We have that same problem. For now, everybody gets a Solo cup with their name on it big Sharpie marker. Even the ones who can't read know to look for their first initial with a smiley face on it. We have a special place on the counter marked with their names on masking tape. They come in, drink, put the cups back on the tape. Mommy will quickly rinse them with hot water after everybody tromps out the door and put them back on the tape. At night, they get a good soaking in the sink with a teaspoon of bleach and set out to dry. The next day, it all starts over again. If the cup gets lost or broken, another one is available but now they try to see who can keep their cup the longest. If they keep it all week, they get ice cream for dessert on Friday night.

I have a sign on my front door that says "Cranky children FINALLY sleeping. If you knock or ring the doorbell, you are putting your life at risk." It stays up from about 9am til bedtime. So far this summer it is working. It will definitely be staying up until it falls apart and then I will make another one just like.

I've got gallons and gallons of fresh, homemade lemonade and a big tent with misters. Oh and here's the mosquito-eating machine somebody left on the beach. It really works.

If you're near a Target, their Dollar Zone has some K-2 workbooks about dinosaurs that give a pretty decent introduction to them. Some pages have dot-to-dot dinosaurs, fill in the letters, etc. Plus, they have stickers at the back for when ds completes the pages. I keep a stash in the van for road trips and unexpected delays.

Good to have you back! Have a seat and just rest with us a bit. Would you like a glass of sweet tea?

My mother taught high school foreign languages for 30 years. During one of our rare talks, she brought up schooling for my children. I informed her we were planning on homeschooling and in fact, my oldest was already learning to read and write at that point (3 1/2 y.o.). She was horrified since she had taught in the school system we were zoned for when she was just beginning teaching 30 years ago. After explaining that our school system went from top 5 in the region in the late 60's to one of the bottom 3 in the 2000's, she stopped mentioning it. Then she had a phone conversation with ds4 and they talked about all sorts of train things, as 3 year old boys will do sometimes. When I finally got ds off the phone, she told me that we had made the right decision. Conversely, my uncle, who was an elementary school principal for 30 years, thinks we're nuts and that my son needs public school to help him overcome his extreme shyness.

I voted for tent camping, since that's what Dh and the boys do in the backyard. He keeps talking about taking them camping but somehow or another it always turns into "let's all go and stay at an inexpensive motel". Ok, I do have something to do with that change of plans. My back can't handle sleeping on the ground (therma-thingy or not) so camping for me means a hotel without a free hot breakfast bar. DH is making plans to take the boys over to Jekyll Island Campground in the fall once all the tourists leave.

I had very minimal success with flylady. Like the op, I picked up one or 2 things but nothing "stuck". I found this website: www.kristensguides.com and it has been a bigger help. I'm a checklist person. Kristen had checklists for daily, weekly, and monthly chores that help me stay sorta on top of my housekeeping. Some days, I just can't get my body to move so cleaning is out of the question.

Praying.

:smilielol5::lol: Love it! You are so funny and hit the nail on my head! Wait, that means I can go to Target to get band-aids...and other stuff.......wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: Many, many virtual hugs to you. I can honestly say I know almost exactly what you are going through. Today is hopefully going to be a better day since the last 24 have been horrible for us. We are about to head outside and play in the water hose (even though it's 7:45am) since everything in my house is making me want to toss my cookies. I'll just deal with the water bill later. I like your phrase "tomato staking". That sounds much nicer than my "chain gang" I've been using for the same actions you speak of. I'll be praying for you today.

Yes, my Wal-Mart lost it's mind a while back so we no longer go except when threatened by angry preschoolers demanding one particular brand of animal crackers only available at Wally World. Thankfully, that's not often since I will buy in bulk to save my sanity from that store. Their current big push is supplying and selling their house brand items to the extent of cutting out competing brands. For instance, they requested bids from Glad and Hefty to make their "Great Value" trash bags with the stipulation that if the company didn't make the bags, their products didn't get put in the stores. They have also rearranged many stores to group more of the complementing departments closer together. In our store, the arts and crafts are now in the middle, next to the home furnishing department. As Ishki mentioned, they also have "special buys" and "super buys" aisles for every department where everything on sale is lumped together or even stacked in the middle of the main aisle.

Dh and I visited Edinburgh for a most wonderful vacation. We based in a homestay rental at the base of Calton Hill that was owned by a very nice family. Here's the link: http://www.aboutscotland.co.uk/edin/minnowhouse.html. It was a 2-story self-catering with views of the entire city at night (spectacular!). The owners even let us use their washer and dryer after getting caught in a nasty rain storm. We took the train out every day to other cities to see the sites. Scotrail was affordable and reliable as clockwork. As goofy as it sounds, the first day we took one of the open air bus tours of Edinburgh. It helped us get our bearings since we were severely jet-lagged. I second a pp who mentioned not going in August. The Edinburgh Festival and The Fringe Festival are held mid- to -late August/early September and very popular so the city is very very crowded with the lodging rates HIGH. Here's some the places we went: Dunfermline, Sterling, Queensferry, Incholm Abbey, Rosslyn Chapel, Holyrood Palace and Abbey, and of course, Edinburgh Castle. We spent 1 1/2 days wandering around Edinburgh proper, including racing through some of the museums/galleries. I am so excited for y'all! What a great trip to plan.

:iagree: We are doing "preschool" 2-3x week with my ds4. He's learning to read using OPG and enjoying the educational workbooks from the dollar zone at Target. I also found a couple of the workbooks in the bookstore section at Target and Walmart that use nothing but stickers to be quite helpful for keeping him occupied. He can do them all on his own and no writing involved.

I vote for stained/patterned concrete. My best friend had this recently done on her island countertop in the kitchen. It wasn't a big space, maybe 30X48 and around $100. This included staining it black, imprinting a traditional kitchen tile pattern on it, and sealing it. It took all of 2 days total from start to finish (8 hour construction days) and a couple of more days to fully cure. I am hoping to do the same when we get our kitchen done in a few years.

Praying for y'all.

I have heard of this, particularly from one specific faith. My stepdad gets a bill from his former church every year for the missed tithes of the past year plus a total of the past 20 years of tithes he hasn't paid since he was excommunicated. Every 3 years, a ranking church member pays him a visit to discuss the debt and his excommunication status. Thankfully, this "debt" is never reported to a collection agency. I completely disagree with this practice since I find it to be not grounded in the Bible. I can empathize with you regarding your fear of questioning church authority, especially in a church where the church (human) authority is considered of equal importance to the biblical authority of God. This sounds like one of those situations where your beliefs are getting turned on their heads. It's a very disconcerting place to be. I am praying for you and your family, for wisdom, for peace, and for strength. Please know that many other faiths are open to you and would gladly welcome you with open, loving arms should you choose to leave your current faith and church.

Congratulations! That a great start! Go Tammy go!

That's smart thinking on her part!

We visited the two civil war battlefields that are part of the National Park Service (my brain has stopped working temporarily so I can't remember actual place names) and were free. They were in GA but only a short drive from Chattanooga. We also took a picnic lunch to the park across the pedestrian bridge. They have a huge water fountain that you can play in plus a cheap carousel for riding with a breeze. You might also want to check with a local outfitter. We saw several groups kayaking on the river and thought it might be fun to try when our boys are older. If you go to the visitor's center, they have a driving tour of Lookout Mountain that is pretty neat if the boys are into old battlefields. If you need cheap eats, the Mellow Mushroom downtown was a great cheap find for us. DH and I split a large one-topping pizza for under $10 and had half leftover since the large was LARGE.

WAAAAHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!!! Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice!

For the HOPE Scholarship, homeschoolers have to attend a GA public college for one year before they can qualify for the scholarship. But as a pp said, it may not be around much longer since it's a favorite dipping spot for governmental fingers.

Ok, that's appalling. He was told he could go back into the Marines as a second lt. but "the sheen was off" so he doesn't want that anymore. He was told in the interview that his brother's job was about 15 steps above his. He was given a chance to start his way at the bottom of a company and work up, rather than start at the top and work down. In effect, he turned down 2 secure jobs in a nation where the unemployment rate is into the double digits and not budging anytime soon. I feel no sympathy for him. My husband happily dumps other people's trash cans every day, cleans their public bathrooms, and mows their public parks so we can make the bills. He has a degree in computer science and 15 experience in IT but can't find work in his field after 2 years of being laid off. He took the first job offered after his layoff and we jumped for joy to have it. If the kid wants to wait, let him. My husband would gladly take that job he turned down so we could have breathing room in our budget for getting the van fixed, repairing our leaky roof, replace the rotted sheetrock in the laundry room, and not eat rice and beans 3x week.

I feel very uncomfortable in very neat and clean homes that look like magazine layouts. I have a friend at church who keeps a beautiful home that always looks like it's ready for a Southern Living or Better Homes and Garden photo shoot. When I visit her, I am nervous to even do to the bathroom for fear of messing something up or leaving fingerprints where I shouldn't. She admits housecleaning is her hobby and is a germophobe. I am a little in awe of the fact that she can keep her house so clean with a 7yo, 5yo, and 1yo. Conversely, she has said she will not be visiting my house again since it's always chaotic though mostly tidy. I am much more comfortable in a home that's tidy but lived in or even a messy home. I guess since my home is considered messy, I'm more comfortable around mess. We have toys, shoes, construction paper, and books scattered around the house. Clutter, though, drives me absolutely insane. I hate having piles of things where people can see it. Go figure.