I don't like/can't stand/won't eat any of it. Turkey, dressing, sweet potato junk with marshamallows on top, green bean casserole, cranberry anything, gravy, pumpkin pie, etc. Needless to say Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday because I'm hungry all day long and then you are expected to eat the same food for days to come. It's like my own personal food version of Groundhog's Day.

Good lands, yes! My brain is functioning slowly this morning apparently. I actually had it set up that way using bar models, but then erased it. *sigh* Thanks so much for your help!

I cannot figure out how to get the answer to this problem (short of guessing and plugging in numbers). I need to be able to explain how to get the solution to my dd10. Here's the problem: Kamala had 5,026 grams of flour in a canister. She brought a 4,157 gram bag of flour. She poured some flour from the bag to the canister. As a result, the mass of the flour in the canister is not twice the mass of the flour left in the bag. How much flour is in the bag now? Any ideas? I tried to set it up with bar models, but I had too many unknowns.

We use Medishare and have since the ACA first rolled out. The only major incident we've needed to use it for was when my oldest had foot surgery due to a fibroid tumor. We wound up paying around $1,000 out of pocket with Medishare covering the rest (how this is done was explained very well by a PP). We never saw any of the bills as they were all sent directly to Medishare. IMO, Medishare acts the most like traditional insurance except the cost is shared among the members instead of being paid out by a corporation. For doctor's visits, there is a $35 co-pay and the rest is billed to Medishare. Because of this system, you do have in network and out of network doctors, but even in our tiny town of 10,000 almost every doctor here is listed as in network. Oh, and Medishare found a bill where the anesthesiologist double charged us for my dd's surgery and gave us a heads up, so we actually got a $300 reimbursement check from the hospital.

Here's the macaroni and cheese recipe I came up with after trying different ones and combining them into this recipe: http://www.theplantedtrees.com/2012/08/tasty-tuesday-x-marks-spot.html My friend says it's even better than Pioneer Woman's, but I've never had that one so I don't know. I do a few things different now than in the original recipe. I always use sharp cheddar cheese and for the second cheese I vary it depending on what I have or what sounds good. I sprinkle Parmesan on top instead of extra cheddar, but you could easily do bread crumbs instead or a bread crumb/cheese mix. I also add about 1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper for a kick without it being spicy.

My early July birthday girl started when she was 5. It was the right decision for her because she was totally ready for academic work. She had already been begging for school work since she was three and four. Out of all my kids she's the most academic so waiting for her would have been torture.

Sorry! I didn't see this until this morning. For some reason the notification didn't show up until today. Long and short of it is that flooding from Hurricane Harvey destroyed the start of our homeschool (and 2/3 of our town), and we've only been able to squeeze in about a week of school since Harvey hit. Our church was operating a disaster relief supply room for three weeks so I made the kids help with that and once that closed the third week of September, we've been trying to hit our stride after a failed beginning. All of that to say that I don't really have much of an update unfortunately or at least a review that I could in good faith stand behind. Give me another month and check back in case I don't remember to update. The only semi-review I'll give after one week in (ha!) is that this program is just....easy. It's smooth to run. I don't feel like a crazy person trying to fit a million tiny subjects into our day. The books, so far, have been broken down into perfect amounts of reading for my girls. And I'm finding it very easy to tweak, such as swapping out book selections or even changing out or dropping entire subjects if I feel they aren't needed. It weaves together well, but if you let go of something it doesn't feel like anything is missing. Hopefully that made sense.

DD 13 has basically used the Writing and Rhetoric series up until this year. I'm teaching a high school level writing class using at our co-op so she's in that as an 8th grader because I think she can handle it. I'm using The Lively Art of Writing in the class and the accompanying free workbook, but I modify all of the assignments to fit the class since I'm using a study of Macbeth as our backbone. I go through the workbook and mark out assignments and change them to fit what we've been discussing about Macbeth. For example, they just finished writing a long persuasive paragraph about who the true villain in Macbeth is, Lady Macbeth or Macbeth. All of the assignments in the chapter that we were on in Lively Art of Writing were adapted to fit that assignment. It's working well so far and I'm pleased with her progress. Co-op only lasts 23 weeks so for the rest of the weeks of our homeschool, she'll be working through W&R Refutation.

All the sounds

I went through security right behind Diana Ross in Miami's airport. I remember thinking, "Man, that woman's hair looks like Diana Ross's." Once I'd actually walked through the metal detector, the airport security agent looked at me and said, "You saw Diana Ross, right?" I said, "No, where?" The agent said, "She walked through right in front of you!" I sped up to catch up with her. She was tiny which is pretty common for me because I'm 5'10", but she was very petite all over with that huge, gorgeous head of hair, and large over-sized black glasses. I didn't say anything to her, but I was pretty stoked about it. I saw Barbara Bush when I was on vacation in Rome the spring break after I graduated college the previous December. My friends and I were at the Colosseum when all of the guys dressed up as gladiators started coming up to us (obviously Americans apparently!) and saying, "Mama President" and pointing. We looked over and sure enough there was Barbara Bush with her twin granddaughters. She quickly ushered them into the black car waiting for them at the curb, and then turned back to the crowd that was quickly gathering around her. I pulled out my camera to get her picture and at that exact moment one of the gladiators dropped to one knee, grabbed her hand, planted a kiss on the back of it, and Barbara threw back her head to laugh. That's the picture I still have. It's really cute. Since I'm from Arkansas, I've met/seen Bill Clinton multiple times, but my coolest Bill Clinton story involves my grandmother. When he was campaigning for one of his terms as governor, he came through our little tiny town (population 1,100) in the Ozark Mountains. One of his staff workers stopped in the grocery store where my grandmother ran the bakery and grabbed a pan of her cinnamon rolls (she was famous for them in our area). When the staffer got back with breakfast for Governor Clinton, he took one bite of my grandmother's cinnamon rolls and asked where the staffer had purchased them. He showed up to meet my grandmother and got her contact information. About once a month, he'd place an order, and my grandmother would ship her cinnamon rolls to the governor's mansion in Little Rock. Once he was elected president, one of his staff contacted her a few times, and she shipped cinnamon rolls to the White House! ETA: Since Arkansas doesn't have a professional sports team, the University of Arkansas sports teams, the Arkansas Razorbacks, are kind of our professional teams. In 1994, the basketball team won the national championship and two of its biggest starts were Corliss Williamson (went on to play in the NBA) and Scotty Thurman. My dad actually taught Corliss in school and drove his school bus. We were at a local park one time where some guys were playing basketball. One of them broke off and came running up to my dad yelling his name. It was Corliss! I was around 8th grade at the time and totally star struck not to mention intimidated. He was huge! Years later when I was working at the local Holiday Inn and going to college, Scotty Thurman walked in one night to rent a room. He was always my favorite player and I could barely focus enough to check him into the room. I did very shyly ask for his autograph which he was happy to do. My last Razorback story is about one of our best football players ever, Darren McFadden (went on to play in the NFL). My family and I were eating at a restaurant in Fayetteville and as we were leaving there was a group of very large guys waiting to be seated. I was pretty certain they were Razorback football players, but I didn't know exactly which ones. My sister, a huge sports fan, stopped dead in her tracks and wouldn't move. I asked her what was wrong and all she could whisper was, "Darren McFadden." I asked her if she'd like his autograph, and she nodded yes, so I just walked up to him and said, "Hi, you're Darren McFadden, right?" He said yes and I got the autograph for my sister. She never did say a word to him but just stood there gaping at him. LOL

It wasn't in the corner. It was in the middle of the seating area. I would totally have not even batted an eye at the corner or somewhere else out of the way.

I'm definitely glad I didn't say anything now!!! The toddler had a poopy pull up so the guy sitting closest to them just kind of wrapped his sandwich up and quit eating. That was really what caught my attention, not so much the baby. But I totally get it about traveling with little ones. I've done it multiple times myself. I'd just never seen this approach to diaper changing in the middle of a group of people. I mainly just felt bad for the guy and others that were eating. It was kind of smelly. The mom definitely had her hands full so I spent my time playing with her daughter while she nursed her son after the diaper changing.

So this isn't anything earth shattering, but I'm bored while I'm waiting on my oldest to finish her volunteer work. This summer I was at the gate waiting to board my plane when a woman traveling with an infant, a 2 or 3 year old, and an older woman (she looked to be the younger woman's mother so the grandmother of the children) showed up at the gate as well. The mother proceeded to immediately get out a blanket, lay it on the floor, and change her infant son's diaper right in the middle of the seating area. I thought maybe there wasn't a bathroom close by, but there was one right across the walkway from the gate. After changing the baby's diaper she laid down the 2/3 year old little girl and changed her pull up. Everyone sitting there was obviously uncomfortable and averting our eyes so we weren't looking at her naked kids. Ultimately it's not a big deal, but I found it so odd and kind of gross, especially since some passengers were sitting there eating before boarding. Part of me wanted to say something, like pointing out how close the actual restroom was, but I didn't because not my circus, not my monkeys. Do you find this odd as well? Would you have said something?

Late 70s

Dd13 appears to have reached maximum height at 5'8". She might eek out a bit more height but probably not much. She's worn a size 12 women's shoe for two years now. For comparison, I'm 5'10" and wear a size 10. Size 9 pre children.

Chicken and Rice Casserole is the only one we all like. I've never tried freezing it though, but it's really easy to assemble. ETA: Link

So I'm kind of mixing A Gentle Feast and Beautiful Feet this year. I adore A Gentle Feast. I'll be doing a thorough review of it later this year on my blog, but suffice it to say that this is the family style learning CM curriculum that's been needed for so long. The book choices are top notch, and the teacher helps (which are available through a password protected page on the website once you purchase a package) and the suggestions for how to combine multiple forms (grades) are actually practical and useful. It would fit what you want perfectly except there aren't any of the essay and research assignments of BF. Gentle Feast is strictly CM which means that narrations are all of the output expected in the program. She does give various ways to have your child narrate that go beyond the traditional tell it back to me or write it down for me. I also missed those discussion questions, essay and research assignments so, since I already have the two BF early American history guides in my house, I'm pulling questions and ideas from those as we touch on the same topics in A Gentle Feast. It's working really, really well. Thankfully the BF guides are cheap, especially if you purchase them as a digital download, so it's not cumbersome to add it into A Gentle Feast. Is it necessary? No, but I think they compliment each other very well.

I cannot have any body part hanging over the edge of my bed while I sleep. I'm 5'10" so it can be a challenge. My fear stems from the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. One of the kids was taken into the D and D realm because they were sleeping with their arm or leg over the side of their bed. Underneath their bed began to glow and a creature's hand came out from under the bed, grabbed the dangling appendage, and pulled them under. *shiver*

Where did you find out? I'm trying to keep a running list on my Facebook page of companies offering special replacement deals for Harvey victims. I just wanted to verify your info before I add it to the list.

I didn't know how to pronounce Terpsichore. And I say these words the same wont and want, so I know I'm mispronouncing one of them incorrectly, probably wont. Unless they mean won't? I say that differently from want. Other than that I think I could do it all. Most of them are pretty basic words, you just have to be careful as you read it.

Three months old for the girls and two months old for my son. My kids have always been great sleepers. My oldest and my youngest never wanted to go to bed, but once you got them asleep, they would sleep like the dead. Hence the need for pullups until 10 years old!

I'm here!!! We're still dry, but by luck only. You are right about my town. It's the one with all the boat rescues. The river absolutely flooded as much as was expected, but it flooded just a bit north of where it usually floods which led to all the water spilling into the north and west parts of our town instead of the west and south parts of town. In some places the flood came up 4-5 feet in 30 minutes leaving many people trapped on second floors and roofs. The river actually came up through a manhole cover in our neighborhood because there was no where else for the water to go. It's not going to flood us, but I am looking at river water right now as I type this out in the street. From all I can tell, about 2/3 of our town is under water at this point with about three neighborhoods in town being safe. There are currently no ways into or out of our town that aren't flooded so everyone is stuck. Food supplies are running low because our local HEB can't restock and the Wal-Mart is under water. My daughters and I went today to volunteer at the local Red Cross shelter and it was humbling and sobering how many people no longer have homes that they can return to. Overall I feel blessed to have electricity and a dry home. I'm spending all my time trying to plan what our church and our family will do to help when all of this recedes. It will be months and months of recovery. I have no idea when the public schools will be able to open. Here's a video link that shows just a small part of the flooding that has happened in our town thanks to Harvey: https://www.facebook.com/ryan.ashcraft.5/posts/1794978073850367?pnref=story

Harvey is finally over for us. No rain today, still some wind, and sunny skies off and on. The kids and I all went out to walk around the neighborhood because we'd been inside for so long. Our biggest issue happens on Thursday though when the river here in town finally crests. The projections for how high it will crest has dropped a bit since the initial projection, but it will still be the second highest recorded flooding of the Colorado River ever.

Wait until they put the guide itself up for sale (usually around $10 or $15), then buy the guide and get the books that you don't own from the library. That's how I always use Beautiful Feet. It makes it really cheap that way.

Harvey is on the move back to the Gulf which means my town is getting tropical storm force winds and buckets of rain. They called for a mandatory evacuation of the entire county below us that borders the coast. The entire county is supposed to be under 10 feet of water by the end of the day today due to the flooding river in my town I mentioned earlier. The river normally drains into the Gulf in the county below us but with Harvey moving back out into the Gulf, the ocean will be pushing back up onto shore which means all that flood water going down the river has nowhere to drain so it's backing up and flooding the entire county. It's unimaginable the amount of destruction Houston and the surrounding area are experiencing right now. I'm so thankful that we aren't flooding (right now at least) and still have power.