My dh is fairly picky about pencil sharpeners, he never likes the electrics we've tried... until... We bought an iPoint at Costco. It looks kind of like a little blender. Works like a charm, very powerful, and I like that it automatically turns off when the pencil is sharpened, so you don't "over-sharpen" and waste lead. It was about $20 or so, as I remember. UPDATE: Saw it yesterday at Costco--was $18, and they still had them in stock. Looking online there are tons of versions of this thing... our is electric, not battery operated, and red. Hope that helps!

I sort of see where she is coming from... I once went to a women's support group where I shared that for a special treat the following week, I was going with my husband and children to Disneyland. Well, they jumped down my throat: That wasn't ME time. That was FAMILY time, and couldn't be the break I needed. I explained that I had chosen the outing, I wanted to take a break by going with my family to Disney... nope. Clearly I was delusional, codependent, and had no sense of self. That unhealthy kind of thinking is out there, I know. On the other hand, I do sometimes need time to renew and refresh, and I don't think it has anything to do with my self-identity as a woman and mother. I just came back from a lunch out with a friend--we are planning to do a week long spiritual retreat next year, maybe with a couple of other friends. No guilt, just Christ in the Desert (the name of the monastery) and a week of silence. I don't think that makes me a bad mom, and it hasn't occured to me to feel guilty about feeding my soul. I do rarely take time away from the family, but that is because I love how we live and don't feel the need for it mostly. When I feel the need, I take it. And sometimes my soul does need to be fed. Is that Me Time? I guess it is. I think that the author's definition of self/mother/wife has become enmeshed with an accute sense of guilt. She found a way to resolve that conflict that worked for her, but that doesn't mean that Me Time is a myth. Different strokes for different folks.

UPDATE: We've been using Science Explorer. My ds is sitting behind me right now playing with a rock collection and figuring out where they are on the moh's hardness scale. I think it's been a success! Earth science is never as "crunchy" as he wants, but he likes it much better this year and I bought him the RS4K Chemistry to read in his free time. Best of both worlds, and he'll be ready for chemistry next year, right?

Yep... our 360 is fine. And the PS III. And the Wii. Actually, the PS II still works as well. And I have nothing like the reason that Abbey does to have so many!

Just a note about the photos... actually you DON'T have to pay for prints. When they take your picture they'll give you a card with you access number. You can access and download the pics for free--and print them out yourself. You keep the same card, and anytime a photographer takes your picture, hand them that card--then they'll all be on the same account. They'll keep them up online for 30 days so you have plenty of time to download. I actually love having the opportunity to get pics of our whole family, without having to find someone to hold our camera!

Ds 6: "Yes. Because I get to spend more time with Mom and Dad." Ds 4: "Yes. For the same reason."

It's 5 in the morning, dark, and they are stalking around in front of the bookshelves and drawers behind me, peeping in any smally space and scratching. Mouse? Lizard? Worse??? What do I do? Edit: I keep on turning around, because I'm afraid it's going to make a break for it right over my feet. And they I'll scream and probably have a heart attack. OK, I think I'm going back to bed.

My ds finally got into reading chapter books with Dragon Slayers Academy--a recommendation from the old board.

I did this once many years ago when I was a newlywed... I started with "Hey, honey, I was just thinking about you..." and went into some very personal (though, thankfully, not explicit) romantic talk... only to hear a deep man's voice say, "I'm not your honey, but if you tell me who you are, I could be." :blushing: Ooops! I was mortified, but when I hung up the phone I couldn't stop laughing.

OK... thank you all so much! It sounds like my collection of 40+ towels was indeed excessive! I'll do another cull soon, but it is wonderful that they all fit in our big linen closet without squeezing them in. I really need to sort out the sheets, but we're still not totally unpacked here, you know. I moved a huge amount of dirty laundry and unsorted old clothes that are now almost done. It's an enormous relief to be getting rid of so much--I've taken load after load to give away at Goodwill! I think my views are skewed because of my mom--there are just two of them in her home (mom and step-dad) and they probably have 100 towels. She has four walk-in closets full of clothes--one in each bedroom of her four bedroom house. Last time I visited, I found a bathing suit in her closet that I remember from when I was my kids' age--around 1974 or so. I started to throw it out, and she said "Don't! I love that bathing suit!" Not like she could wear a brown tafetta like suit with a beige ruffle that's 40 years old or anything. Pack-rat, much?

I'm still in decluttering mode since we moved. Tonight I decided to weed down the linen closet so that everything could fit IN the linen closet. I kept: 10 bath-sheets (the really big towels dh and I use), 10 regular sized towels, about a dozen hand towels, assorted wash cloths. I kept the nice ones and a couple of "special" towels--one has the first page of P&P on it, one is my dh's childhood Star Wars towel. He loves it. Is this enough for a family of four? I'm trying to be better about doing laundry daily, and we often hang up towels to use more than once... do I have enough? Will I end up desperately searching for a clean towel in an emergency? I've got about 20 that went into my "Goodwill" box, but I can fish them out if need be! What about sheets? How many per bed? I think I've got about 5 or six for each bed now... sigh.

(((Colleen))) You've got several great ideas here... I think it boils down to you having to be the grown up and going from there. If Thanksgiving is really important to you, you'll go and it will work out, if not, you can have a special day at your home. Mostly I wanted to let you know that I'm praying for you. It sounds like times continue to be tough, and after the not-so-great trip, you deserve some better times. Know that you do have some good friends here, we even exist IRL. Blessings.

Hmmm... we have two Inspirion laptops that work fine. Maybe because this time I sprung for the extended warranty and service--that always seems to insure that we never need it.

I joined in 2001 when I was pregnant with my first ds, and we were "future home-schoolers". It's so awesome how it all worked out! This board was a big part of that.

We have the Memoria edition--my understanding is that the text is identical, only the pictures different. We do enjoy the color illustrations.

:D Thank you! Had the best morning... I slept late, woke up and read a novel for an hour in blissful silence until dh and ds's appeared with bacon, eggs, toast and hot coffee. Then they left me alone with my novel. Breakfast in bed with the warm breeze coming in through the sun-dappled window and a day of endless craft store crawling ahead.... sigh! It's like an alternate universe of blissful sloth. I'm 38 today, so there have to be some perks, right??

My boys still bathe together (ages 6 and 4), and they don't seem to mind. We don't usually shower together, but I have hopped in with them when there were major dirt issues. They walk in on me in the bathroom all the time, and it doesn't bother me from a modesty standpoint. Now, when I want some alone time, I may use the bathroom as an excuse and lock the door... My family was very comfortable walking around naked. It never bothered me, until I was about 11 and my dad's girlfriend at the time (my parents were divorced, and he had not yet remarried) made some snide comment about how inappropriate it was. For some reason it really hit me, and I spent the rest of my teen years with some serious body shame issues. Living in Norway helped--all my girl friends stripped down to panties to sunbathe, even those with less than "perfect" bodies, and I admired thier lack of self-conciousness. I hope my boys grow up more content and confident in their own skins, and don't see all human anatomy as over-sexualized.

My ID there is RevMommy--I even have a real (but not great) picture of myself as my avatar right now. Friend me if you have any knitting advice! Question--if I have a pattern I bought, can I post it? It's copyrighted, correct? I tried to take a picture of my dishcloth, but it hasn't come out well yet... I found a yahoo knitting group and asked about great yarn stores in LA, so tomorrow as my birthday treat I'm going to visit: http://www.unwindyarn.com/ and http://www.stitchcafe.com/ and http://www.thatyarnstore.com/index.html Sounds like fun, huh? I'm looking for supplies to help me move on towards socks!

OK, just got my account on Ravelry and joined the WTM group. Question--how do you use the site? What are the cool feature I can't miss? I'm halfway through my second dishcloth--exciting, huh??? I've been knitting a whole week now!

So sorry for your loss. Please take care of yourself. You are in my thoughts.

We just moved to a new house that has been added to (back in the 60s, I think). We love it! The Basic Plan: Living, Family, Kitchen, Three bedrooms, Two baths Small entry way has doors to left and right--one leads to living room, one leads to family room, kitchen is straight ahead behind the wall, in between to two big rooms. We are using them as a living/dining room and a school/play room. The three bedrooms and two baths are off a small hallway that comes forward off the family room. The addition: Office (spare bedroom), Bathroom From the back of the family room a door to the patio was changed to a door to a small entry, the door to the patio now being to the left, and then a door straight ahead to an office. The office is great--built in desk and shelves, separate bath, we can use it as a guest bedroom . I love that it is large and light and that there are TWO doors in between it and the rest of the house--one to the back entry, then another into the family room. I'm not a big fan of super open plans--I like lots of doors so that I can cocoon in silence even when my LOUD kids are home. It is fantastic for dh to get writing done in there, and great for guests because they have a private bath, noise protection, and can even go outside without going through the house.

I know exactly what you mean. Recently I was talking to my mom about how horrible elementary school was for me. "It was horrible for you?" she asked, shocked. "Umm.. yes. I hated it. Everyone hated me. I had no friends. It was the worst time of my life." "Oh... I guess that's why you homeschool." Yes, mom. The penny's dropped. Now I see it with my children. My ds6 seems very "immature" when in a room full of other six year olds. He doesn't get them, ends up in conflicts because he wants them to play his games, wants to direct their program. We have to work with him constantly because his speech can often turn to bragging, at least we percieve it that way. He thinks he's just being truthful. On the other hand, he can spend the day with a group of mostly adults having conversation and participating in grown-up activities with very little problem. His conversation isn't adult, but he really does converse with a vocabulary and depth that more like the average teen. With some geek-isms mixed in--his speaking pattern is unusually ornate. My ds4 is less accelerated on the whole, but even he always chooses to play with children in the 6 and up age range--look who he hangs out with every day! He won't hang with the pre-schoolers if given a chance. I think the answer is both-and. The acceleration leads to a disconnect in abilities and interests that make relating to young peers challenging. And the LACK of adult maturity and perspective make it difficult to pretend to relate, or condescend with the most positive meaning of the word. I can sit with a bunch of six year olds and play along and have a good time. At the age of six, I would have wondered why I would want to do that? Of course, now I can choose to opt out at any time, and start being myself again. A child in an inappropriate peer class doesn't have that freedom. There's a lot of great perspective about this on the Hoagies site... read the "Cheetah" essay, and check out "A Nation Decieved". Both are critical required reading for the parent of an accelerated child, IMHO.

No wait here in this area of Los Angeles either... there were 10 booths or so and there were several empty as we came in. We always fill out our practice ballot in advance so we're fast--only a few minutes to mark our choices, check them again, and move out. I just read this week that LA is the largest voting district in the nation. Our precinct doesn't have machines, just paper ballots (you use a little ink dot pen thing) that are optically scanned. I actually think it is much faster. They must be doing something right to make it go so quickly. An older woman working the polls took a few minutes and walked my boys through voting at the "practice" station as we voted--the pretend ballot has Lincoln and Eisenhower, among others. The kids had fun, and loved getting stickers!

I found some inexpensive yarn in my craft stuff, and (lo and behold!) a pair of metal knitting needles. I pulled out my handy-dandy "Guidebook to Needlecrafts" (or something like that) and started knitting. I managed to cast on, re-did it three or four times, and then started knit stitch. The next day I met with a friend who knits, and I've been practicing -- one row of knit, one row of purl. It looks pretty awful thus far, but after a couple of feet of this, maybe I'll be better? Onward and upward! "Ad Soccos!!"

My dh is a SAHD as well, and I do work. Now, my true preference these days would be for both of us to be at home full time, but not sure how that would be feasible...