Cool! I was *very* tempted to pick up the playmobil soccer stadium!

Or, you know, you could just skip the conversation deck and get cards with another kind of ... ummm... starter. :) Who needs to talk? 15 years of marriage here, too. 26 years madly in love.

:hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: I know Colleen's watching! Who else?? DH is done for the day so he can watch, woo hoo!

For the most part - no regrets. The people we love aren't in their stuff. I have parted with a lot. I do have regrets about my grandfather's (and great grandfather's) chair. However, the regret isn't that we don't have it any longer... It's more about my mom's cat, who incessantly peed on it while we were cat sitting! We couldn't even reupholster the chair, as the pee soaked into the frame. Not worthwhile. But my regret is about the cat accident more than anything. Not really about parting with the chair.

Similar to the Tripp Trapp - we have a Keekaroo. Love it. DD is 3 and just climbs in and out. Weight goes up to 250 lbs. we all sit in it at times, and I've even used it as a stool in a pinch.

:huh:

They are adorable little tribbles. :)

Horowitz. :001_wub: :blushing: I have a case of hero worship. Haven't read his book, but have seen him speak many times. He is a fabulous LLMD.

Another playmobil house here. We have an embarrassing amount. It's stored in Trofast bins, and in underbed boxes, and random areas. All mixed together because the various figures in each theme love each other. We started with Egyptians, then moved to Romans, so we did begin with themes, but it quickly morphed into a free for all. We love all playmobil. My favorite moment was when DS sat on Santa's lap and asked for the entire Roman army. Santa's face was priceless. :D If you are looking for deals - check ebay. I think someone posted upthread that there's nothing on ebay now, but I just looked and found a lot. Check for playmobil lots. There was a rather large set of Western theme items that was ending in the 10 am hour, in fact. I hovered over the bid button, but... restrained myself. (Oh, the agony of restraint!) Order by the lot, and get tons of stuff. Also check the playmobil website - they have monthly deals, and discontinued items. Get on their mailing list for specials. We've bought a lot that way. Right before the holidays, Costco carries large playmobil sets - they are usually a good deal, and have a lot of pieces. I've see zoo sets, airplane sets, and forest sets in past years. We have a lot of big pieces, and they are used. However, if you don't have enough space to keep the larger pieces put together, then I think it's a poor investment (unless your kids are the type to build the larger pieces every day). The only larger piece I regret buying is the Roman colisseum - that one is simply *too* large for us when put together!

Alternatively, you could go hide out at another WTMer's house while your in-laws visit. Leave the house coffee-less, and just run. :) Let them fend for themselves. (Just kidding, of course. Mostly.)

Yes! We are counting down. And have watched Shakira's video a thousand times... La la la la la la... I sing it in my sleep. :) I would love a copy of your schedule!

Ugh. But that's a good take on it. So I should put it on our calendar now that we'll be cleaning neighbor's garage on Sat? Fun, fun! We wouldn't say no, if he asked. I'm truly sorry that the freezer died on him. Surprised, too.

Yes. Yes, I am. Mwhahahahahaha!

:lol: How did you know?? Seriously, I want to just go with the idea that neighbor was just looking for help finding a repair guy. I tend to go with the pollyanna approach to life, so that's what I want to think. I don't know exactly what was said by neighbor, since he spoke to DH. Maybe that's for the best. I was surprised when DH made the comment about not feeling guilty, because he's pretty easy going and lets things slide off his back easily. There usually has to be something blatant for him to respond that way. I can ask him when he's home, but... maybe ignorance is bliss?! Honestly, I do feel bad if the guy had the freezer full and it just died. It's a big, big freezer. We used to keep a half a cow in there. That's a lot of food! I hope it did't spoil.

So many neighbor issues these days. Here's mine: A year ago DH and I were cleaning out our garage. We decided to get rid of our freezer, which wasn't really being used. It worked fine, was clean, we just didn't keep it full and utilize it. Frankly, going to the garage was inconvenient. Whatever. Didn't work for us. We wanted the square footage back. Neighbor heard about it, mentioned he was in the market for a freezer. So we gave it to him. :) Today DH got a call from the neighbor. The freezer's not working. Neighbor wants to know who to call to have it fixed. DH didn't know, but we suggested 2 places that might do appliance repair. DH hung up after a long conversation. I only heard DH's end, but there were a lot of "I'm sorry to hear that"s from DH. DH said simply (to me, after hanging up): "It was a free freezer. I'm not going to feel guilty about this." The implication from the neighbor is that we should help fix the freezer. I think that's really reaching. We were getting rid of a freezer. The neighbor wanted a freezer. So we gave it to him. We could probably have sold the freezer, but we aren't the type to sell stuff, so we were going to list it on freecycle anyway. Giving it to the neighbor was, we thought, a nice thing to do. A year later the freezer's not working. I think our obligation re: freezer is zero. Nada. Zip. Am I wrong? If I had room in our current freezer (the one attached to our fridge), I'd offer some freezer space - but we are full. We don't have extra space anymore... [sigh] Neighbors...

The Virgin Blue? Not the same area, but France. I liked it several years ago. Five Quarters of the Orange is set in the Loire Valley. There's another from book set in that area that I liked... Can't recall the title. Let me see if I can find it on the shelf, and I'll come back and post. I think it was a YA title.

She could be shy, introverted, dealing with a difficult pregnancy, chronically ill, shy, feeling rebuffed by you because she thinks you didn't take her up on the church thing, who knows? If it's important to you to get to know her, I'm with Jean. Take her a plate of cookies, invite the kids for a playdate, and see what happens. Then you'll know for sure. Either you'll have a new homeschooling family of friends, or you'll know that you're not compatible for whatever reason and you can just say hello when you see each other and keep going. We have had similar experiences here, but generally we know the reason - we are secular homeschoolers and most homeschoolers in our area are not. It has surprised me how exclusive they can be. We tend to play and socialize with anyone, but we've learned that not everyone feels that way. It's been a hard lesson.

Another vote for a small box of k-cups just for them. And if you feel the need to have a cup... go for it. Enjoy it.

Blueberry. Mmmm... There is a strawberry pie in the fridge right now... Think I must go eat some...

Another gentle parent here.

I get it. I'm a weirdo that way, too. We seem to be in the minority. DH and I are FB holdouts though, so at least we don't have to see the awful pictures that people may or may not post. :laugh:

Oooooh, how exciting! I am going to share this with our kiddos, and she will have a small fan club in VA. Keep us posted!! Now, go eat cupcakes!

Wow! Congrats to her, and hugs to you. If you're up to it, please share what she'll be doing? Our eldest just graduated with his theater degree, and we have another one gearing up for the same path, if all signs are right...

Add to this that they have no tree nuts, peanuts, or sesame seeds to worry about cross contamination - and that's why we love Chipotle. Easy to order wheat and dairy free, too (we don't worry about cross contamination on those as much). The only kicker: I don't personally care for cilantro, so it's not my personal favorite to eat, just my favorite for our family. My very favorite: Elevation Burger. Who can argue with grass fed beef??

Same here, only a German company in the US. Vacations are viewed as a necessity by his co.