If you had to put an ink cartridge in, it's an inkjet. You can Google the brand and model number just to be sure. But laser printers have toner cartridges. And they smell like a copy store. I have a Brother HL-2240, it is amazing. It cost me $60 on sale at Office Depot. If I could go over and do it again, I'd get one that could print on both sides instead of just the one. My DH *insisted* that we keep the inkjet copy/scanner/printer just in case. We've used it twice in the last year :glare:

plantoeat.com I have a habit of losing recipes when they're printed out or written down.

I don't do raw, but a few of my friends do and recommend this website http://www.therawtarian.com/

I had to take it while pregnant and thought it was THE most foul thing ever. I had to work up my braves every day to take it and afterward wanted to gag for about 10 minutes.

Geez, why didn't I think of that?!?! Those commercials have long driven me nuts. I have always said at the end of them, "If someone is stupid enough to think Nutella is healthy, then they are stupid." Apparently I am the stupid one for not even trying! (wondering what the odds are I could find a receipt for Nutella buried in the caverns of my purse)

When I need to motivate myself, I remind myself that it will have to get done anyway, might as well try to do something before it spirals out of control. Once it's out of control, I sink further into a depressive funk. I also like to focus on the rewards instead of the journey. I don't like washing dishes, but I sure do like having all of them clean. You did SOMETHING!!! You got out of the house and you made dinner. Celebrate that! Focus on your achievements and let that motivate you to do something tomorrow.

What about taking the summer to do a serious housecleaning boot camp for the older two? Teach them the chores they need to do and create your system. It will be extremely time intensive, but maybe it would pay off in a few months where you don't have to do so much of the cleaning yourself? You could also use it as a time to get in a freezer meal making routine. Or find some kind of system that will work for meals. Maybe with those two things in place, adding homeschooling wouldn't be as hard. And maybe consider giving the 2 year old some things to do while you work with the older two. Here's a blog I wrote about incorporating Digby into our school day. It's worked really well. He is a constant interruption and he's a hugable, snugable fellow, so he's always climbing on me and trying to get me to hold him. I hold him as best as I can while I talk to Pigby around him. We bought lockable filing cabinets and put a ton of fun stuff in there (scour Pinterest if you have to). Only let one thing out at a time. Good luck in whatever you decide. You've got a "I can so totally relate" sister in me (only I have three, not four. See how much more amazing you are than me?:lol:) :grouphug:

Thanks everyone. It's always reassuring to hear I'm not alone. And :grouphug: to all of you who are nervous too. We can do it! I realized I'm nervous about fitting it all in. Right now it's ok if we take a week off to clean. It's ok if we're not doing art or quiet time. It's ok if school doesn't happen until the afternoon. I'm still trying to figure in chores, quiet time, plus my time to cook dinner. I want it to run like a well-oiled machine. I want our house reasonably clean, I want to make healthy meals, I want to get lots of fun learning in, and I'd like a shower now and then :lol:. Working that around two toddlers? :glare: I don't know. Add that to the fact that it is for real now and it's getting stressful. Then I go and read the "Mistakes you made when you first started out" type of threads and you hear people wish they had pushed harder or hadn't pushed so hard or wish that they had done X math and stuck with it or a million other things. So I try to take mental note of each and every thing I should be doing so I don't mess up. Then I realize that it's not possible for me to do this perfectly. There will be some mistakes made. And that scares me most of all. Knowing that there's nothing I can do about it and just hoping it's not something huge.

Is anybody else getting nervous for the new school year? It's been bothering me more and more lately. Not so much that I'm having trouble sleeping or waking up in a cold sweat over it, but everything we've done until now has been our "practice" runs, now we have to do it for real. I have to send in a letter to the superintendent (not hard), we have to do 810 hours (I know it doesn't all have to be seat work and that playing outside can count as PE), we don't have to do standardized testing or portfolios. I don't know why I'm so worried. Our state has super easy requirements. I'm worried about his socialization time. And I'm worried because there are no more practice runs. I've never been able to fully stick to the schedule during these years, what makes me thing I will now? I keep telling myself that it will be ok, that I've learned so much from the practice years, that I don't have to be perfect. Anyone else nervous? Anyone else know how to turn off the nagging worry in the back of your mind?

I got the Mirena when Chuck was about 6 weeks old. I was so worried but figured it was the best option. It didn't hurt getting put in (I'd had Chuck at home). I think I cramped a day or two. TeA was really painful and dry until my cycle started up again. We used coconut oil since KY and the other stuff burned. Worked fine. It did help lighten my periods and make them hurt less, but I do still have them. They seem to take longer, but I don't mind that. Since I don't worry about getting pregnant or have the buzz kill of c*ndoms, TeA is a LOT more fun and spontaneous.

when was the last time you talked to her? I would call immediately on my way over and make sure someone was with her 24/7. that is not normal, that is a goodbye

Heard back from the History professor. It is definitely the Volume 2 one we want, even though it is linked to Volume 1. He says he'll try to get the link fixed.

Thank you. I will try that. Oh my heck, I'm about to repin all of these!!!! So if you get a bazillion emails about someone repinning your links, it's just me :lol:

:lol: Thanks all. DH is reading this thread with me and suddenly I don't feel so bad about my $3 here and $6 there.

The one year old and either of the other two. Because when she hits them or steals their toys, they know she's not old enough to understand. The boys do get along fairly well. They can play together sometimes without fighting but after awhile the toy stealing, the chasing, the hitting, the shhhh-ing each other, the tattling, OH THE TATTLING!!!!! It's enough to drive a person bonkers :willy_nilly:

I emailed the professor. I'll let you know when/if he replies. Also a friend pointed out that if you buy the second edition instead of the third, it's a whole heckuva lot cheaper. He says to pay special attention to the homework questions, they usually change those up.

I have a Brother HL 2240. It is about as basic as you can get-not wireless, one sided, black only. I got it for $60 on sale at Home Depot. If I could do it over again, I'd get one that prints on both sides. The wireless feature would be nice, but it's not a need.

I would pay off the debt and then save for a down payment. Houses cost a lot in maintenance and I would want my net worth to be as big as possible before taking that on.

Were you able to download them? I cannot get it to work :sad:

I signed up for Computer Science 101, A History of the World Since 1300, Intro to Finance, Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Greek and Roman Mythology. They don't all go at once, but this is great because I have been considering finishing my degree online. DH was hesitant since I"ll only have one go at it and not sure if I'll be too overwhelmed. I figure if I can handle these, I can handle the ones I get credit for. Makes for good practice.

"Dear Coach, Is there a reason why she only played two of the five innings when everyone else played four? Is there a reason why you had her pitch without letting her first warm up? Is there a reason why you yelled at her?" No offense, but your letter is really long. I would think a shorter letter would have a better chance of being read. Let him explain himself, he can either apologize and change or might dig himself into a hole. Either way it's his doing.

All of it. Pigby is finally caught up on his vaccines, but that's because the school required them. Digby and Chuck are behind. Pigby saw a dentist once when he was 1 year. None of the rest of us have ever been. DH had to get his wisdom teeth removed a few weeks before Pigby was born. He had insurance through the university, but that just gave us a discount on the work. He also had to get a sebaceous cyst removed. We do well child visits for the first year and any we can afford the second year. We also do illnesses out of pocket. Pigby's ear infection, his nose bleeds and cauterization, Digby's strep throat. I just worry. I probably shouldn't have opened this thread, it'll just sink me into a depression.

I don't know but you have my sympathies. From 6-12 months baby girl was waking 2-7 times a night. Finally at 12 months I gave in and let her cry it out for one night. Then she slept through the night. Until a few nights ago, she started waking up again :glare: The pattern is starting all over and I can't exactly let her CIO since all three are in the same bedroom now. :banghead: DH and I joke that it would be nice if babies came with an on/off switch.

Pigby wanted to learn how to write in cursive. So I started teaching him. I printed out a bunch of the letters from StartWrite and have just been having him trace them. Now he's trying to write in cursive everywhere. He doesn't want to do print anymore. And his WWE page today (I used the copywork for handwriting practice, not necessarily writing instruction) was a lot messier and he had to erase a TON (normally he doesn't need to). I'm going to go ahead and drop the WWE for now. I made pages on StartWrite with all the AAS words and dictation phrases. I'm just going to have him trace these words so that he can get used to different letters connecting to each other. He's very good at tracing, he's pretty good about copying what I write. Do you think my plan is sufficient for handwriting? I don't really want to add in a cursive curriculum if I don't have to. Would practice be enough?

Let me just say that I'm not creative or imaginative or even very fun with little children. I had wanted to get Before FIAR to do with Digby (and I assumed Pigby would have fun with it as well). But I figured I could just use the FIAR book lists and make my own lapbooks from HSS. I found a bazillion other lapbooks that Pigby can use for science and geography. I printed them out, am in the process of cutting them out....and am stuck. Do I have to let him write in them and assemble them? He's not a big fan of writing and in a battle over it I'd rather have him do his WWE, AAS, and handwriting than writing in lapbooks. And the pasting :svengo:I'm not sure I could stand a messy lapbook, is it ok if I do that part too? I know he'd love looking through the lapbooks after they're assembled, someone please tell me who needs to do all the work. (PS-yes I know it seems like a silly question and yes I know you're all probably like, "Geez Meggie, get a lapbooking clue!" but I just want permission to be able to do this part myself. If that is against all that is just and holy in this world, please let me know before I :willy_nilly:)