You can take it internally or use it topically, both in homeopathic form. My favorite topical is by Weleda. Sorry you're hurting.

But, for my parent's 40th anniversary, I created a photo collage using family pictures from back when they were first married all the way up to more current shots. These were all photos that were being stored in boxes, so not accessible in any way, and *I* knew where the boxes were stashed. So, I just helped myself when no one was looking. I didn't try to keep all the photos intact, in their original shapes. I took the liberty of cutting out faces, bodies, heads, and cutting away or covering up (w/ other photos) extraneous stuff in the background. It turned out beautifully and hangs prominently in my parent's (mother's :sad:) house to this day. Very fun, memorable, and it cost me only time and a materials (plus the framing) I left a 5 X 7 hole in the middle of the mat board which was reserved for a photo of my parents taken on or around their actual anniversary. For a variation on this theme, the photo books available through Snapfish and other photo printing businesses are really kind of fun, if you have a lot of digital images to use. Good luck!

I'd pack it into small jars (jelly jars?), cover the cloves completely with olive oil and put them in the fridge. I'm assuming that the oil would prevent it from sprouting like it normally would in the refrigerator. A former customer of mine explained that he used this method successfully. Sounds like you really scored! I'm envious!! :001_smile:

Despite a healthy diet of Mickey D's as a child, we've really worked to eliminate the stuff from our current diets (which is not meant to be any sort of judgment on you, Crissy -- just an explanation of why I don't remember). Very limited TV exposure just ices the cake. I'll have to ask my kids if they know him, just for fun. Newbie, if it was Barney, she'd have had to put "funny" in quotes! Barney?! :shudder:

I really want to use dark chocolate instead of milk, but the rest seems like the perfect match. Yay! Thanks!

...but I have ZERO candy making skills. Can you say, "Never made candy before, evah!?" But, I want to make toffee - rich, crisp, buttery toffee, and I want to coat it with dark chocolate and...and maybe some chopped nuts. Am I nuts? (don't really answer that, please) :001_unsure:

Actually, I'm not well versed in goats at all. Chickens, yes. Not goats. :tongue_smilie: So, maybe you'll want to post your question again without my name in it in order to elicit more replies. Sorry I can't help.

I'm so glad it worked out for your pullet. That's great news! Have your son read up on adding light to the coop versus not doing that. Pullets, in my experience, will lay pretty consistently through their first winter without light. It's not until their first molt that they undergo a cessation of laying while they regrow their feathers. But, that may vary in different regions. He'll also want to consider whether it is any healthier for the birds to be given that natural winter pause or whether he'd prefer to keep them laying and just add in replacements as these become less productive. I'd be interested to know what he discovers about which birds are his best layers. The Sex Links are the production machines of the breeds you have, but that may not mean they are *physically* as well adapted. Let me know.

Yes, it's a tricky situation even without the older sibling who gets easy A's. Add in the inevitable sibling comparisons, and you've got a recipe for some serious self image bashing. On the bright side, our dd 11 (also RACHEL!) came home yesterday proud of an A in math on her interim report card. Wow! It all feels so new still, and we're still learning how it works, as is she. Maybe it won't be a complete disaster after all. ???

Our oldest entered public 9th grade this year while the younger, who *could* be in 7th grade (DOB 12/28/96 -- she just barely made the cut for starting K when she did), entered 6th grade. Overall, no one is miserable, but I am somewhat concerned about our younger daughter who does not learn in the "traditional" way and, therefore, struggles to bring home B's. I'm worried that, at this rate, her self confidence will be completely shot by the time she's ready to graduate. Its hard to witness. So, I'm not sure she's getting the best experience in this setting. I'm not sure I could give her that either! :confused: But, the 14 year old is soaring, loving school, just doing so well. In fact, just today she said, as we left for school and I asked, "Does everyone have all their homework?" "Yep - got it. You know, it's funny. I feel like school has just been calling to me for years." Wow. Can't beat that, huh?

You've given me lots of options here - I'm sure I'll be able to choose something from among the many ideas. As always, I knew I could count on you all! :D

We have not yet decided where we will spend this Christmas. If we opt to stay home, it will be a big change from Christmases past when we were immersed in the comings and goings of extended family. A great new game(s) for my daughters - 12 and 14 - might be a useful time filler. Unfortunately, neither dh nor I are very big on games, though, especially once we're past the holiday. So, game ideas for two will have more longevity. We own Rook, Uno, Stratego, Mancala, Parcheesi, Chinese Checkers...others I'm forgetting. Younger dd isn't such a great strategist, so Chess and Backgammon don't fly as well here because she usually gets creamed by her older sister. We're a tricky bunch, aren't we? :D

I don't have much to add here other than (((big hugs of understanding))). I've been where you are. You're doing just fine, I am quite certain. Others here have given you sound advice. I will just add one other little tidbit: notice that you are "beating yourself up" over the possibility of doing something wrong, and your daughter is doing the same. I'm betting if you relax, she will feel that coming from you and relax a bit herself. Ask me how I know. :o Hang in there.

What a hoot! Poor kid. No wonder she has so much trouble in school, what with all that equipment to haul around with her!! :lol: I think I've typed pneumonia so many times in reference to my father over the past year, that the 'pn' just falls off my fingertips too easily. Thanks for giving me a laugh of my own this morning. I've been up (against my wishes) since 4 am, and I fear it's going to be a long day!

That's what came to mind for me, too. Cook potatoes, cabbage, carrots in the liquid (you may need to also add stock or water) and call it cabbage soup. Cook rice and chicken breasts in it and call it curried chicken casserole. Cook butternut squash and apples in it, along with curry, salt, pepper, and maybe some cayenne -- add nut or cow's milk, puree it, and call it curried squash soup. Good luck!

We love them both equally. We work to meet the social and educational needs of both. One prompts questions about whether we should advance her a grade while the other prompts questions wondering whether she will ever learn to capitalize the letters at the beginning of a sentence (or add punctuation at the end, for that matter). The one with the A+ average who can spew facts and figures like she just read them moments ago has her head in the clouds (or in a book, or on the computer) much of the time and is a classic case of a kid who might forget her own head if it wasn't attached to her body. The one with the B average needs an arsenal of pneumonic devices and repetition to master the most basic of facts (in just about any subject) yet knows where every single thing in the house is at any given time and can follow a list of verbal instructions as if they are written into her skin. They are both wonderful and complex, bright in certain ways and crazy-making in others. Oh, and by the way, my oldest brother is very much like my oldest daughter, and I find that I'm more akin to my younger. We both lead successful adult lives. Don't fret. Your children are a gift to you, and you to them. You're doing just fine. :001_smile:

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief when I read your entire post, because from reading the subject line alone, I was sure you were launching into a brick and mortar bash. Nothing against you, just that it does happen, as you note here, and with some frequency among homeschoolers. I'll admit to saying the same, or something dreadfully similar, myself at some point or other. After eight years of being homeschooled, my daughters are now in public school. Ours is by no means the best school in the country, nor by any stretch is it the worst. But, we have only ONE public school in our area, so there is no choice about which institution is attended by children who cannot afford or opt against private school. Watching the work my kids are bringing home, I can pinpoint the busy work, and I can see which of it is more useful. I know that my kids have a willingness to try hard, and that they actually enjoy learning most of the time. They know I expect them to do their best. I think sometimes homeschool parents attempt to rationalize their own lack of commitment to teaching (and perhaps assuage their own guilt) by convincing themselves that little learning goes on inside the walls of the public school building. Of course there are plenty of examples of kids whom the system has failed one way or another. Sadly, there are examples of this being true in the homeschool setting as well. In both cases, one reason may be that the parents expect too little. Thanks for bringing this up.

There's a lot of information here and it's helpful. I never doubted that this would be a decision based very much on my dd's individual needs and circumstances. But, it has been valuable to me to have your experiences explained as we consider this. Kay in Cal - I've downloaded that report and look forward to reading in today. I expect to set up a meeting with the school counselor and principal as soon as possible. With gratitude,

I admit to being rather ignorant of the options available to us/her which would continue to keep her challenged but not necessarily advance her officially. I'm sure those will be among the first ideas discussed with the school staff. I'm rather expecting that they would be resistant to the idea of advancement, even if it is possible within state standards. Considerations (in no particular order) here: 1. At 14, dd is much more mature emotionally and academically than all of her classmates. In part, this is because of who she is. But the other significant reason is that this particular class, *this* 9th grade, is just not a class of students with much maturity, social or academic. Unfortunately, I've heard this from students as well as teachers, and it jives with what we knew to be true way back when dd was in public school for first grade. She came home for second grade partly *because* her class was made up of so many trouble makers, and during her elementary years (1-6), in our small area, she would have been in that single class, with those same students, all six years. I heard time and again from teachers in that school during the years that we were homeschooling of what a smart choice we'd made for our dd, and how difficult this particular class of students remained. Now, with all the districts merging for high school, she is, at least, in a slightly larger pool of students. All those same elementary students are there, but there are other students in the mix now. Sadly, the overall composition of the class hasn't changed much, and this has been confirmed without prompting at recent teacher's conferences. So, dd has zero social ties to her current class. She is friendly, outgoing, and willing to engage. But, there isn't a single student in her class with whom she feels connected as we near the end of this semester. Instead, she has gravitated to kids in the junior class, which is basically fine, but will be very difficult for her when all those kids graduate in another year. 2. I'm not keen on the idea of having her leave for college a year earlier. It might play out that way, and looking ahead from where we stand now, I believe she'd be able to manage it. But, as others have stated, she'd be gone from home that much sooner, leaving whatever additional support we could offer her, and leaving her only sibling who was moved "back" a grade this year, from 7th to 6th, because we felt she wasn't ready for the challenge of 7th grade. That has proven to be a wise choice for our younger child. Moving her older sister ahead a year, however, widens the gap between them even more, and that could prove difficult for the younger. I was thinking more along the lines of a gap year after high school graduation for the older - to work, or intern, or travel, or some of each. But, again, I'm not well versed in how this concept would be viewed by colleges/universities, and it may not prove to be a logical or prudent choice. 3. At this point in her life, dd has risen to the challenge of all the work given her. She expresses fears of not being able to handle the load, but time and again, she proves those fears to be unfounded. We want her to enjoy her life as a high schooler but also want her obvious academic talents to be put to ample and good use. I think her lowest class average is currently a 97. The rest are 100s, and she's not working very hard, in my view. 4. She does not have specific schools in mind as yet for college. We are tossing about the idea of schools that offer rowing programs because dd is involved in a club rowing team and seems to love it. But, it has seemed a little premature to bank on that just yet. This does not, however, preclude me from calling a few institutions - the ones that have, at least, come up in our broad discussions - to inquire about their requirements and desirable attributes, so that's a great suggestion. Lots to consider here. Thank you all so much for your input. I'll keep you posted on where we end up with this.

It's tricky to bring up the whole of this topic here, because it would impact a child, my oldest daughter, who is in public school. So, it's not a matter of just elevating her in her homeschool studies. We'd be working with the school system on any advancement, should it come. We considered this move at the beginning of her 9th grade year, but we were unsure. So, we opted to do nothing. Now, nearing the end of the first semester, we are discussing the idea again. It may not even be a viable option at this point. I have not yet spoken to her counselor or the principal (who happens to be a friend). But, I'm wondering about your real life experiences with similar circumstances and what considerations we might want to factor in as we weigh the pros and cons. Thanks,

Thanks for these pointers, especially about the use of bio-diesel. I had no idea. We would probably be getting something in the 2005-06 range, but it all depends on what we find for what price. Much older than that and the mileage ratings go way down. What are the VW quirks you have learned to live with? Driving the Westie for 6 years doesn't seem like a place for comparison, because the car is so old it's hard to tell what are things are quirks and what things are just plain worn out!

1. Dead critter - most often mouse. 2. Dead potato - most often in a dark cupboard 3. Foul food, left in the refrigerator too long - specifically beans 4. Can, jar, or container of something previously edible that has been forgotten beneath a bed, chair, or on a shelf. 5. Squirrel in the septic vent. Very dead. Very stinky. 6. Shoes worn by someone with nasty feet. Good luck, and let us know!

I've never really had a "thing" for a car, but I do for the Westie. I love that you're not so low on the road, that you sit above everyone else. I love that Westie owners have this unwritten rule of waving at each other when you pass someone else in one. I love that when we camp, we don't have to worry about tents and rain, air mattresses, and sleeping bags. We have real beds, and a dry space. But, we didn't camp at all this summer, and only once last summer...so, that's not a very good reason to hang onto a car that only gets around 17 mpg, and is costing us a fair lot in repairs. Pam -- why would you not get a diesel right now? And, does anyone know about sourcing out bio-diesel for these cars and how that affects fuel economy?