Loved ECC. My eldest was in 4th grade that year. My kids loved the map game and the book basket books. Oh, and the coloring pages.

I need to come up with a $10 gift for a family exchange - something that would be okay for either gender, teen through adult. It would be best if it's an actual item, not a gift card. I've thought of candy, but am coming up blank for non-candy non-gift card things. There must be a multitude of things that would fit the bill... ideas?

Lord of the Rings - yes, repeatedly. Narnia - I really don't know! The kids listened to an audio version when they were little, but I have no idea if they ever read the books. At any rate I never saw them reading any of the books.

I :001_wub: :001_wub: :001_wub: :001_wub: :001_wub: the Nancy Drew games! If only days came with more than 24 hours...

Artificial tree, not pre-lit, rather ancient but still holding up. This year it has one strand of multi-colored lights with a blinking/flickering/steady controller, and several strands of regular multi-colored lights. Dd thinks it's fun to drive the rest of us nuts by making half the tree flicker. Ornaments: my childhood collection, the kids' collections (mostly gifts from grandparents over the years), and a couple that belong to dh. He doesn't have any from his childhood, and doesn't really care about getting new ones, which is why he has fewer than the rest of us.

Chips Ahoy... shudder... we used to get them at Sunday School, with Dixie cups of lukewarm watered-down Kool-aid to dunk them in. And for the record, I'd change my "no" vote to "yes" IF the oatmeal raisin cookies in question were liberally frosted. Vanilla frosting would be best, I think. That would make them more festive AND edible.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: Uh... that is just weird.

I read 1984 in middle school... guess the s3x thing went right over my head because I sure don't remember it at all.

What about a deck of cards?

Awesome! I showed the pic to my family. Dd says she loves the dachshicorn! Kind of the precursor to the stretch limo...

If you want to run a credit balance with your doctor's offices, you'd want to keep it above their automatic write-off amount (some offices write off any balances under say $5 or $10 at the end of every month). And you'd need to run this credit balance separately for each person in your family, at each office. To me, it sounds like way more hassle than it's worth, trying to keep track of the balances. Do you have online access to your health insurance info? I can look up my co-insurance amounts when the charges process through my insurance. Then I set aside the payment amount so it's ready whenever the billing offices send out statements (a couple of the offices seem to take FOREVER). I do not pay until I get a statement. Then I can see the charges, the insurance adjustments and payments, etc. And if I have to call the billing office, I can see the same info they are looking at. It helps with any potential confusion.

Zanesville, OH -- Muskingum & Licking Rivers -- plus there's a Y-shaped bridge where the rivers come together.

If you were planning for a gap year next year, could you call your son a junior this year (for DE purposes) so he could take dual-enrollment classes at the community college this year and next? Some states allow for free DE for juniors & seniors. Maybe he'd enjoy taking one class per quarter or semester in an area of interest. You'd get access to the CC counselors this way.

Dang. I got it wrong all these years. Are you SURE he meant son and heir?

It worked for my dd. I'm curious if my calculations were correct as I am prone to little math errors. Maybe the envelope will come in tomorrow's mail.

Our insurance considers colonoscopies preventative and covers them at 100% IF you are age 50+. For us slightly younger folks, they pay 80% after deductible (or 100% if you've reached your out-of-pocket max for the year).

Eat normally - as soon as I get home. Do things - after a good long nap. Converse with people - after a good long nap (unless you mean converse incoherently, which I can do immediately after a colonoscopy). I think I got more drugs during my second colonoscopy, because I felt pretty out of it until late afternoon (procedure was early morning). With my first, I was back to normal after an hour nap.

I suspect this is why my mom wrapped the stocking gifts. One of my sibs would have just dumped out the stocking and said, "Now can we open the stuff under the tree?" Dd says it's more fun if it's all wrapped.

Thank you for posting this!

My mom... I mean SANTA... always wrapped our stocking gifts. Dh thinks this is weird and says he's never heard of anyone wrapping stocking gifts. So... a poll. Do you wrap stocking gifts?

I have noticed that too. Haunted Carousel was a lot of fun. Maybe I will re-play it soon -- if I can get it to load. Some of the older games require dh's help to get them running on the current operating systems.

:) :lol: :lol: :lol: My dd and I just started Silent Spy yesterday. We are "behind" too :) and haven't yet played some of the games that are older than SS (and none of the games that are newer).

Nancy Drew PC games. They will have to do until someone comes out with Trixie Belden games. :toetap05: :p I have been playing them for 10+ years, and I really enjoy them. One of my dc likes them too; sometimes we collaborate.

:thumbup: Yeah Trixie! :thumbup: Simply Whispers sells nickel-free earrings.

I love those hooks and wish I had the whole set. Do you think your dd would enjoy making amigurumi? There are loads of pattern books -- you might pick up some from the library, and give your dd an Amazon card so she can buy the books she likes best. One great thing about amigurumi is that you can use inexpensive acrylic yarn to make them.