Fun! 69 here, and now I have a summer reading list. Can't believe Shadow of the Wind was on the list... Loved that book.

:lol: I think Mr. Morrow just means he checked off the box to "follow this topic" so he gets an email notification when there's a response to the thread. Unless you mean something with the app, in which case, just ignore me. We tried the app with no luck, but apparently there have been updates. I might try again. But we're happy using the books, so maybe I shouldn't rock the boat? Anyone else using the app here? Any thoughts on how kids like it vs. the book? I like the simplicity of the program, and am hesitant to change.

I know it's hard. ((Hugs)) I went 20 years misdiagnosed. DSS made a video game of doctors throwing diagnoses at me. :) I mostly lived with diagnoses of fibro, CFS, and MPS, and MS, but there were lots more. Enough meds to kill an elephant. If you're like me, you'll go through cycles of looking for answers intensely, then settle into a diagnosis and not want to look further. That's ok. Live with it when you need to. Cycle repeats. So... When/if you are in the looking for answers phase sometime... Use Lizzie's links and find an LLMD to properly rule out Lyme and coinfections. FWIW, I was accidentally diagnosed by a vet friend of a friend. Yep. She heard my symptoms and just knew. Then I found an LLMD, and dumped my rheumie and the two neuros who had been treating me. I had 13 undiagnosed chronic infections! Ouch. I feel very well now, but it was a hard, long road.

Voice of wisdom. When I got my Picc line put in for Lyme, the doc and I were talking about all my prior (mis)diagnoses and when we got to fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, he mimed wadding them up and throwing them in the trash. He called them wastebasket diagnoses. Fibromyalgia is a syndrome, which is the name for a set of symptoms. Please look for the root cause of those symptoms.

It's a matter of taste preference. Figure out what you like best. Coffee snob here so my take is filtered through that lens. We buy fresh roasted beans, it makes a big difference. Ground coffee is often pre-staled, to make it keep better in the bag/can. DH and I can taste a difference, so we grind. (Our machine has a hopper/grinder attached, it's not even an extra step for us, no biggie.) When you buy a bag, always check the roasting date printed on the bag, and get the most recent. We have our coffee shipped the day after roasting - it's the same price as buying something like starbucks in the grocery store, and so much better. Also - shade grown, organic, fair trade beans. Shade grown coffee is better for the birds, for the environment, and tastes better, too. ETA: Here's the place we use: http://www.camanoislandcoffee.com/free-organic-coffee/ ...This is the link to the free pound of coffee. You have to pay shipping ($8.95) - still a good deal. Yum.

Camano Island Roasters. They'll ship you a free sample. The day after it's roasted. Shade grown, fair trade, freshly roasted yumminess.

That is completely confusing. ...So will you now be closing that new credit account?

You're not a failure. Nope. Not at all. It's fabulous that some people can do everything. Really. I admire those people. But I'm not one of them. I have a 2E kid, a toddler, and a chronic health condition. We juggle a lot weekly. So ... We have a weekly cleaner. DH set it up. There is zero guilt involved, it is a simple contribution to our household that he can make. He *could* spend the time actually helping to do the work, but frankly - he has other ways he'd like to spend his time, and he wants me to be free to spend my time/energy in other ways, too. We have done the calculation in terms of the dollar amount that my contribution to our household is worth, and he is well aware that is highly valuable! If you factor in the cost of private school (that's what you were doing, right?) plus after/before school care for kids, plus all the extras - or figure out your salary as a full time private tutor... That might make you feel better. Then you'll see that the hourly rate for a weekly cleaning is well worth it. (I hope I'm making sense, DH is much better at figuring this stuff out and presenting it.) Your time is worth more than scrubbing the toilet. And the peace it will give you is priceless, a la mastercard commercials. :) We are a team. DH views it this way: we each have full time jobs. His is the work day job, mine is educating and caring for our kids. His take on it is that school teachers have a full day to teach/plan - so I should, too. School teachers are not juggling laundry, scrubbing floor, etc in between classes. Caring for and cleaning the house is our joint responsibility, so he chooses to outsource his part of it, and offered to outsource mine as well. We still share other household care/cleaning responsibilities, but the basics are taken care of. Even if you do this as a temporary solution... Enjoy it. Take the break. Find your feet again. And it may be that you continue with this path. :)

My son is growing his. It's about the length in the pic posted by elegantlion, but a bit curlier. When wet, it's a few inches past his shoulders in the back, but with the curls it just looks big. On a good day, one of our friends calls him little Josh Groban (did I spell that right?). Mostly it's just a mess, but as long as we don't have dreadlocks forming, I'm okay. He doesn't mind being mistaken for a girl. He doesn't see the big deal. He likes girls. :) DH's hair is currently just past his shoulders. His stylist calls him Jeff Bridges, as that's the general style/cut. He doesn't get mistaken for a girl. He's a professional, in broadcasting. No dirty druggie stereotypes either, whatever that means - really, it's just hair.

Oops! I liked the OP. Then read more and unliked it. For the record - I like the OP! Unofficially, of course. :)

Wrap up the kitty like a burrito and use tweezers to take the tick off. You don't want to just leave it, because once it's engorged it will drop off and [aaack!] lay eggs. Most likely in a very inconvenient spot (your house, garage, someplace you don't want little baby ticklets running around). Just a small heads up: Lyme Disease isn't only carried by deer ticks. And there are plenty of other tickborne diseases that are very serious. I have unfortunate experience with them. So do be careful, please. ETA: I saw you've decided on an course.

Legos do seem to reproduce on their own! We store ours in trofast bins. We have 2 of the trofast units side by side with a board on top and some good lighting. The idea is to (eventually) get a stool so he can work there. For now, it's a display space with lights because I haven't picked up a stool yet! There are display shelves over the trofast units, too. Usually, he brings a bin (or currently - 6 bins) to the kitchen table to work. More room for friends to join in. The shallow bins are better because it's easier to dig through and find pieces. Any legos that don't fit in the trofast bins or go on the display shelves are in a large underbed box in his trundle drawer. We also have smaller containers for mini-figs and special pieces. We have 20+ years of Legos here, it's crazy.

Nope. I didn't walk in mine either. But they talked about me, and my dept head tried hard to get me to come (for awards). I despise ceremonies too, but had an excuse - I was having major surgery the next day. They offered a wheelchair, but I declined. No regrets. We ate yummy Phillipino barbecue (my old roommate's dad makes the best!) and flan for dessert. Still remember that. And DH painted my toenails green for the surgery. :) ETA: our oldest just walked in his. It was actually pretty cool! He's in the arts, so there were great performances.

Oh, oh! Nooooo! Because that song video always pops into my head... And then that morphs into Prancercising! Aaaaaagggghhhh!!!!! The visuals, my inner eyes!!! The camel toe, make it stooooppppp.

Reading that kind of made me feel happy. :)

I love our mattress. We have a hand stitched, green cotton and wool mattress. No chemicals. No fire retardant other than the wool. No outgassing. We ordered from white lotus. They personally delivered it, which shocked us given the distance. They always have coupon codes. The cost was similar to a department store mattress. DS no longer has night wakings due to asthma, yay!

I'm sorry, OP. That stinks. At least you have talked to your kids about this type of stuff extensively already through scouts, right? Simple step now to extend it to a real person, though it's sad you must do that. I think contacting a landlord, if there is one, is a good option. They can address it as a landlord/tenant issue. I would hate to see you in trouble for harassment over this. :( Maybe talk to the local PD and then follow your best instincts re: keeping your kids safe. A lot of it (vigilance, etc) you do anyway, it's just now the threat feels more tangible. And it's tricky to tell your kids not to speak to a neighbor. I don't know where former convicts like this should live. I have no sympathy for them either. It seems like living well away from kids would help them re-enter normal society. But it also must be hard to find housing and jobs, so they may not have many options. Ick. No easy answers. Maybe a halfway house in the desert?? (Somewhat joking.) Do the neighbors have kids?

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Ikea has a good price on LEDs.

I'm sorry it didn't work out this time. :grouphug: It would have been nice to get a response to your heartfelt letter - I would have at least responded to that. It would be so touching to receive something like that about a long-term home. You will find the right house, and it will be perfect for your family!

This. This must be repeated. Over and over. DH convinced me to switch years ago. Happy Mac user here. I hate fiddling with computers. Hate it. What other people consider routine maintenance/care for a PC, I find super annoying. My Macs don't need that kind of care. I pull them out of the box, plug them in and they work. And then they keep working. I have a 10 year old Mac laptop that still works in this house. :) Among many others. The transfer was easy, and the adjustment period took maybe 2 weeks with my minimal usage at the time. Just some minor things - getting used to the way the mouse worked, etc. You will love iPhoto! My DH still works at a company that sells software made for PC, by the way. His company pays for his Mac. :) He just runs a program that essentially turns his Mac into a PC, if he needs it. In fact, his CEO has switched to Mac now, too, among other senior management. There is some irony there. :) My brother is a Mac hater. He loves messing with computers. It's his thing. And that's okay. There's room for both of us. I'm not a PC hater, just love my Mac. ETA: We mostly buy refurbished from the Apple Store now. Same warranty. Comes like new! Also, use the educator discount - it applies to homeschoolers.

We've done smudge sticks, but that was when we had lots of NA friends, and they did it for us. :) Now I just do the basic cleaning stuff, and DH replaces all the toilet seats because that's his personal ritual!

Swimming. Catching lightning bugs. Water play in the backyard. Camping. Hitting the beach. Movie nights (outside). Our town's weekly outdoor concerts. Lightning bugs! Oh! The lightning bugs are *such* a big part of summer that DS made an app about catching them! It is sooooo cool, just the sounds alone make me ready for summer! I posted about that here a while ago, that it was one of his projects for school! Our whole family got into making it. We love, love, love lightning bugs. :) It's a free app, but I've never posted a link or anything here, I don't want to violate rules. Is it okay to post something like that that our kids make? It's a free app. I'm dying to share the sounds alone with anyone who loves catching lightning bugs at night... It makes me smile.

Location: Walking to the library and our little Old Town area with summer concerts and ice cream. Multiple playgrounds in walking distance. Our backyard. :) Patio, deck, handmade fountain from DH, just enough raised garden to grow a few veggies, paths with curves. Minimal yard work (HOA takes care of front yard, we take care of back). Minimal payment to HOA - $30 per month. Other than yard work and snow removal, they stay out of our business. Our set up allows for DH to work from home while we homeschool. Too many bathrooms. :) Really. 4 is too many. I suppose we could each pee at once. No carpet, we've replaced all flooring. Our wall colors. :)

Oh! Another requirement for the next house: Hard flooring - I forgot about that one since it's been so long since we've had carpet. Carpet would be a deal breaker for us. We would need to know if the previous owners had cats, too. Severe allergies to cats here. Scary bad cat allergies - like ER calls, and overnights in hospitals.