Genie you summed it up well. I was introduced to George Carlin when I was about 12 years old by my then 20 y/o and 16y/o aunts. He has been my favorite comic since. I loved that his comedy really made you think about things. I just recently watched one of his HBO specials and laughed just as hard as the first time I saw it. Farewell old friend, you definitely ROCKED!!!

Hi all, I'm celebrating. It's 12:41 am and I just finished all my lesson plans. I've been working on them for about a month now. I did Math and LA about 3 weeks ago, then I did History about 2 weeks ago, and just now did science. Our new year will start on Aug. 4th I am using some basic things that have the lessons somewhat planned out but I took it all and actually wrote down what I wanted to accomplish for each week. It took a bit of rearranging with Science take the butterfly lessons out and move them to the end so we can make sure to get them. The way the book I'm using was written it would have fallen in week 16 which was the beginning of Dec. I don't think the company would send live caterpillars to VA in Dec. LOL Here's what I'm using just in case anyone's interested. DS age 9 starting 4th grade. LA: GWG 3 and 4, AAS level 1 and 2, Writing with Ease (probably level 2 or 3 as we've not covered much writing) Math: Saxon 5/4 (he's really excited about this, TT 5 was ok, but he bored with it and has begged me to bring Saxon back) Geography: Evan-Moor Daily Geography Grade 4 DD age 6.5 starting 1st grade. LA: GWG 1, AAS 1, finish Click n Kids phonics, Writing with Ease level 1. Math: Finish Saxon 1 and then Kumon money and time books for extra practice (we'll finish saxon 1 with about a month to go for the year) Geography: Evan-Moor Daily Geography Grade 1 Both of the above Kids together History: History Odyssey Early Modern Times Level 1 Science: R.E.A.L. Science Life Level 1 Latin: Song School Latin when they feel like it (this is just for fun) Art: Evan-Moor How to teach Art to Children, Folk Art- Around the World, and Art for All Seasons when they feel like doing it.

I'm also a fan of ROCK Solid. I used to live about 20 minutes from the store. They are wonderful, helpful people. When I'd go to the store and want to browse a bit they would put in a Veggie Tales Movie for the kids. I also bought a book on my way out of town once. We were going to be gone for 2 months and when we got to our destination I realized the book wouldn't work. I called them up and asked if I could mail it back with a copy of my receipt. They said "Sure" about 3 days later I got a call from them saying they'd gotten my return in the mail and would I like a credit to the credit card I purchased or a store credit kept on file for the next time I needed something. I thought it was excellent customer service. I've also found them to have great prices, many as low or better than RR.

My kids usually call me mom, although I'm occasionally mumma to them. Our oldest ds calls my dh Dad and my younger two call him Daddy or Dad whatever the mood their in calls for LOL. When our oldest was first talking until he was about 2.5 he called me Uma and my dh Wawa, we never knew why but didn't mind it sure helped know which kid was calling his parent. In the end we felt bad because it turned out he had fluid build up behind his eardrums that none of the Drs ever caught and he had a 50% hearing loss for that part of his life. He heard like he lived underwater. Luckily ear tubes and speech therapy have corrected almost all of it. I've always called my mom and dad Ma and Pa but it's just because that's what they called their parents.

I really don't see a problem with it. My kids are 9, 6.5 and almost 3 and they still bathe together from time to time without swimsuits on. They are still young and don't see it as anything other than having fun. Kind of like an indoor pool.

I couldn't answer the poll because you didn't list an option for ME visiting Them. After having 3 kids and knowing how hard it is to travel I have come to think it's really selfish to ask my children to come to me when it would be easier for me and dh to go to them as we won't have any children to be carting with us like hopefully they will. My MIL is like this she wants to know why we don't visit more. Well we live 1000 miles away and have to travel with 3 kids and 2 dogs. It would be much easier for them to travel here. She feels that since I "don't work" that I can just pick up and drive to IA from VA at a moments notice. My mom is the opposite and comes to see us about 4 weeks out of the year. 1 week for each of the kids birthdays (May, July and Nov) and 1 week in Feb with my dad. My dad wants to come more but until recently couldn't be gone from work that much.

I used to be a summer lover and thought it could never be too hot for me. Now I can't stand the 90+ days that I used to love. I enjoy Fall most but not for the colors as most, it's all because my favorite holiday is in Fall. I love Halloween even more than Christmas so that's why fall is my favorite. Now that I don't like the heat my dreams of moving to Texas have been replaced with dreams of moving to Montana or Alaska.

I only had 1 shower when we were expecting our first and my inlaws refused to come saying they wanted to have their own for me, which never happened. I kind of thought that's how it would go as they don't like me much. Anyway on to the OP's question. I think it's ok to have a shower for each baby if it's something someone wants to do for you, but I do think it's just rude to throw one for yourself. I do agree with the poster that said if you're going to do it for one person though it should be a common thread for all people in your circle. I know I was a bit upset, not mad but saddened, when we had our 2nd and had recently moved to a new duty station. About a month after moving there I was invited to 3 showers for the 2nd baby of women in our circle of friends and yet was told that I was too new to the group so they didn't feel comfortable having one for us, but yet we were expected to show up with a gift for the others. We felt very hurt and decided not to go to the other showers. I guess things are just different now, when I was growing up all my Aunts only received one shower for their 1st child, it was considered greedy to have more than one as a shower is for getting the more expensive things in having a baby and you were expected to be frugal and keep things if you planned on having more than 1 child.

I had a tile board and it was ok but ghosted with dark colors. When looking for something to replace the cheap cardboard back of bookcases we found actual "Markr Board" No it's not a typo that's what it was called. It was in the area with the wainscotting it comes in pieces that are 32" x 48" I believe it was. IT's really shiny like a regular whiteboard, the tile board lowes sells here in the big 4' x 8' sheets is more of a matte finish which is probably why it wasn't the greatest for dark colors. HTH

Paula, Thanks so much. I Love the Star Trek Enterprise LOL

It's after midnight so.... It's my 11th Anniversary!!!!:party:

Hi there, How long has he been gone. I am a Navy wife of 11 years today (I just realized that it's after midnight so it's now my anniversary) I've been through 4 deployments of 6 months each and numerous (way too many to count) work up periods of the ship being gone for a month here, 2 months there. Oh and we also had a time of 18 months where he was on the west coast on his ship which after deployment wasn't going back there so we were on the east coast waiting for it to eventually move it's homeport to there. My dh also just got back 2 weeks ago from being gone for 6 weeks. I know how crummy it can be when they're gone. Some days your ok and others you just really want to have them there with you. If you ever need to "talk" give me a holler http://www.fawkes.academy@gmail.com

I have a very good friend that I encouraged to check out the boards here but she's starting to get discouraged because it's been 2 weeks since she registered and hasn't been approved yet so she can't post at all. I was wondering if she needs to re-register or if anyone has any other info that I can pass on to her. Thanks for your help.

I actually have 2 checking accounts that are just in my name, we also have 2 joint checking accounts in our names, with me as the secondary acct. holder. The joint ones are, the original joint acct. where the direct deposit of dh pay goes. We use this to pay bills, buy groceries, etc. The other joint account we put $100 a month in and use it to pay the vet bills for our dogs yearly from it. My individual accts. are used like this I have one that is only for school money. I use it to buy curriculum, school supplies, field trips etc. and it's where money I make from selling old curriculum goes. I only use it for homeschooling needs. My other joint acct is for when dh is on deployment. He takes the joint checkbook with him and then transfers most of his paycheck (minus what he may need for port visits/souveinirs for kids) to my separate checking account and I use it to pay bills, groceries and the daily household stuff. This way we're not both using the same account. This is because in the beginning we had a problem because the things he was buying weren't coming through as fast and the email to the ship was sparse so sometimes we were both buying things and wouldn't have enough in the checking to cover it, thus requiring me to scramble and move money from our savings to cover things. It wasn't because we're were spending unwisely just a mix up in communication. So that's our story probably no help at all.

Is there anymore room on this island. I will be starting my 3rd year of homeschooling my kids. I do all the researching of curriculum and planning and then when the ball starts rolling I present the lessons and teach them. I like being that involved with them and their learning. I love seeing the "light bulbs" going on over their heads.:thumbup:

I have none on my van other than on the front window I have my DOD decals so I can get on base, but my dh has his ISU decal and his DOD decals. I love the stick people families I just haven't found any around here to buy yet.

I haven't used level 2 stuff yet but I remember seeing something on their website that Level 2 things could be used for high school. Here's what their website says "Both our level two and level three courses meet and exceed high school level standards for history. Our level three courses are writing intensive and prepare students for college-level thesis writing and literature. For some high school students, especially those who have not been classically educated before or who struggle with writing, level two courses may be more appropriate. If you are using level two for high school, we recommend that you add literature from the level three reading lists and add essay-writing assignments that require thesis statements." So some of those writing assignments could be geared a bit higher. I don't think you'd do any irreparable damage by cutting some things down.

I too am perplexed by this. Since moving to VA I see this all the time and wonder "WHY?" For service members KIA makes a bit more sense but even being a military wife and living darn near on top of the largest Navy base in the World, I have yet to see one that isn't just for some non-military family member.

It's been about 4 days. I usually do it more often in the summer. I just wish waxing was in the cards for me but I can never seem to let it grow long enough to wax, I always end up getting frustrated and then shaving. I know it doesn't have to be real long for waxing but I just never seem to do it.

PS: I Love You. It was so good!

When working outside in the yard if either my dh or I dig up a rock of some sort one of us is likely to say "That's no rock, That's a Ledge" It's from my favorite movie "Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House" the original Money Pit.

I buy bread bags from Pleasant Hill Grain.

One other tip we learned the hard way last year in FL. CHECK THE FILTERS. If you don't change them regularly (we buy the cheap ones now and do it monthly) that can clog up the air intake and then the condenser will freeze up (ours looked like a big block of ice) when the condenser freezes the flow of the cool air out the ducts is blocked. We had to turn the unit off let the condenser thaw out and then when we put in the new filter VOILA worked perfect. Our AC here was acting up and turned out to be low freon, but the AC guys said the biggest thing they run into is people who don't change the filter enough and then have the problem we have. Hope things get working soon.

I have a Sharpei/lab mix named Rumples and a Pug named Festis.

We've been afternoon schoolers since Jan. It works so much better for us. The kids get all the wiggles out before we start and then it's down to business during lesson times, so we get done faster with better results. Congrats on your good afternoon!