Why would a Visa or Mastercard branded debit card have a higher risk for fraud than a non-branded debit card? We use our debit card online. We only keep enough in our account to pay our regular bills. All savings are transferred to other accounts. And if the worst happens and someone empties our account and we have to wait for the bank to investigate, then that's what our emergency fund is for.

I love canisters because I vacuum lots of things besides carpet: hard floors, edges of carpet along walls, tops of books, furniture, under beds, tops of boxes and things stored under beds, floor to ceiling shutters, blinds, trim above windows, cobwebs, etc. ad nauseum. I've never found an upright that has a good enough extra hose and attachments that does those random jobs as well as a canister. As for which one to buy, well... I'm taking notes along with you. I'm currently vacuum shopping and haven't made a decision yet.

My degree was not a waste, especially since I met my husband in college. :D But a huge reason it wasn't a waste is that I got through with no debt. I can't take credit for that since my parents paid for it. But if I had gotten out with tens of thousands in student loan debt hanging over me, it would have been a waste because I then couldn't have afforded to be a SAHM. All I wanted at that point was to stay at home, so going to school and having a huge debt load would have prevented me from doing what I really wanted.

Be careful with positioning. You'll want to make sure baby's chin is not on his chest so he can breathe well. As long as the positioning is good, then pouches are great. :) This page has links to videos for ring slings and pouches: http://zolowear.com/Wearing.aspx

I totally understand! I have 5 boys and the one expected in February is also a boy. :lol: Outside time is essential, rain or shine. But mostly it's just busy around here. Life is never boring with this many boys in it. ;)

The best trick I've ever learned for nursing is the lower lip flip. Once my newborn is latched on, I reach in with my free hand and use my thumb to gently pull down on baby's chin. This teaches baby to open his mouth wide, and it makes sure that the lower lip is flared out. I also found lots of airflow to the parts helped things heal a bit between feedings.

Invest in a decent baby carrier or two and you can hold her and keep doing the rest of your tasks at the same time. Ergo is a great one. If you have questions, http://www.thebabywearer.com has a wealth of info for how to wear a baby comfortably. There are lots of carriers available online that are more comfy than most that available at regular stores.

You can absolutely do the WTM with a large family. But the more kids I have, the more I tend to choose curriculums that can be done at least partly independently. I can't sit down and teach each and every subject to every child every day. So that has affected my curriculum decisions in a huge way. But many curriculums fit within a WTM framework and some are more teacher intensive than others. For instance, for phonics many like Spell to Write and Read. It's a great program! But since it's too teacher intensive for me, I choose to use Explode the Code instead because my son can do it mostly without me. Now before all you SWR fans start defending the program, I'm not saying anything against it. ;) But we all have only so much time and have to decide how to use it. :D And I'm not saying you made poor choices. I'm not familiar with all of your choices so I don't know. But as your kids grow, how teacher intensive a particular curriculum is should be part of the decision making process. :)

My oldest is nearing the end of the 5th grade book and my brain is starting to go overboard. We've already covered about as much grammar as I ever had, including the one year class I had in 9th grade. And I've never felt like I needed more than that. Do they really need to be able to label an interrogative, indefinite, or demonstrative pronoun to be able to use it in a sentence correctly?? :confused: Is it ever ok to focus on writing instead? Or maybe do grammar every other year? I can't believe I'm even asking this. I've always assumed I would do grammar every year as the WTM suggests. But now that I'm trying to do it, my brain wants to explode. LOL Don't be afraid to take me to task. I don't mind being wrong. :tongue_smilie:

My fault.... I wasn't clear enough. :)

I'm not concerned with grades at this point. I'm interested in keeping track of what we've done... the basics, reading outloud, a reading lesson with the 7yr old.... those sorts of things. :001_smile:

I don't need to keep records for my state, but it helps keep me honest about what we are accomplishing. I used to keep good records, but now with 3 students, I've fallen off the record wagon. :tongue_smilie: I own Homeschool Tracker and used to use it, but I remember it being very tedious. I'm willing to try again though. Could you please tell me how to do it in your home school?

About the only people who read my twitters are members of a small Bible study I'm a part of. We are all close friends and usually just twitter 1-2 times per day to let each other know how we've been doing. Because of twitter, I've been able to let them know easily about the miscarriage I'm going through. Sorry if appreciating an easy way to ask for prayer appears to others as being desperate for social strokes. I don't see it that way.

Yes, ww pastry flour is made at home by grinding soft wheat kernels. The difference between soft and hard kernels is the variety of wheat. Several different varieties are grown and they are used for different things and have different flavors. Soft wheat makes pastry flour and hard wheat gives you bread flour. I also prefer white wheat for bread. I buy wheat from my local co-op, but it can be purchased online through places like Walton Feed.

If you have hard wheat to grind, then that will work better for yeast breads. You can use it to replace AP flour, but you may end up with a heavier loaf than you want. If you have soft wheat, you can definitely replace the AP flour with that. You may need to use a bit more flour since freshly ground flour has more air in it than the AP that's had a chance to settle. I usually use between 1 and 1 1/4 cup ww flour for 1 cup AP flour.

Yes, he does tend to be slow. Overall, he isn't a wise user of time. But that's probably a common trait in 11 yr old boys LOL. So we're working on his speed in other areas as well as with school.

I need help getting my 11yr old son to move faster before I lose my mind. He has a very reasonable list, in fact it's shorter than I want it to be. But he's making it take forever. I don't get the feeling that he's being rebellious, though that's possible. He's just found off in la-la-land way too often. :tongue_smilie: He's doing: BJU math 5 (almost 6) BJU math review book Calculadders (yes, he still needs it) Sequential Spelling 2 Rod & Staff English 5 MFW Ex to 1850 for history and science Sometimes: logic Writing Strands science kits

More With Less Whole Foods for the Whole Family

That was probably an Ergo. They've had articles about Ergos in their magazine before. :)

I would get an Ergo or a Toddler Patapum. Frame packs are nice for hiking, but not so great for trying to maneuver indoors. A soft structured carrier like Ergo or Patapum weighs less than the framed ones. Also they hold kiddo closer to you, which can be more comfy.

We'll probably start decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving. I'm excited because this is the first year we have a fake tree. We always waited until a couple of weeks before Christmas to make sure the tree wouldn't dry out and lose all it's needles before Christmas day. :glare: No worries about that this year! :001_smile:

Um... wow. That menu is insane. I would inform her of what you are willing to bring and let her know you are bringing pies. ;)

Colleen, you and I are on opposite ends of the political spectrum and I agree with you completely on this one. If the automakers are going to fail, then they need to fail. Keeping a failing business going is not the gov't job. Yes, this exactly.

It's nice to be missed. :) I need to come around more often.

*waving* Though I've been gone so long, most of you probably don't remember me anymore. :tongue_smilie: