$580 for everything with a 15 year loan. 1900 square feet, 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 baths on 2/3 of an acre. Our house was built in 1967 and is in an undesirable-but-not-awful neighborhood.

Hobby Lobby because they're closed on Sundays and because the owner tithes. And because they paid for a fellow pastor in our neck of the woods to renovate an old bowling alley and completely convert it into a church (it was a new church plant, started from nothing) -- HL paid for the building, the labor, the furnishings, the decorations -- the whole shebang. The church is absolutely beautiful and is thriving now. (Our Michael's is brand new and has only been open a couple of weeks. It's in a part of town I don't like to drive in and I haven't been there yet -- so I really can't give a fair assessment. I do, however, like Hobby Lobby for the reasons I mentioned above.)

I was 11 when I got mine, and dd was 12 when she got hers. I do seem to see a lot of smaller children (8-9ish) wearing them these days, though.

I PM'd you!:001_smile:

We own. The law says we were supposed to be informed, but the little box on the paperwork is checked 'no' where the previous owners were asked if they were aware of any deaths by unnatural causes. (I don't know if they were being truthful or not. It happened in 1987 and we bought the house in 2005.) We found out exactly three weeks after we moved in, when the crew from Forensic Files showed up and informed us that they would be filming from across the street. There's also a book about it. I checked it out of the library, but got a little bit weirded out as I sat in my dining room and read things like "after he did such-and-such, he walked through the kitchen and into the dining room and did such-and-such". We aren't thrilled about it -- but it's the same house we were thrilled to buy before we knew about it, so here we stay. Being honest people, though, I can't imagine that we'll ever be able to sell it (unless it's to some weirdo who actually finds it a reason to buy it!).

Well, there was a murder-via-serial-killer in the room I'm sitting in right now (my bedroom). It was even featured on Forensic Files. Do I win? ;) Other than that, we're about 10 miles outside of a town that has a couple of murders every few years. No carjackings, bank robbings, or muggings that I'm aware of, though there was a purse snatching at Wal-Mart the other day. Drug use is very high in my neighborhood, though, and meth labs are broken up in the immediate vicinity on a fairly regular basis.

Ours has been added onto twice. With one of them, they knocked out a kitchen wall and added on our laundry room, master bedroom, and master bath. With the other one, they converted the garage into a room -- it now has our dining room at one end and the den at the other (it was only a single car garage). I don't know how long ago these additions were done -- I do know that the bedroom was added prior to 1987 (the house was built in 1967). It would have been very cramped without the additions (it's 1900 sf now, but was something like 1040 sf before). With the additions, it's just the right size for the 5 of us. I really like the room that was the garage, but I think they messed up with the bedroom. It doesn't flow and is kind of awkward. Our room is like a cave at the tail end of the house -- plus, it's a very long trek to the kids' bedrooms, and I'd rather be closer to them for those middle of the night barfing sessions and such.;)

I have to drive to Abilene tomorrow . . . but I do wanna! (You can take a detour and come to the Abilene zoo with me -- does that sound better than Dallas?):)

I lost three babies (two stillbirths and one miscarriage) between my oldest two kids. After our son finally got here in one piece, we decided to leave well enough alone, and we stopped. A couple of years later, we were surprised by another pregnancy. We were thrilled (because neither of us had particularly wanted to stop -- we just couldn't handle the idea of any more losses), and I can honestly say that it never occurred to me that there might be problems. After all, I had gotten past that. My son was proof! But I was wrong. Our daughter had a birth defect and lived for just under an hour. After that, my husband quite firmly said that we were finished. He was done. We had risked too much and lost too much too many times. End of discussion. I have to tell you, the idea of ending with a loss just broke my heart. He was done, but I wasn't. I agonized over this. I prayed and I prayed and I prayed that one of two things would happen: that either dh would change his mind or that God would give me a peace and a contentment about being done. I didn't say a word about it for a several months. I just prayed. And one day he actually brought up the idea of possibly trying again. I was so excited at this small grain of hope that I could hardly contain myself. And the more time went by, the more he talked about it, until he himself said he wanted to try again. To make a long story short (too late, I realize), our youngest daughter was born 22 months after her sister's death. Personally, I will say that I am *so* glad we kept trying. I can remember my mother telling me, after my second stillbirth, that perhaps we should just consider learning to be content with the one living child we had at the time -- and now I look at the two wonderful children who would not be here today if I had listened to her -- and I can honestly say that, yes, I'm glad I kept trying. (And my mother now agrees with me, of course.) It *is* worth it (for me, anyway -- I know it's a very personal decision, and you have to make the one that's best for your own family). I'm so sorry that you're going through this.

UPDATE: We had to leave before I read the last few responses, so I didn't factor them in. We blew up 400 balloons at home (using dh's compressor) and carried the remaining 600 with us in their packages, since we had been asked to take 1,000. He twisted and passed out 300 of them. At that point, there was still about an hour left in the party (it was from 5:00-9:00), but he was exhausted. A short time later, there was a break in the action, and we took that opportunity to close up shop. I held a couple of garbage bags with balloons and stood next to the list of available items -- I let each child choose their balloon and select what they wanted from the list, and they handed it to ds and told him what they wanted. It ran pretty smoothly that way. He handed out quite a few business cards and has booked his first party for Thursday, November 20. After reading the varied responses here, we decided to test the waters by splitting things down the middle, and decided that he would initially set his rates at $35 for the first hour and $15 for each hour after that (it would have been lower if I had seen Jann's latest post before we left, since he is a beginner and this equals her experienced rate). We decided that we would start there, and if people appeared to balk, then we would lower them the next time he was asked. He had two different types of reaction to those rates. The first one was, "Oh, that's a really great price!" The other one we heard was, "That's a very reasonable rate. We can afford that." Nobody seemed to think he was asking too much at all. I guess that means we were pretty close to the mark. So, thanks to you ladies, in a couple of weeks my son will be spending one hour with 10 four-year-old girls, making butterflies and other girlie stuff, and he will get $35 for his trouble. Thanks for all your help -- we both really appreciate it!

Jann, Thanks for your help. I actually tried to check out the T. Meyers website before we ordered, but the site was down. We ended up going with Ziggos balloons (in too much of a rush to bother with linking at the moment, as I am the official balloon-blowing-up-assistant and we are rather busy right now).;) We ordered Qualatex 260, as well -- the total for the balloons was actually only $50-something, but because we had to rush the shipping, that was an additional $30. He usually buys from Hobby Lobby at $7/package, but those are not Qualatex and Hobby Lobby informed him this past Saturday that they're not going to carry them any longer (which is why we had to pay the rush fee on the shipping from Ziggos). May I ask, since you appear to be in my general neck of the woods (I'm in West Central TX), what you think an appropriate fee would be? We will run the whole issue by our tax man (who will actually be at the party tonight, though I'm not sure he'll want to talk shop right then and there).;) Thanks so much for your thoughts! It's nice to hear from someone who is on the performing side, as well as all those who are contributing on the client side.:)

Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate your input. Some more information: The church is reimbursing his cost for the party tonight, so it's no expense for him. He is looking at it primarily as a means of exposure. He is capable of doing multi-balloon sculptures and does several of them very well, but due to the high traffic tonight, he's going to have kids choose from a list -- and everything on the list will be a one-balloon item. He has business cards, a personalized baseball cap, and a magnet on the side of our van (courtesy of vistaprint.com). He has a name and an e-mail address which is solely for his balloon business. We are outside of a smallish town (100,000), and the cost of living is on the low side (as is pay). (For example, we paid $60,000 for our 1900 square foot house on 2/3 of an acre in 2005.) Thanks for the ideas, ladies! I'd love to hear more opinions!

(Not sure that title makes any sense, but I will hope that people click on it, anyway.);) My 12 year old has really gotten quite good at balloon twisting. He can make pretty much anything. His only experience thus far has been making balloons for people in restaurants and stores (ones which are receptive to the idea). He does this on a volunteer basis, because he loves it, but he has been given tips on occasion. He has been asked by several people if he does birthday parties, and what his rates are. Tonight, he is working at a church harvest party. They have a large turnout every year, and he was told to bring no less than 1,000 balloons. He has spent the morning blowing them up in preparation. If past experience proves true, he will be asked many times tonight if he does parties. He does have business cards made up, and they will be available to those who ask. I have no idea what an acceptable rate would be for a 12 year old boy. We pay in the neighborhood of $8 for a package of 100 balloons, and of course I would have to drive him to and from, so there is a gas factor (we live about 10 miles out of town). He would like to make enough money to cover expenses and to give himself some spending money. If you have hired someone for a party before and if you have some idea of what is realistic, would you please chime in and give us a clue? Any ideas you have would be appreciated! He doesn't want to charge too much, but he doesn't want to charge too little, either. I am thinking it might be wise to do an 'X amount for the first hour, Y amount for each additional hour' type of thing -- but I don't have a clue what the X and the Y should be! Thanks for any help you can give us!!!:bigear:

Master bedroom is about 15 x 18 Oldest's bedroom is about 10x11 (but she has her own half-bath which goes off of it, so she's happy) Middle's room is about 12x16 And poor youngest's is 9x10 -- but at least it's her own!

I know this is a lighthearted thread, and I want to keep it that way -- but I also want to offer a sincere 'thank you' for that. Even if I'm nameless;), I am deeply touched that you remember that.:001_smile: As far as who I get mixed up . . . oh, my. Don't get me started. I'd be here all night, and embarrass myself in the process.:tongue_smilie:

My 15 year old has been in an 11 for about a year now -- I certainly hope they've finally stopped!:001_huh: (I wear an 8 -- she didn't get it from me!)

We use Suddenlink and pay $99 for cable, internet, and telephone.

My dh went to a denominational college and earned a BA in Pastoral Ministries. He does feel it adequately prepared him for full-time ministry. In fact, he feels he got an excellent, excellent education, both in the subjects relating to his major and in his general studies. Editing to say that I will ask him more details when he gets home! ;)

I haven't done very much. Babysitter Secretary (part time work, after school in high school) Worked at Hardee's one summer during college Special education teacher I think that's everything -- I've been a SAHM and a pastor's wife for 15 years now.

We spent 12 years in a town an hour south of here -- there were scorpions all over the place, but I only saw one black widow during the whole twelve years. Three years ago, we moved 60 miles up the road. Same region, same climate, one county over. I've only seen three scorpions, but the black widows are ridiculous! We have to be careful any time we pick something up outside -- they're always under everything. And they're all over our shed. My poor children. They've only lived in these two towns, so having to watch out for the dangerous critters is all they know!;) Glad you found that thing before it did any harm!

:iagree: When our daughter died shortly after birth, the OB nurses were absolutely wonderful. In a field that is supposed to be joy-filled, they often find themselves in very sad situations. Our nurses graciously rose to the occasion -- years later, they are still my heroes. We took many pictures while our daughter was alive, but we also took a lot after she died. When it's the only chance you have to make memories, you take advantage of the opportunity. The pictures we took after her death are private and put up and are only seen by us (and usually only on her birthday) -- the pictures we took of her alive are on my piano and on my refrigerator and on my nightstand and anywhere there are pictures of my surviving kids. Had nowilaymedowntosleep.org been around when I needed them, I would have jumped at the opportunity -- what a beautiful thing to offer! To answer Nicole's question -- I have never heard of taking pictures of pictures at funerals, but I think your husband did the right thing.

My dh had an uncle named Iris. My mother once had a student named T9C (pronounced Tuh-NINE-cee). And back in my own teaching days, I had a student named Angle Turner. They pronounced it Angel, but it was spelled Angle -- which I thought was hilarious, given her last name.

Me! Me! Dh and I have been married for 18 years and he has pastored for the last 15 (as a matter of fact, yesterday was the 15th anniversary of moving to our very first pastorate) -- the first three years, he was still in school. We're Assemblies of God. We spent 12 years at our first pastorate (in a very small town that has been in the national news a *lot* lately), and three years ago we moved about an hour north in order to plant a new church. (We never imagined we would be church planters, believe me! That one was a surprise!)

$2.63 this morning in West Texas (down from $2.75 last night).

I've never worn an apron in my life. It would be a good thing, though, given that I own no unstained shirts. My aunt sent two of them my direction about a year ago, and they have never been on my person. It has never even occurred to me that I should try them. This is a good idea (like tablecloths -- I never owned a tablecloth until reading about them here, and now I own 2!) that I need to implement. How sad am I, that I never even think about these things until I read about other people who love them? . . . off to find them, wherever I stashed them.;)