I hope no one is offended by these and afraid to post. It's all in good fun, and I make mistakes, too, even the same ones I have mentioned. LOL So, may I ask a question about pronunciation? I am from the northern panhandle of WV, not far from Pittsburgh, so many say I sound like I am from Pittsburgh. That said, I now live in northeast Indiana. There is a pronunciation I keep hearing here that I wonder about. Is it regional? Here is an example. Instead of saying "getting," they say, "getteen." The "ing" is changed to "een." The weather lady says, This eveneen, it'll be raineen." Argh! I hear this often. I don't get it. I suppose they do not even hear themselves saying it. Now, if my friend does not stop saying "dinnit" for didn't, I might scream. LOL Her kids say it now, so I wonder how that works with teaching phonics. :blink:

There are 2 that bug me, if anyone cares. LOL One is when people say "the reason why is because..." That is redundant. One needs only to say, "The reason is that..." "Why" and "because" are not needed there. The other thing is so common that professional speakers and writers of all kinds make this mistake *all the time* and I fear it will become "correct." They will say, "Everyone needs to bring their books in today." "Everyone" is singular, so the word "their" should actually be "his." Is everyone afraid of saying "his"??? "Their" is plural. His, his, his. See? I'm not afraid to say "his." :lol: Thanks for letting me get that off of my chest. Mary

No, I don't and I don't intend to. For me, it is a waste of time and money. I realize most women seem to color their hair, but it is just not my thing. I am getting enough gray that no one doubts my age, either, and some have thought my dh was my son, even though he is a little older than I am. He has 3 gray hairs. LOL That woman was rude. I think I would have gone to her and asked her why I should color my hair. :boxing_smiley: Of course, I, the round woman, like to go into Fashion Bug and seek out the skinniest saleslady and ask her where the "fat lady" clothes are. :smilielol5:

I think I would have whispered in his ear, "Please act your age or leave the table" and then smiled really sweetly afterward. LOL Depending, of course, how well I knew him. If I knew the family catered to the boy's pickiness inappropriately, I think I would mention only that he had a hard time not acting like he was dying. LOL You know, make it humorous, but get the point across. She will not benefit from finding out he acted at your house in a way that is considered acceptable at his own house. ykwim? I think it might just offend.

Along with lots of other stuff, I put the measurements of all of the rooms of the house in it, the size of the lot that the house sits on, clothing sizes for my family, a library list (books to get), friends' and relatives' birthdays, and foods friends and relatives don't like and cannot eat for one reason or another. Mary

To add to what everyone else is saying, the best thing we have done to keep our hands and fingers from cracking is to stop using regular soap or soft soap when we wash our hands. We use Dove now (bar) and it has made a huge difference. I also put lotion on twice a day, but the soap was the only change we made 2 years ago and have been so happy to not have such dry, cracked hands now. Mary

I am wondering if when Ma bought a barrel or sack of flour from the store, it might have been white flour. Mary

To add to this, I sometimes cut the inion while it is submerged in a bowl of water instead of running water over it, but it accomplishes the same thing. Freezing it for a bit first helps, too. Goggles are my favorite, though. LOL Mary

My aim is to be that way, too. My life revolves around my kids, as it should. But as they get more and more independent, well, isn't that what they *should* be doing, becoming more independent? Mary

I am trying not to have to do that.. My dh works at a newspaper. As you may know, this is not a good time to work at a newspaper. Yeeks. But I committed to teaching the kids, and I love, love, love teaching them, so I take in all of the sewing work I can to make up for the money we need. (I do alterations, t-shirt quilts, costumes, etc.) I hope to actually get to save something in case dh should love his job, but that is a way's off. I plan to do as much I can at home, praying for the Lord to send help. He is the one who called us to home school, so I know He will provide for us so we can do just that. He continues to send me sewing work, so this will work. I am also working very hard at being frugal. It is so hard to find time to sew, but if that is how we will get through, then I will do it. Do you have any skills you can do at home to make money? Mary

I think an education is good for any mind. I am glad I got mine because I want to be someone educated enough to have a stimulating conversation with my husband and to be able to teach my children through high school. My college education has helped me with both. For me, it was a good thing. I am encouraging my daughters to seek the Lord about what they should do and to consider studying something that will help them serve others. However, I would not encourage it if loans were a part of it. Nope. Our student loans crippled our finances for 20 years, so our children are not getting them. They can work to pay for school and work hard home schooling while preparing for the SAT so they can get scholarship money, too. If they do not have grants, saved money, and/or a part time job, then they will wait to go to college. They see what our loans have done to the whole family and they do not want to repeat it, so they are in agreement with this. It is a huge hole to dig out of and is not necessary in order to go to college. Jmho--unpopular, I know, but there it is. Some of my kids are not interested in college, anyway. They want to do things that do not require it. Mary

I have always said loy-yer and I am from the fine state of West Virginia.

Asthma can develop at any time in your life, and wood smoke has a lot of particles that can be a trigger for asthma. I would have her tested for that, just to be sure. Untreated, uncontrolled asthma can be dangerous. Wood smoke and cig smoke are my biggest triggers. Even the smell of it on one's clothing can start an asthma episode in my lungs. Mary

Hi! I am in Fort Wayne, too! Funny seeing someone on here right from my town. :o) Mary

I am so glad this topic has come up. I have a son who is bright, but got behind because I was not well for a few years (home schooled) , so he will be graduating from our home school at 19. I was worried that it would affect his chances of getting financial aid, but it does not, right? He is finishing his junior year right now and is 18. Also, this son had no idea what he wanted to do with his life, so I did not want him to graduate before having some time to explore career areas and get some studying in on those. He has gone back to an original idea of law enforcement, so he has a goal. He looked it up and sees that to get into the police academy, you have to be 22, so he wants to get a degree in criminal justice first and then apply. Is there a board here where I can get help about applying for financial aid, etc? We don't plan on getting loans, but need to apply for grants and scholarships, yes? I am so lost! Any guidance with that would be most appreciated! Ds will take the SAT this fall. Thanks so much for opening this thread! I have been so afraid that I was ruining my ds's life. LOL Mary

Don't forget half.com, paperbackswap, and bookmooch for cheap and free books. Mary

ElizabethB, I make the real stuff because the bouillon cubes don't have the nourishment of the real broth, plus they are so loaded with salt or msg. Mary

Lovedtodeath, the broth is not concentrated. It is thick like that because of the gelatin from the bones. It is actually a bit bland, not salty like bouillon cubes. Mary

One of the best things I have done is to label the bedrooms 1, 2, and 3, and then put the number of the rooms on the boxes so the people helping us knew which boxes went into which room. I did that with the other rooms, too. Just be sure the beds are in there and set up *before* they start putting boxes in the rooms. I did that backward once. Ugh. Oh, and since we were moving within the same town, I took photos of the furniture, printed them out, and wrote the measurements on the back of each picture. Then I took a tape measure, tape, and the pics and figured out where the furniture in the living room and bedrooms would go and taped the pics to the walls right were I wanted the furniture. That saved us from having a huge mess. The helpers knew just where to put the furniture. Mary

Yes! You are speaking my language! I have often felt that our gov't's rules and regs make us poor. If I want one stinkin' chicken in my yard, why does that have to be a problem?? It is because we cannot count on people to be clean and sanitary, I guess. Mary

That would make me nuts. They should all be participating, and in fencing, footwork is very important. It is not just shuffling if it is done right, but I imagine it looks that way. LOL First year students should do a lot of footwork practice and should practice it daily because it needs to be second nature in order to be useful, ykwim? Then the child can focus on the rest without worrying about his feet. Fifteen minutes a class is not too much at all. That class sounds very unprofessional, imho. If they don't have enough equipment, they should either buy some or have fewer students. They cannot learn just by watching most of the time. My son is a fencing student and instructor and this would drive him nuts, so I shall not tell him about it. LOL He is a perfectionist and thinks that teachers like the one you described are ruining the sport by not teaching it correctly.

If you feel you must eat it... I like it with fresh tomato wedges that have a little salt on them. Why not eat something else for calcium if you hate dairy? There are greens and almonds, and Citrical. :o)

One of my favorites is called A Patchwork of Days. It shows day in the life of home schoolers of all kinds. It really helped me to see that I should do what works for my family and not copy public school or some other home schooling family.

Don't companies have 6 months to comply with the law? I thought I heard that, but have not seen it yet. Still much to read.

I SO agree about not panicking. I cannot believe businesses are willing to close this early. Revisions will be made, and besides, why not fight this tooth & nail?! I am writing to anyone that has a mailbox. I hope you will get all of your friends to do it, too. Mary