I just logged into my audible account (even though I'm not an active member, it has maintained my account and my library for years - love that!) and looks like you can burn via itunes now! ETA - go to the help center in your account, and CD burning is the fourth option - there are several topics under CD burning. Itunes, nero, etc. So I'd say YES, you can absolutely still do this!

Oh yeah! Now I remember, it was Nero, and when I did it, you could get the trial nero and it would let you burn forever, you just couldn't do all the fancier things with nero - since I got it only for the audible stuff, I never had to pay for it and it always worked for burning (but it did ask me every single time if I wanted to purchase the full version) - of course that was a while ago, so it could be different now, but maybe its not? :001_smile:

I haven't been an audible member in a while, but when I was, yes that was possible. I did it frequently, as that's how we mostly listened - and in the kids' cd players in their rooms. I think I had to do it from within the audible software and with a downloaded burning program or something like that - I couldn't burn the cds from Media Player or anything like that - I bet its addressed in the audible FAQs or something

maybe something like Life of Fred? Or more manipulative based like Right Start? Not sure what grade level he is. I have one who struggles with math, and Teaching Textbooks is working ok for her. I like that, for the most part, she gets instant feedback when she isn't understanding something. Before (we were using Math Mammoth) she would just miss everything, because she refused to ask me for help when she didn't understand something. Then I would grade it, and insist that we work through it together, so I could explain it and help her, and she just HATED it..she wanted to be completely independent with it and just get it done. It was a constant battle around here - Teaching Textbooks allows her to do that.

Ha, well I haven't given up or quit or anything. Just READY to be done and on the other side. Yikes on 3 years with 100s of showings! I don't think I have it in me for all of that!

Congrats Saille!! and CajunRose - yay on being ready to list!! It looks great! Me on the other hand? My house is never ever ever going to sell :glare: this whole process is wearing on me. Been on the market about 7 weeks, which yeah, I know isn't that long in the grand scheme of things. But we've had 31 showings...and seven weeks of keeping the house immaculate, not starting projects that can't be immediately put away...not living. We've gotten lots of weird and unhelpful feedback - a house down the street listed less than two weeks ago, for more money, and I see an "under contract" sign up today. We just dropped the price last night, we'll see what that does I guess.

my youngest daughter did a monologue from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that was adorable. This one (although we used a different, shorter version): Good luck to them all! Break a leg!

Cool! We're excited about it! We come out next week to start house hunting. I just wish our house here had an offer/contract on it - I don't know if we would want to put an offer on anything there without knowing that this house has sold first. Sigh. But we need to get moving on it all too. I think we've decided that even if this doesn't sell, we'll be out there living in temporary housing by the end of the summer so we can be there when things (like Village Home) starts up in the fall and we'll just cross our fingers that the house sale falls into place. Hopefully it won't come to that though and the house will sell soon!

Check overstock.com - The bedding set that I found there was amazing, and afterwards, I was trying to find the matching window valance online, and realized that I had paid half for this set that other sites were asking - and it was just adorable and amazing quality. Oh look, they still have it! And then my daughter outgrew it - apparently it became too babyish, sniff sniff - but we just found another bedding set from Little Miss Matched that she just adores at Tuesday Morning - I know its hit or miss there, but if you have one nearby, it may be worth a look! It was also about half of what it sells for in their stores or online. - it was this set - which may or may not be your taste, but it sure is my daughter's taste! But anyway, I found it at Tuesday Morning for like $45 for the entire full-size bed in a bag.

Congratulations to both of you! Mosaicmind and Apryl H! Fantastic news. Mosaicmind - you guys have my thoughts, I understand the timing is not ideal, and its a stressful, bittersweet situation.

Thanks - I guess one of those no-shows that I mentioned actually did show, just didn't leave a card - but they did just leave some favorable feedback - buyer is passing because the finished basement doesn't have windows, but the realtor said the house is great, priced right, and shouldn't have any problems selling. That was nice! I went back and looked at all the feedback, and really its about 50/50 - about half is about the layout, or garage size or something like that, that can't be changed and the other half is about it being dated or not showing as "sharp" as the competition. One person, the second one to see the house said they loved it and it made their final list of possibilities, but since we never heard back from them, we just assumed they'd gone on to other houses..but really, the feedback isn't that bad. I was just focusing on the negative ones. Maybe it will all be ok? :001_smile: kokotg - I almost wonder if I shouldn't have left the roof and other pricey stuff alone and put in granite instead :glare: - I know that when we shop, we will be focused on the pricier, unseen upgrades, and the location, size and flow of the house, and the lot features. Not on the countertops :tongue_smilie:

So our house has been on the market for about a week and a half - 9 showings, and two no-shows (which are totally frustrating!) - I'm feeling very discouraged by the feedback. Our house is special and has many things that other houses in the area don't have - but it isn't as updated as many of the houses we are competing against. Mainly no granite. We all thought that the features it does have will offset the slight outdatedness, but the feedback is saying otherwise. Thing is, we just put in about $20k to replace the roof, carpeting, paint, heating/AC and I do not want to put any more money into the house - especially if that doesn't mean we can raise the price (which is what the feedback is suggesting) - its already priced lower with the idea that folks will put in their own touches. But buyers seem to want it all done - and at this lower price! Ugh. Anyway, I know it just takes one buyer, and of course the feedback isn't super encouraging because the buyers that have been through here just aren't the right buyers for this house. If they had tons of positive things to say, then they would likely be buying it, right? So trying to keep a positive attitude....and it hasn't even been two weeks yet. I was just encouraged by the flurry of activity, only to be kicked in the gut with the more negative comments. I just know that if I was shopping and found this house, I would love it - I'd see everything that can't be changed - space, lot, location - is perfect, and the expensive fixes - heating/ac, roof, carpet - has been taken care of, so I could move in and just make it mine with cosmetic stuff. I'd be super excited about that! But so far, other folks aren't seeing it that way I guess. We fly out to Portland next month to start our house hunting, and it really would be nice to have this under contract so we can feel like maybe we are in a position to actually make an offer if we find the perfect house out there.

I have this one - bought it several years ago, and I've been pleased. Sometimes the pulp can be a bit wet, but you can strain it with a nut bag if you wanted. Its not as effective at juicing leafy greens though..I don't think any centrifugal juicers are. I've read that you can run the leafy greens in the blender with a bit of water and strain them with the nut bag, but I definitely do not want to be messing with two appliances for my juice :D I've thought about using the Vitamix for all my juicing needs, but I like the juicer. Its quick. I don't have to strain anything unless I want to because it does a pretty good job.

wow, that's gorgeous!!!

I have a for sale sign up in my yard - the listing should be online sometime tomorrow. I'm a nervous wreck. I'm loving hearing some of ya'll's good news!

oh wow CPSTAnne - that's incredible. Send some of your vibes my way - our house goes live on the market sometime on Monday! We had a walkthrough today and have a list of small chores to keep us busy through the weekend, but listing will go up late Monday. I'm a nervous wreck!

So I found a good stress reliever for us all - let the kids color on the carpet with sharpies! Haha, neverfear, its being replaced tomorrow, but what fun the girls had! They've been working so hard and decluttering doesn't come easy to them. This was nice..but after tomorrow, they'll have to start taking all their meals in the kitchen :lol:

Yay!!! It looks fabulous!!!! I'm getting frustrated because I'm boxing up all of our clutter and knick-knacks and moving some furniture to the basement so the house is ready to show, but my husband has a completely different vision - he thinks all of our stuff makes the house even more appealing to buyers. He likes knick knacks - he grew up in a home with wall-to-wall furniture and decorations and thinks that is a mighty special look and buyers don't want to see an "empty" house where they can't picture their own things - its funny because we are saying the exact same things, about buyers wanting to be able to picture themselves living here, but his vision of what that looks like includes lots of furniture and knick-knacks and my vision of what that looks like is as little furniture as possible, and nothing personal like pictures, lying about. He thinks a buyer is going to walk through and say, "Well I have a lot of furniture of this same scale, so now that I see this house with all of their stuff, I know for a fact that my stuff, which is similar in dimensions, would totally work in this space" - I want the rooms to look bigger, and think that's accomplished by moving things out to free up the space, he thinks that accomplished by filling the space with lots of big pieces so they can see that the space can accommodate that. I'd laugh if I weren't stressed to the max already. It really is funny. We'll have to defer to the real estate agent on this one I think (who I am quite sure will agree with me because I'm RIGHT) :lol: And we were getting a roof this week, but now the weather is iffy, so that may be put off...carpeting gets installed tomorrow and more painting. I have so much to do!!!

Thanks again Emily! I saw the BodyVox site, but the other two places you mention aren't ones I've found in my own searching. I'll add them to the list - I just got sucked into NW Dance Project's gorgeous photo gallery!

Thanks! I actually saw that video, and its a big part of why we got all excited!! We belong to a great performing arts school here and from that video, it reminds me of what we have here. The community/family feel, and whole-person focus - honestly that video helped me feel better about what we are leaving behind here. I just keep trying to remind myself that for right now, its just a website..I just hope it lives up to what I'm making it out to be in my mind :D Thanks EmilyK - we will look at NE Portland as well - we aren't set on any location of course...especially since the kids and I haven't even visited the area yet! DH will be in the area again this week (last week he split his time between Seattle and Spokane, WA) so he'll hopefully find some time to explore some more for me. I found what appears to be a great house online that I want him to look at - it has a loft area that would be perfect for a "homeschool room!" :) And I think the kids would love some of those circus/aerial classes! We looked at Oregon School of Ballet, and heard amazing things about it, but the girls want to be in a studio where they can do more classes like tap, hip hop and jazz - ballet is their first love though - they just find the other stuff fun, and it tends to be more limited at places like Oregon School of Ballet...

Joining you all, and after reading through this entire thread, you have me terrified! We hope to have it ready to list on the 9th of April - we have carpeting and a new roof going up this week - we've done some painting and major decluttering/cleaning. I've been stressing out to the max, and was feeling like once we just get it listed, it would be smooth sailing. Or at least smoother sailing. But after reading all of this. oiy..I guess we could be in for it, huh?

There's a yahoo group?? I can't find it! Are you still in the area and still attending Village Home? I've lurked on some lists, and on the facebook pages of various things, and haven't heard a bad thing about Village Home - the kids are really excited about some of the offerings and opportunities they see there. And I have gotten a few dance studios recommendations in that general area (Beaverton/West Portland/Tigard, etc.) - If I can find a home within a few mins of an awesome dance studio and co-op type classes, that would be fantabulous! Right now I belong to a HS group, and we are constantly driving to classes and activities all over the place..and then the girls are at the performing arts school every evening. It just seems like I'm always in the car and we are constantly trying to fit stuff like my work or home stuff around all these other activities. So when I see Village Home, I see our outside homeschooling activities being condensed into a once or twice a week, single location option, freeing up days for more down time and family stuff..I think the dance/theater thing will be constant no matter what with these kiddos...but right now Village Home seems like a very good solution to a big part of what I deal with now. At least on paper..Since I haven't seen Village Home in person, or tried out a class or anything :tongue_smilie: Stacia, I have seen that website, but like you, wasn't sure how much to trust it - so I'd also love to hear if folks agree with the information! ETA - nevermind, I was thinking of another website that talked about areas in and around Portland (I'll look for the link later to share with you - I don't think I bookmarked it though, d'oh!) so thanks for sending this, off to check it out! Thanks all, this is so great!!

I just realized that I don't have a sig so some information about my family might help too! - I have three girls still at home (I have an adult daughter too), by the time we move, they will be 13, 10 and 8 - we've always homeschooled - they are all very involved in dance, theater, voice - all things stage related. We fall more on the relaxed and secular end of the homeschooling spectrum - we use a lot of WTM resources and suggestions even though we tend to be pretty relaxed. :001_smile: DH is a territory manager, so he will be traveling and on the road a lot - he is in charge of OR, WA, ID, HI, and AK and parts of CA and parts of CO - I think - most of his clients are in the Portland area though and when he isn't in the field, he will be working from home - he's been transferred to that area, and that's why we are moving. I've always worked from home, freelancing in the publishing industry for the past 12+ years.

Thanks! I wondered about that - DH is already out there working the area - he comes back here on the weekends, and he has met a couple of folks that just love Vancouver and recommended it to him, but they are both older and don't have kids. And when I research things for the kids...homeschool stuff, dance, theater, etc., I'm just not seeing as much in that area. Regarding your other post, I had to laugh because I keep saying that targeting my (online) home search towards an area I know nothing about just because the kids want to take a graphic design class at Village Home seems kinda silly, but hey! Its all I have to go on :tongue_smilie: - I would prefer walkability and public transit too, but my husband is more rural, so large yards and privacy are important to him, and often those two things do not go hand in hand. He'd actually prefer living out in the country with no neighbors. I'd prefer more urban - like you said, walkability. We, thus far at least, compromise with suburban - close enough to stuff that I'm ok, but large enough private yards that he's ok. Its always a compromise, but I do not want to live in the middle of nowhere, and he doesn't want to live in the center of things. We hope to have the house listed on April 9th, and as soon as we get that done, we'll start planning our first house-hunting trip to the area. But as I said, DH is already working out there, and he's doing a bit of exploring whenever he can.

We'll both be working from home - but DH will have to go to the airport regularly, and will have clients all over the area (and beyond) but we don't have to worry too much about a regular rush hour type of commute. He likes the idea of Vancouver because no state tax in WA and no sales tax in OR, but I already spend a huge chunk of my life driving the kids around, I want to make sure that wherever we land is somewhere with lots of resources, homeschooling, dance, and theater, for them nearby. Thanks so much! I will definitely make note of Dance Togs! And let you know if we are in the Salem area for recommendations! And thanks so much for mentioning your co-op - we likely wouldn't fit in with a co-op with a Christian Worldview, but I totally appreciate the offer!! Very helpful!!