Using ecclesiastical (church) Latin pronunciation, it would be sin cher a

My DH has very dry skin and likes Corn Huskers Lotion.

Since there's so much hatred for American chocolate, I urge you all to look beyond Hershey's. Try Dagoba, Scharffenberger (though I have to say it's not as good as it was 5 years ago), Lake Champlain, Vosges--just to name a few that I've seen in my local grocery store and Whole Foods. There are even more great (sometimes local) options at gourmet or specialty shops. While I do think that European mass-produced chocolate is way better than American, I have eaten A LOT of excellent American chocolate.

Dark all the way. But my one exception is milk chocolate from Vosges--I love the Barcelona bar (milk chocolate, smoked almonds, sea salt), and the recent Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter bar (with a tiny sprinkling of salt) is also delicious. Maybe I need salt with my milk chocolate?

Last year, I bought a fair amount of big kid stuff on the last two days--dresses, skirts, pants, tops--but there was less little kid stuff. Things like backpacks and coats were totally gone, then, though. It really varies from year to year. I live about a half hour away, and the warehouse sale is pretty much the only shopping I do all year (unless a real necessity arises), so I go almost every day and have a sense of what I should buy sooner rather than later. By Sunday, though, everything is pretty much out on the floor.

I do Vespers and Compline in Latin, but I do the old version and use a Liber Usualis. Before I moved, I used to organize chanting Tenebrae (Matins and Lauds) during Holy Week. It was great, though brutal, to sing that much three nights in a row.

The last day is usually a Monday, if that helps. Last summer, at least, the kids stuff was 75% off on the last two days (Sunday & Monday).

If you live anywhere near Dodgeville, WI, though, hold out for the actual warehouse sale in August. On the last day, everything is 75% off the clearance price. Last summer, samples were were all marked down to $2 and were only 50 cents on the last day.

I have a double-walled glass French press, and I find that it stays warm for a while. I've seen simple instructions for sewing an insulator to fit aound the press, but I've never gotten around to that. If I know that I won't drink a second cup of coffee until much later, I pour the coffee into something else so that it doesn't steep too long.

DH's family introduced me to The Castle, an Australian comedy. It's kind of a Thanksgiving tradition for us at this point. My roommate in college introduced me to Newsies :)

I successfully used NFP for my final year and a half of grad school after DH and I got married (while we thought it best to postpone pregnancy, we were fine with having a baby if it happened). I used Taking Charge of Your Fertility as a guide. My temps were all over the place, and I gave up on before DH and I even got married (might have been due to the erratic schedules I kept while in school). I tracked cervical fluid (cervix position is something else that you can track), but the biggest help for me was getting the OvaCue, a fertility monitor. It's normally used to aid in achieving pregnancy, and it's not FDA-approved for birth control, but I found that it worked well in conjunction with following my cervical fluid. I was very conservative, though--if either cervical fluid or the OvaCue even slightly indicated fertility, DH and I abstained. The OvaCue is expensive, however, compared to other ovulation predictors, and that is its big drawback. In my case, I figured that the cost would pay for itself over 1.5-2 years, and then I could use it after grad school to aid in achieving pregnancy. On the plus side, it tests saliva, so you don't have to buy test strips to pee on each cycle. If the oral sensor gives a fertile reading, it gives one to seven bars, depending on how fertile you are. I found that there was plenty of warning to abstain. There is an optional vaginal sensor that is worth buying, since it will confirm ovulation when it happens. I have longish cycles that aren't always regular, and the OvaCue pretty much always confirmed what the cervical fluid indicated. If you do track your temperatures, you'll want a body basal thermometer.

We had to use up some airline miles before they expired, but we only had enough to get a whole bunch of magazine subscriptions. My DH reads me the list, and I highlight a few cooking/home-type magazines I'd flip through if they were free--but basically leave it to him to get whatever he wants. Fast-forward a month or two, and we get a copy of Us Weekly in the mail. DH is really confused and has never heard of Us Weekley (he hasn't set foot in a grocery store in years). It turns out that he thought that he was ordering US News and World Report! (Neither of us was aware that US News & WR stopped doing a print version recently). We don't have a TV, so we flip through Us Weekly and recognize about 20% of the people in the pictures. At least we're not paying for it, and we still get half a dozen other magazines that we actually read or skim. :lol:

I thought of two more: O (based on Othello). Rated R, unfortunately. Forbidden Planet (based on The Tempest)--a 1950s Leslie Nielson film. Rated G.

She's the Man with Amanda Bynes (Twelfth Night)--I haven't seen it, but I don't think it's supposed to be very good. PG-13, I think. West Side Story (Romeo and Juliet)

Kiss Me, Kate is also based on Taming of the Shrew

I had symptoms similar to yours in November and had it checked out by a NP after about three weeks, and it turned out that it was bronchitis. I also felt more tired than usual (probably because I would wake up due to coughing fits), and I was told that might last up to 5-6 weeks. I was just given a cough suppressant to use as needed at night. If I didn't have a really little one, I probably wouldn't have gotten it checked out, since I didn't feel truly horrible. But I was afraid I might pass it on if I didn't get it treated, so I made the appt. My understanding is that viral bronchitis can be contagious , so you might want to rule it out before you see the baby. Hope that things work out for you! :grouphug:

There is actually no theory instruction in Norton (so it's not going teach the nitty gritty of augmented sixth chords, for isntance); it's just that the discussion pieces and musical trends incorporates theory knowledge, though definitely not at advanced a level as a music major would know upon graduating. Conversely, I think that a student absorb some theory knowledge from going through Norton, especially if she already has some knowledge of music through performance. Having taught out of both Norton and Machlis, I still lean towards Norton if 1) she wants to challenge herself and 2) she wants a more scholarsly approach to music. Machlis is not in chronological order, but you could probably re-order the larger sections. My vague memory is that chant through Renaissance is the third chunk, so you could probably start with it first. One thing I really like about the accompanying score anthology (which I think is in chronological order) is that it is good for beginning score readers. It highlights which part is important at a given time, which helps if you've never read a symphonic score. I would hesitate to use it on its own, though, as depending on that kind of highlighting can become a crutch.

I love this idea, and I don't know why it never occurred to me! Do you think it would work with my DH when I want him to get rid of something that he's not using and has just been sitting around taking up space forever? ;)

I was a little less annoyed with my mom just because the idea of homeschooling is just so foreign to her. Where my parents came from, no one does it, and none of their friends in the States does it, either (and they don't really have non-ethnic friends). Knowing how mind-boggling this was for her, I considered it a victory that extracurriculars and homeschooling groups over the course of one conversation won her over! My retired elementary schoolteacher MIL is a little harder to deal with, I have to admit.

Machlis is usually used in nonmajor courses, and as such, it doesn't require knowing how to read music, though I'm sure it helps, and it's very light on theory. Another good option in this vein is Joseph Kerman's Listen. Norton is often a core text for the music history sequence taken by majors. There are two score anthologies (and CD sets) that accompany the text. It's expensive, but you could probably find older editions for less. It seems like new editions come out every four to five years, so you'd be fine going back one or two editions to save money. I ended up being very happy that I had my undergrad history background, since my dissertation ended up drawing on a lot of it. Besides music education, another option is to go the PhD route and teach at a college or university. That sounds like my DH :) She might like to join a group that does early music. Some do 1-2 per part, so she wouldn't be lost in a big choir but also wouldn't be the center of attention. Is it important for her to have a Latin Mass choir wherever she ends up (because that could limit her options)? Unfortunately, the music at many Catholic colleges/universities and Newman Centers is pretty dismal (I do know of a few good places from personal experience and close acquaintances, if you'd like to PM me). Would she be interested in being a church musician, since sacred music is her passion? In that case, I'd definitely recommend branching into organ and strengthening her keyboard skills. She'd also want to get some training in conducting in college.

My DS is still much too young for schooling, but I felt like I was lying every time someone asked me, "Where is DS going to go to school?" (we moved from NC to rural WI almost two years ago, so part of it is relatives/acquaintances wondering how far away the school is from our house), and I answered, "Well, the elementary school is in [next town over]." My DH and I have always planned on homeschooling, but we knew that our parents would be against it; but, obviously, we have the final say in how we raise our children. My MIL is a retired elementary school teacher, and she has always made it clear that she disapproves of homeschooling. My parents are immigrants, and it is a completely foreign idea and they have no cultural reference for this kind of thing. Anyway, thanks to the many wonderful posts on this board, DH and I discussed how we would approach this with our parents. We had initially thought that we would have all our arguments in place to be ready to counter any issues that our parents brought up. But after reading the board, we went with the "this is our decision, period" approach and decided that we would make it clear that homeschooling was not up for debate. We were at an extended family gathering on DH's when the school question came up, and my DH completely shocked me by informing his family that we would be homeschooling (we had agreed that we would each tell our parents). It turned out it was good that he did this around a lot of other people because one of his aunts immediately said that she thought it was a great idea, and it kept his parents from making a huge scene. My MIL did tell us that she was extremely disappointed, but I think that my FIL will come around eventually. They have not brought the topic up again, though we bring our copy of WTM every time we visit just in case (we've decided that we'll talk to them about specifics if they read WTM :)). Things went a lot better than I expected with my parents. I told my father first (he tends to be more understanding of the more unconventional things I've done, and he gets my mom to be on board with things eventually), so when I brought homeschooling up with both my parents, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he had already talked to her. She is still a little apprehensive about the socialization aspect but was somewhat placated by extracurricular activities and homeschooling groups. But in the end, she seemed to be in favor of both the classical and religious education that my DH and I want our children to have. I really think that things would not have gone this well had I not had the wisdom of the hive. It helped me so much, and I thank all of you for your wonderful posts.

When I entered college (at a small LAC), music was not even on my radar, yet I ended up doing a double-major in music and history ... and then got a doctorate in music (I wrote a dissertation on sacred music, actually). So I would say that any preparation you can do in high school is great, but it's not the end of the world if your daughter is less knowledgeable in some areas. But she'll certainly find it easier if she has a start on some things. A head start in music theory is great; I also had ear training, sight singing, and dictation as part of my music theory courses. It's also important to realize that piano proficiency is not just playing piano pieces well--if she can work on score-reading (sight-read and reduce a multi-part score like a string quartet or a symphony) and general sight-reading skills, that would certainly come in handy. I would also do an overview of music history in her final two years of high school. Maybe Gregorian chant through Baroque or early Classical in 11th and then Classical through modern in 12th. Many colleges and universities use Norton's A History of Western Music (Grout/Palisca/Burkholder), and you might consider using it as a spine. You certainly don't have to cover or read everything, but it could give you an idea as to what things to focus on (my big gripe with K-12 music curricula is the shortchanging of pre-Baroque music). Does your daughter have any idea what she wants to focus on? Performance, theory, history, education?

I, too, bought half a pig this year (raised by my neighbor). With the pork loin roast, I made Roast Pork with Pears from Williams-Sonoma: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/roast-pork-with-pears.html The second time I made it, I omitted the leeks, which DH and I thought were too chewy and substituted a bed of thinly sliced onions (2, I think), which we liked more. It's a very elegant dish that's good for entertaining or a nice Sunday meal. Two days ago, I used the pork shoulder to make Spicy Shredded Pork from the Pioneer Woman: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/08/spicy-shredded-pork/ My roast was over nine pounds (bone-in), so I doubled the seasoning. I cooked it about 7-8 hours, and it was delicious. I served this with corn tortillas, lime, diced avocado, chopped red onion, and cilantro. My DH, who douses his ground beef tacos in Ortega sauce (he can easily go through half a bottle in one meal), actually told me he liked the seasoning so much that he didn't need taco sauce. I freeze leftovers for future meals.

I met my DH in grad school. We dated 2.5 years before getting engaged and got married a year after that. I think that it worked out very well for us. While I know people who have gotten engaged much sooner (and it has worked out for them), I still favor a somewhat longer courtship.

I also hate the Visa gift cards because it's a pain to use a small balance left over at the end. I am absolutely sure that Visa makes a fortune on a couple dollars or even a couple cents that people often leave unused. I end up buying postage stamps with the odd amount leftover (yes, I have sent letters with a huge number of five or one-cent stamps).