Another shortcoming that I can see is that it starts at 1600, so it doesn't cover medieval or Renaissance music at all. I feel like to really understand the earlier pieces on the CD list, you need to understand where it's coming from. Also, I think that Naxos recordings are kind of cheap--probably it was cheapest and easiest for licensing purposes, but those recordings are rarely my first choice. I prefer to listen to the best performers (this is subjective, of course), and I often find that they have recording contracts with the more prestigious labels. Looking at the artists in the CD list, they are not the recordings I would recommend if someone asked me for what I thought was the the best recording of Bach's Brandenberg concerti or Schubert's Dichterliebe. Unlike KarenNC, I haven't watched the DVDs, but that's just my impression from looking at the link.

I have an Breville electric grill--kind of like a George Foreman one, only a lot better. They make the best citrus juicer (but given the price tag, only worth it if you want to make orange juice every day). Sorry, no specific recs on the induction cooktop--I was given one as a wedding present by a friend who was living in Taiwan at the time. Said friend lugged it all the way from Taipei, and I don't remember it being a recognizable brand.

It's a lovely house! I think I'd take whatever estimate you come up with for repairs/maintenance and up it by at least 50%--these things always seem to end up costing more than we think. How handy are you? Would you need to hire someone to help you manage/refurbish the apartments, or is it something you could handle on your own? I'd definitely pay to get someone reputable to give you an honest report on the house's condition, needed repairs, etc.

Just a note of caution about the second link--I'd be wary of any "top composers" list that didn't include at least Bach and Beethoven.

I'd also recommend telling your child as you're listening who composed it, what approximate period it's from, and where it was composed. If you do that enough, he can start to get an ear for the different time periods. If you find he particularly likes a piece or composer, find more pieces by the same composer or pieces from that genre. I'd encourage real recordings over the children's stuff (which is fine if your child really likes it)--your son may surprise you when it comes to what he likes. There's a famous story of Leonard Bernstein conducting a Webern piece (20th-century atonal music--pretty dissonant) for children and their parents. When he asked that those who liked the piece raise their hands, it was mostly the children, rather than the parents, who enjoyed the piece.

The Chunnel would definitely be on my list--pretty amazing to have a tunnel of that length dug under the sea.

I think leeks often add a certain something to soups, so that'll be my contribution. A pretty relaxing weekend for me. The forecast was predicting "wintry mix" for today, so we got all our errands done yesterday ... and then there was a tiny bit of rain. Of course, I know if I decided to do stuff today, we'd get sleet and snow and hail, and the roads would be a mess. First movie in the theatre: A special run of Disney's Sleeping Beauty when I was five or six. The witch terrified me, and I cried through the last third of the movie. I didn't see another movie in the theatre until I was eleven.

:grouphug: Hope that his recovery is quick and isn't too painful!

When I was trying to figure out my microwave, I had some burnt kernels. That's why I don't try to get everything popped all in one go. Once I figured out the right times for my microwave, it's turned out perfectly every time.

It is SO easy to make popcorn in a brown bag in the microwave. I put 1/4 cup into a lunch-sized bag, fold it over twice and microwave for about a minute and a half. I put any unpopped kernels in for another minute. You might have to play around with the times for your particular microwave. I've seen recipes where people add oil, but I just do it plain because it's healthier, and I think it's delicious that way. Sometimes I sprinkle on a little popcorn salt (finer than regular salt, so it sticks to the popcorn better). Also, since I'm cheap, I re-use the brown bag until it tears.

Here's a list of more flexible schools: http://collegelists.pbworks.com/w/page/16119530/Open%20Curriculum%20-%20schools%20with%20more%20flexible%20curricula

I was also going to suggest finding a place with an open curriculum. In addition to Brown, a few of LAC are open curriculum: Grinnell, Smith, Amherst. Some schools aren't completely open curriculum but have more flexible distribution requirements (the ones I can think of tend to be on the LAC end of the spectrum). I remember seeing a list somewhere online that listed the open curriculum schools, as well as those with more flexibility, but I can't remember where I read it off the top of my head.

AFAIK, there's no comprehensive music history curriculum. As someone with a background in music (I have a PhD and concentrated in music history), I'd suggest that you focus more on listening, rather than on their biographies. This is the approach that's taken at the college level, and it makes a lot more sense to me. Children aren't taught literature by reading biographies of writers; they read their literature (or appropriate adaptations in the earlier grades). You might start with just differentiating Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, etc--I think that would be more useful than being able to identify a handful of specific pieces. I find that parents are often more intimidated by the less familiar sounds of classical music, but young children are surprisingly receptive (even to more atonal 20th-century music). So my advice would be to set time aside to listen to as much music as you can.

My mom does a lot of her cooking in a convection oven like the one you linked. It gets really hot in the summer where she lives, so she often runs it outside so that her house stays cooler. I definitely think that you could get by with one of those in place of your conventional oven. I have a few Breville things, and I think they are very well-made. For a cooktop, you might also look into an induction portable cooktop--more efficient, heats faster BUT more limited in what you can do.

Ugh, hope you all feel better soon! At least the predicted "wintry mix" means we'll be holed up in our house for a while, so less of a chance to pick it up.

Our heating vents are on the fourth wall (opposite the long wall and where the door to the room is), where we don't have bookcases. When we looked into having it custom-done, one of the companies we looked at made up a plan that had a small desk built into to wall area with the vent. There was an open area for working and then shelves over that. Another place put in vented doors where we'd need the heat to come through (in that plan, the lower shelves on that wall would have doors). So there are ways to do it, but it would probably take a little more work.

Wonderful! Motivates me to keep poetry memorization part of our school routine!

I know a SAHM who by choice mainly worked during tax season--my understanding was that she could work more if she wanted but chose not to. Like pp, that option looked like it had the most flexibility if working at home is important to you.

Here are a few in-progress photos: A few of the doors on. there will be two extenders on top, so it will go almost to the ceiling. And, no, this old couch will not be staying in the finished room :) The long back wall with the six deeper shelves, also minus extenders. You can see the outlets at the base with the temporary ugly white covers. The other short wall. This wall will have two regular-sized and one half-sized bookcase. You can see the corner unit in progress on the floor. This is what most of my basement looks like right now with books stacked everywhere. Guest bedroom and hallway are even worse.

Adorable! What a lucky birthday boy!

Beth, Ikea delivers! Shipping isn't cheap, but it seems to be a flat rate (DH tried with different quantities). We live 2.5 hours from the nearest Ikea, but my in-laws live near there, so we went to the store first. They didn't have much in stock in the color we wanted, though (dark brown), and they don't let you hold stuff once it's in stock. After we figured out how many trips we'd have to make and how much that would cost in gas (and our time!), it made more sense just to pay to have it delivered to our house. Not to mention that there was a chance it wouldn't be in stock once we got to the store. It's going to take several weeks, probably, to get it done, but I'll go downstairs and take a picture of it in progress after DC are in bed tonight. When we finished the basement, DH had the electrician leave some extra length in the outlet wires so that he could pull them out and put outlets at the base of the bookcases. Right now he's complaining that they left the extra length but stapled it to the wall, so he's having to cut out wallboard to take out the staples. Also, Home Depot only had the brown outlet plates in extra large, so now we have to order the standard size from Lowe's online (nearest one is in Iowa).

Just found this place by googling, but the menu is making me drool: http://oatmealsny.com/

Peaches or peach puree (like peaches and cream) when in season. Mango puree (I"m thinking along the lines of the mango lassi flavor), maybe?

We got the deeper Billys for the longer back wall because we have a lot of LPs (which are just slightly too big for the standard size), so we're hoping that those bookcases will be deep enough for the oversized books.

I've made it with canned pumpkin (reduce the amount of liquid a bit to account for the moisture in the pumpkin) and added pumpkin pie spices. ETA: oops, I read your list too quickly the first time. Just saw that you already had pumpkin listed. Still one of my favorite ways to have oatmeal, though :)