Don't miss the area around Charlottesville/Staunton, VA. Monticello has already been mentioned, but there's Ash Lawn (Monroe's home) less than three miles away. Montpelier, James Madison's home, is only about 45 minutes north of there and is definitely worth a trip. The Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton is amazing, too, with lots of interesting hands-on activities.

Same here, and we eat a lot of meat. The kids and I eat out once a week or less, so we're eating a lot of meals at home, and DH nearly always has leftovers for lunch. We have fruit at most meals and vegetables at lunch and dinner. We almost never spend $100 at the grocery, including non-food items.

Same here. I cracked up when I read I wasn't even considering homeschooling when I reached the end of my patience with my daughter's school and took her out. The principal was a Boomer, so she was foolish enough to tell me that I shouldn't do it and should trust her expertise. :lol:

I suppose there is that possibility, but would you be willing to test that theory on someone from your family who was deployed? And on all the members of their unit? Every bit of stray information endangers the whole unit (and maybe more than one unit), not to mention the possible devastating effect on the families involved. It's just not worth it.

Thank you for the inspiration to clean my refrigerator today. This post kept nudging me, and I broke down and took 20 minutes to clean it this afternoon. I didn't think my refrigerator looked bad at all, but I can't believe the difference! :D

Cover Girl Lash Blast is the best ever.

This is a constant worry of mine with my husband deployed. I can't believe what some of families at home post on their facebook pages. If they were active duty, they'd face court martial. I really don't know what they're thinking.

Finishing early and "moving up a grade" is powerful motivation at our house. I figure that anything extra we get done is a good hedge against some future disaster that might interrupt our schooling for a while.

When I notice it should be done, but not quite often enough. I haven't discovered sentient life in my fridge since college, though.

I like the looks of it, but I'm always suspicious of things with electronic parts like that because they're just one more thing to break. This looks pretty worthwhile, though!

I have the opposite issue because we start early and school in the morning, and that's when all the local outings tend to be offered. We also like to stay in after dinner. I've tried tackling school after attending outside activities, and it's not productive. I have enough friends with similar schedules that we can arrange trips with smaller groups at times that are convenient for us, so it works out, but the kids know they're missing the outings with the larger group. My irritation is people who know we homeschool and take it seriously, yet think it's reasonable to drop by for a chat or ask me to drop everything and help them with a home improvement project or something because I'm "at home" and school can't take very long with just a couple of children. I had to resort to both turning off the phone and putting a sign on the door.

1. My down comforter 2. Frisbee with my dog 3. My enamel dutch oven 4. Talking with my husband before we get out of bed in the morning 5. Reading with my kids 6. Checking all the boxes on the list of the day 7. A glass of wine 8. Going to bed an hour early 9. Reading a book that has nothing to do with homeschooling 10. An afternoon at the art museum instead of something we "should" be doing

I would, especially because it's going to be cooked in the lasagna. Even if you ate it unheated, you'd have a good idea if it was bad, because it would definitely smell off. Don't ask how I know.

You lucky dog! Please tell us all about it. What an opportunity!