I love hubby but his snoring is awful. I finally came up with a solution that keeps me sane (and rested). I bought some nature sounds, loaded up my ipod, and I sleep with them playing in my ears. I don't know if I could've kept going without them!

I love BJU. The lessons are short enough to not grow difficult for children who can't maintain for long spans of time, simple enough for the kids to work on assignments with minimal help, and the content is wonderful. I've used a lot of BJU in the past three years and wish I'd used it initially! I don't use it 100%, all of the time, because I love the literature approach but I've used complete grade kits here and there when I couldn't swing the time involved to use SL because of things going on at home. My youngest wanted to do BJU science again this year for 6th. He *loves* it.

Wow, I have to admit, I think I'd be having some serious happy thoughts. She sounds completely nuts. :)

I don't have any experience with their cat food but while researching dog foods, I can tell you that natural balance is one of the better options out there. They tend to be a little bit better than the middle ground as far as quality goes. On dogfoodanalysis.com they break down the reasons for the ratings/recommendations per brands so you could go there and read information on a dog food from natural balance to see the specific comments. I know natural balance was rated 4 out of 6 stars (with 6 being the highest). It gave me a lot of insight in reading nutrition labels and understanding what the ingredients are when things such as 'chicken by-product' and so forth.

Not at all. I gave up my career to stay home with our children. I gave up college to homeschool our children. I'm thankful that my husband does well and can provide a comfortable life for us, allowing us these options that are important to us. But I also feel that I have sacrificed a great deal as well for our family. I do feel that when he comes home, he shouldn't have to work another four-five hours before bed. That even though there are things needing done around the house, he deserves free time on the weekends. So I try to spread out weekend 'honey-do' lists, try to do most of what I can on my own. When the boys were little, I expected help in the evening when I needed it. Raising little ones is exhausting and it is 24/7. Now that the boys are teens/pre-teens, I make every effort to get hubby some 'me' time when he gets home from work. I get plenty of 'me' time when I need it now. :)

One thing to remember when asking opinions on computers, is that everyone has their own experience. My husband and I have owned a Compaq, a Dell, Gateway and two HP laptops. Our desktops have been Gateways, HP and Dell. This is what we've found. For desktops, Dell seems to have an edge on the rest, although the latest HP desktop we bought for one of our sons (got a good deal on it) has worked great. Our first HP desktop was a lemon. For laptops, HP seems to be winning out as far as usage and durability. In fact, we just bought our second HP laptop because we were so pleased with my husband's last laptop (an HP). The compaq broke pretty quick. The Gateway had a power cord issue straight off but had great CS that sent out a new one. But then the hinges failed just after about a year. Then the power button. And it all started to go downhill. My husband's dell had the same issue with hinges but he ordered parts and repaired it. However it started to break again pretty soon after and parts were hard to find and it didn't run well. The HP laptops really hold up. My husband has had his for two years and nothing has broke yet. It still runs pretty well, and he hasn't done much in the way of maintenance on it. I got mine for mother's day and love it. It was $700, we did not buy the warranty because my husband's career is computers. If it's fixable, he can do it. But there are other models that cost less if you need to buy the warranty. Samsung models have some good units, if I remember from the research I did earlier. There was one model in particular I was going to buy but they were sold out and no longer offering it online. I'd shop online and read reviews. Wish I could help you more but I don't have any experience with samsung.

Definitely introduce them outside. I wouldn't leave them alone together for a while, until you are positive they have settled in and accepted each other. We just brought home a new puppy and my two guys were about ready to lick the new female puppy to death. For the first 24 hours both dogs were glued to her side. Then the next three days, the younger male stayed on her like they were tied together. Finally, about four days later, we got some much needed peace and both the males seemed to have gotten it out of their systems. I think it's a little easier bringing puppies in than adult dogs, though. There's far less of a dominance issue at play. Our puppy knew the males were running the show, after all, she's just a baby still! I'm also in the camp that, with some supervision, we've always (I've had dogs my entire life) left dogs to mostly figure it out on their own. Usually it works pretty good.

I had a bad experience the first time I sold used curricula. Thankfully I had insisted on insurance in the shipping and I had the woman file a claim through the PO, situation resolved for both of us. But because of that, I haven't sold any curriculum since and I now have years worth. I've been thinking about possibly selling again but this reminds me of just how careful a person has to be if they go that route.

My experience is that media mail used to be pretty fast, and when I say used to, that would be about ten years ago LOL. In the past couple of years I've had it take 3-4 weeks, and one of those was just one state up from me!! I am in the 'won't use it ever again' crowd. I suppose if I had a huge shipment of heavy books that I didn't have a time constraint to worry about, it might be worth it, but most of the orders I place are shipped via ups or fed ex and shipping is free over a certain amount. When I buy used books, it's only one or two so cost isn't a big factor. I'd say 'don't worry, be patient, it'll probably come' but I was pulling out hair for the last item I ordered that only offered media mail. Drove me bonkers! I could've driven to get it faster.

I'm a few days late in this but I have an MFC (multi function center) which just basically amounts to printer/copier/scanner/fax machine. I LOVE it. I use it constantly. It is probably the most used machine in the house. But then again, I have four kids, so I often have to make copies of instructions, forms, etc. I buy the kids their own workbooks but there's still always things to make multiple copies of. We also use it for ourselves, making copies of important papers during the year. I've scanned and emailed items to friends and family. The only aspect of it I don't use is the fax and that's because we haven't ran a phone line to my office yet (we moved here last year). Well worth the money! I think we paid around $200 for our brother unit.

Boy I can see both sides, but I think I would have to agree with the rest saying to stay out of it. My mother moved in with us last fall and you would be amazed at how difficult a thing it can be. Of the three kids, I was the only one who could shoulder the burden, and if my brothers called me up to lecture me on something she told them...I'd probably put Mom on a plane to them! No, not really, but you get what I mean. There's a lot that goes on and unless you're there, you're not getting the entire story. The only thing that I can see though that is a bit concerning is that she's paying quite a bit and helping them out financially. I can see how that might cause even more strain, like you said, maybe some resentment. Hopefully they can work it out in time.