My books (and Christmas decorations, candles, stuffed animals, pictures, etc.) have been in an indoor climate controlled storage unit for over a year now, and everything is just fine.

I can fold a fitted sheet, and that is the most complicated, ridiculous method! No wonder people have trouble if they're trying to do it that way.

Ah, I did think of a funny story. My ex-DH was getting read to leave for work one morning, and when he went out to the car, he discovered a HUGE snake up in the engine compartment! He was in a hurry, so he took the motorcycle and asked me to call Animal Control to come get the snake. I did, and when the man got to the house, I told him that if he was going to need any help, he needed to call somebody else 'cause there was no way in this life or any other was I going anywhere near that car. So, because Animal Control is part of our police department, he called the department to send an officer out to help him. FOUR police cars showed up on our street! One officer was coming to help him, another was willing to help if he absolutely HAD to, and two others were just curious. Apparently there wasn't much going on at 7:30 on a weekday morning in town. :lol:

The relationships in our small town always amuse me. For example, my neighbor next door and my neighbor across the street were both running for the same city council seat. They both wanted to put a campaign sign in my yard. Talk about being in a tight spot! :lol: The neighbor behind us is my doctor. Oh, yeah, and he's also the Mayor. :D My oldest son's middle school teacher lived across the street from us. Turned out she was also the aunt of a girl at church on whom he had a massive crush. We told DS he wasn't getting away with ANYTHING! LOL... And I recently learned that the man who cuts my grass also owns the local ambulance company. And the guy who cuts my neighbor's yard is the same guy who delivered my refrigerator when I had to rent one for a few months. We are a town of multi-talented folks!

I think of "until" sort of as a deadline. If I said you have until noon today to respond, that doesn't mean sometime after 12:00. It doesn't mean anytime tomorrow. I means the cut off is noon today. So if someone said they would be out of the office until February, I would take that to mean that they would be back in the office at the start of business on the first business day of February.

I have not seen that. Sounds like something I should check out. Thanks!

I'm like this, too! Breakfast ALWAYS makes me hungrier than if I just wait until I'm actually hungry to eat.

Another no-breakfast person here. I can't stand eating when I first wake up. Just, ew. I don't drink coffee either. :leaving: I drink my morning soda (yes, I know, but I'm doing it anyway; I'm a grown up). I usually start feeling hungry 3 or 4 hours after I wake up. Depending on the day, that's in time for lunch or, if it's a teaching day, I'll have some peanut butter crackers or a granola bar or something between classes.

Okay, I've ordered Hungry Planet, Material World, and Bridges: Three Thousand Years of Defying Nature. I'm thinking if we read those along with Sheppard Software, maybe that can be enough for the rest of this school year. I actually already have the Glencoe book and teacher's guide that Oak Meadow uses, so perhaps I can see about using that for a high school-level course for next year. Thanks again for the suggestions, y'all!

Mine wants to be an architect or an engineer, so the Bridges book might be great. Thanks!

Is Trail Guide secular? I've heard good things about it, but I thought it was Christian. I also looked at OM, but it looked like a year-long program, so I didn't dig too deeply. I'll take another look. Thanks for the reminder about Sheppard Software. We used that some years ago for the states. I'll have to look into that again for the countries. That's a good idea. I can also check out the BYL book list and see what looks interesting. Thanks.

Thanks. But I'm not necessarily looking for another drawing program. I'm just trying to get him a well-rounded, middle school-level world geography course--probably one that doesn't involve drawing--that we can do in the last half of the school year.

DS has been doing Mapping the World With Art for geography this year. It started off okay, but it's been in steady decline for him, and at this point, he's not really getting anything out of it other than frustration at his (perceived lack of) drawing skills when it comes to mapping. He likes to draw, so I thought he'd really enjoy this program, but not so much. I'm at the point now where it seems like just a waste of time, but what to do instead? We're halfway through the school year, and I don't want to completely change gears with social studies (I don't think), but what else is there? He likes geography; just not this geography. Anyone have any (secular and inexpensive) suggestions? ETA: He's doing 8th grade world geography. We've covered the U.S. already.

So, they lay off some people (cashiers) in order to be able to afford to hire other people (to do what)? I don't think I'm buying that. I think when the store makes more money, the executives make more money. When profits are up, corporate bonuses are up.

Had my daughter continued in competitive gymnastics, she would have had the opposite problem. Not too many 5'8" gymnasts! LOL...

I'm an adjunct instructor, and I don't see how anyone can do this job in addition to a full-time job. My time is not just spent in the classroom for 3 hours per week. I also have to prepare my lessons, grade student papers, answer student emails, and participate in online student engagement in many cases (posting course announcements, discussions boards, etc.). I suppose it would be possible to teach one class as a moonlight gig, but not much more than that, especially not while raising kids as a single parent. To make a living, I work for three different schools (I live too far away from any of them to make full time a desirable option) and teach six to eight courses per term. I also have to make enough during the traditional school year to sustain us through the summer because adjuncts don't usually get offered any summer classes to teach. The full-time faculty who want them get first dibs on those. But, I'm not really complaining as this is all my choice. Sure, I'd love to make more money, have insurance and benefits, etc. But I also love that my time is largely my own. I control my own schedule, get to work from home most of the time, and don't have many of the extra demands that full-time faculty have. It's a trade off to be sure.

Exactly. I feel badly for the band director. He wants so much for her to do this, but she just can't.

Oh, it's no secret what DD wants to do. I'm just trying to figure out what the right thing to do is. We got the Honor Band schedule today. There is a 2.5 hour window on Saturday between the band rehearsal and the band performance where they get a lunch break. It is at least an hour drive between the two locations. I just can't see any way doing both will be a viable option.

What does the 10yo say and what does the teacher say?

The verb is hide. Carefully is the adverb, and must is the auxiliary verb.

I don't understand. Did he have to move his behavior marker simply because he asked to go to the restroom outside of the scheduled times? Or was it because he just up and left the classroom to go without permission? If it's the latter, then yes, I can see the consequence. But if it's the former, I might be annoyed. On the other hand, what should the teacher do to avoid 20 kids all deciding they have to use the restroom at different times throughout the day? She'd never get any teaching done! In any case, I don't have enough information to really say how I'd respond.

I have no idea. The band director is going to talk with the guard coach. We're just going to let them try to figure it out. ETA: I have pointed out to DD that she should be flattered that both teachers want her with their groups and are willing to do whatever they can to make that happen.

He does know this. I think he's hoping that the Guard competition will be late enough in the day that she can do the District performance and then go to the competition. But I really, really doubt this will be the case.

Well, the latest update is that DD told the band director that she absolutely can't miss the Guard competition. He asked her if she would do District if there was a way she could do both, and DD said yes, though I can't see how that's possible. District is Thursday-Saturday, and the Guard competition is all day on Saturday. We don't have specific time info yet, but the two locations are at least a four-hour drive apart. I just don't see any way that she can do both, but if the band director wants to try to figure out something, more power to him. We'll see what he comes up with (if anything) and see if it's doable. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I never knew there were so many Guard folks out there! This is all new to us. :-)

Do you give any consideration to whether or not the person has an opportunity to get over? In Atlanta traffic, it might take more than ten seconds for there to be an opening to be able to get over, especially if people keep speeding up to pass rather than let you in.