bowl of cereal IMO), shower and get ready for the day (as we run a home business and I need to look "presentable" 9-5 for clients). I try to do a readaloud or read a chapter from SOTW during breakfast on days where we run a little late. I also try to have a few educational videos (related to either science or history that we are studying) on hand and will pop on of those in if I am feeling like I need to do household chores vs. teaching at that moment. I make DS summarize the video for me and then do either copywork or dictation RE: the video which also buys me a few more minutes on those days. On days where I really feel the pinch, I focus on the 3 R's-- reading, writing, and arithmetic. We spend 30-60 mins on Math and Grammar/LA's and then read something related to either science or history followed by a short (3 sentence) narration or copywork. DS8 knows that if he goofs off and runs over his time, he has "homework" for later in the day. He can ask for help but is expected to finish primarily independently. Most days, music, art, geography, Latin, and other subjects fit into the schedule, but there are those days... I didn't look to see what curriculum you are using but I have found that DD4 likes to do "math" while DS does math, work on her letters and handwriting while DS does LA's, and so on. I don't force her to do work, but she tends to want to be where we are doing something of her own. Maybe that would work for your YDD. DS8 was that way which in part is why I chose CLE for Math (and LA which bombed miserably, lol!). Maybe you need to re-evaluate some of your curriculum choices to find where you could encourage more independent work? I know it worked for us. Well... Lunch I usually make while the kids are on a break or listening to an audiobook (I get the CD and the book so DS8 can follow along). As for the rest, delegate. Cleaning the table has been assigned to DS8 and I try to keep lunch simple so there is little to no mess to deal with after lunch. Picking up toys is split between the kids as they are not my things. Household chores quite honestly go to the wayside or are passed along to the kids as they are able (our house is tidy but not always in the condition I would have it in and I have learned to live with it). Grocery shopping and errands usually occur in the afternoon after school or I squeeze them in in the evening when DH can be home with the kids. Church has become a family activity on Wednesday nights and Sundays. Art is usually included with history or science (and I alternate the subjects each day). Outside classes I try to limit to the afternoons because I know we will be offtrack if I leave the house in the a.m. Exactly! We don't leave the house until after lunch unless it is absolutely necessary. Breakfast or lunch time and evenings work well for us. Can DD6 help? I know my kids love to be in the kitchen with me, even if it's just to bring measuring cups or plates. Sometimes I prep for dinner while the kids are on break or working independently on something. Crockpots are great for busy days too. I don't do it all. Some days are better than others. Some days we have to deal with life. Most weeks we will have two or three really productive days and the others we just do the 3 R's. But you have to remember that some days public and private schools spend most of their time in assembly or shuffling from point A to point B or waiting for other kids to catch on. You are doing fine!

I liked the Great Gatsby but I wouldn't take offense to what you said. You didn't say anything negative about people who like the book. You just didn't like the book.

We have set aside food, water, gas, and some other items we consider essential. You just never know when a small or large emergency might occur.

For my 30th, my DS was just under one month old and I was a raving lunatic (colicky baby). My best friend flew down from Alaska and we went to Wrestlemania. IT. WAS. AWESOME. Last year was DH's 40th and it passed with little pomp or circumstance. This year, however, we are taking the kids to Charleston, SC, for a week for his birthday.

July 8-10 for us... Can't wait.

Food is either protein, fat, or carb. Protein and fat are relatively easy to distinguish and the rest is carb. Generally speaking, the more processed the food, the worse it is for your glycemic index. Of course there are exceptions like the white potato.

Six kids or more for me, 4 or more for DH. I grew up the youngest of 6. Mom was the youngest of 12 and Dad was an only.

We didn't plan on staying in our house when we bought it. We thought we'd live here for 5 years. We've been here for 9 yrs and we are in it for the long-haul. We don't love our house. We don't even like it. But we like the idea of going through the hassle of selling and buying and moving even less. We'll live with it and make the best of it.

I used to go hunting with Dad and my brothers. One day were were out hunting quail in the snow. Dad was always concerned that I would fall and hurt myself (I am the baby, after all... and I was 19 or 20 at this time) so he went into great length describing how there were tree roots covered by the snow and I needed to be careful or I could trip and fall. He finishes the lesson and starts to walk away... when he slips and falls, doing a perfect face plant into the snow (imagine falling forward to do a snow angel rather than backward). My brothers and I laughed so hard watching him lay there, face down, wiggling each body part separately to make sure everything was still intact before he slowly got up, caked with snow from head to toe.

Hmmm... My neighbor HS's and out of her 3 kids that have graduated from HS (the rest are too young yet), the eldest is working on her PhD, the next has been flying helicoptors for the US Army since he was 19 (entered Warrent Officer school at 18, almost unheard of), and the other started college at 16 and will have his engineering degree by 21... But maybe that's not the kind of education or employment your neighbor considers worthwhile... Hmmm....