Oh! I mentioned this to DH (in a remember-when-I-was-covered-in-spots sort of way) and he reminded me that it's also a symptom of Bartonella. Another vector borne illness. Lots of symptoms to that one, too, many more than just petechiae. On a lighter note, we used to joke that I looked like an American flag - covered in stripes (from Bartonella, they are often mistaken for stretch marks) and petechiae spots. Gotta laugh. I'm sure there are many reasons for petechiae, some more worrisome than others. Hope you find the cause!

Do you have any other symptoms? If not, and your doc's not worried... then take that into consideration, of course. I had problems with petechiae that would come and go as a result of an infection. There are a ton of causes, though, so I wouldn't jump into thinking you had what I had based on that one symptom! With that in mind, I had 2 strains of a parasitic infection related to malaria: babesia microti and babescia duncani (formerly called babesia WA-1, if you want to get tested, the test codes sometimes still read WA-1). Both of mine came from tick bites, but I think babesiosis can be transmitted by other vectors as well, and certainly can be transmitted via blood infusion (several fairly recent cases of that in the news). Again, though, I would not jump to thinking you have Babesiosis based on that one symptom, but if you had a constellation of other symptoms common to Babs, then it might be worth exploring.

I think your ideas sound good. We don't follow the clock each day, but we have a general routine and we have particular activities for each day. We do the basics every day - math, language arts, latin, music, more. Mon and Tues are science days. Wed is art. Thurs and Fri are history. That's a very loose explanation, as we tend to go fairly deep into these topics (at DS's request). We do the minimum that I've charted out, plus lots of extra research, documentaries, experiments. When DS was younger, we did Science Saturdays and Art on Sundays - and those were DH's territory. If I were in your shoes, I might consider asking DH which subject he'd most like to teach, and let him really get into it with the kids. It's fun, esp at the ages in your sig. Those could rotate weekly, or every few weeks. For household, etc, I cheat and use the Motivated Moms app. It lays it all out day by day, and I adjust/edit the tasks as necessary. It works for us. I've assigned some of the tasks to the kids, some to myself, and some to DH. And for brutal honesty here - we use a housekeeper weekly, so I've assigned quite a few chores to her. She takes care of the major cleaning. I have health issues, and limited energy, though, and when we decided to homeschool we factored that into our financial plans. We also do a version of "pegging" ... so certain activities are pegged to others. Reading aloud with lunch is one example.

No idea on our yearly cost here, either - I have never totaled it. We also feed about half dry food and half "real" food. Chicken, green beans, etc. A PP spelled out that type of diet very clearly. Our dogs like raw veggies as treats, too. :) We are also very careful with chew toys. Rawhide can cause terrible problems, so we avoid it. We have friends who lost their small dog to an incident with a squeaker toy, so we avoid those as well. Kongs filled with treats are a favorite of our dogs, along with nylabones. Have you factored in grooming costs, if that's necessary? Our dogs are groomed very frequently - more so than they would normally require - due to allergist's orders. DS is allergic to dogs, and having them bathed every 2 weeks has greatly improved his asthma. We use a mobile groomer who comes to the house every 2 weeks, and is very knowledgeable and careful with their skin and health. That is a big cost for us, but the alternative wasn't acceptable to our family (rehoming our dogs).

Oooh, fun! I love your bathroom colors - they are so happy. We've had good luck with towels from Amazon. Ours were a lightning deal, but they were made for Amazon. They are wonderful, and look brand new despite years of washing. The color is the same as when we purchased. No help on the mat here, either, but I'll happily volunteer to try out whatever you buy. :lol:

Oh, it's a brand name! Thanks.

Just have to ask, since two of you have mentioned it (and yes, I feel silly asking) - what is rotel?

:grouphug:

Pawz, I'm sorry about your mom. She gave a beautiful gift, though. Laws vary by state, of course.

Yes, tell everyone about your wishes. That little box on your driver's lisence doesn't mean much. If you are truly commited, write it up on a card, get two witnesses to sign it, and keep that in your wallet. When I was active in the field, we had cards premade for this purpose. My best friend in college died while on the list. Their were two separate matches, but on both the families could not be found in time to consent. Those boxes on the driver's lisence are not enough to constitute consent, immediate family has to consent as well without a witnessed document.

Thank you. That is exactly what I needed to see, just to get a feel for where we are heading. We have been using MCT and AAS, and I was planning on continuing with both of those. It sounds like we might take a break from WWE for now, and maybe explore some other options. This is good - a change will be good for all here. :) I'm excited!

Can you tell me what your week/month looks like, while implementing BW? I have just started reading TWJ, and have ordered a subscription to the Arrow (have not received it yet), and would like to get an idea of what our lives will look like day to day, once we implement this. If you use a schedule, I'd love to hear it. Or if you just loosely follow along, I'd love to hear some ramblings on how that works, too. Do you use any other writing programs? We were using WWE, and I'm not sure if we'll continue with it or drop it for now. DS would rebel at overkill, so if it's not necessary, we might just do BW. Spelling and grammar still necessary? (I'm guessing/planning on yes to continuing our current spelling/grammar.) Anything else I need to know? Thanks!

Holy Canoli! I just saw this, KK! Glad you got to the ER! DS has cough variant asthma, we can talk about it. Make sure you rinse well after your inhalers - the last thing you want is a thrush infection in your throat! You know, to add to the fun. :( Hang in there!

Double majored in Anthropology and American Studies.

Yay!

Sounds suspicious to me. I would discuss it with your doc.

We like ours. DH makes smoothies, I use it for a lot of other stuff - salas, sauces, etc. We've had it about a year. No complaints. A Vitamix would be overkill here.

I will play along. I'd even be up for a minor exchange - like we each make a few and then ship in flat rate boxes. Not sure how that would work. I've made a few, but it would be good to have a collection. What age is your little one?

Another picture book we enjoyed here was called (I think) Our Family Tree: an Evolution Story. Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0152017720/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

I've never organized one, but am game for participating!!!! (Rivaling your question marks with exclamation points here!) Count me in, please!

Lol!!!! High five! I always think of the Cardassians when I hear about the Kardasians! (No idea if I'm spelling either correctly) ... And the first few times I definitely thought it was a Star Trek reference! That is so funny! Only DH has ever known this, I was so embarrassed. I still don't know what the reality people look like... That's either a point of pride or another example of embarrassing pop culture illiteracy.

No Facebook here either. Various reasons, some stated above. Mostly privacy. What about approaching this as you would if you were decluttering your house? Is it beautiful? Does it make me happy? Is it useful? Think a out those answers while you decide whether you should keep it, change the way you use it, or delete it. The beautiful question may not apply, of course, but if it makes you feel sad or depressed - that's significant!

Dad here. KK, I've noticed that you call your father "Da" and I always like it! :)

My kids would have eaten every bite. Well, DS would have loved to eat every bite, but has food allergies so it wouldn't be in his safe zone - but if it was allergen-free, you can bet he'd have loved it and raved over. DD eats everything, but if it contains the word "cake" in its name - especially so!

Another vote for history writing with the history notebook. Added bonus: my guy loves to get the old notebooks out and read them. Shhhh, don't tell him he's reviewing! He thinks it's fun. Same with science. Plus, we have a huge writing notebook for everything else (though it is divided into sections).