The date of the eclipse is also the birthday of my recently deceased sister, so I (and some number of my boys) are travelling to NC to be with my parents. They are also in the 95% occlusion area so we will kill two birds with one stone. I am driving 12 hours on Sunday to get there. My DH and daughter will be in Japan and miss the whole thing!

OK, I, please G-d, shouldn't dislocate my shoulder between now and then but I can try to swing down there if it is next week. It's a drive, but I like to drive!

Some Jewish weddings have the mothers walk the bride down the aisle and the fathers walk the groom down the aisle....

Happypamama, I looked at Notgrass but they say the Christianity is pretty integral to the material. That won't work for me. :) Have you gone through it enough to tell me if that is true or not?

Would you still suggest the concise version of Hakim if you knew I had two history buffs reading the material? The 13yo and the 7yo love history - reading Kingfisher (the white cover) over and over.... Maybe I have to get both? LOL

Minimalist style shoes might work too since they promote that foot shape.

Looking to fill in a hole in the kids' education. Need a terrific US history curriculum for a mom who must have slept through her US History classes in school! Secular please. Multi-age would be a big bonus - I have a 7yo, 10yo, and 13yo - they can all read above grade level. Thanks in advance!

I asked my husband and he said the same thing as Regentrude.

My DH has genetically poor teeth/gums. He brushes twice a day, flosses at least once if not twice a day and still had to have parts of his jaw removed and replaced with porcine implants to keep his teeth. He doesn't have but one cavity though, but his cleanings are 4x a year and they do deep cleanings at them - he comes home bleeding and puffy even though his gums look good. The dentist tells him that his bacteria are prolific and produce a lot of acids. So, for about five years he has been using a hydrogen peroxide gel and for a couple of years also an antibacterial solution (amoxicillin) in a plastic tray every night. The dentist (not the one who started him out of this treatment) says he would have lost teeth if hadn't done this.

My parents and I buried my sister in January (her death was somewhat anticipated but not at that particular time - she went into hospice on Thursday and died Friday afternoon). She had no pre-planning. My mother found a gravesite for her (double actually) through her church members for 2K. Since she was Bahai, we did a direct burial, but my parents chose a second to cheapest casket, around 3K (if we'd had more time, I would have elected for a pine or willow casket, less than 1K). We had to get the liner at a little over 1K. My parents did want an obit through the local paper and that was about $400. Death certificates were $10 each and we bought 10 or 12. There were other costs like the hearse to the cemetery and such. All in, I think it was a bit over 8K. We were planning on splitting the cost (her husband had no money to contribute), but then my parents found out that we had been giving them money for expenses every month for a couple of years. Then they took on all the funeral costs. I'm so sorry you have to go through this and even more sorry you have to worry about the costs of burying her. I hope you are able to find some peace soon. ETA: Oh, we did only a graveside service, no memorial service, obviously no viewing.

I have a bilateral breast U/S this Friday that I have put off for a while since I had so much other stuff to deal with. They didn't see anything in my regular mammogram, but with my family history (younger sister deceased from BC, father fighting re-occuring prostate cancer), she agreed with me that I should be more proactive with my health. I'll pray for you and you pray for me!

I had a MD appt today. It was at 8:50am and I didn't see her until 9:30. :glare: I seem to always wait for her. It's good I don't have to go there often. I thought I had a UTI and yessir, I do! Got a scrip for Cipro and off I go. I asked her to check me out for a yeast infection as I have some of the symptoms, but I think that the symptoms are due to the UTI. I need to get better as we will be in the car a lot over the next three weeks (MA-AZ-MA). Kids all abandoned me, not that I am complaining. I need some peace and quiet.

We're heading on a big trip from MA to AZ and back in July. I got Kindle Fires for the three kids who are going (the oldest has elected to go to his grandparents - boo!) so they can take pictures, record what's happening, and entertain themselves a bit. They read a lot, but they all have regular Kindles for that purpose. What educational apps would you highly recommend for them (13yoB, 10yoG, 7yoB)? Several of them have conquered Stack the States and one has gotten pretty far on Stack the Countries on my Kindle. Also maybe really cool games so I can spice things up a bit if I am feeling generous. :) Free is nice, but I will pay for really good ones. Thanks in advance!

It is very interesting. He originally was studying (and still does) NIMBY (not in my backyard) politics and how gov'ts convince communities to take NIMBY projects(like airports, nuclear facilities, dams). Then he got his first job and we moved to New Orleans. Six weeks later Hurricane Katrina made us evacuees to Houston. As the global Jewish community contacted us to offer housing, schools, whatever we needed, Daniel started to wonder what made some people/communities bounce back faster than others after a disaster. He theorized that it was social capital - the ties between people; not government, not charities. So he pivoted and life changed for us and his academic career. He is very proud to help people, NGOs, and government agencies understand how important social capital is to communal stability and resilience. It also has interesting spin-offs like him using his research to teach US elite forces about counter-terrorism in Africa and the American response to the Ebola virus!

FYI Boulder has an NGO called BoCo who are working on creating and strengthening ties between people specifically to deal with the disasters that have happened and will happen again. My husband has been working with them over the last year or two. He's also working with San Francisco and Christchurch NZ. Gov'ts know they have problems and (I think) are trying to ameliorate them.

Sorry for going back to my husband's research, but if you get to know your neighbors and pool your resources (tools, generators, food, meds), you are even more resilient!

Japanese are very prepared for disaster. Their government has to talk about the possibility and prepare the people for it as best they can. I feel they (at least in Tokyo where we have lived) do an amazing job of helping from above (gov't assistance to earthquake proof) and from beside (creating neighborhood disaster groups who will help in the immediate aftermath). Also the Japanese people are more...pliable and less independence minded. I think the US has a harder time with this - people think they know better.

My husband studies pre- and post-disaster preparation and recovery worldwide. So he has access to all the research about the PNW and other potential disaster sites. A lot of people will die when that one happens. People there are planning, but since so many people work/live right in the zone that will get inundated with few ways to get out within the amount of time before the tsunami will occur (after the 8+ earthquake), people will be trapped. But then again, most places that are popular for people to inhabit have one or more possibilities for natural (or man made) disaster to occur. His studies point to having strong personal networks - social capital - as the best pre and post disaster solution for individuals. Knowing your neighbors/co-workers/people in power and being able to join together to help each other when the government cannot help, as it will not be able to in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. He's working with NextDoor, Facebook, NGOs, national, state, and city governments to help them make communities resilient. http://daldrich.weebly.com/

You can freeze hummus if it has a goodly portion of techina/olive oil. It will look clumpy at first but you can stir in a little more techina and oil and it will become very nice again.

Praying for you, but as I am in BOS and you seem to be in MA, is there anything I can bring or do for your family?

Specifically, Biology, USHist (AP), Lit of the New World, Rhetoric I, Alg II The office is closed and I have to make my final decisions today!!! Thank you!

It doesn't say that for AP Eng Lit; the AP Eng Lang was full... I hope I am right. Thank you!

This class looks very interesting and everyone seems to love the instructor. Am I correct in that there is no actual class meeting time during the week? She just puts up assignments on a daily basis? Several reviews mention that the students get together to talk - I assume online. :) Does the class ever get together online in a chat room or video conference? Does she do one on ones with the students? Thanks! Yael (getting started/panicking all day)

Thank you all. Now I have to see if the schedule will work....

Everyone says such positive things about this instructor. I see that WHA is a Christian school. Do they allow non-Christians? How involved is religion in the math courses?