We don't have Magic Jack, heard too many horror stories, but we have had Ooma for 2.5 years and love it! We paid about $200 for the unit and that's all we have paid for phone since then. It works just like a regular home phone without the cost. We have DSL so we had to dryloop that but we bundled it with my ATT cellphone so avoided any extra charge for it. Ooma isn't really well known but it has been awesome for us.

I have 3 girls and a baby boy. I was so sure the 4th was another girl that I was shocked to find out it was a boy. I really wanted to see what it was like to have a boy. I would have been fine with another girl but like with the third, I would have been sad for a bit. Probably worse because I'm done now. I think the disappointment is natural. It's one reason I like finding out at the ultrasound, you can mourn the gender when you're pregnant and just be ecstatic about the wonderful baby at the birth. My SIL is very upset still that she only has boys and her youngest is 11. She does my girls' hair and plays dress up with them. They hate when I do their hair. My oldest is a tomboy and not at all a girly girl. It's not all sugar and spice that's for sure! Especially with hormones and fighting. Girls get nasty verbally, then it gets physical. But, I know, you want to see that for yourself! :) Hugs!

I have a dual BS in zoology and biology and I just fell short of a minor in English Lit. I think it has helped, I can answer most questions without looking it up. I have also been able to teach at co-ops that required a degree in the subject. I don't think a degree is necessary, but a certain level of education, whether self-taught or school-taught. Some of the smartest people I know don't have degrees. Obviously, you can't quantify it if it's self-taught, but judging by some of the degreed people I know, that's not any guarantee. I think a good handle on grammar is a necessity. Not the sentence diagramming kind, just speaking correctly. I cringe whenever I hear a homeschooling parent butcher the language. Otherwise, if you aren't intimidated by research, you can figure out how to teach or get help to teach your kids anything.

I'm 37 and overweight, no one wants to see what I've got but my dh so I save them the view. :) If I looked like Angelina Jolie, maybe I'd dress less modestly. :drool: I always wanted a bat tat on my shoulder but I hate pain. I don't even have earrings due to a strong allergy to nickel so no piercings for me. But I didn't think of those as modesty issues.

I was waiting for my youngest's dance class to let out, in which my oldest was assistant teaching, and another homeschooling mom was there with her 4 kids. Her kids got ready first so she left. As she left one of the mom's in the incoming class said "I don't understand homeschooling. All those kids will learn is how to clean up juice!" I pointed out I was a homeschooler, the dance teacher was homeschooled, and my homeschooled daughter was assisting the class. She kind of backpedaled but I was still offended, as a homeschooler and for my friend.

My only advice would be to find someone experienced with the Navy that isn't actually the recruiter. My dad was in the Navy for 20 years. He got in trouble as a recruiter because he wouldn't lie/mislead the kids. The Navy isn't bad, it has a lot to offer but so many end up disappointed because of the broken promises of the recruiters. My dad helped my friends that were joining the military sort through the recruiter-speak to get to the reality. My brother didn't do well in community college, joined the Navy as a nuke (intelligence wasn't the problem, obviously), came out 8 years later with his BS then eventually got his masters and is now working on his Ph.D. The Navy helped him figure out what he wanted and provided the means to pay for it (to a point at least).

We dated 5 years before we got engaged then another 2 years until we got married. But I was 17 when we started dating and college was a high priority for both of us. We went all through college together (even living together with another roommate for some of it). It's been up and down for us, but after some therapy we are doing fine. It helps that he was my brother's best friend (my brother married my best friend) and became my best male friend long before we dated. The friendship has gotten us through when the romance has gone south for awhile. I wouldn't be picky about how long any of my kids dated, I would just prefer them to be graduated from college or the vocational school of their choice before getting married. DH and I are polar opposites. Opposite political parties, he's strict Mormon and I'm agnostic, etc. If we can make it work, anyone can. :) But, yeah, therapy helped when I left the church and became more political as well as him becoming more religious. People change, sometimes it helps to have someone else remind you that you love that core person.

I don't have a Kindle but I have a Nook wi-fi which I absolutely love. At least with the Nook, the 3g is just helpful for getting books any place. You can't use it for the web browser. We have a wi-fi setup at home and I don't have the budget to get a book any time anyway. I went with the Nook because you can use it for library books and other free books, the Kindle has to have Kindle format. I love it for homeschooling. I no longer have to pay for the classics and most of what I use are the classics. Reading paper books seems like a pain now, I highly recommend e-readers to anyone!

I'm near Austin too (friends with Angie actually). Our group is really active and inclusive. I have tried a few other groups but mesh the best with that one. And my kids like it too. :)

My kids do Kung Fu and testing is nothing like what you describe. Testing for all belts but black are done when the kids are ready, at the end of class. They are told the testing will be the next class and on that day they run through the material with a teacher as a pre-test then if they pass that then they go to a black belt for the official test. No one is tested before they are ready and they aren't promoted unless they know it. My girls have both been taking it over 2 years. My oldest is a brown belt and my younger one is only a blue stripe (belts go white, yellow, blue, green, brown, black with stripes in between lower belts. Brown has 3 degrees before black). Although I feel bad for the younger one, she hasn't put forth the effort the older one has. I did TKD as a kid and my brother earned his black belt.

My mom was diagnosed with IBC 2 years ago. We took her to MD Anderson in Houston (they are THE experts in IBC). It turned out she was misdiagnosed and had "only" stage 3 regular breast cancer and a MRSA infection (which made it look inflamed). The original docs would have killed her by starting chemo immediately with a raging infection. MD Anderson was wonderful! My mom lives in CA but I live 2 hours from Houston so she stayed with me for a year during treatment. The cancer is completely gone now! I hope the best for you! http://www.mdanderson.org/patient-and-cancer-information/cancer-information/cancer-types/inflammatory-breast-cancer/index.html

My FIL called my oldest by a shortened form of her middle name for a couple years because he didn't like her name. It's Alissa, so not exactly horrid. He eventually started using her first name when he decided it suited her after all. FIL was very rude about stuff like that though. I think Fallon is a better spelling, but everyone tweaks with spelling nowadays. Otherwise I like the name and there won't be 5 other girls with it. My second dd always has at least one other girl with her name in whatever group she's in.

I think it's the cd. You'll have to open it as a copy and save it on a different cd. I've been using openoffice for 12 years (dh works for the company that makes it) and haven't had any problems.

I just had my 4th by emergency section almost 3 months ago. My previous births were easy, vaginal births. This one the cord prolapsed and I was doing it natural so needed general anaesthesia. I had been "don't push!ing" for over 2 hours, sitting at a sliver less than 10 (when my body was screaming to push). I don't know if that affected my recovery at all. He was born Friday, I got out of the hospital Sunday and was barely able to take care of myself, let alone the baby and my other kids for a couple weeks. Walking was painful and anything beyond going from the couch to the bathroom would make me bleed heavily again. I had my mom and my MIL with me so I just changed diapers (he's intact and they were uncomfortable changing him) and sat on my bottom nursing. I was concerned when they left 2 weeks later that I would have trouble caring for my kids. My oldest daughter is 11 and was a big help with the 3 and 8yos. I'm still sore. I can do everything but still have pains every day. Definitely help if she would be comfortable with it. If not, at least drop off meals. Easy lunch things would be good. I had organic pop tarts breakfast and lunch many times those first weeks because I could eat and nurse and not have to walk much to assemble it.